Loyola University College of Music Collection

Guy Bernard was a 1935 graduate of Loyola University New Orleans’ College of Music after which he immediately joined the faculty as Associate Professor of Analysis and Appreciation. He soon became a full professor and Chairman of the Departments of History and Piano. Bernard went on to teach at Loyola for almost 35 years, becoming Professor Emeritus of Music in 1979. The Guy Bernard Collection of Loyola University New Orleans College of Music Productions, also held at Loyola’s Special Collections & Archives, contains scrapbooks of programs from College of Music productions. The Rev. Charles C. Chapman, S.J., was born in Colorado in 1892, received his PhD from Fordham University in New York, and was ordained into the Society of Jesus in 1928. Chapman taught economic and political history at Loyola from 1934 until his death in1968, serving as chair of the history department from 1940-1963. In addition to his work as a historian, Chapman was an accomplished musician, songwriter, and playwright. Before teaching at Loyola, he taught at both Fordham and Spring Hill College, penning “The Fordham Victory March” and Spring Hill’s “The Purple and White” during his tenure at each institution. Many of his works were performed by the College of Music throughout his career. The Rev. Clement J. McNaspy was born in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1915. He was ordained into the Society of Jesus in 1944. McNaspy earned a doctorate in music at Montreal University and did further studies at Oxford University. McNaspy served as the dean of the College of Music from 1958-1960 and also taught classics, music, and religious studies at Loyola off and on from 1948 until his death in 1995. McNaspy also wrote 29 books and edited the Jesuit weekly periodical America. He began serving as a missionary in Paraguay when he was in his mid-60s. Violinist and composer Ernest Schuyten was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1881. He studied at the Brussels Conservatory and the Antwerp Conservatory. After moving to New Orleans in 1910 and teaching music for several years, Schuyten established the New Orleans Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art in 1919. Loyola University New Orleans’ College of Music was established when the Conservatory was incorporated into the university in 1932 with Schuyten as the first dean. He served as dean and orchestra conductor until 1953. Under Schuyten’s leadership, the college first offered a bachelor of music degree for voice or instrument. After World War II, enrollment soared, mainly bolstered by female students, which contributed greatly to Loyola’s transformation into a co-educational institution. Schuyten also founded the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra and continued to perform, conduct, and compose until his death in 1974.

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