Stephen Davidson Tuttle was a musicologist and chairman of the department of music at the University of Virginia

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

 (1941–1952), and an associate professor of music at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 (1952–1954). While at Virginia he directed the Virginia Glee Club

Virginia Glee Club

The Virginia Glee Club is a critically acclaimed men's chorus based at the University of Virginia. It performs both traditional and contemporary vocal works, typically in TTBB arrangements. Founded in 1871, the Glee Club is the University's oldest musical organization and one of the oldest all-male...

, and commissioned Randall Thompson

Randall Thompson

Randall Thompson was an American composer, particularly noted for his choral works.-Career:He attended Harvard University, became assistant professor of music and choir director at Wellesley College, and received a doctorate in music from the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music...

 to write The Testament of Freedom

The Testament of Freedom

The Testament of Freedom is a four-movement work for men's chorus and piano composed in 1943 by Randall Thompson. It was premiered on April 13, 1943 by the Virginia Glee Club under the direction of Stephen Tuttle; the composer served as pianist. Thompson later orchestrated the piece, and also...

 for the Glee Club in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson.

Tuttle was the son of Baptist missionaries and spent his childhood in the family home of Parkersburg, West Virginia

Parkersburg, West Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 33,099 people, 14,467 households, and 8,767 families residing in the city. In 2006 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that Parkersburg's population had decreased 4.4% to 31,755. The population density was 2,800.5 people per square mile . There were 16,100 housing...

, and in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Tuttle studied music at Denison University

Denison University

Denison University is private, coeducational, and residential college of liberal arts and sciences founded in 1831. It is located in Granville, Ohio, United States, approximately 30 miles east of Columbus, the state capital...

 and Harvard University, where he was the roommate of composer Elliott Carter

Elliott Carter

Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...

; their acquaintance resulted in Carter's composition "To Music." Following his graduation, he taught music at Harvard from 1937 to 1941 before taking the appointment at Virginia, joining the faculty along with Randall Thompson and James E. Berdahl.

After joining the faculty at Virginia, Tuttle collaborated with Randall Thompson, whom he assisted in teaching undergraduate music courses. It was during this time that the commission of a piece in memory of Thomas Jefferson's bicentennial occurred. Tuttle conducted the premiere of The Testament of Freedom on April 13, 1943; the premiere was broadcast over the CBS network and via shortwave to US forces serving overseas in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. In the early 1950s, Tuttle returned to Harvard in the capacity of an associate professor. He died of a heart attack in his home in Cambridge at the age of 47.

Dr. Tuttle was active in the field of Renaissance music, editing volumes of music by Thomas Tomkins

Thomas Tomkins

Thomas Tomkins was an English composer of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. In addition to being one of the prominent members of the English madrigal school, he was a skilled composer of keyboard and consort music, and the last member of the English virginalist school.-Life:Tomkins was born...

  and William Byrd

William Byrd

William Byrd was an English composer of the Renaissance. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard and consort music.-Provenance:Knowledge of Byrd's biography expanded in the late 20th century, thanks largely...

. The Tomkins work was supported by a Guggenheim fellowship that Tuttle won in 1948.