Meet Dr. Dwight Gustafson—Christian Renaissance Man
(click on orange link above for videos about him and his music)
Dr. Gus, as he was affectionately called,
was Dean of the School of Fine Arts at Bob Jones University for over 40 years. The Lord fitted him for that work in amazing ways. He was an able administrator and he intimately knew all the arts. He was truly a Renaissance man. He was an artist. He was an actor. He was a singer. He was the conductor of the University Symphony orchestra for decades. He was a talented composer and arranger. And he was a lay preacher.
As a faculty kid,
music camper, music major, and faculty member, I observed Dr. Gus for decades. I thrilled to hear him sing, whether it was “Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head” or it was portraying Dulcamara in Elixir of Love. I enjoyed his whole-hearted acting as Falstaff in Henry V. Even before I was a member of his orchestra his conducting of oratorios, operas, and symphonies shaped my appreciation for excellence and beauty.
I joined his orchestra, the BJU Symphony, at age 17. He made me, the little runt of the group, feel welcome. He was so good at not only getting us to play professionally, but to love the pieces we were studying. We performed a major opera every year, many oratorios, many symphonies and shorter orchestral works, and many other choral-orchestral works.
My happiest memories
of orchestra though, are the orchestra tours. We travelled to churches and Christian schools, presenting very fine sacred orchestral works that he had written or arranged. He had a burden to pass on to young people the love for excellence in worshipping the Lord. We had many fun experiences, including culinary ones—from being served fried chicken four days in a row, to being served two large suppers in one evening, to eating sack lunches at a truck stop.
My very first orchestra tour, when I was a freshman, we travelled to New England, and worked our way back down the East Coast. The last day of tour, I was very sick. I mean, we made sure we had a bag handy when I got on the bus. Not to sit, but to lie down on the fold down bed. That would have been embarrassing, because it was right inside the door, but I didn’t care. Dr. Gus sat in the seat right at my head and was very kind. It worked out well except when he pulled out some Spanish Peanuts, and the smell almost caused a problem for me! Anyway, when we got back to campus, Dr. Gus instructed the bus driver to head directly for my home, back campus. Somehow I got down the stairs of the bus, but before I started up the driveway, I felt myself being lifted up (I was 50 pounds lighter than I am now!) and Dr. Gus carried me into the house and laid me on my own bed!
Dr. Gus was committed
to excellence and to the Lord’s cause of Christian fine arts because he was committed to the Lord. He could have made much money and been at the top of his field if the Lord had led him that way. But the Lord had a better plan—to use him to shape and mold thousands of lives. Dr. Gus was content to live in a small house and receive small remuneration for his work. In return, the Lord blessed him abundantly and in heaven his reward is great.
Dr. Gus’s compositions encompass a wide variety of genres. He wrote classical and sacred pieces for orchestra, brass choir, string quartet, vocal solo, and choir. He wrote a violin concerto. He wrote several one-act operas and one longer opera, Simeon. An excerpt from that is below. He was commissioned to write an orchestral work by the Williamsburg, VA, Symphonia to celebrate Wiliamsburg’s 300th birthday. His soundtracks for the BJU feature-length films are widely known, including Flame in the Wind, Sheffey, and The Printing. But it is Dr. Gus’s sacred works that are his best gift to us. He left many excellent symphony and string orchestra hymn arrangements, as well as many hymns he wrote in collaboration with Dr. Bob Jones, Jr. My very favorite of them is Crimson Drops Outflowing.
By the way, when you click on the main link above, and listen to the String Quartet playing Songs of the Kings, look really close at the second violinist…..
Here are some links to a very small sampling of his musical output. Listen often!!
Various musical selections from Dr. Gus
Sampling of the soundtrack to Flame in the Wind
Songs of Deliverance (three Psalm settings, with Dr. Gus explaining parts of it)