Dan Magnusson (1920-2003)
M. Daniel Magnusson, 82; longtime symphony clarinetist, teacher
By George Varga
POP MUSIC CRITIC
February 15, 2003
M. Daniel Magnusson loved music and the clarinet so much that he devoted countless days and evenings to sharing his twin passions. His tireless devotion made him a standout as both the principal clarinetist in the San Diego Symphony and as a longtime music instructor who taught in various area public schools here and privately.
"I'd marvel as a young person at how Dan could spend a full day teaching and then play an entire symphony program at night," said San Diego Symphony percussionist Jim Plank, a colleague of Magnusson in the orchestra since 1962. "He was a world-class musician, had incredible stamina and was such an important part of the musical community."
Mr. Magnusson died Monday morning in his sleep at the Point Loma home of his son, nationally prominent jazz bassist Bob Magnusson. He was 82.
The cause of death was Parkinson's disease-related pneumonia, his son said. Mr. Magnusson died peacefully in the same home he and his wife of 61 years, Lottie Marie, built for themselves and their three children in 1954. Bob Magnusson and his own family have lived in the Point Loma home since 1985, when Mr. and Mrs. Magnusson moved to a ranch home in Ahwahnee, near Yosemite.
Mr. Magnusson and his wife moved to Ramona in 1990 and lived there until last fall, after which he was in and out of several area nursing homes. His musical accomplishments, which began when he became the San Diego Symphony's principal clarinetist at the age of 18, are still resonating.
"Dan was one of the top clarinetists in the country," said Bob Marr, who performed in the symphony with Mr. Magnusson from 1951 to 1967. "He had tremendous technique and could play and sight-read anything. He was offered positions with the Boston Symphony and the L.A. Philharmonic, but his ties were here, so he declined them."
Mr. Magnusson was born in North Dakota in 1920 and moved to San Diego when he was 2. The son of immigrants from Iceland, he did not learn English until he entered public school here four years later.
He became the symphony's principal clarinetist in 1938, a year after graduating from San Diego High School. It was at the school that he met his future wife. They were married in 1941 and had three children.
An unusually gifted clarinetist, he earned a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music in 1942, but his studies were interrupted a year later when he joined in the Army. "He played in military bands and orchestras throughout the war, and never left the country," Bob Magnusson recalled of his father.
After World War II Mr. Magnusson returned to Juilliard on the GI Bill. He asked the school to give his fellowship, which had remained open, to another student. He graduated in 1948, then enrolled at USC and taught concurrently at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music.
He rejoined the San Diego Symphony in 1951 and was its principal clarinetist until 1967. He continued playing with the orchestra until the late 1970s and also was a member of the San Diego Woodwind Quintet, the San Diego Opera Orchestra and the San Diego Musicians Union Band.
Mr. Magnusson, who earned a master's degree, instilled his love of music in countless students and in his children, who often performed family concerts with him at their Point Loma home while growing up. A devoted avocational winemaker, he once drove as far as Watsonville to purchase a hard-to-acquire varietal grape.
In addition to his wife, Lottie Marie, and son, Bob, he is survived by a daughter, Kaaren Marie Jones of Juniper Hills; a son, Daniel Magnusson of Boulevard; 11 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren..
Services will be at 2 p.m. today at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Ramona. Donations are suggested to the San Diego Clarinet Society, which honored Mr. Magnusson in a musical ceremony last July, and the Parkinson's Disease Association of San Diego.