The Harvard Glee Club Medal is an award for figures in the world of music who have made outstanding contributions in the field of choral music. It was first presented to Dr. Archibald T. Davison, first full-time conductor of the Harvard Glee club, in 1951. The medal itself was sculptured by Joseph Coletti, ’23, a Glee Club Alumnus, and bears the following line from Milton’s l’Allegro: “Untying all the chains that tie the hidden soul of harmony.”

Since 1951, the medal has been awarded to many musicians:

• Dr. Archibald T. Davison, 1951
• Dr. Charles Munch, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1955
• Nadia Boulanger, teacher, conductor, and First Lady of European music, 1956
• Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, 1956
• Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer, 1956
• Dr. Albert Schweitzer, author & humanitarian musician, 1957
• Randall Thompson, composer and professor of music at Harvard University, 1957
• G. Wallace Woodworth, professor of music at Harvard University and Conductor Emeritus of the Harvard Glee Club, 1958
• Aaron Copland, 1965
• Walter Piston, 1965
• Elliott C. Carter, 1967 (& 2008)
• Elliot Forbes, 1970
• Carlton P. Fuller, 1976
• Robert L. Shaw, 1977
• F. John Adams, 1978
• Lorna Cooke de Varon, 1987
• Helmuth Rilling, 1989
• John R. Ferris, 1990
• Sir David Willcocks, 1992
• William Christie, 2002
• Dominick Argento, 2008
• Jameson N. Marvin, 2010
• Sir John Eliot Gardiner CBE, 2015
• Alice Parker, 2015