After seven years as president of Lincoln Center, Composer William Schuman last week announced his resignation. The reasons, he said, were purely personal: "I don't want to be a full-time administrator, although unfortunately I'm very good at it. I'm 58 years old, and I hope I have decades of composing time left."
If he stayed on, Schuman admitted, he would have to devote considerably more of his energies to administration and fund raising. And with good reason: Lincoln Center is close to bankruptcy. The 1969 summer festival has been canceled, and the center has decided not to continue financing the...