Biography

Robert Glenn Edge was born in 1938 in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and has lived in Buckhead with his wife, Betty, since the early 1960s. Mr. Edge is recognized by many as the dean of estate planning attorneys in Georgia, but his personal interest and vast education in music is just as impressive. Under the tutelage of the University of Georgia’s Music Department chairman, Hugh Hodgson (1893-1969), Mr. Edge was a child prodigy pianist and continues Hodgson’s “music for everyone” concept with his community involvement, operalogues, and classes sometimes held at his own home in Buckhead. Mr. Edge attended the University of Georgia, where he was valedictorian of his class, Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and Yale University Law School. He has served as President of the Atlanta Music Festival Association, is a board member and former managing director of the Metropolitan Opera Association, and is a trustee of the Carter Center and the University of Georgia Foundation. Mr. Edge is a former partner of the law firm Alston & Bird, with which he has worked for twenty-five years. He is also a former chairman of the University of Georgia Foundation and a former Vice President of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Abstract of Interview

Mr. Edge discusses growing up in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and his early music education that led him to train under Hugh Hodgson. He talks about Mr. Hodgson’s concept of “music for everyone” that has inspired Mr. Edge to hold operalogues, seminars, and classes for all who would like to learn. Mr. Edge talks about discussing with his classmates the issues of integration at both the University of Georgia and Yale University. He also discusses his experiences of being a Rhodes Scholar and studying at Oxford University and attending Yale University for law school. Mr. Edge talks about his job with Alston & Bird as an estate planning lawyer and how he started in Atlanta, including where he first lived in the city. Along with his career, Mr. Edge discusses raising a family in Buckhead, his work with the Metropolitan Opera Association, and his quest to teach music to all who desire to learn. Mr. Edge also outlines how Buckhead has changed since he first moved to Atlanta in 1965, how support for President Jimmy Carter’s early political career was present among Buckhead residents, and Mr. Edge’s own work with the Carter Center.

Transcript forthcoming.

Video

Bob Edge discusses how he was introduced to Warren Little, the first flutist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and Hugh Hodgson, the chairman of the music department at the University of Georgia, when he was young and how his relationships with those musicians changed his life.

The following is an excerpt of Bob Edge’s operalogue on Jules Massenet’s Manon in his Buckhead home. Bob’s operalogues are a continuation of Hugh Hodgson’s “music for everyone” legacy.

Visit YouTube to view additional video excerpts from our Oral History Project.