June 6 - Vincent Persichetti (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for June 6th are found here: John Stainer (2019), Siegfried Wagner (2020), Louis Andriessen (2021), Aram Khachaturian (2022), and Lloyd Lindroth (2023)

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Vincent Persichetti (6 June 1915 – 14 August 1987) was an American composer, teacher, and pianist. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five Variations on a Theme of Persichetti

Anyone who has played in a high school or college band/wind ensemble, or has attended the concerts of such, has likely encountered the music of Vincent Persichetti, one of the foremost composers of American wind band music. –Victor Carr Jr., at classicstoday.com

(1)

Persichetti’s music is on hand

To program when you have a concert band.

(2)

Persichetti wrote a mass

Of music scored for winds and brass.

(3)

Persichetti added to the store

Of music in the wind band repertoire.

(4)

Persichetti wrote a bunch of things

For winds and brass, eschewing strings.

(5)

If your son’s in band I’ll bet he

Plays the works of Persichetti.

 

 

 

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December 21 - David Baker (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for December 21st are here: András Schiff; Michael Tilson Thomas (2019), Michael Tilson Thomas (2020), Frank Zappa; Werner von Trapp (2021), and Michael Tilson Thomas (2022)

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David Baker (21 December 1931 – 26 March 2016) was an American jazz composer, conductor, and musician, and educator, best known as a professor of jazz studies at the Indiana University.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baker’s Dozen: A Tribute in Twelve Lines

David Baker, a performer, composer and educator who helped bring jazz studies into the academy at a time when the ivory tower considered the field infra dig… – New York Times obituary, March 29, 2016

In his own quiet way, David Baker

Lives on as a mover and shaker;

He proved from his base at IU

That jazz was a thing you could do

With suitable music school rigor,

And pursued it with affable vigor

In spite of the wild-eyed polemics

Of skeptical school academics;

And in spite of objections he heard

From jazzers who called it absurd,

And predicted that only anemia

Could result from a jazz academia.

 

 

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September 9 - Edward Burlingame Hill (The Musical Birthday Series, 4th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for September 9th are here: Pierre-Laurent Aimard; Michael Bublé (2019), Pierre-Laurent Aimard (2020), and Otis Redding (2021)

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Edward Burlingame Hill (9 September 1872  – 9 July 1960) was an American composer and music professor. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being There

He joined the Harvard faculty in 1908, remaining until his retirement in 1940. His later-famous pupils included Leonard Bernstein, Roger Sessions, Elliott Carter, Walter Piston, Ross Lee Finney, and Virgil Thomson. – Wikipedia 

Though Hill as composer was minor,

By a quirk of the Cosmic Designer,

He taught, in his prime,

At the right place and time,

And his legacy couldn’t be finer.

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Takes: Great Art Repurposed.] 

 

 

 

August 25 - Stefan Wolpe; Undine Smith Moore (The Musical Birthday Series, 3rd Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for August 25th are here: Leonard Bernstein (2019) and (2020)

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Stefan Wolpe (25 August 1902 – 4 April 1972) was a German composer, long resident in the United States.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary 

He later moved to Palestine in 1934–38, where he wrote simple songs for the kibbutzim. The music he was writing for concert performance, however, remained complex and atonal. -- Wikipedia

With Stefan Wolpe one can choose

His early songs with Leftist views,

Or works from Palestine which use

The scales and folk songs of the Jews,

Or follow him as he pursues

Advanced atonal avenues.

Thus Stefan Wolpe paid his dues

To satisfy his restless muse,

♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫

 

Undine Smith Moore (25 August 1904 – 6 February 1989), the "Dean of Black Women Composers," was an American composer and professor of music 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pedagogical Position

Undine Smith Moore was a renowned teacher, and once stated that she experienced “teaching itself as an art.” -- Wikipedia

Sing praises for

Undine Smith Moore!

   Composer-pianist, but the part

Of her career

She held most dear

    Was teaching, in itself an art.

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Takes: Great Art Repurposed.]