Gene Gutchë

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Gene Gutchë (b. Romeo Maximilian Eugene Ludwig Gutchë, Berlin, July 3, 1907 - 2000) was a German composer active primarily in America.

Gutchë earned degrees in business and economics but also studied piano with Ferruccio Busoni. In 1925 he moved to the United States, working in both fields. In the 1950s he attended graduate school in music at the University of Minnesota and the University of Iowa, studying under Philip Greeley Clapp and settling in Minneapolis. He withdrew his early compositions at this time. While much of his work is neo-Romantic, he also experimented with polytonality, serialism, and microtones.

Gutchë also published two books, Music of the People (1968) and Come Prima (1970).

[edit] Works

• 6 symphonies
• 4 string quartets
• Holofernes, orchestral overture, 1958
• Genghis Khan, for winds and double basses, 1964
• Akhenaten (Eidetic Images), 1978
• Other orchestral and chamber works, some choral pieces

[edit] References

• Don Randel. The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Harvard, 1996, p. 341.