Milton Adolphus
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| Milton Adolphus | |
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| Born | Irving Milton Adolphus January 27, 1913 Bronx, New York |
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| Died | August 16, 1988 (aged 75) Harwich, Massachusetts |
| Education | Yale University |
| Spouse | Elena Watnik (1913-2005) |
| Children | Stephen Harris Adolphus |
Irving Milton Adolphus (January 27, 1913 – August 16, 1988) [1] was a pianist and American classical music composer.
His classical compositions include over 200 orchestral, vocal and chamber works, among them 13 symphonies and 31 string quartets. Under contract to Victor Records, who assigned credit to Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt, in 1930 or 1931 he composed the music for the popular song Dream a Little Dream of Me.[citation needed] In 1935 he moved to Philadelphia where he studied composition with Rosario Scalero. He was also a founding member of the American Composers Alliance (of which Aaron Copland was the first president); involved extensively with The Curtis Institute of Music; and active in the US civil rights movement. The BMI Foundation gives an annual award in his name. He married Elena Watnik (1913-2005)[2], and had a son, Stephen Harris Adolphus.[3]
During the 1920s and early 1930s, he played with many jazz bands and orchestras in the Vaudeville circuit in New York's Catskill Mountains and in New York City, including Ving Merlin. During the 1930s, he was an arranger for Glen Gray's Casa Loma Orchestra, and arranged their theme song, "Smoke Rings."
In 1938, he moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where he worked for the Department of Labor and Industry of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania until his retirement in West Harwich, Massachusetts, where he organized the Chatham Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.[4]
Some of his works show a measure of sophisticated humor: "Bitter Suite" for oboe, 4 clarinets and strings, 1955; "Petits Fours," for cello and piano, 1960; "Trio Prosaico," for violin, horn and piano, Opus 147. [5]
[edit] Major Classical Works
- Birthday Suite, Op 87
- Bitter Suite, Op 98
- Bouncettino, Op 73
- Bouncettino [for] viola and piano, Op 78
- Cape Cod Suite, Op 200
- Dream World, Op 90
- Elegy, Op 46
- Elegy, Op 81
- Five Vignettes, for Piano, Op 94
- Improvisation For Vla & Pf, Op 61
- Interlude, Op 96
- Lilacs, Op 95
- Opus 93
- Opus 99, For Piano, With Flute Or Clarinet
- Septet, Op 39
- Septet in F# minor for oboe (or flute), 3 violins, 2 violas, 1 v-cello, Op 39a
- String Octet #2, Op 175
- String Quartet #8, in E Minor, Op 41
- String Quartet 10, Op 4
- String Quartet 13, Op 63
- String Quartet 14, Op 65
- String Quartet 15, Op 67
- String Quartet 16 (Indian), Op 69
- String Quartet 17, Op 70
- String Quartet 18, Op 72
- String Quartet 20, Op 80
- String Quartet 21, Op 84
- String Quartet 23, Op 91
- Tribach, Op 101
- Wind Quartet, Op 20
[edit] References
- ^ Social Security Death Index; Milton Adolphus; 204-03-9597
- ^ Social Security Death Index; Elena Adolphus; 161-07-0736
- ^ "Helene Sashin, Stephen Adolphus", New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "Helene Joyce Sashin, a vice president of the NPD Group, a market research company in Port Washington, N.Y., is to be married today to Stephen Harris Adolphus, the dean of the school of general studies at Touro College in New York. Rabbi Charles Lippman is to perform the ceremony at the Manhattan Penthouse. ... Mr. Adolphus is also the vice president for community education at Touro. He graduated from Yale University, from which he also received a master's degree in urban studies. He is the son of Elena Adolphus of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the late Milton Adolphus, a classical composer who was a founding member of the American Composers' Alliance, which supports contemporary works. The bridegroom's previous marriage ended in divorce"
- ^ Chatham Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, "The Miracle on Main Street"; [1]
- ^ American Composers Alliance; Milton Adolphus
