Ron Nelson

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Ron Nelson is a composer of both classical and popular music and a retired music academic.

He was born in Joliet, Illinois, on December 14, 1929. After earning bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York, he went to Paris on a Fulbright Scholarship, where he studied at the Ecole Normale de Musique and the Paris Conservatory.

In 1956, Nelson joined the faculty of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he served as chairman of the music department from 1963 to 1973, retiring in 1993. Nelson's works for orchestra, band, and chorus have been widely performed.

Nelson was awarded the Acuff Chair of Excellence in the Creative Arts in 1991, the first musician to hold the chair. His Passacaglia (Homage on B-A-C-H) was the first piece to win all three major wind band composition prizes during one period—the National Band Association Prize, the American Bandmasters Association Ostwald Prize, and the Sudler International Prize. He was awarded the Medal of Honor by the John Philip Sousa Foundation in 1994.

Conductor Leonard Slatkin may have described Ron Nelson best: "Nelson is the quintessential American composer. He has the ability to move between conservative and newer styles with ease. The fact that he's a little hard to categorize is what makes him interesting."


Contents

[edit] Selected Works

[edit] Orchestral Works

  • 1955 Savannah River Holiday
  • 1960 Aspen Jubilee
  • 1961 Toccata for Orchstra
  • 1969 Trilogy: JFK-MLK-RFK for orchestra and tape
  • 1976 Five Pieces after Paintings by Andrew Wyeth
    1. Winter 1946
    2. Young America
    3. Christina's World
    4. The Drifter
    5. The Patriot

[edit] Works for Wind Ensemble

  • 1958 Mayflower Overture
  • 1969 Rocky Point Holiday
  • 1982 Fanfare for a Celebration
  • 1982 Medieval Suite
    1. Homage to Leonin
    2. Homage to Perotin
    3. Homage to Machaut
  • 1985 Te Deum Laudamus for chorus (SATB) and wind ensemble
  • 1988 Danza Capriccio for solo alto saxophone and wind ensemble
  • 1989 Morning Alleluias
  • 1992 Passacaglia (Homage on B-A-C-H)
  • 1994 Epiphanies - Fanfares and Chorales
  • 1994 Sonoran Desert Holiday
  • 1995 Courtly Airs and Dances
    1. Intrada
    2. Basse Dance
    3. Pavane
    4. Saltarello
    5. Sarabande
    6. Allemande
  • 1999 Fanfare for the new Millennium for symphonic band and two antiphonal brass choirs
  • 2006 Pastorale: Autumn Rune

[edit] Stage works

  • 1954 Dance in Ruins Ballet
  • 1955-1956 The Birthday of the Infanta Opera for Chamber Orchestra
  • 1981 Hamaguchi Opera for Chamber Ensemble

[edit] Chamber Music

  • 1982 Kristen's Song for Violin, Flute, and Organ
  • 1983 And the Moon Rose Golden for Cello and Piano

[edit] Choral Music

  • 1958 Three Mountain Ballads for women's chorus, harp, and flute
    1. He's Gone Away
    2. Will He Remember?
    3. Barbara Allen
  • 1958 Choral Fanfare for Easter for mixed chorus and narrator
  • 1960 Fanfare for a Festival for mixed chorus, brass and timpani
  • 1963 Triumphal Te Deum for double chorus, brass, organ, and percussion
  • 1964 Oratorio: What is Man? in three movements, for narrator, soprano solo and baritone solo, mixed chorus, and orchestra
  • 1969 Alleluia, July 20, 1969 for mixed chorus
  • 1972 Prayer of Emperor of China on the Altar of Heaven, December 21, 1539 for mixed chorus and ensemble
  • 1981 Mass of Saint LaSalle for mixed chorus, organ, mallet instruments, pianos, and percussion
    1. Kyrie
    2. Gloria
    3. Sanctus
    4. Agnus Dei
  • 1983 Three Settings of the Moon for women's chorus (SA), piano, marimba, and glockenspiel
    1. The Moon Does Not Sleep
    2. Autumn Lullaby
    3. Ask the Moon
  • 2001 Proclaim this Day for Music for mixed chorus, brass, and percussion

[edit] References