Merrill Leroy Ellis

Merrill Leroy Ellis
Born 9 December 1916
Cleburne, Texas, US
Died 12 July 1981 (aged 64)
Denton, TX
Alma mater University of Oklahoma
Occupation composer and academic
Employer University of North Texas College of Music

Merrill Leroy Ellis (9 December 1916, Cleburne, Texas – 12 July 1981, Denton, Texas) was an American composer, performer, and experimental music researcher. He is most known for his work with electronic (analog) and intermedia compositions, new compositional techniques, development of new instruments, and exploration of new notation techniques for scoring and performance.[1]

Education

Ellis studied privately with Roy Harris, Spencer Norton (b. 1909; d. 1978), and Charles Garland (University of Missouri).

Career

Merrill Ellis taught music theory and composition during the 1950s at the Joplin Junior College (now Missouri Southern State University) in Joplin Missouri.

Ellis founded the electronic music program at the University of North Texas College of Music shortly after he began teaching there in 1962. North Texas acquired its first Moog Machine for use in Merrill Ellis' studio, late 1965.[2] Ellis was a pioneer in composing and performing live multimedia music on Moogs from the mid to late 1960s. He worked with Robert Moog to design the second Moog synthesizer ever made to be portable for him and his doctoral students to use during performances. Robert Moog gave a nod to Ellis by naming this second model the E-II. It was Moog's second synthesizer and Ellis' second Moog. In March 1970, a Tucson newspaper (Tucson Daily Citizen) mentioned that he had brought a Moog (smaller than the North Texas studio model) for a live performance of Kaleidoscope.

The electronic music center at North Texas was one of the few in the southwest in the early 1960s. According to Ellis in a 1970 interview, Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center (in New York City) was the largest and oldest. Yale University, University of Toronto, and University of Illinois had prolific computer music labs, too.[3]

The Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia (CEMI) at North Texas is an outgrowth of his accomplishments. When the College of Music designed and erected a new music complex in the late 1970s, a "new music" theater was designed and named "The Merrill Ellis Intermedia Theater" or "MEIT."

Selected compositions

Instrumental works

Scores

Film/TV

Awards & honors

Ellis became a member of ASCAP in 1966.[6]

Other publications

Merrill Ellis Memorial Composition Scholarship recipients

Selected discography

Merrill Ellis, Kaleidoscope, for Orchestra, Synthesizer, and Soprano – Joan Wall, soprano
George Crumb, Echos of Time and the River †
originally released 1974 (LP), Louisville Orchestra First Edition Recordings LS711
Crystal Records (2004)
Natalia Bolshakova (piano)
Crystal Records CD764 (Dec 1, 2004)
Track 10 – Ellis: Trumpet Piece
† Crumb, who shares the album with Ellis, won the 1968 Pulitzer Prize in Music for this composition

Videos

References

General references

Inline citations

  1. ↑ Elsa Gonzalez, Ellis, Merrill, Handbook of Texas Online
  2. ↑ Various Cultural Programs Brighten Year in Denton, The Denton Record-Chronicle, pg 2, Section 7, Jan 30, 1966
  3. ↑ Dan Pavillard, Deedle, Blat, Zonk, Beep, Urk, To Star in Festival Opener, The Tucson Daily Citizen, March 29, 1970
  4. ↑ Marsue M. Haviland, née McFadden – surnames from former marriages: Burns, Johnson; Obituary: Marsue (McFadden) Johnson – Haviland, The Daily Courier, Aug 22, 2007
  5. ↑ Ellis to Play with Symphony, The Denton Record-Chronicle, Nov 9, 1973
  6. ↑ ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, fourth edition, compiled for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers by Jaques Cattell Press, New York, R.R. Bowker (1980)

External links