Stephen Truelove
Stephen Nathan Truelove (born September 26, 1946) is an American composer, teacher, and pianist.
Life
Truelove was born in Hobart, Oklahoma, and studied composition at the University of Tulsa, where he received an M.M. in 1970. He attended the Naropa Institute in 1974 and 1975, and the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in 1982 where he participated in Herbert Henck’s piano master class. In 1984 he completed a DMA in piano performance at the University of Oklahoma, with a dissertation on Karlheinz Stockhausen's Klavierstück XI, a score whose sketches he had researched in the composer’s archive in 1980 (Truelove 1998, 190).
Musical style
His compositions include music for solo and duo piano, orchestra, song cycles, choral music, chamber music, music for ballet, music for film, electronic and computer music, improvisational scores, and a mixed-media chamber opera, Flowers and Butterflies. A work for soprano, narrator, clarinet, piano, and mixed media, Father Sun/Mother Earth, was extracted from the chamber opera in 1993 (Druhan 2003, 22, 119).
His musical style is eclectic, with elements recalling Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Moisei Vainberg, George Antheil, Morton Feldman, and Giacinto Scelsi, amongst others (Nordin n.d.).
He won First Prize The New Music Forum of Houston Composition Competition 1986, and a Silver Medal in the 1983 International Piano Recording Competition. Truelove has taught piano and composition at Southern Oregon University.
Writings
- 1984. "Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Klavierstück XI: An Analysis of Its Composition via a Matrix System of Serial Polyphony and the Translation of Rhythm into Pitch. " D.M.A. dissertation, Norman: University of Oklahoma.
- 1998. "The Translation of Rhythm into Pitch in Stockhausen’s Klavierstück XI." Perspectives of New Music 36, no. 1 (Winter): 189–220.
- 2008. "Unitary Transformational Music Composition: Confrontation With Infinity." Published privately by the author.
Compositions (selective list)
- Oyez, for solo flute (1964)
- Fortspinnung, for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn, optionally with piano or amplified harpsichord (1966)
- Treatise, for piano and chamber orchestra (1970)
- Grok, for 3 or more musicians (1972)
- Fortspinnung II, for 2 pianos, flute, clarinet, and violin (1974)
- After Sesshin (Homage to Stockhausen, for Buchla synthesizer (1974)
- Cosmic Gunshots, for Buchla synthesizer (1974)
- Quartet: Chronological Historical Elucidation as Manifestation of a Point in Space-Time, for 2 pianos, synthesizer, and electronic tape (1969–76)
- Requiem, for 3 violins (1982)
- Mosaics, for piano (1986)
- Mosaic Constellations, for 2 pianos and 3 or 4 optional instruments with sound projection (1986)
- Four Poems by Two Poets, for soprano and piano (1990)
- Karma Music, for NeXT computer (1991)
- Flowers and Butterflies, chamber opera for soprano, speaker, clarinet, piano and 2 screens with film and photos (1989–1993)
- Past the Equinox, for piano (1993)
- Piano Piece 1999: Reflections, for piano (1999)
- Broken Song, for solo horn (2001)
- Preludium and Chakratour, for string quartet (2001)
- Three Songs to Poems by Frank Anderton, for soprano and piano (2001)
- Waves, for horn, 2 trumpets, trombone, and tuba (2002)
- Campanology in Memoriam Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi, for temple bells in electronic media (2002)
- Unity String Quintet for Five Woodwinds, for flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, and bassoon (2006)
- Responsorium, for 4 vocal groups (2009)
- Klang 22, for flute and octophonic electronic media with sound projection (2009)
- Klang 23, for clarinet and octophonic electronic media with sound projection (2009)
- Klang 24, for oboe, English horn, bassoon and octophonic electronic media with sound projection (2009)
References
- Druhan, Mary Alice. 2003. "A Performer's Guide to Multimedia Compositions for Clarinet and Visuals: A Tutorial Focusing on Works by Joel Chadabe, Merrill Ellis, William O. Smith, and Reynold Weidenaar". DMA diss. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University.
- McCoy, W. U. 1980. "A View from the Audience". The Oklahoman (Sunday, October 5).
- Nordin, Ingvar Loco. n.d. "Stephen Truelove: Selected Chamber Music". Sunoloco Reviews (Accessed May 11, 2014).
- Truelove, Stephen. 1998. "The Translation of Rhythm into Pitch in Stockhausen’s Klavierstück XI." Perspectives of New Music 36, no. 1 (Winter): 189–220.
- Ward, Charles. 1987. "'New Music' Composition Makes Debut". Houston Chronicle (Monday, February 9).