Vincent Persichetti

Vincent Ludwig Persichetti (June 6, 1915 – August 14, 1987) was an American composer, teacher, and pianist. An important musical educator and writer, Persichetti was a native of Philadelphia. He was known for his integration of various new ideas in musical composition into his own work and teaching, as well as for training many noted composers in composition at the Juilliard School.

His students at Juilliard included Philip Glass, Michael Jeffrey Shapiro, Kenneth Fuchs, Richard Danielpour, Robert Dennis, Peter Schickele, Lowell Liebermann, Robert Witt, Elena Ruehr, Randell Croley, William Schimmel, Leonardo Balada, and Leo Brouwer. He also taught composition to Joseph Willcox Jenkins and conductor James DePreist at the Philadelphia Conservatory.

Life

Persichetti was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1915 and remained a resident of that city throughout his life. Though neither of his parents were musicians, his musical education began early. Persichetti enrolled in the Combs College of Music at the age of five, where he studied piano, organ, double bass and later music theory and composition with Russel King Miller, whom he considered a great influence.

He first performed his original works publicly at the age of 14. By the time he reached his teens, Persichetti was paying for his own education by accompanying and performing. He continued to do so throughout high school, adding church organist, orchestral player and radio staff pianist to his experience. In addition to developing his musical talents, the young Persichetti attended art school and remained an avid sculptor until his death. He attended Combs for his undergraduate education as well. After receiving a bachelor's degree in 1936, he was immediately offered a teaching position.

By the age of 20, Persichetti was simultaneously head of the theory and composition department at Combs, a conducting major with Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute, and a student of piano (with Olga Samaroff) and composition at the Philadelphia Conservatory. He earned a master's degree in 1941 and a doctorate in 1945 from the Conservatory, as well as a conducting diploma from Curtis. In 1941, while still a student, Persichetti headed the theory and composition department as well as the department of postgraduate study at Philadelphia Conservatory.

In 1947, William Schuman offered him a professorship at Juilliard. Persichetti's students included Einojuhani Rautavaara, Leonardo Balada, Steven Gellman, Peter Schickele (P.D.Q. Bach), Michael Jeffrey Shapiro, Larry Thomas Bell, Claire Polin, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Robert Witt (who also studied with Persichetti at the Philadelphia Conservatory) and Philip Glass. He became Editorial Director of the Elkan-Vogel publishing house in 1952.

Music

Persichetti is one of the major figures in American music of the 20th century, both as a teacher and a composer. Notably, his Hymns and Responses for the Church Year has become a standard setting for church choirs. His numerous compositions for wind ensemble are often introductions to contemporary music for high school and college students. His early style was marked by the influences of Stravinsky, Bartók, Hindemith, and Copland before he developed his distinct voice in the 1950s.

Persichetti's music draws on a wide variety of thought in 20th-century contemporary composition as well as Big Band music. His own style was marked by use of two elements he refers to as "graceful" and "gritty": the former being more lyrical and melodic, the latter being sharp and intensely rhythmic. He frequently used polytonality and pandiatonicism in his writing, and his music could be marked by sharp rhythmic interjections, but his embracing of diverse strands of musical thought makes characterizing his body of work difficult. This trend continued throughout his compositional career. His music lacked sharp changes in style over time. (Persichetti once said in an interview in Musical Quarterly that his music was "...not like a woman, that is, it does not have periods!"). He frequently composed while driving in his car, sometimes taping staff paper to the steering wheel.

His piano music forms the bulk of his creative output, with a concerto, a concertino, twelve sonatas, and a variety of other pieces written for the instrument. These were virtuosic pieces as well as pedagogical and amateur-level compositions. Persichetti was an accomplished pianist. He wrote many pieces suitable for less mature performers, considering them to have serious artistic merit.

Persichetti is also one of the major composers for the concert wind band repertoire, with his 14 works for the ensemble. The Symphony No. 6 for band is of particular note as a standard larger work. He wrote one opera, entitled The Sibyl. The music was noted by critics for its color, but the dramatic and vocal aspects of the work were found by some to be lacking.

He wrote nine symphonies, of which the first two were withdrawn (as were the first two symphonies by two other American composers of the late thirties and early forties, William Schuman and Peter Mennin), and four string quartets.

Many of his other works are organized into series. One of these, a collection of primarily instrumental works entitled Parables, contains 25 works, many for unaccompanied wind instruments (complete listing below). His 15 Serenades include such unconventional combinations as a trio for trombone, viola, and cello, as well as selections for orchestra, for band, and for duo piano.

Persichetti frequently appeared as a lecturer on college campuses, for which he was noted for his witty and engaging manner. He wrote the noted music theory textbook, Twentieth Century Harmony: Creative Aspects and Practice, which informed readers such as Robert Fripp.[1] He and Flora Rheta Schreiber wrote a monograph on William Schuman.

Works

Selected works

Complete listing of parables

  • Parable [I] for Flute, Op. 100 (1965)
  • Parable II for Brass Quintet, Op. 108 (1968)
  • Parable III for Oboe, Op. 109 (1968)
  • Parable IV for Bassoon, Op. 110 (1969)
  • Parable V for Carillon, Op. 112 (1969)
  • Parable VI for Organ, Op. 117 (1971)
  • Parable VII for Harp, Op. 119 (1971)
  • Parable VIII for Horn, Op. 120 (1972)
  • Parable IX for Band, Op. 121 (1972)
  • String Quartet No. 4 (Parable X), Op. 122 (1972)
  • Parable XI for Alto Saxophone, Op. 123 (1972)
  • Parable XII for Piccolo, Op. 125 (1973)
  • Parable XIII for Clarinet, Op. 126 (1973)
  • Parable XIV for Trumpet, Op. 127 (1973)
  • Parable XV for English Horn, Op. 128 (1973)
  • Parable XVI for Viola, Op. 130 (1974)
  • Parable XVII for Double Bass, Op. 131 (1974)
  • Parable XVIII for Trombone, Op. 133 (1975)
  • Parable XIX for Piano, Op. 134 (1975)
  • The Sibyl: A Parable of Chicken Little (Parable XX): An Opera in One Act, Op. 135
  • Parable XXI for Guitar, Op. 140 (1978)
  • Parable XXII for Tuba, Op. 147 (1981)
  • Parable XXIII for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Op. 150 (1981)
  • Parable XXIV for Harpsichord, Op. 153 (1982)
  • Parable XXV for Two Trumpets, Op. 164 (1986)

Poems for piano

  1. Unroll the flicker's rousing drum (Louis Untermeyer First Words Before Spring)
  2. Soft is the collied night (James Elroy Flecker Fountains)
  3. Gather for festival bright weed and purple shell (William Watson Songs from Cyprus)
  4. Wake subtler dreams, and touch me nigh to tears (William Watson The Frontier)
  5. Ravished lute, sing to her virgin ears (Robert Fitzgerald Song after Campion)
  6. Whose thin fraud I wink at privily (William Watson The Mock Self)
  1. And warms winds spilled fragrance into her solitudes (Edmond Kowalewski Change)
  2. To whose more clear than crystal voice the frost had joined a crystal spell (Léonie Adams Home Coming)
  3. Sleep, weary mind; dream, heart's desire (Edna St. Vincent Millay There are no islands any more)
  4. Dust in sunlight, and memory in corners (T. S. Eliot A Song for Simeon)
  5. Make me drunken with deep red torrents of joy (John Gould Fletcher Autumnal Clouds)
  1. Rear its frondings sighing in aetherial folds (Hart Crane Royal Palm)
  2. Listen! Can you hear the antic melody of fear those two anxious feet are playing? (Walter Prude)
  3. Puffed out and marching upon a blue sky (Amy Lowell Lilacs)
  4. And hunged like those top jewels of the night (Léonie Adams Twilit Revelation)
  5. Each gay dunce shall lend a hand (John Trumbull The Country Clown)

Piano sonatas

  1. Op. 3
  2. Op. 6
  3. Op. 22
  4. Op. 36
  5. Op. 37
  6. Op. 39
  7. Op. 40
  8. Op. 41
  9. Op. 58
  10. Op. 67
  11. Op. 101
  12. Op. 145 (Mirror Sonata)

List of selected works

Awards and honors

Notes

  1. ↑ Tamm (2001, Chapter Two: The guitarist and the practice of music):
    Tamm, Eric (2003) [1990], Robert Fripp: From crimson king to crafty master (Progressive Ears ed.), Faber and Faber (1990), ISBN 0-571-16289-4, Zipped document in Microsoft Word format, retrieved 25 March 2012
  2. ↑ "The University of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit Recipients".

References

Further reading

External links

Interviews

Listening