Walter Hartley

For the English organist and composer, see Walter Hartley (organist). For the British chemist, see Walter Noel Hartley.

Walter Sinclair Hartley (born February 21, 1927) is an American composer of contemporary (classical) music.

Biography and education

He was born in Washington, D.C., began composing at age five and became seriously dedicated to it at sixteen. All his college degrees are from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester. He received his Ph.D. in composition there in 1953. Some of his teachers were Burrill Phillips, Thomas Canning, Herbert Elwell, Bernard Rogers, Howard Hanson and Dante Fiorillo.

He and the former Sandra Mount have been married since June 17, 1960; they have two daughters and five grandchildren.

Appointments

He is Professor Emeritus of Music at the State University of New York at Fredonia in Fredonia, New York. He also taught piano, theory and composition at the National Music Camp (now Interlochen Arts Camp) in Interlochen, Michigan from 1956 to 1964. He is currently composer-in-residence at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte located in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Musical works

His list of compositions and arrangements is now over 300, dating from 1949 on, and most of these are published. He is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), from which he has received an annual award for achievement in serious music since 1962.

His music has been performed by many ensembles, including the National Symphony Orchestra, Oklahoma City Symphony, Eastman-Rochester Orchestra and the Eastman Wind Ensemble. His Chamber Symphony of 1954 was commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation; his Concert Overture for orchestra received a prize from the National Symphony Orchestra in 1955; and his Sinfonia No. 3 for brass choir won for him the 1964 Conn Award. Since then he has received many commissions from college and high school musical organizations. A lately published orchestral work, Symphony No. 3, was commissioned by the Greater Buffalo (New York) Youth Orchestra; several band works were commissioned by U.S. service bands. There have been many recordings.

He wrote Concerto for 23 Winds at the age of thirty in 1957.

Hartley is also one of the most prolific composers of music for the saxophone.

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