Lukas Foss

Lukas Foss , 1922-, American composer, pianist, and conductor, b. Berlin as Lukas Fuchs. He came to the United States in 1937, studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, and became a citizen in 1942. His composition Four Inventions, for piano, was published when he was 15. In 1957, while professor of composition at the Univ. of California, Los Angeles, he founded the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble, which performed many of his experimental works. From 1963 to 1971 he was music director and conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, where he became noted for performing avant-garde compositions. Teaching at the State Univ. of New York at Buffalo during this period, he also founded (1963) its Center for Creative and Performing Arts. In 1971 he was named music director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, remaining in the post until 1990; from 1981 to 1986 he also was the conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

As a composer, Foss has created a wide variety of works in a great many musical forms. He was initially influenced by American composers, notably Aaron Copland , and produced traditional works such as The Tempest (1942), an orchestral suite; The Prairie (1944), a cantata based on Carl Sandburg 's poem; and Griffelkin (1955), an opera. His later interest in improvisational techniques and aleatory music is reflected in such works as his chamber piece Elytres (1964). Still later, he turned to minimalism and a postmodern eclecticism, as in his Renaissance Concerto (1986).

Bibliography: See K. L. Perone, Lukas Foss: A Bio-Bibliography (1991).

Foss, Lukas [ Lukas Fuchs] (b Berlin, 1922). Ger.-born Amer. composer, pianist, and conductor. Settled in USA 1937. Pianist, Boston SO 1944–50. Worked in Rome 1950–2. Prof. of comp., UCLA, 1953–62. Cond. Buffalo PO 1963–70; Brooklyn PO 1971–90; Jerusalem SO 1972–5; mus. dir. Milwaukee SO 1981–6. Foss's mus. is both traditional and experimental, the latter employing indeterminacy though scores are wholly notated. In his Baroque Variations, on themes by Bach, Handel, and Scarlatti, the method of ‘composition by deletion’ is used in an effective and sophisticated manner. Works incl.:OPERAS: The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (after Mark Twain) (1950); Griffelkin (TV, 1955); Introductions and Goodbyes (1959).BALLET: Gift of the Magi (1945).ORCH.: sym. (1945); pf. conc. No.1 (1944, orig. cl. conc. 1941–2), No.2 (1949, rev. 1953); ob. conc. (1950); Time Cycle, sop., orch. (1960); vc. concert (vc., orch., tape) (1967); Baroque Variations (1967); Paradigm perc., gui., 3 other optional instr. (1968); Orpheus, vn., va. or vc., orch. (1972), rev. as Orpheus and Euridice, 2 vn., orch. (1984); Solomon Rossi Suite (1975); Night Music for John Lennon, brass quintet, orch. (1981); Exeunt (1982); Renaissance Concerto, fl., orch. (1986); sym. No.3 (Symphony of Sorrows) (1988); cl. conc. No.2 (1989); American Landscapes, gui. conc. (1989); Celebration (1990).VOCAL & CHORAL: The Prairie (1944); A Parable of Death (1952); Psalms (1956); Time Cycle, sop., ens. (1960); American Cantata, ten., ch., orch. (1976); 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, sop. or mez., fl., pf., perc. (1978); Round a Common Centre, v. and ens. (1979); De Profundis (1983); With Music Strong, mixed ch., ens. (1988).CHAMBER MUSIC: str. qts.: No.1 (1947), No.2 (1973), No.3 (1975); Composer's Holiday, vn., pf. (1944); Capriccio, vc., pf. (1946); Echoi, for cl., vc., perc., pf. (1961–3); Elytres, for fl., vns., pf., hp., perc. (1964); Cave of the Winds, ww. quintet with multiphones (1972); brass quintet (1978); Curriculum Vitae with Time Bomb, accordeon, perc. (1980); perc. qt. (1983); hn. trio (1984); Embros, various ens. (1985); Tashi, 6 instr. (1986); Central Park Reel, vn., pf. (1989).PIANO: Solo (1981); Solo Observed (1982); Elegy for Anne Frank (1989).