Elston, Arnold

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Elston, Arnold

Elston, Arnold, American composer; b. N.Y., Sept. 30, 1907; d. Vienna, June 6, 1971. He studied harmony and counterpoint with Goldmark in N.Y. and took courses at City Coll. (B.A., 1930) and Columbia Univ. (M.A., 1932); after composition studies with Webern in Vienna (1932–35), he continued his training at Harvard Univ. (Ph.D., 1939), while concurrently studying conducting with Fiedler in Boston (1939). He taught at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Mass. (1939–0), the Univ. of Ore. (1941–58), and the Univ. of Calif, at Berkeley (1958–71). He wrote the books Music and Medicine (1948) and A Modern Guide to Symphonic Music (1966).

Works

DRAMATIC Opera : Sweeney Agonistes, chamber opera (1948–50); The Love of Don Perlimplin (1957–58). ORCH.: Suite (1931); Prelude, Paean and Furioso for Orch. (1967–71). CHAMBER: 2 string quartets (1932, 1961); Variations for String Quartet (1934); Piano trio (1967); piano music. VOCAL: Chorus for Survival, chamber cantata for Soprano, Baritone, Chorus, and 7 Instruments (1954–55); Great Age, Behold Us, cantata for Chorus and Orch. (1965–66).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire