Elwell, Herbert

views updated

Elwell, Herbert

Elwell, Herbert, American composer, teacher, and music critic; b. Minneapolis, May 10, 1898; d. Cleveland, April 17, 1974. He studied at the Univ. of Minn.; then took courses with Bloch in N.Y. (1919–21) and Boulanger in Paris (1921–24). He received a Prix de Rome in 1923, and from 1924 to 1927 he held a fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. Returning to the U.S., he held a post as teacher of composition at the Cleveland Inst. of Music (1928–5). From 1932 to 1964 he served as music critic for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Works

B a 1 1 e t : The Happy Hypocrite (1925; orch. suite, Rome, May 21, 1927). ORCH.: The Centaur (1924); Orchestral Sketches (1937); Introduction and Allegro (N.Y., July 12, 1942); Ode (1950); Concert Suite for Violin and Orch. (1957). CHAMBER : Piano Quintet (1923); Violin Sonata (1927); 2 string quartets (1929, 1937); Variations for Violin and Piano (1951); piano pieces, including a Sonata (1926). VOCAL: I Was with Him, cantata for Tenor, Men’s Chorus, and 2 Pianos (1937; Cleveland, Nov. 30, 1942); Blue Symphony for Voice and String Quartet (1944; Cleveland, Feb. 2, 1945); Lincoln: Requiem Aeternam for Baritone, Chorus, and Orch. (1946; Oberlin, Feb. 16, 1947); Pastorale for Voice and Orch. (1947; Cleveland, March 25, 1948); Watch America for Chorus (1951); The Forever Young for Voice and Orch. (Cleveland, Oct. 29, 1953); songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire