Kirchner, Leon
Kirchner, Leon
Kirchner, Leon, distinguished American composer, pedagogue, conductor, and pianist, b. N.Y., Jan. 24, 1919. He began piano lessons when he was 4. In 1928 the family moved to Los Angeles, where he continued his piano training. While attending Los Angeles City Coll., he began to compose. He studied composition with Schoenberg at the Univ. of Calif, at Los Angeles (1938–39), and then theory with Albert Elkus and Edward Strickland at the Univ. of Calif, at Berkeley (B.A., 1940). In 1942 he had private lessons with Sessions in N.Y. Following service in the U.S. Army (1943–46), he pursued postgraduate studies with Bloch and Sessions at the Univ. of Calif, at Berkeley (1946; M.A., 1949). In 1946-47 he taught there. He also taught at the San Francisco Cons, of Music. From 1950 to 1954 he was on the faculty of the Univ. of Southern Calif, at Los Angeles. In 1954 he became the first Luther Brusie Marchant Prof, at Mills Coll. in Oakland, Calif. In 1961 he joined the faculty of Harvard Univ., where he served as the Walter Bigelow Rosen Prof, of Music from 1966 until his retirement in 1989. He also conducted the Harvard Chamber Players (from 1973) and the Harvard Chamber Orch. (from 1978), and was engaged as a guest conductor and as a pianist with orchs. in the U.S. and overseas. Kirchner received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1948-9, and again in 1949-50. He won the N.Y. Music Critics Circle Award for his 1st (1950) and 2nd(1960) string quartets, and the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his 3rd string quartet (1967). In 1962 he was made a member of both the National Inst. of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1994 he received a Kennedy Center Friedheim Award. Kirchner has followed a thoroughly contemporary but independent course as a composer. His finely crafted scores are notable for their linear chromaticism, asymmetric rhythms, and lyricism.
Works
dramatic:Opera: Lily (1973-76; N.Y., April 14, 1977, composer conducting; also as Lily for Soprano, Chamber Orch., and Tape, N.Y., March 11, 1973). orchPiece for Piano and Orch. (1946); Sinfonia (1951; N.Y., Jan. 31, 1952); 2 piano concertos: No. 1 (1953; N.Y., Feb. 23, 1956, composer soloist) and No. 2 (Seattle, Oct. 28, 1963, composer conducting); Toccata for Strings, Solo Winds, and Percussion (1955; San Francisco, Feb. 16, 1956); Concerto for Violin, Cello, 10 Winds, and Percussion (Baltimore, Oct. 16, 1960, composer conducting); Music (N.Y., Oct. 16, 1969, composer conducting); Music for Flute and Orch. (Indianapolis, Oct. 20, 1978); Music II (1990); Music for Cello and Orch. (Philadelphia, Oct. 16, 1992). chamber: Duo for Violin and Piano (1947); 3 string quartets: No. 1 (1949; N.Y., March 1950), No. 2 (1958), and No. 3, with Tape (1966; N.Y., Jan. 27, 1967); Sonata Concertante for Violin and Piano (N.Y., Nov. 30, 1952); 2 trios for Violin, Cello, and Piano: No. 1 (Pasadena, Calif., Nov. 30, 1954) and No. 2 (N.Y., Dec. 14, 1993); Fanfare for Brass Trio (1965; also for Flute and Optional Percussion, 1977, and as Fanfare II for 7 Instruments, 1985); Flutings for Paula for Flute and Optional Percussion (1973; rev. 1977); Music for 12 for Chamber Ensemble (Boston, Feb. 17, 1985, composer conducting); Illuminations, fanfare for 9 Instruments for the 350th anniversary of Harvard Univ. (Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 4, 1986); For Cello Solo (1986; Charleston, S.C., May 28, 1988); 2 pieces for Violin: No. 1 (Indianapolis, Sept. 13, 1986) and No. 2 (1988; Washington, D.C., Jan. 22, 1989); 2 Duos for Violin and Cello (1988); Triptych for Violin and Cello (Tanglewood, Aug. 17, 1988; comprised of For Cello Solo and 2 Duos for Violin and Cello). Piano: Sonata (1948; N.Y., March 1949); Litte Suite (1949); A Moment for Roger (1978); 5 Pieces (Boston, March 7, 1987); Interlude (N.Y., Nov. 11, 1989); For the Left Hand (N.Y., Dec. 6, 1995). vocal:Dawn for Chorus and Organ (1943-46; N.Y., Feb. 1946); Words from Wordsworth for Chorus (1966); Lily for Soprano, Chamber Orch., and Tape (N.Y., March 11, 1973; based on the opera); The Twilight Stood, song cycle for Soprano and Piano (Charleston, S.C., June 1, 1982); Of Things Exactly As They Are for Soprano, Baritone, Chorus, and Orch. (Boston, Sept. 26, 1997).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire