Klaus, Kenneth Blanchard

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Klaus, Kenneth Blanchard

Klaus, Kenneth Blanchard, American composer; b. Earlville, Iowa, Nov. 11, 1923; d. Baton Rouge, La., Aug. 4, 1980. He studied violin with Burleigh and Krasner, and composition with Philip Greeley Clapp at the Univ. of Iowa (Ph.D., 1950), and also meteorology at the Univ. of Chicago, serving as a meteorologist in the Army Air Corps during World War II. In 1950 he joined the faculty at La. State Univ. In his works, he applied a sui generis synthesis of expanded tonality verging on serialism. In his vocal compositions, he modernized the medieval device of “sogetto cavato” by deriving a theme from the vowels of letter names. He publ. The Romantic Period in Music (Boston, 1970).

Works

dramatic:Opera: Tennis Anyone? (1957); Crimson Stones. incidental music to:Death of a Salesman (1954).orch.: 6 syms.; several symphonic poems; 2 violin concertos; Flute Concerto; Cello Concerto; Clarinet Concerto; Concerto brevis for Percussion and Orch. (1955); Concerto for Piano, Right-hand, and Orch. chamber: 4 string quartets (1947, 1951, 1957, 1963); Woodwind Quintet; Woodwind Sextet; sonatas.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire