Perle, George
Perle, George
Perle, George, eminent American composer, music theorist, and pedagogue; b. Bayonne, N.J., May 6,1915. Following training in composition and theory with La Violette at DePaul Univ. in Chicago (graduated, 1938), he pursued private lessons in composition with Krenek (1939–41) and obtained his M.M. degree at the American Cons. of Music in Chicago (1942). Later he studied musicology with Sachs, Reese, and Bernstein at N.Y.U. (Ph.D., 1956). In 1941 Perle founded the New Music Group of Chicago with Robert Erickson and Ben Weber. After teaching music history and composition at the Univ. of Louisville (1949–57), he was prof. of theory and composition at the Univ. of Calif, at Davis (1957–61) and at Queens Coll. of the City Univ. of N.Y. (1961–85). With Hans Redlich and Igor Stravinsky, he organized the International Alban Berg Soc. in 1968. He was composer-in-residence at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood (summers, 1967,1980, and 1987), of the San Francisco Sym. (1989–91), and at the Marlboro (Vt.) Music Festival (summer, 1993). Among his positions as a visiting prof. were the Birge-Cary Prof. of Music at the State Univ. of N.Y. at Buffalo (1971–72), the Visiting Ernest Bloch Prof. of Music at the Univ. of Calif, at Berkeley (1989), and the Visiting Distinguished Prof. of Music at N.Y.U. (1994). In 1966–67 and 1974–75 he held Guggenheim fellowships. In 1977 he received an award from the American Academy and Inst. of Arts and Letters, and was elected to its membership in 1978. The first vol. of his study The Operas of Alban Berg (Berkeley, 1980) was honored with the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award and the Kinkeldey Award of the American Musicological Soc. in 1981. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985. His 4th wind quintet was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1986, the same year he was named a Mac-Arthur fellow. Perle was one of the earliest American serialists, and one of the most innovative. He developed a highly personal and distinctive “12- tone tonality,” one made notable by expert craftsmanship.
Writings
Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music ofSchoenberg and Webern (Berkeley, 1962; 6th ed., 1991); Twelve-Tone Tonality (Berkeley, 1977; 2nd ed., 1995); The Operas of Alban Berg (2 vols., Berkeley, 1980,1985); The Listening Composer (Berkeley, 1990); The Right Notes: 23 Selected Essays on 20th-Century Music (Hillsdale, N.Y., 1994); Style and Idea in the Lyric Suite of Alban Berg (Hillsdale, N.Y., 1995).
Works
dramatic:The Birds, incidental music to Aristophanes’ play (Berkeley, Sept. 28,1961). orch.: 3 Movements (1960; Amsterdam, June 14,1963); Serenade No. 1 for Viola and Chamber Orch. (N.Y., May 10, 1962), No. 2 for 11 Players (1968; Washington, D.C., Feb. 28,1969), and No.3 for Piano and Chamber Ensemble (N.Y., Dec. 14, 1983); 6 Bagatelles (1965; Riverhead, N.Y., Nov. 18,1977); Cello Concerto (1966; N.Y., Nov. 14, 1987); Concertino for Piano, Winds, and Timpani (Chicago, April 20,1979); A Short Symphony (Tanglewood, Aug. 16,1980); Dance Overture, renamed Dance Fantasy (1986; Houston, May 16, 1987); New Fanfares for Brass Ensemble (Tanglewood, Aug. 1, 1987); Lyric Intermezzo for 15 Players (Seattle, Nov. 8, 1987); Sinfonietta I (1987; St. Paul, Minn., Jan. 29, 1988) and II (San Francisco, Feb. 19, 1990); 2 piano concertos: No. 1 (1990; San Francisco, Jan. 24,1991) and No. 2 (1991; Columbus, Ohio, Jan. 28, 1992); Adagio (1992; N.Y., April 13, 1993); Transcendental Modulations (1993; N.Y., Nov. 21, 1996). concert band:Solemn Procession (1947). chamber: Sonata for Solo Viola (1942); 3 Sonatas for Solo Clarinet (1943; Chicago, Aug. 7,1955); Hebrew Melodies for Cello (1945; N.Y., Jan. 24, 1947); Lyric Piece for Cello and Piano (1946); Sonata for Solo Cello (1947; N.Y., Feb. 22, 1949); String Quintet (1958; San Francisco, Feb. 19, 1960); 4 wind quintets: No. 1 (Berkeley, April 8, 1959), No. 2 (1960; N.Y., May 6, 1962), No. 3 (1967; Chicago, April 5, 1968), and No. 4 (1984; N.Y., Oct. 2, 1985); 2 sonatas for Solo Violin: No. 1 (1959; Davis, Calif., March 13, 1960) and No. 2 (1963; Boston, Feb. 20, 1966); String Quartet No. 5 (1960; rev. version, Tanglewood, Aug. 13, 1967), No. 7 (1973; Buffalo, March 19, 1974), and No. 8, Windows of Order (1988; Washington, D.C., April 6,1989); Monody I for Flute (1960; N.Y., May 10,1962) and II for Bass (N.Y., Nov. 2, 1962); 3 Inventions for Bassoon (1962; N.Y., March 26,1963); Solo Partita for Violin and Viola (Chicago, April 23, 1965); Sonata quasi una fantasia for Clarinet and Piano (Buffalo, March 19, 1972); Sonata a quattro for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, and Cello (N.Y., May 17,1982); Cello Sonata (N.Y., April 13, 1985); Sonata a cinque for Bass Trombone, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano (1986; N.Y., Feb. 28,1987); For Piano and Winds (1988; N.Y., March 19, 1989); Nightsong for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano (1988; N.Y., March 7, 1991); Duos for Horn and String Quartet (1995; Kalamazoo, Mich., July 10, 1996); Critical Moments for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano, and Percussion (1996; N.Y., April 14, 1997). Piano: Pantomime, Interlude, and Fugue (1937; N.Y., Feb. 27,1982); Little Suite (Chicago, Oct. 23, 1939); 6 Préludes (1946); Sonata (1950; N.Y., Feb. 11, 1951); Short Sonata (1964; N.Y., May 5, 1965); Toccata (1969; N.Y., Nov. 20, 1972); Suite in C (1970; Washington, D.C., April 29, 1987); Fantasy-Variations (1971; Sacramento, Calif., Nov. 6, 1986); 6 Études (Boston, Oct. 29, 1976); Ballade (1981; N.Y., Feb. 17, 1982); 6 New Études (1984; Beijing, May 7, 1985); Sonatina (Sacramento, Calif., Nov. 6, 1986); Lyric Intermezzo (Seattle, Nov. 7,1987); Phantasieplay (1994; N.Y., April 2,1997); 6 Celebratory Inventions (1995; Boston, Jan. 17, 1997); Chansons cachées (Boston, Dec. 8, 1997); Musical Offerings for Piano, Left-Hand (1998; N.Y., Dec. 6, 1999); 9 Bagatelles (1999). vocal:2Rilke Songs for Voice and Piano (1941; N.Y., May 6, 1949); Sonnets to Orpheus for Chorus (1974; N.Y., Feb. 18, 1975); Songs of Praise and Lamentation for Soloists, Chorus, and Orch. (1974; N.Y., Feb. 18, 1975); 13 Dickinson Songs for Voice and Piano (Princeton, N.J., June 19, 1978).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire