Schuman, William (Howard)

Schuman, William (Howard), eminent American composer, music educator, and administrator; b. N.Y., Aug. 4, 1910; d. there, Feb. 15, 1992. He began composing at 16, turning out a number of popular songs, and also played in jazz groups. He took courses at N.Y.U.’s School of Commerce (1928–30) before turning decisively to music and taking private lessons in harmony with Max Persin and in counterpoint with Charles Haubiel (1931) in N.Y. After attending summer courses with Wagenaar and Schmid at N.Y.’s Juilliard School (1932–33), he pursued his education at Teacher’s Coll. of Columbia Univ. (B.S., 1935; M.A., 1937); also studied conducting at the Salzburg Mozarteum (summer, 1935) and composition with Harris, both at the Juilliard School (summer, 1936) and privately (1936–38). He came to the attention of Koussevitzky, who conducted the premieres of his American Festival Overture (1939), third Sym. (1941; received the first N.Y. Music Critics’ Circle Award), A Free Song (1943; received the first Pulitzer Prize in Music), and the Sym. for Strings (1943); Rodzinski conducted the premiere of his fourth Sym. (1942). After teaching at Sarah Lawrence Coll. (1935–45), he served as director of publications of G. Schirmer, Inc. (1945–52) and as president of the Juilliard School of Music (1945–62), where he acquired a notable reputation as a music educator; he subsequently was president of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in N.Y. (1962–69). He was chairman of the MacDowell Colony (from 1973) and the first chairman of the Noriin Foundation (1975–85). The recipient of numerous honors, he held 2 Guggenheim fellowships (1939–41), was elected a member of the National Inst. of Arts and Letters (1946) and the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1973), was awarded the gold medal of the American Academy and Inst. of Arts and Letters (1982), won a second, special Pulitzer Prize (1985), and received the National Medal of Arts (1987) and a Kennedy Center Honor (1989). Columbia Univ. established the William Schuman Award in 1981, a prize of $50, 000 given to a composer for lifetime achievement; fittingly, Schuman was its first recipient. His music is characterized by great emotional tension, which is maintained by powerful asymmetric rhythms; the contrapuntal structures in his works reach a great degree of complexity and are saturated with dissonance without, however, losing the essential tonal references. In several of his works, he employs American melorhythms, but his general style of composition is cosmopolitan, exploring all viable techniques of modern composition.

Works

DRAMATIC: Opera : The Mighty Casey (1951–53; Hartford, Conn., May 4, 1953; rev. as the cantata Casey at the Bat, Washington, D.C., April 6, 1976). Ballet: Undertow (N.Y., April 10, 1945); Night Journey (Cambridge, Mass., May 3, 1947); Judith (1949; Louisville, Jan. 4, 1950); Voyage for a Theater (N.Y, May 17, 1953; withdrawn); The Witch of Endor (N.Y, Nov. 2, 1965; withdrawn). Film: Steeltown (1941); The Earth Is Born (1959). orch. : Potpourri (1932; withdrawn); 10 syms.: No. 1 for 18 Instruments (1935; N.Y, Oct. 21, 1936; withdrawn), No. 2 (1937; N.Y, May 25, 1938; withdrawn), No. 3 (Boston, Oct. 17, 1941), No. 4 (1941; Cleveland, Jan. 22, 1942), No. 5, Sym. for Strings (Boston, Nov. 12, 1943), No. 6 (1948; Dallas, Feb. 27, 1949), No. 7 (Boston, Oct. 21, 1960), No. 8 (N.Y., Oct. 4, 1962), No. 9, Le fosse ardeatine (1968; Philadelphia, Jan. 10, 1969), and No. 10, American Muse (1975; Washington, D.C., April 6, 1976); Piano Concerto (1938; rev. 1942; N.Y, Jan. 13, 1943); American Festival Overture (Boston, Oct. 6, 1939); Newsreel, in 5 Shots for Concert Band (1941; also for Orch., N.Y, July 15, 1942); Prayer in Time of War (Pittsburgh, Feb. 26, 1943); William Billings Overture (1943; N.Y, Feb. 17, 1944; withdrawn); Variations on a Theme by Eugene Goossens (No. 5 of 10 variations, each by a different composer; 1944; Cincinnati, March 23, 1945); Circus Overture: Side Show (1944; for Small Orch., Philadelphia, July 20, 1944; for Full Orch., Pittsburgh, Jan. 7, 1945); Undertow, choreographic episodes from the ballet (Los Angeles, Nov. 29, 1945); Violin Concerto (1947; Boston, Feb. 10, 1950; rev. 1954; N.Y, Feb. 26, 1956; rev. 1958–59; Aspen, Colo., Aug. 9, 1959); George Washington Bridge for Concert Band (Interlochen, Mich., July 30, 1950); Credendum, Article of Faith (Cincinnati, Nov. 4 , 1955); New England Triptych (Miami, Oct. 28, 1956); Chester Overture for Concert Band from New England Triptych (1956); When Jesus Wept for Concert Band from New England Triptych (1958); A Song of Orpheus for Cello and Orch. (1961; Indianapolis, Feb. 17, 1962; arranged for Cello and Chamber Orch. in collaboration with J. Goldberg, 1978); Variations on “America” after the organ work by Ives (1963; N.Y., May 20, 1964; also for Band, 1968); The Orchestra Song (1963; N.Y., April 11, 1964; also for Band as The Band Song); Philharmonic Fanfare for Concert Band (N.Y, Aug. 10, 1965; withdrawn); Dedication Fanfare for Concert Band (St. Louis, July 4, 1968); To Thee Old Cause for Oboe, Brass, Timpani, Piano, and Strings (N.Y, Oct. 3, 1968); In Praise of Shahn, canticle (1969; N.Y, Jan. 29, 1970); Anniversary Fanfare for Brass and Percussion (1969; N.Y, April 13, 1970); Voyage for Orchestra (Rochester, N.Y, Oct. 27, 1972); Prelude for a Great Occasion for Brass and Percussion (Washington, D.C., Oct. 1, 1974); Be Glad Then, America for Concert Band from New England Triptych (1975); 3 Colloquies for Horn and Orch. (1979; N.Y, Jan. 24, 1980); American Hymn (1980; St. Louis, Dec. 24, 1982; also for Band). chamber: Canon and Fugue for Piano Trio (1934; withdrawn); 2 pastorales: No. 1 for Alto and Clarinet, or 2 Violas, or Violin and Cello (1934), and No. 2 for Flute, Oboe, and Clarinet; or Flute, Violin, and Clarinet (1934; withdrawn); 5 string quartets: No. 1 (N.Y, Oct. 21, 1936; withdrawn), No. 2 (1937), No. 3 (1939; N.Y, Feb. 27, 1940), No. 4 (Washington, D.C., Oct. 28, 1950), and No. 5 (1987; N.Y, June 21, 1988); Quartettino for 4 Bassoons (1939); Amaryllis, variations for String Trio (Washington, D.C., Oct. 31, 1964; also for String Orch.); XXV Opera Snatches for Trumpet (1978; N.Y, Jan. 10, 1979); Night Journey for Various Instruments, after the ballet (1980; Albany, N.Y, Feb. 27, 1981); American Hymn for Brass Quintet (1980; N.Y, March 30, 1981); Dances for Wind Quintet and Percussion (1984; N.Y., Oct. 1, 1985). Piano : 3-score Set (1943); Voyage (1953); 3 Piano Moods (1958). vocal (all for a cappella Mixed Chorus unless otherwise given): God’s World for Voice and Piano (1932); 4 Canonic Choruses (1932–33; N.Y, May 3, 1935); Pioneers! for 8-part Chorus (1937; Princeton, N.J., May 23, 1938; withdrawn); Choral Etude (1937; N.Y, March 16, 1938); Prologue for Chorus and Orch. (N.Y, May 7, 1939); Prelude for Soprano and Women’s or Mixed Chorus (1939; N.Y, April 24, 1940); This Is Our Time, secular cantata No. 1 for Chorus and Orch. (N.Y, July 4, 1940); Requiescat for Women’s or Mixed Chorus and Piano (N.Y, April 4, 1942); Holiday Song for Women’s Voices or Mixed Chorus and Piano (1942; N.Y, Jan. 13, 1943; also for Voice and Piano); A Free Song, secular cantata No. 2 for Chorus and Orch. (1942; Boston, March 26, 1943); Orpheus and His Lute for Voice and Piano (1944; also for Cello and Orch. as A Song of Orpheus, 1961); Te Deum (1944; Cambridge, Mass., April 1945); Truth Shall Deliver for Men’s Chorus (New Haven, Conn., Dec. 7, 1946); The Lord Has a Child for Mixed or Women’s Chorus or Voice and Piano (1956); 5 Rounds on Famous Words (Nos. 1–1, 1956; No. 5, 1969); Carols of Death (1958; Canton, N.Y, March 20, 1959); Deo ac ventati for Men’s Chorus (Hamilton, N.Y, April 19, 1963); Declaration Chorale (1971; N.Y, April 30, 1972); Mail Order Madrigals (1971; Ames, Iowa, March 12, 1972); To Thy Love, choral fantasy on old English rounds for 3-part Women’s Chorus (1973); Concerto on Old English Rounds for Viola, Women’s Chorus, and Orch. (Boston, Nov. 29, 1974); The Young Dead Soldiers for Soprano, Horn, Woodwinds, and Strings (1975; Washington, D.C., April 6, 1976); Casey at the Bat, cantata for Soprano, Baritone, Chorus, and Orch. (Washington, D.C., April 6, 1976; revision of the opera The Mighty Casey); In Sweet Music for Mezzo-soprano, Flute, Viola, and Harp (N.Y, Oct. 29, 1978; based on the song Orpheus and His Lute, 1944); Time to the Old for Voice and Piano (1979); Esses: Short Suite for Singers on Words Beginning with S (Ithaca, N.Y, Nov. 13, 1982); Perceptions (1982; Greenwich, Conn., Jan. 9, 1983); On Freedom’s Ground: An American Cantata for Baritone, Chorus, and Orch., for the rededication of the Statue of Liberty (1985; N.Y, Oct. 28, 1986).

Bibliography

F. Schreiber and V. Persichetti, W. S. (N.Y, 1954); C. Rouse, W. S.: Documentary (N.Y, 1980).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire