| Vincent Persichetti |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT VINCENT PERSICHETTI | |
| 1915 births | |
| 1987 deaths | |
| 20th century classical composers | |
| american composers | |
| italian-american musicians | |
| people from philadelphia | |
| juilliard school faculty | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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LIFE Persichetti was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1915, and remained a resident of that city throughout his life. Though neither of his parents were musicians, his musical education nonetheless began early. Persichetti enrolled in the Combs College Of Music at the age of five, where he studied Piano , Organ , Double Bass , and later music theory and composition with Russel King Miller , whom he considered a great influence. By the time he reached his teens, he was paying for his own education by accompanying and performing; he continued to do so throughout high school, adding church organist, orchestral player, and radio staff pianist to his experience. His first public performance of his own original works came at the age of 14. In addition to his musical talents, the young Persichetti attended art school, and remained an avid sculptor until his death. He attended Combs for his undergraduate education as well, where upon receiving his Bachelor's Degree in 1936 , he was immediately offered a teaching position. By the age of 20, Persichetti was simultaneously head of the theory and composition department at Combs, a conducting major with Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute , and a student of piano (with Olga Samaroff ) and composition at the Philadelphia Conservatory ; He earned a master's degree in 1941 and a doctorate in 1945 from Philadelphia, as well as a conducting diploma from Curtis. In 1941, while still a student, Persichetti headed the theory and composition department as well as the department of postgraduate study at Philadelphia. In 1947, William Schuman extended an offer of professorship at Juilliard , where his students included Einojuhani Rautavaara , Thelonious Monk , Leonardo Balada , Peter Schickele ( P.D.Q. Bach ), LarryBell, and Philip Glass . He became Editorial Director of the Elkan-Vogel publishing house in 1952 . At age 25, Persichetti married Dorothea, producing two children. After having composed more than 166 works, he was diagnosed with Lung Cancer at age 71 and died at age 72. MUSIC Persichetti is one of the major figures in American music of the 20th century, both as a teacher and a composer. Notably, his ''Hymns and Responses for the Church Year'' has become a standard setting for church choirs, and high school and college students' introductions to contemporary music are often made by way of his numerous compositions for Wind Ensemble . His early style was marked by the influences of Stravinsky , Bartók , Hindemith , and Copland before developing into his own distinct voice in the 1950s . Persichetti's music draws on a wide variety of thought in and Pandiatonicism in his writing, and his style is marked by sharp rhythmic interjections, but his embracing of diverse strands of musical thought makes characterizing his body of work difficult. This trend continued throughout his compositional career; his music is not marked by sharp changes in style over time. (Persichetti once proclaimed in an interview in ''Musical Quarterly '' that his music was "not like a woman, that is, it does not have periods!" He also frequently composed in the car, sometimes taping staff paper to the steering wheel.) His piano music forms the bulk of his creative output, with a Concerto , a concertino, several Sonatas , and a variety of other pieces written for the instrument, Virtuosic pieces as well as pedagogical and amateur-level compositions; Persichetti was an accomplished pianist. Unlike many composers who restrict the mature output to heavier compositions, Persichetti wrote many pieces suitable for less mature performers, considering them too to have serious artistic merit. Persichetti is also one of the major composers for the concert Wind Band repertoire, with his 14 works for the ensemble; the ''Symphony No. 6'' for band is of particular note as a standard larger work. He wrote one Opera , entitled ''The Sibyl'', which was a flop; the music was noted for its color, but the dramatic and vocal aspects of the work were found lacking. He wrote eight Symphonies and four String Quartet s. Many of his other works are organized into series. One of these, a collection of primarily instrumental works entitled ''Parables'', contains 25 works , many for unaccompanied wind instruments (complete listing below), and his 15 ''Serenades'' include such unconventional combinations as a trio for Trombone , Viola , and Cello as well as selections for orchestra, for band, and for duo piano. In addition to his frequent appearances as lecturer on college campuses, in which he was noted for his witty and engaging manner, he wrote the music theory textbook ''Twentieth Century Harmony: Creative Aspects and Practice'' (ISBN 0393095398) as well as coauthoring a monograph William Schuman . WORKS Selected works
Complete Listing of Parables
Poems for Piano
#''Unroll the flicker's rousing drum'' ( Louis Untermeyer ''First Words Before Spring'') #''Soft is the collied night'' ( James Elroy Flecker ''Fountains'') #''Gather for festival bright weed and purple shell'' ( William Watson ''Songs from Cyprus'') #''Wake subtler dreams, and touch me nigh to tears'' ( William Watson ''The Frontier'') #''Ravished lute, sing to her virgin ears'' ( Robert Fitzgerald ''Song after Campion'') #''Whose thin fraud I wink at privily'' ( William Watson ''The Mock Self'')
#''And warms winds spilled fragrance into her solitudes'' ( Edmond Kowalewski ''Change'') #''To whose more clear than crystal voice the frost had joined a crystal spell'' ( Léonie Adams ''Home Coming'') #''Sleep, weary mind; dream, heart's desire'' ( Edna St. Vincent Millay ''There are no islands any more'') #''Dust in sunlight, and memory in corners'' ( T.S. Eliot ''A Song for Simeon'') #''Make me drunken with deep red torrents of joy'' ( John Gould Fletcher ''Autumnal Clouds'')
#''Rear its frondings sighing in aetherial folds'' ( Hart Crane ''Royal Palm'') #''Listen! Can you hear the antic melody of fear those two anxious feet are playing?'' ( Walter Prude ) #''Puffed out and marching upon a blue sky'' ( Amy Lowell ''Lilacs'') #''And hunged like those top jewels of the night'' ( Léonie Adams ''Twilit Revelation'') #''Each gay dunce shall lend a hand'' ( John Trumbull ''The Country Clown'') Piano Sonatas #Op. 3 #Op. 6 #Op. 22 #Op. 36 #Op. 37 #Op. 39 #Op. 40 #Op. 41 #Op. 58 #Op. 67 #Op. 101 #Op. 145 (Mirror Sonata) REFERENCES
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