Irving Milton Adolphus was a pianist and American classical music composer.

Biography

Born in the Bronx

The Bronx

The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and educated at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, his classical compositions include over 200 orchestral, vocal and chamber works, among them 13 symphonies and 35 string quartets (including one unnumbered). In 1935 he moved to Philadelphia where he studied composition with Rosario Scalero

Rosario Scalero

Natale Rosario Scalero was an Italian violinist, music teacher and composer.By the age of six, Scalero was under the tutelage of Pietro Bertazzi, a violinist, musical instrument maker and instructor at the Conservatorio St. Cecilia in Torino. In 1881, Scalero entered the Liceo Musicale di Torino...

. He was also a founding member of the American Composers Alliance

American Composers Alliance

The American Composers Alliance is an American membership organization dedicated to the publishing and promoting of American contemporary classical music. Founded in 1937 by Aaron Copland, Milton Adolphus and others, it is the oldest national organization of its kind, and represents over 200...

  (of which Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...

 was the first president); involved extensively with The Curtis Institute of Music; a board member of the League of Composers

League of Composers

The League of Composers/International Society for Contemporary Music is a society whose stated mission is "to produce the highest quality performances of new music, to champion American composers in the United States and abroad, and to introduce American audiences to the best new music from around...

; Director of the Philadelphia Music Center  and active in the US civil rights movement. He married Elena Watnik (1913–2005), and had a son, Stephen Harris Adolphus.

In 1938, he moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...

, where he worked for the Department of Labor and Industry of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania until his retirement in West Harwich, Massachusetts

West Harwich, Massachusetts

West Harwich is a village in the town of Harwich, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, United States. West Harwich makes most of the population in the Northwest Harwich Census-designated place.-Geography:West Harwich is located at ....

, where he organized the Chatham Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. He died in Harwich, Massachusetts

Harwich, Massachusetts

Harwich is a New England town on Cape Cod, in Barnstable County in the state of Massachusetts in the United States. Barnstable County is coextensive with Cape Cod. The town is a popular vacation spot, located near the Cape Cod National Seashore. Harwich's beaches are on "the Sound side" of Cape...

 on August 16, 1988.

Compositions

Some of his works show a measure of sophisticated humor: "Bitter Suite" for oboe, 4 clarinets and strings, 1955; "Petits Fours," for cello and piano, 1960; "Trio Prosaico," for violin, horn and piano, Opus 147.

Jazz and light music

During the 1920s and early 1930s, he played with many jazz bands and orchestras in the Vaudeville

Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

 circuit in New York's Catskill Mountains

Catskill Mountains

The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...

 and in New York City, including Irving "Ving" Merlin, with whom he composed I Can't Believe It in 1931. During the 1930s, he was an arranger for Glen Gray

Glen Gray

Glen Gray Knoblauch, better known as Glen Gray, was a jazz saxophonist and leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra....

's Casa Loma Orchestra

Casa Loma Orchestra

The Casa Loma Orchestra was a popular American dance band active from 1927 to 1963. From 1929 until the rapid multiplication in the number of swing bands from 1935 on, the Casa Loma Orchestra was one of the top North American dance bands...

, and arranged their theme song, "Smoke Rings."

The BMI Foundation

BMI Foundation

The BMI Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization founded in 1985 by executives of Broadcast Music Incorporated for the purpose of "encouraging the creation, performance and study of music through awards, scholarships, internships, grants, and commissions." Additionally, the Foundation makes...

 distributes the Milton Adolphus Award, which is given to a student each year at New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

's LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts to a student who has been selected on a competitive basis by the school's faculty for excellence in jazz improvisation

Jazz improvisation

Jazz improvisation is an important aspect of jazz. Basically, improvisation is composing on the spot and coming up with melodies off the top of one's head. Traditionally, jazz improvisation was distinguished from other forms of music improvisation by its chordal complexity, often exhibiting ii V...

.

Classical compositions

• 8th symphony: B minor (1936)
• Adagio for solo violin, solo cello and sinfonietta, Op.42
• Birthday Suite for piano, Op.87
• Bitter Suite for oboe, 4 clarinets and strings, Op.98 (1955)
• Bouncettino for viola and piano, Op.78 (1944)
• Cape Cod Suite, Op.200
• David's Dream, Aberration for orchestra, Op.149
• Dream World for piano, Op.90
• Elegy, Op.46
• Elegy for clarinet, horn, violin, viola and cello, Op.81
• Faith, An Oratorio, Op.123
• Five Vignettes for Piano, Op.94
• Four Poems
• Improvisation for viola and piano, Op.61 (1937)
• Interlude for cello and chamber orchestra, Op.96
• Lilacs for medium voice with clarinet and piano, Op.95 (1982)
• "Opus 93" for clarinet and piano, Op.93
• "Opus 99" for flute (or clarinet) and piano, Op.99
• Petits Fours for cello and piano (1960)
• Prelude and Allegro for string orchestra, Op.51
• Septet, Op.39
• Septet in F minor for oboe (or flute), 3 violins, 2 violas, 1 cello, Op.39a
• Song of the aircraft warning corps (1943)
• String Octet No.2, Op.175
• String Quartet No.8 in E Minor, Op.41
• String Quartet No.10, Op.45
• String Quartet No.13, Op.63
• String Quartet No.14, Op.65
• String Quartet No.15, Op.67
• String Quartet No.16 "Indian", Op.69
• String Quartet No.17, Op.70
• String Quartet No.18, Op.72
• String Quartet No.20, Op.80
• String Quartet No.21 "In Ancient Style", Op.84
• String Quartet No.23, Op.91
• Suite for string orchestra
• Suite No.2 for orchestra
• Tribach for flute, clarinet and piano, Op.101
• Trio Prosaico for violin, horn and piano, Op.147
• Ulalume, Op.39b‎
• War Sketches
• Wind Quartet, Op.20

Recordings

Few Adolphus recordings are currently available; however, "Adolphus/Pisk/Gerschefski/McBride", a Composers Recordings, Inc.

Composers Recordings, Inc.

Composers Recordings, Inc. was an American record label dedicated to the recording of contemporary classical music by American composers. It was founded in 1954 by Otto Luening, Douglas Moore, and Oliver Daniel, and based in New York City....

 album from 1965, recorded by the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, was reissued in 2010 by New World Records

New World Records

New World Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in American music. The label was established in 1975 through a Rockefeller Foundation grant to produce a 100 disc anthology covering 200 years of American music....

, and contains Adolphus' Elegy (1936). Additionally, some scores can be ordered from the American Composers Alliance reprint service.

External links

• BMI Foundation, Inc.
• American Composers Alliance