William Schuman
Encyclopedia
William Howard Schuman (August 4, 1910February 15, 1992) was an American composer
and music administrator.
in New York City to Samuel and Rachel Schuman, Schuman was named after the twenty-seventh U.S. president, William Howard Taft
, although his family preferred to call him Bill. Schuman played the violin
and banjo
as a child, but his overwhelming passion was baseball. While still in high school, he formed a dance band
, "Billy Schuman and his Alamo Society Orchestra", that played local weddings and bar mitzvahs in which Schuman played string bass.
In 1928 he entered New York University
's School of Commerce to pursue a business degree, at the same time working for an advertising agency. He also wrote popular songs with E. B. Marks, Jr., a friend he had met long before at summer camp. About then Schuman met lyricist Frank Loesser
and wrote some forty songs with him. Loesser's first published song, "In Love with a Memory of You", credits the music to William H. Schuman.
On April 13, 1930, Schuman went with his older sister, Audrey, to a Carnegie Hall
concert of the New York Philharmonic
, conducted by Arturo Toscanini
. The program included works by Wagner
, Kodály
, and Schumann
. Of this experience, Schuman later said, "I was astounded at seeing the sea of stringed instruments, and everybody bowing together. The visual thing alone was astonishing. But the sound! I was overwhelmed. I had never heard anything like it. The very next day, I decided to become a composer."
Schuman dropped out of school and quit his part-time job to study music
at the Malkin Conservatory with Max Persin and Charles Haubiel. From 1933 to 1938 he studied privately with Roy Harris
. In 1935, Schuman received his B.S. degree in Music Education from Teachers College
at Columbia University
. Harris brought Schuman to the attention of the conductor
Serge Koussevitzky
, who championed many of his works. Koussevitzky conducted Schuman's Symphony No. 2 in 1939. Possibly Schuman's best known symphony, the Symphony for Strings, was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation, dedicated to the memory of Natalie Koussevitzky, and was first performed under Koussevitzky on November 12, 1943.
In 1943 he won the inaugural Pulitzer Prize for Music
for his cantata
, A Free Song, adapted from poems by Walt Whitman
. From 1935 to 1945, he taught composition at Sarah Lawrence College
. In 1945, he became president of the Juilliard School of Music, founding the Juilliard String Quartet
while there. He left in 1961 to become the first president of Lincoln Center, a position he held until 1969. In 1987, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts
.
He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron
, an international professional music fraternity.
, numbered Three through Ten", as he himself put it (the first two were withdrawn), continue to grow in stature. His concerto
for violin (1947, rev. 1959) has been hailed as among his "most powerful works ... it could almost be considered a symphony for violin and orchestra." Other works include the New England Triptych
(1956, based on melodies by William Billings
), the American Festival Overture (1939), the ballets
Undertow (1945) and Judith (1949) (the latter written for Martha Graham
), the Mail Order Madrigals (1972) to texts from the 1897 Sears Roebuck
catalog, and two operas, The Mighty Casey (1953, based on Ernest L. Thayer's Casey at the Bat), which reflected his lifelong love of baseball, and A Question of Taste (1989, after a short story by Roald Dahl
). He also arranged
Charles Ives
' organ
piece Variations on "America" for orchestra
in 1963, in which version it is better known. Another popular work by William Schuman is his George Washington Bridge (1950), for concert band.
game show, What's My Line?
on September 30, 1962 (episode No. 632). Because of his recognizability, panel members Dorothy Kilgallen
, Martin Gabel
, Arlene Francis
, and Bennett Cerf
were blindfolded. Schuman's title card identified him as "Composer and President of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (New York City)". Schuman displayed his wit in response to panel questions. After the panel exhausted a few categories, Kilgallen asked, "What about music?" Schuman replied, "What about it?" When asked if he was Leonard Bernstein
, Schuman replied, "He's a friend." When asked if he was Rudolf Bing, Schuman repeated, "He's a friend," prompting Francis to wonder who was not his friend. When asked if he had ever sung for the Metropolitan Opera
, Schuman said, "Often desired to, never invited." Cerf identified him after host John Charles Daly
had flipped over all the cards. Daly announced that Schuman's Eighth Symphony would be performed at Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall
) the following Thursday, which date, October 4, 1962, marked the première of the work. It was recorded for Columbia Masterworks Records
five days later by its performers, the New York Philharmonic
conducted by Bernstein.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and music administrator.
Life
Born in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
in New York City to Samuel and Rachel Schuman, Schuman was named after the twenty-seventh U.S. president, William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
, although his family preferred to call him Bill. Schuman played the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
as a child, but his overwhelming passion was baseball. While still in high school, he formed a dance band
Dance band
Dance band can be one of several kinds of musical ensemble:* British dance band* Dansband, a Swedish pop genre* A Eurodance band...
, "Billy Schuman and his Alamo Society Orchestra", that played local weddings and bar mitzvahs in which Schuman played string bass.
In 1928 he entered New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's School of Commerce to pursue a business degree, at the same time working for an advertising agency. He also wrote popular songs with E. B. Marks, Jr., a friend he had met long before at summer camp. About then Schuman met lyricist Frank Loesser
Frank Loesser
Frank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and scores to the Broadway hits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for...
and wrote some forty songs with him. Loesser's first published song, "In Love with a Memory of You", credits the music to William H. Schuman.
On April 13, 1930, Schuman went with his older sister, Audrey, to a Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
concert of the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
, conducted by Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
. The program included works by Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, Kodály
Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is best known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method.-Life:Born in Kecskemét, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child....
, and Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
. Of this experience, Schuman later said, "I was astounded at seeing the sea of stringed instruments, and everybody bowing together. The visual thing alone was astonishing. But the sound! I was overwhelmed. I had never heard anything like it. The very next day, I decided to become a composer."
Schuman dropped out of school and quit his part-time job to study music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
at the Malkin Conservatory with Max Persin and Charles Haubiel. From 1933 to 1938 he studied privately with Roy Harris
Roy Harris
Roy Ellsworth Harris , was an American composer. He wrote much music on American subjects, becoming best known for his Symphony No...
. In 1935, Schuman received his B.S. degree in Music Education from Teachers College
Teachers College, Columbia University
Teachers College, Columbia University is a graduate school of education located in New York City, New York...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Harris brought Schuman to the attention of the conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
Serge Koussevitzky
Serge Koussevitzky
Serge Koussevitzky , was a Russian-born Jewish conductor, composer and double-bassist, known for his long tenure as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1949.-Early career:...
, who championed many of his works. Koussevitzky conducted Schuman's Symphony No. 2 in 1939. Possibly Schuman's best known symphony, the Symphony for Strings, was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation, dedicated to the memory of Natalie Koussevitzky, and was first performed under Koussevitzky on November 12, 1943.
In 1943 he won the inaugural Pulitzer Prize for Music
Pulitzer Prize for Music
The Pulitzer Prize for Music was first awarded in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer did not call for such a prize in his will, but had arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year...
for his cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
, A Free Song, adapted from poems by Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
. From 1935 to 1945, he taught composition at Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in the United States, and a leader in progressive education since its founding in 1926. Located just 30 minutes north of Midtown Manhattan in southern Westchester County, New York, in the city of Yonkers, this coeducational college offers...
. In 1945, he became president of the Juilliard School of Music, founding the Juilliard String Quartet
Juilliard String Quartet
The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York. The original members were violinists Robert Mann and Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer, and cellist Arthur Winograd; Current members are Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes violinists,...
while there. He left in 1961 to become the first president of Lincoln Center, a position he held until 1969. In 1987, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts
National Medal of Arts
The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people. Honorees are selected by the National Endowment for the...
.
He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron
Delta Omicron
Delta Omicron is a co-ed international professional music honors fraternity whose mission is to promote and support excellence in music and musicianship.-History:...
, an international professional music fraternity.
Music
Schuman left a substantial body of work. His "eight symphoniesSymphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
, numbered Three through Ten", as he himself put it (the first two were withdrawn), continue to grow in stature. His concerto
Violin concerto
A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin and instrumental ensemble, customarily orchestra. Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up through the present day...
for violin (1947, rev. 1959) has been hailed as among his "most powerful works ... it could almost be considered a symphony for violin and orchestra." Other works include the New England Triptych
New England Triptych
New England Triptych is a symphonic composition by William Schuman. The work lasts about 16 minutes, and is written for an orchestra of 3 flutes , 2 oboes, English horn, E-flat clarinet, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion , and...
(1956, based on melodies by William Billings
William Billings
William Billings was an American choral composer, and is widely regarded as the father of American choral music...
), the American Festival Overture (1939), the ballets
Ballet (music)
Ballet as a music form progressed from simply a complement to dance, to a concrete compositional form that often had as much value as the dance that went along with it. The dance form, originating in France during the 17th century, began as a theatrical dance. It was not until the 19th century that...
Undertow (1945) and Judith (1949) (the latter written for Martha Graham
Martha Graham
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
), the Mail Order Madrigals (1972) to texts from the 1897 Sears Roebuck
Sears Holdings Corporation
Sears Holdings Corporation is a retail conglomerate formed in 2005 by the merger of Sears, Roebuck and Co., of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, with Kmart Holdings Corporation, of Troy, Michigan...
catalog, and two operas, The Mighty Casey (1953, based on Ernest L. Thayer's Casey at the Bat), which reflected his lifelong love of baseball, and A Question of Taste (1989, after a short story by Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...
). He also arranged
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
' organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
piece Variations on "America" for orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
in 1963, in which version it is better known. Another popular work by William Schuman is his George Washington Bridge (1950), for concert band.
Television appearance
William Schuman appeared as the opening guest on the CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
game show, What's My Line?
What's My Line?
What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
on September 30, 1962 (episode No. 632). Because of his recognizability, panel members Dorothy Kilgallen
Dorothy Kilgallen
Dorothy Mae Kilgallen was an American journalist and television game show panelist. She started her career early as a reporter for the Hearst Corporation's New York Evening Journal after spending only two semesters at The College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, New York...
, Martin Gabel
Martin Gabel
Martin Gabel was an American actor, film director and film producer.-Life and career:Gabel was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Ruth and Israel Gabel, who was a jeweler...
, Arlene Francis
Arlene Francis
Arlene Francis was an American actress, radio talk show host, and game show panelist...
, and Bennett Cerf
Bennett Cerf
Bennett Alfred Cerf was a publisher and co-founder of Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his television appearances in the panel game show What's My Line?.-Biography:Bennett Cerf...
were blindfolded. Schuman's title card identified him as "Composer and President of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (New York City)". Schuman displayed his wit in response to panel questions. After the panel exhausted a few categories, Kilgallen asked, "What about music?" Schuman replied, "What about it?" When asked if he was Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
, Schuman replied, "He's a friend." When asked if he was Rudolf Bing, Schuman repeated, "He's a friend," prompting Francis to wonder who was not his friend. When asked if he had ever sung for the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, Schuman said, "Often desired to, never invited." Cerf identified him after host John Charles Daly
John Charles Daly
John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly (generally known as John Charles Daly or simply John Daly (February 20, 1914 – February 24, 1991) was an American journalist, game show host and radio personality, probably best known for hosting...
had flipped over all the cards. Daly announced that Schuman's Eighth Symphony would be performed at Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall is a concert hall, in New York City and is part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex. It is the home of the New York Philharmonic, with a capacity of 2,738 seats.-History:...
) the following Thursday, which date, October 4, 1962, marked the première of the work. It was recorded for Columbia Masterworks Records
Columbia Masterworks Records
Columbia Masterworks Records was a record label started in 1927 by Columbia Records.It was intended for releases of classical music and artists, as opposed to popular music, which bore the regular Columbia logo. Masterworks Records' first release, in 1927, was a complete performance of the...
five days later by its performers, the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
conducted by Bernstein.
Opera
- The Mighty Casey (1953, based on Ernest L. Thayer's Casey at the BatCasey at the Bat"Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888" is a baseball poem written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer. First published in The San Francisco Examiner on June 3, 1888, it was later popularized by DeWolf Hopper in many vaudeville performances.The poem was originally published...
) - A Question of Taste (1989, after a short story by Roald DahlRoald DahlRoald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...
)
Ballet
- Undertow (1945, written for Antony TudorAntony TudorAntony Tudor was an English ballet choreographer, teacher and dancer.-Biography:Tudor, born William Cook, discovered dance accidentally. He began dancing professionally with Marie Rambert in 1928, becoming general assistant for her Ballet Club the next year...
) - Night Journey (1947, written for Martha GrahamMartha GrahamMartha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
) - Judith (1949, written for Martha GrahamMartha GrahamMartha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
) - Voyage for a Theatre (1953, written for Martha GrahamMartha GrahamMartha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
; withdrawn) - The Witch of Endor (1965, written for Martha GrahamMartha GrahamMartha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
; withdrawn)
Orchestral
- Symphonies
- Symphony No. 1 (1935; withdrawn)
- Symphony No. 2 (1937; withdrawn)
- Symphony No. 3Symphony no. 3 (Schuman)American composer William Schuman's Symphony no. 3 was completed on January 11, 1941, and premiered on October 17 of that year by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitsky, to whom it is dedicated.-Instrumentation:...
(1941) - Symphony No. 4 (1941)
- Symphony for Strings (Symphony No. 5) (1943)
- Symphony No. 6 (1948)
- Symphony No. 7 (1960)
- Symphony No. 8 (1962)
- Symphony No. 9 Le fosse Ardeatine (1968)
- Symphony No. 10 American Muse (1975)
- American Festival Overture (1939)
- Prayer in Time of War, originally titled Prayer 1943 (1943)
- Circus Overture (1944)
- Credendum (1955, commissioned by UNESCO)
- New England TriptychNew England TriptychNew England Triptych is a symphonic composition by William Schuman. The work lasts about 16 minutes, and is written for an orchestra of 3 flutes , 2 oboes, English horn, E-flat clarinet, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion , and...
(1956, based on melodies by William BillingsWilliam BillingsWilliam Billings was an American choral composer, and is widely regarded as the father of American choral music...
) - In Praise of Shahn (1969)
- American Hymn (1980)
- Showcase: A Short Display for Orchestra (1986)
Concertante
- Piano Concerto (1942)
- Violin Concerto (1947; 1st rev., 1954; 2nd rev. 1957–8)
- A Song of Orpheus, for cello and orchestra (1962)
- To Thee Old Cause, for oboe and orchestra (1968)
- Concerto on Old English Rounds, for viola, female chorus and orchestra (1973)
- Three Colloquies, for horn and orchestra (1979)
Vocal/Choral
- Prelude for Voices (1939, to texts by Walt WhitmanWalt WhitmanWalter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
) - Orpheus with His Lute (1944, to a text by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
) - Five Rounds on Famous Words (1956/69)
- Carols of Death (1958, to texts by Walt WhitmanWalt WhitmanWalter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
) - Mail Order Madrigals (1972, to texts from the 1897 Sears RoebuckSears Holdings CorporationSears Holdings Corporation is a retail conglomerate formed in 2005 by the merger of Sears, Roebuck and Co., of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, with Kmart Holdings Corporation, of Troy, Michigan...
catalog) - The Young Dead Soldiers (1975, to a text by Archibald MacLeishArchibald MacLeishArchibald MacLeish was an American poet, writer, and the Librarian of Congress. He is associated with the Modernist school of poetry. He received three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.-Early years:...
) - Time to the Old (1980, to texts by Archibald MacLeishArchibald MacLeishArchibald MacLeish was an American poet, writer, and the Librarian of Congress. He is associated with the Modernist school of poetry. He received three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.-Early years:...
) - Perceptions (1982, to texts by Walt WhitmanWalt WhitmanWalter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
) - Esses (1982)
- On Freedom's Ground (1985, to texts by Richard WilburRichard WilburRichard Purdy Wilbur is an American poet and literary translator. He was appointed the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1987, and twice received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1957 and again in 1989....
)
Chamber/Instrumental
- String Quartet no. 1 (1935; withdrawn)
- String Quartet no. 2 (1937)
- String Quartet no. 3 (1939)
- String Quartet no. 4 (1950)
- Voyage: a cycle of 5 pieces for piano (1953)
- Three Piano Moods (1958)
- Amaryllis: Variations for string trio (1964)
- In Sweet Music, Serenade on a setting of Shakespeare for flute, viola, voice and harp (1978)
- American Hymn, for brass quintet (1980)
- Dances, for wind quintet and percussion (1985)
- String Quartet no. 5 (1987)
- Chester: Variations for piano (1988)
Band
- Newsreel, in Five Shots (1941)
- George Washington Bridge (1950)
- Chester Overture (1956) from New England TriptychNew England TriptychNew England Triptych is a symphonic composition by William Schuman. The work lasts about 16 minutes, and is written for an orchestra of 3 flutes , 2 oboes, English horn, E-flat clarinet, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion , and...
- When Jesus Wept (1958) from New England TriptychNew England TriptychNew England Triptych is a symphonic composition by William Schuman. The work lasts about 16 minutes, and is written for an orchestra of 3 flutes , 2 oboes, English horn, E-flat clarinet, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion , and...
- Philharmonic Fanfare (1965), unpubd [withdrawn]
- Dedication Fanfare (1968)
- Be Glad then, America (1975) from New England TriptychNew England TriptychNew England Triptych is a symphonic composition by William Schuman. The work lasts about 16 minutes, and is written for an orchestra of 3 flutes , 2 oboes, English horn, E-flat clarinet, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion , and...
Arrangements
- Circus Overture, for band, arr. Don Owen (originally for orchestra--1944)
- Variations on "America", for orchestra (1963, arranged from Ives's organ piece with the same name)
External links
- The William Schuman Music Trust
- William Schuman page at Theodore Presser/Merion Music
- William Schuman page at G. Schirmer/Associated Music Publishers
- William Schuman papers in the Music Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
- Website for Joseph W. Polisi's book American Muse: The Life and Times of William Schuman (features streaming recordings of 10 Schuman compositions)
- NewMusicBox: A reprint of Chapter Four, "I Wanted to Run Before I Could Creep," from the book, American Muse: The Life and Times of William Schuman by Joseph W. Polisi
- NewMusicBox: Frank J. Oteri in conversation with Joseph W. Polisi, author of the book, American Muse: The Life and Times of William Schuman (features many photos and excerpts from William Schuman's scores)
- Website for Steve Swayne's book Orpheus in Manhattan: William Schuman and the Shaping of America's Musical Life