Vincent Persichetti

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search
Vincent Ludwig Persichetti (June 6, 1915 � August 14, 1987) was an American
composer, teacher, and pianist. An important musical educator and writer,
Persichetti was a native of Philadelphia. He was known for his integration of
various new ideas in musical composition into his own work and teaching, as well as
for training many noted composers in composition at the Juilliard School.

His students at Juilliard included Philip Glass, Bruce Adolphe, Michael Jeffrey
Shapiro, Laurie Spiegel, Kenneth Fuchs, Richard Danielpour, Peter Schickele, Lowell
Liebermann, Robert Witt, Elena Ruehr, William Schimmel, Leonardo Balada, and Leo
Brouwer. He also taught composition to Joseph Willcox Jenkins and conductor James
DePreist at the Philadelphia Conservatory.

Contents
1 Life
2 Music
3 Works
3.1 Selected works
3.2 Complete listing of parables
3.3 Poems for piano
3.4 Piano sonatas
3.5 List of selected works
4 Awards and honors
5 References
6 Sources
7 Further reading
8 External links
8.1 Interviews
8.2 Listening
Life
Persichetti was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1915. Though neither of his
parents were musicians, his musical education 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.

He first performed his original works publicly at the age of 14. By the time he
reached his teens, Persichetti 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. In addition to
developing 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. After receiving a 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 the
Conservatory, 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 Conservatory.

In 1947, William Schuman offered him a professorship at Juilliard. While at

Juiliard School of Music, Persichetti was devoted to the wind band movement and
advocated William Schuman and Peter Mennin to compose pieces for wind band.[1]
Persichetti's students included Einojuhani Rautavaara, Leonardo Balada, Steven
Gellman, Peter Schickele (P.D.Q. Bach), Michael Jeffrey Shapiro, Claire Polin,
Toshi Ichiyanagi, Robert Witt (who also studied with Persichetti at the
Philadelphia Conservatory) and Philip Glass. He became Editorial Director of the
Elkan-Vogel publishing house in 1952.

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. His numerous compositions for wind
ensemble are often introductions to contemporary music for high school and college
students. His early style was marked by the influences of Stravinsky, Bart�k,
Hindemith, and Copland before he developed his distinct voice in the 1950s.

Persichetti's music draws on a wide variety of thought in 20th-century contemporary

composition as well as Big Band music. His own style was marked by use of two
elements he refers to as "graceful" and "gritty": the former being more lyrical and
melodic, the latter being sharp and intensely rhythmic. He frequently used
polytonality and pandiatonicism in his writing, and his music could be 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 lacked sharp changes in style over
time. (Persichetti once said in an interview in Musical Quarterly that his music
was "...not like a woman, that is, it does not have periods!").[This quote needs a
citation] He frequently composed while driving in his car, sometimes taping staff
paper to the steering wheel.

His piano music forms the bulk of his creative output, with a concerto, a
concertino, twelve sonatas, and a variety of other pieces written for the
instrument. These were virtuosic pieces as well as pedagogical and amateur-level
compositions. Persichetti was an accomplished pianist. He wrote many pieces
suitable for less mature performers, considering them 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. In 1950, Persichetti composed his
first work for band, which was the Divertimento for Band.[2] The Symphony No. 6 for
band is of particular note as a standard larger work. This piece boast complex
percussion lines crucial to the work's thematic material as well as utilizes the
full spectrum of colors and timbres of the wind band.[3] He wrote one opera,
entitled The Sibyl. The music was noted by critics for its color, but the dramatic
and vocal aspects of the work were found by some to be lacking.

He wrote nine symphonies, of which the first two were withdrawn (as were the first
two symphonies by two other American composers of the late thirties and early
forties, William Schuman and Peter Mennin), and four string quartets.

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). 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.

Persichetti frequently appeared as a lecturer on college campuses, for which he was

noted for his witty and engaging manner. He wrote the noted music theory textbook,
Twentieth Century Harmony: Creative Aspects and Practice, which informed readers
such as Robert Fripp.[4] He and Flora Rheta Schreiber wrote a monograph on William
Schuman.

Works
Selected works
Celebrations, for Chorus and Wind Ensemble, Op. 103
Chorale Prelude: So Pure the Star, Op. 91
Chorale Prelude: Turn Not Thy Face, Op. 105
Divertimento For Band, Op. 42
Masquerade for Band, Op. 102
Masques for violin and piano Op. 99
Mass for a capella mixed chorus, Op. 84
Pageant, Op. 59
Parable IX for Band, Op. 121
Pastoral for Wind Quintet, Op. 21
Psalm for Band, Op. 53
Symphony No. 6 For Band
The Hollow Men, for trumpet and string orchestra, Op. 25
The Sibyl: A Parable of Chicken Little (Parable XX): An Opera in One Act, Op. 135
Winter Cantata, Op. 97 for Women�s Chorus, Flute, and Marimba
Complete listing of parables
Parable [I] for Flute, Op. 100 (1965)
Parable II for Brass Quintet, Op. 108 (1968)
Parable III for Oboe, Op. 109 (1968)
Parable IV for Bassoon, Op. 110 (1969)
Parable V for Carillon, Op. 112 (1969)
Parable VI for Organ, Op. 117 (1971)
Parable VII for Harp, Op. 119 (1971)
Parable VIII for Horn, Op. 120 (1972)
Parable IX for Band, Op. 121 (1972)
String Quartet No. 4 (Parable X), Op. 122 (1972)
Parable XI for Alto Saxophone, Op. 123 (1972)
Parable XII for Piccolo, Op. 125 (1973)
Parable XIII for Clarinet, Op. 126 (1973)
Parable XIV for Trumpet, Op. 127 (1973)
Parable XV for English Horn, Op. 128 (1973)
Parable XVI for Viola, Op. 130 (1974)
Parable XVII for Double Bass, Op. 131 (1974)
Parable XVIII for Trombone, Op. 133 (1975)
Parable XIX for Piano, Op. 134 (1975)
The Sibyl: A Parable of Chicken Little (Parable XX): An Opera in One Act, Op. 135
Parable XXI for Guitar, Op. 140 (1978)
Parable XXII for Tuba, Op. 147 (1981)
Parable XXIII for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Op. 150 (1981)
Parable XXIV for Harpsichord, Op. 153 (1982)
Parable XXV for Two Trumpets, Op. 164 (1986)
Poems for piano
Volume 1, Op. 4:
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)
Volume 2, Op. 5:
And warm winds spilled fragrance into her solitudes (Edmond Kowalewski Change)
To whose more clear than crystal voice the frost had joined a crystal spell (L�onie
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)
Volume 3, Op. 14:
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 (L�onie Adams Twilit Revelation)
Each gay dunce shall lend a hand (John Trumbull The Country Clown)