William Schuman
William Howard Schuman (August 4, 1910–February 15, 1992) was a prominent twentieth century, American composer and music administrator. In addition to a highly successful career as a composer, he also served as President of the Juilliasrd School of Music in New York City from 1955-1956.
He was among a number notable American composers, including Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Walter Piston and Leonard Bernstein who achieved prominence in the international music scene. Although he was influence by the compsitional trends of the early twentieth centurty, his highly original harmonic syntax, sonorous orchestrations and vibrant rhythms remained fairly conventional in relation to the more abstract and atonal utterances of the Second Viennese School.
Commenting on the art of composing, he remarked, "A composition must have two fundamental ingredients---emotional vitality and intellectual vigor. Techniques constitute the objective working methods of art. In the mature artist they are distinguishable from the creative act...The only test of a work of art is, of course, in the finished product and not in the process of its making."
Many of his important workd are influenced by Americana.
Life
Born in the Bronx 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 began studies on the violin at age 11 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 (Schuman played string bass in the band). In 1925 he attended George washington High School, in New York and began to play the double-bass in the school orchestra. It was in the Alamo Society Band that he began composing music.
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. (Indeed, Loesser's first published song, "In Love with a Memory of You", credits the music to William H. Schuman.)
On April 4 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 to study music, finding private tutors in classical composition. One of his teachers was Roy Harris. Harris brought Schuman to the attention of the conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who championed many of his works. In 1933 Schuman attended Teachers College at Columbia University and earned a bachelors degree in science in 1935. It was also at that time that he traveled to Salzburg, Austria to study conducting at the famed Salzburg Mozarteum.
He composed his Symphony No. 1 in 1936 and his Symphony No. 2 in 1937. His Second Symphony so impressed Aaron Copland, that Copland persuded Serge Kossevitsky to perform it with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1939. Though Boston audiences found the work to be difficult, one Boston music critic praised Koussevitsky for having discovered "a genuine American talent." Koussevitsky later conducted the premiere of Schuman's brilliant American Festival Overture with the BSO, this time to great acclaim and it marked the first serious success for the young composer.
Schuman received a Guggenhein Fellowship in 1939 and this spauned several new works including his Third String Quartet on a commision from the Leaugue of Composers. With the premiere of his Third Symphony in 1941, again, under Koussevitsky with the BSO, Schuman began to be regarded as one of America's important symphonists.
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 take up the directorship of Lincoln Center.
Born in the Bronx 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 began studies on the violin at age 11 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 (Schuman played string bass in the band). In 1925 he attended George washington High School, in New York and began to play the double-bass in the school orchestra. It was in the Alamo Society Band that he began composing music.
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. (Indeed, Loesser's first published song, "In Love with a Memory of You", credits the music to William H. Schuman.)
On April 4 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 to study music, finding private tutors in classical composition. One of his teachers was Roy Harris. Harris brought Schuman to the attention of the conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who championed many of his works. In 1933 Schuman attended Teachers College at Columbia University and earned a bachelors degree in science in 1935. It was also at that time that he traveled to Salzburg, Austria to study conducting at the famed Mozarteum.
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 take up the directorship of Lincoln Center.
Music
Schuman left a substantial body of work. His "eight symphonies, 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 (1952), for concert band.
Works
Opera
- The Mighty Casey (1953, based on Ernest L. Thayer's Casey at the Bat)
- A Question of Taste (1989, after a short story by Roald Dahl)
Ballet
- Undertow (1945)
- Judith (1949, written for Martha Graham)
Orchestral
- Symphonies
- Symphony No. 1 (1935, withdrawn)
- Symphony No. 2 (1937, withdrawn)
- Symphony No. 3 (1941)
- Symphony No. 4 (1942)
- Symphony for Strings (Symphony No. 5) (1943)
- Symphony No. 6 (1948)
- Symphony No. 7 (1960)
- Symphony No. 8 (1962)
- Symphony No. 9 (1968)
- Symphony No. 10 The American Muse (1975)
- American Festival Overture (1939)
- Credendum (1955, commissioned by UNESCO)
- New England Triptych (1956, based on melodies by William Billings)
- In Praise of Shahn (1969)
- American Hymn (1980)
Concertante
- Piano Concerto (1943)
- Violin Concerto (1947, rev. 1959)
- 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 (1974)
- Three Colloquies, for horn and orchestra (1979)
Vocal/Choral
- Three Carols of Death (1958, to texts by Walt Whitman)
- Mail Order Madrigals (1972, to texts from the 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog)
- Perceptions (1982, to texts by Walt Whitman)
Chamber/Instrumental
Band
Newsreel, in Five Shots (1941)
- George Washington Bridge (1950)
Chester Overture (1956) from New England Triptych
When Jesus Wept (1958) from New England Triptych
Philharmonic Fanfare (1965), unpubd [withdrawn]
Dedication Fanfare (1968)
Be Glad then, America (1975) from New England Triptych
Arrangements
- Variations on "America", for orchestra (1963, arranged from Ives' organ piece with the same name)
Trivia
William Schuman appeared as the opening guest on the CBS game show, What's My Line? on September 30 1962 (episode #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 sang 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.
