Donald Erb

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Donald James Erb (born January 17, 1927 in Youngstown , Ohio , † August 12, 2008 in Cleveland Heights , Ohio) was an American composer.

As a student, Erb played the trumpet in a dance band and after his military service in World War II in various jazz bands. He studied at Kent State University until 1950, at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Marcel Dick until 1952 and earned a doctorate in 1963 at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he was a student of Bernhard Heiden . During a stay in Paris in 1953, he studied with Nadia Boulanger .

From 1953 to 1961 he taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was composer in residence from 1966 to 1981 . He then worked with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and eventually returned to Cleveland. In 1987 he received a professorship for composition here. He has also taught at Indiana University and Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Erb composed an overture symphony , a concerto for percussion and orchestra, The Seventh Trumpet (UA 1969) based on motifs from the apocalypse and chamber music works. With the piece Reconnaissance , in which he was one of the first composers to use synthesizers alongside acoustic instruments , he is one of the pioneers of electronic music in the USA. The world premiere took place in 1967 with Robert Moog in New York.

Works (selection)

  • Overture Symphony , 1964
  • Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra , 1966
  • Reconnaissance , UA 1967
  • The Seventh Trumpet , UA 1969
  • Klangfarbenfunk I for rock band, orchestra and tape, 1970
  • The Purple Roofed Ethical Suicide Parlor for wind band and tape, 1972
  • Concerto for Brass and Orchestra , 1986
  • Changes , 1994
  • Remembrances , 1994
  • Sonata for Solo Violin , 1994
  • Sunlit Peaks and Dark Valleys for clarinet, violin and piano, 1995
  • Sonate for Solo Harp , 1995

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c John G. Suess:  Erb, Donald (James). In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  2. ↑ Donald Erb at Allmusic (English)
  3. ↑ Vivien Schweitzer: Donald Erb, Composer of Early Electronic Music, Dies at 81. In: The New York Times . August 15, 2008 .;
  4. ↑ On the Road: Early Live Moog Modular Artists on: Bob Moog Foundation , October 16, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Erb, Donald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Erb, Donald James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Youngstown, Ohio
DATE OF DEATH August 12, 2008
Place of death Cleveland Heights , Ohio