Arthur Victor Berger

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Arthur Victor Berger (born May 15, 1912 in New York City , † October 7, 2003 in Boston ) was an American composer, music teacher and music critic.

Berger played the piano from the age of eleven. He studied music at New York University , then from 1934 to 1936 at Harvard University with Walter Piston , Hugo Leichtentritt and Archibald Thompson Davison . During this time he belonged to Aaron Copland's Young Composer's Group and edited the music journal Musical Mercury with Bernard Herrmann . Subsequent studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris from 1937 to 1939 gave him access to contemporary European music, in particular to the works of Igor Stravinsky . 1939 Berger succeeded Darius Milhaud as a teacher at Mills College . In 1943 he became a music critic for the New York Sun and in 1946 at the invitation of Virgil Thomson of the New York Herald Tribune . From 1953 to 1980 he taught at Brandeis University , then until 1999 at the New England Conservatory of Music . In 1971 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 1972 to the American Academy of Arts and Letters . On his 90th birthday in 2002, the University of California Press published his autobiography Reflections Of An American Composer .

Berger left behind a little extensive, mainly instrumental, compositional work. From the neoclassical style in the 1940s, under the influence of European music, he switched to twelve-tone music , later he found his own "cellular" style with "three-tone cells".

Works

  • Two Episodes for piano, 1933
  • Words for Music, perhaps (Three Poems by William Butler Yeats ) for soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano or flute, clarinet and cello, 1939, 1940, 1987
  • Quartet in C Major for Winds , 1941
  • Fantasy for Piano , 1942
  • Serenade concertante for string orchestra, 1944, 1951
  • Three Pieces for String Quartet , 1945
  • Rondo for Piano , 1945
  • Garlands for medium voice and piano, 1945
  • 92nd Psalm (Tov l'Hodos) for choir a cappella, 1946
  • Three Bagatelles for Piano , 1946
  • Partita for Piano , 1947
  • Duo No 1 for Violin & Piano , 1948
  • Duo No 2 for Violin & Piano , 1950
  • Duo for Cello & Piano , 1951
  • Duo for Oboe & Clarinet , 1952
  • Ideas of Order for orchestra, 1952
  • Three One-Part Inventions for piano, 1954
  • Polyphony for orchestra, 1956
  • Chamber Music for 13 Players , 1956
  • Duo for Clarinet & Piano , 1957
  • String Quartet , 1958
  • Three Pieces for two Pianos , 1961
  • Septet for winds, strings and piano, 1966
  • Five Pieces for piano, 1969
  • Trio for Violin, Guitar & Piano , 1972
  • Composition for piano four hands, 1978
  • Five Settings of European Poets for tenor and piano, 1978–79
  • When I am dead for soprano and piano, 1978
  • Improvisation for AC (birthday piece for Aaron Copland) for piano, 1980
  • Duet (Rondo) for HS (birthday piece for Harold Shapero ) for piano four hands, 1980
  • Trio for Violin, Cello & Piano , 1980
  • Perspectives III for piano four hands, 1982
  • Prelude, Aria & Waltz for string orchestra, 1982
  • Love, sweet animal for chamber choir and piano four hands, 1982
  • For Elliott at 75 (birthday piece for Elliott Carter ) for piano, 1983
  • Quintet for Woodwinds , 1984
  • Perspectives II for chamber ensemble, 1985
  • Perspectives II for chamber orchestra, 1985
  • Diptych: Collages I&II for piano quintet, 1990, 1995
  • Collage III for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion and piano, 1992, 1994
  • Four Two-Part Inventions for piano, 1993
  • Birthday Cards for piano, 1995–98
  • Ode of Ronsard for medium voice and piano (1987) or mezzo-soprano and flute, cello and piano, 2002

Fonts

  • Arthur Victor Berger: Reflections of an American Composer . University of California Press, Berkeley et al. a. 2002, ISBN 978-0-520-23251-8 .

literature

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Allan Kozinn: Arthur Berger, Composer and Music Critic, Is Dead at 91. In: New York Times . October 10, 2003, accessed November 30, 2018 .
  2. ^ Members: Arthur Berger. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed February 16, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Rodney Lister: Arthur Berger. In: Booklet for CD BMOP / sound 1031. 2013, accessed on November 30, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Berger, Arthur Victor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berger, Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer, music educator and critic
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 2003
Place of death Boston