John La Montaine
John Maynard La Montaine , he later used the spelling LaMontaine (born March 17, 1920 in Oak Park (Illinois) , † April 29, 2013 in Hollywood ), was an American composer and pianist .
Life
John La Montaine studied at the American Conservatory in Chicago from 1935 to 1938 , then until 1942 at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester with Howard Hanson and Bernard Rogers . From 1942 to 1946 he did military service in the US Navy, followed by studies at the Juilliard School with Bernard Wagenaar and with Nadia Boulanger at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau . As a pianist, he accompanied the singers Mary Garden and Maggie Teyte in the late 1940s . 1950 to 1954 he was a pianist and celesta player in the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini .
In 1959, La Montaine received the Pulitzer Prize of Music for his 1st piano concerto " In Time of War " (soloist at the premiere in 1958 was Jorge Bolet ), as well as two Guggenheim Fellowships in 1959/60 . In 1962 he was composer-in-residence at the American Academy in Rome. For a time (1961 and 1964/65) he taught himself at the Eastman School of Music, and in 1968 at the University of Utah .
plant
La Montaine created stage works, orchestral music (including 4 piano concertos), piano and chamber music, two operas and numerous vocal works. The Overture: From Sea to Shining Sea was created in 1961 as a commission for the inauguration of John F. Kennedy .
In the work of La Montaine there are influences of medieval music, serialism , folk song and jazz. In some works he processed bird voices, such as Birds of Paradise for piano and orchestra (1964), Missa Naturae for speaker, choir and orchestra (1966) and Wilderness Journal for bass baritone, organ and orchestra (1972).
literature
- Neil Butterworth: Dictionary of American Classical Composers . Routledge, New York, 2nd ed. 2013, p. 265.
- David Mason Greene: Greene's biographical encyclopedia of composers . Garden City, NY, Doubleday, 1985, pp. 1468/69.
- The New Grove, 2nd edition
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | La Montaine, John |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | La Montaine, John Maynard; LaMontaine, John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American composer and pianist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 17, 1920 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oak Park (Illinois) |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 29, 2013 |
| Place of death | Hollywood |