Ned Rorem

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Ned Rorem (born October 23, 1923 in Richmond , Indiana ) is one of the most respected contemporary American composers .

Rorem studied in Philadelphia , Tanglewood and the Juilliard School . In 1949 he went to France for nine years. Important teachers were Bernard Wagenaar , Aaron Copland , Virgil Thomson and, in France, Arthur Honegger . He later received professorships in composition in Buffalo , Salt Lake City and Philadelphia. In addition to many other honors, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1976. Rorem is the composer of numerous songs, but also wrote operas, orchestral works and chamber music. He also made a literary stand out; the autobiographical “Paris Diary” became particularly well known.

Parental home and first music lessons

Rorem's mother, Gladys Miller, was a civil rights activist at birth, and his father, C. Rufus Rorem, was an economist in a pharmaceutical company. In 1924 the family moved to Chicago , where the father took a university professorship. Both parents had converted to the Quakers , whose services helped shape Ned Rorem's childhood.

Although the parents themselves had little knowledge of music, they made it possible for Ned and his sister, who is two years older, to attend concerts regularly. So he experienced pianists like Paderewski , Rachmaninow and the Bartók couple . Both children received piano lessons, with Ned soon outperforming his sister. At the age of eleven, Rorem came into contact with the works of Debussy and Ravel , which helped determine his later Francophile inclination. In the following years he also got to know contemporary American music and jazz and wrote his first compositions.

Study time in America

In June 1940 Rorem played the 1st movement of Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto with the American Concert Orchestra. In the same month he graduated from the University of Chicago Lab School with his high school degree. This was followed by his first serious studies in music theory and harmony with Leo Sowerby at the American Conservatory in Chicago. During this time he met the poet Paul Goodman . A friendship developed between the two that lasted until Goodman's death in 1972. In his first songs (which he considers to be the most successful of his work to this day) Rorem set Goodman's texts to music.

Despite poor academic performance, Rorem was accepted as a junior student at Northwestern University's School of Music because of his "creative potential". In the entrance examination he was a convincing pianist, so that in addition to the composition class with Alfred Nolte, he was also accepted into Harold Van Horne 's piano class. In 1943 he moved to the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia, where he studied with Rosario Scalero and Menotti . Rorem befriended fellow students who later became interpreters of his works, including Gary Graffman and Eugene Istomin . His Seventieth Psalm was performed in the summer of 1943 and his Four-Hand Piano Sonata in 1944 . In 1944 he left the Curtis Institute and moved to New York against his parents' wishes. There he made his living as a copyist Virgil Thomson , who taught him orchestration. Rorem also temporarily worked as a répétiteur in Martha Graham's ballet class .

At his father's insistence, Rorem began to study composition at the Juilliard School in New York with Bernard Wagenaar and spent the summers of 1946 and 1947 at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood , where he studied with Aaron Copland . In 1948 he successfully completed his studies. His thesis, the Overture in C , received the $ 1,000 Gershwin Memorial Award. In the same year, The Lordly Hudson was voted Best Published Song of the Year by the Music Library Association on Paul Goodman's Poems.

Relocation to France

Winning the Gershwin Prize allowed Rorem to travel to France; the stay, originally planned for three months, lasted nine years. In the first two years he lived in Morocco for several months at a friend's house and wrote numerous compositions, including twenty orchestral works alone.

In 1950 he received the “Lili Boulanger Prize”, in 1951 the “Prix de Biarritz” for the ballet Mélos and in the same year a Fulbright scholarship, which enabled him to study with Honegger in Paris. Rorem was one of the few American composers who, although studying in France, did not take lessons from the renowned teacher Nadia Boulanger . Boulanger turned him down as a student, but not because of a lack of talent, but because she was of the opinion that this would distort the already formed personality of the 24-year-old.

In Paris Rorem met the patroness Viscountess Marie Laure de Noailles, in whose house he lived until the end of his time in Paris. There he met many of the most important composers, painters and writers of the time. Rorem's Paris years were the most productive of his compositional work.

Literary works

In addition to his musical work, Rorem has kept a diary since the 1950s in which social and cultural life in France - later in America - is commented on in an entertaining and sometimes inconsiderate way. The diaries, published in five volumes, contain descriptions of famous painters, composers, poets and conductors as well as personal reports on his homosexual relationships and problems with alcohol, drugs and depression. The publication of the first diary, the "Paris Diary", aroused excitement and outrage among American bourgeoisie in 1966.

Rorem had already written an article for Musical America magazine in 1949. This was followed by essays, articles and music reviews that appeared in major newspapers and specialist journals in the USA and were also edited in book form. These include numerous reports and comments on composers who are shaped by acquaintance or friendship, including Poulenc , Milhaud , Honegger , Auric , Virgil Thomson, Copland, Nadia Boulanger, Carter , Bernstein and Boulez ; but also literary figures like Auden , Chester Kallman , Cocteau , Pound or Green .

In 1996 the autobiography "Knowing When to Stop" appeared, which covers the period up to 1949. Again and again Rorem points out that his music and his literary works complement each other by realizing his desire for order and system in music, but his writing satisfies the will to chaos.

Return to the USA

In the mid-1950s Rorem visited the USA three times to attend premieres of his own works and to take care of the publication of new pieces. But it was not until 1958 that he moved back to America. Among other things, the repressive cultural and social policy of the McCarthy era was responsible for the long stay in France. The open homosexuality of Rorem was less tolerated in American society at the time than in France. In the "New York Diary" Rorem describes that his dissolute lifestyle with alcohol problems in New York initially persisted, even when he tried to combat the addiction with drugs, through withdrawal therapies and attending meetings of "Alcoholics Anonymous". He described the years 1955-1965 as his "drinking decade". It was only the organist James Holmes, whom Rorem met in 1967 and who lived in a partnership with him until his death in 1999, that had a stabilizing influence on his life.

Honors and teaching activities

Rorem received other awards and prizes in the United States: a Guggenheim grant in 1957 and 1977 , and a prize from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1968 . For the book "Critical Affairs - a Composer's Journal" he was awarded the "ASCAP - Deems Taylor Award" (1971); he received the same award again in 1975 for "The Final Diary". In 1976 the Pulitzer Prize followed for his orchestral work Air Music .

In 1959, Rorem received a professorship in composition at the University of Buffalo . In 1965 he was appointed composer-in-residence with simultaneous professorship at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City . From 1980 to 1993 he was assistant director of the Composition Department at the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia. Notable students include Daron Hagen .

Rorem spent the summers of 1980, 1982, 1985 and 1990 as composer-in-residence at the “Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival” and performed - as at other festivals - as an interpreter of his own works. 1977 Rorem received an honorary doctorate from Northwestern University; the mayor of Chicago declared March 22 and 23, 1984 to be "Ned Rorem Days". From 2000 to 2003 he was President of the Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1979 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 2005 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Compositional work in the USA

After returning to the USA, Rorem's works began to arouse broader interest. They took conductors like Reiner and Ormandy into their programs; his songs have also been performed by well-known performers. After the mid-fifties, Rorem mainly chose lyrics by American authors of the 20th century, such as Paul Goodman , Theodore Roethke or Kenneth Koch , and particularly often Walt Whitman . Since 1960, in addition to a few individual songs, mainly song cycles have been written.

Although the focus of Rorem's compositional work is on vocal music, he created numerous, often programmatic, instrumental works. He used his own song compositions several times, for example in the 3rd movement of the Violin Concerto (1984). Borrowings from his own works are not limited to vocal works, but he also repeatedly used entire movements from earlier instrumental pieces. "Recycled" were z. B. Parts from Eclogues (1953) in Sinfonia (1957) or from Burlesque (1955) in A Quaker Reader (1976); Movements from A Birthday Suite (1967) were incorporated into Sunday Morning (1977), Remembering Tommy (1979), The Santa Fe Songs (1980), Winter Pages (1981) and the septet Scenes From Childhood (1985).

Rorem composed several operas and wrote stage music. He also wrote the first score for Panic in Needle Park , but was not used in the final version of the film. Rorem later used parts of it in Pulitzer Prize-winning Air Music . His most famous opera Miss Julie (based on Strindberg ) was written in 1965 on behalf of the Ford Foundation for the New York City Opera, but received negative reviews, which prompted Rorem to undertake extensive revisions. In 1979 the new version was performed successfully.

Much of the music that has been created since 1960 is commissioned, for example by the Ford Foundation, the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation or orchestras, but also from schools, churches and private individuals. In 1974/1975 he received seven commissions on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the USA: Assembly and Fall , Air Music , Book of Hours , Eight Piano Studies , Serenade , Sky Music and Women's Voices .

In the eighties and nineties he continued to write numerous compositions, such as the Violin Concerto and the Organ Concerto in 1984 . Other important works are Spring Music (premiered in 1991 by the Beaux Arts Trio on the occasion of Carnegie Hall's 100th birthday ) and the Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra , premiered in 1993. Rorem sees the song cycle Evidence of Things Not Seen (1998) as Conclusion of all of his previous vocal works. New works were also created in the 21st century, including a cello concerto , a flute concerto and a concerto for melodic percussion instruments ( premiered by Evelyn Glennie in 2004).

Rorem, who describes himself as a composer rooted in diatonic , whereby his often lyrical tonal language also shows influences of French impressionism , opposed the representatives of serial music early on :

Boulez proclaimed: "Every musician who has not felt the necessity of the serial language is useless. Omit the word 'not', and I would agree. "(Eng .: Boulez has announced:" Any musician who does not feel the need for serial musical language is useless. If you leave out the word "not", I agree) ".

Chronological catalog raisonné

Vocal works

Operas

  • Cain and Abel (1946), libretto: Paul Goodman (E, unorchestrated, unpublished)
  • A Childhood Miracle (1952), opera for six singers and thirteen instruments, libretto: Elliott Stein (E)
  • The Robbers (1956), melodrama in one scene, libretto by the composer based on Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Pardoner's Tale" (E)
  • Last Day (1959), opera in nine minutes for male voice and six instruments, libretto: Jay Harrison (E, unpublished)
  • Mamba's Daughters (1959), unfinished and unpublished
  • The Anniversary (1961), Libretto: Jascha Kessler (E, unfinished, unpublished)
  • Miss Julie (1965, rev. 1978), opera in one act, libretto: Kenward Elmslie, after August Strindberg (E)
  • Hearing (1966, arr. 1976), Five scenes for four singers and seven instrumentalists, Libretto: A drama by James Holmes on poems by Kenneth Koch (E)
  • Bertha (1968), opera in one act, libretto after Kenneth Koch (E)
  • Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters (1968), opera in three scenes for five solo singers, libretto based on the melodrama by Gertrude Stein (E)
  • Fables (1970), five short stories, libretto based on poems by Jean de la Fontaine, translated by Marianne Moore (E)

Works for solo part (s) and orchestra

  • At Noon Upon Two (1947), Marionette Theater (with Charles Henri Ford) (E, unpublished)
  • Six Irish Poems (1950), for voice and orchestra, text: George Darley (E)
  • Poèmes pour la paix (1953; orchestrated 1956), for medium solo voice and strings, texts: Jehan Regnier, Pierre de Ronsard, Olivier de Magny, Jean Daurat and Antoine de Baif (F)
  • Sun (1966), eight poems in one movement for solo voice and orchestra, texts: King Ikhnaton, Lord Byron, Paul Goodman, William Blake, Robin Morgan, William Shakespeare, Walt Whitman and Theodore Roethke (E)
  • After Long Silence (1982), ten poems for solo voice, oboe and strings, texts: William Butler Yeats, George Herbert, Thomas Carew, Robert Burns, Queen Elizabeth I, Thomas Hardy, William Blake, Ernest Dowson, Emily Dickinson (E)
  • The Schuyler Songs (1987), eight poems for solo voice and orchestra, text: James Schuyler (E)
  • Swords and Plowshares (1990), for four solo voices and orchestra, texts: Arthur Rimbaud, Lord Byron, Wystan Hugh Auden, William Butler Yeats, Archibald MacLeish, EA Robinson, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Denise Levertov, Psalm 133 (E)
  • More Than A Day (1995), for voice and chamber orchestra, text: Jack Larson (E)

Works for choir and orchestra

  • The Seventieth Psalm (1943), hymn for mixed choir and wind ensemble, text: Psalm 70 (E)
  • A Sermon on Miracles (1947), for unison choir, solo part and strings, text: Paul Goodman (E)
  • That We May Live (1947), stage festival (with Milton Robertson, unpublished)
  • The Long Home (1947), for choir and orchestra (unpublished)
  • The Poet's Requiem (1955), for soprano, mixed choir and orchestra, texts: Franz Kafka, Rainer Maria Rilke, Jean Cocteau, Stephane Mallarme, Sigmund Freud, Paul Goodman and André Gide (E)
  • Two Psalms and a Proverb (1962), for mixed choir and five string instruments, texts: Psalm 133: 1-3; Psalm 13: 1-6; Proverbs Solomon 23: 29-35 (E)
  • Lift Up Your Heads (The Ascension) (1963), for mixed choir, wind ensemble and timpani, text: John Beaumont (E)
  • Laudemus Tempus Actum (1964), for mixed choir and orchestra, text: by the composer (L)
  • Letters from Paris (1966), for mixed choir and small orchestra, text: Janet Flanner (E)
  • Little Prayers (1973), for soprano, baritone, mixed choir and orchestra, text: Paul Goodman (E)
  • A Whitman Cantata (1983), for male choir, twelve brass instruments and timpani, text: Walt Whitman (E)
  • An American Oratorio (1984), texts by nine 19th century American authors for mixed choir, tenor and orchestra, texts: Emma Lazarus, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Mark Twain, Sidney Lanier, Stephen Crane, Walt Whitman and Herman Melville (E)
  • Homer (1986), Three Scenes from the "Iliad", for four-part mixed choir and eight instruments, text: based on Homer's "Iliad" (E)
  • Te Deum (1987), for mixed choir, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones and organ, text: Book of Common Prayer (Prayer Book of the Anglican Church) (E)
  • Goodbye My Fancy (1988), An oratorio for mixed choir and orchestra with alto and baritone solos, Text: Walt Whitman (E)

Chamber music with singing

  • Mourning Scene from Samuel (1947), for voice and string quartet, text: Samuel II 1,19-27 (E)
  • Four Dialogues (1954), for two voices and two pianos, text: Frank O'Hara (E)
  • Some Trees (1968), three poems for three voices: soprano, mezzo-soprano, bass-baritone and piano, text: John Ashbery (E)
  • Gloria (1970), for two solo voices and piano, text: from the Roman mass (L)
  • Ariel (1971), Five poems by Sylvia Plath for soprano, clarinet and piano, text: Sylvia Plath (E)
  • Last Poems of Wallace Stevens (1972), for voice, cello and piano, text: Wallace Stevens (E)
  • Serenade on Five English Poems (1975), for voice, violin, viola and piano, texts: John Fletcher, William Shakespeare, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Thomas Campian (E)
  • Back to Life (1980), for countertenor and double bass, text. Thom Gunn (E)
  • The Santa Fe Songs (1980), Twelve poems by Witter Bynner for medium voice, violin, viola, cello and piano, text: Witter Bynner (E)
  • The Auden Poems (1989), for voice, violin, cello and piano, text: Wystan Hugh Auden (E)
  • Songs of Sadness (1994), for voice, guitar, violoncello and piano, texts: Mark Strand, James Merrill, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Robert Burns (E)

Choral works

  • A Sermon on Miracles (1947), for monophonic choir, solo part and keyboard instrument, text: Paul Goodman (E)
  • Four Madrigals (1947), for mixed choir a cappella, ext: after Sappho, translated by CM Bowra (E)
  • Three Incantations from a Marionette Tale (1948), for monophonic choir or solo voice and piano, texts: Charles Boultenhouse (E)
  • From an Unknown Past (1951), for mixed choir or solo voice and piano, texts: anonymous poem from the 16th century, John Dowland, William Shakespeare (?) (E)
  • The Mild Mother (1952), song; Choral, one-part choir, text: Anonymous 15th century (E)
  • A Far Island (1953), for mixed choir, text: Kenward Elmslie (E)
  • Five Prayers for the Young (1953), for three-part female choir
  • Gentle Visitations (1953), for three-part female choir, text: Percy B. Shelley (E)
  • I Feel Death ... (1953), for three-part male choir a cappella, text: Thomas Nashe (E)
  • The Corinthians (1953), for choir and organ, text: 1 Corinthians 13 (E)
  • All Glorious Good (1955), for mixed choir, text: from the "Episcopal Hymn", USA (1841) (E)
  • Christ the Lord Is Ris'n Today (1955), for mixed choir, text: Charles Wesley (E)
  • Sing my Soul, His Wondrous Love (1955), for mixed choir, text: from the "Episcopal Hymn", USA (1841) (E)
  • Miracles of Christmas (1959), for mixed choir and organ (or piano), text: Ruth Apprich Jacob (E)
  • Prayers and Responses (1960), for mixed choir, text: liturgical (E)
  • Virelai (1961), for mixed choir, text: Geoffrey Chaucer (E)
  • Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (1966), for mixed choir, text: Charles Wesley (E)
  • Proper for the Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit (1966), for unison choir and organ, text: liturgical (E)
  • Truth in the Night Season (1966), for mixed choir and organ, text: Psalm 92, 1-5 (E)
  • He Shall Rule from Sea to Sea (1967), for mixed choir and organ, text: Psalm 71, Daniel 7 (E)
  • Two Holy Songs (1969), for mixed choir and keyboard instrument, text: from Psalms 134 and 150 (E)
  • Praises for the Nativity (1970), for four solo voices, mixed choir and organ, text: Prediger (L, E)
  • Canticle of the Lamb (1971), for mixed choir a cappella, text: Revelation of John (E)
  • Canticles, Set I (1971), Text: English versions of liturgical chants (E)
  • Canticles, Set II (1972), Text: English versions of liturgical chants (E)
  • Four Hymns (1973), for mixed choir and keyboard, texts: Trad. 12th century, Godfrey Thing, John Oxenham, Trad. 16th century (E)
  • In Time of Pestilence (1973), for mixed choir a cappella, text: Thomas Nashe (E)
  • Missa Brevis (1973), for four solo voices and mixed choir, text: liturgical (L)
  • Prayer to Jesus (1973), for mixed choir, text: Gerard Manley Hopkins (E)
  • Three Motets (1973), for mixed choir and organ, text: Gerard Manley Hopkins (E)
  • Three Prayers (1973), for mixed choir, text: Paul Goodman (E)
  • Surge, Illuminare (Arise, Shine) (1977), for mixed choir and organ, text: liturgical (E)
  • Three Choruses for Christmas (1978), for mixed choir, texts: Thomas Hardy, trad., Muhllenberg - 1826 (from "The Hymnal") (E)
  • Give All to Love (1981), for two-part mixed choir and piano, text: Ralph Waldo Emerson (E)
  • Little Lamb, Who Made Thee? (1982), for mixed choir and organ, text: William Blake (E)
  • Praise the Lord, O My Soul (1982), for mixed choir and organ, text: Psalm 146 (E)
  • Mercy and Truth Are Met (1983), for mixed choir and organ, text: Psalm 85, 10-13 (E)
  • Pilgrim Strangers (1984), for six male voices, text: Walt Whitman (E)
  • Seven Motets for the Church Year (1986), for mixed choir, text: from "Liber usualis" (E)
  • The Death of Moses (1987), for mixed choir and organ, text: Deuteronomy, 34.1-12 (E)
  • Five Armenian Love Songs (1987), for mixed choir, text: Nahapet Kuckak (Armenian)
  • Three Poems of Baudelaire (1987), for mixed choir, text: Pierre Charles Baudelaire (translated into English by Richard Howard) (E)
  • What is pink? (1987), Six songs for soprano choir with piano, texts: Christina Rossetti, Vachel Lindsay, William Jay Smith, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Edwin Arlington Robinson (E)
  • Lead Kindly Light (1988), for mixed choir, text: Trad. (E)
  • Breathe On Me (1989), for mixed choir a cappella, text: Edwin Hatch (E)
  • Love Alone (1989), for male choir and piano four hands, text: Paul Monette (E)
  • Present Laughter (1993), for mixed choir, brass quartet and piano, texts: William Shakespeare, Donne, Blake, Ben King (E)

Songs and song collections

  • Doll's Boy (1944), for voice and piano, text: ee cummings (E)
  • Song of Chaucer (1944), for voice and piano, text: Geoffrey Chaucer (unpublished)
  • A Psalm of Praise (1945), for voice and piano, text: from Psalm 100
  • A Song of David (1945), for voice and piano, text: from Psalm 120 (E)
  • Dawn Angel (1945), for voice and piano, text: Parker Tyler (E) (unpublished)
  • Absalom (1946), for medium voice and piano, text: Paul Goodman (E)
  • Alleluia (1946), for medium voice and piano
  • On a Singing Girl (1946), for voice and piano, text: Elinor Wylie (E)
  • Seven Little Prayers (1946), for voice and piano (unpublished)
  • Spring (1946), for medium voice and piano, text: Gerard Manley Hopkins (E)
  • Spring and Fall (1946), for voice and piano, text: Gerard Manley Hopkins (E)
  • Catullus: On the Burial of His Brother (1947), for medium voice and piano, text: transl. into English by Aubrey Beardsley (E)
  • Fire Boy (1947), puppet theater, for voice and piano, text: Charles Boultenhouse (E) (unpublished)
  • The Lordly Hudson (1947), for voice and piano, text: Paul Goodman
  • Mongolian Idiot (1947), for voice and piano, text: Karl Shapiro (E) (unpublished)
  • Spring (1947), for voice and piano, text: Gerard Manley Hopkins (E)
  • Three Blues of Paul Goodman (1947), for voice and piano, text: Paul Goodman (E)
  • Echo's Song (1948), for medium voice and piano, text: Ben Jonson (E)
  • Requiem (1948), for voice and piano, text: Robert Louis Stevenson (E)
  • Two Poems of Edith Sitwell (1948), for medium-high voice and piano, text: Edith Sitwell (E)
  • Little Elegy (1949), for voice and piano, text: Elinor Wylie (E)
  • Rain in Spring (1949), for medium voice and piano, text: Paul Goodman (E)
  • The Silver Swan (1949), for voice and piano, text: Orlando Gibbons (E)
  • What if Some Little Pain ... (1949), for voice and piano, text: Edmund Spenser (E)
  • Lullaby of the Woman of the Mountain (1950), for voice and piano, text: Padriac Pearse (E)
  • Philomel (1950), for voice and piano, text: Richard Barnfield (E)
  • Another Sleep (1951), Three songs for voice and piano, text: Julien Green (E) (unpublished)
  • Love in a Life (1951), for medium voice and piano, text: Robert Browning (E)
  • The Call (1951), for voice and piano, text: Anonymus 15th century (E)
  • The Nightingale (1951), for medium voice and piano, text: Anonymus, approx. 15th century (E)
  • To a Young Girl (1951), for medium voice and piano, text: William Butler Yeats (E)
  • Whiskey, Drink Divine (1951), for voice and piano, text: from an Irish poem (E) (unpublished)
  • A Christmas Carol (1952), for voice and piano, text: Anonymus 15th century (E)
  • An Angel Speaks to the Shepherds (1952), for voice and piano, text: Lukas 2,9-15 (E)
  • The Resurrection (1952), for voice and piano, text: Matthäus, 27.62-66; 28 (E)
  • Boy With a Baseball Glove (1953), for voice and piano, text: Paul Goodman (E) (unpublished)
  • Jack L'Eventreur (1953), for high voice and piano, text: Marie Laure (F)
  • Love (1953), for medium voice and piano, text: Thomas Lodge (E)
  • The Midnight Sun (1953), for voice and piano, text: Paul Goodman (E)
  • Sally's Smile (1953), for voice and piano, text: Paul Goodman (E)
  • Six Songs for High Voice (1953), for voice and piano, texts: Anonymus 16. Jhd., Robert Browning, John Dryden (E)
  • The Tulip Tree (1953), for voice and piano, text: Paul Goodman
  • Anacreontiche (1954), Four songs for voice and piano, text: Jacopo Vittorelli (I) (unpublished)
  • Three Poems of Demetrios Capetanakis (1954), for medium voice and piano, text: Demetrios Capetanakis (E)
  • Poem for F (1955), for voice and piano, text: Edouard Roditi (E) (unpublished)
  • Three Poems of Paul Goodman (1956), for voice and piano, text: Paul Goodman (E)
  • Conversation (1957), for medium voice and piano, text: Elizabeth Bishop (E)
  • Five Poems of Walt Whitman (1957), for voice and piano, text: Walt Whitman (E)
  • Fourteen Songs on American Poetry (1957), for voice and piano, texts: Walt Whitman, Robert Hillyer, Gertrude Stein, Theodore Roethke, Paul Goodman, Howard Moss (E)
  • The Lord's Prayer (1957), for voice and piano
  • Settings for Whitman (1957), for (spoken) voice, text: Walt Whitman (E) (unpublished)
  • To You (1957), for voice and piano, text: Walt Whitman (E)
  • Visits to St Elizabeth's (1957), for medium voice and piano, text: Elizabeth Bishop (E)
  • Two Poems of Theodore Roethke (1959), for medium voice and piano, text: Theodore Roethke (E)
  • For Poulenc (1963), for voice and piano, text: Frank O'Hara (E)
  • Four Poems of Tennyson (1963), for voice and piano, text: Alfred, Lord Tennyson (E)
  • Two Poems of Plato (1964), for voice and piano, text: Plato (unpublished)
  • Feed My Sheep (1966), for voice and piano, text: Mary Baker Eddy (E) (unpublished)
  • The Serpent (1972), for medium voice and piano, text: Theodore Roethke (E)
  • To Jane (1974), for medium voice and piano, text: Percy B. Shelley (E)
  • Where We Came (1974), for medium voice and piano, text: Jean Garrigue (E)
  • A Journey (1976), for medium voice and piano, text: Andrew Glaze (E)
  • Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair (1982), Foster, arranged by Ned Rorem for voice and piano
  • Three Calamus Poems (1982), for medium voice and piano, text: Walt Whitman (E)
  • Anna la Bonne (1989), A scene for voice and piano, text: Jean Cocteau (F)
  • Are You the New Person? (1989), for voice and piano, text: Walt Whitman (E)
  • Full of Life Now (1989), for voice and piano, text: Walt Whitman (E)

Song cycles

  • Penny Arcade (1949), cycle for voice and piano, text: Harold Norse (E) (unpublished)
  • Flight for Heaven (1950), cycle for bass-baritone and piano, text: Robert Herrick (E)
  • Cycle of Holy Songs (1951), four songs for voice and piano, texts: from the Psalms (E)
  • To a Young Girl (1951), song cycle for voice and piano, text: William Butler Yeats (E) (unpublished)
  • Eclogues (1953), cycle for voice and piano, text: John Fletcher (E) (unpublished)
  • Poèmes pour la paix (1953), For medium voice and piano, texts: Jehan Regnier, Pierre de Ronsard, Olivier de Magny, Jean Durat, Jean Antoine de Baif (F)
  • King Midas (1961), A cantata for voice (s) and piano on ten poems by Howard Moss, text: Howard Moss (E)
  • Poems of Love and Rain (1963), cycle of seventeen songs for mezzo-soprano and piano, texts: Donald Windham , WH Auden, Howard Moss, Emily Dickinson, Theodore Roethke, Jack Larson, ee cummings, Kenneth Pitchford (E)
  • Hearing (1966), for medium-low voice and piano, text: Kenneth Koch (E)
  • War Scenes (1969), for medium-low voice and piano, text: Walt Whitman (E)
  • Women's Voices (1975), Eleven Songs for Soprano and Piano, Texts: Elinor Wylie, Christina Rossetti, Anne Bradstreet, Mary Leigh - Lady Chudleigh, Mary Sidney Herbert - Countess of Pembroke, Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, Adrienne Rich, Emily Dickinson, Queen Anne Boleyn, Lola Ridge, Charlotte Mew (E)
  • The Nantucket Songs (1979), Ten Songs for Soprano and Piano, Texts: Theodore Roethke, William Carlos Williams, Edmund Waller, Christina Rossetti, Walter Savage Landor, John Ashbery (E)
  • Evidence of Things Not Seen (1998), 36 songs for solo voices and piano, texts: Theodore Roethke, Walt Whitman, Wystan Hugh Auden, William Wordsworth, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Paul Goodman, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Thomas Kenn, John Woolman, William Penn, Rudyard Kipling, Stephen Crane, Langston Hughes, Oscar Wilde, AE Housman, Jane Kenyon, Julian Green, Colette, Robert Frost, William Butler Yeats, Charles Baudelaire, Mark Doty, Paul Monette (E)

Instrumental works

Works for orchestra

  • Overture for GI's (1944), for military band
  • Concertino da Camera (1946), for harpsichord and seven instruments
  • Concerto No. 1 for Piano (1948) (unpublished)
  • Death of the Black Knight (1948), ballet (unreleased)
  • Overture in C (1949) (unpublished)
  • Concerto No. 2 (1950) for piano and orchestra
  • Symphony No. 1 (1950)
  • Ballet for Jerry (1951) (unpublished)
  • Melos (1951), ballet (unpublished)
  • Dorian Gray (1952), ballet (unpublished)
  • Design (1953)
  • Symphony No. 2 (1956)
  • Sinfonia (1957), for symphonic wind instrument orchestra
  • Symphony No. 3 (1958)
  • Eagles (1958)
  • Pilgrims (1958), for strings
  • Early Voyagers (1959), ballet (unpublished)
  • Ideas (1961)
  • Lions (A Dream) (1963)
  • Excursions (1965), ballet (unpublished)
  • Water Music (1966), for clarinet, violin and orchestra
  • Piano Concerto in Six Movements (1969)
  • Air Music (1974)
  • Ten variations for orchestra
  • Assembly and Fall (1975), a movement for orchestra with solo parts for oboe, trumpet, timpani and viola
  • Sunday Morning (1977), poem in eight parts for orchestra
  • Remembering Tommy (1979), suite in ten movements for cello and piano with orchestra
  • Violin Concerto (1984)
  • Organ Concerto (1985)
  • String Symphony (1985), for string orchestra
  • Frolic (1986), fanfare for orchestra
  • Fantasy and Polka (1988)
  • A Quaker Reader (Orch. 1988), Eight Movements for Orchestra
  • Piano Concerto for Left Hand and Orchestra (1991)
  • Triptych (1992), three pieces for chamber orchestra
  • Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra (1993)
  • Waiting (1996), An anniversary card for orchestra
  • Concerto for Violin, Violoncello and Orchestra (1998)
  • Cello Concerto (2002)
  • Flute Concerto (2002)
  • Mallet Concerto, for melodic percussion instruments (WP 2004)

Chamber music

  • String Quartet No. 1 (1947) (unpublished)
  • Mountain Song (1949), for flute and piano
  • Sonata for Violin and Piano (1949)
  • String Quartet No. 2 (1950)
  • Eleven Studies for Eleven Players (1960)
  • Trio (1960), for flute, violoncello and piano
  • Lovers (1964), A short story in ten scenes for harpsichord, oboe, violoncello and percussion
  • Day Music (1971), for violin and piano
  • Night Music (1972), for violin and piano
  • Solemn Prelude (1973), fanfare for brass
  • Book of Hours (1975), Eight Pieces for Flute and Harp
  • Sky Music (1976), ten pieces for harp solo
  • Romeo and Juliet (1977), Nine pieces for flute and guitar
  • Three Slow Pieces (1978), for violoncello and piano
  • After Reading Shakespeare (1980), Nine Movements for Solo Cello
  • Suite for Guitar (1980)
  • Winter Pages (1981), quintet in eleven movements for clarinet, bassoon, violin, violoncello and piano
  • Dances (1983), for violoncello and piano
  • Picnic on the Marne (1984), Seven Waltzes for alto saxophone and piano
  • Septet “Scenes from Childhood” (1985), for oboe, horn, piano and string quartet
  • The End of Summer (1985), for clarinet, violin and piano
  • Bright Music (1987), for flute, two violins, cello and piano
  • Fanfare and Flourish (1988), for brass and organ
  • Diversions (1989), for brass quintet
  • Spring Music (1990), for violin, cello and piano
  • String Quartet No. 3 (1991)
  • String Quartet No. 4 (1994)
  • Six Variations for Two Pianos (1995)
  • Autumn Music (1998), for violin and piano

Music for keyboard instruments

  • Lost in Fear (1945), ballet with piano accompaniment (unpublished)
  • Fantasy and Toccata (1946), for organ
  • A Quiet Afternoon (1948), suite for piano
  • Sonata No. 1 (1948), for piano
  • Toccata (1948), for piano
  • Barcarolles (1949), for piano
  • Sonata No. 2 (1949), for piano
  • Suite for Two Pianos (1949), for two pianos (unpublished)
  • Pastorale (1950), for organ
  • Sicilienne (1950), for two pianos
  • Sonata No. 3 (1954), for piano
  • Burlesque (1955), for piano (unpublished)
  • Slow Waltz (1958), for piano
  • Polish Songs, op.74 (1960), F. Chopin, arranged by Ned Rorem for piano (unpublished)
  • A Birthday Suite (1967), twelve pieces for piano four hands (unpublished)
  • Spiders (1968), for harpsichord
  • Eight Etudes (1975), for piano
  • A Quaker Reader (1976), Eleven Pieces for Organ
  • Views from the Oldest House (1981), suite in six movements for organ
  • Song & Dance (1986), for piano
  • For Shirley (1989), for piano four hands
  • Organbook I (1989), "Fantasy", "Episode", "Song", "Serenade", "Reveille"
  • Organbook II (1989), "Rex Tremendae", "Magnificat", "Pie Jesu", "Stabat Mater", "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?", "In Nomine Domini"
  • Organbook III (1989), "Rondo", "Impromptu", "Passacaglia", "Fanfare", "Fugue"

Other music

  • Dusk (1948), "Occasional Music" (unpublished)
  • Hippolytus (1948), "Occasional Music" (unpublished)
  • Cock-A-Doodle (1949), "Occasional Music" (unpublished)
  • The Young Disciple (1955), "Occasional Music" (unreleased)
  • Suddenly Last Summer (1958), "Occasional Music" (unreleased)
  • The Ticklish Acrobat (1958), Musical Comedy (unreleased)
  • The Cave at Machpelah (1959), "Occasional Music" (unreleased)
  • Motel (1960), "Occasional Music" (unreleased)
  • Caligula (1962), "Occasional Music" (unpublished)
  • Color of Darkness (1963), "Occasional Music" (unreleased)
  • The Lady of Camellias (1963), "Occasional Music" (unreleased)
  • The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1964), "Occasional Music" (unreleased)
  • The Nephew (1971), "Occasional Music" (unreleased)
  • Panic in Needle Park (1971), film music

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rorem, Ned: Setting the Tone: Essays and a Diary, pp. 358f.
  2. ^ Rorem, Ned: Setting the Tone: Essays and a Diary, p. 122
  3. ^ Rorem, Ned: Other Entertainment, p. 193
  4. ^ Rorem, Ned: Setting the Tone, p. 138
  5. ^ Rorem, Ned in: Gruen, J .: The Party's Over Now: Reminiscences of the Fifties, p. 81.
  6. ↑ Academy Members. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed January 20, 2019 .
  7. ^ Rorem, Ned: Other Entertainment, p. 96

literature

Primary literature

  1. Rorem, Ned: Poulenc - a Memoir, in: Tempo 1963, pp. 28-29.
  2. ders .: Music From Inside Out, New York 1967.
  3. ders .: 35 mm Music Man, in: Utah Alumnus, 43rd year, winter 1967, p. 20.
  4. ders .: Music and People, New York 1968.
  5. ders .: Critical Affairs - A Composer's Journal, New York 1970.
  6. ders .: Pure Contraption - A Composer's Essays, New York 1973.
  7. ders .: The Final Diary, 1961-1972, reprinted as The Later Diaries of Ned Rorem by North Point Press, 1974.
  8. ders .: Messiaen and Carter on their birthdays, in: Tempo 1978, pp. 22-24.
  9. ders .: An Absolute Gift: a New Diary, New York 1978.
  10. ders .: The Paris Diary and The New York Diary, 1951-1961, San Francisco 1983.
  11. ders .: Setting the Tone: Essays and a Diary, New York 1983.
  12. ders .: A Composer Offers Some Candid Thoughts on His Art, in: The New York Times, May 1, 1983, sec. 2, p. 21.
  13. ders .: Violin Concerto - Program Notes, in the program of the premiere, Springfield 1985, pp. 21–23.
  14. ders .: The Nantucket diary of Ned Rorem 1973-85, San Francisco 1987.
  15. ders .: Settling the Score: Essays on Music, San Diego, New York, London 1988.
  16. ders .: Leonard Bernstein (An Appreciation), in: Tempo 1990 (4), pp. 6-9.
  17. ders .: In Search of American Opera, in: Opera News 7/1991, pp. 8-17.
  18. ders .: “Winter Pages / Bright Music”, in: CD New World Records # 80416, 1992, p. 3f.
  19. ders .: Knowing When to Stop: A Memoir, New York 1996.
  20. ders .: Other entertainment. Collected pieces, New York 1996.
  21. ders .: Notes on the Program, in the program for the premiere of “Evidence of Things Not Seen”, New York 1998.
  22. ders .: "Nantucket, Summer 1984 (...)", in: CD DGG 445 185-2, 1999, p. 10f.

Secondary literature

  1. Bailey, Bill: The Solo Piano Works of Ned Rorem 1948-1954. DMA, Performance, Peabody Conservatory of Music, 1992.
  2. Beal, Amy C .: Negotiating Cultural Allies; American Music in Darmstadt, 1946-1956, in: Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 53/1, Chicago 2000, pp. 105-141.
  3. Beck, Eleonora M .: Ned Rorem on Music and Politics: An Interview in Celebration of the Composer's Seventieth Birthday, in: Current Musicology 1993 (54), pp. 24-37.
  4. Butterworth, Neil: The American Symphony, Aldershot, Brookfield (USA), Singapore, Sydney 1998.
  5. Cantrell, Scott: Ned Rorem a harbinger of harmony, in: Times Union, February 28, 1986.
  6. Claflin, Beverly Hubbard: A musical analysis and poetic interpretation of Ned Rorem's "Ariel", Phil. Diss., Arizona, Arizona State Univ. 1987.
  7. Copland, Aaron: Music of Today - Leading Composers in Europe and America, German translation, Vienna 1947.
  8. Danuser, Hermann / Kämper, Dietrich / Terse, Paul (eds.): American music since Charles Ives, Laaber 1993.
  9. Danuser, Hermann: Counter traditions of the avant-garde, in: American Music since Charles Ives, Laaber 1993, pp. 101–112.
  10. Davis, Deborah Louise Bodwin: The Choral Works of Ned Rorem. Phil. Diss., Musicology, Michigan State University, 1978.
  11. This: An Interview about Choral Music with Ned Rorem, in: The Musical Quarterly 1982 (68), pp. 390–397.
  12. Distler, Jed: An Interview with Ned Rorem, 1996, in: Classical Net Review, www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/distler/rorem-interview.html, (as of August 31, 1999).
  13. Dyer, Richard: Ned Rorem Tells All, in: Boston Globe, Sept. 30, 1984, p. 15.
  14. Emerson, Gordon: On Razor's Edge with Ned Rorem, in: New Haven Register, October 23, 1983, sec. 3, p. 1.
  15. Greco, Steven: Ned Rorem: in Prose, in Music - a Master of Composition, in: The Advocate, October 4, 1979.
  16. Griffiths, Paul: Modern Music - The Avantgarde since 1945, New York 1981.
  17. Griffiths, Richard Lyle: Ned Rorem: Music for Chorus and Orchestra. Phil. Diss. Seattle, Washington, Univ. of Washington 1979.
  18. Gruen, John: The Party's Over Now: Reminiscences of the Fifties, in: The Viking Press, New York 1972.
  19. Henry, Leon Austin: The Song Cycles of Ned Rorem: A Technical Survey. Phil. Diss., Baton Rouge, The Louisiana State Univ. and Agricultural and Mechanical College 1986.
  20. Hinson, Maurice: Great Composers in Our Time: Ned Rorem, in: Piano Quarterly 1980, pp. 6-16.
  21. Hitchcock, H. Wiley: Music in the United States - A Historical Introduction, New Jersey 1988.
  22. Holmes, James: A Guide to the Sacred Choral Music of Ned Rorem, in: The American Organist 5/1989, pp. 66-68.
  23. Huyssens, Andreas: Postmoderne - an American International ?, in: Postmoderne --zeichen einer Kultural Wandels, Reinbek 1993, pp. 13–44.
  24. Jeffers, Grant Lyle: Non-narrative music drama: settings by Virgil Thomson, Ned Rorem and Earl Kim of plays by Gertrude Stein and Samuel Beckett, and "What happened", an original chamber opera based on a play by Gertrude Stein, Vol 1.2 . Phil Diss., Los Angeles, Univ. of California 1983.
  25. Johnson, Bret: Still Sings the Voice - A Portrait of Ned Rorem, in: Tempo 1985 (153), pp. 7-12.
  26. Kirby, Paul Howard: Tonal and Nontonal Elements in the Recent Chamber Music of Ned Rorem. DMA doc., Music, City University of New York, 1996.
  27. Kolleritsch, Otto : The New Music in America. On the lack of tradition and the heaviness of tradition, Vienna 1994, pp. 186-190.
  28. Kolodin, Irving: Ned Rorem as Teacher, in: Saturday Review 10/1980, pp. 105f.
  29. Kreutziger-Herr, Annette / Strack, Manfred (eds.): From the New World - Forays through the American music of the 20th century, Hamburg 1997.
  30. Lowens, Irving: Review of “N. Rorem: 'Music and people' “, in: Notes 1969/70 (26), pp. 280f.
  31. Mass, Lawrence D .: A Conversation with Ned Rorem, in: Queering the pitch: The new gay and lesbian musicology, New York 1994, pp. 85-112.
  32. McDonald, Arlys L .: Ned Rorem - A Bio-Bibliography, New York 1989.
  33. Miller, Philip Lieson: The Songs of Ned Rorem, in: Tempo 1979 (127), pp. 25–31.
  34. Munson, Mark: Ned Rorem's “An American Oratorio”: An Introspective Work for Our Nation, in: The Choral Journal, Vol. 35, No. 10, 05/1995, pp. 9-14.
  35. Nicholls, David (Ed.): The Cambridge History of American Music, Cambridge 1998.
  36. O'Connor, Patrick: Imagination Snared, in: Opera News 10/1988, pp. 24-27 / 70.
  37. Oehlschlägel, Reinhard : Changes in the Avant-garde - American Approaches, European Approaches, in: History of Music in the 20th Century: 1975-2000, Laaber 2000, pp. 25–47.
  38. Oja, Carol J .: <Review of “Ned Rorem: 'Setting the Tone: Essays and a Diary'”>, in: American Music 1987 (5), pp. 205–208.
  39. Pflederer Zimmermann, Marilyn: <Review on "Ned Rorem: 'Music and people'">, in: The journal of Aesthetic Education 1969 (3), p. 181f.
  40. Pilar, Lillian Nobleza: The Vocal Style of Ned Rorem in the Song Cycle Poems of Love and the Rain, Phil.Diss., Music, Indiana University 1972.
  41. Plum, Nancy: A Conversation With Ned Rorem, in: Voice, November / December 1985, p. 8.
  42. Provenzano, Therese A .: The Choral Music of Ned Rorem, Mus. AD Diss., Music education, Boston University 1994.
  43. Ramey, Phillip: Ned Rorem: Not Just a Song Composer, in: Keynote, 4 No. 3 1980, pp. 12-15.
  44. Raver, Leonard: Ned Rorem - 1989 Ago Composer of the Year, in: The American Organist 3/1989, pp. 56–57.
  45. Rehak, Melanie: Questions for Ned Rorem - Elegy: Upon Mourning, in: The New York Times Magazine March 14, 1999, p. 19.
  46. Rios, Giselle Elgarresta: The Text and Musical Setting of The Poet's Requiem by Ned Rorem. DMA, Choral Conducting, University of Miami.
  47. Rosteck, Jens : Ned Rorem, in: MGG, The Music in Past and Present. Revised edition, personal section, volume 14, Kassel / Stuttgart 2005, columns 380-383.
  48. Rosteck, Jens: "The Streets of Our Peculiar Hearts" - Ned Rorem's decades of dialogues with Poulenc and Paris, in: Dialogues and Resonances - Music History Between Cultures. Theo Hirsbrunner on his 80th birthday. Edited by Ivana Rentsch u. a., Munich 2011, pp. 191-209.
  49. Starr, Larry: Tonal traditions in art music from 1920 to 1960, in: The Cambridge History of American Music, Cambridge 1998, pp. 471–495.
  50. Summers, Mary Lois: The Songs of Ned Rorem on Religious Texts and Themes. Phil. Diss., Forth Worth, Texas, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary 1982.
  51. Vogelsang, Kevin: The Piano Concertos of Ned Rorem, DMA doc., Performance practice, University of Cincinnati 1991.
  52. Wolgast, Brett: The Organ Music of Ned Rorem. DMA, Performance, University of Iowa.
  53. (NN): “I always think vocally” - A portrait of the American composer Ned Rorem (I), (publisher's composer portrait) Boosey & Hawkes, Bonn 1992.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rorem, Ned
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer
DATE OF BIRTH October 23, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Richmond , Indiana