Ulysses Kay

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Ulysses Simpson Kay (born January 7, 1917 in Tucson , Arizona , † May 20, 1995 in Englewood , New Jersey ) was an American composer of Afro-American origin.

Life

Kay learned during his school days at the suggestion of his uncle, the jazz cornetist Joe King Oliver , to play the piano from William A. Ferguson , as well as to play the violin and saxophone. While in high school he played in a marching band , sang in a glee club and played the saxophone in jazz bands.

Until 1938 he studied piano with Julia Rebeil and music theory with John L. Lowell at the Music School of the University of Arizona . He then studied composition with Bernard Rogers and Howard Hanson at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester and met the singers Irma Allen , Raymond Morris , Kenneth Spencer and William Warfield , the composers Mark Fax and Thomas Kerr and the jazz musician Jimmy Rushing . In 1941 he met Paul Hindemith at Berkshire Music Center , with whom he studied at Yale University until 1942 .

Until 1946 Kay was stationed as a member of the US Navy in Quonset Point, Rhode Island, where he played the flute, saxophone and piccolo in the Navy Band. In 1947 he studied with Otto Luening at Columbia University , and from 1949 at the American Academy in Rome. From 1953 to 1968 he was an employee of the BMI . In 1958 he traveled to the Soviet Union as a member of the American delegation as part of a cultural exchange.

In 1965 Kay was a visiting professor at Boston University , and from 1966–67 he was visiting professor at the University of California . In 1968 the Herbert H. Lehman College of the City University of New York named him Distinguished Professor of Music ; he held this position until 1988. In 1979 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters .

Kay wrote about 140 works, including five operas, orchestral works, vocal and chamber music, piano and organ pieces, songs and film scores, such as the Oscar-nominated documentary One of the Pacific (The Quiet One) .

Works

  • Danse Calinda , ballet, 1941
  • Four Pieces for Male Chorus , 1941
  • Overture , 1944
  • Suite for Orchestra , 1945
  • Brief Elegy for oboe and string orchestra, 1946
  • Four Inventions for piano, 1946
  • A Short Overture , 1946
  • Suite for Strings , 1947
  • The Boor , Opera, 1955
  • The Juggler of Our Lady , Opera, 1956
  • String Quartet no.2 , 1956
  • String Quartet no.3 , 1961
  • Fantasy Variations for orchestra, 1963
  • Umbrian Scene for orchestra, 1963
  • Two Dunbar Lyrics for mixed choir, 1965
  • Markings for orchestra, 1966
  • The Birds for female choir, 1966
  • The Capitoline Venus , Opera, 1969
  • Jubilee , Opera, 1974–76
  • Frederick Douglass , Opera, 1979-85

literature

  • Constance T. Hobson, Deborra A. Richardson: Ulysses Kay: A Bio-Bibliography . Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut 1994, ISBN 0-313-25546-6 .
  • Michael Saffle, Dominique-René Lerma:  Kay, Ulysses Simpson. In: MGG Online (subscription required).

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Members: Ulysses Kay. Retrieved April 6, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Kay, Ulysses
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kay, Ulysses Simpson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer
DATE OF BIRTH January 7, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Tucson , Arizona
DATE OF DEATH May 20, 1995
Place of death Englewood , New Jersey