Arthur Berger

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

Berger played from the age of eleven piano. He studied music at New York University, then from 1934 to 1936 at Harvard University with Walter Piston, Hugo Leichtentritt and Archibald Thompson Davison. He belonged at this time to Aaron Copland's Young Composer's Group and was with Bernard Herrmann music journal Musical Mercury out. A subsequent study with Nadia Boulanger gave him access to contemporary European music, especially the works by Igor Stravinsky.

In 1939, Berger successor of Darius Milhaud at Mills College as a teacher. In 1943 he was music critic of the New York Sun and 1946 at the invitation of Virgil Thomson The New York Herald Tribune. From 1953 to 1980 he taught at Brandeis University, then to 1999 at the New England Conservatory of Music. On his 90th birthday in 2002 his autobiography Reflections Of appeared at the University of California Press An American Composer.

Berger left a little extensive primarily instrumental work as a composer. From the neoclassical style in the 1940s, he moved under the influence of European music to the twelve-tone music, he later found their own " cellular" style.

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, 1953
  • Polyphony for orchestra, 1956
  • Chamber Music for 13 Players, 1956
  • Duo for Clarinet & Piano, 1957
  • String Quartet, 1958
  • Three Pieces for two Pianod, 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 at dead for soprano and piano, 1978
  • Improvisation for AC (birthday piece by Aaron Copland ) for piano, 1980
  • Duet ( Rondo ) for HS (birthday piece for Harold Shapero ) for piano, 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 (birthday piece by Elliott Carter ) for piano, 1983
  • Quintet for Woodwinds, 1984
  • Perspectives II for chamber ensemble, 1985
  • Perspectives II for chamber orchestra, 1985
  • Diptych: Collages 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

Swell

  • Homepage of Arthur Berger
  • Answers.com - Arthur Berger
  • The Guardian 21 October 2003: obituary of Arthur Berger
  • Man
  • Born in 1912
  • Died in 2003
  • American composer
  • Music teacher
  • Music critic
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