Schuman, William
William Schuman
Composer, educator, administrator
Integrated Approach to Teaching
Progressive Theories of Education
William Schuman had an ordinary childhood in New York City, with little to suggest that he would become a successful composer and leader in the music community. Schuman took violin lessons, albeit reluctantly, and his family often amused themselves by playing music together—a common form of domestic recreation in the early part of the century. At school, Schuman’s interests lay more in sports and the theater than in music. Looking back, he once told an interviewer, “Had I been a better catcher, I might never have been a musician.” Yet there was a powerful appeal in the growing popularity of jazz in the 1920s, and the young man was gradually drawn to musical pursuits.
Schuman used his considerable administrative talents to organize a jazz band. He sang, played the fiddle, the banjo, and the other instruments in the band, and he also arranged music for the group. New York City, with its ever-active nightlife, was a “learning laboratory” for him, and he often found musicians willing to give him pointers. He once attempted to write out a song, took it to a band, gave them cigarettes, and asked them to play and critique it. As Schuman recalled later in The New Criterion, one told him, “Well you can’t have a trombone play a B-natural there or you’ll break his arm!”
Schuman wrote over one hundred songs between the ages of 16 and 21. He collaborated with friend Edward B. Marks, Jr., on a musical comedy, It’s Up to Pa, from which two tunes were published. Another youthful collaborator, Frank Loesser, went on to become an extremely successful songwriter. Schuman nevertheless did not at that time consider music a viable option for a career, and in 1928 he enrolled in New York University’s School of Commerce.
On April 4, 1930, Schuman saw Arturo Toscanini conduct the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He had previously resisted attempts by his mother and sister to take him to a concert of classical music, convinced that he would be bored. But the sight of all those musicians playing together on stage made a tremendous impression on him. “I was knocked cold! It literally changed my life,” he remembered. Although he had been studying seriously at the School of Commerce, this was a turning point; he abruptly quit school to seek formal musical study. And although his parents were not convinced that this was a wise decision, they did not stand in his way.
Schuman chanced upon the Malkin Conservatory and registered for a class in harmony with Max Persin. Persin spent a great deal of time with the promising young musician, introducing him to new music and encouraging him not to abandon his interest in popular
For the Record…
Born William Howard Schuman, August 4, 1910, in New York, NY; died following hip surgery, February 15, 1992, in New York, NY; son of Samuel (a printing-firm executive) and Ray Heilbrunn Schuman; married Frances Prince, 1936; children: Anthony William, Andrea Frances Weiss. Education: Attended New York University School of Commerce, 1928-30; studied harmony with Max Persin; studied counterpoint with Charles Haubiel; attended summer courses at Juilliard, 1932, 1933; studied conducting at Salzburg Mozarteum, 1935; Columbia University Teachers College, B.S., 1935, M.A., 1937, Mus.D., 1954; studied composition with Roy Harris, 1936-38.
Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY, choir director and faculty member, 1935-45; G. Schirmer (music publisher), special publications consultant, 1945-52; The Juilliard School, president, 1945-62; Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, president 1962-69. Works commissioned from the Martha Graham dance company, Koussevitzsky Music Foundation, Ford Foundation, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and Boston Symphony Orchestra; special commission for the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, 1985.
Selected awards: Two Guggenheim fellowships, 1939-41; first Pulitzer Prize in music, 1943; Concert Artists Guild award, 1967; Boston Symphony Orchestra Mark M. Horolit Prize for composition, 1980; Columbia University’s first “William Schuman” award for lifetime achievement, 1981; special Pulitzer Prize, 1985; National Medal of Arts, 1987; numerous honorary degrees.
Member: National Endowment for the Arts Music Panel; National Institute of Arts and Letters (fellow); American Academy of Arts and Sciences; honorary member of Royal Academy of Music.
music. The student eventually decided that he wanted to teach music, and in 1933 he enrolled in the Columbia University Teachers College. In 1935 he spent a summer in Salzburg, Austria, studying conducting and working on his first symphony. On his return, he married Frances Prince and found employment at Sarah Lawrence College.
Integrated Approach to Teaching
During Schuman’s tenure at Sarah Lawrence, from 1935 to 1945, he instituted a new approach to the teaching of music and general arts instruction with a course of study that incorporated history and theory in an integrated curriculum; he wanted students to explore the creative process and learn something about art that would enrich their lives beyond graduation. In addition to these academic efforts, he taught and directed the Sarah Lawrence choir, composing and commissioning new works for the group.
For Schuman’s contemporaries, the brash experimentalism of the 1920s was muted during the Great Depression; the trend then was toward tonal music in traditional genres. Some of Schuman’s compositions, such as 1943’s William Billings Overture, reflected the renewed interest and pride in America’s musical past that took hold in the 1930s and ’40s. This historical interest combined with a feeling of social responsibility—and hard economic necessity—to encourage composers to write music that people could understand and enjoy.
After studying with composer Roy Harris for several years, Schuman won a composition contest with his second symphony in 1938, and his Symphony No. 3, of 1941, won the New York City Music Critics’ Circle Award. In 1943 his cantata A Free Song was awarded the first Pulitzer Prize awarded in music, establishing Schuman as a leading American composer. Thereafter, honors and awards came from all directions, and his music was widely performed.
In 1945 Schuman left Sarah Lawrence to join music publisher G. Schirmer as director of publications. But he did not stay long, choosing instead to accept an invitation to become president of the prestigious Juilliard School of Music. His leadership had a profound impact there, essentially remaking the school into a modern twentieth-century institution. He founded the Juilliard String Quartet, which became an example for college string quartets around the country. Schuman also revived the opera theater and added a dance division. Distinguished composers were invited to join the faculty, and contemporary music was introduced into the curriculum.
Progressive Theories of Education
Perhaps Schuman’s most significant accomplishment at Juilliard was in revamping the school’s music theory program. He was unhappy with the dry pedagogy of music theory, decrying the substitution of abstract exercises for the study of the music itself. To replace the old theory department, he developed a four-year course of study called the “Literature and Materials of Music,” which combined music theory, history, and composition in an attempt to produce enlightened, well-rounded musicians. In The Juilliard Report, he wrote, “It is our responsibility to help the student to see the music of any given period in the light of its own social, political, and cultural climate ... to equip the student to deal with the novel without ridicule or fear of its strangeness, yet without being impressed by sheer novelty.”
It was Schuman’s hope that such a person would be able to participate more fully in a democratic society. “If the student truly absorbs the concept of free inquiry in the field of music, unimpeded by blind adherence to doctrine and tradition, he will bring something of this approach not only to other fields of knowledge but to the conduct of his daily life,” he reasoned. Schuman also continued to compose. Among his notable works of the late 1940s are ballet scores for modern dance pioneer Martha Graham: her masterpiece, Night Journey (1947), and Judith (1949).
In 1962 Schuman became president of the then-new Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. In this position he encouraged commissions and performances of American music, with an emphasis on service to the urban community. He founded a chamber music society, a film society, and a summer series of special events. But in 1969, frustrated by the financial limits placed on his ambition and wanting more time for his own composing, he left Lincoln Center. He continued to serve with distinguished organizations such as the Koussevitzsky Foundation, the Charles Ives Society, and the Naumburg Foundation.
Vocal Music and Poetry
Later in life, Schuman returned to an early interest in vocal music and poetry, particularly that of nineteenth-century American poet Walt Whitman, as evidenced by Carols of Death, Declaration Chorale, and Perceptions. He wrote a Concerto on Old English Rounds, which uses a women’s chorus, American Hymn, On Freedom’s Ground and the opera A Question of Taste. Schuman also continued to use popular tunes in his music; “Dances: Divertimento for Wind Quintet and Percussion” employs clever combinations of pairs of tunes borrowed from late-nineteenth-century popular song collections and Tin Pan Alley, as well as music from his own abandoned 1932 operetta on the life of Italian Renaissance man Leonardo Da Vinci, which Schuman had planned to mount with Frank Loesser.
Unlike elitist composers with little or no desire to reach the masses, Schuman was not interested in writing difficult, “inaccessible” music. He never espoused systems of composition like the twelve-tone scale, which is largely incomprehensible to the general public. “The lay public owes music nothing,” he told the New York Times in 1991. “Music either appeals or it doesn’t appeal. You can’t cram it down their throats.”
Schuman’s compositions, though primarily dissonant and rhythmically complex, remain essentially tonally based. His use of traditional genres such as the string quartet and especially the symphony have tied him closely to the school of American composers exemplified by Roy Harris. Harris’s influence is apparent in much of Schuman’s symphonic writing, especially in the expansive orchestration and use of the elegiac “endless melody” over a slowly treading background. Pieces like his violin concerto are described as romantic because of long chromatic melodies—a chromatic melody uses an extended set of pitches or a set of pitches expanded beyond the simple scale—and bold rhythms. With the reclamation of tonality toward the latter part of the twentieth century and the emergence of “neo-romanticism,” those composers who never strayed far from the tonal path or its genres may have been vindicated, but they received little credit.
Schuman did, however, achieve a certain stature in the public consciousness. He played a key role in the sweeping changes in American musical life in the twentieth century, from the spread of music programs from conservatories to colleges and universities, to the growth of high-school bands and symphony orchestras. He was fortunate to have been one of the few modern American composers whose works were—and still are—published, performed, recorded, and broadcast. His compositions and arrangements for high-school bands have proven especially popular. And though he never enjoyed consistent critical acclaim or the full acceptance of academic composers, Schuman’s music has been studied in scholarly dissertations—perhaps the ultimate mark of legitimacy. In 1991, the American Symphony Orchestra League reported that there were 96 works by Schuman programmed for that season, demonstrating both the composer’s place as a symphonist and the lasting vitality of the twentieth-century American symphonic music he championed.
Selected writings
The Juilliard Report on Teaching the Literature and Materials of Music, Norton, 1953.
Contributor to numerous books and periodicals.
Selected compositions
Instrumental; for orchestra, except where noted
Symphony No. 1, 1935; Symphony No. 2, 1937; Symphony No. 3, 1941; Symphony No. 4, 1941; Symphony for Strings, 1943; Symphony No. 6, 1948; Symphony No. 7, 1960; Symphony No. 8, 1962; Symphony No. 9, “The Ardeatine Caves,” 1968; Symphony No. 10, “American Muse,” 1975.
Piano Concerto, 1938.
American Festival Overture, 1939.
Prayer in Time of War, 1943.
William Billings Overture, 1943.
Violin Concerto, 1947.
George Washington Bridge (for band), 1950.
New England Triptych, 1956.
To Thee Old Cause, Evocation, 1968.
In Praise of Shan, 1969.
Concerto on Old English Rounds (for viola, female chorus, and orchestra), 1974.
Prelude for a Great Occasion (for percussion), 1974.
Three Colloquies (for french horn and orchestra), 1979.
American Hymn, 1980.
Chamber
String Quartet No. 1, 1936; String Quartet No. 2, 1937; String Quartet No. 3, 1939; String Quartet No. 4, 1950; String Quartet No. 5, 1988.
Quartettino (for bassoon), 1939.
“Three Score Set” (for piano), 1943.
“Voyage” (for piano), 1953.
“In Sweet Music” (serenade on a setting of Shakespeare), 1978.
American Hymn (for brass quintet), 1980.
“Dances: Divertimento for Wind Quintet and Percussion,” 1986.
“Awake Thou Wintry Earth” (for clarinet and piano or flute and bassoon), 1987.
Vocal; for chorus, except where noted
Pioneers!, 1937.
This Is Our Time, 1940.
Requiescat, 1942.
A Free Song, 1942.
“Orpheus With His Lute” (voice and piano), 1944.
Te Deum, 1944.
Truth Shall Deliver (male chorus), 1946.
Carols of Death, 1959.
Declaration Chorale, 1971.
“Mail Order Madrigals,” 1971.
“Time to the Old” (voice and piano), 1979.
“Esses: Short Suite for Singers on Words Beginning with S,” 1982.
Perceptions, 1982.
On Freedom’s Ground, 1985.
Dramatic
Steeltown (film score), 1944.
Undertow (ballet), 1945.
Night Journey (ballet), 1947.
Judith (choreographic poem for orchestra), 1949.
The Mighty Casey (opera), 1951-53.
A Question of Taste (opera), 1989.
Selected discography
American Festival Overture, Desto, 1964.
Symphony No. 9, RCA, 1972.
New England Triptych, Columbia, 1972, Mercury, 1974.
String Quartet No. 3, American String Quartets, Vox, 1974.
Piano Music in America, Vox, 1976.
Symphony No. 8, Modern American Music, Odyssey, 1976.
George Washington Bridge, Mercury, 1977.
Undertow, New World, 1978.
Rosalind Rees Sings William Schuman, Composers Recording, Inc., 1980.
American Festival Overture, Deutsche Grammophon, 1983.
Symphony No. 6 and Symphony No. 9, Composers Recording, Inc., 1983.
Judith and Night Journey, Composers Recording, Inc., 1984.
Three Colloquies (for french horn and orchestra), New World Records, 1985.
Symphony No. 3, Columbia, 1970, Deutsche Grammophon, 1987.
Symphony No. 7, New World, 1987.
Concerto for violin and orchestra, EMI, 1989.
Prayer in Time of War and Symphony No. 4, Albany TROY, 1990.
Carols of Death, Everest.
Sources
Books
American Composers Today, edited by David Ewen, Wilson, 1949.
Edmunds, John, and Gordon Boelzner, Some Twentieth-Century American Composers, New York Public Library, 1959-60.
Machlis, Joseph, American Composers of Our Time, Crowell, 1963.
The New Book of Modern Composers, third edition, Knopf, 1961.
Rouse, Christopher, William Schuman: Documentary, G. Schirmer, 1980.
Schreiber, Flora Rheta, and Vincent Persichetti, William Schuman, G. Schirmer, 1954.
Schuman, William, The Juilliard Report on Teaching the Literature and Materials of Music, Norton, 1953.
Periodicals
High Fidelity/Musical America, August 1985.
Keynote, August 1980.
Modern Music, Volume 22, Issue 1, 1944-45.
Music Journal, Volume 34, Issue 6, 1976.
Musical Quarterly, Number 31, 1945; Number 49, 1963.
New Criterion, Summer 1986.
New York Times, August 12, 1990; April 21, 1991; March 8, 1992.
Ovation, August 1985; September 1985.
—Elizabeth W. Patton
Schuman, William (Howard)
Schuman, William (Howard)
Schuman, William (Howard), eminent American composer, music educator, and administrator; b. N.Y., Aug. 4, 1910; d. there, Feb. 15, 1992. He began composing at 16, turning out a number of popular songs, and also played in jazz groups. He took courses at N.Y.U.’s School of Commerce (1928–30) before turning decisively to music and taking private lessons in harmony with Max Persin and in counterpoint with Charles Haubiel (1931) in N.Y. After attending summer courses with Wagenaar and Schmid at N.Y.’s Juilliard School (1932–33), he pursued his education at Teacher’s Coll. of Columbia Univ. (B.S., 1935; M.A., 1937); also studied conducting at the Salzburg Mozarteum (summer, 1935) and composition with Harris, both at the Juilliard School (summer, 1936) and privately (1936–38). He came to the attention of Koussevitzky, who conducted the premieres of his American Festival Overture (1939), third Sym. (1941; received the first N.Y. Music Critics’ Circle Award), A Free Song (1943; received the first Pulitzer Prize in Music), and the Sym. for Strings (1943); Rodzinski conducted the premiere of his fourth Sym. (1942). After teaching at Sarah Lawrence Coll. (1935–45), he served as director of publications of G. Schirmer, Inc. (1945–52) and as president of the Juilliard School of Music (1945–62), where he acquired a notable reputation as a music educator; he subsequently was president of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in N.Y. (1962–69). He was chairman of the MacDowell Colony (from 1973) and the first chairman of the Noriin Foundation (1975–85). The recipient of numerous honors, he held 2 Guggenheim fellowships (1939–41), was elected a member of the National Inst. of Arts and Letters (1946) and the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1973), was awarded the gold medal of the American Academy and Inst. of Arts and Letters (1982), won a second, special Pulitzer Prize (1985), and received the National Medal of Arts (1987) and a Kennedy Center Honor (1989). Columbia Univ. established the William Schuman Award in 1981, a prize of $50, 000 given to a composer for lifetime achievement; fittingly, Schuman was its first recipient. His music is characterized by great emotional tension, which is maintained by powerful asymmetric rhythms; the contrapuntal structures in his works reach a great degree of complexity and are saturated with dissonance without, however, losing the essential tonal references. In several of his works, he employs American melorhythms, but his general style of composition is cosmopolitan, exploring all viable techniques of modern composition.
Works
DRAMATIC: Opera : The Mighty Casey (1951–53; Hartford, Conn., May 4, 1953; rev. as the cantata Casey at the Bat, Washington, D.C., April 6, 1976). Ballet: Undertow (N.Y., April 10, 1945); Night Journey (Cambridge, Mass., May 3, 1947); Judith (1949; Louisville, Jan. 4, 1950); Voyage for a Theater (N.Y, May 17, 1953; withdrawn); The Witch of Endor (N.Y, Nov. 2, 1965; withdrawn). Film: Steeltown (1941); The Earth Is Born (1959). orch. : Potpourri (1932; withdrawn); 10 syms.: No. 1 for 18 Instruments (1935; N.Y, Oct. 21, 1936; withdrawn), No. 2 (1937; N.Y, May 25, 1938; withdrawn), No. 3 (Boston, Oct. 17, 1941), No. 4 (1941; Cleveland, Jan. 22, 1942), No. 5, Sym. for Strings (Boston, Nov. 12, 1943), No. 6 (1948; Dallas, Feb. 27, 1949), No. 7 (Boston, Oct. 21, 1960), No. 8 (N.Y., Oct. 4, 1962), No. 9, Le fosse ardeatine (1968; Philadelphia, Jan. 10, 1969), and No. 10, American Muse (1975; Washington, D.C., April 6, 1976); Piano Concerto (1938; rev. 1942; N.Y, Jan. 13, 1943); American Festival Overture (Boston, Oct. 6, 1939); Newsreel, in 5 Shots for Concert Band (1941; also for Orch., N.Y, July 15, 1942); Prayer in Time of War (Pittsburgh, Feb. 26, 1943); William Billings Overture (1943; N.Y, Feb. 17, 1944; withdrawn); Variations on a Theme by Eugene Goossens (No. 5 of 10 variations, each by a different composer; 1944; Cincinnati, March 23, 1945); Circus Overture: Side Show (1944; for Small Orch., Philadelphia, July 20, 1944; for Full Orch., Pittsburgh, Jan. 7, 1945); Undertow, choreographic episodes from the ballet (Los Angeles, Nov. 29, 1945); Violin Concerto (1947; Boston, Feb. 10, 1950; rev. 1954; N.Y, Feb. 26, 1956; rev. 1958–59; Aspen, Colo., Aug. 9, 1959); George Washington Bridge for Concert Band (Interlochen, Mich., July 30, 1950); Credendum, Article of Faith (Cincinnati, Nov. 4 , 1955); New England Triptych (Miami, Oct. 28, 1956); Chester Overture for Concert Band from New England Triptych (1956); When Jesus Wept for Concert Band from New England Triptych (1958); A Song of Orpheus for Cello and Orch. (1961; Indianapolis, Feb. 17, 1962; arranged for Cello and Chamber Orch. in collaboration with J. Goldberg, 1978); Variations on “America” after the organ work by Ives (1963; N.Y., May 20, 1964; also for Band, 1968); The Orchestra Song (1963; N.Y., April 11, 1964; also for Band as The Band Song); Philharmonic Fanfare for Concert Band (N.Y, Aug. 10, 1965; withdrawn); Dedication Fanfare for Concert Band (St. Louis, July 4, 1968); To Thee Old Cause for Oboe, Brass, Timpani, Piano, and Strings (N.Y, Oct. 3, 1968); In Praise of Shahn, canticle (1969; N.Y, Jan. 29, 1970); Anniversary Fanfare for Brass and Percussion (1969; N.Y, April 13, 1970); Voyage for Orchestra (Rochester, N.Y, Oct. 27, 1972); Prelude for a Great Occasion for Brass and Percussion (Washington, D.C., Oct. 1, 1974); Be Glad Then, America for Concert Band from New England Triptych (1975); 3 Colloquies for Horn and Orch. (1979; N.Y, Jan. 24, 1980); American Hymn (1980; St. Louis, Dec. 24, 1982; also for Band). chamber: Canon and Fugue for Piano Trio (1934; withdrawn); 2 pastorales: No. 1 for Alto and Clarinet, or 2 Violas, or Violin and Cello (1934), and No. 2 for Flute, Oboe, and Clarinet; or Flute, Violin, and Clarinet (1934; withdrawn); 5 string quartets: No. 1 (N.Y, Oct. 21, 1936; withdrawn), No. 2 (1937), No. 3 (1939; N.Y, Feb. 27, 1940), No. 4 (Washington, D.C., Oct. 28, 1950), and No. 5 (1987; N.Y, June 21, 1988); Quartettino for 4 Bassoons (1939); Amaryllis, variations for String Trio (Washington, D.C., Oct. 31, 1964; also for String Orch.); XXV Opera Snatches for Trumpet (1978; N.Y, Jan. 10, 1979); Night Journey for Various Instruments, after the ballet (1980; Albany, N.Y, Feb. 27, 1981); American Hymn for Brass Quintet (1980; N.Y, March 30, 1981); Dances for Wind Quintet and Percussion (1984; N.Y., Oct. 1, 1985). Piano : 3-score Set (1943); Voyage (1953); 3 Piano Moods (1958). vocal (all for a cappella Mixed Chorus unless otherwise given): God’s World for Voice and Piano (1932); 4 Canonic Choruses (1932–33; N.Y, May 3, 1935); Pioneers! for 8-part Chorus (1937; Princeton, N.J., May 23, 1938; withdrawn); Choral Etude (1937; N.Y, March 16, 1938); Prologue for Chorus and Orch. (N.Y, May 7, 1939); Prelude for Soprano and Women’s or Mixed Chorus (1939; N.Y, April 24, 1940); This Is Our Time, secular cantata No. 1 for Chorus and Orch. (N.Y, July 4, 1940); Requiescat for Women’s or Mixed Chorus and Piano (N.Y, April 4, 1942); Holiday Song for Women’s Voices or Mixed Chorus and Piano (1942; N.Y, Jan. 13, 1943; also for Voice and Piano); A Free Song, secular cantata No. 2 for Chorus and Orch. (1942; Boston, March 26, 1943); Orpheus and His Lute for Voice and Piano (1944; also for Cello and Orch. as A Song of Orpheus, 1961); Te Deum (1944; Cambridge, Mass., April 1945); Truth Shall Deliver for Men’s Chorus (New Haven, Conn., Dec. 7, 1946); The Lord Has a Child for Mixed or Women’s Chorus or Voice and Piano (1956); 5 Rounds on Famous Words (Nos. 1–1, 1956; No. 5, 1969); Carols of Death (1958; Canton, N.Y, March 20, 1959); Deo ac ventati for Men’s Chorus (Hamilton, N.Y, April 19, 1963); Declaration Chorale (1971; N.Y, April 30, 1972); Mail Order Madrigals (1971; Ames, Iowa, March 12, 1972); To Thy Love, choral fantasy on old English rounds for 3-part Women’s Chorus (1973); Concerto on Old English Rounds for Viola, Women’s Chorus, and Orch. (Boston, Nov. 29, 1974); The Young Dead Soldiers for Soprano, Horn, Woodwinds, and Strings (1975; Washington, D.C., April 6, 1976); Casey at the Bat, cantata for Soprano, Baritone, Chorus, and Orch. (Washington, D.C., April 6, 1976; revision of the opera The Mighty Casey); In Sweet Music for Mezzo-soprano, Flute, Viola, and Harp (N.Y, Oct. 29, 1978; based on the song Orpheus and His Lute, 1944); Time to the Old for Voice and Piano (1979); Esses: Short Suite for Singers on Words Beginning with S (Ithaca, N.Y, Nov. 13, 1982); Perceptions (1982; Greenwich, Conn., Jan. 9, 1983); On Freedom’s Ground: An American Cantata for Baritone, Chorus, and Orch., for the rededication of the Statue of Liberty (1985; N.Y, Oct. 28, 1986).
Bibliography
F. Schreiber and V. Persichetti, W. S. (N.Y, 1954); C. Rouse, W. S.: Documentary (N.Y, 1980).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire
Schuman, William (Howard)
His syms. are a major feature of Amer. mus. His mus. has a firm melodic basis, large in gesture and conception, with strong contrapuntal element and motor rhythms, some derived from jazz. He comp. in most forms, incl. ballets for Antony Tudor and Martha Graham, and was much honoured by Amer. institutions. Prin. works:OPERAS: The Mighty Casey (baseball opera, 1951–3, rev. as cantata Casey at the Bat, 1976); A Question of Time (1989–91).BALLETS: Undertow (1945); Night Journey (1947); Judith (1949); Voyage for a Theater (1953, withdrawn); The Witch of Endor (1965, withdrawn).ORCH.: syms.: No.1 (1935, withdrawn), No.2 (1937, withdrawn), No.3 (1941), No.4 (1941), No.5 (Symphony for Strings) (1943), No.6 (1948), No.7 (1960), No.8 (1962), No.9 (Le Fosse ardeatine) (1968), No.10 (American Muse) (1975); pf. conc. (1938, rev. 1942); American Festival Overture (1939); William Billings Overture (1943, withdrawn); Circus Overture (1944 for small orch., 1945 for large); vn. conc. (1947, rev. 1954, 1959); New England Triptych (1956); Song of Orpheus, vc., orch. (1961); The Orchestra Song (1963); To Thee Old Cause (1968); In Praise of Shahn (1969); Voyage for Orchestra (1972); Prelude for a Great Occasion, brass, perc. (1974); 3 Colloquies, hn., orch. (1979); American Hymn (1980; also for band and brass quintet).CHORAL: Pioneers! (1937); This is Our Time (1940); A Free Song, cantata (1942); Te Deum (1944); Carols of Death (1958); Mail Order Madrigals (1971); The Young Dead Soldiers, sop., hn., ww., str. (1975); Perceptions (1982); On Freedom's Ground, bar., ch., orch. (1985).CHAMBER MUSIC: str. qts.: No.1 (1936, withdrawn), No.2 (1937), No.3 (1939), No.4 (1950), No.5 (1987); Amaryllis, str. trio (1964); 25 Opera Snatches, tpt. (1978); Dances, wind quintet, perc. (1984).PIANO: Voyage (1953, orch. 1972); 3 Piano Moods (1958).