Gutchë, Gene, (real name, Romeo Maximilian Eugene Ludwig Gutsche)

Gutchë, Gene, (real name, Romeo Maximilian Eugene Ludwig Gutsche), German-born American composer; b. Berlin, July 3, 1907. He studied in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland; in 1925 he went to the U.S., where he later undertook additional academic work at the Univ. of Minn, with Donald Ferguson and at the Univ. of Iowa with Philip Greeley Clapp (Ph.D., 1953). He held 2 Guggenheim fellowships (1961, 1964). His music is marked by a fairly advanced idiom and a neo-Romantic treatment of programmatic subject matter. In some of his orch. works, he applies fractional tones by dividing the strings into 2 groups tuned at slightly differing pitches.

Works

ORCH 6 syms.: No. 1 (Minneapolis, April 11, 1950), No. 2 (1950-54), No. 3 (1952), No. 4 (1960; Albuquerque, March 8, 1962), No. 5 for Strings (Chautauqua, N.Y, July 29, 1962), and No. 6 (1968); Rondo capriccioso (1953; N.Y, Feb. 19, 1960); Piano Concerto (Minneapolis, June 19, 1956); Cello Concerto (1957); Bongo Divertimento for Solo Percussionist and Orch. (1962); Timpani Concertante (Oakland, Calif., Feb. 14, 1962); Violin Concerto (1962); Genghis Khan, symphonic poem (Minneapolis, Dec. 6, 1963); Rites in Tenochtitlan for Small Orch. (St. Paul, Jan. 26, 1965); Gemini (Minneapolis, July 26, 1966); Classic Concerto (St. Paul, Nov. 11, 1967); Epimetheus USA (Detroit, Nov. 13, 1969); Icarus, suite (1975); Bi-Centurion (1975; Rochester, N.Y, Jan. 8, 1976); Perseus and Andromeda XX (1976; Cincinnati, Feb. 25, 1977). CHAMBER: 4 string quartets; 3 piano sonatas. VOCAL: Akhenaten for Chorus and Orch. (St. Louis, Sept. 23, 1983); choruses.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire