Burrill Phillips
Encyclopedia
Burrill Phillips was an American
composer, teacher, and pianist.
and at the Eastman School of Music
in Rochester, NY, with Howard Hanson
and Bernard Rogers
.
In 1929 he married Alberta Phillips (who wrote many of his librettos); they had a daughter, Ann Phillips Basart (b. 1931) and a son (Stephen Phillips, 1938-86). Because of privations due to the Great Depression
, Ann was adopted and raised by her maternal grandparents; she was not reunited with her parents until 1959.
Phillips’s first important work was Selections from McGuffey’s Reader
, for orchestra, based on poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
(Basart 2001). He wrote of this work in his 1933 diary, “I don’t think anybody had written such ‘American-sounding’ music before. On the first night, the students said it was corny. And it was. But I didn’t care, because it was a huge success.” The early style of this work, stressing melody, self-consciously American references, and jazzy rhythms, has tended to overshadow his later compositions. In his 1943 diaries, he looks back at his "Courthouse Square" (1935) and is struck by “the poor scoring and the clichés and triviality of the material. There is almost self-conscious simplicity, not to say idiocy, about it. Too sweet, although the vitality of rhythm is there. But it wasn’t a bad way to begin a career.”
By the 1940s he had turned to a more astringent and expressive idiom (Basart 2001). In 1942, he wrote in his diary, “I have decided that my slow movements from now on are going to be different; they are going to play for keeps and not just be soft, sensuous, tender, delicious, delicate, dramatic, or dark. No more warm middle-western summer-night scenes, but the cool, stormy, volcanic, passionate stretches of the soul.” He commented in his 1944 diary, “I want something with more bite to it, with an ache and some force. I want the structure of this work to be evident. I want to use some of the elements of the mind in working it out, such as fugue, passacaglia, etc. I want to write with humor or wit in some parts — another function of mind. The underlying emotional warmth, however, must always be there.”
In 1960 his String Quartet Number Two was premiered at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. by the Paganini Quartet
, with the composer present, and broadcast on live FM radio. In the early 1960s he turned to free serial
techniques, less sharply accented rhythms, and increasing fantasy (Basart 2001). “Yesterday,” he wrote in his 1987 diaries, “I read about [Elliott] Carter
’s Double Concerto for piano and harpsichord. I find I am developing a type of chordal structure similar to his, but I never knew anything about this phase of his before reading about it. I certainly don’t feel attracted to his rhythmic style, but the widespread open distribution of intervals in the chords & the cluster forms & inversions are very much what I have been doing. I hadn’t, until lately, done anything to arrive at a new chordal style because of my predominant drive for linear motion, thematic or contrapuntal.”
He wrote, in 1983, of his musical influences: “The first music of a serious nature I was introduced to as a child was the 2- and 3-part inventions of Bach
. Then Haydn and Chopin. All of these are simple and clear, and their harmonic content is not obscured by an elaborate overlay of either contrapuntal virtuosity or chromatic sugaring. After college I emerged with a fairly self-recognized set of preferences: Scarlatti
, Soler
, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Debussy, Stravinsky — all those whose attitude toward the sonic portion of music is one of making things clear and strong-flavored.”
Phillips taught composition and theory at Eastman
(1933-49), the University of Illinois (1949-64), the Juilliard School of Music (1968-69), and Cornell University
(1972-73). He was a Fulbright Lecturer in Barcelona, Spain, in 1960-61, and received Guggenheim fellowships in 1942-43 and 1961-62, when the entire Phillips family reunited in Paris. He died in Berkeley, California
, on June 21, 1988, of a heart attack. His scores and sketches are housed in the Burrill Phillips archive, Special Collections, Sibley Library, Eastman School of Music, in Rochester, NY.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer, teacher, and pianist.
Biography
Phillips studied at the Denver College of Music with Edwin StringhamEdwin Stringham
Edwin John Stringham was an American composer. A native of Kenosha, Wisconsin, he spent much time in Colorado before moving to New York City, where he served on the faculty of Teachers College at Columbia University. Most of his output was orchestral, and would frequently spice his works with...
and at the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
in Rochester, NY, with Howard Hanson
Howard Hanson
Howard Harold Hanson was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American classical music. As director for 40 years of the Eastman School of Music, he built a high-quality school and provided opportunities for commissioning and performing American music...
and Bernard Rogers
Bernard Rogers
Bernard Rogers was an American composer.Rogers was born in New York City. He studied with Arthur Farwell, Ernest Bloch, Percy Goetschius, and Nadia Boulanger. He taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music, The Hartt School, and the Eastman School of Music...
.
In 1929 he married Alberta Phillips (who wrote many of his librettos); they had a daughter, Ann Phillips Basart (b. 1931) and a son (Stephen Phillips, 1938-86). Because of privations due to the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, Ann was adopted and raised by her maternal grandparents; she was not reunited with her parents until 1959.
Phillips’s first important work was Selections from McGuffey’s Reader
McGuffey Readers
McGuffey Readers were a series of graded primers that were widely used as textbooks in American schools from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, and are still used today in some private schools and in homeschooling....
, for orchestra, based on poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was an American physician, professor, lecturer, and author. Regarded by his peers as one of the best writers of the 19th century, he is considered a member of the Fireside Poets. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat...
(Basart 2001). He wrote of this work in his 1933 diary, “I don’t think anybody had written such ‘American-sounding’ music before. On the first night, the students said it was corny. And it was. But I didn’t care, because it was a huge success.” The early style of this work, stressing melody, self-consciously American references, and jazzy rhythms, has tended to overshadow his later compositions. In his 1943 diaries, he looks back at his "Courthouse Square" (1935) and is struck by “the poor scoring and the clichés and triviality of the material. There is almost self-conscious simplicity, not to say idiocy, about it. Too sweet, although the vitality of rhythm is there. But it wasn’t a bad way to begin a career.”
By the 1940s he had turned to a more astringent and expressive idiom (Basart 2001). In 1942, he wrote in his diary, “I have decided that my slow movements from now on are going to be different; they are going to play for keeps and not just be soft, sensuous, tender, delicious, delicate, dramatic, or dark. No more warm middle-western summer-night scenes, but the cool, stormy, volcanic, passionate stretches of the soul.” He commented in his 1944 diary, “I want something with more bite to it, with an ache and some force. I want the structure of this work to be evident. I want to use some of the elements of the mind in working it out, such as fugue, passacaglia, etc. I want to write with humor or wit in some parts — another function of mind. The underlying emotional warmth, however, must always be there.”
In 1960 his String Quartet Number Two was premiered at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. by the Paganini Quartet
Paganini Quartet
The Paganini Quartet was a virtuoso string quartet founded by its first violinist, Henri Temianka, in 1946. The quartet drew its name from the fact that all four of its instruments, made by Antonio Stradivari , had once been owned by the great Italian violinist and composer Niccolo Paganini...
, with the composer present, and broadcast on live FM radio. In the early 1960s he turned to free serial
Serialism
In music, serialism is a method or technique of composition that uses a series of values to manipulate different musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as one example of...
techniques, less sharply accented rhythms, and increasing fantasy (Basart 2001). “Yesterday,” he wrote in his 1987 diaries, “I read about [Elliott] Carter
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
’s Double Concerto for piano and harpsichord. I find I am developing a type of chordal structure similar to his, but I never knew anything about this phase of his before reading about it. I certainly don’t feel attracted to his rhythmic style, but the widespread open distribution of intervals in the chords & the cluster forms & inversions are very much what I have been doing. I hadn’t, until lately, done anything to arrive at a new chordal style because of my predominant drive for linear motion, thematic or contrapuntal.”
He wrote, in 1983, of his musical influences: “The first music of a serious nature I was introduced to as a child was the 2- and 3-part inventions of Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
. Then Haydn and Chopin. All of these are simple and clear, and their harmonic content is not obscured by an elaborate overlay of either contrapuntal virtuosity or chromatic sugaring. After college I emerged with a fairly self-recognized set of preferences: Scarlatti
Domenico Scarlatti
Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style...
, Soler
Antonio Soler
Antonio Francisco Javier José Soler Ramos, usually known as Padre Antonio Soler, known in Catalan as Antoni Soler i Ramos was a Spanish Catalan composer whose works span the late Baroque and early Classical music eras...
, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Debussy, Stravinsky — all those whose attitude toward the sonic portion of music is one of making things clear and strong-flavored.”
Phillips taught composition and theory at Eastman
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
(1933-49), the University of Illinois (1949-64), the Juilliard School of Music (1968-69), and Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
(1972-73). He was a Fulbright Lecturer in Barcelona, Spain, in 1960-61, and received Guggenheim fellowships in 1942-43 and 1961-62, when the entire Phillips family reunited in Paris. He died in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, on June 21, 1988, of a heart attack. His scores and sketches are housed in the Burrill Phillips archive, Special Collections, Sibley Library, Eastman School of Music, in Rochester, NY.
Selected works
His major works include:- Selections from McGuffey's Reader, Suite for orchestra (1933)
- Don't We All?, Opera buffa (1947); text by Alberta Phillips
- Concert Piece for bassoon and string orchestra (or piano) (1942)
- four piano sonatas (1942-60)
- Music for This Time of Year for wind quartet
- A Rondo of Rondeaux for viola and piano
- The Return of Odysseus for baritone, narrator, chorus and orchestra (1956); text by Alberta Phillips
- Conversations for violin and viola (1962)
- Perspectives in a Labyrinth for 3 string orchestras (1962)
- Dialogues for violin and viola (1963)
- The Unforgiven, Opera in a prologue and 3 acts (1982); libretto by Alberta Phillips
- various choral works, including That Time May Cease from Marlowe’s Dr Faustus (1967)
- various works for solo voice and instruments, including Eve Learns a Little (1974)
Sources
- Basart, Ann P. "Phillips, Burrill". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan; New York: Grove's Dictionaries.
- “Phillips, Burrill,” in the New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, London: Macmillan, 1980, v. 14, p. 659-660.