David Del Tredici
Encyclopedia
David Del Tredici, born March 16, 1937 in Cloverdale, California
, is an American
composer. According to Del Tredici's website, Aaron Copland
said David Del Tredici "is that rare find among composers — a creator with a truly original gift. I venture to say that his music is certain to make a lasting impression on the American musical scene."
After making his piano debut with the San Francisco Symphony
at 17, he went on to receive a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley
and an M.F.A. in 1964 from Princeton University
, studying with composers Earl Kim
, Seymour Shifrin, and Roger Sessions
.
Much of his early work consisted of elaborate vocal settings of James Joyce
: I Hear an Army; Night Conjure-Verse; Syzygy; and a decade long obsession with the work of Lewis Carroll (Pop-Pourri, An Alice Symphony, Vintage Alice and Adventures Underground, and Final Alice, to name just a few of these works). He was awarded a Pulitzer prize
in 1980 for In Memory of a Summer Day, the first part of Child Alice, recorded by Phyllis Bryn-Julson and the Saint Louis Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin
for the Nonesuch label. Sir Georg Solti made the first recording of his epic Final Alice"" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
. His later works have included many vocal settings of contemporary poets such as Allen Ginsberg
, Thom Gunn
, Paul Monette
, James Broughton
, Colette Inez
, and Alfred Corn
-- often celebrating a gay sensibility (three examples: Gay Life, Love Addiction and Wondrous the Merge "" ). OUT Magazine has twice named Del Tredici one of its people of the year.
While trained in serial
technique, Del Tredici now writes in a tonal style; he is one of the clearest exemplars of neoromanticism
.
In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, he has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship
and Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, a Brandeis Creative Arts Award, a Friedheim Award, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts
, and election to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. His works are regularly commissioned by major orchestras in America and abroad. His On Wings of Song was premiered in New York City in 2004 as part of the Riverside Opera Ensemble's 20th Anniversary Concert.
Distinguished Professor of Music at The City College of New York, Del Tredici makes his home in Greenwich Village.
Cloverdale, California
Cloverdale is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States. The San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad reached Cloverdale in 1872. The Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California is headquartered here...
, is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer. According to Del Tredici's website, Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
said David Del Tredici "is that rare find among composers — a creator with a truly original gift. I venture to say that his music is certain to make a lasting impression on the American musical scene."
After making his piano debut with the San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
at 17, he went on to receive a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
and an M.F.A. in 1964 from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, studying with composers Earl Kim
Earl Kim
Earl Kim was a Korean-American composer.Kim was born in Dinuba, California, to immigrant Korean parents. He began piano studies at age ten and soon developed an interest in composition, studying in Los Angeles and Berkeley with, among others, Arnold Schoenberg, Ernest Bloch, and Roger Sessions...
, Seymour Shifrin, and Roger Sessions
Roger Sessions
Roger Huntington Sessions was an American composer, critic, and teacher of music.-Life:Sessions was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a family that could trace its roots back to the American revolution. His mother, Ruth Huntington Sessions, was a direct descendent of Samuel Huntington, a signer of...
.
Much of his early work consisted of elaborate vocal settings of James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
: I Hear an Army; Night Conjure-Verse; Syzygy; and a decade long obsession with the work of Lewis Carroll (Pop-Pourri, An Alice Symphony, Vintage Alice and Adventures Underground, and Final Alice, to name just a few of these works). He was awarded a Pulitzer prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
in 1980 for In Memory of a Summer Day, the first part of Child Alice, recorded by Phyllis Bryn-Julson and the Saint Louis Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...
for the Nonesuch label. Sir Georg Solti made the first recording of his epic Final Alice"" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
. His later works have included many vocal settings of contemporary poets such as Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, Thom Gunn
Thom Gunn
Thom Gunn, born Thomson William Gunn , was an Anglo-American poet who was praised both for his early verses in England, where he was associated with The Movement and his later poetry in America, even after moving toward a looser, free-verse style...
, Paul Monette
Paul Monette
Paul Landry Monette was an American author, poet, and activist best remembered for his essays about gay relationships.-Biography:...
, James Broughton
James Broughton
James Broughton was an American poet, and poetic filmmaker. He was part of the San Francisco Renaissance...
, Colette Inez
Colette Inez
Colette Inez is an American poet and composer, and a faculty member at Columbia University’s Undergraduate Writing Program. She has published over nine books of poetry and has won the Guggenheim Fellowship, Rockefeller Fellowship, and two National Endowment for the Arts and two Pushcart Prizes...
, and Alfred Corn
Alfred Corn
- Early life :Alfred Corn was born in Bainbridge, Georgia in 1943 and raised in Valdosta, Georgia.Corn graduated from Emory University in 1965 with a B.A. in French literature. Corn earned an M.A...
-- often celebrating a gay sensibility (three examples: Gay Life, Love Addiction and Wondrous the Merge "" ). OUT Magazine has twice named Del Tredici one of its people of the year.
While trained in 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...
technique, Del Tredici now writes in a tonal style; he is one of the clearest exemplars of neoromanticism
Neoromanticism (music)
Neoromanticism in music is a return to the emotional expression associated with nineteenth-century Romanticism. Since the mid-1970s the term has come to be identified with neoconservative postmodernism, especially in Germany, Austria, and the United States, with composers such as Wolfgang Rihm and...
.
In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, he has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
and Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, a Brandeis Creative Arts Award, a Friedheim Award, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, and election to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. His works are regularly commissioned by major orchestras in America and abroad. His On Wings of Song was premiered in New York City in 2004 as part of the Riverside Opera Ensemble's 20th Anniversary Concert.
Distinguished Professor of Music at The City College of New York, Del Tredici makes his home in Greenwich Village.
Notable Students
- John Adams
- Richard St. ClairRichard St. ClairRichard St. Clair is an American composer, pedagogue, and pianist.-Life History and Musical Career:Richard St. Clair, a noted American musician, is descended from both Franco-Scottish roots on his father's side, and Norwegian-Swedish roots on his mother's side...
- Tison StreetTison StreetTison C. Street is an American composer of contemporary classical music and violinist.He studied violin with Einar Hansen from 1951 to 1959. He later studied composition at Harvard University with Leon Kirchner and David Del Tredici, receiving B.A. and M.A...
- Randall WoolfRandall WoolfRandall Woolf is an American composer known for his diverse contemporary works, and in particular for his works based on children's literature and collaborative work with youth organizations. He studied composition privately with David Del Tredici and Joseph Maneri, and at Harvard, where he earned...
Notable works
- Soliloquy for piano solo (1958)
- Six Songs for voice and piano (text by James Joyce) (1959)
- Scherzo for piano, four hands (1960)
- I Hear An Army (text by James Joyce) (1964)
- Pot-Pourri for amplified soprano, rock group, chorus, and orchestra (1968)
- Syzygy for soprano, horn, and orchestra (1966)
- An Alice Symphony for amplified soprano, folk group, and orchestra. Texts from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll; Speak Gently attributed to David Bates (1969)
- Adventures Underground soprano and orchestra. Texts from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1971)
- Final Alice, an opera in concert form for soprano, folk ensemble, and orchestra (1976)
- Child Alice ("In Memory of a Summer Day", "Happy Voices", "In the Golden Afternoon", "Quaint Events") for soprano and orchestra (1980–81)
- Haddock's Eyes for soprano and 10 instruments (1985)
- Tattoo for orchestra (1986)
- Steps for orchestra (1990)
- Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter for soprano and piano - poems of Joshua Beckman (1998)
- My Favorite Penis Poems (1998)
- Dracula (1999) - on a poem of Alfred CornAlfred Corn- Early life :Alfred Corn was born in Bainbridge, Georgia in 1943 and raised in Valdosta, Georgia.Corn graduated from Emory University in 1965 with a B.A. in French literature. Corn earned an M.A...
- Three Baritone Songs (1999)
- Miz Inez Sez for soprano and piano - poems of Colette Inez (1998)
- Gay Life (1996–2000)
- The Spider and The Fly for high soprano, high baritone, and orchestra (1998)
- Wonderous The Merge (2001)
- Grand Trio (2001)
- Paul Revere's Ride for Amplified Soprano Solo, SATB Chorus, and Orchestra (2004)
- In Wartime for Wind Ensemble (2003)
- String Quartet No. 1 (2003)
- Gotham Glory for solo piano (2004)
- Rip Van Winkle for narrator and orchestra (2005)
- S/M Ballade for piano (2006)
- Magyar Madness for clarinet and string quartet (2006)
- Aeolian Ballad for harp (2008)
- A Field Manual Overture and Five Songs on the poetry of Edward Field (poet) (2008)
- Facts of Life for guitar (2010)
- String Quartet No. 2 (2010)
- Belgian Bliss for wind quintet (2010)