George Rochberg
Encyclopedia
George Rochberg was an American
composer
of contemporary classical music
.
. He attended the Mannes College of Music, where his teachers included George Szell
and Hans Weisse, and the Curtis Institute of Music
, where he studied with Rosario Scalero
and Gian Carlo Menotti
. He served in the United States Army
in the infantry during World War II
.
He was the chairman of the music department at the University of Pennsylvania
until 1968, and continued to teach there until 1983. In 1978, he was named the first Annenberg Professor of the Humanities.
His notable students include Stephen Albert
, Gaston Allaire
, Maria Bachmann, William Bolcom
, Uri Caine
, Robert Carl
, Daniel Dorff
, Stephen Jaffe
, Cynthia Cozette Lee
, Yen Lu
, Vincent McDermott
, Michael Alec Rose
, Robert Suderburg
, and Maryanne Amacher
.
He married Gene Rosenfeld in 1941, and had two children, Paul and Francesca. In 1964, his son died of a brain tumor.
He died in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
in 2005, aged 86. Most of his works are held in the archive of the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel
, Switzerland
. Some can also be found in the Music Division of the New York Public Library
, the Library of Congress
in Washington D.C., the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
in New York City
, New York
, the University of Pennsylvania
, Curtis Institute of Music
, Philadelphia, and the City University of New York
.
, Rochberg finally abandoned it upon the death of his teenage son in 1964, saying that serialism was empty of expressive emotion and was inadequate to express his grief and rage.http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Rochberg-George.htm By the seventies
he had become controversial for the use of tonal
passages in his music. His use of tonality
first became widely known through the String Quartet No. 3 (1972), which includes an entire set of variations that are in the style of late Beethoven. Another movement of the quartet contains passages reminiscent of the music of Gustav Mahler. This use of tonality
caused critics to classify him as a neoromantic
composer. He compared atonality
to abstract art
and tonality
to concrete art and compared his artistic evolution with Philip Guston
's, saying "the tension between concrete
ness and abstraction
" is a fundamental issue for both of them (Rochberg, 1992). His music has also been described as neoconservative postmodernism
(Brackett 2008, xviii).
Of the works composed early in his career, the Symphony No. 2 (1955–56) stands out as an accomplished serial composition by an American composer. Rochberg is perhaps best known for his String Quartets Nos. 3-6 (1972–78). Rochberg conceived Nos. 4-6 as a set and named them the "Concord Quartets" after the Concord String Quartet
, which premiered and recorded the works. The String Quartet No. 6 includes a set of variations on the Pachelbel
Canon in D.
A few of his works were musical collage
s of quotations
from other composers. "Contra Mortem et Tempus", for example, contains passages from Pierre Boulez
, Luciano Berio
, Edgard Varèse
and Charles Ives
.
Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, and 5, and the Violin Concerto were recorded in 2001–2002 by the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Christopher Lyndon Gee and released on the Naxos
label.
, said this about Rochberg and Serialism
, "If George Rochberg can do something like that, there's nothing that I can't do and get away with it. I don't have to write 12-tone music; I can if I want to. I can write stuff that sounds like Brahms. I can do anything I want. I'm free. And that was an extraordinary feeling in the late '60s for young composers, I think, many of whom felt really constrained to write serial music."
were published in 2007 by Wilfrid Laurier University Press (Gillmor, 2007).
His memoirs, Five Lines, Four Spaces, were published by the University of Illinois Press in May 2009 (Rochberg, 2009).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
of contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
.
Life
Rochberg was born in Paterson, New JerseyPaterson, New Jersey
Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...
. He attended the Mannes College of Music, where his teachers included George Szell
George Szell
George Szell , originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer...
and Hans Weisse, and the Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
, where he studied with Rosario Scalero
Rosario Scalero
Natale Rosario Scalero was an Italian violinist, music teacher and composer.By the age of six, Scalero was under the tutelage of Pietro Bertazzi, a violinist, musical instrument maker and instructor at the Conservatorio St. Cecilia in Torino. In 1881, Scalero entered the Liceo Musicale di Torino...
and Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
. He served in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in the infantry during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
He was the chairman of the music department at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
until 1968, and continued to teach there until 1983. In 1978, he was named the first Annenberg Professor of the Humanities.
His notable students include Stephen Albert
Stephen Albert
Stephen Albert was an American composer.-Biography:Born in New York City, Albert began his musical training on the piano, French horn, and trumpet as a youngster. He first studied composition at the age of 15 with Elie Siegmeister, and enrolled two years later at the Eastman School of Music, where...
, Gaston Allaire
Gaston Allaire
Joseph Georges-Émile Gaston Allaire was a Canadian musicologist, organist, pianist, composer, and music educator of American birth. His compositional output includes several preludes for organ, an organ work on French carols, some motets and other choral works, a communion service, a prelude and...
, Maria Bachmann, William Bolcom
William Bolcom
William Elden Bolcom is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, two Grammy Awards, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. Bolcom taught composition at the University of Michigan from 1973–2008...
, Uri Caine
Uri Caine
Uri Caine is an American classical and jazz pianist and composer.-Early years:The son of Burton Caine, a professor at Temple Law School, Caine began playing piano at seven and studied with French jazz pianist Bernard Peiffer at 12. He later studied at the University of Pennsylvania where he came...
, Robert Carl
Robert Carl
Robert Carl is an American composer who currently resides in Hartford, Connecticut, where he is chair of the composition department at the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford.-Music:...
, Daniel Dorff
Daniel Dorff
Daniel Dorff is an American composer, and is regarded as one of the most influential of his generation...
, Stephen Jaffe
Stephen Jaffe
Stephen Jaffe is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He lives in Durham, North Carolina, USA, and serves on the music faculty of Duke University, where he holds the post of Mary and James H. Semans Professor of Music Composition; his colleagues there include composers Scott...
, Cynthia Cozette Lee
Cynthia Cozette Lee
Cynthia Cozette Lee also known as Cynthia Cozette or Nazik Cynthia Cozette is a contemporary African American classical music composer and librettist. Cozette was the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania with a Masters of Arts Degree in music composition...
, Yen Lu
Yen Lu
Yen Lu was a Chinese-born Taiwanese composer.Yen was educated in National Taiwan Normal University and Mannes College , City University of New York , and University of Pennsylvania . He has received Taiwan's National Cultural Award in 1993 and 1998...
, Vincent McDermott
Vincent McDermott
Vincent McDermott is a classically trained American composer and ethnomusicologist. His works show particular influence from the musics of South and Southeast Asia, particularly the gamelan music of Java...
, Michael Alec Rose
Michael Alec Rose
Michael Alec Rose composes a variety of chamber and symphonic music for many distinguished performers and venues.Rose is Associate Professor of Composition at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. His awards and commissions include the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation’s chamber music...
, Robert Suderburg
Robert Suderburg
Robert Suderburg is an American composer, conductor, and pianist.-Biography:The son of a jazz trombonist , Suderburg studied composition with Paul Fetler at the University of Minnesota, where he received a BA in 1957...
, and Maryanne Amacher
Maryanne Amacher
Maryanne Amacher was an American composer and installation artist.-Biography:Amacher was born in Kane, Pennsylvania, to an American nurse and a Swiss freight train worker. As the only child, she grew up playing the piano. Amacher left Kane to attend the University of Pennsylvania on a full...
.
He married Gene Rosenfeld in 1941, and had two children, Paul and Francesca. In 1964, his son died of a brain tumor.
He died in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr from Welsh for "big hill") is a census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue and the border with Delaware County...
in 2005, aged 86. Most of his works are held in the archive of the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Some can also be found in the Music Division of the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
, the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
in Washington D.C., the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
, Philadelphia, and the City University of New York
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
.
Music
After a long period of composition using the technique of serialismSerialism
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...
, Rochberg finally abandoned it upon the death of his teenage son in 1964, saying that serialism was empty of expressive emotion and was inadequate to express his grief and rage.http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Rochberg-George.htm By the seventies
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
he had become controversial for the use of tonal
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
passages in his music. His use of tonality
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
first became widely known through the String Quartet No. 3 (1972), which includes an entire set of variations that are in the style of late Beethoven. Another movement of the quartet contains passages reminiscent of the music of Gustav Mahler. This use of tonality
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
caused critics to classify him as a neoromantic
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...
composer. He compared atonality
Atonality
Atonality in its broadest sense describes music that lacks a tonal center, or key. Atonality in this sense usually describes compositions written from about 1908 to the present day where a hierarchy of pitches focusing on a single, central tone is not used, and the notes of the chromatic scale...
to abstract art
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
and tonality
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
to concrete art and compared his artistic evolution with Philip Guston
Philip Guston
Philip Guston was a notable painter and printmaker in the New York School, which included many of the Abstract expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock and Willem De Kooning...
's, saying "the tension between concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
ness and abstraction
Abstraction
Abstraction is a process by which higher concepts are derived from the usage and classification of literal concepts, first principles, or other methods....
" is a fundamental issue for both of them (Rochberg, 1992). His music has also been described as neoconservative postmodernism
Neoconservative postmodernism
In music, neoconservative postmodernism is "a sort of 'postmodernism of reaction'," which values, "textual unity and organicism as totalizing musical structures," like, "latter-day modernists," and includes composers such as Fred Lerdahl, John Harbison, and Steve Reich.Neoconservative...
(Brackett 2008, xviii).
Of the works composed early in his career, the Symphony No. 2 (1955–56) stands out as an accomplished serial composition by an American composer. Rochberg is perhaps best known for his String Quartets Nos. 3-6 (1972–78). Rochberg conceived Nos. 4-6 as a set and named them the "Concord Quartets" after the Concord String Quartet
Concord String Quartet
The Concord String Quartet was an American string quartet established in 1971. The members of the quartet were Mark Sokol and Andrew Jennings, violins; John Kochánowski, viola; Norman Fischer, cello. They gave their last regular concert on May 15, 1987...
, which premiered and recorded the works. The String Quartet No. 6 includes a set of variations on the Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most...
Canon in D.
A few of his works were musical collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
s of quotations
Musical quotation
Musical quotation is the practice of directly quoting another work in a new composition. The quotation may be from the same composer's work , or from a different composer's work ....
from other composers. "Contra Mortem et Tempus", for example, contains passages from Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
, Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
, Edgard Varèse
Edgard Varèse
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, , whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
and Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
.
Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, and 5, and the Violin Concerto were recorded in 2001–2002 by the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Christopher Lyndon Gee and released on the Naxos
Naxos (record label)
Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
label.
Legacy
Marc-Antonio Barone said of Rochberg, "He brought the same rigor, the same intensity, the same craftsmanship to his work in the most conservative sounding tonal idioms as he did to his most ultramodern, 12-tone composing. It was all about what in the human condition he was trying to express.". James Freeman, musician and teacher at Swarthmore CollegeSwarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
, said this about Rochberg and Serialism
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...
, "If George Rochberg can do something like that, there's nothing that I can't do and get away with it. I don't have to write 12-tone music; I can if I want to. I can write stuff that sounds like Brahms. I can do anything I want. I'm free. And that was an extraordinary feeling in the late '60s for young composers, I think, many of whom felt really constrained to write serial music."
Writings
Rochberg's collected essays were published by the University of Michigan Press in 1984 as The Aesthetics of Survival. A revised and expanded edition (Rochberg, 2005), published shortly before his death, was awarded an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award in 2006. Selections from his correspondence with Canadian composer István AnhaltIstván Anhalt
István Anhalt, is a Canadian composer.-Biography:Anhalt was born into a Jewish family in Budapest in 1919 and studied with Zoltan Kodaly before being conscripted into a forced labor camp during World War II...
were published in 2007 by Wilfrid Laurier University Press (Gillmor, 2007).
His memoirs, Five Lines, Four Spaces, were published by the University of Illinois Press in May 2009 (Rochberg, 2009).
Stage
- The Confidence Man, an opera in two parts (1982); libretto by Gene Rochberg, based on the novel of the same name by Herman Melville
Orchestral
- Symphonies
- Symphony No. 1 (1948–57; revised 1977; 2003)
- Symphony No. 2 (1955–56)
- Symphony No. 3, for double chorus, chamber chorus, soloists, and large orchestra (1966–69)
- Symphony No. 4 (1976)
- Symphony No. 5 (1984)
- Symphony No. 6 (1986–87)
- Cantio Sacra, for small orchestra (1954)
- Cheltenham Concerto, for small orchestra (1958)
- Imago Mundi, for large orchestra (1973)
- Night Music, for orchestra with cello solo (1948) (based on 2nd movement of Symphony No. 1)
- Music for the Magic Theater, for small orchestra (1965–69)
- Time-Span I (1960)
- Time-Span II
- Transcendental Variations, for string orchestra (based on 3rd movement of String Quartet No. 3)
- Zodiac (A Circle of 12 Pieces), (1964–65) (orchestration of the piano work Twelve Bagatelles)
Concerti
- Clarinet Concerto (1996)
- Oboe Concerto (1983), written for and premiered by Joe Robinson
- Violin Concerto (1974), written for and premiered by Isaac SternIsaac SternIsaac Stern was a Ukrainian-born violinist. He was renowned for his recordings and for discovering new musical talent.-Biography:Isaac Stern was born into a Jewish family in Kremenets, Ukraine. He was fourteen months old when his family moved to San Francisco...
with the Pittsburgh Symphony OrchestraPittsburgh Symphony OrchestraThe Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.-History:...
, Donald JohanosDonald JohanosDonald George Johanos was a conductor and music director with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. He was recognized for his support of contemporary classical music. He performed or conducted on at least 16 recordings. -Early life and career:Johanos was born in Cedar...
conducting - Eden: Out of Time and Out of Space, for guitar and ensemble (1998)
Wind ensemble
- Black Sounds, for winds and percussion (1965)
- Apocalyptica, for large wind ensemble (1964)
2 players
- Duo for Oboe and Bassoon (1946; rev. 1969)
- Duo Concertante, for violin and cello (1955–59)
- Dialogues, for clarinet and piano (1957–58)
- La bocca della verita, for oboe and piano (1958–59); version for violin and piano (1964)
- Ricordanza Soliloquy, for cello and piano (1972)
- Slow Fires of Autumn (Ukiyo-E II), for flute and harp (1978–79)
- Viola Sonata (1979)
- Between Two Worlds (Ukiyo-E III), for flute and piano (1982)
- Violin Sonata (1988)
- Muse of Fire, for flute and guitar (1989–90)
- Ora pro nobis, for flute and guitar (1989)
- Rhapsody and Prayer, for violin and piano (1989)
3 players
- Piano trios
- Piano Trio No. 1 (1963)
- Piano Trio No. 2 (1985)
- Piano Trio No. 3 Summer (1990)
- Trio for Clarinet, Horn, and Piano (1980) see recording below
4 players
- String quartets
- String Quartet No. 1 (1952)
- String Quartet No. 2, with soprano (1959–61)
- String Quartet No. 3String Quartet No. 3 (Rochberg)George Rochberg’s String Quartet No. 3 is an important piece in American contemporary music literature. Written in 1971 and premiered on May 15, 1972, by the Concord String Quartet, the third string quartet was an important move away from serialism for the American composer.-Background of...
(1972) - String Quartet No. 4 (1977)
- String Quartet No. 5 (1978)
- String Quartet No. 6 (1978)
- String Quartet No. 7, with baritone (1979)
- Contra Mortem et Tempus, for violin, flute, clarinet, and piano (1965)
- Piano Quartet (1983)
5 or more players
- Chamber Symphony for Nine Instruments (1953)
- Serenata d'estate, for six instruments (1955)
- Electrikaleidoscope, for an amplified ensemble of flute, clarinet, cello, piano, and electric piano (1972)
- "Quintet" for piano and string quartet (1975)
- Octet: A Grand Fantasia, for flute, clarinet, horn, piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass (1980)
- String Quintet (1982)
- To the Dark Wood, for wind quintet (1985)
Instrumental
- 50 Caprice Variations, for violin (1970)
- American Bouquet, for guitar (1991)
Keyboard
- Arioso (1959)
- Bartokiana (1959)
- Book of Contrapuntal Pieces for Keyboard Instruments (1979)
- Carnival Music, for piano (1976)
- Circles of Fire, for two pianos (1996–1997)
- Four Short Sonatas, for piano (1984)
- Nach Bach: Fantasia, for harpsichord or piano (1966)
- Partita-Variations, for piano (1976)
- Sonata Seria, for piano
- Sonata-Fantasia, for piano (1956)
- Three Elegiac Pieces, for piano
- Twelve Bagatelles, for piano (1952)
- Variations on an Original Theme, for piano (1941)
Vocal/Choral
- Behold, My Servant, for mixed chorus, a capella (1973)
- Blake Songs, for soprano and chamber ensemble (1957; rev. 1962)
- David, the Psalmist, for tenor and orchestra (1954)
- Eleven Songs to Poems of Paul Rochberg, for mezzo-soprano and piano (1969)
- Fantasies, for voice and piano (1971)
- Four Songs of Solomon, for voice and piano (1946)
- Music for The Alchemist, for soprano and eleven players (1966; rev. 1968)
- Passions [According to the Twentieth Century], for singers, jazz quintet, brass ensemble, percussion, piano, and tape (1967)
- Phaedra, monodrama for mezzo-soprano and orchestra (1973–74)
- Sacred Song of Reconciliation (Mizmor L'piyus), for baritone and orchestra (1970)
- Seven Early Love Songs, for voice and piano (1991)
- Songs in Praise of Krishna, for soprano and piano (1970)
- Songs of Inanna and Dumuzi, for alto and piano (1977)
- Tableaux, for soprano, two speakers, small men's chorus, and twelve players (1968)
- Three Cantes Flamencos, for high baritone (1969)
- Three Psalms, for mixed chorus, a capella (1954)
Awards and Recognitions
- 1950-1951 - Fulbright FellowFulbright ProgramThe Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
- 1950-52 - Fellow of American Academy in RomeAmerican Academy in RomeThe American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
- 1952 - George Gershwin Memorial Award for Night Music
- 1956 - Society for the Publication of American Music award for String Quartet No. 1
- 1956 - Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim 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...
- 1959 - First prize in Italian ISCM International Music Competition for Cheltenham Concerto
- 1961 - Naumburg Recording Award for Symphony No. 2
- 1962 - Honorary degree from Montclair State UniversityMontclair State UniversityMontclair State University is a public research university located in the Upper Montclair section of Montclair, the Great Notch area of Little Falls, and Clifton, New Jersey. As of October 2009, there were 18,171 total enrolled students: 14,139 undergraduate students and 4,032 graduate students...
- 1964 - Honorary degree from University of the ArtsUniversity of the Arts (Philadelphia)The University of the Arts is one of the United States' oldest universities dedicated to the arts. Its campus makes up part of the Avenue of the Arts in Center City, Philadelphia...
- 1966 - Prix ItaliaPrix ItaliaThe Prix Italia is an international Italian television, radio-broadcasting and Website award. It was established in 1948 by RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana in Capri...
for Black Sounds - 1966 - Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim 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...
- 1972 - Naumburg Chamber Composition Award for String Quartet No. 3
- 1972-74 - National Endowment for the Arts GrantsNational Endowment for the ArtsThe 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...
- 1979 - Kennedy Center Friedheim AwardKennedy Center Friedheim AwardThe Kennedy Center Friedheim Award was an annual award given for instrumental music composition by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.. It was established in 1978 and ended in 1995...
for String Quartet No. 4 - 1980 - Honorary degree from University of MichiganUniversity of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
- 1985 - Honorary degree from University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
- 1985 - Gold Medal at Brandeis Creative Arts Awards
- 1986 - Lancaster Symphony Composers Award
- 1987 - University of BridgeportUniversity of BridgeportThe University of Bridgeport is a private, independent, non-sectarian, coeducational university located on the Long Island Sound in the South End neighborhood of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The University is fully Accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges...
's Andre and Clara Mertens Contemporary Composer Award - 1987 - Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award
- 1988 - Honorary degree from Curtis Institute of MusicCurtis Institute of MusicThe Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
- 1991 - BellagioBellagioBellagio is a comune in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located on Lake Como. It has long been famous for its setting at the intersection of the three branches of the Y-shaped lake, which is also known as Lario....
artist in residence - 1994 - Honorary degree from Miami UniversityMiami UniversityMiami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
- 1997 - Longy School of MusicLongy School of MusicThe Longy School of Music of Bard College is a conservatory located near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1915, it was one of the four independent degree-granting music schools in the Boston region along with the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and Boston...
Distinguished Achievement Award - 1998 - Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
(nominated) "String Quartet No. 3" - 1999 - ASCAPAmerican Society of Composers, Authors, and PublishersThe American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization that protects its members' musical copyrights by monitoring public performances of their music, whether via a broadcast or live performance, and compensating them...
Lifetime Achievement Award - 2004 - Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
(nominated) "String Quartet No. 5" - 2006 - Deems Taylor Award for The Aesthetics of Survival: A Composer's View of Twentieth-Century Music
Sources
- Brackett, John (2008). John Zorn: Tradition and Transgression. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-22025-7.
- Rochberg (1992). Rochberg, George. "Guston and Me: Digression and Return." Contemporary Music Review 6 (2), 5–8.
External links
- Theodore Presser Company Composer Information: George Rochberg
- George Rochberg's Revolution by Michael Linton, Copyright (c) 1998 First Things 84 (June/July 1998): 18-20.
- Horsley, Paul J. "George Rochberg: Volume One". Liner note essay. New World RecordsNew World RecordsNew World Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in American music. The label was established in 1975 through a Rockefeller Foundation grant to produce a 100 disc anthology covering 200 years of American music....
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Listening
- Art of the States: George Rochberg four works by the composer
- George Rochberg: Trio for Clarinet, Horn, and Piano: Liberamente e molto espressivo; allegro con moto; Adagio; Adagio/Allegro giocosamente. Nobuko Igarashi (clarinet), Robert Patterson (horn), Adam Bowles (piano) of the Luna Nova Ensemble