Lee Hoiby
Encyclopedia
Lee Henry Hoiby was an American composer
and classical
pianist. Best known as a composer of opera
s and songs, he was a disciple of composer Gian Carlo Menotti
. Like Menotti, his works championed lyricism during a time when such compositions were deemed old fashioned and irrelevant to modern society. His most well known work is his setting of Tennessee Williams
's Summer and Smoke which premiered at the St Paul Opera in 1971.
. A child prodigy
, he began playing the piano at the age of 5. He studied at the University of Wisconsin under notable pianists Gunnar Johansen
and Egon Petri
. He then became a pupil of Darius Milhaud
at Mills College
.
Hoiby became influenced by a variety of composers, particularly personalities in the twentieth century avant garde, including the Pro Arte String Quartet
led by Rudolf Kolisch
, brother-in-law of Arnold Schoenberg
. During his youth, Hoiby played with Harry Partch
's Dadaist ensembles. Following his studies at Mills College, he entered the Curtis Institute of Music
where he was mentored in music composition by Gian Carlo Menotti
, who introduced Hoiby to opera, and involved him in the Broadway productions of The Consul
and The Saint of Bleecker Street
. Though at first he intended to pursue a career as a concert pianist, he eventually became more interested in composing.
, a chamber opera in one act, which was produced by Menotti and premiered in 1957, was recognized by TIME and the Italian press as the hit of the first Spoleto
Festival.
His next opera, Natalia Petrovna (New York City Opera
, 1964), now known in its revised version as A Month in the Country, based on a play by Ivan Turgenev
, was also praised by critics. Hoiby's setting of Tennessee Williams
's Summer and Smoke is perhaps his most famous work. Its libretto is by Lanford Wilson
, and it was premiered in 1971 by St Paul Opera, Minnesota
, under the conductor Igor Buketoff
. Among Hoiby's other operatic works are the one-act opera buffa Something New for the Zoo (1979), the musical monologue The Italian Lesson (1981, text by Ruth Draper
) which was produced off-Broadway in 1989 with Jean Stapleton, The Tempest (1986), and a one-act chamber opera, This Is the Rill Speaking (1992), text by Lanford Wilson.
He contributed the song, “The Darkling Thrush,” with text by Thomas Hardy
, to a 2006 multimedia
opera, Darkling. Elements of this song were used as source material for the opera’s remaining solo and ensemble music, written by composer Stefan Weisman.
Hoiby's most recent opera is a setting of Romeo and Juliet
(2004), which awaits its world premiere. He wrote many non-operatic compositions as well, including musical settings of poems. Among the most notable of the poem settings is the suite of "animal portraits", RainForest, on prose poems of Elizabeth Bishop
for the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. He has recently continued his work with Bishop's poetry in a new chamber work with scenario by Mark Shulgasser for mezzo-soprano, baritone, piano and instrumental ensemble lasting approximately one hour. The work-in-progress has been commissioned by American Opera Projects and an excerpt from the piece received its first reading in New York at New York City Opera's "VOX: Showcasing American Opera" program in May 2006. His three-movement Summer Suite for Wind Ensemble was premiered on February 25, 2008 by the Austin Peay State University Wind Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Gregory Wolynec. The composer elaborates on the history of the piece:
Hoiby wrote Last Letter Home in 2006 to the words of U.S. PFC
Jesse Givens, who died in an accident while serving in Iraq.
introduced many of his best known songs and arias to the public. His songs are known for being inspired by music from many time periods and cultures. He comments about songwriting “What I learned from Schubert
came from a long, deep and loving exposure to his songs. A lot happens on a subconscious level, so it's hard to verbalize, but what I think his songs taught me have to do primarily with the line, the phrasing, the tessitura, the accentuations of speech, the careful consideration of vowels, the breathing required, and an extremely economical use of accompaniment material, often the same figure going through the whole song."
One of the early proponents of Hoiby's songs in Europe is the soprano Juliana Janes-Yaffé, who, in the 1980s, recorded several of Hoiby's songs for Südwestfunk Baden-Baden, Germany (with conductor John Yaffé, at the piano). His choral music is widely performed throughout the USA and in Great Britain. Indeed, some of his most important works are in that form, including the Christmas cantata A Hymn of the Nativity (text by Richard Crashaw
), the oratorio Galileo Galilei (libretto by Barrie Stavis
), and a substantial group of works for chorus and orchestra on texts of Walt Whitman
.
Though most of his works involve vocalists, he has also written some instrumental works, particularly chamber music. Hoiby once compared composing to archeology. In 2006 he said "For me, composing music bears some likeness to archeology. It requires patient digging, searching for the treasure; the ability to distinguish between a treasure and the rock next to it and recognizing when you're digging in the wrong place. The archeologist takes a soft brush and brushes away a half-teaspoon at a time. Musically, that would be a few notes, or a chord. Sometimes the brushing reveals an especially lovely thing, buried there for so long."
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...
and classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
pianist. Best known as a composer of opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s and songs, he was a disciple of composer 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...
. Like Menotti, his works championed lyricism during a time when such compositions were deemed old fashioned and irrelevant to modern society. His most well known work is his setting of Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
's Summer and Smoke which premiered at the St Paul Opera in 1971.
Biography
Hoiby was born in Madison, WisconsinMadison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
. A child prodigy
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
, he began playing the piano at the age of 5. He studied at the University of Wisconsin under notable pianists Gunnar Johansen
Gunnar Johansen
Gunnar Johansen was a Danish-born pianist and composer. He studied in his native Denmark with the pianist and conductor Victor Schiøler, then in Berlin with Egon Petri, the disciple of Ferruccio Busoni. He also worked with Edwin Fischer and the Liszt pupil Frederic Lamond...
and Egon Petri
Egon Petri
Egon Petri was a classical pianist.-Biography:Petri's family was Dutch and he was born a Dutch citizen, but he was born in Hanover in Germany and was brought up in Dresden. His father was a professional violinist who taught his son that instrument. Petri played in the Dresden Court Orchestra and...
. He then became a pupil of Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
at Mills College
Mills College
Mills College is an independent liberal arts women's college founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men. Located in Oakland, California, Mills was the first women's college west of the Rockies. The institution was initially founded...
.
Hoiby became influenced by a variety of composers, particularly personalities in the twentieth century avant garde, including the Pro Arte String Quartet
Pro Arte Quartet
The Pro Arte String Quartet was founded in Belgium in 1912, and transferred permanently to Madison, Wisconsin in 1941. After becoming the Court Quartet to Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, the Pro Arte began the first of many international tours in 1919. Bartok, Milhaud and Honegger entrusted the...
led by Rudolf Kolisch
Rudolf Kolisch
Rudolf Kolisch was a Viennese violinist and leader of string quartets, including the Kolisch Quartet and the Pro Arte Quartet. He played a right-handed violin left-handed—an extremely rare occurrence in classical music settings....
, brother-in-law of Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
. During his youth, Hoiby played with Harry Partch
Harry Partch
Harry Partch was an American composer and instrument creator. He was one of the first twentieth-century composers to work extensively and systematically with microtonal scales, writing much of his music for custom-made instruments that he built himself, tuned in 11-limit just intonation.-Early...
's Dadaist ensembles. Following his studies at Mills College, he entered 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 was mentored in music composition by 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...
, who introduced Hoiby to opera, and involved him in the Broadway productions of The Consul
The Consul
The Consul is an opera in three acts with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, his first full-length opera. Its first performance was on March 1, 1950, at the Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia with Patricia Neway as the lead heroine Magda Sorel, Gloria Lane as the secretary of the consulate,...
and The Saint of Bleecker Street
The Saint of Bleecker Street
The Saint of Bleecker Street is an opera in three acts by Gian Carlo Menotti to an original English libretto by the composer. It was first performed at The Broadway Theatre in New York City on December 27, 1954. David Poleri and Davis Cunningham alternated in the role of Michele, and Thomas...
. Though at first he intended to pursue a career as a concert pianist, he eventually became more interested in composing.
Career
Hoiby's first opera, The ScarfThe Scarf
The Scarf is a chamber opera in one act by composer Lee Hoiby. The work uses an English libretto by Harry Duncan that is based on the short story The Witch by Anton Chekhov. Composed in 1955, the opera premiered on June 20, 1958 at the very first Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy in a...
, a chamber opera in one act, which was produced by Menotti and premiered in 1957, was recognized by TIME and the Italian press as the hit of the first Spoleto
Spoleto
Spoleto is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.-History:...
Festival.
His next opera, Natalia Petrovna (New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
, 1964), now known in its revised version as A Month in the Country, based on a play by Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His first major publication, a short story collection entitled A Sportsman's Sketches, is a milestone of Russian Realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century...
, was also praised by critics. Hoiby's setting of Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
's Summer and Smoke is perhaps his most famous work. Its libretto is by Lanford Wilson
Lanford Wilson
Lanford Wilson was an American playwright who helped to advance the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1980, was elected in 2001 to the Theater Hall of Fame, and in 2004 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters...
, and it was premiered in 1971 by St Paul Opera, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, under the conductor Igor Buketoff
Igor Buketoff
Igor Buketoff was an American conductor, arranger and teacher. He had a special affinity with Russian music and with Sergei Rachmaninoff in particular. He also strongly promoted British contemporary music, and new music in general.- Biography :Buketoff was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son...
. Among Hoiby's other operatic works are the one-act opera buffa Something New for the Zoo (1979), the musical monologue The Italian Lesson (1981, text by Ruth Draper
Ruth Draper
Ruth Draper was an American actress, dramatist and noted diseuse who specialized in character-driven monologues.-Early life and family:...
) which was produced off-Broadway in 1989 with Jean Stapleton, The Tempest (1986), and a one-act chamber opera, This Is the Rill Speaking (1992), text by Lanford Wilson.
He contributed the song, “The Darkling Thrush,” with text by Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
, to a 2006 multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
opera, Darkling. Elements of this song were used as source material for the opera’s remaining solo and ensemble music, written by composer Stefan Weisman.
Hoiby's most recent opera is a setting of Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
(2004), which awaits its world premiere. He wrote many non-operatic compositions as well, including musical settings of poems. Among the most notable of the poem settings is the suite of "animal portraits", RainForest, on prose poems of Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bishop was an American poet and short-story writer. She was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1956 and a National Book Award Winner for Poetry in 1970. Elizabeth Bishop House is an artists' retreat in Great Village, Nova Scotia...
for the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. He has recently continued his work with Bishop's poetry in a new chamber work with scenario by Mark Shulgasser for mezzo-soprano, baritone, piano and instrumental ensemble lasting approximately one hour. The work-in-progress has been commissioned by American Opera Projects and an excerpt from the piece received its first reading in New York at New York City Opera's "VOX: Showcasing American Opera" program in May 2006. His three-movement Summer Suite for Wind Ensemble was premiered on February 25, 2008 by the Austin Peay State University Wind Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Gregory Wolynec. The composer elaborates on the history of the piece:
Summer Suite is a transcription for concert band of one of my first orchestral works. The last movement is a rousing parade, and when the opportunity presented itself last year I decided to recast it for concert band. Greg Wolynec and his players at Austin Peay State University enjoyed it sufficiently to encourage me to work on the first two movements for them. Rethinking the first movement (which was originally titled Scherzo) was a challenge and education, particularly in dealing with the lack of high strings, and tempo considerations. The second movement was a piece of cake, and I’m especially pleased with the way the long theme fits the french horn. I feel like my twenty-six year old self has made a gift to my present self.
Hoiby wrote Last Letter Home in 2006 to the words of U.S. PFC
Private First Class
Private First Class is a military rank held by junior enlisted persons.- Singapore :The rank of Private First Class in the Singapore Armed Forces lies between the ranks of Private and Lance-Corporal . It is usually held by conscript soldiers midway through their national service term...
Jesse Givens, who died in an accident while serving in Iraq.
Songs
Soprano Leontyne PriceLeontyne Price
Mary Violet Leontyne Price is an American soprano. Born and raised in the Deep South, she rose to international acclaim in the 1950s and 1960s, and was one of the first African Americans to become a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera.One critic characterized Price's voice as "vibrant",...
introduced many of his best known songs and arias to the public. His songs are known for being inspired by music from many time periods and cultures. He comments about songwriting “What I learned from Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
came from a long, deep and loving exposure to his songs. A lot happens on a subconscious level, so it's hard to verbalize, but what I think his songs taught me have to do primarily with the line, the phrasing, the tessitura, the accentuations of speech, the careful consideration of vowels, the breathing required, and an extremely economical use of accompaniment material, often the same figure going through the whole song."
One of the early proponents of Hoiby's songs in Europe is the soprano Juliana Janes-Yaffé, who, in the 1980s, recorded several of Hoiby's songs for Südwestfunk Baden-Baden, Germany (with conductor John Yaffé, at the piano). His choral music is widely performed throughout the USA and in Great Britain. Indeed, some of his most important works are in that form, including the Christmas cantata A Hymn of the Nativity (text by Richard Crashaw
Richard Crashaw
Richard Crashaw , English poet, styled "the divine," was part of the Seventeenth-century Metaphysical School of poets.-Life:...
), the oratorio Galileo Galilei (libretto by Barrie Stavis
Barrie Stavis
Barrie Stavis was a distinguished American playwright. He has authored several powerful plays about men struggling in the vortex of history. They advocate ideas, suffer, often are executed, but eventually their ideas win. The heresy of one age becomes the established truth of the next...
), and a substantial group of works for chorus and orchestra on texts of Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
.
Though most of his works involve vocalists, he has also written some instrumental works, particularly chamber music. Hoiby once compared composing to archeology. In 2006 he said "For me, composing music bears some likeness to archeology. It requires patient digging, searching for the treasure; the ability to distinguish between a treasure and the rock next to it and recognizing when you're digging in the wrong place. The archeologist takes a soft brush and brushes away a half-teaspoon at a time. Musically, that would be a few notes, or a chord. Sometimes the brushing reveals an especially lovely thing, buried there for so long."