Lukas Foss
Encyclopedia
Lukas Foss was a German-born American
composer
, conductor
, and pianist.
, Germany
in 1922. His father was the philosopher and scholar Martin Fuchs
. He and his family moved to Paris in 1933, where he studied piano with Lazare Lévy
, composition with Noël Gallon
, orchestration
with Felix Wolfes
, and flute with Louis Moyse
. In 1937, he moved with his parents and brother to the United States, where his father (on advice from the Quakers who had taken the family in upon arrival in Philadelphia) changed the family name from Fuchs to Foss. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music
in Philadelphia, with Isabelle Vengerova
(piano), Rosario Scalero
(composition) and Fritz Reiner
(conducting).
He also studied with Sergei Koussevitzky during the summers from 1939 to 1943 at the Berkshire Music Center (now known as the Tanglewood Music Center) and, as a special student, composition with Paul Hindemith
at Yale University
from 1939 to 1940. He became an American citizen in 1942.
Foss was appointed professor of music at UCLA
in 1953, replacing Arnold Schoenberg
. While there he founded the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble, which made its Boston debut in 1962 for the Peabody Mason Concert series. He founded the Center for Creative and Performing Arts in 1963 while at the State University of New York at Buffalo
.
From 1963 to 1970 he was Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
. From 1971-1988 he was Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic
(formerly Brooklyn Philharmonia). From 1981 to 1986, he was conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
. He was a Professor of Music, Theory, and Composition at Boston University
beginning in 1991. His notable students include Faye-Ellen Silverman
, Claire Polin
and Rocco Di Pietro
.
He is grouped in the "Boston school" along with Arthur Berger
, Irving Fine
, Alexei Haieff, Harold Shapero
, and Claudio Spies
.
He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron
, an international professional music fraternity.
Lukas Foss died at his home in Manhattan
on February 1, 2009, aged 86, from a heart attack.
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...
, conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
, and pianist.
Music career
He was born Lukas Fuchs in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1922. His father was the philosopher and scholar Martin Fuchs
Martin Foss
-Life and career:Martin Foss was born in Berlin, Germany in 1889 and studied philosophy and law at German and French universities. He married Hilde Schindler, a German woman, and they had two children, Oliver Foss, a painter, and the composer Lukas Foss...
. He and his family moved to Paris in 1933, where he studied piano with Lazare Lévy
Lazare Lévy
Lazare Lévy was an influential French pianist, organist, composer and pedgogue. As a virtuoso pianist he toured throughout Europe, in North Africa, Israel, the Soviet Union and Japan...
, composition with Noël Gallon
Noël Gallon
Noël Gallon was a French composer and music educator. His compositional output includes several choral works and vocal art songs, 10 preludes, a Toccata for piano, a Sonata for flute and bassoon, a Fantasy for piano and orchestra, an Orchestral Suite, and the lyrical drama Paysans et Soldats...
, orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
with Felix Wolfes
Felix Wolfes
Felix Wolfes was an American educator, conductor and composer.-Biography:...
, and flute with Louis Moyse
Louis Moyse
Louis Moyse was a famous French flute player and composer. He was the son of influential French flutist Marcel Moyse. He was a co-founder of the Vermont Marlboro Music Festival and was a teacher to top flutists all over the world. He died of heart failure at age 94.Louis Moyse was born in...
. In 1937, he moved with his parents and brother to the United States, where his father (on advice from the Quakers who had taken the family in upon arrival in Philadelphia) changed the family name from Fuchs to Foss. He studied at 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...
in Philadelphia, with Isabelle Vengerova
Isabelle Vengerova
Isabelle Vengerova was a Russian, later American, pianist and music teacherShe was born Izabella Afanasyevna Vengerova , in Minsk . Her elder brother Semyon Vengerov was a venerable literary historian...
(piano), 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...
(composition) and Fritz Reiner
Fritz Reiner
Frederick Martin “Fritz” Reiner was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century.-Biography:...
(conducting).
He also studied with Sergei Koussevitzky during the summers from 1939 to 1943 at the Berkshire Music Center (now known as the Tanglewood Music Center) and, as a special student, composition with Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
from 1939 to 1940. He became an American citizen in 1942.
Foss was appointed professor of music at UCLA
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
in 1953, replacing 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...
. While there he founded the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble, which made its Boston debut in 1962 for the Peabody Mason Concert series. He founded the Center for Creative and Performing Arts in 1963 while at the State University of New York at Buffalo
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, also commonly known as the University at Buffalo or UB, is a public research university and a "University Center" in the State University of New York system. The university was founded by Millard Fillmore in 1846. UB has multiple campuses...
.
From 1963 to 1970 he was Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra located in Buffalo, New York. Its primary performing venue is Kleinhans Music Hall, which is a National Historic Landmark. Its regular concert season features gala concerts, classics programming of core repertoire, Pops...
. From 1971-1988 he was Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic
Brooklyn Philharmonic
The Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, commonly known as the Brooklyn Philharmonic, is an American orchestra based in the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City...
(formerly Brooklyn Philharmonia). From 1981 to 1986, he was conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its primary performing venue is the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts...
. He was a Professor of Music, Theory, and Composition at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
beginning in 1991. His notable students include Faye-Ellen Silverman
Faye-Ellen Silverman
Faye-Ellen Silverman is an American composer of contemporary classical music. She is also an author and an educator.-Life and education:...
, Claire Polin
Claire Polin
Claire Polin was an American composer of contemporary classical music, musicologist, and flutist....
and Rocco Di Pietro
Rocco Di Pietro
Rocco Di Pietro is an artist whose work as composer-pianist, essayist, educator and habilitationist, has crossed multiple disciplinary boundaries. Starting in January 2009 Di Pietro will be SICA Composer in Residence. He will undertake a variety of projects in a campus wide initiative including...
.
He is grouped in the "Boston school" along with Arthur Berger
Arthur Berger
Arthur Victor Berger was an American composer who has been described as a New Mannerist.-Biography:Born in New York City, of Jewish descent, Berger studied as an undergraduate at New York University, during which time he joined the Young Composer's Group, as a graduate student under Walter Piston...
, Irving Fine
Irving Fine
Irving Gifford Fine was an American composer. Fine's work assimilated neo-classical, romantic and, later, serial elements...
, Alexei Haieff, Harold Shapero
Harold Shapero
Harold Samuel Shapero is an American composer.-Early years:Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, Shapero and his family later moved to nearby Newton. He learned to play the piano as a child, and for some years was a pianist in dance orchestras. With a friend, he founded the Hal Kenny Orchestra, a swing-era...
, and Claudio Spies
Claudio Spies
Carlos Claudio Spies is a Chilean-American composer.Born in Santiago, Chile, of German-Jewish parents, Spies completed primary and secondary education in Santiago in 1941, when he passed the Bachillerato...
.
He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron
Delta Omicron
Delta Omicron is a co-ed international professional music honors fraternity whose mission is to promote and support excellence in music and musicianship.-History:...
, an international professional music fraternity.
Lukas Foss died at his home in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
on February 1, 2009, aged 86, from a heart attack.
Notable students
- Edward ApplebaumEdward ApplebaumEdward Applebaum is an American composer of contemporary classical music.He began his career as a jazz pianist and conductor. He holds a B.A. , M.A. , and Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and also studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, Sweden. His primary...
- Jeremy BeckJeremy BeckJeremy Beck is a dramatic and lyrical American composer of works for varying orchestral, chamber and vocal forces. The critic Mark Sebastian Jordan has said that "Beck was committed to tonality and a recognizable musical vernacular long before that became the hip bandwagon it is today. Indeed, [he...
- Norma BeecroftNorma BeecroftNorma Marian Beecroft is a Canadian composer, producer, broadcaster, and arts administrator. A member of the Canadian League of Composers and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, she twice won the Canada Council's Lynch-Staunton Award for composition...
- Harold BoatriteHarold BoatriteHarold Boatrite is an American composer.After early studies with Stanley Hollingsworth, Harold Boatrite was awarded a fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Center where he studied composition with Lukas Foss and took part in the orchestration seminars of Aaron Copland...
- Benjamin BoretzBenjamin BoretzBenjamin Boretz is an American composer and music theorist.-Life and work:Boretz was born in Brooklyn, New York and graduated with a degree in music from Brooklyn College...
- Benjamin C. S. BoyleBenjamin C. S. BoyleBenjamin C. S. Boyle is an American composer, pianist, and music theorist.-Career:His compositional output includes opera, orchestral music, chamber music, choral music, art songs, and works for piano. Notable performances include the premiere of Dr...
- Philip CashianPhilip CashianPhilip Cashian is an English composer. He is the head of composition of the Royal Academy of Music.-Biography:Born in Manchester in 1963, Cashian studied at Cardiff University, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and in 1997 received a DMus from Durham University.His teachers have included...
- Rocco Di PietroRocco Di PietroRocco Di Pietro is an artist whose work as composer-pianist, essayist, educator and habilitationist, has crossed multiple disciplinary boundaries. Starting in January 2009 Di Pietro will be SICA Composer in Residence. He will undertake a variety of projects in a campus wide initiative including...
- Julius EastmanJulius EastmanJulius Eastman was an African-American composer, pianist, vocalist, and dancer of minimalist tendencies. He was among the first musicians to combine minimalist processes with elements of pop music...
- Jack Elliott
- Hormoz FarhatHormoz FarhatHormoz Farhat Born 1929 Tehran, is a significant Iranian composer, ethnomusicologist and University lecturer.- Musical career :...
- Jacques HétuJacques HétuJacques Hétu, OC was a Canadian composer and music educator from Trois-Rivières, Quebec. He was nominated for a 1989 Juno Award in the Best Classical Composition category...
- Douglas KnehansDouglas KnehansDouglas Knehans is an Australian/American composer and academic.Between 2008 and 2010 he was Dean of the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.-External links:* ²* ¹...
- Wen-Pin Hope LeeWen-Pin Hope LeeWen-Pin Hope Lee （1967- ） is a Taiwanese composer. His works comprise a variety of genres, including symphonies, theatre, dance, solo works, chamber music, computer music, and multimedia performance art...
- Alvin LucierAlvin LucierAlvin Lucier is an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. A long-time music professor at Wesleyan University, Lucier was a member of the influential Sonic Arts Union, which included Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and...
- José Antônio Rezende de Almeida PradoJosé Antônio Rezende de Almeida PradoJosé Antônio Rezende de Almeida Prado or Almeida Prado was an important Brazilian composer of classical music and a pianist...
- Faye-Ellen SilvermanFaye-Ellen SilvermanFaye-Ellen Silverman is an American composer of contemporary classical music. She is also an author and an educator.-Life and education:...
- Augusta Read ThomasAugusta Read ThomasAugusta Read Thomas is an American composer.Augusta Read Thomas was born in Glen Cove, New York. She attended The Green Vale School and later moved on to St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and then studied composition with Jacob Druckman at Yale University and at the Royal Academy of...
- Charles WilsonCharles Wilson (composer)Charles Mills Wilson is a Canadian composer, choral conductor, and music educator.-Biography:Wilson began studying piano at age six with Wilfred Powell and later studied organ with Charles Peaker. He studied composition with Godfrey Ridout at the University of Toronto, earning a Bachelors of Music...
Personal
- Wife: Cornelia Brendel Foss, artist/painter; born in Berlin in 1931, married in 1951
- Son: Christopher Brendel Foss, documentary filmmaker, corporate consultant on social and environmental engagement/sustainability communications
- Daughter: Eliza Foss Topol, actress
External links
- [ Allmusic: Lukas Foss]
- Humanities Web: Lukas Foss Index
- CDeMusic: Lukas Foss
- New Albion Artists: Lukas Foss
- Lukas Foss Lecture A Twentieth-Century Composer's Confessions about the Creative Process
- Art of the States: Lukas Foss
Interviews
- Lukas Foss interview by Gabrielle Zuckerman, from American Mavericks site
- Lukas Foss interview by Terry GrossTerry GrossTerry Gross is the host and co-executive producer of Fresh Air, an interview format radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed throughout the United States by National Public Radio....
, from Fresh AirFresh AirFresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States. The show is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its longtime host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 450 stations and claimed 4.5 million listeners. The show...
program, originally broadcast October 7, 1987 - Interview with Lukas Foss by Bruce Duffie, February 2, 1987