Daniel Rogers Pinkham, Jr. (June 5, 1923 - December 18, 2006) was an American composer,
organistAn organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
, and
harpsichordA harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
ist. Pinkham was one of America's most active composers during his lifetime. In 1981,
Boston Globe music critic Richard Dyer wrote that Pinkham’s music "doesn’t turn up very often on the programs of societies for new music because it doesn’t have to live in that ghetto — he is among the most-performed American composers, and people like his music."
Born in
LynnLynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An older industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park. Currently, Edward "Chip" Clancy, Jr. is serving his second term as Mayor.-History:The area known as Lynn...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
into a prominent family engaged in the manufacture of patent medicines (his great-grandmother was Lydia E.
Daniel Rogers Pinkham, Jr. (June 5, 1923 - December 18, 2006) was an American composer,
organistAn organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
, and
harpsichordA harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
ist. Pinkham was one of America's most active composers during his lifetime. In 1981,
Boston Globe music critic Richard Dyer wrote that Pinkham’s music "doesn’t turn up very often on the programs of societies for new music because it doesn’t have to live in that ghetto — he is among the most-performed American composers, and people like his music."
Biography
Born in
LynnLynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An older industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park. Currently, Edward "Chip" Clancy, Jr. is serving his second term as Mayor.-History:The area known as Lynn...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
into a prominent family engaged in the manufacture of patent medicines (his great-grandmother was Lydia E. Pinkham), he studied organ performance and music theory at Phillips Academy, Andover, with Carl F. Pfatteicher. "The single event that changed my life was a concert [at Andover] by the Trapp Family Singers in 1939, right after they had escaped from Germany," Pinkham once recalled. "Here, suddenly, I was hearing clarity, simplicity. It shaped my whole outlook," he said in a 1981 interview with
The Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993. Its chief print rival is the Boston Herald....
.
At Harvard, he studied with
Walter PistonWalter Hamor Piston Jr. was an American composer and music theorist.-Life:Piston was born in Rockland, Maine. His father's father, a sailor named Antonio Pistone, changed his name to Anthony Piston when he came to America from Genoa, Italy. In 1905, Walter Piston Sr. and his family moved to...
;
Aaron CoplandAaron Copland was an American composer of concert and film music, as well as an accomplished pianist. Instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, he was widely known as "the dean of American composers". Copland's music achieved a balance between modern music and American...
, Archibald T. Davison, and A. Tillman Merritt also among his teachers. There he completed a bachelor's degree in 1943 and a master's in 1944. He also studied harpsichord with Putnam Aldrich and
Wanda LandowskaWanda Landowska was a Polish harpsichordist whose performances, teaching, recordings and writings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in the early 20th century...
, and organ with
E. Power Biggs{Infobox Person| name = E. Power Biggs| image = EPowerBiggs.gif| image_size = 200px| caption = From Biggs's CD,
Bach — The Four Great Toccatas and Fugues.{Infobox Person| name = E...
. At
TanglewoodTanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts and is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival. It has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937.- History :...
, he studied composition with
Samuel BarberSamuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is among his most popular compositions and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music....
and
Arthur HoneggerArthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les Six...
, and subsequently with
Nadia BoulangerNadia Boulanger was an influential French composer, conductor, and music professor. An outstanding music educator at the highest level, she taught many of the most important composers and conductors of the 20th century.-Ancestors:Nadia Boulanger was born to a highly musical family. Her...
.
Pinkham taught at the
Boston ConservatoryThe Boston Conservatory is an arts conservatory located in the Fenway-Kenmore region of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It has undergraduate and graduate programs in music, dance, theater, and music education. The Conservatory offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Music, and Master...
beginning in 1946, and at the
New England Conservatory of MusicThe New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest independent conservatory in the United States.The conservatory is home each year to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of Continuing...
from 1959 until his death in 2006; while there, he created and chaired the program on early music performance. He also taught at various times at
Simmons CollegeSimmons College is a women's college in Boston, Massachusetts. Simmons is noted for its emphasis on pre-professional undergraduate education.-History:...
(1953-1954),
Boston UniversityBoston University is a private nonsectarian university located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Although chartered by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869, Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the Newbury Biblical Institute in Newbury, Vermont in 1839...
(1953-1954), and
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
(1957-1958). Among Pinkham's notable students was the jazz musician and composer
Gigi GryceGigi Gryce was an American saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, educator, and big band bandleader...
(1925-1983) and the composer Mark DeVoto.
For decades, Pinkham was the organist of
King's ChapelKing's Chapel is a Christian Unitarian church in Boston, Massachusetts, located at the corner of Tremont Street and School Street.-History:...
in Boston, a position which gave him much exposure to and opportunity to write church-related music; the Sunday evening concert series he created there celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007. He was also a frequent guest on the E. Power Biggs program on the
CBS Radio NetworkThe CBS Radio Network provides news, sports and other programming to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by the CBS Corporation, and operated by CBS Corporation's CBS Radio Inc...
. He performed regularly with the
Boston Symphony OrchestraThe Boston Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays the majority of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the...
as an organist and as a harpsichordist, and he performed extensively with noted violinist
Robert BrinkRobert Greenleaf Brink is an American violinist, conductor, and educator. He is a professor of music at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts....
, with whom he commissioned a duo for violin and harpsichord from
Alan HovhanessAlan Hovhaness was an American composer of Armenian and Scottish ancestry.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...
.
Pinkham died of
chronic lymphocytic leukemiaB-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia , also known as chronic lymphoid leukemia , is the most common type of leukemia. Leukemias are abnormal and malignant neoplastic proliferations of the white blood cells . CLL involves a particular subtype of white blood cells, which is a lymphocyte called a B...
in
Natick, MassachusettsNatick is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Natick is located near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 32,170 at the 2000 census. Only 15 miles west of Boston, Natick is considered part of the Greater Boston area...
on December 18, 2006. He is survived by his longtime partner, the organist Andrew Paul Holman.
Compositional career
Pinkham's enormous output represents a broad cross-section of 20th-century musical trends. He produced work in virtually every genre, from
symphoniesA symphony is an extended musical composition, scored almost always for orchestra. "Symphony" does not necessarily imply a specific form though most are composed according to the sonata principle...
to
art songAn art song is a vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano or orchestral accompaniment. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the genre of such songs....
s, though the preponderance of his music is religious in nature, frequently choral and/or involving organ. Much of his music was written for use in church services or other ceremonial occasions, and reflected his longstanding relationship with King’s Chapel. At various points in his career, he embraced plainchant and medievally-influenced modal writing, lyrical romanticism, dodecaphony and
serialismIn music, serialism is a technique, method , "highly specialized technique" , or "way" of composition, but also "a philosophy of life , a way of relating the human mind to the world and creating a completeness when dealing with a subject"...
, and
electronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
. He embraced his role as a creator of (relatively) popular music, once remarking that "One of the most important influences on my music has been my contact with performers, and I am most happy when writing for a specific performance. This, I suppose, explains why I have no unperformed music. I have always been interested in making music technically accessible."
Some of Pinkham's best-known works are designed for services: the Christmas, Advent, and Wedding cantatas, the latter of which is performed particularly often. In 2003, he gained further notice with his commissioned piece, written for the
Boston Landmarks OrchestraThe Boston Landmarks Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.- History :The Boston Landmarks Orchestra was founded in January 2001 by Charles Ansbacher to perform free concerts for the Boston community in significant locations around the city...
, of
Make Way for Ducklings. In keeping with the name of the ensemble, the work was designed to be performed for families at the
Boston Public GardenThe Public Garden, also known as Boston Public Garden, is a large park located in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent to the Boston Common.-History:...
near the famous sculptures based on Robert McCloskey's endearing picture book. Pinkham’s extensive catalog can be found at www.danielpinkham.net.
Pinkham's scholarship and work were recognized with a Fulbright Fellowship in 1950 and a
Ford FoundationThe Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
Fellowship in 1962. He received honorary degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music as well as from
Nebraska Wesleyan UniversityNebraska Wesleyan University , is a private, coeducational university located in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was founded in 1887 by Nebraska Methodists. As of 2007, it has 1,600 full-time students and 300 faculty and staff. The school teaches in the tradition of a liberal arts college education....
,
Adrian CollegeAdrian College is a private, co-educational liberal arts college related to the United Methodist Church and located in the city of Adrian in the U.S. state of Michigan. The school is situated approximately 45 minutes from Ann Arbor and Toledo, Ohio, and 90 minutes from Detroit...
,
Westminster Choir CollegeWestminster Choir College is a residential college of music located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States.Westminster Choir College educates men and women at the undergraduate and graduate levels for musical careers in music education, voice performance, piano performance, organ performance,...
,
Ithaca CollegeIthaca College is a private college located on the South Hill of Ithaca, New York. The school was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music. The college has a strong liberal arts core, but also offers several pre-professional programs and some graduate programs. The college is...
, and the
Boston ConservatoryThe Boston Conservatory is an arts conservatory located in the Fenway-Kenmore region of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It has undergraduate and graduate programs in music, dance, theater, and music education. The Conservatory offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Music, and Master...
.
In 1990, Pinkham was named Composer of the Year by the
American Guild of OrganistsThe American Guild of Organists, or AGO, is a national organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the U.S., headquartered in New York City. It was founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization...
. In 2006 Pinkham was named Musician of the Year by the Boston Musicians' Association, AFM Local 9-535.
External links