Gail Thompson Kubik was an American composer, motion picture scorist, violinist, and teacher. He studied at the Eastman School of Music

Eastman School of Music

The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...

, the American Conservatory of Music

American Conservatory of Music

The American Conservatory of Music was a major American school of music founded in 1886 by John James Hattstaedt . The conservatory was incorporated as an Illinois non-profit corporation. It was located in Chicago until 1991 when its Board of Trustees — chaired by Frederic Wilbur Hickman...

 in Chicago with Leo Sowerby

Leo Sowerby

Leo Sowerby , American composer and church musician, was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1946, and was often called the “Dean of American church music” in the early to mid 20th century.-Biography:...

, and Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 with Walter Piston

Walter Piston

Walter Hamor Piston Jr., , was an American composer of classical music, music theorist and professor of music at Harvard University whose students included Leroy Anderson, Leonard Bernstein, and Elliott Carter....

 and Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...

. He taught violin and composition at Monmouth College

Monmouth College

Monmouth College is a four-year coeducational private liberal arts college located in Monmouth, Illinois, United States.-History:Monmouth College was founded on April 18, 1853 by the Second Presbytery of Illinois, a frontier arm of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church...

 and composition and music history at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 (1937), Teachers College

Teachers College, Columbia University

Teachers College, Columbia University is a graduate school of education located in New York City, New York...

 and Scripps College

Scripps College

Scripps College is a progressive liberal arts women's college in Claremont, California, United States. It is a member of the Claremont Colleges. Scripps ranks 3rd for the nation's best women's college, ahead of Barnard College, Mount Holyoke College, and Bryn Mawr College at 23rd on the list for...

. Joining NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 as staff composer in New York in 1940, he was music director for the Motion Picture Bureau at the Office of War Information, where 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 composed and conducted the music scores of motion pictures. He won the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for Music

Pulitzer Prize for Music

The Pulitzer Prize for Music was first awarded in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer did not call for such a prize in his will, but had arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year...

 for Symphony Concertante.

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.

Works

• Piano trio (1934)
• Violin concerto op. 4 (1934-6)
• Violin concerto no. 2 (1940/41, recorded by Ruggiero Ricci
  Ruggiero Ricci
  Ruggiero Ricci is an Italian-American violinist known for performances and recordings of the works of Paganini. He was born in San Bruno, California. Ricci's brother was cellist and his sister Emma played violin with the New York Metropolitan Opera.He is the son of Italian immigrants. His...
  
  )
• Symphony no. 1 in E-flat major (1946)
• Sonata for piano (1947)
• Symphony Concertante (1952)
• Symphony no. 2 in F major
  F major
  F major is a musical major scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat . It is by far the oldest key signature with an accidental, predating the others by hundreds of years...
  
   (1954-6)
• Symphony no. 3 (1956)
• Divertimento no. 1 for thirteen players (1959)
• String quartet (1960)
• Divertimento no. 2 for eight players (1969)
• In Praise of Johnny Appleseed (for bass, chorus, and orchestra)

Opera

• Boston Baked Beans (1952)
• A Mirror for the Sky (a folk opera, first performed 1957)

Motion picture scores

• Men and Ships (1940)
• Colleges at War (1942)
• Menpower (1942)
• Paratroops (1942)
• The World at War (1942)
• Dover (1942, aka Dover Front Line)
• Earthquakers (1943)
• Air Pattern-Pacific (1944)
• The Memphis Belle
  Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress
  The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress is a 1944 documentary film which ostensibly provides an account of the final mission of the crew of the Memphis Belle, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. In May 1943 it became the first U.S...
  
   (1944)
• Thunderbolt (1945)
• C-Man (1949)
• Gerald McBoing-Boing
  Gerald McBoing-Boing
  Gerald McBoing-Boing is an animated short film produced by United Productions of America and given wide release by Columbia Pictures on November 2, 1950...
  
   (1950 cartoon based on a story by Dr. Seuss
  Dr. Seuss
  Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone....
  
  ); Kubik composed also a longer version which is sometimes performed as a narrated concert piece with Dr. Seuss's text
• The Miner's Daughter (1950)
• Two Gals and a Guy (1951, aka Baby and Me) (incidental music, also served as musical director)
• The Desperate Hours
  The Desperate Hours (film)
  The Desperate Hours is a 1955 film from Paramount Pictures starring Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March. The movie was produced and directed by William Wyler and based on a novel and play of the same name written by Joseph Hayes which were loosely based on actual events.The original Broadway...
  
  (1955)
• I Thank a Fool (1962) This score was later replaced by Ron Goodwin
• Music for Bells

External links

• Kubik papers at Kansas State University