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Leon Kirchner (born January 24, 1919) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 of contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music

Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to a 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 the post-1945 Modernism of post-tonal music from the death of Anton Webern ...
. He is a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters

The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 250-member organization whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in United States literature, music, and art....
 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an organization dedicated to scholarship and the advancement of learning. It serves as a nationwide honor society for the United States....
. He was born in Brooklyn
Brooklyn

Brooklyn is one of the five Borough of New York City, located at the western end of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area....
, New York.

Kirchner studied at the University of California Los Angeles with Ernest Bloch
Ernest Bloch

Ernest Bloch was a Switzerland-born United States composer....
 and Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian and later American composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School....
. Kirchner began graduate studies with Bloch at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley is a public university research university located in Berkeley, California, California, United States. The oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines....
 but he served in the military and studied in New York with Roger Sessions
Roger Sessions

Roger Huntington Sessions was an USA composer, critic and teacher of music.Born in Brooklyn, New York to a family that could trace its roots back to the American revolution, Sessions studied music at Harvard University from the age of 14....
 before completing his degree. He was Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music at Harvard
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 from 1961 to 1991.






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Leon Kirchner (born January 24, 1919) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 of contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music

Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to a 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 the post-1945 Modernism of post-tonal music from the death of Anton Webern ...
. He is a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters

The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 250-member organization whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in United States literature, music, and art....
 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an organization dedicated to scholarship and the advancement of learning. It serves as a nationwide honor society for the United States....
. He was born in Brooklyn
Brooklyn

Brooklyn is one of the five Borough of New York City, located at the western end of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area....
, New York.

Kirchner studied at the University of California Los Angeles with Ernest Bloch
Ernest Bloch

Ernest Bloch was a Switzerland-born United States composer....
 and Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian and later American composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School....
. Kirchner began graduate studies with Bloch at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley is a public university research university located in Berkeley, California, California, United States. The oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines....
 but he served in the military and studied in New York with Roger Sessions
Roger Sessions

Roger Huntington Sessions was an USA composer, critic and teacher of music.Born in Brooklyn, New York to a family that could trace its roots back to the American revolution, Sessions studied music at Harvard University from the age of 14....
 before completing his degree. He was Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music at Harvard
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 from 1961 to 1991. (Johnston, AMG)

His musical style is highly influenced by Schoenberg though Kirchner did not employ the twelve tone technique, preferring a generally linear chromatic language and irregular rhythms. He was awarded a Pulitzer prize for his Third String Quartet. (ibid)

His notable students include John Adams, Lawrence Moss
Lawrence Moss

Lawrence Kenneth Moss is an United States composer of contemporary classical music.He holds a B.A. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, an M.A....
, Jonathan Kramer
Jonathan Kramer

Jonathan Donald Kramer , was a United States composer and music theorist....
, Tison Street
Tison Street

Tison C. Street is an United States composer of contemporary classical music and violinist.He studied violin with Einar Hansen from 1951 to 1959....
, David Borden
David Borden

David Borden is an American composer of minimalist music. In 1969, with the support of Robert Moog, he founded what is considered to be the first synthesizer ensemble, Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company....
, and Curt Cacioppo.

Selected works


Opera

  • Lily (1977), opera
    Opera

    Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
     in 3 acts, libretto by the composer after Saul Bellow
    Saul Bellow

    Saul Bellow , was an acclaimed Canada-United States writer born in Canada of Russian-Jewish origin. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976 and the National Medal of Arts in 1988....
    's novel Henderson the Rain King
    Henderson the Rain King

    Henderson the Rain King is a 1959 novel by Saul Bellow. It was ranked 21 on Modern Library's list of the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Novels....
    , cast: 3 male, 4 female roles; chorus


Orchestra

  • Sinfonia
    Sinfonia

    Sinfonia is the Italian word for symphony . In music Sinfonia has however some specific meanings and connotations, that are understood when the word sinfonia is used outside the realm of Latin-based languages:...
     (1951)
  • Concerto for Piano
    Piano concerto

    A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano....
     No. 1 (1953), received Naumburg Award
    Walter W. Naumburg Foundation

    The Walter W. Naumburg Foundation sponsors competitions and provides awards for young European classical music in North America. It was founded in 1925 by Walter Naumburg, a wealthy amateur cellist and son of noted New York musicologist and philanthropist Elkan Naumburg....
  • Toccata (1955)
  • Concerto for Violin
    Violin

    The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
    , Violoncello, 10 Winds, and Percussion (1960)
  • Concerto for Piano No. 2 (1963)
  • Music for Orchestra (1969)
  • Music for Flute and Orchestra (1978)
  • Orchestra Piece (Music for Orchestra II) (1990), formerly called 'Kaleidoscope'
  • Music for Cello and Orchestra (1992), received Friedheim Award
  • Of Things Exactly As They Are (1997), Soprano, Baritone; SATB Chorus; texts by Robinson Jeffers
    Robinson Jeffers

    John Robinson Jeffers was an United States poet, known for his work about the central California coast. Most of Jeffers' poetry was written in classic narrative and Epic poetry form, but today he is also known for his short verse, and considered an icon of the environmentalism movement....
    , Emily Dickinson
    Emily Dickinson

    Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life....
    , Edna St. Vincent Millay
    Edna St. Vincent Millay

    Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American lyric poetry and playwright and the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She was also known for her unconventional, Bohemianism lifestyle and her many love affairs....
    , Wallace Stevens
    Wallace Stevens

    Wallace Stevens was a United States Modernism poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, and spent most of his life working for an insurance company in Connecticut....
    , and Robert Lowell
    Robert Lowell

    Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV was an American poet, considered the founder of the confessional poetry movement. He was appointed the sixth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1946....


Chamber/vocal/solo

  • Duo for Violin and Piano (1947)
  • Piano Sonata (1948)
  • Little Suite (1949) for piano
  • String Quartet
    String quartet

    A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments — usually two violins, a viola and cello — or a piece written to be performed by such a group....
     No. 1 (1949)
  • Sonata Concertante (1952) for violin and piano
  • Trio (1954) for violin, cello, and piano
  • String Quartet No. 2 (1958)
  • Fanfare (1965), for horn and two trumpets
  • String Quartet No. 3 (1966), received Pulitzer Prize
    Pulitzer Prize

    The Pulitzer Prize is an United States award regarded as the highest national honor in newspaper journalism, literary achievements and musical composition....
  • Words from Wordsworth (1966) for mixed voices a cappella
  • Flutings for Paula (1973), for flute solo (with optional percussion)
  • Fanfare II (1977), for brass ensemble
  • The Twilight Stood (1982)
  • Music for Twelve (1985)
  • For Cello Solo (1986)
  • For Violin Solo (1986)
  • Illuminations (1986) for brass ensemble
  • Five Pieces (1987), for piano solo
  • For Violin Solo II (1988)
  • Triptych (1988) for violin and cello (comprised of For Cello Solo and Two Duos for Violin and Cello)
  • Two Duos (1988) for violin and cello
  • Interlude (1989) for piano
  • Trio II (1993) for violin, cello, and piano
  • For the Left Hand (1995), for piano solo
  • Duo No. 2 for Violin and Piano (2002)
  • Interlude II (2003) for piano
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 (2003)
  • String Quartet No. 4 (2006)


Source

  • by Blair Johnston


External links

  • by Blair Johnston
  • from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
    Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

    The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or Fenway Court is a museum in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts located within walking distance of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and near the Back Bay Fens....