Ralph Shapey (March 12, 1921 – June 13, 2002) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by 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...
and
conductorConducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors.-Nomenclature:...
. He is well-known for his work as a composition professor at the
University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private, coeducational research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by oil magnate and benefactor John D...
, where he founded and directed the Contemporary Chamber Players. Shapey was a
MacArthur FellowThe MacArthur Fellows Program or MacArthur Fellowship is an award given by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation each year to typically 20 to 40 United States citizens or residents, of any age and working in any field, who "show exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced...
in 1982.
Although Shapey's style is characterized by angularity, irony, and technical rigor, it eschews the
pointillismPunctualism is a style of musical composition prevalent in Europe between 1949 and 1955 "whose structures are predominantly effected from tone to tone, without superordinate formal conceptions coming to bear"...
, anti-emotionalism, and detached austerity of much
twelve-toneTwelve-tone technique is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg...
music. His work's insistence instead on sweeping gesture, frenetic passion, rhythmic vitality, lyrical melody, and dramatic arc recall
RomanticismRomanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution...
. Shapey was dubbed by critics Leonard Meyer and Bernard Jacobson as a "radical traditionalist," which pleased him immensely -- he held a deep respect for the masters of the past, whom he regarded as his finest teachers.
The French-American composer
Edgard VarèseEdgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
was among Shapey's most important influences. Both composers shared a fascination with unusual sonorities,
counterpointIn music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent. It has been most commonly identified in Western music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
masses, and the outer extremes of
pitch spaceIn music theory, pitch spaces model relationships between pitches. These models typically use distance to model the degree of relatedness, with closely related pitches placed near one another, and less closely related pitches placed farther apart. Depending on the complexity of the relationships...
. The coordination of static "sound blocks" in Shapey's music also reminds one of another great French composer,
Olivier MessiaenOlivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11 and numbered Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré among his teachers. He was appointed organist at the church of La Trinité in Paris in 1931, a...
, though Shapey reportedly found Messiaen's music saccharine and maudlin. Shapey also studied with
Stefan WolpeStefan Wolpe was a German-born composer.Wolpe was born in Berlin. He attended the Berlin Conservatory from the age of fourteen, attended the Berlin Hochschule für Musik 1920-1921. He studied composition under Franz Schreker and was also a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni...
.
Although comparisons are useful, Shapey's compositional voice is undoubtedly personal and distinctive. Many listeners would call his music "
atonalAtonal may refer to:*AtonalityAtonal or Atonaltzin may refer to:*Atonal I*Atonal II...
," but Shapey himself denied the label. He considered himself a
tonalTonal may refer to:* Tonal , a concept appearing in the belief systems and traditions of Mesoamerican cultures, involving a spiritual link between a person and an animal...
composer, and indeed his work, though couched in a highly dissonant harmonic idiom rich in
interval classIn musical set theory, an interval class , short for unordered pitch-class interval, is the shortest distance in pitch class space between two unordered pitch classes...
es 1 and 6, does adhere to certain organizational features of tonal music, including pitch hierarchy and
object permanenceObject permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched. Jean Piaget argued that object permanence is one of an infant's most important accomplishments, as without this concept, objects would have no separate, permanent existence...
.
In 1992 the
Pulitzer Prize for MusicThe 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...
jury, which that year consisted of
George PerleGeorge Perle was a composer and music theorist. He was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. A student of Ernst Krenek, Perle composed with a technique of his own devising called "twelve-tone tonality," which is different from, but related to, twelve-tone technique...
,
Roger ReynoldsRoger Reynolds is an American composer born July 18, 1934 in Detroit, Michigan. He is a professor at the University of California at San Diego. He received an undergraduate degree in engineering physics from the University of Michigan and was a founding member ONCE Group with Robert Ashley...
, and
Harvey SollbergerHarvey Sollberger is an American composer, flutist, and conductor specializing in contemporary classical music. For many years he was considered the preeminent flutist working in this genre....
, selected Shapey's "Concerto Fantastique" for the award. However, the Pulitzer Board rejected that decision and choose to give the prize to the jury's second choice,
Wayne PetersonWayne Peterson is a musical composer, pianist, and educator.Peterson earned B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Minnesota...
. The music jury responded with a public statement stating that they had not been consulted in that decision and that the Board was not professionally qualified to make such a decision. The Board responded that the "Pulitzers are enhanced by having, in addition to the professional's point of view, the layman's or consumer's point of view," and they did not rescind their decision.
http://www.american.edu/heintze/Pul1.htm
Shapey created a body of over 200 works, many of which have been published by
Presser. Presser also offers his textbook
A Basic Course in Music Composition, written after over fifty years of teaching the subject.
Recordings of Shapey's music are available on the CRI, Opus One, and
New World labels. Shapey's works have been catologued by Dr. Patrick D. Finley in
A Catalogue of the Works of Ralph Shapey, published by
Pendragon Press
His students include
Gerald LevinsonGerald Levinson is an American composer of contemporary classical music.-Life:At university, he studied with George Crumb, Richard Wernick, and George Rochberg. After college, Levinson went to study composition with Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatory...
,
Robert CarlRobert Carl is an American composer who currently resides in Hartford, Connecticut, where he is chair of the composition department at the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford.Music...
, Gordon Marsh, Michael Eckert, Lawrence Fritts, James Anthony Walker, Frank Retzel, Jorge Liderman, Jonathan Elliott, Deborah Drattell,
Ursula MamlokUrsula Mamlok is a German-born, American composer and teacher.-Education and influences:Mamlok was born in Berlin, Germany and studied piano and composition with Professor Gustav Ernest and Emily Weissgerber until her family fled Nazi Germany following the nationwide pogrom in 1938...
,
Shulamit RanShulamit Ran is an Israeli-American composer. She moved from Israel to New York at 14, as a scholarship student at the Mannes College of Music. Her Symphony won her the Pulitzer Prize...
, Terry Winter Owens, and a very broad and exceptional list of others.
The composer
Robert BlackNote: Not to be confused with the saxophonist or the double-bass player named Robert Black.Robert Black was an American conductor, pianist and composer...
was particularly influenced by him, and as a conductor he also premiered Shapey's
Three for Six.
Statement by Ralph Shapey about his work
“Radical traditionalist” is what I’ve been called. My music combines two fundamentally contradictory impulses–-radical language and romantic sensibility. The melodies are disjunct and dissonant; they contain "atonal" harmonies and extremes in register, dynamics, and textural contrast. Yet the musical structures are grandly formed and run the gamut of dramatic gestures. Like the Romantics, I conceive of art in a deeply spiritual way. A great work of art transcends the immediate moment into a world of infinity.
My credo is: 1) The music must speak for itself. 2) Great art is a miracle. 3) What the mind can conceive will be done.
External links