- John Vincent (composer)
John Vincent (
17 May 1902 Birmingham, AL -21 Jan 1977 Santa Monica, CA ) was an Americancomposer ,conductor , andmusic educator . He studied at theNew England Conservatory of Music underFrederick Converse andGeorge Chadwick graduating with a diploma in 1927. He continued his studies atGeorge Peabody College where he earned a bachelors and a masters degree followed by doctoral studies atHarvard University from 1933–1935. While at Harvard he studied underWalter Piston and he won the John Knowles Paine Traveling Fellowship for two years of study withNadia Boulanger . He transfered toCornell University earning his PhD in 1942. He was head of the music department atWestern Kentucky University from 1937–1945 andSchoenberg ’s successor as professor of composition atUCLA , a position he held from 1946–1969.As a composer Vincent's music is known for its rhythmic vitality and lyricism. ALthough his music is essentially classical in form it is distinctly individual. The free tonality of his work makes use of what he calls ‘paratonality’: the predominance of a diatonic element in a polytonal or atonal passage. Vincent wrote numerous orchestral works, chamber music pieces, art songs, and choral works. He also wrote one
ballet , "3 Jacks" (1942), afilm score , "Red Cross" (1948), and anopera , "Primeval Void" (1969).In 1951 his book "The Diatonic Modes in Modern Music" was published. He also conducted
orchestras throughout the USA and South America, and he was a director of theHuntington Hartford Foundation from 1952–1965.ources
*W. Thomas Marrocco. The "
New Grove Dictionary of Opera ", edited by Stanley Sadie (1992). ISBN 0-333-73432-7 and ISBN 1-56159-228-5
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