- Gardner Read
Gardner Read (January 2, 1913 in Evanston,
Illinois – November 10, 2005 in Manchester-by-the-Sea,Massachusetts ) was an Americancomposer and musical scholar.His first musical studies were in
piano and organ, and he also took lessons incounterpoint and composition at the School of Music atNorthwestern University . In 1932 he was awarded a four-year scholarship to theEastman School of Music , where he studied withBernard Rogers andHoward Hanson . In the late 1930s he also studied briefly withIldebrando Pizzetti ,Jean Sibelius andAaron Copland .After heading the composition departments of the
St. Louis Institute of Music , theKansas City Conservatory of Music and theCleveland Institute of Music , Read became Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Composition at the School of Music atBoston University . He remained in this post until his retirement in 1978.His "Symphony No. 1", op. 30 (1937, premiered by
Sir John Barbirolli ) won first prize at theNew York Philharmonic -Symphony Society's American Composers' Contest, while his second symphony (op. 45, 1943) won first prize in the Paderewski Fund Competition. Another first prize came in the 1986 National Association of Teachers of Singing Art Song Competition, won by his "Nocturnal Visions", op. 145. He wrote oneopera , "Villon", in 1967.For many years, he was the organist and choirmaster of
Church of Our Saviour, Brookline in the Longwood section of Brookline, Massachusetts. He composed extensively for the Episcopal service.His book "Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice" is a standard text at most music schools and conservatories in the United States. It is considered by many to be a place of first (and last) authority when trying to determine the proper method of notating musical performance techniques, ideas and gestures.
Bibliography
*Dodd, Mary Ann, and Jayson Rod Engquist (1996). "Gardner Read: A Bio-Bibliography". Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29384-8.
External links
* [http://home.att.net/~gardnerread/ Gardner Read official site]
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