Ron Nelson

Ron Nelson is a composer of both classical and popular music and a retired music academic.

He was born in city|Joliet|Illinois, on December 14, 1929. After earning bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York, he went to Paris on a Fulbright Scholarship, where he studied at the Ecole Normale de Musique and the Paris Conservatory.

In 1956, Nelson joined the faculty of Brown University in city|Providence|Rhode Island, where he served as chairman of the music department from 1963 to 1973, retiring in 1993. Nelson's works for orchestra, band, and chorus have been widely performed.

Nelson was awarded the Acuff Chair of Excellence in the Creative Arts in 1991, the first musician to hold the chair. His "Passacaglia (Homage on B-A-C-H)" was the first piece to win all three major wind band composition prizes during one period—the National Band Association Prize, the American Bandmasters Association Ostwald Prize, and the Sudler International Prize. He was awarded the Medal of Honor by the John Philip Sousa Foundation in 1994.

Conductor Leonard Slatkin may have described Ron Nelson best: "Nelson is the quintessential American composer. He has the ability to move between conservative and newer styles with ease. The fact that he's a little hard to categorize is what makes him interesting."

Selected Works

Orchestral Works

* 1955 "Savannah River Holiday"
* 1960 "Aspen Jubilee"
* 1961 "Toccata for Orchestra"
* 1969 "Trilogy: JFK-MLK-RFK" for orchestra and tape
* 1976 "Five Pieces after Paintings by Andrew Wyeth"
*# Winter 1946
*# Young America
*# Christina's World
*# The Drifter
*# The Patriot

Works for Wind Ensemble

* 1958 "Mayflower Overture"
* 1969 "Rocky Point Holiday"
* 1982 "Fanfare for a Celebration"
* 1982 "Medieval Suite"
*#Homage to Leonin
*#Homage to Perotin
*#Homage to Machaut
* 1985 "Te Deum Laudamus" for chorus (SATB) and wind ensemble
* 1988 "Danza Capriccio" for solo alto saxophone and wind ensemble
* 1989 "Morning Alleluias"
* 1992 "Passacaglia (Homage on B-A-C-H)"
* 1994 "Epiphanies - Fanfares and Chorales"
* 1994 "Sonoran Desert Holiday"
* 1995 "Courtly Airs and Dances"
*# Intrada
*# Basse Dance
*# Pavane
*# Saltarello
*# Sarabande
*# Allemande
* 1999 "Fanfare for the new Millennium" for symphonic band and two antiphonal brass choirs
* 2006 "Pastorale: Autumn Rune"

Stage works

* 1954 "Dance in Ruins" Ballet
* 1955-1956 "The Birthday of the Infanta" Opera for Chamber Orchestra
* 1981 "Hamaguchi" Opera for Chamber Ensemble

Chamber Music

* 1982 "Kristen's Song" for Violin, Flute, and Organ
* 1983 "And the Moon Rose Golden" for Cello and Piano

Choral Music

* 1958 "Three Mountain Ballads" for women's chorus, harp, and flute
*# He's Gone Away
*# Will He Remember?
*# Barbara Allen
* 1958 "Choral Fanfare for Easter" for mixed chorus and narrator
* 1960 "Fanfare for a Festival" for mixed chorus, brass and timpani
* 1963 "Triumphal Te Deum" for double chorus, brass, organ, and percussion
* 1964 "Oratorio: What is Man?" in three movements, for narrator, soprano solo and baritone solo, mixed chorus, and orchestra
* 1969 "Alleluia, July 20, 1969" for mixed chorus
* 1972 "Prayer of Emperor of China on the Altar of Heaven, December 21, 1539" for mixed chorus and ensemble
* 1981 "Mass of Saint LaSalle" for mixed chorus, organ, mallet instruments, pianos, and percussion
*# Kyrie
*# Gloria
*# Sanctus
*# Agnus Dei
* 1983 "Three Settings of the Moon" for women's chorus (SA), piano, marimba, and glockenspiel
*# The Moon Does Not Sleep
*# Autumn Lullaby
*# Ask the Moon
* 2001 "Proclaim this Day for Music" for mixed chorus, brass, and percussion

References

* cite web
url= http://www.marineband.usmc.mil/learning_tools/hall_of_composers/nelson.htm
accessdate= 2007-11-16
title= Ron Nelson
work= Hall of Composers
publisher= United States Marine Band

* cite web
url= http://ronnelson.info/
accessdate= 2007-11-16
title= Ron Nelson: composer and conductor