- Francis Thorne
Francis Thorne (b. Bay Shore,
New York ,June 23 ,1922 ) is an American composer ofcontemporary classical music and grandson of the writerGustav Kobbé . His father was a ragtime pianist and his grandfather aWagner critic. He was a student ofPaul Hindemith atYale University ,cite web|date=April 14 2002|title=Program Notes|publisher=American Composers Orchestra|url=http://www.americancomposers.org/rel20020414.htm|accessdate=2008-05-18] before entering theU.S. Navy in 1942 where he served duringWorld War II . After the war, he pursued a career onWall Street and later, afterDuke Ellington heard him play the piano and arranged an engagement for him at a New York jazz club, as a jazz pianist. From 1959 to 1961 he studied composition in Florence with David Diamond. Diamond encouraged him to incorporate his jazz sensitivities into his symphonic compositions. In December 1961, his firstopera , "Fortuna", premiered inNew York City . In 1964Eugene Ormandy and thePhiladelphia Orchestra premiered his "Elegy for Orchestra". In 1968 he was inducted into theAmerican Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters . Thorne spent much of his career championing the works of emerging composers. He served as director of the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation and the Thorne Music Foundation from 1965–1974, organizations which commission new works by young composers. In 1977 he founded theAmerican Composers Orchestra withDennis Russell Davies . The orchestra focuses on performing new compositions by American composers.Many of his over 100 compositions are characterized by a distinct jazz flavor. He is also one of the first classical composers to write for the
electric guitar and electric bass guitar ("Sonar plexus", 1968; "Liebesrock", 1968–9). A discussion of his works appears in R. Tomaro: "Contemporary Compositional Techniques for the Electric Guitar in United States Concert Music".Thorne lives in
Manhattan . The Francis Thorne Papers (1956-2004) are held by theNew York Public Library . [ [http://www.nypl.org/research/manuscripts/music/musthorn.xml New York Public Library] ]External links
* [http://www.sai-national.org/phil/composers/fthorne.html Francis Thorne page]
* [http://www.nypl.org/research/manuscripts/music/musthorn.xml Francis Thorne Papers]References
ources
*Robert Tomaro. 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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