Daniel Felsenfeld (born January 5, 1970) is a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...

and a writer.

Biography

Felsenfeld was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, raised primarily in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

and currently resides in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

with his wife, writer Elizabeth Isadora Gold and kid August. He attended the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

where he got his undergraduate degree in

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

studying with Margaret Mayer. He did his Masters and Doctoral work at the

New England Conservatory The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on Hu ...

where he studied with Arthur Berger and

Lee Hyla Lee Hyla (August 31, 1952 – June 6, 2014) was an American classical music composer from Niagara Falls, New York. He received the Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment ...

. He is a composer and is also an author, having written three books published by Amadeus Press as well as hundreds of articles. In 2007 a "Talk of the Town" piece in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' magazine noted several writers whom Felsenfeld met at the

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowell ...

who used his last name in their novels.New Yorker article about the Felsenfeld meme
/ref> He taught at

the City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, City ...

Music

Orchestral music

*''The

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Soul Symphony'' (2008, with Larry Gold) for orchestra, chorus, rock band, and four soul singers *''Insomnia Redux; 4am'' (2005) for

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

*''Thursday Night

Overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overt ...

'' (1999) for

chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numbe ...

*''The Bridge'' (2003) for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

and chamber orchestra *''Summer and All it Brings'' (2002) solo cantata for soprano, narrator and chamber orchestra *''Busmeat: A Parable'' (1998) for orchestra *''Nicotine Sinfonietta'' (1997 for chamber orchestra *''Bad Coffee Serenade'' (1994) concerto for

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

and chamber orchestra

Opera

*''Exposure'' (2020) for two

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

and

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by Bea Goodwin *''The Last of Manhattan'' (2004) for singers and chamber ensemble, libretto by

Ernest Hilbert Ernest Hilbert (born 1970) is an American poet, critic, opera librettist, and editor. Biography Ernest Hilbert was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, and grew up in South Jersey. He graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's d ...

*''Summer and All it Brings'' (2002) for soprano, narrator,

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

and

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

, libretto by Ernest Hilbert *''Thursday Night: Suite from an Abandoned Opera'' (1999) for singers and chamber orchestra

Chamber music

*"''You.Have.No.Idea''" (2009–10) for string quartet *''All Work and No Play'' (2007) for

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

and piano *''Life Shrinks'' (2007) for piano, cello and percussion—music for dance *''Living Room Suite'' (2006) for

string trio A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. From at least the 19th century on, the term "string trio" with otherwise unspecified instrumentation normally refers to the combination violin, viola and cell ...

*''For Stephanie'' (2006) for string quartet *''First Scenes from Red Room'' (2006) for violin and piano *''From Maldoror'' (2003) for flute, oboe, piano and narrator *''I Conquered Egypt'' (2000) for piano trio *''Let Me Out'' (1999) for

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...

, cello and

*''Live ‘Til Twilight'' (1999) for cello and piano *''Fast Living'' (1999) for cello and percussion *''Cultivating Cool'' (1999) for flute, clarinet, trumpet, piano, percussion and double bass *''Smoking My Diploma'' (1998) for

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

, cello and piano *''Looking for Funny Dog'' (1998) for flute and organ *''O I LIKE the LIFE that I’m LEADING'' (1997) for flute and piano *''Something Very Serious'' (1995) for violin and piano *''Don’t Call me Sir'' (1994) for

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

and piano *''Bad Coffee Serenade'' (1994) for violin and piano

Solo music

*''Down to You Is Up'', Three Movements for solo piano (1999) *''Air That Kills'' for solo violin (2000) *''A Dirty Little Secret'' for solo piano (2003) *''Insomnia Redux; 4am'' for solo piano (2003) *''Obsession No. 1:

Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...

’s Glasses'' for solo piano (2008) *''The Cohen Variations'' for solo piano (2009) *''Hooked to the Silver Screen'' for solo viola (2011)

Vocal music

*"From Sleepless Nights" (2009) for mezzo-soprano and cello *''In My Craft and Sullen Art'' (2008) for soprano and piano *''The Poet's Dream of Herself as a Young Girl'' (2008) for mezzo-soprano and piano trio *''Fall, Leaves, Fall'' (2007) for soprano and piano *''“Aria” from Magnificat'' (2007) for soprano and piano *''To a Cabaret Dancer'' (2007) for mezzo-soprano and piano *''Dry Sandwiches'' (2007) for soprano and piano *''Lines for Winter'' (2007) for tenor and piano *''You Want a Social Life, With Friends'' (2007) for baritone and piano *''Annus Mirabilis'' (2007) for bass and piano *''True Love'' (2007) for soprano and organ *''The Bridge'' (2003) cycle of five songs for soprano and piano; inspired by the poetry of

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

and Ernest Hilbert, and ''

The Bridge of San Luis Rey ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' is American author Thornton Wilder's second novel. It was first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, and was the best-selling work of fiction that year. Premise ''The Bri ...

'' by

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' — a ...

*''New Forms of Control'' (2000) for female voices, two synthesizers, and percussion *''I May Never Get Home'' (1999) cycle of seven songs for baritone and piano *''Thank You, Goodnight'' (1999) cycle of five songs for soprano and piano *''L’Envoi'' (1999) for soprano and piano *''Sunday Night'' (1999) for soprano and piano *''Elizabeth Among the Rains'' (1997) cycle of five songs for mezzo-soprano and piano *''From the Letters of Heloise'' (1996) for soprano, clarinet, bass clarinet, percussion and strings *''I Am Saturn'' (1997) cycle of three songs for soprano and piano *''Equals'' (1996) for soprano and string quartet *''Five Songs for Five Friends'' (1995) cycle of five songs for soprano and piano

Choral music

*''Revolutions of Ruin'' (2008) for SATB chorus with soprano and baritone soloists and chamber orchestra *''Manhattan Choruses'' (2004) for SATB chorus and organ

Books

*''

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...

and the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

Tradition'', with Donna Getzinger *''

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

and

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. The music critic Donal Henahan said, "Proba ...

: Their Lives and Music'' *''

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

and the Twilight of

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

'', with Donna Getzinger *''

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

and

German Opera Opera in German is that of the German-speaking countries, which include Germany, Austria, and the historic German states that pre-date those countries. German-language opera appeared remarkably quickly after the birth of opera itself in Italy. T ...

'' *''

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...

and Music for Voices'', with Donna Getzinger *''

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

: A Listener's Guide Book'' *''

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

and the Art of

Baroque Music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Classical period after a short transiti ...

'' with Donna Getzinger *''

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed f ...

and

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

—A Listener's Guide''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Felsenfeld, Daniel 1970 births 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers American classical composers American male classical composers American opera composers Male opera composers Living people New England Conservatory alumni Writers from California University of California, Santa Barbara alumni 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians