Gardner Read (January 2, 1913 in Evanston,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

– November 10, 2005 in

Manchester-by-the-Sea Manchester-by-the-Sea (also known simply as Manchester, its name prior to 1989) is a coastal town on Cape Ann, in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is known for scenic beaches and vista points. According to the 2020 population ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

) was an American

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 ...

and musical scholar. His first musical studies were in

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and organ, and she also took lessons in

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

and

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 ...

at the School of Music at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. In 1932 he was awarded a four-year scholarship to the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music (B.M ...

(B.M. and M.M.), where he studied with

Bernard Rogers Bernard Rogers (4 February 1893 – 24 May 1968) was an American composer. His best known work is ''The Passion'', an oratorio written in 1942. Life and career Rogers was born in New York City. He studied with Arthur Farwell, Ernest Bloc ...

and

Howard Hanson Howard Harold Hanson (October 28, 1896 – February 26, 1981)''The New York Times'' – Obituaries. Harold C. Schonberg. February 28, 1981 p. 1011/ref> was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American class ...

. In the late 1930s he also studied briefly with

Ildebrando Pizzetti Ildebrando Pizzetti (20 September 1880 – 13 February 1968) was an Italian composer of classical music, Musicology, musicologist, and Music criticism, music critic. Biography Pizzetti was born in Parma in 1880. He was part of the "Generation ...

, 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 ...

. After heading the composition departments of the St. Louis Institute of Music, the Kansas City Conservatory of Music and the

Cleveland Institute of Music The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) is a private music conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1920 by Ernest Bloch, it enrolls 325 students in the conservatory and approximately 1,500 students in the preparatory and continuing educatio ...

, Read became Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Composition at the School of Music at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

. He remained in this post until his retirement in 1978. His Symphony No. 1, op. 30 (1937, premiered by

Sir John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 194 ...

) won first prize at the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

-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 one

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

, ''Villon'', in 1967. His book ''

Music Notation Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

: A Manual of Modern Practice'' (1969/1979) attempted to catalogue the rapidly changing landscape of notation for contemporary western art music.

Bibliography

*Dodd, Mary Ann, and Jayson Rod Engquist (1996). ''Gardner Read: A Bio-Bibliography''. Greenwood Press. . (Contains a complete list of his compositions.) *Read, Gardner (1953, rev. 1969). ''Thesaurus of Orchestral Devices''. Pittman Publishing Corp. * -- (1964, rev. 1972). ''Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice''. Crescendo Publishing, (1964, 1972); Taplinger Publishing Company (1979, 2nd edition). * -- (1975, 1993). ''Contemporary Instrumental Techniques''. Schirmer Books, 1975. ASIN 0028721004. Revised as ''Compendium of Modern Instrumental Techniques''. Greenwood Press, 1993. * -- (1978). ''Modern Rhythmic Notation''. Indiana University Press. ASIN 0253338670 * -- (1979). ''Style and Orchestration''. Schirmer Books/MacMillan Publishing Company, 1979. * -- (1987). ''Source Book of Proposed Music Notation Reforms''. Greenwood Press. * -- (1990). ''Twentieth Century Microtonal Notation''. Greenwood Press. * -- (1998). ''Pictographic Score Notation''. Greenwood Press. * -- (2004). ''Orchestral Combinations: The Science and Art of Instrumental Tone Color''. Scarecrow Press, Inc.

External links

Gardner Read official site
June 4, 1987 {{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Gardner 20th-century classical composers American male classical composers American classical composers Bienen School of Music alumni Concert band composers Eastman School of Music alumni University of Missouri–Kansas City faculty Cleveland Institute of Music faculty American opera composers Male opera composers Musicians from Evanston, Illinois 1913 births 2005 deaths Writers from Evanston, Illinois Pupils of Bernard Rogers 20th-century American composers Classical musicians from Illinois 20th-century American male musicians Albany Records artists