Isadore Freed (March 26, 1900 – November 10, 1960) was a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
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 ...
of Belarusian birth.
Biography
Born in Brest-Litovsk, now
Brest, Belarus
Brest ( be, Брэст / Берасьце, Bieraście, ; russian: Брест, ; uk, Берестя, Berestia; lt, Brasta; pl, Brześć; yi, בריסק, Brisk), formerly Brest-Litovsk (russian: Брест-Литовск, lit=Lithuanian Br ...
, Freed's family emigrated to the United States when Freed was three years old and settled in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, where his father owned a music store. Freed began playing piano at age seven, and began composing at age nine.
Freed's formal music education was at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, where he earned a bachelor's degree at the age of 18. After graduation from Penn, Freed briefly held a teaching post at The
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on full scholarship.
Hi ...
. In 1924, he married Riva Hoffmann, a dancer in
Isadora Duncan
Angela Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877 or May 27, 1878 – September 14, 1927) was an American dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance, who performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the US. Born and raised in ...
's troupe. Following this Freed went to Berlin where he briefly studied piano with Josef Weiss, and then to Paris where he studied composition with
Ernest Bloch
Ernest Bloch (July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer. Bloch was a preeminent artist in his day, and left a lasting legacy. He is recognized as one of the greatest Swiss composers in history. As well as producing music ...
,
Nadia Boulanger
Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist.
From a ...
,
Louis Vierne
Louis Victor Jules Vierne (8 October 1870 – 2 June 1937) was a French organist and composer. As the organist of Notre-Dame de Paris from 1900 until his death, he focused on organ music, including six organ symphonies and a '' Messe solennelle ...
and
Vincent d'Indy
Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the Par ...
. He also studied piano with
Józef Hofmann
Josef Casimir Hofmann (originally Józef Kazimierz Hofmann; January 20, 1876February 16, 1957) was a Polish-American pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor.
Biography
Josef Hofmann was born in Podgórze (a district of Kraków), in A ...
and George Bayle, and organ with Rollo Maitland.
Freed returned to the United States in 1934, and shortly after he was employed by the composition department at
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...
from the mid-1930s until the mid-1940s, but sources disagree as to the dates of his appointment. In 1944, Freed was named head of the composition department at the Hartt School of Music (now known simply as
The Hartt School
The Hartt School is the comprehensive performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford located in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States, that offers degree programs in music, dance, and theatre. Founded in 1920 by Julius Hartt and ...
), where he taught in various capacities until his death in 1960. In 1951 he was also hired as Harmony instructor at the Hebrew Union School of Sacred Music. He also served as a radio commentator for performances of the
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscription ...
, and edited a number of scores in conjunction with
Lazare Saminsky
Lazare Saminsky, born Lazar Semyonovich Saminsky (russian: Лазарь (Элиэзер) Семенович Саминский; Valehotsulove (now Dolynske), near Odessa, 27 October 1882 O.S. / 8 November N.S. – Port Chester, New York, 30 Jun ...
.
Freed died in
Rockville Centre, New York
Rockville Centre, commonly abbreviated as RVC, is an incorporated village located in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 24,023 at the 2010 census.
Histo ...
on November 10, 1960.
Freed's work
Freed's primary contribution to scholarly discourse is his book, ''Harmonizing the Jewish Modes'', a theoretical treatise discussing Jewish sacred music in the context of Western European music theory, particularly the synagogue mode and its lack of a strong tonic-dominant relationship.
Freed was also active as a synagogue musician, acting as organist and choirmaster at
Temple Keneseth Israel in Philadelphia. His work as a synagogue musician led him to compose Jewish liturgical works, beginning with his ''Sacred Service for Shabbat Morning'', published in 1939. Many feel that this is his most enduring musical work.
In 1946, he was commissioned by the Julius Hartt Foundation to write an opera, ''The Princess and the Vagabond'' which was premiered at the Hartt School two years later. In 1944 he received prizes for two works: ''Triptych'' for violin, viola, violoncello and piano, and ''Postscripts'', a choral work which won the Eurydice Choral Prize. His ''Rhapsody for Trombone and Orchestra'', received a radio broadcast premiere in New York in 1951.
After the composer's death, the National Jewish Music Council published a brief biography of Freed, ''A Jewish Composer by Choice: Isadore Freed, His Life and Work'', which contains reminiscences of Freed's life and works by friends and colleagues including
Pierre Monteux
Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in ...
, who programmed Freed's ''Jeux de Timbres'' for concerts in San Francisco and Amsterdam in 1937, the same year in which Freed became the first American composer to be guest conductor for the
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Symphony performed weekly radio concert broadcasts with Tosca ...
.
Freed was both a secular and sacred composer with deep interest in Jewish liturgical music as well as the promotion of contemporary secular music, being a co-founder of the Philadelphia Society for Contemporary Music and the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra and Composers' Laboratory, the latter of which was superseded by the
WPA
WPA may refer to:
Computing
*Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard
*Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing
* Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada
* Windows Performance An ...
Music Project Composers' Forum Laboratory.
References
''Grove Music Online.'' Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Ewen, David. ''American Composers Today : A Biographical and Critical Guide.'' New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1949.
Freed, Isadore. ''Harmonizing the Jewish Modes.'' New York: Sacred Music Press of the Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion, 1958.
———. ''Triptych : For Violin, Viola, 'Cello and Piano.'' New York: G. Schirmer, 1945.
———. ''Jeux De Timbres : Suite Symphonique.'' Paris; New York: M. Eschig; Associated Music Publishers, 1934.
Ho, Allan Benedict and Dmitry Feofanov. ''Biographical Dictionary of Russian/Soviet Composers.'' New York: Greenwood Press, 1989.
National Jewish Music Council and Abraham Wolf Binder. ''A Jewish Composer by Choice: Isadore Freed, His Life and Work : A Program Handbook.'' New York: National Jewish Music Council, sponsored by the National Jewish Welfare Board, 1961.
Randel, Don Michael. ''The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music.'' Harvard University Press Reference Library. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1996.
Slonimsky, Nicolas. ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians.'' Centennial ed. New York: Schirmer Books, 2001.
External links
Jewish Music Resource Center, Thesaurus of Jewish Music: Isadore Freed.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freed, Isadore
Belarusian composers
1900 births
1960 deaths
Belarusian Jews
People from Brest, Belarus
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States
American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent
University of Pennsylvania alumni
Curtis Institute of Music faculty
Temple University faculty
University of Hartford Hartt School faculty
20th-century composers