Merton Brown (May 5, 1913,

Berlin, Vermont Berlin ( ) is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States, founded in 1763. The population was 2,849 at the 2020 census. Being the town between Barre and Montpelier, the two largest cities in the region, much of the commercial busines ...

– February 20, 2001, Charlestown, Massachusetts) was a composer who studied with

Wallingford Riegger Wallingford Constantine Riegger ( ; April 29, 1885 – April 2, 1961) was an American modernist composer and pianist, best known for his orchestral and modern dance music. He was born in Albany, Georgia, but spent most of his career in New York Ci ...

and Carl Ruggles. He often collaborated with choreographers including former Martha Graham dancer Matti Haim,

José Limón José Arcadio Limón (January 12, 1908 – December 2, 1972) was a dancer and choreographer from Mexico and who developed what is now known as 'Limón technique'. In the 1940s, he founded the José Limón Dance Company (now the Limón Dan ...

, and Thomas Hewitt.

Virgil Thomson Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclass ...

describes him as a " neo-contrapuntalist" influenced by

Carl Ruggles Carl Ruggles (born Charles Sprague Ruggles; March 11, 1876 – October 24, 1971) was an American composer, painter and teacher. His pieces employed "dissonant counterpoint", a term coined by fellow composer and musicologist Charles Seeger ...

and involved with, "rounded melodic_.html" ;"title="melodic.html" ;"title="melodic">melodic ">melodic.html" ;"title="melodic">melodic material," but not so much with the, "personalized sentiment," involved in neoromanticism.Thomson, Virgil. 2002. Virgil Thomson: A Reader: Selected Writings, 1924–1984, edited by Richard Kostelanetz, p.268. New York: Routledge. .

Works

*''Cantabile'' for string orchestra *''Concerto Breve'' for string orchestra *''Concerto Grosso'' for band *''Consort for Four Voices'' for string quartet or two pianos *''Movement'' for string quartet *''String Trio'' for violin, viola, and cello *''Chorale to Olin Stephens'' for string quintet or string orchestra *''Three Motets'' for string quartet *Trio for flute, violin, and cello *''Arioso'' for piano *''Sonata in One Movement'' for piano *Piano Sonata *''Toccata'' for piano *''Three Etudes'' for piano *''Three Songs (Rilke)'' for voice and string trio *''Two Songs'' for voice and piano *''Cat Duets'' (written for David Edgar Walther) *''Poems of James Joyce''

Sources

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20091215045806/http://thomashewittdance.org/collab.html 20th-century classical composers American male classical composers American classical composers LGBT classical composers American LGBT musicians 1913 births 2001 deaths Place of birth missing Place of death missing 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century LGBT people {{US-composer-20thC-stub