Peter Goddard Lieberson (25 October 1946 – 23 April 2011) was an American composer of

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 ...

. His song cycles include two finalists for the

Pulitzer Prize for Music The Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of seven Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually in Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first given in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year, and this was eventually converted i ...

: ''

Rilke Songs ''Rilke Songs'' is a composition for mezzo-soprano and piano by the American composer Peter Lieberson. The work is set to poetry by the Bohemian-Austrian writer Rainer Maria Rilke. It was composed for Lieberson's wife Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, ...

'' and ''

Neruda Songs The ''Neruda Songs'' are a cycle of five songs composed for mezzo-soprano soloist and orchestra by the American composer Peter Lieberson (1946–2011) for his wife, singer Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (1954–2006). The cycle is a setting of poems by ...

''; the latter won the 2008

Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition The Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition () is an annual prize instituted by Henry Charles Grawemeyer, industrialist and entrepreneur, at the University of Louisville in 1984. The award was first given in 1985. Subsequently, the Grawemeyer Awar ...

and both were written for his wife, the soprano

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (March 1, 1954 – July 3, 2006) was an American mezzo-soprano. She was noted for her performances of both Baroque era and contemporary works. Her career path to becoming a singer was unconventional – formerly a pro ...

. His three piano concertos were each premiered by the pianist

Peter Serkin Peter Adolf Serkin (July 24, 1947 – February 1, 2020) was an American classical pianist. He won the Grammy Award for Most Promising New Classical Recording Artist in 1966, and he performed globally, known for not only "technically pristine" pl ...

, with the 1st and

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

also being Pulitzer finalists.

Early life

Peter Goddard Lieberson was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He was the son of

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...

and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

Vera Zorina Vera Zorina (January 2, 1917 – April 9, 2003), born Eva Brigitta Hartwig, was a Norwegian ballerina, theatre and film actress, and choreographer. Today, she is chiefly remembered for her films choreographed by her then-husband George Bala ...

(née Eva Brigitta Hartwig) and

Goddard Lieberson Goddard Lieberson (April 5, 1911 – May 29, 1977) was the president of Columbia Records from 1956 to 1971, and again from 1973 to 1975. He became president of the Recording Industry Association of America in 1964. He was also a composer, and ...

, president of

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. Lieberson studied

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 ...

with

Milton Babbitt Milton Byron Babbitt (May 10, 1916 – January 29, 2011) was an American composer, music theorist, mathematician, and teacher. He is particularly noted for his Serialism, serial and electronic music. Biography Babbitt was born in Philadelphia t ...

Charles Wuorinen Charles Peter Wuorinen (; June 9, 1938 – March 11, 2020) was an American composer of contemporary classical music based in New York City. He performed his works and other 20th-century music as pianist and conductor. He composed more than ...

Donald Martino Donald James Martino (May 16, 1931 – December 8, 2005) was a Pulitzer Prize winning American composer. Biography Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, Martino attended Plainfield High School. He began as a clarinetist, playing jazz for fun and p ...

, and

Martin Boykan Martin Boykan (April 12, 1931 – March 6, 2021) was an American composer known for his chamber music as well as music for larger ensembles. Biography Boykan was born in New York City. He studied composition first with Walter Piston at Harvard ...

. After completing his musical studies at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, he left New York in 1976 for

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, to continue his studies with

Chögyam Trungpa Chögyam Trungpa (Wylie transliteration, Wylie: ''Chos rgyam Drung pa''; March 5, 1939 – April 4, 1987) was a Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, the 11th ...

, a

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

Vajrayana Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

master. It was there he met and married Ellen Kearney, a fellow student of Trungpa's. At their teacher's request, the Liebersons moved from Boulder to Boston, Massachusetts, to co-direct

Shambhala Training Shambhala Training is a secular approach to meditation developed by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa and his students. It is based on what Trungpa calls Shambhala Vision, which sees enlightened society as not purely mythical, but as reali ...

, a meditation and cultural program. Lieberson attended

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

, from which he received a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

From 1984 to 1988 he taught at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He then became international director of Halifax Shambhala Centre in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

Musical career

Beginning in 1994, Lieberson devoted his time entirely to composition. He met his second wife,

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...

, in 1997, during the

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby (conductor), John Crosby, oversaw the building of the fir ...

production of his work ''Ashoka's Dream''; they married in 1999 after Lieberson and his first wife were divorced. He wrote his song cycles ''

'' and ''

'' for Hunt Lieberson. The ''Neruda Songs'', a cycle of songs set to love poems by

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

, were co-commissioned by the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

and the

Boston Symphony The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...

; the world premiere was given on 20 May 2005, by the

with

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...

conducting and Hunt Lieberson as soloist. The

performed the work in November 2005 with Hunt Lieberson as soloist and

James Levine James Lawrence Levine (; June 23, 1943 – March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March 1 ...

conducting, followed by performances with the

Cleveland Orchestra The Cleveland Orchestra, based in Cleveland, is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Sev ...

Robert Spano Robert Spano ( ; born 7 May 1961, Conneaut, Ohio) is an American conductorDavidson, Justin. "CLASSICAL MUSIC: Looking for Magic: Mixing visuals and language into a performance is just part of conductor Robert Spano's pursuit of orchestral risk" ...

conducting. Hunt Lieberson died of

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

in July 2006, aged 52.

Nonesuch __NOTOC__ Nonesuch may refer to: Plants * ''Lychnis chalcedonica'', a wildflower * ''Medicago lupulina'', a wildflower Places and structures *Nonesuch, Kentucky *Nonesuch Island, Bermuda *Nonesuch Mine, Michigan *Nonesuch Palace, mis-spelling of ...

subsequently released a commercial recording of the Boston/Levine performance of the ''Neruda Songs''. In December 2007, Lieberson won the 2008

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

for ''Neruda Songs''. The ''

'' have also been issued, in separate studio and concert performances by Hunt Lieberson, both on the Bridge Records, Inc. label. Lieberson was commissioned by the

to compose another cycle of Neruda songs, which became the ''Songs of Love and Sorrow''. When he returned to the work, it was no longer simply a memorial to Hunt Lieberson and personal farewell, but also reflected the influence of his daughters and his third wife, Rinchen Lhamo. Lieberson had three daughters from his first marriage, all of whom are members of the band

TEEN Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

. Shortly after Lorraine Hunt Lieberson died of breast cancer, Lieberson himself was diagnosed with

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

. Despite the debilitating effects of the illness and its treatment, Lieberson went on composing. Though thought to have achieved full remission, he died from complications of the disease in 2011 in

Tel Aviv, Israel Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. He had been living in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...

, at the time of his death.

Awards

* Charles Ives Scholarship *

National Institute of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqua ...

* Brandeis Creative Arts Award *

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

Selected works

Opera

*''Ashoka's Dream'' (1997)

Orchestral

*''Drala'' (1986) *''The Gesar Legend'' (1988) *''World's Turning'' (1991) *''The Five Great Elements'' (1995) *''Processional'' (1995) *''Ah'' (2002)

Concertante

*''Concerto for Four Groups of Instruments'' (1972) *Concerto for Violoncello with Accompanying Trios (1974) *

Piano Concerto A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpiec ...

(1983) *

Viola Concerto A viola concerto is a concerto contrasting a viola with another body of musical instruments such as an orchestra or chamber music ensemble. Early examples of viola concertos include Telemann's concerto in G major and several concertos by Carl St ...

(1992) *''Rhapsody'' for viola and orchestra (1994) *Horn Concerto (1998) *'' Red Garuda'' for piano and orchestra (1999) *''The Six Realms'' for cello and orchestra (2000) * Piano Concerto No. 3 (2003) *''Shing Kham'' for percussion and orchestra (2010–11, finished by

Oliver Knussen Stuart Oliver Knussen (12 June 1952 – 8 July 2018) was a British composer and conductor. Early life Oliver Knussen was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father, Stuart Knussen, was principal double bass of the London Symphony Orchestra, and a ...

and Dejan Badnjar after the composer's death)

Chamber music

*''Flute Variations'' for flute solo (1971) *''Accordance'' for 8 Instruments (1975) *''Tashi Quartet'' for clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1978) *''Lalita'', Chamber Variations (1984) *''Feast Day'' for flute (also piccolo, alto flute), oboe, cello and harpsichord (or piano) (1985) *''Ziji'' for clarinet, horn, violin, viola, cello and piano (1987) *''Raising the Gaze'' for flute (also piccolo), clarinet (also bass clarinet), violin, viola, cello, piano and percussion (1988) *''Elegy'' for violin and piano (1990) *''Wind Messengers'' for 3 flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (also bass clarinets), 2 bassoons and 2 horns (1990) *''A Little Fanfare'' for flute, trumpet, violin and harp (1991) *''A Little Fanfare (II)'' for clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano (1993) *''Variations'' for violin and piano (1993) *''Rumble'', Medley for viola, double bass and percussion (1994) *String Quartet (1994) *''Three Variations'' for cello and piano (1996) *''Free and Easy Wanderer'' (1998) *Piano Quintet (2001) *''Remembering

Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

'' for cello and piano (2009)

Piano

*''Piano Fantasy'' (1975) *''Bagatelles'' (1985) *''Fantasy Pieces'' (1989) # ''Breeze of Delight'' # ''Dragon's Thunder'' # ''Memory's Luminous Wind'' *''Scherzo No. 1'' (1989) *''Garland'' (1994) *''The Ocean that Has No West and No East'' (1997) *''Tolling Piece'' (1998)

Vocal

*''Three Songs'' for soprano and chamber ensemble (1981)John C. Levey (200
''Technique and Evolution in Peter Lieberson's Three Songs and Rikle Songs''
University of Michigan) *''King Gesar'' for narrator and chamber ensemble (1991) *''C'mon Pigs of Western Civilization Eat More Grease'' for baritone and piano (2001) *''Forgiveness'' for baritone and cello (2001) *''

'' for mezzo-soprano and piano (2001) *''

'' for

and orchestra (2005) *''The Coming of Light'' for baritone, oboe and string quartet (2009) *''Remembering

JFK John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

(An American Elegy)'' for narrator and orchestra (2010) *''Songs of Love and Sorrow'' for baritone and orchestra (2010)

Choral

*''The World in Flower'' for mezzo-soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra (2007)

References

External links

Biography at Schirmer

Neruda Songs, new album on Nonesuch

Article in Shambhala Sun Magazine

David Weininger on Lieberson & Songs of Love & Sorrow

"Peter Lieberson on Record" by Ethan Iverson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lieberson, Peter 1946 births 2011 deaths American male classical composers American classical composers Jewish American classical composers Deaths from cancer in Israel Deaths from lymphoma Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Musicians from New York City Columbia University alumni Brandeis University alumni Harvard University faculty 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers 21st-century American composers American people of English-Jewish descent American people of German descent American people of Norwegian descent 20th-century American composers