Robert Hall Lewis (April 22, 1926 – March 22, 1996) was an American composer, conductor, and trumpet player who taught at
Goucher College
Goucher College ( ') is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. It was chartered in 1885 by a conference in Baltimore led by namesake John F. Goucher and local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.https://archive.org/details/h ...
(1958 – 1995) and
Peabody Conservatory
The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869) ...
(1958 – 1995), both in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
.
His works were performed widely, by such ensembles as the American Composers Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Group for Contemporary Music, Gruppe Neue Musik, London Sinfonietta, London Symphony Orchestra, Parnassus, and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and many have been recorded commercially, often with the composer conducting.
Lewis received BM (1949), MM (1951), and PhD (1964) degrees in composition from 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 ...
in
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
, where his principal teacher was
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 ...
. He also studied composition privately during the 1950s with
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 ...
(in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
) and
Hans Erich Apostel
Hans Erich Apostel (22 January 1901 – 30 November 1972) was a German-born Austrian composer of classical music.
From 1916 to 1919 he studied piano, conducting and music theory in Karlsruhe with Alfred Lorenz. In 1920 he was Kapellmeister and R ...
(in
Vienna
en, Viennese
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), and conducting with
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 ...
.
His style is atonal and textural in orientation. His music is filled with arresting timbral combinations and projects its often densely complex rhythmic structures with the utmost clarity.
Bibliography
*Sam Di Bonaventura (2001), "Lewis, Robert Hall," ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.
*Robert Hall Lewis, "Nuances II, Symphony 2, Concerto For Chamber Orchestra," CRI CR596, liner notes.
*Robert Hall Lewis, "
usic ofRobert Hall Lewis," New World Composer Recordings NWCR 569, liner notes.
References
External links
Interview with Robert Hall Lewis March 3, 1990
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Robert Lewis
1926 births
1996 deaths
American composers
Albany Records artists