Robert Moffat (variously "Moffatt" and "Moffett") Palmer (b. June 2, 1915, Syracuse, New York; d. July 3, 2010, Ithaca, New York) was an American composer,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and educator. He composed more than 90 works,''Ithaca Journal'' obituary, July 5–7, 2010 including two symphonies, ''Nabuchodonosor'' (an oratorio), a piano concerto, four string quartets, three piano sonatas and numerous works for chamber ensembles.Austin, 1986, p. 465

Biography

Education

Born in Syracuse, New York, Palmer began, at age 12, piano studies with his mother.Ewen, p. 488 He attended Syracuse's Central High School, undertaking pre-college studies in piano and additional study of violin and music theory at the Syracuse Music School Settlement. Awarded a piano 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 ...

, he soon became a composition major. At Eastman, he studied with

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 ...

and Bernard Rogers, earning bachelor's (1938) and master's (1940) degrees in composition. He undertook additional studies with

Quincy Porter William Quincy Porter (February 7, 1897 – November 12, 1966) was an American composer and teacher of classical music. Biography Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he went to Yale University where his teachers included Horatio Parker and David St ...

Roy Harris Roy Ellsworth Harris (February 12, 1898 – October 1, 1979) was an American composer. He wrote music on American subjects, and is best known for his Symphony No. 3. Life Harris was born in Chandler, Oklahoma on February 12, 1898. His ancestr ...

and, at the first composition class at the

Tanglewood Music Center The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops. The center operates as a part of the Tanglew ...

in 1940, with

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 ...

.Salvatore, p. 22

Early career

Palmer came to national attention in an article titled "Robert Palmer and Charles Mills" published in 1943 by critic Paul Rosenfeld in ''Modern Music''.Rosenfeld, pp. 264-265 Rosenfeld hails two "new, impressive, distinctive works" by Palmer," noting "an impression of robustness and maturity." In the Concerto for Small Orchestra (1940), Rosenfeld discerns a "quite original opening movement, (whose) clash of melodies in contrary motion was magnificent and fierce," signaling "a new composer to be watched with happy expectation." Further national attention came with the publication in 1948 by

of an article in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' titled "The New 'School' of American Composers." Copland's article singles out Palmer as one of seven composers "representative of some of the best we have to offer the new generation," adding that "Palmer happens to be one of my own particular enthusiasms."Copland In Palmer's first two string quartets, Copland discerns "separate movements of true originality and depth of feeling," observing that "always his music has urgency—it seems to come from some inner need for expression." Early in his career, Palmer taught music theory, composition and piano at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

from 1940 until 1943.

Later career

From 1943 until his retirement in 1980, Palmer served as a member of the faculty at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

, where he was appointed Given Foundation Professor of Music in 1976. According to Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steven Stucky, Chair of the Board of Directors of the

American Music Center New Music USA is a new music organization formed by the merging of the American Music Center with Meet The Composer on November 8, 2011. The new organization retains the granting programs of the two former organizations as well as two media progr ...

and a former Palmer student, "(Palmer) founded the doctoral program in music composition at Cornell University, which was the first in the United States (and quite possibly the world).""Remembering Robert Moffat Palmer (1915-2010)"
Writing in ''Clavier'' magazine in 1989, pianist Ramon Salvatore observed that " almer'sinfluence on two generations of Cornell composers has been enormous; many of his former students now hold university and college professorships throughout the United States" Additionally, Palmer served as visiting composer at

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

in 1954 and as the George A. Miller Professor of Composition at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

in 1955-56. Many of Palmer's most distinctive works date from his Cornell period. Steven Stucky remarks that Palmer "once seemed poised to become a leading national figure. A steady stream of first-rate pieces attracted top performers in concert and on recordings: the Second Piano Sonata (1942; 1948), championed by John Kirkpatrick; ''Toccata Ostinato'' (1945), a

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pi ...

in 13/8 written for pianist

William Kapell William Kapell (September 20, 1922October 29, 1953) was an American pianist and recording artist, killed at the age of 31 in the crash of a commercial airliner returning from a concert tour in Australia. Biography William Kapell was born in New ...

; the first Piano Quartet (1947); the Chamber Concerto No. 1 (1949); the Quintet for Clarinet, Piano, and Strings (1952). Most influential of these was the mighty Piano Quartet, which used to loom large as one of the major accomplishments of American chamber music." Echoing this assessment, Robert Evett, in a review written in 1970 for the Washington ''Evening Star'' of Palmer's first Piano Quartet (1947), found it "one of the most engrossing works of a superb American composer. ... At its premiere, it was a triumph. It was a triumph again last night." Palmer's publishers include Elkan-Vogel, Peer International, C. F. Peters Corporation, G. Schirmer Inc., Valley Music Press, and Alphonse Leduc-Robert King, Inc. Palmer's students include Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Steven Stucky and Christopher Rouse and composers

Paul Chihara Paul Seiko Chihara (born July 9, 1938) is an American composer. Life and career Chihara was born in Seattle, Washington in 1938. A Japanese American, he spent three years of his childhood with his family in an internment camp in Minidoka, Idah ...

, Bernhard Heiden,

Brian Israel Brian Israel (February 5, 1951 - May 7, 1986), was an American composer, pianist, and conductor. He was a faculty member of the Syracuse University School of Music from 1975 until his death, at age 35, from leukemia. He left a large number of symph ...

, Ben Johnston,

David Conte David Conte (born 1955) is an American composer who has written over 150 works published by E.C. Schirmer (a division of ECS Publishing), including six operas, a musical, works for chorus, solo voice, orchestra, chamber music, organ, piano, guita ...

, John S. Hilliard,

Leonard Lehrman Leonard Jordan Lehrman is an American composer who was born in Kansas, on August 20, 1949, and grew up in Roslyn, New York. Since August 3, 1999, he has resided in Valley Stream, New York. His teachers included Lenore Anhalt, Elie Siegmeister, O ...

Daniel Dorff Daniel Dorff (born March 7, 1956) is an American classical composer. Biography and career Dorff was born in New Rochelle, New York, and grew up in Roslyn, New York, graduating from Roslyn High School.A Compact Disc Recording of Three Works f ...

, Jerry Amaldev, James Marra, Harris Lindenfeld, and Jack Gallagher.

Style and reception

Elliott Carter, writing for ''Modern Music'' about an early-1940s League of Composers performance of Palmer's String Quartet No. 1 (1939), reported that "Palmer, a hitherto unheard-from composer, was the big surprise of the whole concert series. His music is firm and definite; its dissonance resembles that of younger Europeans whom we never hear in this country... His quartet showed an impressive seriousness and great musicality." William Austin, writing in 1956 in ''

The Musical Quarterly ''The Musical Quarterly'' is the oldest academic journal on music in America. Originally established in 1915 by Oscar Sonneck, the journal was edited by Sonneck until his death in 1928. Sonneck was succeeded by a number of editors, including Ca ...

,'' observes that "through recordings and published scores... almer'sfairly large but scattered audience can now confirm the predictions of Paul Rosenfeld and

that Palmer would rank among the leading musical representatives of his generation." Austin notes "the works

almer Almer is a village in Dorset, England. Almer is located on the A31 road near Winterborne Zelston, Huish Manor, Sturminster Marshall and opposite the Drax estate. The main features of the village are Almer Manor, Almer Parish church and the old ...

creates are taut and sturdy" and cites as characteristic Palmer's use of asymmetrical rhythm and meter, the

octatonic scale An octatonic scale is any eight- note musical scale. However, the term most often refers to the symmetric scale composed of alternating whole and half steps, as shown at right. In classical theory (in contrast to jazz theory), this symmetric ...

, "imitative counterpoint" and "expansion of phrases by varied repetition." Austin holds that "Palmer sings with a kind of devout serenity" of the "grim, divided, disappointed world of the 1940s and '50s, doggedly refusing to despair, no matter how often its hopes for liberty, equality and fraternity must be deferred. . . His best music ranks with the best means available for all who share this outlook."Austin, "The Music of Robert Palmer", p. 48 The previous year (1955), Herbert Livingston described the premiere performance of Palmer's String Quartet No. 3 at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

as "the most recent addition to the distinguished series of works commissioned by the University for the Stanley Quartet (others cited by Livingston included quartets and quintets by

Walter Piston Walter Hamor Piston, Jr. (January 20, 1894 – November 12, 1976), was an American composer of classical music, music theorist, and professor of music at Harvard University. Life Piston was born in Rockland, Maine at 15 Ocean Street to Walter Ha ...

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 ...

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

, and Heitor Villa-Lobos). It is both a significant contribution to the repertory of contemporary American chamber music and a work that reveals new developments in the composer's style." Livingston adds, "every refinement of its complex structure contributes positively to the expressiveness of the music." The premiere performance in 1963 of Palmer's

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...

, ''Nabuchodonosor,'' lasting 40 minutes, was greeted by ''

's'' William C. Holmes as "a culminating point in Robert Palmer's more than twenty-five years as an active composer... It is his largest and most ambitiously conceived work to date. It is a forceful, rough-hewn cry of defiance against tyranny in all forms and, as such, cannot help but move anyone who shares Palmer's views on this subject." Holmes takes note of "the exciting forcefulness that carries one with it to the climax" and of the coda that follows—intended, says Holmes, "to convey a serene greeting of peace to mankind." Arthur Cohn, surveying four works by Palmer in ''The Literature of Chamber Music'' (1997), detects "brilliant contrapuntalism" in Palmer's "vitally communicative music." Cohn notes that "in Palmer's hands repetition is always paralleled by change" and finds "positive tonalism, broadened and colored by contemporary expansion" in the music of "this American composer of virile voice." In a eulogy written in 2010 for the

, AMC Chair of the Board of Directors and former Palmer student Steven Stucky noted that "Austin captures the grave lyricism that makes Palmer memorable, but no less important was his lively rhythmic language, which owed a debt in equal parts to American vernacular music, jazz, and Renaissance polyphony." Stucky concludes that "Palmer's music is ripe for rediscovery by a wider public, and it lives on in those who knew him, and those who celebrate him now for a life well and generously lived." According to Daniel Aioi, Palmer's "body of work resides at Cornell in the Sidney Cox Library of Music and Dance and in the University Archives in Olin Library."

Commissioned works

* Concerto for Small Orchestra (1940); commissioned by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

and the League of Composers * Second String Quartet (1943; rev. 1947); commissioned by the

Sergei Koussevitzky Sergei Alexandrovich KoussevitzkyKoussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling "Serge", using it in his signature. (SeThe Koussevit ...

Music Foundation * Variations, Chorale and Fugue for orchestra (1947; rev. 1954); commissioned by

Dimitri Mitropoulos Dimitri Mitropoulos ( el, Δημήτρης Μητρόπουλος; The dates 18 February 1896 and 1 March 1896 both appear in the literature. Many of Mitropoulos's early interviews and program notes gave 18 February. In his later interviews, howe ...

and the

Minneapolis Symphony The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. History Em ...

* Quintet for Piano and Strings (1950); commissioned by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation * Quintet for Clarinet, Piano and Strings (1952; rev. 1953); commissioned by the Quincy, Illinois Chamber Music Society * String Quartet No. 3 (1954); commissioned by the Stanley Foundation of the

* ''Of Night and the Sea'' (1956); commissioned by the Paul Fromm Music Foundation * ''Memorial Music'' (1960); commissioned by the

National Association of Educational Broadcasters The National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB) was a US organization of broadcasters with aims to share or coordinate educational programmes. It was founded as the Association of college and University Broadcasting Stations (ACUBS) i ...

* ''Centennial Overture'' (1965); commissioned by

and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts * Quartet No. 2 for Piano and Strings (1974); commissioned by the Galzio Quartet, Caracas, Venezuela * Piano Sonata No. 3 (1979); commissioned by Ramon Salvatore * Cello Sonata No. 2 (1983); commissioned by the

Hans Kindler Johannes Hendrikus Philip Kindler (January 8, 1892 – August 30, 1949) was a Dutch American cellist and conductor who founded the National Symphony Orchestra. He was married to painter Alice Kindler and Persis Chase Myers. Kindler as ...

Foundation, Washington, DC

Notable performances

* Piano Sonata No. 1 (1938) premiered March 26, 1940 in New York by pianist John Kirkpatrick * Concerto for Small Orchestra (1940) premiered in 1941 by the

Orchestra * ''Toccata Ostinato'' (1944) for piano commissioned, premiered,Austin, "The Music of Robert Palmer", p. 49 dedicated to and recordedMP3 download at ''Rhapsody.com.'' Retrieved 2011-06-08
/ref> by

* Quartet for Piano and Strings (1947) Premiered in 1947 by John Kirkpatrick, pianist, and members of the Walden Quartet * Quintet for Piano and Strings (1950) premiered in 1951 at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

by the

Juilliard String Quartet The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York by William Schuman. Since its inception, it has been the quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School. It has received numerous ...

and pianist

Erich Itor Kahn Erich Itor Kahn (23 July 1905 - 5 March 1956) was a German composer of Jewish descent, who emigrated to the United States during the years of National Socialism. Biography He was born in Rimbach in the Odenwald, the son of Leopold Kahn, a mathema ...

* String Quartet No. 3 (1954) premiered July 12, 1955 by the Stanley Quartet at the

* ''Centennial Overture'' (1965) premiered March 12, 1965 at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and broadcast nationally by the

New York Philharmonic Orchestra 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 ...

conducted by George Cleve.Ewen, p. 487 * ''Organon II'' (1975), for string orchestra, premiered April 4, 1975 by the

Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is an American orchestra based in the city of Rochester, New York. Its primary concert venue is the Eastman Theatre at the Eastman School of Music. History George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Compa ...

conducted by

David Zinman David Zinman (born July 9, 1936, in Brooklyn, NY) is an American conductor and violinist. Education After violin studies at Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota, earning his M.A. in 1963. H ...

Awards

* National Academy of Arts and Letters, 1946 * Guggenheim Fellowship, 1952Ewen, p. 489 * Guggenheim Fellowship, 1960 * Fulbright Grant, 1960 *

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

grant, 1980

Compositions

Orchestral

* Poem for violin and chamber orchestra (1938) * Concerto for Small Orchestra (1940) * ''K 19,'' symphonic elegy for Thomas Wolfe * Variations, Chorale and Fugue (1947; rev. 1954) * Chamber Concerto for violin, oboe and string orchestra (1949) * Symphony No. 1 (1953) * ''Memorial Music'' (1960) * ''Centennial Overture'' (1965) * Symphony No. 2 (1966) * Piano Concerto (1971) * Symphonia concertante for nine instruments (1972) * ''Organon II'' for string orchestra (1975) * Concerto for two pianos, two percussion, strings and brass (1984)

Wind Ensemble

* ''Choric Song and Toccata'' (1968)

Choral

* ''Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight'' for chorus and orchestra (1948) * ''Slow, Slow, Fresh Fount'' for SATB chorus (1953; rev. 1959) * ''The Trojan Women'' for women's chorus, winds and percussion (1955) * ''And in That Day'' for chorus (1963) * ''Nabuchodonosor'' for tenor and bass soloists, TTBB chorus, winds, percussion, and two pianos (1964) * ''Portents of Aquarius'' for narrator, SATB chorus and organ (1975)

Chamber Ensemble

* String Quartet No. 1 (1939) * Concerto for five instruments (1943) * String Quartet No. 2 (1943; rev. 1947) * Piano Quartet No. 1 (1947) * Piano Quintet (1950) * Sonata for viola and piano (1951) * Quintet for clarinet, string trio, and piano (1952; rev. 1953) * String Quartet No. 3 (1954) * Sonata for violin and piano (1956) * Piano Trio (1958) * String Quartet No. 4 (1960) * ''Organon I'' for flute and clarinet (1962) * Sonata for trumpet and piano (1972) * Piano Quartet No. 2 (1974) * ''Organon II'' for violin and viola (1975) * Sonata No. 1 for cello and piano (1978) * Sonata No. 2 for cello and piano (1983)

Vocal

* Two Songs (Walt Whitman) for voice and piano (1940) * ' 'Kaw River' ' (Will Gibson) for soprano and piano (1943) * ''Carmina Amoris'' for soprano, clarinet, violin and piano (1951) * ''Of Night and the Sea,'' chamber cantata for soprano and bass soloists and orchestra (1956)

Keyboard

* Piano Sonata No. 1 (1938; rev. 1946) * Three Preludes for piano (1941) * Piano Sonata No. 2 (1942; rev. 1948) * Sonata for two pianos (1944) * ''Toccata Ostinato'' for piano (1944) * Sonata for piano four hands (1952) * ''Evening Music'' for piano (1956) * Seven Epigrams for piano (1957) * Epithalamium for organ (1968) * ''Morning Music'' for piano (1973) * ' 'Transitions' ' for piano (1977) * Piano Sonata No. 3 (1979)

References

Sources

* Aioi, Daniel
"Retired music professor Robert Palmer dies at age 95"
''Cornell Chronicle Online'', July 8, 2010. Retrieved 2011-06-07. * Anderson, E. Ruth. "Palmer, Robert M." ''Contemporary American Composers: A Biographical Dictionary'' (Boston: G. K. Hall, 1976), . Digitized by the Internet Archive, 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-15. * Austin, William. "The Music of Robert Palmer", ''The Musical Quarterly,'' Vol. 42, No. 1 (Jan. 1956), pp. 35–50. * Austin, William W. 1986. "Palmer, Robert (Moffat)". ''The New Grove Dictionary of American Music,'' Vol. 3, edited by H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan. * Austin, William W. 2001. "Palmer, Robert (Moffett)". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,'' edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan. * Austin, William W., ''Music in the 20th Century'' (NY: W. W. Norton, 1966), , p. 441. * Cohn, Arthur. ''The Literature of Chamber Music'' (Chapel Hill, NC: Hinshaw Music, 1997), , Vol. 3, pp. 2067–2069. * Copland, Aaron. "The New School of American Composers", ''The New York Times,'' March 4, 1948. * Ewen, David. ''American Composers: A Biographical Dictionary'' (NY: Putnam, 1982), , pp. 487–489. * Holmes, William C. "Current Chronicle", ''The Musical Quarterly,'' Vol. 50, No. 3 (Jul. 1964), pp. 367–370. * Livingston, Herbert. "Current Chronicle", ''The Musical Quarterly,'' Vol. 41, No. 4 (Oct. 1955), pp. 511–514. * "Robert M. Palmer", ''Ithaca Journal'' obituary
Robert M. Palmer Obituary: View Robert Palmer's Obituary by Ithaca Journal
July 5–7, 2010. Retrieved 2011-06-07. * Rosenfeld, Paul. "Robert Palmer and Charles Mills", ''Modern Music,'' XX, May–June 1943, pp. 264–266. * Salvatore, Raymond. "The Piano Music of Robert Palmer", ''Clavier,'' April 1989, Vol. 28, No. 4: 22–30. * Slonimsky, Nicholas. 1958. "Palmer, Robert." ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians,'' 5th ed. (NY: G. Schirmer, 1958), pp. 1203–1204. * Stucky, Steven
"Remembering Robert Moffat Palmer (1915-2010)."

External links

"Remembering Robert Moffat Palmer (1915-2010)"

"Robert M. Palmer" obituary, ''Ithaca Journal''

MP3 download of ''Toccata Ostinato'' at ''Rhapsody.com''

MP3 download of Quartet No. 1 for Piano and Strings at mediafire.com

MP3 download of Quintet for A-Clarinet, String Trio and Piano at ''Amazon.com''

Archived recording of ''Memorial Music'' (Orch. des Solistes de Paris/Husa)

May 14, 1987
"In Search of Robert Palmer"
by Adam Tendler, April 24, 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Robert Moffat 1915 births 2010 deaths 20th-century American composers 20th-century classical composers American classical composers American male classical composers Cornell University faculty Eastman School of Music alumni Illinois Wesleyan University faculty National Endowment for the Arts Fellows University of Illinois faculty Musicians from Syracuse, New York Pupils of Aaron Copland Pupils of Howard Hanson Fulbright alumni