Stephen Joel Albert (6 February 1941 – 27 December 1992) was an American

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 Def ...

. He is best known for his Symphony No. 1 ''RiverRun'' (1983) and

Cello Concerto A cello concerto (sometimes called a violoncello concerto) is a concerto for solo cello with orchestra or, very occasionally, smaller groups of instruments. These pieces have been written since the Baroque era if not earlier. However, unlike instr ...

(1990) written for

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma ('' Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

, both of which won a

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 ...

. He died suddenly in a 1992 automobile accident, having just sketched out his Second Symphony. The work was subsequently completed by

Sebastian Currier Sebastian Currier (born March 16, 1959) is an American composer of music for chamber groups and orchestras. He was also a professor of music at Columbia University from 1999 to 2007. Life Currier was born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and was ra ...

, and his death sparked musical tributes from composer colleagues such as

Aaron Jay Kernis Aaron Jay Kernis (born January 15, 1960) is a Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning American composer serving as a member of the Yale School of Music faculty. Kernis spent 15 years as the music advisor to the Minnesota Orchestra and as D ...

and Christopher Rouse.

Life and career

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 ...

, Albert began his musical training on the piano, French horn, and trumpet as a youngster. He first studied composition at the age of 15 with Elie Siegmeister, and enrolled two years later at 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 ...

, where he studied with

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 Bernard Rogers (1958–1960) Following composition lessons in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

with

Karl-Birger Blomdahl Karl-Birger Blomdahl (19 October 1916 – 14 June 1968) was a Swedish composer and conductor born in Växjö. He was educated in biochemistry, but was primarily active in music and by his experimental compositions he became one of the big names ...

, Albert studied with Joseph Castaldo at the Philadelphia Musical Academy (BM 1962); in 1963 he worked with George Rochberg at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

. In 1965 he won a Rome Fellowship to study in Rome at the American Academy. From 1985 to 1988 he worked as the

Seattle Symphony The Seattle Symphony is an American orchestra based in Seattle, Washington. Since 1998, the orchestra is resident at Benaroya Hall. The orchestra also serves as the accompanying orchestra for the Seattle Opera. History Beginnings The orchestr ...

composer-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

. His notable students included Daniel Asia and Dan Coleman. Albert was killed in an automobile accident in

Truro, Massachusetts Truro is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, comprising two villages: Truro and North Truro. Located slightly more than 100 miles (160 km) by road from Boston, it is a summer vacation community just south of the no ...

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

on 27 December 1992.

Awards and honors

Stephen Albert won the 1985

for his Symphony No. 1, ''RiverRun''. He posthumously won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

in 1995 in the

Best Classical Contemporary Composition The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to composers for quality works of contemporary classical ...

category for his

as performed by

in a 1990 recording with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Zinman.

dedicated his 1993 composition for

piano quartet A piano quartet is a chamber music composition for piano and three other instruments, or a musical ensemble comprising such instruments. Those other instruments are usually a string trio consisting of a violin, viola and cello. Piano quartets for ...

'' Still Movement with Hymn'' in memory of Albert. The slow movement of Christopher Rouse's 1994 Symphony No. 2 is also dedicated to the memory of Albert, who was a colleague and close friend of Rouse.

Works

A number of Albert's works were based on

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...

texts. ''

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction whi ...

'' inspired three of Albert's pieces: ''To Wake the Dead'', ''TreeStone'', and ''Symphony RiverRun''. Albert's paired "Distant Hills" arias ''Flower of the Mountain'' and ''Sun's Heat'' were based on ''

Ulysses Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature. Ulysses may also refer to: People * Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name Places in the United States * Ulysses, Kansas * Ulysse ...

'', and the song "Ecce Puer" from Joyce's poem of the same name.Grayson, David. His famous Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra started out as a request by the Baltimore Symphony in 1987 for a 15-minute orchestral piece. In 1988 the commission was changed to a concerto for Yo-Yo Ma. The composer credited Ma with his help completing the work. Albert started with material drawn two earlier works from 1988, "Anthem and Processionals" and "The Stone Harp." He started the composition in 1989 and finished in 1990. The premiere was on 31 March 1990 and featured Yo-Yo Ma along with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Zinman. A revised version was featured on a 1993 album, "The New York Album." According to Yo-Yo Ma, the composition was a "kind of catharsis." It incorporated struggles in his life, including his writer's blocks and the death of his father. The work is dedicated to the memory of his father.

Orchestral

* ''Anthems and Processionals'' (1988) – 16 minutes * ''Into Eclipse'' (chamber with voice version) (1981) – 30 minutes * Symphony No. 1 ''RiverRun'' (1983) – 33 minutes * Symphony No. 2 (1992) – 30 minutes (orchestration completed by

) * ''Tapioca Pudding'' (1991) – 2 minutes

Concertante

* '' Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra'' (1990) – 30 minutes * ''Distant Hills'' (orchestra version) (1989) – 31 minutes * ''Flower of the Mountain'' from "Distant Hills" (orchestra version) (1985) – 16 minutes * ''In Concordiam'' (1986) – 17 minutes * ''Into Eclipse'' (orchestra with voice version) (1981) – 30 minutes * ''Sun's Heat'' from "Distant Hills" (orchestra version) (1989) – 15 minutes * ''Winter Canticle'' (1991) – 14 minutes * ''Wolf Time'' (1968) – 20 minutes

Ensemble (7 or more players)

* ''Distant Hills'' (chamber version) (1989) – 31 minutes * ''Flower of the Mountain'' from "Distant Hills" (chamber version) (1985) – 16 minutes * ''Sun's Heat'' from "Distant Hills" (chamber version) (1989) – 15 minutes * ''TreeStone'' (1983) – 45 minutes

Chamber

* ''Tribute'' (1988) – 9 minutes

Choral

* ''Bacchae: A Ceremony in Music'' (1967) – 8 minutes

Vocal

* ''Ecce Puer'' (1992) – 6 minutes * ''Rilke Song – On Nights Like This'' (1991) – 5 minutes * ''The Stone Harp'' (1988) – 14 minutes * ''To Wake the Dead'' (1977) – 25 minutes * ''Wedding Songs'' (1964) – 10 minutes

References

External links

G. Schirmer: Stephen Albert
Composer profile and work list
Art of the States: Stephen Albert
''To Wake the Dead'' (1978) complete work in streaming audio with accompanying program notes
Website devoted to Stephen Albert
(stephenalbertcomposer.com)

Interviews

9 December 1990 {{DEFAULTSORT:Albert, Stephen 20th-century classical composers Pulitzer Prize for Music winners Grammy Award winners 1941 births 1992 deaths University of the Arts (Philadelphia) alumni Musicians from New York City Eastman School of Music alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Road incident deaths in Massachusetts Pupils of Darius Milhaud 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians