The Aaron Copland School of Music is one of the oldest departments at Queens College, founded when the College opened in 1937. The department's curriculum was originally established by Edwin Stringham, and a later emphasis on the analytical system of

Heinrich Schenker Heinrich Schenker (19 June 1868 – 14 January 1935) was a Galician-born Austrian music theorist whose writings have had a profound influence on subsequent musical analysis. His approach, now termed Schenkerian analysis, was most fully ex ...

was initiated by Saul Novack. Some of the students who enrolled in early classes of the college later became faculty members of the department. This included Sol Berkowitz, Gabriel Fontrier,

Leo Kraft Leo Abraham Kraft (July 24, 1922 – April 30, 2014) was an American composer, author, and educator. Kraft was born in Brooklyn, New York. He held degrees from Queens College (CUNY) and Princeton University. He studied composition with Karol R ...

. Other distinguished faculty from the early years included John Castellini, who founded the Choral Society; Boris Schwarz, a refugee from his native

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

in 1917 and later from

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in the 1930s; Saul Novack, who later became Dean of the Division of Arts and Humanities; and Barry Brook, who with Novack established the doctoral program in music at the Graduate Center of CUNY. Joseph Machlis, developed the teaching of

music appreciation Music appreciation is a division of musicology that is designed to teach students how to understand and describe the contexts and creative processes involved in music composition. The concept of music appreciation is often taught as a subset o ...

to a high art, and wrote the most successful series of music appreciation textbooks in history. (Machlis's '' Enjoyment of Music: An Introduction to Perceptive Listening'' has been used by more than 3.5 million students and is in its tenth edition.) Later faculty included

Felix Salzer Felix Salzer (June 13, 1904 – August 12, 1986) was an Austrian-American music theorist, musicologist and pedagogue. He was one of the principal followers of Heinrich Schenker, and did much to refine and explain Schenkerian analysis after Sc ...

, a refugee from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

who was a student of the theorist

and became the leading exponent of his ideas to generations of American students and scholars; and the composers

Hugo Weisgall Hugo David Weisgall (October 13, 1912 – March 11, 1997) was an American composer and conductor, known chiefly for his opera and vocal music compositions. He was born in Ivančice, Moravia (then part of Austria-Hungary, later in his childhood ...

and

George Perle George Perle (6 May 1915 – 23 January 2009) was an American composer and music theorist. As a composer, his music was largely atonal, using methods similar to the twelve-tone technique of the Second Viennese School. This serialist style, and ...

Notable alumni

* Arturo O'Farrill * Marco Oppedisano * Conrad Herwig * JoAnn Falletta * Erika Sunnegårdh * George Tsontakis *

Tito Muñoz Tito Arturo Muñoz (born July 14, 1983) is an American conductor and is Music Director of The Phoenix Symphony. He was previously Music Director of the Opéra national de Lorraine and Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy in Nancy, France, ...

* Edward W. Hardy * Vasili Byros

Notable faculty

* Sol Berkowitz *

* Jimmy Heath *

Thea Musgrave Thea Musgrave CBE (born 27 May 1928) is a Scottish composer of opera and classical music. She has lived in the United States since 1972. Biography Born in Barnton, Edinburgh, Musgrave was educated at Moreton Hall School, a boarding independ ...

(emeritus) *

* Karol Rathaus * Marcy Rosen * David Jolley *

Carl Schachter Carl E. Schachter (born June 1, 1932"Carl E. Schachter," in "New Jersey, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1956-1964" on ''Ancestry.com'') is an American music theorist noted for his expertise in Schenkerian analysis. Born in Chicago, he attended Austin H ...

* Stephanie Chase *

Roland Hanna Roland Pembroke Hanna (February 10, 1932 – November 13, 2002) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and teacher. Biography Hanna studied classical piano from the age of 11, but was strongly interested in jazz, having been introduced to i ...

Maurice Peress Maurice Peress (March 18, 1930 – December 31, 2017) was an American orchestra conductor, educator and author. After serving as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein beginning in 1961, Peress went on to stand ...

Bruce Saylor Bruce Saylor (born April 24, 1946, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American composer. Biography Saylor was born in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. In 1952, his family moved to Springfield Township, just outside the city, where he attend ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aaron Copland School Of Music Queens College, City University of New York Educational institutions established in 1937 1937 establishments in New York City Music schools in New York City