Cecil Effinger (July 22, 1914 – December 22, 1990) was an American composer,

oboist An oboist (formerly hautboist) is a musician who plays the oboe or any oboe family instrument, including the oboe d'amore, cor anglais or English horn, bass oboe and piccolo oboe or oboe musette. The following is a list of notable past and pres ...

, and inventor.

Life

Effinger was born in

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, 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 wes ...

, four months after composer Robert Arthur Gross was also born in that city; he resided in the state for most of his life. Reversing the usual cliché, he was the son of musicians and teachers, but initially studied mathematics at

Colorado College Colorado College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approxi ...

, receiving a BA in 1935, before deciding to follow in his parents' footsteps. In the meantime, he had studied harmony and counterpoint with Frederick Boothroyd in 1934–36, and went to Paris in 1939 to study composition 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 ...

. He was first oboe in the orchestras of Colorado Springs (1934–41) and Denver (1937–41) and taught at the Colorado College before the Second World War (1936–41). A lifelong friendship with

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 ...

began in 1941. During the Second World War he served as conductor of the 506th US Army Band in Fort Logan. After the war, he resumed his position at the Colorado College from 1946 to 1948, when he was appointed professor of composition at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

in Boulder. He remained in that position, becoming the head of the composition department until 1981, and was composer-in-residence there until his retirement in 1984. In 1945 in Paris, Effinger conceived the idea of a music typewriter, and by 1947 had developed a rough prototype. In March 1954 he patented his machine as the "Musicwriter", and exhibited his first production model in July 1955, in Denver. It was simple and robust in construction and was a commercial success throughout the world for more than thirty years. He also invented a device to accurately determine the tempo of music as it is being performed, which he called the Tempowatch.

Compositions

Effinger was a prolific composer, with 168 works in his catalog, including five numbered symphonies, two ''Little Symphonies'', and five String Quartets. Choral works figure among his most popular compositions, several of which are large scale and based on sacred subjects, including especially ''Four Pastorales'' for oboe and chorus. Effinger never embraced experimentalism, and settled on an idiom he described as "

atonal Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a ...

tonality Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions and directionality. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or triadic chord with the greatest stability is ca ...

". He never achieved a national reputation, but was esteemed as a regional composer of high standing. Some of his music was published by Novello, Schirmer, and other smaller publishing firms.

Discography

* ''The American Spirit''. St. Martin's Chamber Choir, Timothy J. Krueger (cond.); Sue Logan (oboe); Tamara Goldstein (piano). St. Martin's Chamber Choir 4. CD recording. 2007. (Cecil Effinger, "Four Pastorales" for chorus and oboe, and works by

Edward MacDowell Edward Alexander MacDowell (December 18, 1860January 23, 1908) was an American composer and pianist of the late Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites '' Woodland Sketches'', ''Sea Pieces'' and '' ...

, Terry Schlenker, Tim Sarsany, Timothy J. Krueger, Randall Thompson, and Jean Berger.) * ''First Recordings of Two Naumberg Award Compositions''.

Carroll Glenn Elizabeth Carroll Glenn (October 28, 1918April 25, 1983) was an Americans, American violinist and music educator. Early years Glenn was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1918. She began studying violin under her mother’s guidance when she was f ...

(violin);

Columbia Symphony Orchestra The Columbia Symphony Orchestra was an orchestra formed by Columbia Records strictly for the purpose of making recordings. In the 1950s, it provided a vehicle for some of Columbia's better known conductors and recording artists to record using o ...

, Zoltan Rozsnyai (cond.). Columbia MS 6597. New York: Columbia Records, .d. (With Cecil Effinger, ''Little Symphony'' No. 1, op. 31 and

Andrew Imbrie Andrew Welsh Imbrie (April 6, 1921 – December 5, 2007) was an American contemporary classical music composer and pianist. Career Imbrie was born in New York City and began his musical training as a pianist when he was 4. In 1937, he went to Par ...

, ''Violin Concerto'') * ''The Concert Accordion Artistry of Robert Davine''. Robert Davine (accordion), Lamont Chamber Players. Crystal 160. CD recording, 1 disc.

Crystal Records Crystal Records is an American producer and distributor of classical chamber and solo music recordings. The company was founded in 1966 by Peter George Christ (born 1938) and is incorporated in the state of Washington. Christ, who has served as p ...

, 1995. (Cecil Effinger, "Nocturne", with works by Hans Lang, Paul Creston, Ted Zarlengo, Adamo Volpi,

Normand Lockwood Normand Lockwood (March 19, 1906 – March 9, 2002) was an American composer born in New York, New York. He studied composition at the University of Michigan from 1921–1924, and then traveled to Rome and studied composition under Ottorino Resp ...

, John Gart, Carmelo Pino, David Diamond, and

Mátyás Seiber Mátyás György Seiber (; 4 May 190524 September 1960) was a Hungarian-born British composer who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1935 onwards. His work linked many diverse musical influences, from the Hungarian tradition of Bartó ...

.) * ''Roy Harris: Symphony No. 11''. Sinfonia Varsovia,

Ian Hobson Ian Hobson is an English pianist, conductor and teacher, and is a professor at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and at Florida State University. His pianistic repertoire spans the baroque to the contemporary, but he specialises in th ...

(cond.). Donald R. Peterson Recording Series 2. Troy 1042. SACD, 1 disc. Albany, NY:

Albany Records Albany Records is a record label that concentrates on unconventional contemporary classical music by American composers and musicians. It was established by Peter Kermani in 1987 and is based in Albany, New York. See also * List of record labe ...

; Kendal, Cumbria: Albany Records UK, 2008. (With Cecil Effinger, ''Little Symphony'' No. 1, op. 31;

Morton Gould Morton Gould (December 10, 1913February 21, 1996) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist. Biography Morton Gould was born in Richmond Hill, New York, United States. He was recognized early as a child prodigy with abilities i ...

, ''Cowboy Rhapsody'';

Douglas Moore Douglas Stuart Moore (August 10, 1893 – July 25, 1969) was an American composer, songwriter, organist, pianist, Conducting, conductor, educator, actor, and author. A composer who mainly wrote works with an American subject, his music is genera ...

, Symphony No. 2 in A major.)

References

* * * * * University of Colorado Boulder'
Cecil Effinger manuscripts and personal papers

Footnotes

External links

April 4, 1988 {{DEFAULTSORT:Effinger, Cecil 1914 births 1990 deaths American male classical composers American classical composers 20th-century classical composers University of Colorado Boulder faculty Musicians from Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado College alumni American classical oboists Male oboists Colorado College faculty 20th-century American composers 20th-century American inventors 20th-century American male musicians