Frank Lewin (March 27, 1925 – January 18, 2008) was an American composer and teacher.

Biography

Frank Lewin was born March 27, 1925, in Breslau,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He and his family escaped from Germany in 1939, spent a year in Cuba, and came to the United States in 1940. Lewin studied composition with Felix Deyo at the Baldwin Conservatory (Long Island, New York); Jack Frederick Kilpatrick and Hans David at

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , ...

;

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 ...

in Logan, Utah; and Richard Donovan and

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...

at the

Yale School of Music The Yale School of Music (often abbreviated to YSM) is one of the 12 professional schools at Yale University. It offers three graduate degrees: Master of Music (MM), Master of Musical Arts (MMA), and Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), as well as a join ...

, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1951. Lewin composed and edited music for feature, documentary, and television films, including dozens of original scores for The Defenders and The Nurses. He wrote incidental music for plays from

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thr ...

, and composed scores for historical outdoor dramas by Paul Green and others, in various parts of the country. He also wrote a number of concert compositions including two operas, several orchestral works, concertos for viola and harmonica, song cycles, and choral music. Lewin was a professor at the

from 1971 to 1992, teaching composition for film; and at the Columbia University School of the Arts from 1975 to 1989, where he taught the course "Music in Modern Media." Lewin lived in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

from 1956 until his death on January 18, 2008.

Works

Operas *''Gulliver'', an opera in two acts, with some sections composed by Easley Blackwood and Elliot Kaplan (1975) *''

Burning Bright ''Burning Bright'' is a 1950 novella by John Steinbeck written as an experiment with producing a play in novel format. Rather than providing only the dialogue and brief stage directions as would be expected in a play, Steinbeck fleshes out the ...

'', based on the novel and play by John Steinbeck (1993) Orchestral *''Evocation'' (1960) *''Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra'', (1960) *''Concerto Armonico'', viola and orchestra (1960); revision and transcription of the ''Harmonica Concerto'' by violist Brett Deubner (2006) *''Concerto on Silesian Tunes'', viola concerto (1965) Instrumental *''Dunlap's Creek'', for organ and English horn (1953) *''Music for the New Family of Violins'', for the eight instruments designed and built by

Carleen Hutchins Carleen Maley Hutchins (May 24, 1911 – August 7, 2009) was an American high school science teacher, violinmaker and researcher, best known for her creation, in the 1950s/60s, of a family of eight proportionally-sized violins now known as th ...

(1965) Choral *''Psalm 121'' (1942) *''Psalm 148'' (1949) *''Psalm 137'' (1956) *''Behold, How Good'' (1959) *''Seasons'' (1962) *''Music for the White House'' (1965) *''Requiem for Robert F. Kennedy (Mass for the Dead, in English)'' (1969) Solo vocal music *''Shall I Compare Thee'' (1949) *''A Dutch Lullaby'', setting of the poem

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" is a popular poem for children written by American writer and poet Eugene Field and published on March 9, 1889. The original title was "Dutch Lullaby". The poem is a fantasy bed-time story about three children sailing a ...

(1952) *''Innocence and Experience'', poetry from

Songs of Innocence and Experience ''Songs of Innocence and of Experience'' is a collection of illustrated poems by William Blake. It appeared in two phases: a few first copies were printed and illuminated by Blake himself in 1789; five years later, he bound these poems with a ...

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

(1961) *''Variations of Greek Themes'', poetry by

Edwin Arlington Robinson Edwin Arlington Robinson (December 22, 1869 – April 6, 1935) was an American poet and playwright. Robinson won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on three occasions and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times. Early life Robin ...

(1977) *''A Musical Nashery'', poetry by

Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his light verse, of which he wrote over 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York Times'' the country's bes ...

(1980) *''Wedding Music'' setting of the Song of Solomon (1981) *''Phoenix'' (1993) *''She Walks in Beauty'', setting of the poem by

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

(1994) Theater music *''

The Trojan War Will Not Take Place ''The Trojan War Will Not Take Place'' (french: La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu) is a play written in 1935 by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux. In 1955 it was translated into English by Christopher Fry with the title ''Tiger at the Gates''. The ...

'' by

Jean Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His wo ...

(1952) *'' Theater of the Soul'' by

Nikolai Evreinov Nikolai Nikolayevich Evreinov (russian: Николай Николаевич Евреинов; February 13, 1879 – September 7, 1953) was a Russian director, dramatist and theatre practitioner associated with Russian Symbolism. Life The son of ...

(1953) *''

Summer and Smoke ''Summer and Smoke'' is a two-part, thirteen-scene play by Tennessee Williams, completed in 1948. He began working on the play in 1945 as ''Chart of Anatomy'', derived from his short stories "Oriflamme" and the then-work-in-progress "Yellow Bir ...

'' by Tennessee Williams (1954) *'' The Tempest'' by William Shakespeare (1955) *''

Knight of the Burning Pestle ''The Knight of the Burning Pestle'' is a play in five acts by Francis Beaumont, first performed at Blackfriars Theatre in 1607 and published in a quarto in 1613. It is the earliest whole parody (or pastiche) play in English. The play is a s ...

'' by

Beaumont and Fletcher Beaumont and Fletcher were the English dramatists Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, who collaborated in their writing during the reign of James I (1603–25). They became known as a team early in their association, so much so that their joi ...

(1955) *''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vi ...

'' by William Shakespeare (1956) *''

Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunke ...

'' by William Shakespeare (1957) *''

Blood Wedding ''Blood Wedding'' ( es, link=no, Bodas de sangre) is a tragedy by Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. It was written in 1932 and first performed at Teatro Beatriz in Madrid in March 1933, then later that year in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ...

'' by

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

(1957) *'' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' by William Shakespeare (1958) *''

Thieves' Carnival ''Le Bal des Voleurs'' (''Thieves' Carnival'') is a play written by French playwright Jean Anouilh, first staged at Théâtre des Arts, Paris on 17 August 1938. Later productions ''Thieves' Carnival'' was presented on the televised series ''The ...

'' by

Jean Anouilh Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ''Antigone'', an a ...

(1958) *''

Leonce and Lena ''Leonce and Lena'' (german: Leonce und Lena) is a play by German dramatist Georg Büchner (1813–1837) which is considered a comedy, but is actually a satire veiled in humor. It was written in the spring of 1836 for a competition 'for the best ...

'' by

Georg Büchner Karl Georg Büchner (17 October 1813 – 19 February 1837) was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büch ...

(1958) *'' The Tempest'' by William Shakespeare (1967) *'' Caesar at the Rubicon'' by

Theodore White Theodore Harold White (, May 6, 1915 – May 15, 1986) was an American political journalist and historian, known for his reporting from China during World War II and the ''Making of the President'' series. White started his career reporting for ...

(1971) *''Streets of Gold'' by Tom DeTitta (1992) Historical outdoor dramas *''Beyond the Sundown'' by

Kermit Hunter Kermit Houston Hunter (3 October 1910 – 11 April 2001) was an American playwright known primarily for writing historical outdoor dramas. His many works include two dramas for Cherokee tribes, one for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in Nor ...

(1975) *''The McIntosh Trail'' by Kermit Hunter (1976) *''Dust on her Petticoats'' by Kermit Hunter (1976) *''Hernando DeSoto, Conquistador'' by Kermit Hunter (1976) *''Blue Jacket'' by W.L. "Rusty" Mundell (1982) *''Trumpet in the Land'' by Paul Green (1984) *''The White Savage'' by Joseph Bonamico and Mark Durbin (1997) Film and television *''Wanted'', CBS TV series (1955–56), theme composer *'' The Nurses'', television series (1961–63) *'' The Defenders'', television series (1962–65) *''A Year Toward Tomorrow'', documentary film (1967) *''J.T.,'' CBS Children's Television Workshop movie (1969) *''

The Plot Against Harry ''The Plot Against Harry'' is an American comedy film directed by Michael Roemer. The plot involves Harry Plotnick, a small-time Jewish gangster living in a now largely Hispanic and African American New York neighborhood, playing the numbers game ...

'', feature film directed by

Michael Roemer Michael Roemer (born January 1, 1928) is a film director, producer and writer. He has won several awards for his films. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. A professor at Yale University, he is the author of ''Telling Stories''. Ea ...

(1989)

Writings

* The Soundtrack in Nontheatrical Motion Pictures Society of Motion Picture Engineers, 1958. * Man and His Sound—Expo 67. Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, 1968. * Burning Bright, The Genesis of an Opera, Lyrica Society, 1985. * The Music of Language in a Passage from Tannhäuser, Ars Lyrica, Journal of the Lyrica Society for Word-Music Relations, Volume XIII, 2003. * Reflecting on Wagne

Awards

* Fellowships from the

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 ...

and

New Jersey State Council on the Arts The New Jersey State Council on the Arts was founded in 1966 to support artistic activities in the state of New Jersey. It is funded by the New Jersey State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Art ...

* Distinguished Artist Award from

References

External links

*
Frank Lewin website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewin, Frank American film score composers American male classical composers American classical composers 1925 births 2008 deaths Yale School of Music alumni People from Princeton, New Jersey Burials at Princeton Cemetery German emigrants to the United States 20th-century American composers American male film score composers 20th-century American male musicians