George Balch Wilson (January 28, 1927 – October 12, 2021)George Balch Wilson obituary
/ref> 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 Defi ...

who is known for his contributions to

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

. In 1955 he won the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

for composition. He taught for more than 30 years on the faculty of 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 ...

where he founded and directed the school's electronic music studio. Upon his retirement he was made a professor emeritus.

Early life

Born in

Grand Island, Nebraska Grand Island is a city in and the county seat of Hall County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 53,131 at the 2020 census. Grand Island is the principal city of the Grand Island metropolitan area, which consists of Hall, Merrick, ...

, Wilson grew up in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

. His father was an amateur

flutist The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with Reed (instrument), reeds, a fl ...

and

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

ist and his mother was a

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 ...

who had earned money for his family accompanying

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

s during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. His parents often played duets together at home and took Wilson to local concerts by ensembles like the Lincoln Symphony. He also received music lessons from them. Although this exposure instilled a love for music within Wilson, the nervousness of public performance led to his eventual refusal to pursue further musical studies in his childhood. He later took piano lessons intermittently during his teenage years. His grandfather was a doctor in the small town of

Rushville, Nebraska Rushville is a city in Sheridan County, Nebraska, Sheridan County in the state of Nebraska, in the remote Nebraska Sandhills, Sandhills Region. Its population was 890 at the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census. It is the county seat of Sherida ...

located near the

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ( lkt, Wazí Aháŋhaŋ Oyáŋke), also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located entirely within the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Gr ...

and thus the family had opportunities during visits to interact with the local Sioux community. This was the beginning of Wilson's lifelong fascination with the art, history and languages of the Sioux, Hopi and Navaho cultures. As a boy, Wilson developed an interest in

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

and at the age of 12 he began working for the Lincoln regional office of the

Natural Resources Conservation Service Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners an ...

as a photo lab technician. At the age of 13 his family moved to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the 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 western edge of t ...

where he worked as a lab technician for a portrait photographer while attending high school. At the age of 18 he became a radio operator gunner in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

for a short time before being reassigned to the teaching staff at the Air Force Photographic School at Lowery Field. He became burned out on the business of photography while working there, coming to the realization that his real passion was music.

Education

In 1947 Wilson entered the music program at the

(UM) through funds provided by the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

. He went on to earn a

Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescr ...

, a Master of Music, and a

Doctor of Music The Doctor of Music degree (D.Mus., D.M., Mus.D. or occasionally Mus.Doc.) is a higher doctorate awarded on the basis of a substantial portfolio of compositions and/or scholarly publications on music. Like other higher doctorates, it is granted b ...

, all in

music composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called c ...

, from the UM. Among his teachers as the UM were Percy Price,

Homer Keller Homer T. Keller (b. Oxnard, California, February 17, 1915; d. Upland, California May 12, 1996) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. He graduated from Oxnard Union High School in Oxnard, California in 1933, after which he ...

, and

Ross Lee Finney Ross Lee Finney Junior (December 23, 1906–February 4, 1997) was an American composer who taught for many years at the University of Michigan. Life and career Born in Wells, Minnesota, Finney received his early training at Carleton College a ...

. In 1953 he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship which enabled him to pursue studies in Belgium and France. He notably studied with

Jean Absil Jean Absil (23 October 1893 – 2 February 1974) was a Belgian composer, organist, and professor at the Brussels Conservatoire. Biography Absil was born in Bonsecours, Hainaut, Belgium. His teacher there was Alphonse Oeyen, organist at the basil ...

at the Brussels Conservatory and 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 ...

in both Paris and at the

Fontainebleau Schools The Fontainebleau Schools were founded in 1921, and consist of two schools: ''The American Conservatory'', and the ''School of Fine Arts at Fontainebleau''. History When the United States entered First World War the commander of its army, Gener ...

. He was awarded the

in 1955 which further extended his studies in Europe through 1958. During that time he pursued studies in Italy in

. He later pursued further studies in that field with

Milton Babbitt Milton Byron Babbitt (May 10, 1916 – January 29, 2011) was an American composer, music theorist, mathematician, and teacher. He is particularly noted for his Serialism, serial and electronic music. Biography Babbitt was born in Philadelphia t ...

Mario Davidovsky Mario Davidovsky (March 4, 1934 – August 23, 2019) was an Argentine-American composer. Born in Argentina, he emigrated in 1960 to the United States, where he lived for the remainder of his life. He is best known for his series of compositions ca ...

Otto Luening Otto Clarence Luening (June 15, 1900 – September 2, 1996) was a German-American composer and conductor, and an early pioneer of tape music and electronic music. Luening was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to German parents, Eugene, a conducto ...

, and

Vladimir Ussachevsky Vladimir Alexeevich Ussachevsky (November 3, 1911 in Hailar, China – January 2, 1990 in New York, New York) was a composer, particularly known for his work in electronic music. Biography Vladimir Ussachevsky was born in the Hailar Distric ...

at the

Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center The Computer Music Center (CMC) at Columbia University is the oldest center for electronic and computer music research in the United States. It was founded in the 1950s as the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Location The CMC is hou ...

Career

Wilson joined the music composition faculty of the University of Michigan in 1959 while a doctoral student at the school. He had already taught undergraduate courses in

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

at the UM as a teaching fellow while working on his master's degree. In 1962 he founded the UM's electronic music studio through funds provided by the Rackham Graduate School, directing the studio for the next 30 years. He patterned the studio after the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. In 1992 Wilson produced a concert in honor of the studio with works from many of the University's composition students at the time, including Evan Chambers, Leslie Hogan, Michael Angell and others. He was involved in Ann Arbor's experimental music and performance scene from the 1960s, participating in large installation pieces which involved quadrophonic music in downtown parking structures, or filling the halls of the University of Michigan Music School with inflatable plastic hallways, complete with electro-acoustic music piped in. For many years he drove about town in a green VW bug, which he occasionally drove through the center of the (pedestrian) Diag. His students include John Burke,

Katt Hernandez KATT-FM (100.5 MHz, "ROCK 100.5 The KATT") is a commercial radio station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a mainstream rock radio format. The playlist leans toward hard-edged classic rock with some current and re ...

George Crumb George Henry Crumb Jr. (24 October 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an American composer of avant-garde contemporary classical music. Early in his life he rejected the widespread modernist usage of serialism, developing a highly personal musical ...

Andrew Paul MacDonald Andrew Paul MacDonald (born 30 November 1958) is a Canadians, Canadian classical composer, guitarist, conducting, conductor, and music educator. His compositions have been performed in many countries and recorded by well-known musical ensembles. ...

Evan Chambers Evan Chambers (born 1963, in Alexandria, Louisiana) is a composer, traditional Irish fiddler, and Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan. He received a Doctorate in music composition from the University of Michigan. His teachers in ...

Frank Ticheli Frank Ticheli (born January 21, 1958) is an American composer of orchestral, choral, chamber, and concert band works. He lives in Los Angeles, California, where he is a Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California. He was ...

, and

Gérard Pape Gérard Pape (born April 22, 1955 in Brooklyn, New York) is a composer of electronic music, author, and Lacanian psychologist. He is a former student of David Winkler, George Cacioppo, William Albright, and George Balch Wilson. He became the d ...

Selected works

* ''Adagio'' for strings and horns (1951) * String Quartet in G (1952) * Sonata for viola and piano (1952) * ''Fantasy'' for violin and piano (1955–1956) * ''Concatenations'' for 12 instruments (1969) * ''Exigencies'' for 8-channel tape * ''Cornices, Architraves, and Friezes'' for cello solo

Sources

American Music Institute "Living Music" interview of George Balch Wilson (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine)

George Balch Wilson, University of Michigan Faculty History Project

Composition Alumni, 1960s, University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, George Balch 1927 births 2021 deaths 20th-century classical composers American male classical composers American classical composers Prix de Rome for composition University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni University of Michigan faculty People from Grand Island, Nebraska Musicians from Lincoln, Nebraska 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians Fulbright alumni