Richard Frank Donovan (1891–1970) 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 ...

and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

. He was the Battell Professor of Music Theory at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

from 1947 to 1960.

Biography

Donovan was born on 29 November 1891 in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

. He studied 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 joi ...

and the

Institute of Musical Art The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

, the latter of which he graduated from in 1922. He also studied under

Charles-Marie Widor Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher of the late Romantic era. As a composer he is known for his ten organ symphonies, especially the toccata of his fifth organ sympho ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In 1923, Donovan's was employed as a teacher at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

. He also taught at the Institute of Musical Art for a period. He joined the faculty of Yale in 1928 and was Battell Professor of Music Theory from 1947 to 1960. He was also acting dean of the school of music between 1940 and 1941. Donovan was conductor of the

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

Cantata Club in New Haven from 1933 to 1944 and associate conductor of the

New Haven Symphony Orchestra The New Haven Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in New Haven, Connecticut. The New Haven Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert on January 25, 1894 and is the fourth oldest orchestra in the United States. Today, the o ...

from 1936 to 1951. Donovan began as a

post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

. His style, according to H. Wiley Hitchcock, "developed to a lucid

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chord ...

, despite closely woven textures, with frequent use of modal themes, sometimes of folktunes." He composed for a wide range of vocal and instrumental arrangements, sometimes calling for unexpected combinations. His chamber piece ''Soundings'', for example, made use of

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

, and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

. Among the materials Donovan used in his work were the poetry of

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg w ...

and

Frances Fenton Bernard Park Frances Fenton Bernard Park (December 4, 1880 – July 21, 1953) was an American college professor and dean. She succeeded Ada Louise Comstock as dean of Smith College, an office she held from 1924 to 1928. Early life and education Fenton was bo ...

, Elizabethan lyrics, and American folk hymns. Donovan won the BMI Publication Award in 1945 for his ''Design for Radio''. Donovan died on 22 August 1970 in

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles (25.749504 km) south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. Middletown is the largest city in the L ...

. His paper are held by Yale University.

Works

Orchestral

* Wood-notes (for flute, strings, harp; 1924–5) * Smoke and Steel (symphonic poem after Carl Sandburg; 1932) * Symphony (for chamber orchestra; 1936) * Ricercare (for oboe and strings; 1938) * Suite (for oboe and strings; 1944–5) * Design for Radio (1945) * New England Chronicle (1947) * Passacaglia on Vermont Folk Tunes (1949 ) * Symphony (1956) * Epos (1963)

Chamber

* Chamber sextet (for wind, piano; 1932) * Piano suite (1932) * Clarinet sonata (1937) * Piano trio, in one movement (1937) * Serenade (for oboe, strings trio; 1939) * Terzetto (for 2 violins, viola, 1950) * Soundings (bassoon, trumpet, percussion; 1953) * Woodwind quarter (1953) * Piano suite (1953) * Music for six (for oboe, clarinet, string quartet; 1957) * Fantasia (bassoon; 1960, revised 1961) * Piano trio (1963)

Choral

* How far is it to Bethlehem? (female voices, organ; 1927) * Chanson of the Bells of Oseney (female voices, piano; 1930) * To all you ladies now at hand (male voices, pian/orchestra; 1932) * Fantasy on American Folk Ballads (male voices, piano/orchestra; 1940) * Hymn to the Night (female voices; 1947) * 4 Songs of Nature (female voices, 1953; * Mass (unison voices, organ, 3 trumpets, timpani; 1955) * Magnificat (male voices, organ; 1961)

References

{{reflist 1891 births 1970 deaths Yale School of Music faculty Yale School of Music alumni Juilliard School alumni Musicians from New Haven, Connecticut 20th-century American classical composers 20th-century American organists American male classical organists