William Jay Sydeman (May 8, 1928[1] – May 27, 2021) was a prolific American composer.[2] He was born in New York. He studied at Duke University,[3] and received a B.S. degree in 1955 from the Mannes School of Music, having studied with Felix Salzer, Roy Travis, and Roger Sessions.[4] He received his master's in music from the Hartt School in 1958, studying under Arnold Franchetti and Goffredo Petrassi.[4] From 1959 to 1970 he joined the composition faculty at his alma mater Mannes School of Music.[5]
In 1951 he married Hope Millholland, a pianist[6] and fellow student at Mannes.[7]
Winning early acclaim for his avant-garde music (principally published by C. F. Peters), he felt trapped by the prevailing orthodoxies and moved to California in 1970, beginning a period of wandering during which he also studied Buddhism and Anthroposophy. He joined ASCAP in 1975. From 1980 to 1982 he taught at Rudolph Steiner College in Fair Oaks. In 1981 he settled in Sacramento and resumed composition at his former prolific rate, having newly embraced a neotonal musical language. He later moved to Mendocino.
In 1966, his catalog (nearly 75 works by this date) was edited by Nancy B. Reich and published as an early exercise in machine-readable catalogs. A 2nd edition, published by NYU Department of Music Education, was released in 1968.[8] 35 years later she would write his entry for Grove Dictionary of Music.[5]
His music was commissioned from many leading institutions and performers. He won awards from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Pacifica Foundation,[9] and the National Institutes of Arts and Letters.[5]
Selected works
Opera
Aria da Capo
The Odyssey
Orchestral
Mosey'n Along for string orchestra with oboe
Lyric Piece for chamber orchestra
Miniatures
Orchestral Abstractions
Study No. 1 (1959)
Study No. 2
Study No. 3 (1965), premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra[10]
Study No. 4 "The 4 Seasons"
In Memoriam: J. F. Kennedy for narrator and orchestra (1966)[11]
Texture Studies (1969)
Oecumenicus
Band
Movements for concert band
Five Movements for wind symphony
Concertante
Largo for cello and string orchestra (1959)
Concert Piece for horn and string orchestra
Concertino for oboe, piano and string orchestra (1967)
Concerto da Camera [No. 1] for solo violin, flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn, viola and cello (1959)[4]
Concerto da Camera No. 2 for solo violin, oboe, clarinet, viola and cello (1960), premiered at the 92nd Street Y[12]
Concerto da Camera No. 3 for solo violin, winds and percussion (1965)
Concerto da Camera for viola and chamber ensemble (1968)
Concerto for Piano Four Hands (1965), premiered by the Chorale Symphony Society in New York's Town Hall.[13]
Music for viola, winds and percussion (1971)
Reflections for violin, cello and string orchestra
Chamber music
String Quartet No. 2 (1954)
Quintet No. 1 for woodwinds (1955)
Sonata for violin and piano (1955)
Music for brass ensemble and percussion (1955)
Quartet for violin, clarinet, cello and piano (1955)
Quartet for violin, clarinet, trumpet and double bass (1955)
Sonata (1962), commissioned by and premiered at Carnegie Recital Hall by his Mannes College colleague Jack Chaikin.[15]
Choral
Prometheus, cantata for soloist, chorus and orchestra (1957)
Lament of Electra for alto solo, large chorus and chamber orchestra
Vocal
The Place of Blue Flowers for narrator and viola
Songs on Elizabethan Texts for soprano and flute
3 Songs after Emily Dickinson for soprano and cello
Jabberwocky for soprano, flute and cello
Five Short Songs for soprano and piano (1978)
4 Japanese Songs for soprano and 2 violins
Cradle Song for mezzo-soprano and piano
Japanese Love Poems for mezzo-soprano and piano
La Jour de la Mère for mezzo-soprano and piano
Moon Over Mountain for mezzo-soprano and piano
The Fence for mezzo-soprano and piano
The Foundation Stone for mezzo-soprano and piano
I Sing the Praises for mezzo-soprano and piano
A Prayer for alto, viola and piano
Malediction for tenor, string quartet and tape (1970). Commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, premiered at Tully Hall in 1971.[16] Inspired by Tristam Shandy.
^Reich, Nancy B. (1968). Catalog of the works of William Sydeman; a machine-readable pilot project in information retrieval (2nd ed.). NYU Division of Music Education. OCLC448388.
