Vincent Persichetti

Vincent Ludwig Persichetti (June 6, 1915 – August 14, 1987) was an American composer, teacher, and pianist.

An important musical educator and writer, he was known for his integration of various new ideas in musical composition into his own work and teaching, as well as for training many noted composers in composition at the Juilliard School.

His students at Juilliard included Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Larry Thomas Bell, Bruce Adolphe, Louis Calabro, Moshe Cotel, Michael Jeffrey Shapiro, Laurie Spiegel, Kenneth Fuchs, Richard Danielpour, Lawrence Dillon, Peter Schickele, Lowell Liebermann, Robert Witt, Elena Ruehr, William Schimmel, Leonardo Balada, Gitta Steiner, Hank Beebe, Roland Wiggins, Thomas Pasatieri, Randell Croley and Leo Brouwer.

He also taught composition to Joseph Willcox Jenkins and conductor James DePreist at the Philadelphia Conservatory.

Persichetti was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1915.

Though neither of his parents was a musician, his musical education began early.

Persichetti enrolled in the Combs College of Music at the age of five, where he studied piano, organ, double bass and later music theory and composition with Russel King Miller, whom he considered a great influence.

He first performed his original works publicly at the age of 14.

By the time he reached his teens, Persichetti was paying for his own education by accompanying and performing.

He continued to do so throughout high school, adding church organist, orchestral player and radio staff pianist to his experience.

In addition to developing his musical talents, he attended art school and remained an avid sculptor until his death.

He attended Combs for his undergraduate education as well.

From 1932 to 1948 he was organist and eventually choirmaster of the Arch Street Presbyterian Church.

After receiving a bachelor's degree in 1936, he was immediately offered a teaching position.

By the age of 20, Persichetti was simultaneously head of the theory and composition department at Combs, a conducting major with Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute, and a student of piano (with Olga Samaroff) and composition at the Philadelphia Conservatory.

He earned a master's degree in 1941 and a doctorate in 1945 from the Conservatory, as well as a conducting diploma from Curtis.

In 1941, while still a student, Persichetti headed the theory and composition department as well as the department of postgraduate study at Philadelphia Conservatory.

In 1941 Persichetti married Dorothea Flanagan who was a composer as well.

They had a daughter Lauren, a dancer, and Garth, an actor.

In 1947, William Schuman offered him a professorship at Juilliard.

While at the Juilliard School, Persichetti was devoted to the wind band movement and advocated William Schuman and Peter Mennin to compose pieces for wind band.

He was on staff at Juilliard for over forty years.

Persichetti's students included Einojuhani Rautavaara, Leonardo Balada, Steven Gellman, Peter Schickele (P.D.Q. Bach), Michael Jeffrey Shapiro, Claire Polin, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Robert Witt (who also studied with Persichetti at the Philadelphia Conservatory), Randell Croley and Philip Glass.

His early style was marked by the influences of Stravinsky, Bartók, Hindemith, and Copland before he developed his distinct voice in the 1950s.

Persichetti's music draws on a wide variety of thought in 20th-century contemporary composition as well as Big Band music.

His own style was marked by use of two elements he refers to as "graceful" and "gritty": the former being more lyrical and melodic, the latter being sharp and intensely rhythmic.

Especially true of his early compositions, Persichetti said he "liked bumpy melodic lines and was crazy about music that moved along a zigzag path."

He frequently used polytonality and pandiatonicism in his writing, and his music could be marked by sharp rhythmic interjections, but his embracing of diverse strands of musical thought makes characterizing his body of work difficult.

This trend continued throughout his compositional career.

His music lacked sharp changes in style over time.

He frequently composed while driving in his car, sometimes taping staff paper to the steering wheel.

His piano music forms the bulk of his creative output, with a concerto, a concertino, twelve sonatas, and a variety of other pieces written for the instrument.

These were virtuosic pieces as well as pedagogical and amateur-level compositions.

Persichetti was an accomplished pianist.

He wrote many pieces suitable for less mature performers, considering them to have serious artistic merit.

Persichetti is also one of the major composers for the concert wind band repertoire, with his 14 works for the ensemble.

He became editorial director of the Elkan-Vogel publishing house in 1952.

Persichetti is one of the major figures in American music of the 20th century, both as a teacher and a composer.

Notably, his Hymns and Responses for the Church Year has become a standard setting for church choirs.

His numerous compositions for wind ensemble are often introductions to contemporary music for high school and college students.