"Few people had a greate impact on the performing arts in American than William Schuman (1910-1992). He made up for his late start in a musical career by becoming not only a composer but also the president of the Julliard School and then the president of Lincoln Center. Complex, driven, and filled with that confident optimism that characterized mid-twentieth-century America, he thought of himself as "a part of many different worlds.""--BOOK JACKET.

William Howard Schuman, a celebrated figure in 20th-century music, was a composer and a copious writer on music and music education. Early on, as a composer, he received the attention of several musicians and writers such as Nathan Broder, Elliott Carter, and Leonard Bernstein. He was the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the New York Music Critics Circle Award. After teaching at Sarah Lawrence College from 1935 to 1945 and serving as president of the Juilliard School from 1945 to 1962, Schuman assumed the presidency of Lincoln Center, where he successfully implemented that institution's artistic programs. Schuman, who composed in several genres, is perhaps best known for his orchestral compositions and choral music. This reference work provides a biography and a thorough catalog and guide to Schuman's writings and compositions and to the current research available on this gifted and multi-talented musician. An invaluable resource to music scholars interested in William Schuman's career, five sections provide accessible detailed information: a biography, works and performances, discography, bibliography, and bibliography of writings by Schuman. The biography traces Schuman's life and career with an emphasis on illustrating his compositional activity. The bibliography includes books, dissertations, articles, and reviews that chronicle Schuman's activities from his days as a young composer to his death in 1992. An author index, index of compositions, and general index complete this in-depth reference on William Schuman.

William Schuman, Vincent Persichetti, and Peter Mennin were three of the most significant American composers of the 20th century, yet their music has largely disappeared from view since their respective deaths. Because they each spent the majority of their careers working at the Juilliard School and Lincoln Center, their music is often viewed as "interchangeable." In The Music of William Schuman, Vincent Persichetti, and Peter Mennin: Voices of Stone and Steel, Walter Simmons provides a thorough examination of the lives and work of these artists, clarifying their considerable individuality both as composers and as human beings. The book begins with a comprehensive introduction summarizing the conventional view of the history of American music, while noting the marginalization of traditionalist composers—those who preferred to work with the musical forms and developmental principles on which the body of Western classical music is based. In the chapters that follow, each composer is presented through a brief overview and a biographical essay, followed by a general description of his style. Extensively researched and including detailed discussions and insights, the sections include lists of the composer's "most representative, fully realized works" and then provide systematic overviews of most or all of their compositions, giving the reader a general understanding of the artist and his work. The overviews contain a description of each composition, information concerning first performance and first recording, excerpts from reviews as well as Simmons' own critical assessment of each, and a statement of its place within the composer's output as a whole. A selected bibliography and essential discography follows at the end of each chapter.

"Here is the remarkable story of a New Yorker who heard his first orchestral concert at the age of 20, ten years later received the first award given by the New York Music Critics' Circle for a symphony, and five years after that was appointed president of one of the largest music conservatories in the world. It is the story of a man who suddenly found that what he wanted more than anything else was to compose music that would endure and who crammed into a few short years as much study as many composers require a third of a lifetime for. But William Schuman is not only one of the most distinguished composers this country has produced. He is an eminent educator, a first-rate administrator, and a powerful, progressive force in the creative and educational aspects of musical life in America. How Schuman rose from an unknown youth who supplied material for night-club acts to his present high position is told in these pages. The book also contains a sound and penetrating study of Schuman's music that examines every aspect of his style and analyzes in detail several of his most representative compositions."--Jacket

"Read about the creation of people according to the Popol Vuh, the origin of the sun, moon, world, music, and four other important myths"--Provided by publisher

For slightly over two decades, the College Band Directors National Association published the CBDNA Journal, a research outlet for all types of subjects of interest to the membership. Following cessation of activities in 2002, Michael Votta, Jr., the Journal's most recent editor, assembled representative articles on composers and their works, historical research and composition analysis investigations, and produced this fine collection of writings. As a source of well-constructed research by some of the country's leading musicians, it fills a much needed place in everyone's library.