William Schuman
20th Century · 1910–1992
William Schuman started out writing pop songs. Born in New York City in 1910, he collaborated as a teenager with the future Broadway lyricist Frank Loesser and was heading for a business career until, at nineteen, he heard the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall and decided on the spot to become a serious composer. He caught up fast: in 1943 his cantata A Free Song won the first Pulitzer Prize ever given for music.
He was equally consequential as an administrator. As president of the Juilliard School from 1945 he rebuilt its curriculum and founded the Juilliard String Quartet, and in 1962 he became president of Lincoln Center, leading it through its opening years. Through it all he kept composing: ten symphonies in a bold, brassy, unmistakably American orchestral voice.
Start with the New England Triptych, three orchestral pieces built on hymn tunes by William Billings, a composer of America's revolutionary era.
26 works in the catalog, across 4 genres. Log what you listen to with Opus, the classical music journal for iPhone.
Chamber
- Prelude for a Great Occasion, for brass and percussion
Orchestral
- New England Triptych 3 pieces for orchestra
- American Festival Overture
- American Hymn: Variations for Orchestra
- A Prayer in Time of War
- A Song of Orpheus: Fantasy for Cello and Orchestra
- Chester: Overture for Band
- Circus Overture
- George Washington Bridge, for concert band
- Symphony no. 3
- Symphony no. 4
- Symphony no. 5, "Symphony for Strings"
- Symphony no. 6
- Symphony no. 7
- Symphony no. 8
- Symphony no. 9
- Symphony no. 10, "American Muse"
- The Orchestra Song
- Violin Concerto
Stage
- A Question of Taste Opera
- Judith, "choreographic poem"
- Night Journey Ballet
- The Mighty Casey: Baseball Opera in 3 Scenes
Vocal
- 3 Carols of Death, for chorus
- A Free Song, Secular Cantata no. 2
- Orpheus with His Lute, for voice and piano
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