Orpheus in Manhattan

Composer William Schuman won the first Pulitzer Prize in Music. He was president of the Juilliard School of Music and founded the Juilliard String Quartet while there. He was the first president of Lincoln Center. His composing credits include eight symphonies, six choral works, five ballets and two operas. In his new biography of Schuman from Oxford University Press, music professor steve swayne draws on the composer’s personal papers (housed in the New York Public Library), previously unknown letters and writings, unpublished scores and recordings to write a book Library Journal says “reflects on the cultural, social, and political achievements of a musical giant.” swayne tells us more.

Why did you want to write about Schuman?

There was a need to write this book because there was no major scholarly work that dealt with Schuman, and he was a major force in American music of the 20th century.

What was the most surprising thing about Schuman you discovered?

I was not anticipating finding as many connections between Schuman and Dartmouth as i found. There are folders of materials marked “Dartmouth College” among schuman’s papers. he was the inaugural speaker for the Hopkins Center. He was on the board of overseers for the Hop, and he almost received a commission from the Hop for a work.

If someone doesn’t know Schuman’s work, what is the first piece to listen to?

Probably the Third Symphony from 1941—it was his breakthrough work. it has in it all of the features that one finds throughout his—we’ll use the fancy word here—oeuvre. It is a compendium of Schumanesque writing, and it’s a lot of fun.

can you tell us more about the book’s title?

In 1944 Schuman was asked to provide incidental music for a Broadway production of William shakespeare’s Henry VIII. The production was stillborn, but he wrote some pieces for it including a song, “Orpheus with his lute,” which he later drew from to make other, larger compositions. As for Manhattan, schuman was born there, and he’s among a handful of American composers about whom that can be said.

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Amount of the endowment (8 percent) invested in funds owned or managed by current and former members of the board of trustees, according to the Valley News. $224