Bernard Rogers (4 February 1893 – 24 May 1968) was an American composer. His best known work is ''The Passion'', an oratorio written in 1942.

Life and career

Rogers was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He studied with

Arthur Farwell Arthur Farwell (April 23, 1872 – January 20, 1952) was an American composer, conductor, educationalist, lithographer, esoteric savant, and music publisher. Interested in American Indian music, he became associated with the Indianist movement ...

Ernest Bloch Ernest Bloch (; ; July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer. Bloch was a preeminent artist in his day, and left a lasting legacy. He is recognized as one of the greatest Swiss composers in history. Several of his most no ...

Percy Goetschius Percy Goetschius (August 10, 1853 – October 29, 1943) was an American composer, music theorist, and teacher who won international fame in the teaching of composition and music theory. Career Goetschius was born in Paterson, New Jersey. As a y ...

, and

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher, conductor and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organis ...

. He taught at the

Cleveland Institute of Music The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) is a private music conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. The school was founded in 1920 by a group of supporters led by Martha Bell Sanders and Mary Hutchens Smith, with Ernest Bloch serving as its first dire ...

The Hartt School The Hartt School is the performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford, a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1920 by Julius Hartt and Moshe Paranov, Hartt has been part of the University of Hartford since it ...

, and the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the ...

. His pupils included

Stephen Albert Stephen Joel Albert (6 February 1941 – 27 December 1992) was an American composer. He is best known for his Pulitzer Prize winning Symphony No. 1 (Albert), Symphony No. 1 ''RiverRun'' (1983) and his Cello Concerto (Albert), Cello Concerto (19 ...

Dominick Argento Dominick Argento (October 27, 1927 – February 20, 2019) was an American composer known for his lyric operatic and choral music. Among his best known pieces are the operas '' Postcard from Morocco'', '' Miss Havisham's Fire'', ''The Masque of An ...

Jacob Avshalomov Jacob Avshalomov (March 28, 1919 – April 25, 2013) was a composer and conductor. Early life and education Jacob Avshalomov was born on March 28, 1919, in Tsingtao, China. Note: Profile by David Campbell. His father was Aaron Avshalomov, th ...

William Bergsma William Laurence Bergsma (April 1, 1921 – March 18, 1994) was an American composer and teacher. He was long associated with Juilliard School, where he taught composition, until he moved to the University of Washington as head of their music ...

, David Borden,

Will Gay Bottje Will Gay Bottje (June 30, 1925; Grand Rapids, Michigan - January 7, 2018; Grand Rapids, Michigan) was an American composer known for his contributions to electronic music. Bottje was a graduate of the Juilliard School (Bachelor of Music in flute ...

, David Diamond, Walter Hartley, Ronald Lo Presti,

Ulysses Kay Ulysses Simpson Kay (January 7, 1917 in Tucson, Arizona – May 20, 1995 in Englewood, New Jersey) was an American composer. His music is mostly neoclassical in style. Life and career Kay, the nephew of the classic jazz musician King Oliver, stu ...

, Louis Mennini, John La Montaine, W. Francis McBeth, Ron Nelson, Burrill Phillips,

Gardner Read Gardner Read (January 2, 1913 in Evanston, Illinois – November 10, 2005 in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts) was an American composer and musical scholar. His first musical studies were in piano and organ, and he also took lessons in coun ...

, H. Owen Reed, Margaret Vardell Sandresky, Robert Ward,

John Weinzweig John Jacob Weinzweig (March 11, 1913 – August 24, 2006) was a composer, teacher, and advocate of contemporary Canadian concert music. Born in Toronto, Weinzweig went to Harbord Collegiate Institute, then studied music at the University of Tor ...

, Norma Wendelburg, Richard Lane, Clifton Williams and

Laurence Rosenthal Laurence Rosenthal (born November 4, 1926) is an American composer, arranger, and conductor for theater, television, film, and the concert hall. Biography Born in Detroit, Michigan, Rosenthal attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N ...

among others. He joined the Eastman faculty in 1929.(5 May 1967)
Bernard Rogers Plans to Retire
''

Democrat and Chronicle The ''Democrat and Chronicle'' is a daily newspaper serving the greater Rochester, New York, area. Headquartered at 245 East Main Street in downtown Rochester, the ''Democrat and Chronicle'' operates under the ownership of Gannett. The paper's ...

'', p. 15 (paywall) He composed five

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s, five

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

, other works for

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

, three

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

choral music A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

and

Lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

er. His one-act opera "The Warrior," for which

Norman Corwin Norman Lewis Corwin (May 3, 1910 – October 18, 2011) was an American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher of journalism and writing. His earliest and biggest successes were in the writing and directing of radio drama during th ...

wrote the libretto, received its premiere at The Metropolitan Opera on January 11, 1947. He was a National Patron of

Delta Omicron Delta Omicron () is a co-ed international professional music honors fraternity whose mission is to promote and support excellence in music and musicianship. History Delta Omicron International Music Fraternity was founded on September 6, 1909 a ...

, an international professional music fraternity.Delta Omicron
Rogers retired from Eastman in 1967. He died in Rochester on May 24, 1968, two days after a heart attack.(25 May 1968)

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', p. 35 (paywall)(25 February 1993)
Eastman Wind Ensemble remembers Bernard Rogers
''The Greece Post'' (

Greece, New York Greece is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States. A contiguous suburb of Rochester, it is the largest town by population in Monroe County and the second-largest municipality by population in the county, behind only the city of Roche ...

), p. 23(25 May 1968)
Bernard Rogers Dies, Composer, Teacher
''

'', p. 14 (paywall)

Notable students

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Bernard Rogers' page at Theodore Presser CompanyBernard Rogers Collection
at Eastman School of Music {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Bernard 1893 births 1968 deaths 20th-century American classical composers Cleveland Institute of Music faculty University of Hartford Hartt School faculty Eastman School of Music faculty Pupils of Percy Goetschius Pupils of Ernest Bloch Composers from New York City Jewish American classical composers American opera composers American male opera composers Classical musicians from New York (state) 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American Jews