Philip Thomas Bezanson (January 6, 1916 – March 11, 1975) was an American composer and educator.

Life

Born in

Athol, Massachusetts Athol (, ) is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,945 at the 2020 census. History Originally called Pequoiag when settled by Native Americans, the area was subsequently settled by five families in ...

, Philip Bezanson graduated from Yale University School of Music in 1940. Following military service, he enrolled in the graduate program of musical composition at the

State University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 colleges offer ...

. He joined its faculty in 1948 and received his PhD there in 1951. In 1954, Bezanson was appointed head of the program in musical composition, and in 1961, was made a full professor. In 1964, Dr. Bezanson was appointed to the faculty and named head of the Music Department of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He held the latter post until 1973 when he returned to full-time teaching at the University for the last two years of his life. An influential educator and composer, Philip Bezanson helped guide the Department of Music at UMass Amherst through its period of rapid expansion in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Dr. Bezanson was active as a composer, particularly from 1946 through 1975, and he received several awards, including the prestigious Fromm Foundation award for his Piano Sonata in 1953. A prolific and productive composer, Bezanson won several prestigious awards and received commissions from, among others,

Dimitri Mitropoulos Dimitri Mitropoulos (; – 2 November 1960) was a Greek and American conductor, pianist, and composer. Life and career Mitropoulos was born in Athens, the son of Yannis and Angelikē (Angeliki) Mitropoulos. His father owned a leather goods s ...

, who commissioned a

piano concerto A piano concerto, a type of concerto, is a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for piano accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuosic showpieces which require an advance ...

in 1952. His most famous work is perhaps the opera ''Golden Child'', written in 1960 to a libretto by

Paul Engle Paul Hamilton Engle (October 12, 1908 – March 22, 1991), was an American poet, editor, teacher, literary critic, novelist, and playwright. He is remembered as the long-time director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and as co-founder of the Intern ...

. The work was commissioned by the

NBC Opera Theatre The NBC Opera Theatre (sometimes mistakenly spelled NBC Opera Theater and sometimes referred to as the NBC Opera Company) was an American opera company operated by the National Broadcasting Company from 1949 to 1964. The company was established spe ...

and first performed on television on the ''

Hallmark Hall of Fame ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'', originally called ''Hallmark Television Playhouse'', is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas Citybased greeting card company. It is the longest-ru ...

'' program. Several of his vocal and choral works use texts by Engle as well. His notable students included Olly Wilson, M. William Karlins, Karen Tarlow, Bruce MacCombie,

Fred Tillis Frederick Charles Tillis (January 5, 1930 – May 3, 2020) was an American composer, jazz saxophonist, poet, and music educator at the collegiate level. Early life Growing up Born in Galveston, Texas on January 5, 1930, Frederick Tillis was ra ...

, and

James Yannatos James Yannatos (March 13, 1929 – October 19, 2011) was a composer, conductor, violinist and teacher. He was a senior lecturer at Harvard University until his retirement in 2009.

. Dr. Bezanson received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1971 and a Distinguished Alumni Award from Yale in 1974. The Bezanson Recital Hall in the Fine Arts Center of the University of Massachusetts Campus is named in his honor. The musical manuscripts for 46 of his 47 extant compositions are housed in the Special Collections & University Archives of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Voice and instrumental parts for at least one of Dr. Bezanson’s works are in the Music Library of the University of Iowa. His music is published by the American Composers Alliance.

List of works

Stage Works

* ''Golden Child'', opera in 3 acts (1960) * ''Stranger in Eden'', opera in 3 acts (1963)

Orchestral Works

* ''Symphony no 1 in b'' * ''Symphony no 2'' * ''Cyrano de Bergerac'', overture * ''Dance scherzo for small orchestra'' * ''Fantasy, fugue and finale for strings'' (1951) * ''Concerto for piano and orchestra'' (1952) * ''Rondo-prelude for orchestra'' (1954) * ''Anniversary Overture'' (1956) * ''Capriccio Concertante'' (1967) * ''Concertino for Oboe and String Orchestra'' (1969) * ''Sinfonia Concertante'' (1971)

Chamber Works

* ''Sextet for woodwinds and piano'' (1956) * ''Divertimento for eight wind instruments'' * ''Duo for cello and piano'' (1965) * ''Divertimento for organ, brass, and timpani'' (1966) * ''Diversion for brass trio'' (1967) * ''Five miniatures for clarinet & cello'' (1969) * ''Four Bagatelles for Violin and Piano'' (1969) * ''Brass sextet'' (1974)

Vocal Works

* ''Contrasts for voice and piano'' (1966) * ''Dies Domini Magnus'' (1971)

Solo Instrument Works

* ''Children's Suite for Piano'' (1946) * ''Four Piece for Carol for Piano'' * ''Church Sonatina for Organ'' (1946)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bezanson, Philip 1916 births 1975 deaths 20th-century American classical composers People from Athol, Massachusetts Yale School of Music alumni University of Iowa alumni University of Iowa faculty American male classical composers Classical musicians from Massachusetts 20th-century American male musicians