Vladimir Alexeevich Ussachevsky (November 3, 1911 in
Hailar
Hailar District, formerly a county-level city, is an urban district that serves as the seat of the prefecture-level city Hulunbuir in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Hulunbuir, due to its massive size, is a city in administrative terms onl ...
, China – January 2, 1990 in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
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Film and television
* '' ...
) was a composer, particularly known for his work in
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...
.
Biography
Vladimir Ussachevsky was born in the
Hailar District
Hailar District, formerly a county-level city, is an urban district that serves as the seat of the prefecture-level city Hulunbuir in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Hulunbuir, due to its massive size, is a city in administrative terms o ...
of China, in modern-day
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
to an
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
officer assigned to protect
Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...
interests. He emigrated to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
in 1930 and studied music at
Pomona College
Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became t ...
in
Claremont,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
(B.A., 1935
), as well as at 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. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman.
It offers Bachelor of Music ...
in
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
(M.M., 1936, Ph.D., 1939). Ussachevsky's early, neo-Romantic works were composed for traditional instruments, but in 1951 he began composing electronic music.
[Salzman, Eric]
"Vladimir Ussachevsky: Electronic And Acoustic Works 1957-1972"
Liner notes. New World Records
New World Records is a record label that was established in 1975 through a Rockefeller Foundation grant to celebrate America's bicentennial (1976) by producing a 100-LP anthology, with American music from many genres.American Composers Alliance The American Composers Alliance (ACA) is an American nonprofit composer service organization dedicated to the publishing and promoting of American contemporary classical music. Founded in 1937 by Aaron Copland, Milton Adolphus, Marion Bauer and ot ...
from 1968 to 1970 and was an advisory member of the CRI record label, which released recordings of a number of his compositions. Recordings of his music have also been released on the Capstone, d'Note, and New World labels.
Teaching career
In 1947, following a stint with the U.S. Army Intelligence division in World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, he joined the faculty of Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, teaching there until his retirement in 1980. Together with Otto Luening, Ussachevsky founded, in 1959, the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.ADSR envelope ADSR may refer to:
* ADSR envelope (attack decay sustain release), a common type of music envelope
* Accelerator-driven sub-critical reactor, a nuclear reactor using a particle accelerator to generate a fission reaction in a sub-critical assembly ...
in 1965, a basic component of modern synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
s, samplers and electronic instruments. Ussachevsky also taught and was composer-in-residence at the University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
.
His notable students include Charles Wuorinen
Charles Peter Wuorinen (; June 9, 1938 – March 11, 2020) was an American composer of contemporary classical music based in New York City. He performed his works and other 20th-century music as pianist and conductor.
He composed more than ...
, Alice Shields, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Faye-Ellen Silverman, Charles L. Bestor, Ingram Marshall, Joan Tower, Wendy Carlos
Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos, November 14, 1939) is an American musician and composer best known for her electronic music and film scores. Born and raised in Rhode Island, Carlos studied physics and music at Brown University before moving ...
, Kenjiro Ezaki and Richard Einhorn Richard Einhorn (born 1952) is an American composer of contemporary classical music.
Einhorn graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University in 1975, and studied composition and electronic music with Jack Beeson, Vladimir U ...
.
Discography
"VLADIMIR USSACHEVSKY ELECTRONIC AND ACOUSTIC WORKS 1957–1972". New York: New World Records (80654-2), 2007.
/ref>
*Suite from No Exit (1962)
*Line of Apogee (1967)
References
External links
Art of the States: Vladimir UssachevskyListen to Ussachevsky's "Incantation for Tape" (with Otto Luening) at Acousmata music blog
*CMC (previously known as the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center
history page
The Music of Vladimir Ussachevsky To Explore
October 31, 1987
Vladimir Ussachevsky Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (1987)
Obituary of Ussachevsky
by Robert Moog from the ( Journal of the Audio Engineering Society)
Finding aid to Vladimir Ussachevsky papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ussachevsky, Vladimir
1911 births
1990 deaths
20th-century classical composers
American people of Russian descent
Soviet emigrants to the United States
Pomona College alumni
Pupils of Howard Hanson
Pupils of Bernard Rogers
Pupils of Otto Luening
Russian male classical composers
Russian electronic musicians
Russian experimental musicians
Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)
20th-century Russian male musicians
Expatriates from the Russian Empire in China