Avery Claflin (January 21, 1898 - January 9, 1979) was an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, although he studied law and

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

, later pursuing a career in

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

. He served as president for the French American Banking Corp. He took music courses at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Among Claflin's teachers was the French composer Erik Satie. Claflin was a business associate of

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, actuary and businessman. Ives was among the earliest renowned American composers to achieve recognition on a global scale. His music was largely ignored d ...

. Although he worked in business, Claflin found time to compose music and be active in various musical organizations. He retired in 1954, and he composed many of his works after this date. Among his works is a madrigal, ''Lament for April 15,'' which uses as its text instructions for an

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

tax form. This choral work received its premiere in 1955 at Tanglewood, in Berkshire County,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. Every year on April 15, Karl Haas, musician, conductor, and radio host, played a recording of this composition on his public radio program, '' Adventures in Good Music''.

External links

Avery Claflin scores
(the composer's manuscripts) in th
Music Division
o

* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV31NFuwu5w Avery Claflin: Piano Concerto (1956-1957) -- Orchestra: Gísli Magnússon, piano with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, William Strickland conductor 1898 births 1979 deaths Harvard University alumni American male classical composers Avery American bankers 20th-century American classical composers 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American male musicians {{US-business-bio-1890s-stub