Avo Sõmer (June 27, 1934 – May 30, 2024) was an Estonian-born American

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

, music theorist and

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 ...

of Estonian birth. Sõmer was born in Estonia. He emigrated from Estonia with his parents in 1944, when he was ten years old, first to Germany and then to the United States. He had already begun playing the piano as a child in Pärnu. In Germany he took some piano lessons and instruction in theory, and began to compose, but systematic instruction in music came only later. He majored in music education, piano performance, and composition at

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 375 programs. It is Michigan's third-l ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, followed by graduate studies at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

where, in 1957, he earned an M. A. with a thesis on

Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considere ...

's madrigals, and then, in 1963, a PhD with a dissertation "The Keyboard Music of

Johann Jakob Froberger Johann Jakob Froberger ( baptized 19 May 1616 – 7 May 1667) was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. Among the most famous composers of the era, he was influential in developing the musical form of the suite of dance ...

". In 1962 he joined the faculty of the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

, where he remained until his retirement in 2000. Since that time he has increased his activity as a writer, and has spoken at conferences in Estonia on the music of

Eduard Tubin Eduard Tubin ( – 17 November 1982) was an Estonian composer, conductor, and choreographer. Life Tubin was born in Torila, Tartu County, Governorate of Livonia, then part of the Russian Empire. Both his parents were music lovers, and his fath ...

, twentieth-century music in general, and the theories of

Heinrich Schenker Heinrich Schenker (19 June 1868 – 14 January 1935) was an Austrian music theory, music theorist #Theoretical writings, whose writings have had a profound influence on subsequent musical analysis. His approach, now termed Schenkerian analysis ...

. He is best known for his analytical publications on early twentieth-century music, especially that of

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

and the Estonian symphonist, Eduard Tubin, though his unpublished Ph. D. dissertation remains a respected work among Froberger researchers. As a composer, Sõmer participated in

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

's composition studio at the Darmstädter Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in 1967, contributing the

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

part to '' Ensemble''. He says this was a "significant moment" for him, but "mainly in a negative sense," because it made him realize he did not wish to continue with avant-garde music. Instead, he adopted a style close to that of the late works of

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...

, with just a glimpse of the string quartets of

Elliott Carter Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer who was one of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century. He combined elements of European modernism and American " ...

. Sõmer died on May 30, 2024, at the age of 89.

Musicological and analytical works

*1957. "The Madrigals of Monteverdi: A Study of Changing Styles and Forms." M. A. Thesis. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan. *1963. "The Keyboard Music of Johann Jakob Froberger." Ph. D. diss. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan. *1995. "Chromatic Third-Relations and Tonal Structure in the Songs of Debussy." ''Music Theory Spectrum'' 17, No. 2. (Autumn,): 215–41. *1999. "Imagery, digression, and coherence in ''Etude pour les agréments'' of Debussy." In ''A Composition as a Problem'' 2, edited by Mart Humal, 93–108. Tallinn: Eesti Muusikaakadeemia. *2000. "Süntaktilised kujundid Debussy sonaatides" yntactical structures in Debussy's sonatas In ''Töid muusikateooria alalt'' 1, edited by Mart Humal, 61–90. Tallinn: Scripta Musicalia. *2001. "'Leinalaulu teisenemised': Tonaalsed kujundid atonaalsel heliväljal Eduard Tubina Kaheksandas sümfoonias" Metamorphoses of Grief": Tonal Figures in an Atonal Field in the Symphony No. 8 of Tubin ''Rahvusvahelise Eduard Tubina Ühingu aastaraamat'' 1. *2003. "Orpheus ja Pierrot: 20. sajandi algusaastate uue muusika tahke" rpheus and Pierrot: Aspects of Early Twentieth-Century Music ''Akadeemia'' no. 3:565–86. *2003. "Lyricism and sentence formation in the earlier symphonies of Eduard Tubin." ''Rahvusvahelise Eduard Tubina Ühingu Aastaraamat''/ ''Yearbook of the International Eduard Tubin Society'' 3, pp. 49–58. Tallinn: International Eduard Tubin Society. *2004. "Fantasque, ironique: An interpretation of the "Serenade" of Debussy's

Cello Sonata A cello sonata is piece written sonata form, often with the instrumentation of a cello taking solo role with piano accompaniment. Some of the earliest cello sonatas were composed in the 18th century by Francesco Geminiani and Antonio Vivaldi, and ...

." In ''A Composition as a Problem'' 4, no. 1, edited by Mart Humal. Tallinn: Eesti Muusikaakadeemia. *2004. "Muusika loomise ja analüüsi seostest" elationships between composing and analyzing the music. In ''Mõeldes muusikast: Sissevaateid muusikateadusesse'' houghts on music: Insights into musicology edited by Jaan Ross and Kaire Maimets, 191–207. Tallinn: Varrak. *2005. "Musical Syntax in the Sonatas of Debussy: Phrase Structure and Formal Function". ''Music Theory Spectrum''.27, no. 1 (Spring): 67–96
abstract
*2006. "Interpreting Thematic Reprise and Transformation in Late Debussy." Paper presented at the Fifth International Conference on Music Theory, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, September 28–30.

Compositions (selective list)

*Concertino, for flute, clarinet, bassoon, piano, percussion, violin, and cello (1964) *''Refrains: Light and air'', for flute and clarinet (1966) *''Ensemble'', oboe part in a collaborative composition, supervised by Karlheinz Stockhausen, for 12 instruments, tapes, and live electronics (1967) *''Elegy II'', for string quartet and piano (1969) *Eight Preludes, for piano (1974) *Four Preludes, for piano (1975) *''Tableau I'', for flute and piano (1975) *''Tableau II'', for flute and piano (1975)

Citations and references

Cited sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Somer, Avo 1934 births American male classical composers American classical composers 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers Wayne State University alumni University of Michigan alumni University of Connecticut faculty Estonian emigrants to the United States People from Pärnu Estonian musicologists Estonian World War II refugees Pupils of Karlheinz Stockhausen 20th-century Estonian composers 21st-century Estonian composers 21st-century American composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 2024 deaths