Benjamin Lees (January 8, 1924 – May 31, 2010) 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 ...

of classical music.

Early life

Lees was born Benjamin George Lisniansky in

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

, of

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

descent. Lees was still an infant when his family emigrated to the United States and settled in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He began piano lessons at 5 with Kiva Ihil Rodetsky of San Francisco. When he was seven years old, he became an American citizen. In 1939, he moved with his family to Los Angeles and continued studies in piano with Marguerite Bitter. In his early teens, he studied harmony and theory and began to compose. After serving in the United States military, Lees studied composition under Halsey Stevens, as well as with Kanitz and Ingolf Dahl, at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Composer

George Antheil George Johann Carl Antheil ( ; July 8, 1900 – February 12, 1959) was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author, and inventor whose modernist musical compositions explored the sounds – musical, industrial, and mechanical – of the ear ...

, impressed by Lees' compositions, offered further tutelage; this period lasted four years, at the end of which Lees won a Fromm Foundation Award. Of Antheil, Lees declared: "He changed my life." The receipt of a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 1954 allowed him to live in Europe, realizing his goal of developing his individual style away from current fashions in the American art music scene and resulting in a number of mature and impressive works. Returning to the United States in 1961, he divided his time between composition and teaching at several institutions. These included the

Peabody Conservatory The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a private music and dance conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1857, it became affiliated with Johns Hopkins in 1977. History Philanthropist and ...

(1962–64, 1966–68),

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing. Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...

(1964–66), the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

(1972–74), and the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

(1976–77).O'Loughlin, ''New Grove (2001)'', 14:467.

Compositions

Lees rejected atonalism and

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana music, a genre or style of American music * Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1981 film), an American drama film * ''Americana'' (20 ...

in favor of classical structures. Niall O'Loughlin writes in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', "From an early interest in the bittersweet melodic style of

Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

and the bizarre and surrealist aspects of Bartók's music, he progressed naturally under the unconventional guidance of Antheil." Lees' music is rhythmically active, with frequently changing accents and meter even in his early works, and is known for its semitonal inflections in melody and harmony. In 1954, the

NBC Symphony Orchestra The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, the parent corporation of the National Broadcasting Company especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC ...

performed his ''Profiles for Orchestra'' on a national

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

broadcast.Fox, Margalit. (2010, June 7). ''Benjamin Lees, 86, Versatile Classical Composer''. The New York Times, p A-19 In 1970, ''Medea in Corinth'', his one-act musical drama, was given its premiere at the Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, and was subsequently broadcast by CBS Television in 1974. Other, notable works include Symphony No. 4: ''Memorial Candles'', commissioned by the

Dallas Symphony Orchestra The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Dallas, Texas. Its principal performing venue is the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in the Arts District, Dallas, Arts District of downtown Dallas. History The orchestra tr ...

in 1985 to commemorate the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, and Symphony No. 5: ''Kalmar Nyckel'', written in 1986 to honor the founding of

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

. (''

Kalmar Nyckel was a Swedish ship built by the Dutch famed for carrying Swedish settlers to North America in 1638, to establish the colony of New Sweden. The name comes from the Swedish city of Kalmar and meaning in Swedish. The name was also a tribute to K ...

'' was the name of the ship that first carried the original settlers from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

to what would become Wilmington.) In 1994 ''Echoes of Normandy'' was commissioned by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings. His 1998 Piano Trio no. 2, ''Silent Voices'', written in Palm Springs, is dedicated to the music of émigré Jewish composers.Review of ''Their Voices'', DUX 1889 (2023) at ''MusicWeb International''
/ref> Lees received a

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

nomination for ''Kalmar Nyckel'' in 2003, following release of a recording by the German orchestra

Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz The Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate) is a German orchestra based in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. The orchestra performs concerts principally a ...

under Stephen Gunzenhauser. He lost to

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 ...

Personal life

Lees married Luba Leatrice Banks in 1948. They had one daughter. Lees donated his archive of manuscripts, sketches, scores, letters, photographs, articles, recordings and posters to

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. Shortly before his death at age 86, he emailed that he was, "busy as fleas in a circus". He died in

Glen Cove, New York Glen Cove is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, New York (state), New York, United States. The city's population was 28,3 ...

Awards and honors

*1953: Fromm Foundation Award *1954:

*1955:

Copley Medal The Copley Medal is the most prestigious award of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom, conferred "for sustained, outstanding achievements in any field of science". The award alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the bio ...

*1956:

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

*1958:

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Award, Sir Arnold Bax Society Medal *1966: Guggenheim Fellowship *1985: Lancaster Symphony Orchestra's Composer's Award *2003:

Nomination *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

Discography

* Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra (RCA, conducted by

Igor Buketoff Igor Konstantin Buketoff (29 May 19157 September 2001) was an American conducting, conductor, arranger and teacher. He had a special affinity with Russian classical music and with Sergei Rachmaninoff in particular. He also strongly promoted Unit ...

) * Etudes for Piano & Orchestra (Albany) * Horn Concerto (New World) * Passacaglia for Orchestra (Delos) * Piano Concerto No 1 (Pierian) * Piano Concerto No. 2 (Albany) * Piano Sonata No. 4, Mirrors, Fantasy Variations (Albany) * Piano Trio No. 2: ''Silent Voices'' (Albany, DUX) * ''Prologue, Capriccio and Epilog'' (CRI) * String Quartets Nos. 1, 5 and 6 (Naxos) * Symphonies No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 (Albany) * Symphony No. 4: Memorial Candles (Naxos) * Violin Concerto (VoxBox, EPR) * Violin Sonata No. 2 (Polystone) * Violin Works (Complete) (Albany)

References

* O'Loughlin, Niall. "Lees, Benjamin". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...

and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001), 29 vols. .

Notes

External links

Personal Page

Benjamin Lees @ Boosey & Hawkes

by Bruce Duffie, June 13, 1987 * , WNCN-FM, September 9, 1984 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lees, Benjamin 1924 births 2010 deaths American male classical composers Chinese people of Russian-Jewish descent Chinese emigrants to the United States American people of Russian-Jewish descent Musicians from Palm Springs, California Musicians from Harbin Pupils of George Antheil 20th-century American classical composers 21st-century American classical composers USC Thornton School of Music alumni Peabody Institute faculty Queens College, City University of New York faculty Manhattan School of Music faculty Juilliard School faculty Jewish American classical composers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American Jews