Charles Whittenberg (July 6, 1927 – August 22, 1984) 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 ...

and holder of two

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 ...

s. He was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, and graduated from the Eastman School of Music in 1948 with a

Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

in composition and percussion. A

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

resident from 1950, his music has been performed with increasing frequency in major musical centers of the US and Europe. He served as guest lecturer on electronic music and

serial techniques In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...

at the

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the Public university, public university system of the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes six campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, University of Massachusetts Lowell ...

, as an affiliate of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, and Instructor of instrumental techniques at the Summer Institute of

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont, United States. Founded as a women’s college in 1932,

, Vermont. In more recent years he served on the faculty of the University of Connecticut at Storrs. Among his works is an important brass quintet entitled ''Triptych'', commissioned by the American Brass Quintet in 1960. Among his notable students was Talib Rasul Hakim. He died, aged 57, in 1984 in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, from heart disease.

External links

His obituary
at the ''New York Times'' 1927 births 1984 deaths 20th-century American male composers 20th-century American educators Musicians from St. Louis Musicians from Hartford, Connecticut 20th-century American composers Educators from Missouri {{US-composer-20thC-stub