Daniel Felsenfeld (born January 5, 1970) is a

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 ...

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is Western art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st-century classical music, 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 Modernism (music), post-tonal music after the death of ...

and a writer.

Biography

Felsenfeld was born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, raised primarily in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

and currently resides in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

with his wife, writer Elizabeth Isadora Gold, and child August. He attended the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

where he got his undergraduate degree in

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

. He did his Masters and Doctoral work at the

New England Conservatory The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

where he studied with Arthur Berger and

Lee Hyla Lee Hyla (August 31, 1952 – June 6, 2014) was an American classical music composer from Niagara Falls, New York. He received the Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for ...

. He is a composer and is also an author, having written three books published by Amadeus Press as well as hundreds of articles. In 2007 a "Talk of the Town" piece in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' magazine noted several writers whom Felsenfeld met at the

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The program was founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDo ...

who used his last name in their novels.New Yorker article about the Felsenfeld meme
/ref>

Music

Orchestral music

*''The

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

Soul Symphony'' (2008, with Larry Gold) for orchestra, chorus, rock band, and four soul singers *''Insomnia Redux; 4am'' (2005) for

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

*''Thursday Night

Overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") is a music instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overtures which ...

'' (1999) for

chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

*''The Bridge'' (2003) for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

and chamber orchestra *''Summer and All it Brings'' (2002) solo cantata for soprano, narrator and chamber orchestra *''Busmeat: A Parable'' (1998) for orchestra *''Nicotine Sinfonietta'' (1997 for chamber orchestra *''Bad Coffee Serenade'' (1994) concerto for

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and chamber orchestra

Opera

*''Exposure'' (2020) for two

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

and

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

by Bea Goodwin *''The Last of Manhattan'' (2004) for singers and chamber ensemble, libretto by

Ernest Hilbert Ernest Hilbert (born 1970) is an American poet, critic, opera librettist, and editor. Biography Ernest Hilbert was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, and grew up in South Jersey. He graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's d ...

*''Summer and All it Brings'' (2002) for soprano, narrator,

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

and

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

, libretto by Ernest Hilbert *''Thursday Night: Suite from an Abandoned Opera'' (1999) for singers and chamber orchestra

Chamber music

*"''You.Have.No.Idea''" (2009–10) for string quartet *''All Work and No Play'' (2007) for

piccolo The piccolo ( ; ) is a smaller version of the western concert flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or piccolo flute, the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the ...

and piano *''Life Shrinks'' (2007) for piano, cello and percussion—music for dance *''Living Room Suite'' (2006) for

string trio A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. From at least the 19th century on, the term "string trio" with otherwise unspecified instrumentation normally refers to the combination violin, viola and cello ...

*''For Stephanie'' (2006) for string quartet *''First Scenes from Red Room'' (2006) for violin and piano *''From Maldoror'' (2003) for flute, oboe, piano and narrator *''I Conquered Egypt'' (2000) for piano trio *''Let Me Out'' (1999) for

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

, cello and

*''Live ‘Til Twilight'' (1999) for cello and piano *''Fast Living'' (1999) for cello and percussion *''Cultivating Cool'' (1999) for flute, clarinet, trumpet, piano, percussion and double bass *''Smoking My Diploma'' (1998) for

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, ...

, cello and piano *''Looking for Funny Dog'' (1998) for flute and organ *''O I LIKE the LIFE that I’m LEADING'' (1997) for flute and piano *''Something Very Serious'' (1995) for violin and piano *''Don’t Call me Sir'' (1994) for

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

and piano *''Bad Coffee Serenade'' (1994) for violin and piano

Solo music

*''Down to You Is Up'', Three Movements for solo piano (1999) *''Air That Kills'' for solo violin (2000) *''A Dirty Little Secret'' for solo piano (2003) *''Insomnia Redux; 4am'' for solo piano (2003) *''Obsession No. 1:

Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...

’s Glasses'' for solo piano (2008) *''The Cohen Variations'' for solo piano (2009) *''Hooked to the Silver Screen'' for solo viola (2011)

Vocal music

*"From Sleepless Nights" (2009) for mezzo-soprano and cello *''In My Craft and Sullen Art'' (2008) for soprano and piano *''The Poet's Dream of Herself as a Young Girl'' (2008) for mezzo-soprano and piano trio *''Fall, Leaves, Fall'' (2007) for soprano and piano *''“Aria” from Magnificat'' (2007) for soprano and piano *''To a Cabaret Dancer'' (2007) for mezzo-soprano and piano *''Dry Sandwiches'' (2007) for soprano and piano *''Lines for Winter'' (2007) for tenor and piano *''You Want a Social Life, With Friends'' (2007) for baritone and piano *''Annus Mirabilis'' (2007) for bass and piano *''True Love'' (2007) for soprano and organ *''The Bridge'' (2003) cycle of five songs for soprano and piano; inspired by the poetry of

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry is noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, ...

and Ernest Hilbert, and ''

The Bridge of San Luis Rey ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' is American author Thornton Wilder's second novel. It was first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, and was the best-selling work of fiction that year. Premise ''The ...

'' by

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'', and a U. ...

*''New Forms of Control'' (2000) for female voices, two synthesizers, and percussion *''I May Never Get Home'' (1999) cycle of seven songs for baritone and piano *''Thank You, Goodnight'' (1999) cycle of five songs for soprano and piano *''L’Envoi'' (1999) for soprano and piano *''Sunday Night'' (1999) for soprano and piano *''Elizabeth Among the Rains'' (1997) cycle of five songs for mezzo-soprano and piano *''From the Letters of Heloise'' (1996) for soprano, clarinet, bass clarinet, percussion and strings *''I Am Saturn'' (1997) cycle of three songs for soprano and piano *''Equals'' (1996) for soprano and string quartet *''Five Songs for Five Friends'' (1995) cycle of five songs for soprano and piano

Choral music

*''Revolutions of Ruin'' (2008) for SATB chorus with soprano and baritone soloists and chamber orchestra *''Manhattan Choruses'' (2004) for SATB chorus and organ

Books

*''

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...

and the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

Tradition'', with Donna Getzinger *''

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

and

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor (music), conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the mid-20th century. Principally influenced ...

: Their Lives and Music'' *''

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

and the Twilight of

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

'', with Donna Getzinger *''

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

and

German Opera Opera in German is that of the German-speaking countries, which include Germany, Austria, and the historic German states that pre-date those countries. German-language opera appeared remarkably quickly after the birth of opera itself in Italy. ...

'' *''

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

and Music for Voices'', with Donna Getzinger *''

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

: A Listener's Guide Book'' *''

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

and the Art of

Baroque Music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Classical music, Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance music, Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Class ...

'' with Donna Getzinger *''

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 ...

and

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Compos ...

—A Listener's Guide''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Felsenfeld, Daniel 1970 births 20th-century American classical composers 21st-century American classical composers American opera composers American male opera composers Living people New England Conservatory alumni Writers from California University of California, Santa Barbara alumni 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians