George Theophilus Walker (June 27, 1922 – August 23, 2018) was an American composer, pianist, and organist, and the first African American to win the
Pulitzer Prize for Music
The Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of seven Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually in Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first given in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year, and this was eventually converted ...
, which he received for his work ''
Lilacs'' in 1996.
[De Lerma, Dominique-Rene]
"African Heritage Symphonic Series"
Liner note essay. Cedille Records CDR061. Walker was married to pianist and scholar
Helen Walker-Hill
Helen Walker-Hill (née Siemens; May 26, 1936 – August 8, 2013) was a Canadian pianist and musicologist who specialised in the music of black women composers.
Walker-Hill was married to the composer George Walker from 1960 to 1975. The mar ...
(May 26, 1936 – August 8, 2013) between 1960 and 1975. Walker was the father of two sons, violinist and composer
Gregory T.S. Walker
Gregory T.S. Walker (born October 19, 1961) is an American composer, violinist, and guitarist. He was the recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Fellowship in 2000, and has performed with major orchestras around the wor ...
and playwright
Ian Walker.
Biography
Walker was first exposed to music at the age of five when he began to play the piano. He was admitted to the
Oberlin Conservatory at 14, and later to the
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on full scholarship.
...
to study piano with
Rudolf Serkin, chamber music with
William Primrose
William Primrose CBE (23 August 19041 May 1982) was a Scottish violist and teacher. He performed with the London String Quartet from 1930 to 1935. He then joined the NBC Symphony Orchestra where he formed the Primrose Quartet. He performed ...
and
Gregor Piatigorsky
Gregor Piatigorsky (, ''Grigoriy Pavlovich Pyatigorskiy''; August 6, 1976) was a Russian Empire-born American cellist.
Biography
Early life
Gregor Piatigorsky was born in Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipro, Ukraine) into a Jewish family. As a child, h ...
, and composition with
Rosario Scalero, teacher of
Samuel Barber
Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. The music critic Donal Henahan said, "Proba ...
. He received his doctorate from the
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman.
It offers Bachelor of Music ...
at the
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...
. Walker taught at
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and wa ...
in New Jersey for several years, retiring in 1992.
Walker's first major orchestral work was the ''Address for Orchestra''. His ''
Lyric for Strings'' is his most performed orchestral work. He composed many works including five sonatas for piano, a mass, cantata, many songs, choral works, organ pieces, sonatas for cello and piano, violin and piano and viola and piano, a
brass quintet and a
woodwind quintet. He published over 90 works and received commissions from the
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...
,
Boston Symphony,
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra, based in Cleveland, is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Seve ...
,
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscripti ...
, and many other ensembles. He was the recipient of six honorary doctoral degrees.
Walker was the father of two sons, violinist and composer Gregory Walker, and playwright
Ian Walker. He died on August 23, 2018 in
Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair () is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New Yor ...
at the age of 96.
Awards and recognition
In 1996, Walker became the first black composer to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his work, ''Lilacs'' for voice and orchestra, premiered by the Boston Symphony,
Seiji Ozawa
Seiji (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or in hiragana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
*, Japanese ski jumper
*, Japanese racing driver
*, Japanese politician
*, Japanese film directo ...
conducting. Washington, D.C. Mayor
Marion Barry
Marion Shepilov Barry (born Marion Barry Jr.; March 6, 1936 – November 23, 2014) was an American politician who served as the second and fourth mayor of the District of Columbia from 1979 to 1991 and 1995 to 1999. A Democrat, Barry had serve ...
proclaimed June 17, 1997, as "George Walker Day" in the nation's capital.
In 1997, Walker was awarded the
Order of the Long Leaf Pine by
North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt
James Baxter Hunt Jr. (born May 16, 1937) is an American politician and retired attorney who was the 69th and 71st Governor of North Carolina (1977–1985, and 1993–2001). He is the longest-serving governor in the state's history.
Hunt is t ...
.
In 1998, he received the Composers Award from the Lancaster Symphony and the letter of Distinction from the American Music Center for "his significant contributions to the field of contemporary American Music". He was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headq ...
in 1999. The following year, George Walker was inducted into the
American Classical Music Hall of Fame.
alker Autobiography, p. 164
Over the next several years, he received the Dorothy Maynor Outstanding Arts Citizen Award (2000), Classical Roots Award from the Detroit Symphony (2001), the A.I. Dupont Award from the Delaware Symphony (2002) the Washington Music Hall of Fame (2002), and the Aaron Copland ASCAP Award (2012). He was the recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships,
[Scarlet Letter 1924 (Rutgers University yearbook), Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.] two Rockefeller Fellowships,
a
Fromm Foundation commission, two Koussevitsky Awards, and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, as well as honorary doctorate degrees from Lafayette College (1982), Oberlin College (1983), Bloomfield College (1996), Montclair State University(1997), Curtis Institute of Music (1997), Spelman College (2001), and the Eastman School of Music where he gave the Commencement Address (2012).
His autobiography, ''Reminiscences of an American Composer and Pianist'', was released in 2009 by Scarecrow Press.
Music
Walker's music was influenced by a wide variety of musical styles including jazz, folk songs, and church hymns, as well as classical music.
Unwilling to conform to a specific style, Walker drew from his diverse knowledge of previous music to create something which he could call his own. While a work such as ''Spatials for Piano'' uses twelve-tone serial techniques, Walker could also compose in the style of popular music such as in his song “Leaving.” According to Mickey Terry, traces of old black spirituals can also be found in his Violin Sonata No. 2.
D. Maxine Sims has stated that Walker's piano technique is also reflected in his works, such as his ''Piano Sonata No. 2''. This sonata contains changing meters,
syncopation
In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "plac ...
, and
bitonal writing which all present great challenges for a performer to overcome. BBC Radio 3 devoted five hours to Walker's music as "Composer of the Week" in October, 2021.
Major compositions
Walker's ''
oeuvre
Oeuvre(s) or Œuvre(s) may refer to:
* A work of art; or, more commonly, the body of work of a creator
Books
* ''L'Œuvre'', a novel by Émile Zola
* ''Œuvres'', a work by Emil Cioran
* ''Œuvres'', a work by Auguste Brizeux
* ''Oeuvres'', a wor ...
'' includes the following works:
* ''A Red, Red Rose for Voice and Piano''
* ''Abu for Narrator and Chamber Ensembles'' (Network for New Music commission)
* ''Address for Orchestra''
* ''An Eastman Overture'' (Eastman School of Music commission)
* ''Antifonys for Chamber Orchestra''
* ''Bleu for Unaccompanied Violin''
* ''Cantata for Soprano, Tenor, Boys Choir, and Chamber Orchestra'' (Boys Choir of Harlem commission)
* ''Canvas for Wind Ensemble and Narrator'' (College Band Directors National Association commission)
* ''Cello Concerto'' (New York Philharmonic commission)
* ''Concerto for Piano and Orchestra'' (National Endowment for the Arts Commission)
* ''Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra'' (1957)
* ''Concerto for Violin and Orchestra''
* ''Da Camera'' (Musica Reginae commission)
* ''Dialogus for Cello and Orchestra'' (Cleveland Orchestra commission)
* ''Emily Dickinson Songs''
* ''Five Fancies for Clarinet and Piano Four Hands'' (David Ensemble commission)
* ''Foils for Orchestra (Hommage a Saint George'') (Eastman School of Music commission)
* ''Folk Songs for Orchestra''
* ''Guido's Hand'' (Xerox commission)
* ''Hommage to Saint George'' (Eastman School of Music commission)
* ''Hoopla: A Touch of Glee''
* ''Icarus In Orbit''
* ''In Praise of Folly''
* ''
Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra''
* ''
Lyric for Strings''
* ''Mass for Soloists, Chorus, and Orchestra'' (National Endowment for the Arts commission)
* ''Modus'' (Cygnus Ensemble commission)
* ''Movements for Cello and Orchestra''
* ''Music for 3''
* ''Music for Brass (Sacred and Profane)''
* ''Music for Two Pianos''
* ''Nine Songs for Voice and Piano''
* ''Orpheus for Narrator and Chamber Orchestra''
* ''Overture: In Praise of Folly''
* ''Pageant and Proclamation'' (New Jersey Symphony commission)
* ''Perimeters for Clarinet and Piano''
* ''Piano Sonata No. 1''
* ''Piano Sonata No. 2''
* ''Piano Sonata No. 3''
* ''Piano Sonata No. 4''
* ''Piano Sonata No. 5''
* ''Poem for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble'' (National Endowment for the Arts commission)
* ''Poeme for Violin and Orchestra'' (Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra premiere)
* ''Psalms for Chorus''
* ''Serenata for Chamber Orchestra'' (Michigan Chamber Orchestra commission)
* ''Sinfonia No. 1'' (Fromm Foundation commission)
* ''Sinfonia No. 2'' (Koussevitsky commission)
* ''Sinfonia No. 3''
* ''Sinfonia No. 4''
* ''Sinfonia No. 5 "Visions"'' (two versions, one with voices and one without)
*''Sonata for Cello and Piano''
* ''Sonata for Two Pianos''
* ''Sonata for Viola and Piano''
* ''Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1''
* ''Spatials for Piano''
* ''Spektra for Piano''
* ''Spires for Organ''
* ''String Quartet No. 1''
* ''String Quartet No. 2''
* ''Tangents for Chamber Orchestra'' (Columbus Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra commission)
* ''Three Pieces for Organ''
* ''Two Pieces for Organ''
* ''Variations for Orchestra''
* ''Violin and Piano Sonata No. 2''
* ''Windset for Woodwind Quintet''
References
External links
George Walker official website A 2017 Conversation with George Walker (includes video excerpts)2012 George Walker interview by Ethan Iversonat AfriClassical.com
George Walker, ComposerDocumentary produced by
NJTVGeorge Walker Collectionat the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library
'Ep. 35: Legendary Pulitzer Prize winning American composer George Walker'Interview by Tigran Arakelyan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, George
1922 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American composers
20th-century American male musicians
20th-century classical composers
African-American classical composers
American classical composers
African-American male classical composers
American male classical composers
Curtis Institute of Music alumni
Eastman School of Music alumni
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Oberlin College alumni
Pulitzer Prize for Music winners
Pupils of Rosario Scalero
Albany Records artists
20th-century African-American musicians
21st-century African-American people
Musicians from Washington, D.C.