Jacob Raphael Druckman (June 26, 1928 – May 24, 1996) 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 ...

born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Life

A graduate of 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 ...

in 1956, Druckman studied with Vincent Persichetti, Peter Mennin, and Bernard Wagenaar. In 1949 and 1950 he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood and later continued his studies at the École Normale de Musique in Paris (1954–55). He worked extensively with

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

, in addition to a number of works for orchestra or for small ensembles. In 1972 he won the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

for his first large orchestral work, ''

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

''.Keller, James M
"Thomas / Druckman / Harte"
. Liner note essay. New World Records. He was composer-in-residence of the New York Philharmonic from 1982 until 1985. Druckman taught at Juilliard, The Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood,

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

, and

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 ...

, among other appointments. He was Connecticut's State Composer Laureate. Druckman died of lung cancer at age 67 in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

. His music is published by Boosey & Hawkes. He is the father of percussionist Daniel Druckman. The Aspen Music Festival gives out the Jacob Druckman award in his honor each festival season. The reward is given to an up-and-coming composer, who is then commissioned to write a piece to be performed in the next festival season, offering a chance for this new composer to show his or her talents. Notable musicians who recorded his works include David Zinman,

Wolfgang Sawallisch Wolfgang Sawallisch (26 August 1923 – 22 February 2013) was a German conductor and pianist. Biography Wolfgang Sawallisch was born in Munich, the son of Maria and Wilhelm Sawallisch. His father was director of the Hamburg-Bremer-Feuerversich ...

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor :wikt:emeritus, emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father ...

Leonard Slatkin Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer. Early life and education Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...

, Dawn Upshaw, Jan DeGaetani, Dorian Wind Quintet, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the American Brass Quintet.

Notable students

Major works

* String Quartet No. 1 (1948) *''The Seven Deadly Sins'' (1955), for piano *''Dark Upon the Harp'' (1961–1962), for mezzo-soprano, brass, and percussion. Setting of texts from the Biblical Psalms. * String Quartet No. 2 (1966) *''Animus I'' (1966–1967), for trombone and electronic tape *''Animus II'' (1967–1968), for mezzo-soprano, percussion and electronic tape *''Animus III'' (1968), for clarinet and electronic tape *''Incenters'' (1968), for 13 Instruments *''Valentine'' (1969), for solo contrabass *''Synapse'' (1971), for tape * ''Windows'' (1972), for orchestra *''Delizie Contente Che l'Alme Beate After Cavalli'' (1973), for wind quintet and tape *''Lamia'' (1975), for mezzo-soprano and orchestra. "The texts," according to the composer, "range from the most terrifying damnings of ancient witches to the most innocent folkloric dream-conjuration of provincial maidens."Druckman, Jacob
''Jacob Druckman: Lamia / That Quickening Pulse / Delizie Contente Che L'Alme Beate / Nor Spell Nor Charm / Suite from Médée''
Essay from CD album booklet. Boston Modern Orchestra Project. *''Other Voices'' (1976), for brass quintet *''Aureole'' (1979), for orchestra *''Prism'' (1980), for orchestra; draws on melodies from the operas of Marc-Antoine Charpentier,

Francesco Cavalli Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverdi as the dominant and leading op ...

, and Luigi Cherubinihttps://ton.bard.edu/jacob-druckmans-prism/ * String Quartet No. 3 (1981) *''Vox Humana'' (1983), for chorus and orchestra *''Reflections on the Nature of Water'' (1986), for solo marimba *''Brangle'' (1988–1989), for orchestra *''Antiphonies'', for two choruses; setting of poems by

Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Society of Jesus, Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame places him among the leading English poets. His Prosody (linguistics), prosody – notably his concept of sprung ...

. *''Nor Spell Nor Charm'' (1990), for chamber orchestra *''Summer Lightning'' (1991), for orchestra *''Seraphic Games'' (1992), for orchestra *''Counterpoise'' (1994), for soprano and orchestra

References

External links

The Jacob Druckman Papers
the composer's personal papers and manuscripts, are housed in th
Music Division
o

Biography at Boosey and Hawkes Publisher
* has FLAC files made from high-quality LP transcriptions of out-of-print vocal, instrumental, and electroacoustic works by Druckman available for free download.

March 22, 1989 {{DEFAULTSORT:Druckman, Jacob 1928 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American classical composers American male classical composers Jewish American classical composers Musicians from Philadelphia Nonesuch Records artists Aspen Music Festival and School faculty Bard College faculty École Normale de Musique de Paris alumni Pulitzer Prize for Music winners Pupils of Aaron Copland Symbols of Connecticut Deaths from lung cancer in Connecticut 20th-century American male musicians

Life

Notable students

Major works

References

Further reading

External links