Mark Bucci (26 February 1924,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

– 22 August 2002,

Camp Verde, Arizona Camp Verde ( yuf-x-yav, ʼMatthi:wa; Western Apache: Gambúdih) is a town in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town is 10,873. The town hosts an annual corn festival in July, sponsored and orga ...

) was an American composer,

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income de ...

, and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

. Influenced by

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long l ...

, his work is composed in a contemporary yet lyrical style, which frequently employs marked rhythms and memorable harmonies and melodies.

Early life and education

Born in Manhattan, Bucci was of Sicilian and Scottish ancestry. He studied music composition with

Tibor Serly Tibor Serly (; Losonc, Kingdom of Hungary, 25 November 1901 – London, 8 October 1978) was a Hungarian violist, violinist, and composer. Serly was the son of Lajos Serly, a pupil of Franz Liszt and a composer of songs and operettas in the l ...

in New York City from 1942 to 1945 and then at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most ...

with

Frederick Jacobi Frederick Jacobi (May 4, 1891 – October 24, 1952) was a Jewish-American composer and teacher. His works include symphonies, concerti, chamber music, works for solo piano and for solo organ, lieder, and one opera. He taught at Juilliard School ...

and

Vittorio Giannini Vittorio Giannini (October 19, 1903 – November 28, 1966) was an American neoromantic composer of operas, songs, symphonies, and band works. Life and work Giannini was born in Philadelphia on October 19, 1903. He began as a violinist under the t ...

. At Juilliard he was notably the first winner of the school's Irving Berlin scholarship award in 1948 which was made possible through a donation by

Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popu ...

. Bucci also studied composition under

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

at the

Tanglewood Music Center The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops. The center operates as a part of the Tanglewo ...

during the summers.

Career

Bucci's first professional composition was written for the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

television program ''

The Motorola Television Hour ''The Motorola Television Hour'' is an hour-long anthology series which alternated bi-weekly with ''The United States Steel Hour'' on ABC. The show premiered on November 3, 1953, and was last aired on June 1, 1954. It was produced by Herbert Brod ...

'' for an adaptation of

James Thurber James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' and collected i ...

's ''

The 13 Clocks ''The 13 Clocks'' is a fantasy tale written by James Thurber in 1950, while he was completing one of his other novels. It is written in a unique cadenced style, in which a mysterious prince must complete a seemingly impossible task to free a maid ...

'' in 1953. The production starred

Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...

as the evil Duke and garnered a considerable amount of national attention. Commissions for

musical revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own du ...

s and

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

s followed, including the opera '' Tale for a Deaf Ear'' which premiered at the Tanglewood Music Festival in August 1957 and was later mounted at the

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013 (when it filed for bankruptcy), and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, du ...

in 1958. His opera ''

The Hero The Hero may refer to: Books * "The Hero" (poem), a poem written by Rabindranath Tagore * ''The Hero'' (novel), a science fiction novel by John Ringo and Michael Z. Williamson * '' The Hero: A Study in Tradition, Myth and Drama'', a book by Fi ...

'', commissioned by the

Lincoln Center Fund Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

and first broadcast from New York in 1965, won the

Italia Prize The Prix Italia is an international Television, Radio-broadcasting and Web award. It was established in 1948 by RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana (in 1948, RAI had the denomination RAI – Radio Audizioni Italiane) in Capri and is honoured with th ...

in 1966. Bucci also wrote music for two

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

s, '' Vintage '60'' (1960) and '' New Faces of 1962'' (1962), and several film scores including ''

Seven in Darkness ''Seven in Darkness'' is an American made-for-TV adventure film directed by Michael Caffey and based on the novel ''Against Heaven's Hand'' by Leonard Bishop. The premiere entry in the 1969–76 series ABC Movie of the Week, it was broadcast on Se ...

'' (1969), ''My Friends Need Killing'' (1976) and '' Human Experiments'' (1979). He is also the author of a handful of plays.

Accolades

He was awarded

Guggenheim Fellowships Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 1953 and 1957.

Personal life

He had one son, Jonathan Phillips Bucci, with his wife theatre publicist and playwright Peggy Phillips Bucci.

References

External links

* * 1924 births 2002 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American lyricists American male classical composers American classical composers American musical theatre composers American opera composers Male opera composers American television composers American writers of Italian descent American people of Scottish descent Juilliard School alumni Musicians from New York City People from Manhattan Songwriters from New York (state) 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians American male songwriters {{US-composer-20thC-stub