Mark Wessel (March 26, 1894 – May 9, 1973) was an American

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

and composer.

Life

Wessel was born in

Coldwater, Michigan Coldwater is a city in Branch County, Michigan, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,945. It is the county seat of Branch County, located in the center of the southern border of Michigan. The city is surrounded by C ...

, and graduated from Northwestern School of Music, now known as

Bienen School of Music The Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music is the music and performance arts school of Northwestern University. It is located on Northwestern University's campus in Evanston, Illinois, United States. The school was previously known as the North ...

; he later taught

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

and theory there. When Wessel left Northwestern, he became a professor of

and composition at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

. Wessel was a former pupil of

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

. He was twice awarded

Guggenheim Fellowship 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 ...

s, in

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

and 1932. He was also the recipient in 1930 of a Pulitzer Scholarship to further his education in Europe. In the 1938 contest of the

New York Philharmonic-Symphony Society 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 ...

his

choral A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...

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: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l work ''The King of Babylon'' won honorable mention, while his former student

David Van Vactor David Van Vactor (May 8, 1906 – March 24, 1994) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was born in Plymouth, Indiana, and received Bachelor of Music (1928) and Master of Music (1935) degrees from Northwestern Universit ...

won the competition with his Symphony in D. He died on May 9, 1973 in Orchard Lake,

Oakland County, Michigan Oakland County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the metropolitan Detroit area, located northwest of the city. As of the 2020 Census, its population was 1,274,395, making it the second-most populous county in Michigan, b ...

Selected compositions

*Adagio, for orchestra *Allegro pomposo, for two pianos (pub. 1982) *''The Amorous Peacock'', for piano *Ballade, for solo violin, solo oboe, string orchestra (1931) *Ballade, for violin and piano (1937) *Concertino, for flute or violin and chamber orchestra (1928) *Concerto, for piano and orchestra (1941) *''The Day Is No More'' (words by Rabindranath Tagore), for voice and piano (1919) *''The Departure'', for orchestra (1922) *Etude in G Minor, for piano (before 1947) *''Feminine Conversations'' and ''Promenade of Respectable People'', for piano (pub. 1931) *''The King of Babylon'', for mixed chorus and orchestra (1933) *''Holiday'', overture for orchestra (1932) *''The Hour Comes When One May Question Fate'', for orchestra (1922) *''Lento Fantasia'', for horn and piano (pub. 1941) *''Meerestille'' (words by Nicolaus Lenau), for voice, viola, violoncello (or horn in C), and piano *''1945'', for orchestra *Nocturne, for piano *''Original Theme and Four Fantasies'', for horn (1979) *''Plains and Mountains'', for violin, cello, and piano *''Poem'', for orchestra and piano solo (1924) *Prelude and Fugue, for string quartet (1931) *''Prisms'', for two pianos *Quintet *''Sacred Dances'', for piano *Scherzo, for horn and piano (pub. 1941) *''Scherzo burlesque'', for piano and orchestra (ca. 1931) *''Seven Ages of Man'', for orchestra *Sextet, for woodwind and piano (ca. 1931) *Sonata, for four horns *Sonata, for violin and piano *Sonata, for cello and piano (before 1947) *Sonatine, for piano (before 1937) *''Song and Dance'', for orchestra (1933) *''Southern Tour'', for piano (pub. 1982) *String Quartet no. 1 (1931) *String Quartet no. 2 (ca. 1938) *''String Serenade'', for solo violin and string orchestra *Suite, for large orchestra (and baritone voice in second movement) (1928) *Symphony (1932) *Symphony Concertante, for piano and horn with orchestra (1929) *''Theme and Variations on "I've Got a Gal in Summer School"'', for two pianos, organ, and orchestra *''Two Concert Pieces for the Piano'', "Green River" (Symmetrical Toccata) and "Isle Of Death" (pub. 1926)

Discography

*''

Leonardo De Lorenzo Leonardo De Lorenzo (August 29, 1875 – July 29, 1962) was an Italian virtuoso flutist and music educator. Biography Born at Viggiano, in the province of Potenza, De Lorenzo started playing the flute at the age of 8 and went to Naples to at ...

, flautista e compositore: registrazioni storiche 1928–1935'' (includes Mark Wessel, Concertino for flute and orchestra, together with works by Ary van Leeuwen, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, and Gian-Luca Petrucci). 1 CD. .p. Valdom, 2000.

Life

Selected compositions

Discography

References

Further reading