William Quincy Porter (February 7, 1897 – November 12, 1966) 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 ...

and teacher of

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

Biography

Born 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 ...

, he went to

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 ...

where his teachers included Horatio Parker and David Stanley Smith. Porter received two awards while studying music at Yale: the Osborne Prize for Fugue, and the Steinert Prize for orchestral composition. He performed the winning composition, a violin concerto, at graduation. Porter earned two degrees at Yale, an A.B. from Yale College and a Mus. B from the music school. After graduation, he spent a year in Paris, studying at

Schola Cantorum The Schola Cantorum de Paris ( being ) is a private conservatory in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera. History The Schol ...

, then went to New York where he studied with

Ernest Bloch Ernest Bloch (; ; July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer. Bloch was a preeminent artist in his day, and left a lasting legacy. He is recognized as one of the greatest Swiss composers in history. Several of his most no ...

and

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the Pa ...

. In 1923 Porter joined the faculty of the

Cleveland Institute of Music The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) is a private music conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. The school was founded in 1920 by a group of supporters led by Martha Bell Sanders and Mary Hutchens Smith, with Ernest Bloch serving as its first dire ...

where he was later appointed head of the Theory Department. He remained there until 1928 when he resigned to focus on composition. Returning to Paris on a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

Porter began composing in earnest. During his 3 years in Paris, he composed Blues Lointains (1928), the Suite for Viola Alone (1930), his 3rd String Quartet (1930), 4th String Quartet (1931), his 2nd Violin Sonata (1929), and his Piano Sonata (1930). During the first trip, his daughter, Helen, was born. In 1931 Porter returned to the United States, first rejoining the faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music, then teaching at Vassar, where he was appointed a professor in 1932. In 1954, Porter's 1953 Concerto Concertante, a

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

for two pianos and orchestra, was awarded 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 i ...

. Music historian Nicholas Tawa calls the piece, "affectively compelling, orchestrally luminous, and contrapuntally active"; cooperative rather than competitive. In 1938 later Porter became dean (1938–42) and then director (1942–46) of the

New England Conservatory of Music 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 ...

, and in 1946 returned to Yale, as professor, to teach until 1965. Porter also served, from 1958 until his death, as chairman of the board of directors of the American Music Center, which he had founded with

Howard Hanson Howard Harold Hanson (October 28, 1896 – February 26, 1981)''The New York Times'' – Obituaries. Harold C. Schonberg. February 28, 1981 p. 1011/ref> was an American composer, conductor, educator and music theorist. As director for forty year ...

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 ...

in 1939. He died in

Bethany, Connecticut Bethany is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the South Central Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 5,297 at the 2020 census. History Bethany was first settled in 1717, but it was not until M ...

. He wrote a substantial amount in the "absolute (established) forms", including nine

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

s (1923–1953), several concertos (including one for

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 ...

, one for

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

, and one for two pianos, the latter work receiving the 1954

), and two

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

. His later music—while tonal—is

harmonically In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

acerbic and dissonant. His work was also part of the music event in the art competition at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

Selected works

*Symphonies **Symphony no. 1, 1934 **Symphony no. 2, 1962Tawa, p. 320. *Other orchestral **''Ukrainian Suite'', 1925Tawa, p. 319. **''Poem and Dance'', 1932 **''Dance in Three-Time'', 1937 **Music for Strings, 1941 **''New England Episodes'', 1958 *Concertos **''Concerto Concertante'', for two pianos and orchestra, 1953

**Harpsichord Concerto, 1959 **Viola Concerto, 1948 **''Fantasy on a Pastoral Theme'' for organ and strings, 1943 **Concerto for Wind Orchestra, 1959 *Chamber music **Nine string quartets from 1922 to 1923 (no. 1 in E minor),Porter Papers at Gilmore Collection 1925, 1930, 1931, 1935, 1937, 1943, 1950, 1958 **Piano Quintet, 1927 **Quintet for harpsichord and strings, 1961 **Oboe quintet (''Elegiac''), 1966 **''Little Trio'' (Suite in E Major) for flute, violin, and viola, 1928 **Clarinet quintet, 1929 **Two violin sonatas (1926, 1929; second recorded in the 1950s and more recently, 1st given its premiere recording in the late 1990s) (also an early sonata from 1919 has been recorded) **Suite for viola alone, 1930 **Piano Sonata (1930) **Sonata for horn and piano, 1946 **''Sextet on a Slavic Folk-Theme'', 1947 **''Blues Lointains'' for flute and piano (1928)

Books

*Porter, Quincy. ''A Study of Sixteenth Century Counterpoint; Based on the Works of Orlando di Lasso.'' Boston: Loomis. 3rd ed. 1948. *Porter, Quincy. ''A Study of Fugue Writing; Based on Bach's Well-tempered Clavichord.'' Boston: Loomis. 1951.

Notes

References

*Tawa, Nicholas E. (2001) . UPNE. . pp. 318–22.

External links

General Reference

The Quincy Porter papers
at the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Yale University
Biography at the New England Conservatory
There has been a recording released of the 7th quartet since this was written in 1999.
Notes to the recording on New World of Porter's Dance in Three Time

Recordings

Eliesha Nelson
viola with Douglas Rioth, harp and John McLaughlin Williams, conductor, piano/harpsichord, violin (2009)
Quincy Porter: String Quartets 1 – 4

Ives Quartet
(2007)
Quincy Porter: Complete String Quartets
Steven Honigberg, cello; George Marsh, violin; Sally McLain, violin; Tsuna Sakamoto, viola (2007)
Quincy Porter: Symphony No. 1: Poem & Dance; Symphony No. 2

Sinfonia VarsoviaIan Hobson
conductor (2003)
Robert Ward: Festive Ode; Prairie Overture; Sacred Songs for Pantheists; Quincy Porter: New England Episodes
Conductors: William Strickland, Zdzislav Szostak; performer: Sylvia Stahlman

Composers: Morton Gould, Walter Piston, Quincy Porter; Conductor, David Amos; Artists: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Joshua Pierce, Dorothy Jonas (1999)

Quincy Porter, John Owings, and Fritz Gearhart (1998) *Ernest Bloch: Concerti Grossi 1 & 2/ Quincy Porter: Ukrainian Suite, Ernest Bloch, Quincy Porter, Donald Barra, an
San Diego Chamber Orchestra
(1994) * Violin Sonatas: Copland, Piston, Porter
Linda Rosenthal
violin with Lisa Bergman, piano (1993)
American Chamber Music
by Diamond, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, David Schifrin, Hermann Ives, Bernard Herrmann, Quincy Porter, and Charles Ives (1992)
Carter Ives Porter Boston Symphony Chamber Players American Chamber Music 20th Century
Deutsche Grammophon – 2530 104 (1971) {{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Quincy 1897 births 1966 deaths American male classical composers 20th-century American classical composers Pulitzer Prize for Music winners Pupils of Ernest Bloch Pupils of Horatio Parker Cleveland Institute of Music faculty Vassar College faculty New England Conservatory faculty Schola Cantorum de Paris alumni Musicians from New Haven, Connecticut People from Bethany, Connecticut 20th-century American male musicians Art competitors at the 1936 Summer Olympics