Richard St. Clair

Richard Collins St. Clair (born September 21, 1946) is an American composer, pedagogue, poet and pianist.

Life History and Musical Career

In the 17th c. St. Clairs (or Sinclairs) emigrated from the British Isles to New England as part of the early colonization of North America. Richard St. Clair's maternal ancestors emigrated from Norway and Sweden to the American Upper Midwest (in particular, Minnesota) in the latter part of the 19th century along with hundreds of thousands of other Scandinavians who settled there at that time. So many Norwegian immigrants settled in the Upper Midwest that it is locally referred to as "Little Norway." His paternal ancestors hailed from England and Scotland and were both riders on the Mayflower as well as military men in the American War of Independence.

Richard St. Clair was born in Jamestown, North Dakota. The following year his family moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota, a larger city with much greater musical and cultural opportunities than those of his birthplace. The musical environs of Grand Forks served as the foundation for his life in music. The city boasted its own symphony orchestra, a major university with an active music department, a concert series featuring prominent soloists, and a school system that emphasized music education. For years he sang in both the Centralian concert chorus of his high school ( Grand Forks Central High School) and the sanctuary choir of the church (First Presbyterian) which he attended as a child and adolescent. He also sang in the Choral Union, a collaboration between the University of North Dakota and the Grand Forks community. It was these singing experiences that imbued him with a love of choral music which has carried him throughout his musical life, with hundreds of choral compositions to his credit.

Music ran through his family. His maternal great-grandfather Ludvig Svendsen Bogen played in the Norwegian King's Band and his grandfather Sven Fredrik Bogen was a band conductor who played and taught many different instruments; his maternal grandmother was a piano teacher who was reputed for being able to transpose any song into any key. His paternal grandmother was a gifted pianist. His father, Foster York St. Clair (1905–1994) – a Harvard-educated English literature scholar, university professor and poet – and his mother, Elna Ruth Bogen St. Clair (1912–1974) – a business college teacher – were both amateur musicians and classical music-lovers. St. Clair from a very early age fell in love with the music of Mozart, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky, which were played in his home on fragile 78-rpm records. At age 3 he began taking piano lessons. By age 16 he was starting to write music, mainly for chorus and organ, inspired by Gustav Holst, Flor Peeters, Randall Thompson and Paul Hindemith.

A turning point in his musical life came in 1963 when he attended on scholarship the International Music Camp in the International Peace Garden on the North Dakota-Canada border. Amidst the intense musical environment, his performances at the piano, together with his then piano teacher Paul Lundquist, were noticed by Professor Earnest Harris, head of the piano department at Moorhead State College (later renamed Minnesota State University Moorhead). Harris, steeped in the pedagogic tradition of Theodor Leschetizky and Carl Czerny and a former pupil of Leonard Shure, gave him a full scholarship to study piano, though he did not continue with his piano studies afterwards, preferring to focus on creating his own music.

Early in his music education, St. Clair was enamored of the music of Edvard Grieg, from whose music he acquired a love for miniaturism and compact musical invention. He was also deeply moved by the music of Robert Schumann, especially the great C Major Fantasia, opus 17. In college, he became engrossed in the piano music of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Bartok, playing and absorbing their music over and over again on his Poole upright piano (which he tuned himself since he could not afford a professional piano tuner) in his dingy second-storey Cambridge apartment. This way he acquired a deep love for classical-romantic music, which is strongly present in his own compositions.

In 1970 St. Clair made a solo piano appearance in a recital of his own music in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Reviewer Ned Brown made the following prophetic observations:

We admired St. Cair's expansive genius, his dynamic keyboard skill and his personal modesty. At 24, Richard St. Clair is firmly launched on a musical career which offers great possibilities.

St. Clair, following in his father's footsteps, began his studies at Harvard University in Cambridge (Massachusetts) where in 1969 he earned his ''Bachelor of Arts'' (A.B.) with honors in music composition, the first of many Harvard students to write a musical work in lieu of a thesis. While an undergraduate he studied piano techniques (sight-reading and figured bass) with Luise Vosgerchian, harmony with James Haar and John MacIvor Perkins, counterpoint with James Yannatos and Alejandro Enrique Planchart, form and analysis with Luciano Berio, and composition with Billy Jim Layton and Leon Kirchner.

St. Clair's music and the music of his fellow classmate, John Adams, both reacted against the then prevailing academic emphasis on writing music after the manner of twelve-tone and avant-garde composers, most often meaning the music of Arnold Schoenberg and that of Anton Webern, the latter who set the stage for the academic avant-garde that was to emerge in Europe (Boulez, Stockhausen) and America (Carter, Babbitt) in the 1940s into the 1960s and prevails in many quarters even today. Both St. Clair and Adams rejected that school of thought, Adams turning to minimalism (e.g. "Short Ride in a Fast Machine") and St. Clair turning to neo-classicism (e.g. Piano Sonata no. 1). Both St. Clair and Adams have evolved considerably since they first emerged in the 1960s.

In graduate school at Harvard he went on to earn his ''Master of Arts'' (A.M.) in 1973 and his ''Doctor of Philosophy'' (Ph.D.) in 1978, both degrees in music composition. During his student years he was awarded several prizes for his compositions. At Harvard he studied composition with Roger Sessions, Leon Kirchner, Earl Kim, and David Del Tredici. He studied piano privately with Paul Lundquist, Earnest Harris, and Leonard Shure. As a graduate student he was persuaded by a fellow student at Harvard to study piano with Margaret Chaloff in Boston. She was fascinated with the occult and encouraged the development of cultic practices (psychic readings, celibacy/abstention, sending light in groups, recruiting new followers, channeling, reincarnation, psychometry, palmistry, Tarot cards, etc.) among her inner circle, with her as the guiding, and all-controlling, guru. Her very approach to piano technique itself became entangled with her religious eccentricity and whims. This dark side of the legendary "Madame Chaloff" has since come to light following her death in 1977.

St. Clair made his debut as a composer with his performance of his avant-garde Piano Piece no. 1 at the Marlboro Music Festival in 1967 as an invitee of his teacher, Leon Kirchner; there he was encouraged by Director Rudolf Serkin to continue to pursue a career in composition. Serkin's laconic comment on St. Clair's Piano Piece No. 1, "It has line." Both Shure and Serkin discouraged St. Clair from pursuing a career as a concert pianist, though St. Clair occasionally performed his own piano compositions in concert. Although his student years were turbulent, he emerged as a successful composer of broad stylistic tastes.

His ''Missa Syllabica'' for SATB chorus performed by Boston's Coro Allegro drew the praise of Boston Globe critic Susan Larson for its 'lush, soft-edged harmonic vocabulary... ndburst of melismatic ecstasy.'

Of his 1994 freely atonal cycle ''Moon Flowers: Album of 50 Haiku-Moments for Solo Piano'' on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the death of the great haiku poet, Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), noted haiku poet Dee Evetts wrote

Richard St. Clair performed his ''Moon Flowers: Album of Haiku-Moments for Solo Piano.'' This hypnotic string of phrases was reminiscent (for this listener) of the shakuhachi tradition, 'beads threaded on silence.'

St. Clair's music has been heard far and wide from South America to Europe to Asia and across the United States and Canada. Difficult to describe but generally in the broad category of Neoromanticism (music), his music runs the gamut of pure tonality to avant-garde atonality.

Of his extended motet, ''Today's Lord's Prayer'', noted organist and choir director Joanne Vollendorf Rickards wrote

Our choir was honored...to perform the premiere of ''Today's Lord's Prayer'', ... spine tingling anthem. It was truly spectacular.

His Piano Pieces no. 1 and no.2 composed in his college years are intensely atonal and show the influence of Karlheinz Stockhausen. Since then, however, he has turned to a more approachable style following the tradition of 20th-century masters including Igor Stravinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Béla Bartók and Arnold Schoenberg, the latter who taught his teachers Earl Kim and Leon Kirchner. His ''Love-Canzonettes'' and other works for chorus and his many ragtime works for piano are completely tonal and classically conceived, as is his ''Lyric Symphony'' and his chamber opera, ''Taema''. His string quartets and much of his other music including his Concertino for Wind Band are tonally more challenging and structurally freer. For instance, his First String Quartet is structured freely around the octatonic scale, as is the second movement of his Symphony for String Orchestra, while his Second String Quartet employs a twelve-tone row.

Of St. Clair's ''The Lamentations of Shinran'' for Soprano, Tenor and String Quartet, ''Boston Phoenix'' music reviewer Lloyd Schwartz wrote in February 2000:

St. Clair has created a fascinating sound world, both charged and atmospheric. His is a stirring and original voice.

Composer David Cleary, writing of the same work in ''21st Century Music'' said,

This nearly half-hour long setting of 13th-century Buddhist poems proves fascinating from start to finish, exhibiting numerous deeply-felt variants on oriental sensitivity and exquisite melancholy.Janus 21 Ensemble. January 2, 2000, Edward M. Pickman Hall, Longy School of Music, Cambridge, Massachusetts. ''21st Century Music'', December 2000, Vol.7, No. 12, p. 3
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Writing in ''New Music Connoisseur'' (2005), Cleary commented as follows on St. Clair's 2005 cycle, "Songs from the Chinese":

Asian verse has inspired some of Richard St. Clair's most ambitious efforts. Thus it's no surprise that his "Songs from the Chinese", a setting of ten Yuan dynasty poems scored for voice, flute, contrabass, and piano, is satisfying to hear. One encounters pentatonic touches sprinkled throughout its mildly spiced tonal language, but never to the point of parody. And the wide-ranging textual tone elicits comparably varied approaches to vocal and instrumental writing. Yet there's a charming and heartfelt overall ethos to the cycle that ably binds disparate moods.

After twenty-five years of study and practice in Buddhism, St. Clair returned to his Christian roots, exploring and adopting traditional (but non-sectarian) Christianity. His latest works for solo voice and for chorus and orchestra express his rediscovered spiritual home.

In 1969 and 1970 he taught piano at the New England Conservatory in Boston (Massachusetts), and from 1973 to 1977 he taught music history and composition at his alma mater, Harvard University. He also served on the music faculty of Phillips Exeter Academy and Phillips Academy (Andover). Attempting to live the frugal life of a typical composer, he supported himself by taking day jobs at Harvard and MIT. He retired from MIT in 2015. His second symphony, entitled "Hallelujah Choruses" with SATB choir and orchestra, is a bold, if radical, expression of praise unto God, the sole lyrics for the entire 50-minute neo-classic work is the word, "Hallelujah" = Praise God.

Compositions

Works for theatre

* 2013–2014 ''Taema: A Noh Opera'', Chamber opera in two acts for small orchestra, SATB chorus and soli; libretto, 15th century Noh play by Zeami
* 1991-2018 ''Little Ida's Flowers: A Mini-Opera for Children'' for Chamber Group, based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen
* 1990-2019 ''Beowulf: A Classical Melodrama in Four Scenes'' for Chorus, Soloists, and Piano (Libretto adapted from the verse translation by H. W. Lumsden, 1881)
* 2021-2024 ''The Sylph and the Maiden: 26 Dance Scenes for Two Flutes''

Works for orchestra

* 1969–1970 ''Concerto no. 1 for Piano and Orchestra oncerto a Capriccio', for Piano and Orchestra, opus 16 (new version: 2018)
* 2001-2015 ''Song of Sorrow: In Memoriam 9/11'' for Solo Violin and Orchestra, orchestration of chamber version
* 1972-2018 ''Double Concerto'' for Two Pianos and Symphony Orchestra (re-orchestration of concert band version)
* 1992–2010 ''Rhapsody for Symphony Orchestra''
* 1996-2018 ''Clarinet Concerto'' for B-flat Clarinet and Orchestra
* 2014-2019 ''Symphony no. 1 in A'' ("Lyric Symphony") for Orchestra
* 1994-2023 ''Concerto no. 2 for Piano and Orchestra''
* 1989-2020 ''Symphonic Declamations'' for Orchestra
* 1994-2024 ''Hallelujah Choruses'' ("Symphony no. 2") for Chorus and Orchestra
* 2024 ''Hello!'' for Orchestra

Works for concert band

* 1971–1972 ''Double Concerto "Amen Concerto"'', for Two Pianos and Wind Orchestra, opus 31 (Re-arranged for symphony orchestra, 2018)
* 2014-2020 ''Wind Symphony'' for Large Concert Band

Masses and sacred music

* 1963–1964 ''Prophecy of Micah'', for Chorus SATB and organ (or piano), opus 1
* 1963–1964 ''Lamb of God'', for Chorus SATB a capella, opus 1A
* 1990–1991 ''Missa Syllabica'', for Chorus SATB a capella, opus 51 – text: Latin Mass Ordinary
* 1990 ''Lord, Make Me An Instrument of Thy Peace'', for Chorus SATB a capella, opus 52 – text: Francis of Assisi
* 1990 ''Heaven'', Dialogue for Chorus SATB and Echo Chorus SATB, opus 52a – text: George Herbert
* 1990 ''Magnificat'', for Female Chorus SSAA, opus 56
* 1997 ''Today's Lord's Prayer'', for Chorus SATB a capella, opus 96
* 2009/2021 ''There Is A Spirit'', for Chorus SATB a capella – text: James Nayler (1660)
* 2020 ''Usquequo, Domine'' How Long, O Lord, Wilt Thou Forget Me?"for Chorus SATB a Capella (Latin text: Psalm 12, Vulgate)
* 2020 ''The Beatitudes'' for SATB Choir a Capella (Gospel of Matthew 5:1-10)
* 2021 ''The Twenty-Third Psalm of David: A Requiem in These Times of Pandemic Loss'' for Chorus SAATB, Oboe, Trumpet and French Horn
* 2021 ''The Lord Bless You and Keep You'' for Mixed Voices, Accompanied (piano or organ) (Text: Numbers 6:24-26)
* 2021 ''The Song of Simeon'' for High Voice and Piano (Gospel of Luke 2:25-32)
* 2021 ''Serenity - A Prayer'' for SATB Chorus a Capella; Lyrics: Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr
* 2021 ''Christ My Refuge'' for High Voice and Piano; Lyrics: Poem by Mary Baker Eddy
* 2021 ''Prayer on the Third Step'' for Chorus SATB a Capella (Anonymous text)
* 2021 ''The Highest Glory: A Lesson'' for a Capella Chorus SATB (KJV John VII:18)
* 2021 ''MISSA DE ANGELIS'' (Mass of the Angels) for SATB Choir a Capella (Kyrie - Gloria - Credo - Sanctus - Agnus Dei) Based on Mass VIII in the ''Kyriale''
* 2021 ''Ministering Angels'' for Soprano and Keyboard (on the poem of that title by Adelaide Procter)
* 2021 ''OUR FATHER, ADORABLE ONE'' for Double Chorus and Organ
* 2022 ''Thine, O Lord, Is the Greatness'' for SATB Chorus and Organ (Text: I Chronicles 29:11-13)
* 2022 ''A Short Requiem'' for SATB Chorus a Capella; text in Latin
* 2022 ''Great Is the Lord'' A Psalm of David for Soprano and Piano (Psalm 40, excerpts, ESV)
* 2022 ''MISA ESPAÑOLA'' A Symphonic Mass in Spanish for SATB Chorus and Orchestra
* 2022 ''The Lord Is My Shepherd'' (Psalm 23) for Solo Voice or Unison SATB Choir
* 2022 ''O Cross, More Splendid than All the Stars'' for SATB Chorus and Piano (English version) (Original Latin antiphon: O Crux Splendidior)
* 2022 ''Lift up Your Heads, O Ye Gates'' for SATB Chorus and Organ (King James Version of Psalms 24:7-10)
* 2023 ''215 Hymns for SATB Chorus a Capella'' Original melodies and harmonizations, with some 130 texts by the composer himself
* 2023 ''My Own Hymnal'' for SATB Chorus a Capella, the composer's collection of 135 hymns with his own texts
* 2024 ''The Medford Psalmbook'' Original tunes and harmonizations for all 150 Psalms in the Bible, for SATB Chorus a Cappella
* 2024 ''Mass for World Peace'' for SATB Choir and Piano; Traditional Text amplified by the Composer
* 2024 ''Te Deum Laudamus'' for SATB Chorus and Organ; text of traditional hymn translated into English
* 2024 ''Hannah's Song'' for Women's Chorus SSAA and Piano; text: 1 Samuel 2:1-10 (Bible)
* 2024 ''We Give You Thanks and Praise O God'' for Alto and Piano
* 2024 ''Twelve Days of Christmas Carols'' for SATB Chorus a Cappella; 12 new songs

Other works for chorus

* 1969–1995 ''Alas, Good Friend'', for Chorus SATB a capella, opus 83 – text: Percy Bysshe Shelley
* 1971 ''Peace Is Life'' for Chorus SATB a capella, opus 29 – text: Anonymous
* 1971–1972 ''Yonder'', for Chorus SATB a capella, opus 30 – text: Gerard Manley Hopkins, "The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo"
* 1975–1995 ''A Higher Glory'', for Chorus SATB a capella, opus 82
* 1989 ''Help Me, O Power Above'', for Chorus SATB a capella, opus 41 – text: by the Composer
* 1990 ''The Windhover'', for 4-Part Women's Chorus, opus 50 – text: Gerard Manley Hopkins
* 1990 ''Love-Canzonettes'', for Chorus SATB a capella, opus 62 – text: John Dryden
* 1990 ''The Clear Vision'', for Men's Chorus (TTBB), opus 64 – text: John Greenleaf Whittier
* 1994–1995 ''Evening Anthem'', for Chorus SATB a capella, opus 85 – text: by the Composer
* 1995–1996 ''In Praise of Our Loves'', for Chorus SATB and Orchestra, opus 90 evised, 2020* 1996 ''Three Short Sandburg Choruses'', for Unison Choir (SA) and (TB), opus 91 – text: from Carl Sandburg's "Chicago Poems"
*# Fog
*# Nocturne in a Deserted Brickyard
*# Grass
* 1996 ''High Flight'' for Chorus SATB a capella with discant high soprano on the poem by John Gillespie Magee, in memory of the Space Shuttle Challenger astronauts
* 1997 ''Flower of the Dharma'', for Chorus SATB, Piano, and Percussion (or Chorus SATB and Orchestra), opus 93 – text: Lotus Sutra excerpts (withdrawn)
* 1997 ''Two Songs of Innocence'', for Chorus SATB a capella, opus 99 – text: William Blake's "Songs of Innocence." No. 1: On the Ecchoing Green; no. 2: Night
* 1993–1997 ''Ascent'', for Small Chorus of High Voices (or for two sopranos and one alto), opus 100 – text: Anne Morrow Lindbergh
* 2008 ''Madrigals for Spring'', for Chorus SATB a capella, opus 61 (Original version 1990) – text: Poetic Fragments by Percy Bysshe Shelley
* 2018 ''Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor'' for SATB Chorus a Capella: Lyrics by Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus"
* 2019 ''The Dharma of Ecclesiastes'' on selections from the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Jewish Bible; for SATB chorus, a Capella
* 2019 ''An Autumn Stroll'' for SATB Choir, String Quartet and Piano; text, original poems by the composer
* 2020 ''Hope, My Closest Companion'' for SATB Chorus a Capella, text: Affirmations found on the Internet
* 2020 ''THESEUS: A Dramatic Cantata after Bacchylides'' for SATB Chorus, Soli, Flute, Cello and Percussion ext: Ode 17 by Bacchylides, c. 518 – c. 451 BCE, Translation by William Mullen">Bacchylides">ext: Ode 17 by Bacchylides, c. 518 – c. 451 BCE, Translation by William Mullen

Vocal music

* 1964 ''To Hear an Oriole Sing'' for Soprano and Piano; Poem by Emily Dickinson
* 1966 ''From Mozart'' for Baritone and Piano, text: William C. Mullen
* 1968 ''She Weeps over Rahoon'', for Contralto and Piano, opus 5 – text: James Joyce
* 1969 ''Night-Leaves'', for Baritone and Piano, text: William C. Mullen
* 1970 ''Songs of a Wayside Inn'', for Mezzo-soprano and Piano, opus 22 – text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
* 1970–1971 ''Six Songs'', for Soprano and Piano, opus 28 – text: Kenneth Patchen
* 1975/1989 ''A Round for Machaut'', repeating canon in 4 keys for solo SATB voices or small SATB a capella Chorus, opus 40
* 1990 ''Moabit Liederbuch'', for Soprano and Piano, opus 66 – text: Sonnets by Albrecht Haushofer (New Edition, 2020)
* 1993 ''Equinox'', for Tenor and Piano, opus 88 – text: William C. Mullen
* 1994–1995 ''Desert Hallucinations'', for Baritone and Cello, opus 78 – text: Donald Rubinstein
* 1990–1995 ''High Flight – In memory of the crew of the space shuttle, USS Challenger, which was destroyed in 1986 after launch'', for Solo Soprano and Chorus SATB a capella, opus 81 – text: John G. Magee Jr.
* 1997 ''Songs of the Pure Land'', for Mezzo-soprano and Piano, opus 101 – text: Japanese poems by Honen Shonin (Japan, 1133–1212)
* 1998 ''The Lamentations of Shinran'', for Soprano, Tenor, and String Quartet, opus 104 – text: from Shozomatsu Wasan, by Shinran Shonin (Japan, 1173–1262) (2020 Edition)
* 1998 (2019 ed.)''Two Life-Spring Songs'' for Coloratura Soprano and Piano, on poems by Aureet Bar-Yam
* 1999 ''Songlets'', for Mezzo-soprano, Clarinet and Piano, opus 106 – text: Haiku by Issa Kobayashi
* 2000 ''Owl Night'', for Soprano and Piano, opus 112 – text: Susan Spilecki, "Owl Night"
* 2005 ''Songs from the Chinese'', 10 Songs for Soprano, Flute, Double Bass, and Piano – text: Chinese ''San Chu'' poems of the Yuan dynasty
* 2013 ''Others'' for Baritone, Violin and Piano – text: Jun Fujita
* 2014 ''A Night-Piece'' for Mezzo-Soprano and Piano - text: William Wordsworth
* 2014 ''Songs of the Buddha's Stone Footprints'' for Bass-Baritone, Percussion, Flute, Oboe and String Quartet, Text: from "A Waka Anthology, Vol. 1"
* 2013-16 ''Three Songs from Walt Whitman'' for Mezzo-Soprano, Flute and Piano
* 2017 ''Through the Seasons with Haiku Master Buson'' for Flute, Double Bass, Piano and Reciter, 38 newly discovered poems by Yosa Buson translated by Chris Drake
* 2017 ''In a Daffodil Valley'' for Soprano and Piano, 18 haiku by Eiko Yachimoto
* 2018 ''Songs of the Winter Sea,'' 11 songs for Soprano and Piano on tanka by an'ya
* 2018 ''The First Bird's Song'' for Soprano, Flute and Harp, 23 songs on haiku by Koko Kato
* 2018 ''Songs of Joy'' for Soprano, Flute, Violin and Cello; on three pentaptychs (groups of 5) of tanka by Joy McCall
* 2018 ''Remembrance: 10 Cherita for Soprano and Piano'' on Cherita Poems by Poet ai li
* 2018 ''Songs of a Waking Cosmos for Soprano and Piano'' on 10 Cherita Poems by the Composer
* 2019 ''Evocations of Spring and Autumn'' for Soprano and Piano (on 14 tanka by an'ya)
* 2016/2020 ''Return to Our Original Home: A Pure Land Buddhist Song'' for Soprano and Piano; text: Shandao
* 2015/2020 ''Birds: Four Songs for Soprano and Piano'' on poems by William Wordsworth
* 2021 ''Sorrow and Hope: A Prayer to Kuan Yin'' for Soprano and Piano

Chamber music

* 1967–1968 ''Dreamscapes'', for Violin and Piano, opus 6
* 1968 ''Three Movements'', for Violin and Piano, opus 7
* 1970 ''Duo-Sonata'', for Two Violins, opus 20
* 1970 ''Christmas Trio'', for Flute, Cello and Piano, opus 25
* 1972 ''Color Studies "Transfiguration"'', for Violin, Viola and Cello, opus 33
* 1975 ''Canzona'', for String Quartet, opus 36
* 1978 ''Sonata for Solo Flute'' (withdrawn)
* 1989 ''Ragtime Caprice'' for Violin and Piano (2018 ed.)
* 1990 ''String Quartet no. 1'', opus 59 evised, 2020* 1991 ''Sonata for Solo Violin'' evised, 2021* 1990–1996 ''Eucaphonies'', for Brass Quintet, opus 89
* 1991–1993 ''String Quartet no. 2'', opus 71
* 1994 rev.1996 ''Fantastic Rhapsody'', for Trumpet, Violin and Piano, opus 76
* 1996 ''Inventings'', for Flute and Oboe, opus 92
* 1997–2005 '' Three Movements'' for Wind Quintet, WoO
* 1998 ''The Lamentations of Shinran'' for Soprano, Tenor and String Quartet, on 16 poems by Shinran Shonin (2020 Edition)
* 1999 ''Seven Dhamma Lessons'', for Speaker, Flute, Oboe, Piano and Percussion, opus 107
* 2000 ''Sonata for Clarinet and Piano'', opus 108
* 2000 ''From "Children of the Sparrow"'', Musical Reactions to Haiku by Robert Gibson for Speaker, Flute and Piano, opus 113
* 2001 ''Song of Sorrow, In Memory of September 11, 2001'', for Violin and Piano, opus 114
* 2005 ''String Quartet no. 3''
* 2005 ''Outburst'' for Double Bass and Piano (also available for Cello and Piano)
* 2006 ''Explorations'' for Clarinet and Piano
* 2009 ''The Hermit'' for solo Double Bass, also in a version for solo Cello
* 2009 ''An Idyll'' for Solo Flute
* 2010 ''Energies for 4 Players'' for Flute, Violin, Double Bass, and Piano
* 2006–2013 ''Octatonic Fugue'' for String Quartet
* 2013 ''Karmic Dancing'' for Solo Flute
* 2014 ''Whimsies'' for Violin, Viola and Cello
* 2015 ''Sonata for Solo Cello''
* 1978/2018 ''Nine Soliloquies'' for Solo Flute (extensively revised from 1978 edition, earlier edition withdrawn)
* 2018 ''Stabat Mater'' for String Quartet, also arranged for Consort of Viols
* 2019 ''Fantastic Rhapsody'' for Flute, Viola and Piano (new version on 1994 original)
* 2019 ''Study in Thirds'' for String Quintet
* 2020 ''Mystic Visions'' for Flute, Piano and Double Bass
* 2020 ''Sonata Appassionata for Cello and Piano''
* 2020 ''Reminiscence'' for Violin and Piano
* 2020 ''String Quartet no. 4 ('Ad Fugam')'' (Eleven movements, in strict 4-part canon throughout)
* 2021 ''REMEMBRANCE for the Many Victims of COVID19'' for Flute, Double Bass and Piano
* 2021 ''Truth'' A Song for Soprano and Piano on the Poem by Muriel Rada
* 2021 ''Our Father'' Meditation for Woodwind Quintet
* 2021 ''Two Paschal Elegies'' for Woodwind Quintet
* 2021 ''October: 26 Songs for Soprano and Flute'' on tanka by Joy McCall
* 2021-2024 ''The Sylph and the Maiden: 26 Dance Scenes for Two Flutes''

Works for organ

* 1963 ''In Thy Name'' (1963 ost 2022 reconstruction)
* 1990 ''Testimonium'', opus 48
* 1990 ''Two Classic Chorales''
* 1995 ''Jubilance'' (revised 2021)
* 2007 ''Wrestling with Angels'' (expanded from 1997 version)
* 2016/2020 ''Praise the Glorious Light'' (Revised Edition, earlier 2016 version withdrawn)
* 2021 ''Voluntary in F''
* 2021 ''Fugue in C Major''
* 2022 ''Triumphant Recessional''
* 2023 ''Fuga Brillante''

Works for solo piano

* 1965 ''Three Romantic Pieces: Waltz - Melody - Dance''
* 1966 ''Piano Piece no. 1'', opus 3
* 1967 ''Piano Piece no. 2'', opus 4
* 1968–1969 ''Sonata no. 1'', opus 8
* 1969 ''Serenade'', opus 9
* 1969 ''Fantasy'', opus 10
* 1969 ''Divertimento'', for Piano Four-Hands, opus 13
* 1969 ''Toccata-Rag'', opus 14
* 1968–1970 ''Four Concert Dances'', opus 15
* 1970 ''Rondo in F for Solo Piano'' (2010 ed.)
* 1970 ''Two Piano Pieces'', opus 17
* 1970 ''Sonata no. 2'', opus 18
* 1970 ''Eight Piano Pieces for Children'', opus 21
* 1970 ''Five Folk-Pieces'', opus 23
* 1970 ''Four Preludes and Counterpoints'', opus 24
* 1971 ''Sonata no. 3'', opus 27
* 1972 ''Batik'', opus 32
* 1973 ''Sonata no. 4'', opus 34
* 1974 ''Sonata no. 5'', opus 35
* 1989 ''Seven Dedications – in honor of Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, Carl Ruggles, Charles Ives, Alan Hovhaness, Roger Sessions and Arnold Schoenberg'', opus 39
* 1989 ''Touch-Tones: Four Avant-garde Pieces for Solo Piano''
* 1989 ''Ragañera'', opus 42
* 1989 ''Champion Rag'', opus 43
* 1989 ''Ragtime Serenade'', opus 44
* 1989 ''Blue Rag Espagnole'', opus 45
* 1989 ''Sentimental Rag'', opus 42
* 1989–1990 ''Starry-eyed Rag'', opus 49
* 1989 ''Iron Filings'', opus 60
* 1989 ''Short and Sweet Rag'', opus 70
* 1989 ''Sparkling Rag'', opus 72
* 1989 ''Persistence Rag'', opus 75
* 1989–1990 ''Etiquette Rag'', opus 80
* 1990 ''Jubilant Rag'', opus 54
* 1990 ''Peloponnesian Rag'', opus 55
* 1990 ''Amendments'', opus 65
* 1990 ''Easy Sonata in C Major'', a Completion of Ludwig van Beethoven's fragmentary sonata, WoO 51
* 1990–1992 ''Variations on a Hallowe'en Costume'', opus 68
* 1990–1997 ''Suite for the Piano Alone'', opus 102
* 1993 ''Plaint for Somalia'', opus 69
* 1993–1994 ''Ballade in D for Piano'', opus 77
* 1994 ''...suggestions...'', opus 73
* 1994 ''Moon Flowers (50 Haiku-Moments for Solo Piano)'', opus 74
* 1994–1995 ''Sonata no. 6'', opus 84
* 1997 ''Ragtime Sonata (Sonata no. 7)'', opus 97
* 1997 ''Beautiful Mountain Rag'', opus 98
* 1998 ''Tango Request'', opus 103
* 1999 ''Adagio Espressivo for Solo Piano''
* 2000 ''Nocturne in G'', opus 109
* 2000 ''Odysseus Rag'', opus 110
* 2000 ''Five Thoughtful Pieces'', opus 111
* 2008 ''Sonata no. 8''
* 1998–2010 ''Bachiana Dodecafonica: 5 Preludes and Fugues''
* 2010 ''Sonatina'' (Withdrawn) See: Sonata no. 10
* 2011 ''Bachiana Dodecafonica'' (Expanded edition: 6 Preludes and Fugues)
* 2010–2012 ''Introduction to the Piano: 32 Piano Pieces for Beginning Pianists''
* 1999-2013 ''Dodecafughetta'' In Memoriam: Glenn Gould
* 2010/2017 ''Sonata No. 9 in Olden Style''
* 2015 ''Petite Sonatine''
* 2017 ''Sonata no. 10'' (originally ''Sonatina'' 010but considerably expanded)
* 2017 ''Transcendental Studies in Twelve Movements''
* 2018 ''Vocalises'' in 8 movements
* 2018 ''Melody'' in one movement
* 2012/2019 ''Sonata no. 11'' (formerly ''Ballade no. 2'', expanded and revised)
* 2019 ''Three Musical Moments''
* 1989/2019 ''Second Ragtime Sonata'' (Sonata no. 12)
* 2019 ''Sonata no. 13''
* 2020 ''Album for the Young Pianist: 31 Pieces Easy to Difficult''
* 2020 ''Six Strange Waltzes'' (original sketch 2009; fully edited and revised 2020)
* 2020 ''Blue Moments,'' Two short, Jazz-influenced pieces
* 2020 ''Funeral Day: The Victims of COVID19''
* 2020 ''Prélude Sérieux pour Piano''
* 2020 ''Encore!'' for Piano Solo
* 2020 ''A Game of Chords''
* 2021 ''Piano Sonata 14''
* 2021 ''Toccata Impromptu''
* 2021 ''Spur of the Moment'' (27-28 April 2021)
* 2021 ''Fantasy Moments''

Works for harpsichord

* 1990/1998 ''Toccata Moderna'', opus 105

Works for carillon

* 1964 ''Statement for Bells'', opus 2
* 1997 ''Diamond Cutter'', opus 94
* 2018 ''Rejouissance for Bells'' for carillon

Arrangements of other composers

* ''Ut heremita solus'' by Johannes Ockeghem, untexted motet arr. for String Quartet and for Recorder Quartet
* ''Missa Mente tota'' by Adrian Willaert, transcribed for 6-voice a cappella chorus
* ''Missa Gaudeamus'' by Josquin des Prez, transcribed for 4-voice a cappella chorus
* ''Missa Sine nomine'' by Adrian Willaert, transcribed for 5-voice a cappella chorus
* ''Adieu mes amours'' by Josquin des Prez, French chanson a 4 transcribed for three voices and lute
* ''C'est boccané de soy tenir'' by Adrian Willaert, 4-voice French chanson
* Four Basque Christmas Carols for 3 or 4 voices, harmonized and arranged by Richard St. Clair

Poetry

* 1989-2007 ''Fixed Forms: Sestinas, Sonnets, and Other Regulated Poems''
* 2016 ''A Promise Kept: A Tanka Sequence (English/Japanese)''
* 2017 ''Nature's Bounty: A Modern Waka Collection''
* 2019 ''A Century of Sonnets: One Hundred Poems by Richard St. Clair''
* 2023 ''The 135 Hymns of Richard St. Clair'' - text of musical hymns by the composer

References

Bibliography

* Wolfgang Suppan, Armin Suppan: ''Das Neue Lexikon des Blasmusikwesens'', 4. Auflage, Freiburg-Tiengen, Blasmusikverlag Schulz GmbH, 1994,
* Paul E. Bierley, William H. Rehrig: ''The heritage encyclopedia of band music : composers and their music'', Westerville, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1991,
* E. Ruth Anderson: ''Contemporary American composers – A biographical dictionary'', Second edition, Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982, 578 p.,
* E. Ruth Anderson: ''Contemporary American composers – A biographical dictionary'', 1st ed., Boston: G. K. Hall, 1976, 513 p.,
* ''Who's Who in America 2009'', 63rd ed., Marquis Who's Who, 2008,
* ''The American Piano Concerto Compendium (Music Finders)'' Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; Second edition (June 20, 2018), 322 p.

External links

*


Richard St. Clair, ''Today's Lord's Prayer'' world premiere recording 1997


CD of ''from 'Children of the Sparrow - Recorded by Row Twelve, 2006

{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Clair, Richard
1946 births
Living people
21st-century American composers
21st-century American male musicians
American male composers
Composers for carillon
Harvard University alumni
People from Jamestown, North Dakota
Pupils of Roger Sessions