Robert Parris (21 May 1924,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 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 ...

– 5 December 1999,

Washington, D. C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

) was a composer and professor of music. Along with Robert Evett and

Russell Woollen

harles Gottlieb Christoph Harless (originally Harles) (21 June 1738 – 2 November 1815) was a German classical scholar and bibliographer. Biography He was born at Culmbach in Bavaria. He studied at the universities of Halle, Erlangen and Jena. In ...

Russell Woollen (born Hartford, Connecticut January 7, 1923, died March 16, 1994) was an American keyboard artist and composer. With composers Robert Evett (composer), Robert Evett (1922–1975), and Robert Parris (1924–1999), he was ...

, he was one of a trifecta described by

Irving Lowens Irving Lowens (19 August 1916 – 14 November 1983) was an American musicologist, critic, and librarian in the Washington, D.C. area. He served as the chief music critic at the ''Washington Star'' newspaper, the Assistant Head of the music di ...

as the "Washington School" of composers. He was born in Philadelphia, attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, then 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 New York. Among his teachers were

Otto Luening Otto Clarence Luening (June 15, 1900 – September 2, 1996) was a German-American composer and conductor, and flutist. He was an early pioneer of tape music and electronic music. Biography Luening was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to German par ...

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 ...

Jacques Ibert Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert (15 August 1890 – 5 February 1962) was a French composer of 20th-century classical music, classical music. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoir ...

, and

Peter Mennin Peter Mennin (born Mennini; May 17, 1923 – June 17, 1983) was a prominent American composer, teacher and administrator. In 1958, he was named Director of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and in 1962 became President of the Juilliard Sch ...

(although he always claimed that the effect of these teachers on his own composing technique was 'minimal'). After a year of study on a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(where he was meant to study with

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss-French composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, '' Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' is "more even ...

, but hardly ever saw him), and a year teaching at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in Seattle, he settled in the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

area in 1952. Parris joined the faculty of

The George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a private federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress and is the first ...

in 1963 where he taught theory and composition. Parris liked to describe himself as a 'colorist', and he therefore tended to write for small ensembles or a single instrument accompanied by piano or orchestra. His first international recognition came in 1958 with his ''Concerto for Five Kettledrums and Orchestra'', premiered by tympanist Fred Begun and the

National Symphony Orchestra The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1930 by cellist Hans Kindler, its principal performing venue is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The NSO regularly ...

in Washington, under

Howard Mitchell Howard Mitchell (11 March 1911 – 22 June 1988) was an American cellist and conductor who was born in Lyons, Nebraska and died in Ormond Beach, Florida. He was principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra from 1949 to 1969. A ...

. Parris was notorious for pushing instruments to the limits of any player's abilities: his solo violin sonata is particularly difficult, and the composer-directors of CRI believed his trombone concerto to be unplayable until they heard a recording of it. But he was also the most inventive of orchestrators: Parris's concerto for kettledrums was always a crowd-pleaser in performance because it was so surprisingly melodic: its last movement is built around a traditional hymn (like Copland's ''

Appalachian Spring ''Appalachian Spring'' is an American ballet created by the choreographer Martha Graham and the composer Aaron Copland, later arranged as an orchestral work. Commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, Copland composed the ballet music for Gra ...

'') but Parris gives the initial statements of that hymn—and its dramatic summation—to the kettledrums. Begun, the NSO principal tympanist who premiered the piece, made the original suggestion for the piece, but he later remarked, ""I suggested five drums jestingly." In the sixties and seventies Parris was a sometime music critic for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' and the ''

Washington Evening Star ''The Washington Star'', previously known as the ''Washington Star-News'' and the ''Washington'' ''Evening Star'', was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C., between 1852 and 1981. The Sunday edition was known as the ''Sunday ...

''. In this period Parris—who taught himself Spanish—also turned to Borges for inspiration and produced the ''Book of Imaginary Beings'' (Part I) a work for flute (pic), violin, cello, piano, celeste, and percussion, from 1972. Part II was published in 1983. A revival of the ''Concerto for Five Kettledrums and Orchestra'', also in 1983, by the National Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of

Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian Cello, cellist and conducting, conductor. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works, which enl ...

, was such a success that it resulted in new performances of his ''Concerto for Trombone'' (first performed in 1964) by the NSO in 1985 and, then, to Parris's largest commission. His ''Symphonic Variations'', performed in 1988 to great acclaim, was the result. A retrospective concert of his works at The George Washington University in this same year led ''Washington Post'' music critic Joseph McLellan to refer to Professor Parris as “one of (Washington’s) major music assets.”

References

External links

Interview with Robert Parris
October 22, 1988
Robert Parris Music Manuscripts
at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parris, Robert 1924 births 1999 deaths 20th-century American classical composers 20th-century American male musicians American male classical composers Musicians from Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania alumni Juilliard School alumni American expatriates in France University of Washington faculty George Washington University faculty Classical musicians from Pennsylvania