Ben Weber (composer)

William Jennings Bryan "Ben" Weber (July 23, 1916 in St. Louis^[1] – June 16, 1979 in New York City) was an American composer.

Ben Weber
Born	William Jennings Bryan Weber (1916-07-23)July 23, 1916 St. Louis
Died	June 16, 1979(1979-06-16) (aged 62) New York City)
Occupation	Composer

Weber He was "one of the first Americans to embrace the 12-tone techniques of Schoenberg, starting in 1938";^[1] he was largely self-taught.^[1] He worked initially as a copyist and only came to recognition in the 1950s.^{[citation needed]}

Weber used the twelve-tone technique but, rather than avoid tonality, he worked with it and achieved a virtuoso Romantic style: "Weber could not stifle his bent for expansive lyricism and bold gestures," wrote music critic Anthony Tommasini, adding: "One gets the sense that his adaptation of the 12-tone technique was his way of ensuring that his music would keep its cutting edge and not slip into Romanticism. There is a rather Brahmsian spirit trying to emerge here."^[1] He composed chamber music for various combinations of instruments, orchestral music including concertos for violin and piano, piano music, and songs.

Weber also wrote an unpublished memoir, How I Took 63 Years to Commit Suicide (as told to Matthew Paris).^[2]

Awards

Weber was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1950.^[3] He received a Thorne Music Award in 1965,^{[citation needed]}. which was given to composers of “mature years and recognized accomplishments".^[4]

Compositions

(in chronological order)

• op.1: Three songs for contralto and piano (texts by Robert Browning and Edward Short) (1936/40)
• o. op.: To a golden-haired girl, for voice and piano (text by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay)
• o. op. : Autumn
• o. op. : Legende for violin and piano
• op.2: Five Bagatelles for piano (4/1939)
• o. op.: Two pieces for clarinet and piano
• op.3: Pastorale and Scherzino for woodwinds
• op.4: Fantasie for violin and piano
• op.5: Violin sonata No.1 (1939)
• op.6: Three songs for soprano and piano (texts by Ben Weber and Rainer Maria Rilke) (1940)
• op.7: Lyric piece for string quartet (1940)
• op.8: Suite for piano
• op.9: Pastorale for violin and piano
• op.10: Lied des Idioten, for soprano and orchestra (text by Rainer Maria Rilke)
• op.11a: Variations for piano, violin, clarinet and cello (1941)
• op.11b: Concertino for violin, clarinet and cello
• op.12: String quartet No.1
• op.13: Five pieces for cello and piano
• op.14: Divertimento for 2 solo celli
• op.15: Five songs for voice and piano (texts by Adelaide Crapsey) (1941)
• op.16: Violin sonata No.2 (1940–42, rev. 1943)
• op.17: Cello sonata No.1 (1941)
• o. op.: Piece (later called: Ballade) for oboe and orchestra (1943)
• op.18: Chorale and Variations for cello and piano
• o. op.: Ballade for cello and piano
• o. op.: Intermezzo for clarinet and piano
• op.19: String trio (1944)
• op.20: Wie kann ich bleich, for voice and piano (German text by Ben Weber)
• op.21: Sinfonia for cello and orchestra (1945)
• op.22: Variations for oboe and string quartet (1944)
• op.23: Three piano pieces (1946)
• op.24: String trio
• op.25: Fantasia (Variations) for piano
• op.26: Ballet: The Pool of Darkness, for flute, violin, trumpet, bassoon, cello and piano
• op.26a: Episodes for piano (Piano version of Ballet Pool of Darkness) (1957)
• op.27: Suite for piano No.2 (1948)
• op.28: Dance for cello
• op.29: Concert Aria after Solomon, for soprano, wind quintet, violin, cello and piano (text from the bible, song of Solomon)
• op.30: Sonata da camera for violin and piano
• op.31: Dance No.2 for cello
• op.32: Concerto for piano solo, cello and woodwind quintet
• op.33: Symphony in four movements on Poems of William Blake
• op.34: Two pieces for string orchestra (1950)
• op.35: String quartet No.2
• op.36: Closing piece, for organ solo
• op.37: Colloquy, for brass septet
• op.38: Ballade for 2 pianos
• op.39: Serenade for harpsichord, flute, oboe and cello (1953)
• op.40: Four songs for tenor or soprano and cello (texts by Ezra Pound, Euenus, Hadrian, Bhāsa)
• op.41: Concerto for violin and orchestra (1954) (WP: 1973, Daniel Kobialka (violin), Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Shaw (conductor))
• op.42: Prelude and Passacaglis for orchestra (1954)
• op.43/1: Madrigal No.1 Ah, Dear Heart for SATB chorus (text by John Donne)
• op.43/2: Madrigal No.2 Sonnet to Orpheus for SATB chorus (text by Rainer Maria Rilke)
• op.44: Serenade for string quintet
• op.44a: New Adventures, for piano
• op.45: Concertino for flute, oboe, clarinet and string quartet (1956)
• op.46: Serenade for strings
• op.47: Rapsodie concertante for viola and small orchestra (1957)
• op.48: Three songs for soprano and strings (1958) (texts by Stefan George, Rainer Maria Rilke, Richard Dehmel)
• op.49: Humoresque for piano
• op.50: String quartet No.3 (1959)
• op.51: Chamber fantasie for solo violin and small ensemble (1959)
• op.52: Two songs for voice and piano (texts by John Dowland and Ausonius)
• op.53: Piano concerto (1961)
• op.54: The Ways, for voice and piano (text by Pauline Hanson)
• op.55: Nocturne for flute, celesta and cello (1963)
• op.56: Suite for piano four hands
• op.57: A bird came down the walk, for mezzo-soprano and piano (1963) (text by Emily Dickinson)
• op.58: Dolmen, for winds and strings (1964)
• op.59: Four songs (1966)
• op.60: The enchanted midnight, for orchestra (1967)
• op.61: Dramatic piece for violin and orchestra (1970)
• op.62: Sinfonia Clarion, for orchestra (1973)
• op.63: Two songs for voice and piano (text by J. Mayhall)
• op.64: Intermezzo for piano (1972)
• op.65: Variazioni quasi una fantasia for harpsichord (1974)
• op.66: Consort of Winds, for wind quintet (1974)
• op.67: Capriccio for cello and piano (1977)
• op.68: Ciaconna for piano (1979, incomplete)