Robert Suderburg facts for kids
Robert Charles Suderburg was an American musician. He was a talented composer, conductor, and pianist. He was born in Spencer, Iowa, in 1936 and passed away in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 2013.
Robert Suderburg's Life Story
Robert Suderburg's father was a jazz trombonist. Robert studied music at the University of Minnesota. He earned his first degree there in 1957. He continued his studies at Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a PhD in 1966. His research focused on Schoenberg's twelve-tone music.
Suderburg taught music at several colleges. These included Bryn Mawr College and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1966, he became a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. He also helped lead the university's Contemporary Group. He taught there until 1974.
From 1974 to 1984, Suderburg was the leader of the North Carolina School of the Arts. In 1985, he joined the music team at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He was the head of the music department from 1986 to 1995. He retired from teaching in 2001.
Suderburg's music has been played by famous groups. These include the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony. He received many awards for his work. These included two Guggenheim Fellowships. He also received awards from the Rockefeller Foundation.
Robert Suderburg's Music Style
Robert Suderburg's early music used a style called serial music. This included the twelve-tone technique. But in the late 1960s, he changed his style. He started writing music that was more personal and expressive. This new style is often called neoromantic.
His music often used modes. These are like different kinds of scales. The Phrygian and Lydian modes were common in his work. Sometimes, he used scale patterns from non-Western music. An example is the music for the Japanese koto.
Suderburg liked to use certain musical intervals. These included rising major sevenths and minor ninths. His music often featured harmonies with major-seventh chords. He usually used slow to medium speeds in his pieces. However, the rhythms within the music were often active. This made his music sound like improvisation.
Selected Compositions
- Concert Mass, for choir (1960)
- Six Moments, for piano (1962)
- Cantata I (text: Revelations), for soprano and chamber orchestra (1963)
- Cantata II (text by the composer), for tenor and chamber orchestra (1964)
- Composition on Traditional Carols, for choir, congregation, brass choir (1965)
- Choruses on Poems of Yeats, for singers and chamber orchestra (1966)
- Chamber Music I ("Entertainments"), for violin and cello (1967)
- Chamber Music II ("Dramatic Entertainments"), for string quartet (1967)
- Orchestra Music I (1969)
- Show, for child actor and orchestra (1970)
- Solo Music I, for violin (1971)
- Chamber Music III ("Night Set"), for trombone and piano (1972)
- Winds/Vents, for orchestra (1973)
- Concerto, Within the Mirror of Time, for piano and orchestra (1974)
- Chamber Music IV ("Ritual Series"), for percussion ensemble (1975)
- Chamber Music V ("Stevenson"), for solo voice, string quartet, and tape (1976)
- Percussion Concerto (1977)
- Voyage de nuit, concerto after Baudelaire, for solo voice and chamber orchestra (1978)
- Chamber Music VI ("Three Movements"), for violin and double bass (1980)
- Harp Concerto (1982, revised 1989)
- Chamber Music VII ("Ceremonies"), for trumpet and piano (1984)
- Chamber Music VIII (Sonata for trumpet and piano) (1988)
- Solo Music II ("Ritual Cycle of Lyrics and Dances"), for viola (1989)
- Chamber Music IX ("Breath and Circuses"), for voice, trombone, and piano (1991)
- Chamber Music X ("Entertainment Sets"), for brass quintet (1992)
- Chamber Music XI ("Strophes of Night and Dawn after Baudelaire"), for brass quintet (1992)
- Ceremonial Music, for brass quintet (1993)
- Fanfare for Bowdoin, for brass quintet (1993)
- Solo Music III ("Bill at Colonus"), for clarinet (1997)
- Five Songs (Amerindian texts), for solo voice, children’s chorus, and piano (1997)
- Chamber Music XII ("Concerto Passages"), for brass quintet (1998)
