Roger Sessions facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Roger Sessions
Portrait of Sessions by Harold Weston (c. 1920s)
Born	(1896-12-28)December 28, 1896 New York, New York, U.S.
Died	March 6, 1985(1985-03-06) (aged 88) Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Composer musicologist teacher music critic
Spouse(s)	Barbara Foster ​ ​ (m. 1920; div. 1936)​ Sarah Elizabeth Frank ​ (m. 1936)​
Children	2

Roger Huntington Sessions (born December 28, 1896 – died March 16, 1985) was an American composer, teacher, and music expert. He started his music career writing in a style called neoclassical. This means his early music was inspired by older, classical music.

Over time, his music changed. It became more complex, with harmonies that sounded different from traditional music. He eventually used a method called twelve-tone serialism. This was a way of composing music using all twelve notes of the musical scale in a specific order. His friend, Arnold Schoenberg, who was also a famous composer, influenced this change. Sessions made this technique his own, using it to create unique melodies while keeping other parts of his music free and sometimes sounding a bit "dissonant" (meaning notes that clash a little).

Who Was Roger Sessions?

Roger Sessions was born in Brooklyn, New York. His family had a long history in America, going back to the American Revolution. His mother, Ruth Huntington Sessions, was a direct descendant of Samuel Huntington. Samuel Huntington was one of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence.

His Early Life and Education

Roger started studying music at Harvard University when he was only 14 years old. While there, he wrote for and later became the editor of the Harvard Musical Review. He finished college at 18. After Harvard, he continued his studies at Yale University. He learned from famous music teachers like Horatio Parker and Ernest Bloch. Later, he taught music at Smith College.

Most of his first important musical pieces were written when he was in his twenties and early thirties. At this time, he was traveling around Europe with his first wife. One of his early works was the music for a play called The Black Maskers.

Returning to the United States

In 1933, Sessions came back to the United States. He taught at several well-known universities. He taught at Princeton University starting in 1936. Then, from 1945 to 1953, he taught at the University of California, Berkeley. After that, he returned to Princeton until he retired in 1965.

Even after retiring from Princeton, he continued to teach part-time. He taught at the Juilliard School from 1966 until 1983. He was also a good friend of both Arnold Schoenberg and the famous writer Thomas Mann.

Awards and Recognition

Roger Sessions received many honors for his music.

• In 1961, he was chosen as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• In 1968, he received the Edward MacDowell Medal. This award is given for great contributions to the arts.
• In 1974, he won a special Pulitzer Prize. This award recognized his entire life's work as a respected American composer.
• In 1982, he won the main Pulitzer Prize for Music. This was for his piece called Concerto for Orchestra. The Boston Symphony Orchestra first performed this piece on October 23, 1981.

Family Life

Roger Sessions married Barbara Foster in June 1920. They later divorced in September 1936. He then married Sarah Elizabeth Franck in November 1936. They had two children together: John Porter (who became a professional cellist) and Elizabeth Phelps. Roger Sessions passed away in Princeton, New Jersey, at the age of 88.

What Was His Music Style Like?

Roger Sessions' music changed over his career.

• Early Music (before 1930): His first pieces were mostly neoclassical. This means they had clear forms and melodies, similar to music from the 1700s.
• Middle Period (1930-1940): During this time, his music still had a sense of tonality (a main key or home note). However, the harmonies became much more complex and sometimes sounded a bit unusual.
• Later Music (after 1946): From 1946 onwards, his music became atonal. This means it didn't have a clear home key. Starting with his Solo Violin Sonata in 1953, he began using serialism. This is a method where composers use a specific order of notes (a "row") to build their music.

Sessions used these "rows" very freely. He often used them to make sure his music had a full range of sounds and connected ideas. But he didn't always stick strictly to the rules of the twelve-tone technique. He might use a row to create the main melody, while composing the other parts of the music more freely.

Important Musical Works

• 3 Chorale Preludes for Organ (1924–26)
• Symphony No. 1 (1927)
• The Black Maskers Orchestral Suite (1928)
• Piano Sonata No. 1 (1930)
• Violin Concerto (1935)
• String Quartet No. 1 (1936)
• From My Diary (Pages from a Diary) (1940)
• Duo for Violin and Piano (1942)
• Piano Sonata No. 2 (1946)
• Symphony No. 2 (1946)
• The Trial of Lucullus (1947), a short opera
• String Quartet No. 2 (1951)
• Sonata for Solo Violin (1953)
• Idyll of Theocritus (1954)
• Mass, for chorus and organ (1956)
• Piano Concerto (1956)
• Symphony No. 3 (1957)
• String Quintet (1957 or 1957–58)
• Symphony No. 4 (1958)
• Divertimento for orchestra (1959)
• Montezuma (1940–1962), an opera in three acts
• Symphony No. 5 (1964)
• Piano Sonata No. 3 (1965)
• Symphony No. 6 (1966)
• Six Pieces for Violoncello (1966)
• Symphony No. 7 (1967)
• Symphony No. 8 (1968)
• Rhapsody for Orchestra (1970)
• Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra (1970–1971)
• When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd (1971)
• Three Choruses on Biblical Texts (1971)
• Concertino for Chamber Orchestra (1972)
• Five Pieces for Piano (1975)
• Symphony No. 9 (October 1978)
• Concerto for Orchestra (1981)
• Duo for Violin and Violoncello (1981), not finished

Some of his works were performed for the first time many years after he wrote them. For example, his Sixth Symphony (written in 1966) was first fully performed in 1977. His Ninth Symphony (written in 1978) was first played in 1980.

His Writings About Music

Roger Sessions also wrote several books about music.

• Sessions, Roger. Harmonic Practice. New York: Harcourt, Brace. 1951.
• —. Reflections on the Music Life in the United States. New York: Merlin Press. 1956.
• —. The Musical Experience of Composer, Performer, Listener. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 1950, republished 1958.
• —. Questions About Music. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1970.
• —. Roger Sessions on Music: Collected Essays, edited by Edward T. Cone. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979.

See also

List of music students by teacher: R to S#Roger Sessions