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MOS Composer of the Month: Previous Page, Next Page, Index |
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Composer of the Month - November, 2005
by Daryl Lee It is always interesting to know how a person becomes a composer. In Daniel Pinkham's case, it was because he discovered plagiarism first. As a six year old piano student, he tried to sell copies of his lessons to his parents. When they told him one needed to write one's own music before trying to sell it, the transition was simple—he began writing his own music. The Pinkham family was heir to the "Lydia Pinkham" herbal remedies business, and a good, private school education (Phillips Academy, Andover) was part of his heritage. But instead of following the family tradition of wrestling and theology, Daniel followed his musical muse. At the age of sixteen he attended a Trapp Family concert, and a love of seventeenth and eighteenth century European musical forms was born. Taking advantage of an accelerated program, he entered Harvard at age seventeen as a music major. Completing his Bachelor's degree in three years and one more year for his Master's is one indication of his intellectual prowess. After his formal studies he continued, studying with Aaron Copland, Nadia Boulanger (the eminent teacher of composers at the time), and Arthur Honegger, among others. Pinkham's teaching career began early with his acceptance at age 23 of a position at the Boston Conservatory of Music. After a few intervening positions, he joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music in 1958 (where he still serves on the faculty of Music History and Musicology), teaching music history, theory, composition, and harpsichord, the instrument for which he was most well known at the time. That same year he accepted the position of organist and choir director at historic King's Chapel in Boston, home of the first pipe organ to be installed in an American church. He held this post for 42 years. In Pinkham's view, he owed his position less to his skill as an organist and more to his progressive thinking on the music program as a whole. Even so, his proficiency at the keyboard was enough to earn him the title of Dean of the Boston chapter of the American Guild of Organists and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a prolific composer, having composed for orchestra, organ, harpsichord, and chorus. Of these, his Christmas Cantata will be featured in the MOS 2005 Christmas concert. His music has been performed by major American orchestras as well as international productions. The American Guild of Organists named him Composer of the Year in 1990 and he received the Alfred Nash Patterson Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996, as well as several honorary degrees. For further reading on Daniel Pinkham: Click here for more information about the MOS Composer of the Month feature. |
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