Raymond Wilding-White - Misplaced Pages

American composer (1922–2001)

Raymond Wilding-White (also known as Ray Wilding-White); (9 October 1922 – 24 August 2001) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and electronic music, and a photographer/digital artist.

Biography

Wilding-White was born in Caterham, Tandridge, Surrey, England, and spent the first five years of his life in England before moving to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, outside Paris, France, where he had his first formal instruction in music at the Conservatoire Camille Saint-Saëns. In 1932 the family moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, his mother's family home. By 1940 he had moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.

Family

Wilding-White's father, Charles Dunning White was an American diplomat. Raymond Wilding-White had a number of brothers including Henry, Charles, and Alexander. His wife Glennie was also an accomplished musician, composer and playwright, as was his son Charles.

Education & Work

In 1940, Wilding-White enrolled in the chemical engineering program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but dropped out to assist in the war effort as a civilian. After the war he was accepted at the Juilliard School in New York City, earning his bachelor's degree in piano performance.

Wilding-White earned his master's degree in composition from the New England Conservatory of Music. During this period he also sang in the Chorus pro Musica under Alfred Nash Patterson, and as a countertenor (male alto) in the choir at Church of the Advent in Boston.

While in Boston he worked at the radio station WGBH. He and Nancy Harper won a Peabody Award for their work on The Children's Circle.

Wilding-White left WGBH to pursue his doctorate in composition from Boston University. He was a student of Aaron Copland and Luigi Dallapiccola.

In 1956, Wilding-White married Glennie. By 1962 he had completed his doctorate and was appointed to the Kulas Chair at Case Institute of Technology. He taught in the humanities program and was director of the Case Glee Club as part of his academic duties and was instrumental in promoting contemporary music concerts and multi-media events in Cleveland, Ohio.

In 1967 Case Institute merged with Western Reserve University, and Wilding-White accepted an invitation from DePaul University to design and install an electronic music studio there. Also in 1967, he was awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize in Music.

Wilding-White continued to teach humanities courses at DePaul until retiring in the mid-1980s.

In Chicago he founded the contemporary performing arts ensemble The Loop Group.

Wilding-White created new radio programming at WFMT in Chicago, Illinois. During the Bicentennial year 1976 he recorded the daily series Our American Music. He also recorded a history of music in Chicago, entitled Music Chicago Style, as a complement to the Chicago Historical Society's exhibit, and wrote and presented programming on composers Charles Ives, John Cage, and Arnold Schoenberg.

Wilding-White's creativity was not limited to music and the performing arts, he was also an avid photographer and visual artist, with exhibitions in the gallery of Darkroom Aids, Chicago (1981) and the Brown County Museum (Green Bay, Wisconsin).

Wilding-White composed over 100 works. He was influenced by the work of John Cage. His scores are archived at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and his photographic work will also be kept there.

Death

Wilding-White died at his home in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, of liver failure at the age of 78 in 2001, leaving a huge body of musical and photographic work. His wife Glennie died thirteen years later, January 31, 2014, at the age of 81.

Compositions

Orchestral

Even Now: variations for Baritone and Orchestra
Even Now: Chamber Orchestra version
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
Concertante for Horn, Violin and Strings
Bandmusic for concert Band (LP Recording)
Haiku for solo voices and various Instrumental Combinations
Whatzit No 4 for Orchestra
The Southern Harmony for Orchestra and Amateur Chorus (Materials traditionally and graphically notated; final layout to be chosen by the conductor)
Symphony for Swing Orchestra
De Profundis: The 8 Virtues and 7 Vices as seen by Peter Breughel
Quodlibet for Chorus, Solo Voices and Orchestra. 4 Mov.
A Symphony of Symphonies
Symphony No 1 Old Postcards: String Orchestra
Symphony No 2 Thomas Cole's "The Voyage of Life": Full Orchestra
Symphony No 3 Boccioni's "States of Mind": Wind and Percussion Orch.

Choral

The Psalms

Psalm 1 Mixed Chorus
Psalm 2 Three Equal Male Parts
Psalm 3 SSAA and 3 Trombones
Psalm 4 SATB
Psalm 5 (Two Versions)

Psalm 5 (Monte Carlo Suite No 4): Soprano and Wind Ensemble

Psalm 6 Female Voices
Psalm 6 Spoken Ensemble and Drum Set
Psalm 7 Mixed voices
Psalm 8 SATB
Two Psalms for Baritone

No 16 Solo
No 126 with piano

Four Psalms for Tenor and String Quartet

Psalm 9 Mixed Voices
Psalm 11 SATB and flute
Psalm 12 (The Magic Square) SAB
Psalm 13 Soprano and Piano (in 12 Songs)
Three Psalms for Bariton and Percussion

Psalm 13
Psalm 93
Psalm 43

Psalm 15 Pop setting SAAA, 2 keyboards, bass (opt drum set)
Psalm 16 Soprano and Organ
Psalm 17 SATB
Psalm 18 Mixed Voices and Orchestra
Psalm 19 "The 702 Names of God" 6 voices, solo voice, 2 electric pianos
Psalm 19 "Morse Code"
Four Psalms for Voices and Brass

No 12 for (amplified) SSAABB Trumpet. Horn and Trombone
No 111 for SSAATTBB 3 Trumpets. 3 Trombones & Tuba
No 113 for SATB 3 Trumpets. 3 Trombones & Tuba
No 115 for SSAATTBB Trumpet, Horn and Trombone

Psalm 20 Bass and violin
Psalm 21 Baritone and cello
Psalm 22 Amplified S and 3 Trumpets
Psalm 23 (Two Versions) SSAA
Psalm 24 Bariton and cello
Psalm 25 2 voices and 4 cymbal players
Psalm 26 Soprano solo, oboe, string quartet
Psalm 27 Soprano solo, 6 clarinets
Psalm 28 SSS soli
Psalm 29 SATB
Psalm 30 Teno, solo horn, bassoon
Psalm 31 Three Voices and 6 Xylophonists (3 instruments)
Psalm 32 SB, flute, clarinet, horn, violin, viola, cello
Psalm 33 Soprano solo, violin, cello, 2 trombones, theremin, percussion
Psalm 39 "Jeux de Cartes" Score on a deck of cards to be shuffled and dealt.

Variable number of voices and instruments

Psalm 43 Any number of men in unison and independently; 7 women plus 2 clarinets, 2 percussion & piano
Psalm 47 Male Chorus
Psalm 47 jazz vocal quartet setting
Psalm 51 Soprano solo, English horn, string quartet or organ
Psalm 54 24 Solo voices
Psalm 84 Baritone and flute
Psalm 89 - 6 altos and 6 flutes
Psalm 95 SSSSAAAATTBB
Psalm 99 SSAATTBB Organ
Psalm 102 Soprano, Countertenor and Organ
Psalm 109 16 Solo Voices
Psalm 112 Graphic Score
Psalm 114 Soprano and Piano (in 12 Songs)
Psalm 134 12 sung voices and 12 spoken voices
Psalm 141/142 - 4 sopranos, 4 altos, 4 baritones, piano, tam tam, truck spring
Psalm 142 with Mark Twain's War Prayer

SATB soli, SATB chorus, 4 oboes, 3 trumpets, 3 tbns, Vi 1-2, Vl, Ce, Bass.

Psalm 149 for SS Violin and viola
Psalm 150 for SSTB Hammered Dulcimer and Harpsichord

Advent Choruses (Various short choruses)
Penitential Mass
Latin Mass SATB
Jazz Mass SATB
Magnificat S Violin and Viola
Magnificat for Jazz Vocal Group SATB Soli and SATB
Easter Music for St Agnes A Solo & Harpsichord
Space Madrigals (Pub Lawson Gould)
A Book of Madrigals (52 madrigals for various combinations a capella)
Wedding Motet: SATB
Bennington Epitaphs SATB
The Ship of Death: Mezzo-Soprano, SATB and Wind Ensemble
Three Christmas Carols
Three Songs by Sir Thomas Wyatt SSAA
Restoration Lyrics (Texts by the Earl of Rochester) TTBB
Mexico City Blues (Kerouac): Male Chorus and Jazz Combo
Laudamus Viros Gloriosos: Male Chorus
In Memoriam A.N.R SATB
The Enrolment Management Rag: Mixed Chorus
Whatzit No 5 for Chorus
Nursery Birds for Mixed Chorus
Tang Poems: 20 settings for various combinations of voice and Instruments
Requiescat (to a poem by Oscar Wilde)
McGuffey's Eclectic Reader. SATB &

Small chorus SATB (Optionally SSAATTBB soli) and small ensemble

A Song for Christmas Eve, words by Glennie Wilding-White

Songs

Three Housman Poems: S and Piano (Pub Galaxy)
Six Poems from the Tang Dynasty: S and Flute
Twelve Songs for Soprano and Piano (1959) (includes 4 William Blake Songs)

Three Poems by Robert Graves: Bar and Piano
Novalis songs: Bar and Piano
Trionfo di Bacco e Arianne: Two Sopranos and Piano
The Ballad of Psychoanalysis: Contralto and Piano
Cummings Songs Soprano or Mezzo and Piano
Cinco Poemas de Gil Vicente: Soprano and Piano
Eight Songs: Two sopranos and Instrumental Ensemble
Twenty Dickinson Poems: Soprano and Alto
Four Poems by St John of the Cross: Mezzo. Two Flutes and Two Trumpets
Quatre Poemes and Quatre Poemes: Soprano, Flute/Recorder and Piano
For Mrs Crofts: Soprano and flute
For Robert Michaud: Baritone and flute
The Arkansas Traveler: Tenor and Piano
Death Songs: Soprano and Instrumental Ensemble
Millay Poems

a: Nine for Soprano and Piano
b: Nine for Soprano and guitar

Three Poems by Sid Corman for Alto. Violin and Viola
Le Bestiaire ou le Cortege d'Orphee for soprano, flute, cello, harp
Two Iwi Songs:

1. Solo voice and 3 equal voices
2. SSATB soli

Short Mass for Soprano and Organ
Two German Songs for Soprano and Piano

Instrumental

Sonata for Two Pianos
Piano sonata
Three organ Preludes
14 Chorale Preludes for Organ
Duos for Violin and Piano
String Quartet No 1
String Quartet No 2 (Monte Carlo Suite No l)
String Quartet No 3 (The Forest) Tenor and String Quartet
String Quartet No 4
String Quartet No 5
String Quartet No 6 (The Song Quartet) Soprano and String Quartet
String Quartet No 7 (See Psalms)
Variations for Chamber Organ and String Trio
Character Sketches for Piano (Pub Galaxy)
For Mallets (Pub Mus for Perc.)
Sonatina for Trumpet and Piano
Counterpoints for Two Clarinets
Fragments for Jazz Ensemble
Encores for Stu: Solo Trombone
Fifty Eight Traditional Variations on a Traditional Theme: Piano Brass duets
Brass duets
Whatzit No 1 for Perc and Piano
Whatzit No 2 for Piano
Whatzit No 3 for Piano
Whatzit No 6 for Solo Trombone
The Rape of Spring (from fragments attributed to Roger Scott)

Harpsichord, Tape and Narration

Algorhythms for Piano
Eight Fish Creek Autographs
Monte Carlo Suite No 3 (*Piano sonata 2)
Serenata for Brass Quintet
Whatzit No 12-Short Things for Violin and Piano
Three Short Rags and The Monotony Rag
Fanfare for Mark Rothko. Tape and Brass Quintet
Lines from the Twelve Moons: Narrator. Piano and Four Basses
Les Fourberies: Suite for Hammered Dulcimer, Guitar and Harpsichord
Variations on Stabat Mater for Organ
My Album: Assorted Inventions
Concerto for Organ and Piano
Suite for Flute and Marimba
14 Romantic Preludes from Old Maritime Postcards for Piano Solo

Stage works

The Tub (chamber opera for SATB soli and Piano)
The Lonesome Valley (ballet)
The Selfish Giant (opera for TV)
The Trees (ballet)
Yerma (opera in 3 acts, 6 scenes.)
The Music of Eric Zann -- A Gothic Tale after H.P. Lovecraft (tape and violin)
Liturgy (ballet, brass quintet)
Trio (ballad opera)
Gifts (liturgical drama)
Gifts II (liturgical drama)
The Ghost of a Flea (puppet show)

Books

Wilding-White, Raymond (1994). Music Chicago Style. Kewaunee, Wisconsin: Raymond Wilding-White. OCLC: 47815153.

References

Department of State History Website
1967 Cleveland Arts Prize in Music
Composer and teacher Raymond Wilding-White dead at 78 | News | qconline.com Retrieved 2018-10-04.
Oscholars
Contemporary Art Song Album For Medium Voice. Cleveland Composers Guild Publication Series. New York: Galaxy Music Corporation. 1972. pp. 2–6. OCLC 787255.

External links

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