Charles Fussell

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Portrait of Charles Fussell in 1986, by Maurice Grosser. Charles Fussell.jpg
Portrait of Charles Fussell in 1986, by Maurice Grosser.

Charles Clement Fussell (born February 14, 1938, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina) [1] is an American composer and conductor of contemporary classical music. He has composed six symphonies and three operas. [2] His symphony Wilde for solo baritone and orchestra, based on the life of Oscar Wilde and premiered by the Newton Symphony Orchestra and the baritone Sanford Sylvan in 1990, was a finalist for the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Music. [3] [4] He received a citation and award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1992. [2] [5] [6]

Fussell received advanced degrees in composition and conducting from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Thomas Canning and Bernard Rogers. He received a Fulbright grant to study at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, where he worked with Boris Blacher. He also attended the Bayreuth masterclasses of Friedelind Wagner. [2] [6] In 1964 he received a Ford Foundation grant to be a composer-in-residence in the Newton, Massachusetts public school system. [7] He was an assistant and close friend of the composer Virgil Thomson. [8] He served as the president of the Thomson Foundation for many years. [6]

Fussell has served on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the North Carolina School of the Arts (1976–1977), Boston University (1983–2003), and Rutgers University. [1]

Catalogue of works

Late 1950s

1962

1963

1964

1965

1967

1968

1970

1971

1973

1975

1976

1977

1979

1981

1982

1983

1985

1986

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1990

1991

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2003

2008

2011

2018

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References

  1. 1 2 Zullinger, Nathan. “A Guide to the Choral Music of Charles Fussell.” DMA diss., Boston University, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 Fussell, Charles. Charles Fussell: Wilde. Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Gil Rose. BMOP/sound 1005, 2008, compact disc. Liner notes.
  3. Dyer, Richard (October 2, 2004). "Modern Orchestra is in fine voice". The Boston Globe . Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  4. Valdes, Lesley (May 18, 1992). "Whitman's 'Days' Given Spin As Cantata "We Wanted This To Be A Portrait Of The Whole Man," Says Composer Charles Fussell". The Philadelphia Inquirer . Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  5. Fussell, Charles. Charles Fussell: Specimen Days; Being Music. Sanford Sylvan; Cantata Singers. David Hoose. Koch International Classics 3-7338-2H1, 1997, compact disc. Liner notes.
  6. 1 2 3 Fussell, Charles. Charles Fussell: Cymbeline. Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Gil Rose. BMOP/sound 1059, 2018, compact disc. Liner notes.
  7. "$5,000 Ford Grants For 10 Composers". The New York Times. March 6, 1964. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  8. "Rustic Streams Hiding Complicated Traditions". The New York Times . January 14, 2007. Retrieved February 26, 2016.