William Howard Schuman (August 4, 1910 – February 15, 1992) was an American composer and someone who managed arts programs.
Life
William Schuman was born into a Jewish family in Manhattan, New York City, to Samuel and Rachel Schuman. He was named after the 27th U.S. president, William Howard Taft, though his family often called him Bill. As a child, Schuman played the violin and banjo, but his greatest interest was baseball. He attended Temple Shaaray Tefila as a child. While in high school, he created a dance band called "Billy Schuman and His Alamo Society Orchestra," which performed at local weddings and bar mitzvahs. Schuman played the string bass in the band.
In 1928, Schuman entered New York University’s School of Commerce to earn a business degree. At the same time, he worked for an advertising agency. He also wrote popular songs with E. B. Marks Jr., a friend he had met earlier at summer camp. Around that time, Schuman met lyricist Frank Loesser, and together they wrote about forty songs. Loesser’s first published song, "In Love with a Memory of You," credits Schuman as the composer.
On April 13, 1930, Schuman attended a concert at Carnegie Hall by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. The program included works by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Smetana. Schuman later described the experience as "astounding," saying the sight of the orchestra and the sound overwhelmed him. The next day, he decided to become a composer.
Schuman left school and quit his job to study music at the Malkin Conservatory with Max Persin and Charles Haubiel. From 1933 to 1938, he studied privately with Roy Harris. In 1935, he earned a master’s degree in music education from Teachers College at Columbia University. Harris introduced Schuman to conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who supported many of his works. Koussevitzky conducted Schuman’s Symphony No. 2 in 1939. Schuman’s best-known symphony, the Symphony for Strings, was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation. It was dedicated to Natalie Koussevitzky and first performed under Koussevitzky on November 12, 1943.
Schuman won the first Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1943 for his Cantata No. 2, A Free Song, adapted from poems by Walt Whitman. From 1935 to 1945, he taught composition at Sarah Lawrence College. In 1945, he became president of the Juilliard School and founded the Juilliard String Quartet. He left Juilliard in 1961 to become president of Lincoln Center, a position he held until 1969. In 1971, Schuman was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal by The MacDowell Colony for his contributions to American culture. He received a special Pulitzer Prize in 1985 for his lifetime work as a composer and educator. In 1987, he was honored with the National Medal of Arts.
Schuman died at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City at age 81 after hip surgery. He was survived by his wife, Frances (married in 1936), two children, Anthony William and Andrea Frances, and one grandchild.
Music
William Schuman created a large collection of musical works. He composed eight symphonies, numbered Three through Ten, as he later removed the first two. These symphonies are becoming more respected over time. His Violin Concerto (1947, revised in 1959) is praised as one of his most powerful works and is sometimes compared to a symphony for violin and orchestra. Other compositions include the New England Triptych (1956), based on melodies by William Billings; the American Festival Overture (1939); ballets Undertow (1945) and Judith (1949), with the latter written for dancer Martha Graham; the Mail Order Madrigals (1972), set to texts from the 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog; and two operas: The Mighty Casey (1953), inspired by Ernest Thayer’s poem “Casey at the Bat,” and A Question of Taste (1989), based on a short story by Roald Dahl. Schuman also arranged Charles Ives’ organ piece Variations on “America” for orchestra in 1963, a version now more widely known. Another well-known work is George Washington Bridge (1950), written for concert band.
Television appearance
William Schuman appeared as the first guest on the CBS game show What's My Line? on September 30, 1962 (episode No. 632). Because he was well-known, the panelists—Dorothy Kilgallen, Martin Gabel, Arlene Francis, and Bennett Cerf—were blindfolded during the game. Schuman’s title card described him as "Composer and President of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (New York City)." He answered questions with cleverness. When the panel asked about music, Schuman responded, "What question are you asking about music?" When asked if he was Leonard Bernstein, he said, "I’m his friend." When asked if he was Rudolf Bing, he repeated, "I’m his friend," which made Arlene Francis wonder who was not his friend. When asked if he had ever sung for the Metropolitan Opera, Schuman said, "I wanted to sing there, but I was never invited." Bennett Cerf correctly guessed Schuman’s identity after the host, John Charles Daly, revealed all the title cards. Daly announced that Schuman’s Eighth Symphony would be performed at Philharmonic Hall (now David Geffen Hall) the following Thursday, October 4, 1962, which marked the first performance of the work. Five days later, the New York Philharmonic, led by Bernstein, recorded the symphony for Columbia Masterworks Records.