Korte, Karl (Richard)

Korte, Karl (Richard), American composer; b. Ossining, N.Y., Aug. 25, 1928. He studied at 111. Wesleyan Univ. (1948–49), and then took composition courses with Mennin and Bergsma at the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y. (B.S., 1953). In 1953 he went to Italy on a Fulbright grant and studied with Petrassi at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. From 1954 to 1956 he was again a student at Juilliard, in the composition class of Persichetti (M.S., 1956), and then took private lessons with Luening (1956–59), and also attended seminars given by Copland at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood (1960, 1961). He was awarded Guggenheim fellowships (1960, 1970). He taught at Ariz. State Univ. (1963–64), the State Univ. of N.Y. at Binghamton (1964–71), and the Univ. of Tex. in Austin (from 1971), where he was co- director of its electronic music studio (from 1984). After retiring in 1996, he served as a visiting prof, at Williams Coll. In 1985 he was a Fulbright lecturer on music in New Zealand. His music is quaquaversal in an attractively scientific manner, with the stylistic spectrum ranging from infrared, so to speak, in his archaically impressed works through the mandatory neo-Baroque essays to the ultra-violet rarefaction of mathematical conceits, abstractions, serialism, and electronics.

Works

ORCH.: Concertato on a Choral Theme (1955); For a Young Audience (1959); Sym. No. 2 (1961); Southwest, dance overture (1963); Sym. No. 3 (1968); Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments (1976). band:Ceremonial Prelude and Passacaglia (1962); Nocturne and March (1962); Prairie Song for Trumpet and Band (1963); Gestures for Wind Ensemble, Amplified Double Bass, Percussion, and Piano (1970); I Think YouWould Have Understood for Trumpet, Tape, and Band (1971); Fibers (1977); Texarcana, variations on a Tex. Folk Song for Large Wind Ensemble (1992). CHAMBER: 2 string quartets (1948, 1965); Fantasy for Violin and Piano (1959); Quintet for Oboe and Strings (1960); Matrix (1968); Facets (1969); Remembrances for Flute and Tape (1971); Symmetries (1974); Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello (1977; rev. 1982); Concertino for Trombone, Winds, and Percussion (1981); Double Concerto for Flute, Double Bass, and Tape (1984); Vochi, trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano (1984); Colloquy for Flute and Tape (1987); Evocation and Dance for Trombone and Tape (1988); Extensions for Percussion and Tape (1994). Piano: Epigrams (2 books, 1993-94). VOCAL: Mass for Youth for Women’s Voices and Orch. (1963); Aspects of Love for Chorus (1968); May the Sun Bless Us for Men’s Voices, Brass, and Percussion (1968); Psalm XIII for Chorus and Tape (1970); Pale Is This Good Prince, oratorio for Solo Voices, Chorus, 2 Pianos, and 4 Percussion (1973); Of Time and Season for Solo Voices, Chorus, Piano, and Marimba (1975); Sappho Says for Women’s Voices, Solo Voice, Flute, and Piano (1980); The Whistling Wind for Mezzo-soprano and Tape (1983); 5 New Zealand Songs for Voice and Piano (1989); 3 Psalm Settings for Chorus (1991). computer:Birds of Aotearoa (1986); Meeting the Enemy (1994-95).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire