Synopsis

On today’s date in 1961, American composer Wallingford Riegger died in New York City, a month shy of what would have been his 76th birthday.

Riegger was born in Albany, Georgia, in 1885. Like many American musicians back then, he studied in Germany. In the years before America entered World War I, Riegger worked in both the US and Europe: for three years he was the principal cellist with the St. Paul Symphony in Minnesota; he then served as an assistant voice coach and conductor at German opera houses in Würzburg and Königsberg.

Returning home in 1918, Riegger spent ten years teaching, eventually settling in New York in 1928. There he got to know Henry Cowell, Charles Ives, and other “ultra-modern” composers. Riegger’s early music had been in the traditional mode, but he quickly established himself as one of the leading figures in the more experimental American music scene.

In the 1930s, Riegger, like Copland, worked with the pioneers of modern American dance, including Martha Graham, and composed ballet scores. From 1938 on, however, he concentrated on non-theatrical scores, including symphonies and chamber works.

Riegger’s mature works blend atonality with traditional musical forms and dance rhythms, even on occasion some jazzy American syncopation.

Music Played in Today's Program

Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961): Wind Quintet; New York Woodwind Quintet; Bridge 9068