Hall of Composers
Howard Hanson (1896-1981)
American composer, educator, and conductor Howard Hanson was educated at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and taught theory and composition at the College of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. Hanson wrote many of his first notable compositions while in California, including the 1912 Rome Prize winner California Forest Play of 1920. Hanson studied orchestration with Ottorino Respighi; his later works are punctuated with lavish scoring, a characteristic reflective of Resphigi’s influence.
In 1924, Hanson became director of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y., a post he held until 1964. He built the school to national prominence as one of the leading music schools in America. Hanson is considered a neo-Romantic composer, showing influence of Edvard Grieg and Jean Sibelius. His combinations of Gregorian chant, little known chorales, bi-tonal harmonies, and driving motor rhythms proved successful to the concert band medium for which he wrote from the mid-1950s to the 1970s. He authored many articles that appeared in professional journals, particularly related to music education and support for the performing arts in America.
Selected works include Symphony No. 4, Opus 34, The Requiem (1943) (Pulitzer Prize winner) and Chorale and Alleluia (1954).
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