Ned Rorem (99) has died.

[pjme]

https://slippedisc.com/2022/11/sad-news-ned-rorem-has-died/

https://www.boosey.com/composer/Ned+Rorem?ttype=BIOGRAPHY
http://www.nedrorem.net/



https://www.youtube.com/v/jyEZQ-_P4d8

https://www.youtube.com/v/aDOAxJ2ARnU

[Todd]

He was fortunate enough to live a long and productive life.  RIP.

[Maestro267]

I have yet to delve into his music, but a long and productive life for sure. Rest in peace, Ned.

[Symphonic Addict]

Sorry to hear that. I hope he has enjoyed his long life and the recognition as a great composer. May he rest in peace.

[Leo K.]

I enjoy his symphonies. A big loss. Rest in peace.

[71 dB]

I found his music some five years ago with many other composers of contemporary classical music and enjoy it quite a lot.

R.I.P.

[pjme]

Now in the press:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/arts/music/ned-rorem-dead.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/11/18/ned-rorem-dead-composer-diarist/

https://www.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/mort-de-ned-rorem-compositeur-americain-majeur-du-xxe-siecle-9307499

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Now in the press:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/arts/music/ned-rorem-dead.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/11/18/ned-rorem-dead-composer-diarist/

https://www.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/mort-de-ned-rorem-compositeur-americain-majeur-du-xxe-siecle-9307499

Thank you for the links. Very helpful.

[pjme]

You're welcome. I do enjoy the works by rorem I know...(mainly a few songs and the symphonies);

[Cato]

Ned Rorem was (fairly) big back in the 1950's and 1960's, mainly because of the songs, as I recall.

But there were many like him, who were leading American Contemporary Music into the future, or trying to!  Many today are forgotten!  But I recall other fellows whose records came under my eyes at the library's "New Arrivals" bin.

Off the top of my head (considering the 1960's and early '70's):

George Barati, Andrew Imbrie, David Van Vactor, Irving Fine, Donald Erb, Michael Colgrass, Cecil Effinger, and many others.

I think the biggest names were older ones e.g. Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein, followed perhaps by Gian Carlo Menotti and Ferde Grofe'.  Can you imagine a major network showing Aaron Copland playing his Piano Concerto in prime time today or a prime time opera (Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors?!

Film composers (Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner, Erich Korngold, Jerome Moross, Alfred Newman, et al.) were film composers, and so they were not necessarily considered to be on the same level: that change would occur later.

Walter Piston, David Diamond, Gunther Schuller, William Schuman, Henry Brant, George Crumb, Elliott Carter, and Charles Wuorinen were part of an "up and coming" group...

...which included (I would say) Ned Rorem.

[Cato]

Ned Rorem was (fairly) big back in the 1950's and 1960's, mainly because of the songs, as I recall.

But there were many like him, who were leading American Contemporary Music into the future, or trying to!  Many today are forgotten!  But I recall other fellows whose records came under my eyes at the library's "New Arrivals" bin.

Off the top of my head (considering the 1960's and early '70's):

George Barati, Andrew Imbrie, David Van Vactor, Irving Fine, Donald Erb, Michael Colgrass, Cecil Effinger, and many others.

I think the biggest names were older ones e.g. Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein, followed perhaps by Gian Carlo Menotti and Ferde Grofe'.  Can you imagine a major network showing Aaron Copland playing his Piano Concerto in prime time today or a prime time opera (Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors?!

Film composers (Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner, Erich Korngold, Jerome Moross, Alfred Newman, et al.) were film composers, and so they were not necessarily considered to be on the same level: that change would occur later.

Walter Piston, David Diamond, Gunther Schuller, William Schuman, Henry Brant, George Crumb, Elliott Carter, and Charles Wuorinen were part of an "up and coming" group...

...which included (I would say) Ned Rorem.

I tried the songs again: nearly 60 years have gone by since I gave Ned Rorem a chance.  My adolescent opinion remains the same.  Not to my taste.

But...take a listen!

From his opera (2005) based on Thornton Wilder's Our Town: