Modern Music and After: Directions Since 1945
by Paul Griffiths
Period: Late 20th Century
Born: Saturday, April 26, 1941 in Hollywood, California (USA)
As of March 2006 this composer is still living.
To report updated information, please see the Contact Info page.
Nation of Origin: United States
Major Works:
Operas:
You Were Always Mine (light opera) (1991)
Vanya (chamber opera) (1998-2000)
Choral Works:
OP. 33 CANTATA NO. 1:The Way of Love (1978)
OP. 23 CANTATA NO. 2: Invocations (1976)
OP. 39 CANTATA NO. 3: The Voice of the Soul (1980)
OP. 41 CANTATA NO. 4: The Four Rays of Light (1980)
OP. 44 CANTATA NO. 5: The Planets (1982)
OP. 49 CANTATA NO. 6: The Universal Star (1982)
OP. 53 CANTATA NO. 7: Visions from the Earth (1983)
OP. 63 ORATORIO: Golden Planet (1986)
OP. 64 ORATORIO: The Science of the Soul (1988)
OP. 70 ORATORIO: Heart of the New Earth (1989)
OP. 77 FESTIVAL ORATORIO: The Harmony of the Universe (1990)
Chamber Works:
OP. 3 Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1968)
OP. 5 Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano (1972)
OP. 21 Sonata for Cello and Piano (Bicenntenial) (1976)
OP. 27 Quartet for Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano (1977)
OP. 30 Trio for Violin, Viola, and Cello (1978)
OP. 36 Sonata for Bassoon and Piano (1979)
200 Art Songs
Other Information:
John Mitchell does not write about music, or apply for grants. Since leaving the doctoral program in composition at UCLA in 1966 because his work was dismissed as "neoromantic" he has done nothing but write music, producing, while living in poverty, an enormous body of work: cantatas and oratorios, volumes of music for solo piano and organ, chamber music, operas, and more than 200 art songs--all in hand-written manuscript. Most of it has never been performed.
To call it "new classical music" does not carry precisely the same meaning as with many contemporary composers. It is classical music because it is timeless and universal. It is new because it speaks with a voice that has not been heard before, which can be defined only as his own.
Essay contributed by:
Victoria Brago
General Bibliography:
Kennedy, Michael, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 1997, ISBN: 0198691629
Lampert, Vera; Kemp, Ian; and White, Eric Walter, The New Grove Modern Masters (The New Grove Series), W. W. Norton & Company, November 1997, ISBN: 0393315924
Sadie, Stanley and Tyrrell, John; Editors, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Groves Dictionaries, Inc., January 2001, ISBN: 1561592390
Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura; Editors, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Gale Group, December 2000, ISBN: 0028655257
Slonimsky, Nicolas, Music Since 1900, Schirmer Books, July 1994, ISBN: 0028724186
Links to essays at other sites:
Modern Music and After: Directions Since 1945 by Paul Griffiths |
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Art Songs of John Mitchell
The Life and Music of John Mitchell
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