Richard Swift (composer)


Richard G. Swift was an American composer and music theorist.

Life

Born in Middle Point, Ohio, Swift studied with Leland Smith, Grosvenor Cooper, and Leonard B. Meyer at the University of Chicago, where he received an MA in 1956. His career was spent teaching at the University of California, Davis, from 1956 until his retirement in 1991. He was the recipient of many awards, amongst others from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He died in Davis, California, in 2003.
In addition to his activity as a composer, he also published many articles on twentieth-century music and music theory.
His wife, Dorothy Zackrisson Swift, was an accomplished musician and poet who wrote the libretto for Swift's opera, The Trial of Tender O'Shea. Richard Swift also set two of her poems in the song cycle Roses Only, conceived as a memorial for her. Her collected poetry was published posthumously.

Compositions (selective list)

  • String Trio No. 1, Op. 6
  • String Quartet No. 1 Stravaganza I, for instrumental ensemble Serenade Concertante, for piano and wind quintet
  • Trio, for clarinet, cello, and piano, Op. 14
  • String Quartet No. 2 Stravaganza II, for piano The Pleasures of Merely Circulating for band Stravaganza III, for clarinet, violin, and piano, Op. 22
  • Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 26 Domaines I, for baritone, flute, clarinet, trombone, vibraphone, and cello, Op. 29 Domains III, for four groups of instruments, Op. 31
  • String Quartet No. 3 The Trial of Tender O'Shea, opera in 1 scene Music for a While I, for violin, viola, and harpsichord Planctus, for chorus, flute, bassoon, viola, and cello
  • Violin Concerto Stravaganza VII, for solo viola Music for a While II, for clarinet, viola, and harpsichord
  • Symphony Thanatopsis, for mezzo-soprano, small four-part chorus and seventeen instruments
  • String Quartet No. 4 Prime, for alto saxophone and chamber ensemble Music for a While III, for two instruments Mein blaues Klavier, for piano
  • String Trio No. 2
  • Piano Concerto No. 2
  • String Quartet No. 5 Elective Affinities for cello and piano The Garden for voice, chamber group Things of August for piano Stravaganza X for piano Serenade Concertante II for clarinet, violin, cello and piano Domainsfor piano Some Versions of Paraphrase for violin, clarinet, and piano In the Country of Blue Voyages II for small chorus Credences of Summer for violin, piano Things of August, for piano Stitch in Time for guitar, piano A Field of Light for eight instruments Roses Only for soprano and small orchestra Music for a While IV for string quartet Radix Matrixfor piano Asphodel, That Greeny Flower solo flute String Quartet No. 6 Stravaganza XI, for instrumental ensemble Getting Back In for guitar, piano Stravaganza XII for piano Stravaganza XIII for piano Stravaganza XIV for piano Stanzas for 2 pianos Elegies for pianos

Writings (selective list)