Roger Nixon


Roger Alfred Nixon was an American composer, musician, and professor of music. He wrote over 60 compositions for orchestra, band, choir and opera. Nixon received multiple awards and honors for his works, many of which contain a feel of the rhythms and dances of the early settlers of his native state of California.

Biography

Nixon was born and raised in California's Central Valley towns of Tulare and Modesto. Nixon attended Modesto Junior College from 1938-1940 where he studied clarinet with Frank Mancini, formerly of John Philip Sousa's band. He continued his studies at UC Berkeley, majoring in composition and receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1941. His studies were then interrupted by almost four years of active duty in the Navy during World War II, serving as the commanding officer of an LCMR in the Atlantic.
Following the war Nixon returned to UC Berkeley, first receiving a M.A. degree and later a Ph.D. His primary teacher was Roger Sessions. He also studied with Arthur Bliss, Ernest Bloch, Charles Cushing, and Frederick Jacobi. In the summer of 1948, he studied privately with Arnold Schoenberg.
From 1951 to 1959, Nixon was on the music faculty at Modesto Junior College. He was then appointed to the faculty at San Francisco State College, now San Francisco State University, in 1960 and began a long association with the Symphonic Band, which premiered many of his works. Most of Nixon's works are for band, but he has also composed for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo piano, choral ensembles, as well as song cycles and an opera. His most popular and most-performed work is Fiesta del Pacifico, a piece for concert band.
Nixon received several awards including a Phelan Award, the Neil A. Kjos Memorial Award, and five grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. He was elected to the American Bandmasters Association in 1973, the same year he won the association's Ostwald Award for his composition Festival Fanfare March. In 1997, Nixon was honored by the Texas Bandmasters Association as a Heritage American Composer. At his death, he was Professor Emeritus of Music at San Francisco State University.
His students at San Francisco State University include Kent Nagano.
Nixon died on October 13, 2009, from complications from leukemia at Mills Peninsula Hospital in Burlingame, California.

Selected works

;StageThe Bride Comes to Yellow Sky, Opera in 4 scenes ; libretto by Ray Benedict West, Jr. adapted from the short story by Stephen Crane
;OrchestraAir for Strings for string orchestra Mooney's Grove Suite Three Dances Overture
;Concertante
  • Concerto for violin and orchestra Reflections for flute and band Elegiac Rhapsody for viola and orchestra; initially composed as a separate work, used as movement II of the Viola Concerto
  • Concerto for viola and orchestra Two Elegies for solo cello and cello ensemble
;Concert bandMusic of Appreciation Elegy and Fanfare-March Fiesta del Pacifico Prelude and Fugue San Joaquin Sketches Nocturne Reflections Centennial Fanfare-March ; composed for the centennial of the founding of Modesto, CaliforniaA Solemn Processional Festival Fanfare-March ; received the 1973 Ostwald Award of the American Bandmasters AssociationPsalm Music for a Civic Celebration Pacific Celebration Suite Chamarita! Academic Tribute California Jubilee Arises the New Flower Flower of Youth A Centennial Overture A Lyric Remembrance Las Vegas Holiday Monterey Holidays Mondavi Fanfare
;BrassCeremonial Fanfare No. 1 for brass Ceremonial Piece for brass ; composed for Bicentennial of AmericaConcert Prelude for brass
;Chamber music
  • String Quartet Nocturne for flute and piano Four Duos for flute or oboe and clarinet Movement for clarinet and piano Variations for bass clarinet Conversations for violin and clarinet Variations for bassoon
  • Duo for flute and alto flute Two Duos for piccolo and E clarinet Three Duos for flute and clarinet Music for Clarinet and Piano, 5 Movements Variations for clarinet and cello
;PianoFive Piano Preludes Twelve Preludes Music for Piano Twenty-Four Preludes
;VocalChinese Seasons, Song Cycle for soprano and piano ; words from The Hundred NamesSix Moods of Love, Song Cycle for soprano and piano Gliding o'er All for voice and piano ; words by Walt WhitmanA Narrative of Tides, Song Cycle for mezzo-soprano, flute and piano ; words from A Ring of Willows by Eric BarkerThree Transcendental Songs on Poems by Walt Whitman for mezzo-soprano and piano
;ChoralFirwood for mixed chorus a cappella ; words by John ClareNow Living Things for mixed chorus a cappella ; words by Leonard NathanThe Wind for mixed chorus a cappella ; words from A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis StevensonSwallows for mixed chorus a cappella ; words by Robert Louis StevensonBy-By-Baby, Lullay! for mixed chorus a cappella ; anonymous words from the 15th centuryDitty for treble voices with piano ; words from Songs of Travel by Robert Louis StevensonLove's Secret for male chorus a cappella ; words by William BlakeTo the Evening Star for mixed chorus a cappella ; words by William BlakeChristmas Perspectives for mixed voices a cappella Festival Mass for mixed chorus and organ Chaunticleer, Motet for male chorus a cappella ; words by Geoffrey ChaucerFrom the Canterbury Tales for mixed voices a cappella ; words by Geoffrey Chaucer in translation by Anne Worthington PrescottChaucerian Visions for mixed voices and piano ; words by Geoffrey Chaucer in translation by Anne Worthington PrescottWonders of Christmas for soloists and mixed chorus a cappella Our Joyful Feast for mixed chorus a cappella ; words by George WitherThe Christmas Tree for mixed chorus a cappellaLong, Long Ago for mixed chorus a cappella