Roger Sessions (1896-1985)
One of America's foremost composers. A pupil of Ernest
Bloch, his early works tended toward the Romantic. He soon turned,
however, toward a very complex counterpoint that
contained much dissonance. He eventually came under the influence
of Schoenberg and wrote music that approached
the twelve-tone system and its
atonal results, but he never adopted this style of composition. Sessions
defies any label such as neoromantic,
neoclassic,
or expressionistic, though
he took part in each of these to some degree. He was not a prolific
composer and made his greatest contribution in orchestral, chamber, and
piano music. Among the symphonies,
the "First Symphony" represents his early
neoclassic style. Other important
works are the "Piano Sonata No. 2", the "Second
Sting Quartet", and "The Black Maskers",
an early work for orchestra, written as incidental
music to a play.
His cantata, "When
Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", was written between 1967 and
1970. He wrote eight symphonies, seven
of which premiered after 1947.