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William Bolcom
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About
The eclecticism at the heart of American music takes a vital new twist in the work of contemporary composer William Bolcom, for whom non-specialization has become a raison d’être. A composer of songs, operas, and instrumental works; a pianist of distinction who frequently accompanies his wife, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris, in recital; an artist who has worked in a variety of idioms from classical to cabaret, Bolcom is a fresh voice on the American music scene.
Born in Seattle on May 26, 1938, Bolcom studied with Darius Milhaud at Mills College, with Leland Smith at Stanford University, and with both Milhaud and Olivier Messiaen in Paris. He settled in New York in the 1960’s, and immersed himself for a time in the ragtime of Scott Joplin and Eubie Blake, as well as pursuing a fascination for another Blake: the mystical English Romantic poet, William. This latter interest culminated in 1984 with Bolcom’s powerful cycle Songs of Innocence and of Experience, in which he set 46 Blake poems for solo voice and piano, orchestra, and chorus.
Bolcom’s music demonstrates his flair for the dramatic, his fondness for experimentation, and his knack for combining pre-existing styles with his own dissonant textures and jaunty vernacular idiom. His catalogue encompasses the 1988 Pulitzer Prize-winning 12 New Etudes for piano, ten string quartets, and five piano concerti. For the stage he has composed Dynamite Tonight (1963), Greatshot (1969), Theatre of the Absurd (1970), and A View from the Bridge (1998), plus the highly acclaimed McTeague, an opera based on Frank Norris’ novel, which had its premiere at Chicago’s Lyric Opera in 1992. Bolcom has also constructed many a delightful cabaret evening of his songs, among them the very winning Amor. He taught at the University of Michigan from 1973 to 1988.
–Thomas Hampson and Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold, PBS I Hear America Singing
Related Information
Songs
A Walt Whitman Triptych
Song CollectionWilliam Bolcom
Walt Whitman
Africa
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Old Addresses
Ailey, Baldwin, Floyd, Killens, and Mayfield
William Bolcom
Maya Angelou
Song Collection: Let Evening Come
Amor
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Angels are the Highest Form of Virtue
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
At the Last Lousy Moments of Love
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Ballad of the Landlord
William Bolcom
Langston Hughes
Song Collection: Old Addresses
Blue
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Briefly It Enters
Song CollectionWilliam Bolcom
Jane Kenyon
Briefly It Enters, and Briefly Speaks
William Bolcom
Jane Kenyon
Song Collection: Briefly It Enters
Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Song CollectionWilliam Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Cabaret Songs, Vol. 2
Song CollectionWilliam Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Cabaret Songs, Vol. 3
Song CollectionWilliam Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Cabaret Songs, Vol. 4
Song CollectionWilliam Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Can't Sleep
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Come Up From the Fields, Father
William Bolcom
Walt Whitman
Song Collection: A Walt Whitman Triptych
February: Thinking of Flowers
William Bolcom
Jane Kenyon
Song Collection: Briefly It Enters
First Meditation
William Bolcom
Theodore Roethke
Song Collection: Open House
Fur (Murray the Furrier)
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
George
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Gettysburg: July 1, 1863
William Bolcom
Jane Kenyon
Give Way, Ye Gates
William Bolcom
Theodore Roethke
Song Collection: Open House
He Tipped the Waiter
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Histrion
William Bolcom
Ezra Pound
Song Collection: Old Addresses
Horse Song
William Bolcom
Donald Hall
Song Collection: Three Donald Hall Songs
How To Swing Those Obbligatos Around
William Bolcom
Alice Fulton
Song Collection: I Will Breathe a Mountain
I Knew a Woman
William Bolcom
Theodore Roethke
Song Collection: Open House
I Saw Eternity
William Bolcom
Louise Bogan
Song Collection: I Will Breathe a Mountain
Just Once
William Bolcom
Anne Sexton
Song Collection: I Will Breathe a Mountain
Lady Death
William Bolcom
A.D. Winans
Song Collection: Old Addresses
Lady Luck
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Let Evening Come
Song CollectionWilliam Bolcom
Maya Angelou
Emily Dickinson
Jane Kenyon
I Will Breathe a Mountain
Song CollectionWilliam Bolcom
Elizabeth Bishop
Louise Bogan
Gwendolyn Brooks
Edna St. Vincent Millay
H. D.
Emily Dickinson
Alice Fulton
Denise Levertov
Marianne Moore
Anne Sexton
May Swenson
Laura Sonnets
Song CollectionWilliam Bolcom
Let Evening Come
William Bolcom
Jane Kenyon
Song Collection: Let Evening Come
Love in the Thirties
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Man Eating
William Bolcom
Jane Kenyon
Song Collection: Briefly It Enters
Minicabs
Song CollectionWilliam Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Miracle Song
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Never More Will The Wind
William Bolcom
H. D.
Song Collection: I Will Breathe a Mountain
Night Practice
William Bolcom
May Swenson
Song Collection: I Will Breathe a Mountain
O Cheese
William Bolcom
Donald Hall
Song Collection: Three Donald Hall Songs
O To Be a Dragon
William Bolcom
Marianne Moore
Song Collection: I Will Breathe a Mountain
Oh Close the Curtain
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Old Addresses
Song CollectionWilliam Bolcom
Mark Doty
Langston Hughes
Kenneth Koch
Ezra Pound
A.D. Winans
Arnold Weinstein
Open House
Song CollectionWilliam Bolcom
Theodore Roethke
Open House
William Bolcom
Theodore Roethke
Song Collection: Open House
Otherwise
William Bolcom
Jane Kenyon
Song Collection: Briefly It Enters
Over the Piano
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Peonies at Dusk
William Bolcom
Jane Kenyon
Song Collection: Briefly It Enters
Pity Me Not Because the Light of Day
William Bolcom
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Song Collection: I Will Breathe a Mountain
Places To Live
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Poet Pal of Mine
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Radical Sally
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Satisfaction
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Scented Herbage of My Breast
William Bolcom
Walt Whitman
Song Collection: A Walt Whitman Triptych
Song of Black Max (as told by the de Kooning boys)
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Surprise!
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
'Tis Not That Dying Hurts Us So
William Bolcom
Emily Dickinson
Song Collection: Let Evening Come
The Actor
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
The Bustle in a House
William Bolcom
Emily Dickinson
Song Collection: I Will Breathe a Mountain
The Clearing
William Bolcom
Jane Kenyon
Song Collection: Briefly It Enters
The Crazy Woman
William Bolcom
Gwendolyn Brooks
Song Collection: I Will Breathe a Mountain
The Embrace
William Bolcom
Mark Doty
Song Collection: Old Addresses
The Fish
William Bolcom
Elizabeth Bishop
Song Collection: I Will Breathe a Mountain
The Junction, On a Warm Afternoon
William Bolcom
Howard Nemerov
The Right Thing
William Bolcom
Theodore Roethke
Song Collection: Open House
The Sage
William Bolcom
Denise Levertov
Song Collection: I Will Breathe a Mountain
The Serpent
William Bolcom
Theodore Roethke
Song Collection: Open House
The Sick Wife
William Bolcom
Jane Kenyon
Song Collection: Briefly It Enters
The Total Stranger in the Garden
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Thius, King of Orf
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Three Donald Hall Songs
Song CollectionWilliam Bolcom
Donald Hall
To My Old Addresses
William Bolcom
Kenneth Koch
Song Collection: Old Addresses
Toothbrush Time
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
Twilight: After Haying
William Bolcom
Jane Kenyon
Song Collection: Briefly It Enters
Waitin
William Bolcom
Arnold Weinstein
Song Collection: Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1
The Waking
William Bolcom
Theodore Roethke
Song Collection: Open House
Wheel of the Oxcart
William Bolcom
Donald Hall
Song Collection: Three Donald Hall Songs
Who
William Bolcom
Jane Kenyon
Song Collection: Briefly It Enters
Years of the Modern
William Bolcom
Walt Whitman
Song Collection: A Walt Whitman Triptych
Videos
Bolcom: “Amor”
2012
Bolcom: “Briefly It Enters” (song cycle, 1/2)
2012
Bolcom: “Briefly It Enters” (song cycle, 2/2)
2012
Bolcom: “Gettysburg: July 1, 1863”
2012
Bolcom: “How to Swing Those Obbligatos Around”
2012
Bolcom: “Let Evening Come” (song cycle)
2014
Bolcom: “Minicabs”
2012
Bolcom: “Over the Piano”
2012
Bolcom: “Toothbrush Time”
2012
Bolcom: “Waitin”
2012
Recordings
American Composers at Play
(William Bolcom, Ricky Ian Gordon, Lori Laitman and John Musto)
2020
Joyce & Tony: Live at Wigmore Hall
(William Bolcom, Celius Dougherty and Stephen Foster)
2015
In Jest: Comic Art Songs
(Leonard Bernstein, William Bolcom and Lee Hoiby)
2017
The Hours Begin to Sing
(William Bolcom, John Corigliano and Jake Heggie)
2013
An American Kaleidoscope
(William Bolcom, John Woods Duke and Ned Rorem)
2012
Something to Sing About
(Samuel Barber, William Bolcom, Aaron Copland, John Corigliano, John Harbison, Charles Ives and Ned Rorem)
2011
American Classics: William Bolcom: Songs
(William Bolcom)
2004
American Classics: Songs of Innocence and Experience
(William Bolcom)
2004
Cabaret Songs (Complete)
(William Bolcom)
2003
Voices of Our Time - Dawn Upshaw
(William Bolcom, Ruth Crawford Seeger, John Harbison, George Crumb and Charles Ives)
2000
Blue - Complete Cabaret Songs
(William Bolcom)
2001
A View From the Bridge
(William Bolcom)
1999
Moonlight Bay
(William Bolcom, Oley Speaks, George M. Cohan, Paul Dresser, Victor Herbert and Carrie Jacobs-Bond)
1999
American Anthem: From Ragtime to Art Song
(Samuel Barber, Lee Hoiby, Charles Ives, John Musto, John Jacob Niles, Ned Rorem, Aaron Copland and William Bolcom)
1998
Sure on This Shining Night
(Samuel Barber, George Whitefield Chadwick, Charles Ives, John Corigliano, Aaron Copland, William Bolcom, Ned Rorem, Richard Hageman, Charles Griffes, Victor Herbert, Horatio Parker, John Musto, Amy Marcy Beach, Theodore Chanler and Virgil Thomson)
1997
American Songbook - The American Music Collection, Vol. 3
(Amy Marcy Beach, Leonard Bernstein, Marc Blitzstein, William Bolcom, Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, Betty Jackson King, Libby Larsen and Kurt Weill)
1996
American Song Recital
(Leonard Bernstein, William Bolcom, Paul Bowles, John Corigliano, John Woods Duke, Richard Hundley, Lori Laitman, John Musto and Richard Pearson Thomas)
1992
Songs of America
(William Bolcom, Charles Wakefield Cadman, Elliott Carter, Aaron Copland, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Stephen Foster, Charles Ives, Carrie Jacobs-Bond, Sergius Kagen, Theodore Roethke, Ned Rorem, Carl Sandburg, William Jay Smith and Gertrude Stein)
1988
Blah Blah Blah & Other Trifles
(David N. Baker, Leonard Bernstein and William Bolcom)
1988
Heartbeats: The AIDS Quilt Songbook
(William Bolcom, Chris DeBlasio, John Harbison, Libby Larsen, John Musto and Donald Wheelock)
1980
Sheet Music
I Will Breathe a Mountain
Composer(s): William Bolcom
Song(s): 1. Pity Me Not Because the Light of Day
2. How To Swing Those Obbligatos Around
3. The Crazy Woman
4. Just Once Text: Anne Sexton
5. Never More Will The Wind
6. The Sage Text: Denise Levertov
7. O To Be a Dragon
8. The Bustle in a House
9. I Saw Eternity
10. Night Practice
11. The Fish
Laura Sonnets
Composer(s): William Bolcom
Song(s): I. Sonetto 5
II. Sonetto 90
III. Sonetto 267
IV. Sonetto 286
V. Sonetto 292
Let Evening Come
Composer(s): William Bolcom
Song(s): 1. Ailey, Baldwin, Floyd, Killens, and Mayfield
2. 'Tis Not That Dying Hurts Us So
3. Let Evening Come
Old Addresses
Composer(s): William Bolcom
Song(s): 1. Lady Death
2. Histrion
3. Ballad of the Landlord
4. The Embrace
5. Africa
6. To My Old Addresses
Open House
Composer(s): William Bolcom
Song(s): 1. Open House
2. Give Way, Ye Gates
3. The Waking
4. The Serpent
5. I Knew a Woman
6. First Meditation
7. The Right Thing