About

Lowell Liebermann is an American composer, conductor, and pianist from New York City, New York. He began studying the piano at the age of eight, and composition with Ruth Schonthal, a student of Paul Hindemith, at the age of 14. As a young student, Liebermann was fascinated with Bach’s keyboard music, which developed his love for contrapuntal musical styles. Two years later, Liebermann made his piano debut at the Carnegie Recital hall (Weill Hall) with his Piano Sonata Op. 1, which he composed at age 15. In 1969, he began his studies at the Juilliard School of Music, where he received bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in composition. He currently serves as an assistant professor in composition at the Mannes School of Music/The New School.

Throughout his career, Liebermann has composed 137 works, including the popular works Gargoyles, Op. 29 for Piano, and Sonata for Flute and Piano, Op. 23. He has also composed many art songs, and has composed several for his own pleasure. In an interview, he explained that composing for the art song genre is liberating as he is able to work off of the emotional framework created by poets. In his art songs, Liebermann has incorporated the poems of American writers like Robert Frost, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, and others.

–Jordan Key

Sources:

Freed, Richard. “Liebermann, Lowell.” Grove Music Online.2001; Accessed 10 Nov. 2020. https://www-oxfordmusiconline-com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000042542.

Okulitch, Daniel. The New American Art Song. Recorded March 5, 2001. GPR Records, compact disc.

Related Information

Songs

A Poet to His Beloved, op. 40

Song Collection

Lowell Liebermann

William Butler Yeats

A Poet To His Beloved (op. 40, no. 1)

Lowell Liebermann

William Butler Yeats

Song Collection: A Poet to His Beloved, op. 40

A row of thick pillars (op. 11, no. 3)

Lowell Liebermann

Stephen Crane

Song Collection: Three Poems of Stephen Crane, op. 11

A Variation on "To Say To Go To Sleep" (op. 22, no. 3)

Lowell Liebermann

Randall Jarrell

Song Collection: Night Songs, op. 22

Afghanistan (op. 80, no. 4)

Lowell Liebermann

Raymond Carver

Song Collection: Six Songs on Poems of Raymond Carver, op. 80

An Opera House, op. 120

Lowell Liebermann

Amy Lowell

Berkshire Twilight (op. 135, no. 2)

Lowell Liebermann

Jean Starr Untermeyer

Song Collection: Five Songs on Poems of Jean Starr Untermeyer, op. 135

Ardella (op. 53, no. 1)

Lowell Liebermann

Langston Hughes

Song Collection: Three Dream Songs, op. 53

Blue-Butterfly Day (op. 104, no. 2)

Lowell Liebermann

Robert Frost

Song Collection: Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, op. 104

Death by Drums (op. 21, no. 3)

Lowell Liebermann

Robert Graves

Song Collection: Final Songs, op. 21

Delia (op. 57, no. 5)

Lowell Liebermann

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Song Collection: Six Songs on Poems by Henry W. Longfellow, op. 57

Dreams (op. 53, no. 2)

Lowell Liebermann

Langston Hughes

Song Collection: Three Dream Songs, op. 53

Dust Of Snow (op. 104, no. 4)

Lowell Liebermann

Robert Frost

Song Collection: Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, op. 104

Farewell Symphony (op. 21, no. 5)

Lowell Liebermann

Randall Jarrell

Song Collection: Final Songs, op. 21

Final Songs, op. 21

Song Collection

Lowell Liebermann

Stephen Crane

Rabindranath Tagore

Robert Graves

Randall Jarrell

Five Songs on Poems of Jean Starr Untermeyer, op. 135

Song Collection

Lowell Liebermann

Jean Starr Untermeyer

Forget-Me-Nots (op. 135, no. 5)

Lowell Liebermann

Jean Starr Untermeyer

Song Collection: Five Songs on Poems of Jean Starr Untermeyer, op. 135

Four Seasons, op. 123

Song Collection

Lowell Liebermann

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Friend, your white beard sweeps the ground (op. 11, no. 2)

Lowell Liebermann

Stephen Crane

Song Collection: Three Poems of Stephen Crane, op. 11

Good Night (op. 22, no. 1)

Lowell Liebermann

Mark Van Doren

Song Collection: Night Songs, op. 22

He Hears The Cry Of The Sedge (op. 40, no. 3)

Lowell Liebermann

William Butler Yeats

Song Collection: A Poet to His Beloved, op. 40

He Thinks Of His Past Greatness When A Part Of The Constellations Of Heaven (op. 40, no. 4)

Lowell Liebermann

William Butler Yeats

Song Collection: A Poet to His Beloved, op. 40

He Remembers Forgotten Beauty (op. 40, no. 2)

Lowell Liebermann

William Butler Yeats

Song Collection: A Poet to His Beloved, op. 40

He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven (op. 40, no. 6)

Lowell Liebermann

William Butler Yeats

Song Collection: A Poet to His Beloved, op. 40

He Wishes His Beloved Were Dead (op. 40, no. 5)

Lowell Liebermann

William Butler Yeats

Song Collection: A Poet to His Beloved, op. 40

Hymn To The Night (op. 57, no. 1)

Lowell Liebermann

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Song Collection: Six Songs on Poems by Henry W. Longfellow, op. 57

I Dream a World (op. 53, no. 3)

Lowell Liebermann

Langston Hughes

Song Collection: Three Dream Songs, op. 53

Into My Own (op. 104, no. 1)

Lowell Liebermann

Robert Frost

Song Collection: Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, op. 104

Lake-Song (op. 135, no. 1)

Lowell Liebermann

Jean Starr Untermeyer

Song Collection: Five Songs on Poems of Jean Starr Untermeyer, op. 135

Listening to Comrade Shostakovich on the Day of His Death (op. 21, no. 4)

Lowell Liebermann

Song Collection: Final Songs, op. 21

Many red devils ran from my heart (op. 21, no. 2)

Lowell Liebermann

Stephen Crane

Song Collection: Final Songs, op. 21

Mezzo Cammin (op. 57, no. 2)

Lowell Liebermann

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Song Collection: Six Songs on Poems by Henry W. Longfellow, op. 57

Mindful of You (op. 123, no. 6)

Lowell Liebermann

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Song Collection: Four Seasons, op. 123

Mist (op. 135, no. 4)

Lowell Liebermann

Jean Starr Untermeyer

Song Collection: Five Songs on Poems of Jean Starr Untermeyer, op. 135

Music (op. 80, no. 2)

Lowell Liebermann

Raymond Carver

Song Collection: Six Songs on Poems of Raymond Carver, op. 80

My Wife (op. 80, no. 5)

Lowell Liebermann

Raymond Carver

Song Collection: Six Songs on Poems of Raymond Carver, op. 80

New Tributes (op. 135, no. 3)

Lowell Liebermann

Jean Starr Untermeyer

Song Collection: Five Songs on Poems of Jean Starr Untermeyer, op. 135

Night Songs, op. 22

Song Collection

Lowell Liebermann

Mark Van Doren

Robert Graves

Randall Jarrell

Now Close The Windows (op. 104, no. 3)

Lowell Liebermann

Robert Frost

Song Collection: Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, op. 104

On the Beach at Night, op. 78

Lowell Liebermann

Walt Whitman

Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking, op. 41

Lowell Liebermann

Walt Whitman

Places among the stars (op. 11, no. 1)

Lowell Liebermann

Stephen Crane

Song Collection: Three Poems of Stephen Crane, op. 11

She Tells Her Love While Half Asleep (op. 22, no. 2)

Lowell Liebermann

Robert Graves

Song Collection: Night Songs, op. 22

Six Songs on Poems by Henry W. Longfellow, op. 57

Song Collection

Lowell Liebermann

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Six Songs on Poems of Raymond Carver, op. 80

Song Collection

Lowell Liebermann

Raymond Carver

Snow-Flakes (op. 57, no. 3)

Lowell Liebermann

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Song Collection: Six Songs on Poems by Henry W. Longfellow, op. 57

Spring (op. 123, no. 1)

Lowell Liebermann

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Song Collection: Four Seasons, op. 123

Stars (op. 104, no. 5)

Lowell Liebermann

Robert Frost

Song Collection: Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, op. 104

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, op. 104

Song Collection

Lowell Liebermann

Robert Frost

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening (op. 104, no. 6)

Lowell Liebermann

Robert Frost

Song Collection: Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, op. 104

Summer (op. 123, no. 2)

Lowell Liebermann

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Song Collection: Four Seasons, op. 123

Tarantula, or The Dance of Death (op. 86, no. 2)

Lowell Liebermann

Anthony Hecht

Song Collection: Two Songs on Poems of Anthony Hecht, op. 86

The Arrow And The Song (op. 57, no. 6)

Lowell Liebermann

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Song Collection: Six Songs on Poems by Henry W. Longfellow, op. 57

The Darkness and the Light Are Both Alike to Thee (op. 86, no. 1)

Lowell Liebermann

Anthony Hecht

Song Collection: Two Songs on Poems of Anthony Hecht, op. 86

The Death of Autumn (I) (op. 123, no. 3)

Lowell Liebermann

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Song Collection: Four Seasons, op. 123

The Death of Autumn (II) (op. 123, no. 4)

Lowell Liebermann

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Song Collection: Four Seasons, op. 123

The Haunted Chamber (op. 57, no. 4)

Lowell Liebermann

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Song Collection: Six Songs on Poems by Henry W. Longfellow, op. 57

The Next Time, op. 73

Lowell Liebermann

Mark Strand

There was a man with tongue of wood (op. 21, no. 6)

Lowell Liebermann

Stephen Crane

Song Collection: Final Songs, op. 21

Three Dream Songs, op. 53

Song Collection

Lowell Liebermann

Langston Hughes

Three Poems of Stephen Crane, op. 11

Song Collection

Lowell Liebermann

Stephen Crane

Two Songs on Poems of Anthony Hecht, op. 86

Song Collection

Lowell Liebermann

Anthony Hecht

Two Worlds (op. 80, no. 6)

Lowell Liebermann

Raymond Carver

Song Collection: Six Songs on Poems of Raymond Carver, op. 80

Venice (op. 80, no. 3)

Lowell Liebermann

Raymond Carver

Song Collection: Six Songs on Poems of Raymond Carver, op. 80

War Songs, op. 7

Song Collection

Lowell Liebermann

Herman Melville

When death comes and whispers to me (op. 21, no. 1)

Lowell Liebermann

Rabindranath Tagore

Song Collection: Final Songs, op. 21

Winter (op. 123, no. 5)

Lowell Liebermann

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Song Collection: Four Seasons, op. 123

Your Dog Dies (op. 80, no. 1)

Lowell Liebermann

Raymond Carver

Song Collection: Six Songs on Poems of Raymond Carver, op. 80

Videos

“Composition is something you do because you can’t imagine doing anything else.” – Lowell Liebermann

2016

Recordings

Of Love Of You: A Tribute To Emery W. Harper - New Music for Soprano, Bass-Baritone and Piano

(Lowell Liebermann, William Bolcom, Arnold Weinstein, Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson)

2015

Listen via Spotify
Buy via Amazon (CD & MP3)

Little Heaven: Songs of Lowell Liebermann

(Lowell Liebermann)

2012

Listen via IDAGIO
Buy via Amazon (CD & MP3)

The Opera America Songbook--Volume 1

(Mark Campbell, Richard Danielpour, Daron Aric Hagen, Lowell Liebermann, Amy Lowell, John Musto, Carl Sandburg, William Shakespeare and Robert Louis Stevenson)

2012

Listen via Spotify
Buy via Amazon (MP3)
Buy via ArkivMusic (CD)