Composer with a Conscience: Elie Siegmeister in Profile

Abstract

For most Americans Great Depression was a time of passage, of surviving present while working toward a more prosperous future. Under pressure of social and economic conditions, musical avantgarde of 1920s disbanded, and an era of conservatism set in. Music was put to service of the people-as a rallying catchword of period put it. Circumstances changed, though, once World War II ended and future finally arrived. Composers were free to experiment with new approaches to absolute music, and they did so with gusto. Social activism receded into past.1 Elie Siegmeister's career cut across grain of this pattern. Like many of his contemporaries during 1930s and early 1940s, he wrote music for common folk. Yet, unlike them, as 1950s dawned, his commitment to art of social significance not only continued but became basis for a life's work. Shunning isms and schisms of late twentieth century, Siegmeister has followed a course of his own, guided by beliefs he formed in youth. His story is one of individual determination and perseverance, but it is also part of a greater saga in history of American musical life. For while experimental ideas have been center of critical attention, there has been a strong countermovement among composers who favor traditional musical attitudes and materials. Siegmeister's role in this movement has been important; it gained force early on. Born in Harlem in 1909 and raised in Brooklyn, Siegmeister began studying composition close to home, with Seth Bingham at Columbia University (1924-27) and Wallingford Riegger in Ithaca (summer of