1919
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1994
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"Composing is my life blood. That is basically me, and although I have done many things in my life - conducting, playing piano, and so on - what is fundamental is my being a composer." Morton Gould
Born: December 10, 1913 Died: February 21, 1996
(Please see a partial list of Morton Gould’s accomplishments and works at the end of this biography.)
(Please see a partial list of Morton Gould’s accomplishments and works at the end of this biography.)
Gould also said: “I've always felt that music should be a normal part of the experience that surrounds people.”
Born in Richmond Hill, New York, on December 10, 1913, Gould was recognized early on as a child prodigy with the ability to improvise and compose. At the age of six he had his first composition published. He studied at the Institute of Musical Art (now the Juilliard School), but his most important teachers were Abby Whiteside (piano) and Vincent Jones (composition). During the Depression, teenaged Gould found work in New York's vaudeville and movie theaters.
Gould’s childhood experience of watching parades of military veterans marching through his city’s streets to the cheers of thousands of spectators, engendered a lifelong admiration of those who serve in our armed forces and a special attachment to marching band music. When he was rejected by the Army for health reasons, he turned his talents to writing memorable music for concert and marching bands.
When Radio City Music Hall opened, the young Gould was its staff pianist. By the age of 21 he was conducting and arranging a series of orchestral programs for WOR Mutual Radio. He attained national prominence through his work in radio, as he appealed to a wide-ranging audience with his combination of classical and popular programming. During the 1940s Gould appeared on the "Cresta Blanca Carnival" program and "The Chrysler Hour" (CBS), reaching an audience of millions.
At a time before the term “crossover music” wasn’t even an idea, Gould’s music transcended and crossed the set lines that separated “serious” from “pop”, orchestral from band, ballet from chorus, Broadway from television, doing so when it was not only rare, but not always deemed acceptable.
He integrated jazz, blues, gospel, country-and-western, and folk elements into compositions which bear his unequaled mastery of orchestration and imaginative formal structures.
Gould was always open to innovative forms of creating music. As early as 1978, he made records for the Chalfont and Varese Sarabande labels using a new technology that would change the creating and marketing of music forever: digital recording.
His music was commissioned by symphony orchestras throughout the United States, the Library of Congress, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the American Ballet Theatre, and the New York City Ballet. Gould’s talents as an arranger are featured on a series of recordings recently re-released by BMG.
As a conductor, Gould led all the major American orchestras as well as those of Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan, and Australia.
A member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers since 1939, Gould served on the board from 1952 until his death and was president from 1986 until 1994. He also served on the board of the American Symphony Orchestra League and on the National Endowment for the Arts music panel.
Morton Gould’s music talents were surpassed only by his well known wit and warmth, his accessibility and generosity with his colleagues of all ages and his keen, uncompromised sense of personal integrity. The last was in full display when Gould refused to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee, even when offered recording contracts and Broadway musicals in exchange for his testimony. It wasn’t long before he went from the Committee’s “ask” list to their “black list”.
Morton Gould was a firm believer in the intellectual rights of all artists and as the dawn of the internet took shape, he used his position at ASCAP to actively lobby on behalf of the rights of all creative people to be recognized and paid for their works.
Many of Morton Gould’s pieces are on YouTube. Simply enter “Morton Gould” and enjoy watching James Levine, along with seven other pianists, perform a lively Morton Gould arrangement of “Stars and Stripes”. You can also see performances of his Tap Dance Concerto, Interplay and many other works.
His music is published by G. Schirmer, Inc. Gould’s more than 100 LPs were recorded for many labels, including RCA and Columbia. Most recently, many of his works have been recorded by the Albany Symphony on Albany Records.
Awards
• 1966 Grammy: Ives's First Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
( a recording that led the way for a new appreciation of Ives' work;
Gould received 12 Grammy nominations during his life.)
• 983 American Symphony Orchestra League Gold Baton
• 1985 Medal of Honor for Music from the National Arts Club
• 1986 elected to American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
• 1986 National Music Council’s American Eagle Award
• 1994 Kennedy Center Honoree
• 1994 Musical America's Composer-of-the-Year
• 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Music: Stringmusic (see Commissions)
• 2005 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2011 Long Island Music Hall of Fame Inductee
Commissions
• 1976 US Bicentennial Commissions:
American Ballads (concert band; NY State Arts Council and US Historical
Society for the Queens Symphony Orchestra of NY)
Symphony of Spirituals (orchestral; National Endowments for the Arts)
Something to Do (cantata/musical; US Department of Labor)
• Concerto for Flute (1983; commissioned for Donald Peck by the Chicago Symphony)
• Quotations (1983; New York Choral Society...Gould considered this piece his most autobiographical
work; featured on CD of Gould’s choral works:Time and the River)
• American Sing (1984; for summer Olympics concert)
• Classical Variations on Colonial Themes (1985; Pittsburgh-Post Gazette’s 200th Anniversary)
• The Jogger and the Dinosaur: For Rapper and Orchestra (1992; Pittsburgh Youth Symphony)
• Ghost Waltzes (1993; ninth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition )
• Anniversary Rag for Piano (1994; WNYC 70th anniversary of first broadcast in 1924)
• *Stringmusic (1995 Pulitzer Prize for Music; 1994 National Symphony for the final season
And 80th birthday of music director Mstislav Rostropovich)
• Hosedown: A Firefighter Fable (1995; Pittsburgh Youth Symphony)
• Remembrance Day: Soliloquy for a Passing Century (1995; opening of the University
of Connecticut Thomas J. Dodd Research Center)
• There Are (No) Children Here (1996; Young People’s Chorus of New York City; lyrics
by Phil Galdston, who completed the work after Gould’s death)
Broadway
• Billion Dollar Baby (1945; lyrics by Betty Comden & Adolph Green)
• Arms and the Girl (1950; lyrics by Dorothy Fields)
Orchestral
• American Symphonette No.2 (1932; “Pavanne” is the second movement)
• Piano Concerto (1938)
• American Salute (1943; variations of the American chestnut, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”)
• Showpiece for Orchestra (1954)
• Jekyll and Hyde Variations (1957; written for and dedicated to Dimitri Metropoulos)
• Spirituals for Strings (1961)
• Apple Waltzes (1969; tribute to George Balanchine who died before completing the
choreography for a full length ballet about Audobon)
Dance
• Interplay (1945; Jerome Robbins, choreographer)
• Fall River Legend (1948; Agnes DeMille, choreographer; based upon the story of Lizzie Borden)
• I’m Old Fashioned: Astaire Variations (1983; Jerome Robbins, choreographer)
• Pieces of China (1984; commissioned by Jacques D’Amboise for the
National Dance Institute Gala)
Band
• Derivations for Clarinet and Dance Band (1955; written for close friend Benny Goodman)
• West Point Symphony (1952; for concert band; aka Symphony No. 4)
• Jericho: Rhapsody for Band (concert band; the story of the battle of Jericho)
• Formations (1964; marching band)
• Centennial Symphony Gala for Band (1983)
Solo Showcase
• Boogie Woogie Etude (1943; piano)
• Tap Dance Concerto (1952; written for and choreographed by close friend Danny Daniels)
• Benny’s Gig for Clarinet and Double Bass (1962; written for close friend Benny Goodman’s birthday)
• Vivaldi Gallery for String Quartet and Divided Orchestra (1968)
• Troubador Music for Four Guitars and Orchestra (1969; commissioned for the
Romeros by the San Diego Symphony)
• Diversions for Tenor Saxophone and Orchestra (1990;
commissioned by the Consortium of Orchestras)
Television
• World War I (1964-65; CBS documentary series)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood (1976; ABC)
• Holocaust (1978; NBC mini-series)
Film
• Delightfully Dangerous (1944; Gould not only wrote the music, but also played himself
in this movie which starred a very young Jane Powell)
• Cinerama Holiday (1955)
• Windjammer (1958)
• 1966 Grammy: Ives's First Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
( a recording that led the way for a new appreciation of Ives' work;
Gould received 12 Grammy nominations during his life.)
• 983 American Symphony Orchestra League Gold Baton
• 1985 Medal of Honor for Music from the National Arts Club
• 1986 elected to American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
• 1986 National Music Council’s American Eagle Award
• 1994 Kennedy Center Honoree
• 1994 Musical America's Composer-of-the-Year
• 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Music: Stringmusic (see Commissions)
• 2005 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2011 Long Island Music Hall of Fame Inductee
Commissions
• 1976 US Bicentennial Commissions:
American Ballads (concert band; NY State Arts Council and US Historical
Society for the Queens Symphony Orchestra of NY)
Symphony of Spirituals (orchestral; National Endowments for the Arts)
Something to Do (cantata/musical; US Department of Labor)
• Concerto for Flute (1983; commissioned for Donald Peck by the Chicago Symphony)
• Quotations (1983; New York Choral Society...Gould considered this piece his most autobiographical
work; featured on CD of Gould’s choral works:Time and the River)
• American Sing (1984; for summer Olympics concert)
• Classical Variations on Colonial Themes (1985; Pittsburgh-Post Gazette’s 200th Anniversary)
• The Jogger and the Dinosaur: For Rapper and Orchestra (1992; Pittsburgh Youth Symphony)
• Ghost Waltzes (1993; ninth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition )
• Anniversary Rag for Piano (1994; WNYC 70th anniversary of first broadcast in 1924)
• *Stringmusic (1995 Pulitzer Prize for Music; 1994 National Symphony for the final season
And 80th birthday of music director Mstislav Rostropovich)
• Hosedown: A Firefighter Fable (1995; Pittsburgh Youth Symphony)
• Remembrance Day: Soliloquy for a Passing Century (1995; opening of the University
of Connecticut Thomas J. Dodd Research Center)
• There Are (No) Children Here (1996; Young People’s Chorus of New York City; lyrics
by Phil Galdston, who completed the work after Gould’s death)
Broadway
• Billion Dollar Baby (1945; lyrics by Betty Comden & Adolph Green)
• Arms and the Girl (1950; lyrics by Dorothy Fields)
Orchestral
• American Symphonette No.2 (1932; “Pavanne” is the second movement)
• Piano Concerto (1938)
• American Salute (1943; variations of the American chestnut, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”)
• Showpiece for Orchestra (1954)
• Jekyll and Hyde Variations (1957; written for and dedicated to Dimitri Metropoulos)
• Spirituals for Strings (1961)
• Apple Waltzes (1969; tribute to George Balanchine who died before completing the
choreography for a full length ballet about Audobon)
Dance
• Interplay (1945; Jerome Robbins, choreographer)
• Fall River Legend (1948; Agnes DeMille, choreographer; based upon the story of Lizzie Borden)
• I’m Old Fashioned: Astaire Variations (1983; Jerome Robbins, choreographer)
• Pieces of China (1984; commissioned by Jacques D’Amboise for the
National Dance Institute Gala)
Band
• Derivations for Clarinet and Dance Band (1955; written for close friend Benny Goodman)
• West Point Symphony (1952; for concert band; aka Symphony No. 4)
• Jericho: Rhapsody for Band (concert band; the story of the battle of Jericho)
• Formations (1964; marching band)
• Centennial Symphony Gala for Band (1983)
Solo Showcase
• Boogie Woogie Etude (1943; piano)
• Tap Dance Concerto (1952; written for and choreographed by close friend Danny Daniels)
• Benny’s Gig for Clarinet and Double Bass (1962; written for close friend Benny Goodman’s birthday)
• Vivaldi Gallery for String Quartet and Divided Orchestra (1968)
• Troubador Music for Four Guitars and Orchestra (1969; commissioned for the
Romeros by the San Diego Symphony)
• Diversions for Tenor Saxophone and Orchestra (1990;
commissioned by the Consortium of Orchestras)
Television
• World War I (1964-65; CBS documentary series)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood (1976; ABC)
• Holocaust (1978; NBC mini-series)
Film
• Delightfully Dangerous (1944; Gould not only wrote the music, but also played himself
in this movie which starred a very young Jane Powell)
• Cinerama Holiday (1955)
• Windjammer (1958)