Role

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Composer

Period

:

Contemporary

Genre

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Choral

 

 

Orchestral

 

 

Vocal

 

Jerré Tanner was an American composer of classical music, born on August 22, 1924, in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was the daughter of a music teacher and grew up in a musical family. Her mother was a pianist, and her father was a violinist. Tanner began playing the piano at the age of four and showed a natural talent for music. Tanner's family moved to Los Angeles when she was a teenager, and she continued her music education there. She studied piano with Olga Steeb and composition with Ernst Toch at the University of Southern California. She also studied composition with Darius Milhaud at Mills College in Oakland, California. Tanner's early compositions were influenced by the neoclassical style of Stravinsky and the Second Viennese School. Her first major work was a piano concerto, which she composed while still a student at USC. The concerto was premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1947, with Tanner as the soloist. In the 1950s, Tanner began to experiment with serialism, a compositional technique that uses a series of pitches to create a musical structure. Her use of serialism was influenced by the work of Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern. Tanner's compositions from this period include a string quartet, a piano sonata, and a ballet score. Tanner's music from the 1960s and 1970s was characterized by a more tonal and lyrical style. She began to incorporate elements of jazz and popular music into her compositions. Her works from this period include a flute concerto, a violin concerto, and a choral work based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson. One of Tanner's most famous works is her opera, "The Song of Majnun," which she composed in 1978. The opera is based on a Persian love story and features a libretto by the poet Robert Duncan. The opera was premiered by the San Francisco Opera in 1981 and was later performed by the New York City Opera. Tanner continued to compose music into her 80s. Her later works include a piano trio, a song cycle, and a chamber opera. She was known for her ability to write music that was both complex and accessible, and her works were performed by orchestras and ensembles around the world. Tanner was also a respected music educator. She taught at Mills College, the University of California, Berkeley, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She was a mentor to many young composers and was known for her generosity and kindness. Tanner received numerous awards and honors throughout her career. She was a Guggenheim Fellow, a recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2003, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush. Jerré Tanner died on November 5, 2006, at the age of 82. She left behind a legacy of music that continues to be performed and admired by musicians and audiences around the world. Her contributions to the world of classical music will be remembered for generations to come.

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