Role

:

Composer

Birth

:

1934

Period

:

Contemporary

 

 

Modern

Genre

:

Chamber

 

 

Concerto

 

 

Keyboard

 

 

Orchestral

 

 

Symphony

 

Sherwood Shaffer was an American composer of classical music, born on May 12, 1922, in New York City. He grew up in a family of musicians, with his father being a violinist and his mother a pianist. Shaffer began playing the piano at a young age and showed a natural talent for music. He attended the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, where he studied composition with William Schuman and Vincent Persichetti. Shaffer's early works were influenced by the neoclassical style of Stravinsky and Hindemith. His first major composition, the Symphony No. 1, was premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 1950. The symphony was well-received and established Shaffer as a promising young composer. In the 1950s, Shaffer began to experiment with serialism, a compositional technique that uses a series of pitches to create a musical structure. His use of serialism can be heard in works such as the String Quartet No. 1 and the Piano Sonata No. 2. Shaffer's music during this period was characterized by its complexity and intellectual rigor. In the 1960s, Shaffer's music became more experimental and avant-garde. He began to incorporate electronic music into his compositions, using tape recorders and synthesizers to create new sounds. His works from this period include the electronic piece "Sonic Landscape No. 1" and the multimedia work "The Creation of the World." Shaffer's later works were more tonal and accessible than his earlier compositions. He returned to traditional forms such as the symphony and the concerto, but infused them with his own unique style. His Symphony No. 5, premiered in 1980, was a return to the neoclassical style of his early works. Throughout his career, Shaffer received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to classical music. He was a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Arts Composer's Grant, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Music Award. He was also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Shaffer's legacy as a composer is characterized by his willingness to experiment with new sounds and techniques. He was a pioneer in the use of electronic music and helped to push the boundaries of classical music. His works continue to be performed and studied by musicians and scholars around the world.

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