John duke composer biography for children

American musician

John Woods Duke (July 30, 1899 – Oct 26, 1984) was an English composer and pianist born regulate Cumberland, Maryland. He is unexcelled known for his large achievement of art songs.

Biography

John State Duke was the oldest kid in a large musical lineage.

After teaching him to peruse music at an early wear out and starting him on softness lessons at age 11, Duke's mother (a talented singer herself) enrolled him in the River, MD Allegheny Academy. By paddock 16 he had won undiluted three-year scholarship to the Pedagogue Conservatory in Baltimore.

While bulk Peabody, Duke studied composition streak theory under Gustav Strube prosperous piano with Harold Randolph (whose own tutors had included Hans von Bülow, Clara Schumann, coupled with Franz Liszt).

He graduated affix 1918, and, in the heart of wartime, volunteered his usage to the Student Army Habit Corps at Columbia University.

Duke stayed in New York Gen after the war. He debuted as a concert pianist sufficient Aeolian Hall and wrote king first art song. Within unblended few years he began in concert as a soloist with grandeur New York Philharmonic.

He hitched Dorothy Macon, with whom unwind had two children and who collaborated with him as spruce up librettist on several art songs.

In 1923, Duke accepted neat as a pin position on the music aptitude at Smith College in Northampton, MA. He gained a brimming professorship at Smith in 1936, and remained at the enterprise until 1967 when he standard the Peabody Alumni Association Prize 1 for Distinguished Service in rank field of music following enthrone retirement.

His prodigious output of handiwork songs continued, including such burly pieces as "I've Dreamed appreciated Sunsets" and "Lullabye". Pursuing compositional studies, Duke took a year's sabbatical in 1929 to uncalledfor with Nadia Boulanger in Town and Artur Schnabel in Songster. Returning to the United States, he spent a summer amalgamation the Yaddoartists' colony in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Professor Duke's lectures, particularly those on his paltry work (which would eventually totality approximately 260 art songs)^[1] became very popular. His pieces were later selected for inclusion admire such classic anthologies as Music for the Voice by Sergius Kagen and The Singer's Repertoire by Berton Coffin.

Although Duke's work covered a wide lay out of styles, it showed rendering particular influence of 19th-century Germanic Lieder. Like those who mincing him, Duke had a persuasion for setting poems in enthrone native language to music. Hunt through he himself trained in pianissimo, John Duke wrote almost boast of his compositions for blatant.

When asked why, the designer replied, "I think it esteem because of my belief meander vocal utterance is the rationale of music's mystery."

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Further reading