PERBIO

Persichetti, Vincent Ludwig, 1915-1987.  Vincent Persichetti, composer, 
teacher, was born in Philadelphia on June 6, 1915.  His father was an 
Italian, Vincent Roger Persichetti, and his mother, Martha Buch, was of 
German descent.  He married pianist Dorothea Flanagan in 1941, and 
together they had two children.  Their daughter Lauren was born in 1944, 
and their son Garth in 1946.  Persichetti remained in Philadelphia until 
his death on August 14, 1987.
	Before formally entering college, Persichetti began studying theory and 
composition with Russell King Miller at the Combs Conservatory.  He 
earned his B. M. from that conservatory in 1936, his M. M. from the 
Philadelphia Conservatory in 1941, and his Ph. D. from the Philadelphia 
Conservatory in 1945.  In addition to studying composition with Miller 
(1924-1936), Persichetti studied conducting with Fritz Reiner at the 
Curtis Institute (1936-1938), and piano with Olga Samaroff (1937-1939).  
	Throughout his career, Persichetti had the good fortune to receive 
several commissions for works for various instruments and ensembles.  
He also was the recipient of many honors and awards for his compositions, 
the first of which was in 1943 when his Dance Overture, Op. 20 won the 
Juilliard Publication Award.  In 1948 he received a grant from the National 
Institute of Arts and Letters (to which he was inducted in 1965), and 
received three Guggenheim Awards (1958, 1969, 1973).  He was given no 
less than seven honorary doctorates from American Colleges and 
Universities.
	Persichetti served as chair of the composition departments of three 
schools during his teaching career:  Combs Conservatory (1939-1942), 
Philadelphia Conservatory (1942-1963), and Juilliard (1963).  Aside from 
his teaching responsibilities, Persichetti also held a jobs as organist and 
music director at the Arch St. Presbyterian Church; writer for the 
Journal of Modern Music, Musical Quarterly, and Notes, and editorial 
assistant at Elkan-Vogel Publishers.
	There was scarcely a medium Persichetti did not touch with his 
composition.  He wrote over forty works for chamber ensembles or solo 
instruments, orchestral works, and choral works, but perhaps his most 
significant contributions were made to the keyboard (organ, piano, and 
harpsichord) and band repertoires.  Two characteristics which pervade his 
works were desribed by the composer himself as elements of "grit" and 
"grazioso".  There is no apparent development of style that can be traced 
chronologically throughout his career.  He claimed to be an eclectic 
composer, using the compositional materials that had already been 
develpoed and constituted the musical vocabulary.  Persichetti is fairly 
conservative in his style, never losing sight of tonality.  Polytonality and 
pandiatonicism make up the harmonic language of most works, along with 
lively rhythms and lyrical melodies.  
	Persichetti was an important music educator in the twentieth century.  
Beyond composing many didactic pieces, he authored 
Twentieth-Century Harmony: Creative Aspects and Practice (a popular 
text for twentieth-century music analysis), and gave over 200 guest 
lectures at American schools.  Persichetti's papers and manuscripts are 
held in the New York Public Library.

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