George Frederick McKay

George Frederick McKay (June 11, 1899–October 4, 1970) was a prolific modern American composer born in Harrington, Washington. Attracted to American folk-song, including jazz and blues and Native American themes, he composed over 70 orchestral works and 1000 various songs, organ and chamber works, and was famous for his intellectual and moral support of young composers who studied with him in Seattle, viz William Bolcom, John Cage, Goddard Lieberson, and Earl Robinson. He also founded the Composition Department at the University of Washington, where he was a Professor of Music for over 40 years. Over the span of several decades, he composed works in various styles, including romantic violin and cello sonatas, "ultramodern" dance music, jazzy piano pieces, band rhapsodies, serious string quartets, light opera tunes, folk music suites for string orchestra, large choral works, organ pieces and modern American symphonies. His music has recently been recorded by professional performers, including Grammy winners William Bolcom and John McLaughlin Williams, and now is being heard worldwide via radio broadcasts. His published musical works are performed internationally, and historically speaking, number in the hundreds. His publishers included Carl Fischer and Schirmer, both in New York; Schott's in Germany; and Senart in France. Some of his early orchestral works attracted conductors such as Leopold Stokowski, Sir Thomas Beecham and Howard Hanson for live performances in the 1930s and 1940s. McKay also conducted the Seattle Symphony on several occasions and authored several books on musical technique, including "Creative Orchestration," "The Technique of Modern Harmony," and "Creative Harmony." To a great degree, McKay's music contains a poignant evocation of the West Coast American spirit. He continued active composing during his retirement years at Lake Tahoe, Nevada and also wrote some pieces influenced by travel to Japan in the 1960s.

Education

Professor McKay was the very first graduate in composition studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York in 1923, where he learned from the Scandinavian composers Christian Sinding and Selim Palmgren. McKay attributed his appreciation of pure melody and the importance of folk culture to his association with Sinding, with whom he corresponded over several decades until Sinding died in Norway. McKay later authored a poignant article concerning Sinding's time in America for Etude Magazine (November 1944 issue). Palmgren nominated McKay's Violin Sonata composed at Eastman for the Pulitzer Prize. Howard Hanson was just beginning his long tenure as director at Eastman while McKay was studying there, and he invited McKay back many times between 1925 to 1960 for performances of the young Westerner's music. McKay's "From the Black Hills" was performed by the Eastman Symphony conducted by Hanson in the first American Composers Festival at Eastman in 1925, along with an early work by Aaron Copland and music of other contemporary composers. McKay's initial college studies began in accounting at Washington State University, and then in music at the University of Washington under Carl Paige Wood. In his early student days in Seattle, the young composer experimented with jazz, ragtime and romantic art songs.

Work at the University of Washington

In 1927, Carl Paige Wood brought McKay back to the University of Washington as a promising new faculty member. McKay began a four decade tenure of composing, teaching and leading performing groups in concerts of contemporary and American works in the Seattle Metropolitan area. His compositions were performed by orchestras in Philadelphia, Boston, Indianapolis and Los Angeles over the years, and the Seattle Symphony premiered several of his works in the period 1930 to 1970, with the composer conducting in some performances. His first publications were with Schott's of Germany and Senart of France in the 1930s. In 1952, McKay was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony to compose the city's Centennial Symphony, now known as "Evocation Symphony" or "Symphony for Seattle". This work has been professionally recorded by the National Symphony of Ukraine with Grammy winning conductor, John McLaughlin Williams, and currently is heard around the world on radio broadcasts. Williams has been a strong advocate for McKay's orchestral music and has recorded seven McKay symphonies, including the lively Native-American-influenced piece "From A Moonlit Ceremony" (premiered by Leopold Stokowski in 1946) and "Harbor Narrative", a portrayal of the Northwest Maritime scene from the early 20th century, including both naturelike and urban scenarios, with jazz and romantic music coexisting in the score (8.559052 NAXOS).

Significant Students

McKay's students at the University of Washington included future winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Academy Award, Guggenheim Grant and Grammy Award. These students included William Bolcom, Goddard Lieberson (original record producer for West Side Story and South Pacific), John Cage, Earl Robinson (Ballad for Americans, The House I Live In, Black and White), Ken Benshoof, and Gerald Kechley. McKay himself was awarded a Guggenheim Grant to study in Europe in the 1920s, but turned it down to stay in touch with his American musical roots and care for his growing young family. His early teaching assignments took him to North Carolina, South Dakota, and Missouri before he finally settled in Seattle; and he composed music celebrating all these atmospheric locations. Music related to the Dakotas by McKay is still in publication.

Professional recordings

McKay's music is currently recorded professionally by NAXOS on three albums, including two symphonic CDs conducted by 2007 Grammy Award winner John McLaughlin Williams. More symphonic works are now out in 2008, including his hour-length American Dance Symphony, "Epoch:," (NAXOS 8.559330) which celebrates four American Poets (Poe, Lanier, Whitman, and Sandburg) and their place in history. "Epoch"(which has achieved a #1 rank on Classicsonline.com downloads) was recently recorded by the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Nardolillo and produced by Grammy winner Tim Handley. Mr. Nardolillo currently conducts the Arlo Guthrie symphonic concerts with major orchestras. William Bolcom, McKay's former student at the University of Washington, is a Pulitzer winner, NEA Medalist and Grammy winner. He has recorded several early McKay jazz-influenced works and art songs on the piano (8.559143 NAXOS). Brian Reagin, concertmaster of the North Carolina Symphony, has recorded George Frederick McKay's Violin Concerto (NAXOS 8.559225) for an album that also includes "Suite on 16th Century Hymn Tunes," which demonstrates McKay's mastery of string music and love of melodic themes. The McKay prize-winning "Suite for Harp and Flute" was released on "Medieval Dances for Flute and Harp" (Cantilena Records, 2007), performed by Laurel Zucker, flute (Juilliard Graduate) and Susan Jolles, harp (Principal, New York Chamber Symphony). This work has been performed widely in concert, including at the World Harp Conference venue. Leonard Slatkin has performed live and recorded McKay's "To A Liberator" with the Nashville Symphony in the summer of 2008, with the CD due out in 2009 in a compilation of works for the Lincoln Bicentennial.

Significant performances

Important historic performances of McKay's music have been presented by Leopold Stokowski with the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, Howard Hanson with the Eastman/Rochester Symphony, Frederick Fennell at Eastman, Arthur Fiedler with the Boston Civic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham, Karl Krueger, and Milton Katims with the Seattle Symphony, Richard Hickox at Seattle Symphony (2001), Arthur Benjamin with the CBC Symphony in Vancouver and Carmen Dragon with Los Angeles and San Francisco Symphony players on Standard Oil Broadcasts, and Fabien Sevitsky with the Indianapolis Symphony, and Boston Civic Symphony, including commissions and several national broadcasts. McKay's orchestral music was first broadcast in 1929 on NBC in a performance of his Caricature Dance Suite by Nat Shilkret's Orchestra. In following decades, live performances of his music were heard on virtually all the national radio networks, including his String Quartet No. 1, which was presented in the 1930s by the Kreiner Quartet on NBC. The players in this quartet were from Toscanini's radio symphony of the time. Also notable are several performances of McKay's folk music by the National Gallery of Art Symphony, under the direction of conductor Richard Bales, at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Many of these concerts were broadcast and took place from the 1940s to the 1960s. McKay's symphonic music was also performed by the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D. C. during the 1940s. His Organ Sonata No. 1 was the National Prize Winner for 1939 and received a performance at the American Guild of Organists meeting the same year. McKay's symphonic work "From the Black Hills" was conducted by Howard Hanson at the First American Composers Festival in 1925 in Rochester, New York, along with several other contemporary works by young composers such as Aaron Copland.

Work elsewhere

McKay held the Alchin Chair of Music at the University of Southern California in the summer of 1939, following Schoenberg and Hanson in that capacity, and returned to teach at USC for two more visiting sessions in later years. He also had visiting professorships at Oregon, Michigan and Drake. He was concerned with environmental and humanitarian issues throughout his life, especially the cause of world peace; and his music evidences a sensitivity to the beauty of nature and the spiritual side of mankind.

Work with the Seattle Symphony

The composer also conducted several premieres of his works with the Seattle Symphony and was a guest conductor with the CBC Orchestra in Vancouver. He led a community chamber orchestra in Seattle in the 1930s and occasionally conducted the University of Washington Symphony during his tenure at the School of Music (1927-1968). McKay's areas of composition included many works for voice, organ, woodwinds, and band; plus several specialized compositions for dance and musical plays. He reportedly was the most published American composer during the mid-twentieth century. In addition to his musical works, he published books on orchestration and harmony (Creative Orchestration, Creative Harmony, and The Technique of Modern Harmony). He composed several volumes of music for children and was a serious advocate for music education in the United States. He admired composers who involved national folk-culture in their music, i.e. Villa-Lobos, Chavez, William Grant Still, Dvořák and Bartok. Many of George Frederick McKay's symphonic works center on folk themes and include pieces dedicated to Native American music.

External links

* [http://www.georgefrederickmckaymusic.com/ George Frederick McKay Music]
* [http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/sept99/class/mckay.html George Frederick McKay - UW Alumnus]

References

*"McKay's Music: The Composer Chronicles--George Frederick McKay's Musical Trek Through the Landscape of 20th Century America." (Includes historic photos & letters) McKay, Frederick L. ISBN 0615165893 F.L. McKay, Edmonds, Washington 2007
*"Creative Melodist: The Life and Works of George Frederick McKay," Coolen, Michael: Thesis, University of Washington, Seattle 1972.
*"Visits to the Homes of Famous Composers--George Frederick McKay" by Verna Arvey (William Grant Still's wife) San Francisco Opera and Concert; May, 1948; pg. 14-15, 31-32, photo of composer.
*"George McKay," Ashford, Paul: The Town Crier Magazine, Seattle, April 8, 1933, pg. 6, photo of composer.
*"Christian Sinding in America," McKay, George Frederick: Etude Magazine Nov. 1944 p. 635, illustrated.
*"The Range of Musical Experience," McKay, George Frederick: "National Society for the Study of Education, 57th Yearbook" U. of Chicago Press, 1958 Part I, pp. 123-139.
*"Toward Cultural Definition," McKay, George Frederick: Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol iii, No. 2, Fall 1955.
*"Creative Orchestration", McKay, George Frederick. Textbook-New Edition 2005-George Frederick McKay Music Publishing Co., Bainbridge Island, WA. (Originally published by Allyn & Bacon, Boston 1963, 2nd Ed. 1965)
*"Creative Harmony", McKay, George Frederick. Textbook-First Published Edition 2005-George Frederick McKay Publishing Co., Bainbridge Island, WA.
*"Living Music of the Americas", Saminsky, Lazare: Howell, Soskin and Crown, New York, 1949.
*"Composers in America," Reis, Claire R.: The MacMillan Company, New York, 1947.
*"The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians" (Current Full Edition) Sadie, S.
*"A Guide to Great Orchestral Music," Spaeth, Sigmund: Random House, New York, 1943.
*"The Golden Encyclopedia of Music," Lloyd, Norman: Golden Press, New York, 1968.
*"Program Notes on the Music of George Frederick McKay," NAXOS Recording Company albums 8.559052, 8.559225 (John McLaughlin Williams ***Grammy Winning Conductor-Messiean work 2007), 8.559143 (Michael Coolen).
*"Our American Music", Howard, John T.: Third Edition Thomas Y. Crowell, New York, 1954.
*"Harbor Narrative", Printed Music Score for Symphony Orchestra: George Frederick McKay Music Publishing Company, Bainbridge Island, WA.
*"From A Moonlit Ceremony", Printed Music Score for Symphony Orchestra: George Frederick McKay Music Publishing Company, Bainbridge Island, WA.
*"Suite on 16th Century Hymn Tunes", Printed Music Score for Double String Orchestra: George Frederick McKay Music Publishing Company, Bainbridge Island, WA.
*"The American Composer and His Audience," McKay, George Frederick, The Instrumentalist, December 1955, Volume X, No. 4, p. 17
*"Sonata for Trombone and Piano," Shuman, Davis, Music Library Association Notes, June 1951, Vol. VIII, No. 3, p. 746
*"About Contemporary Music," McKay, George Frederick, The Washington Alumnus Magazine, June 1940.
*"Art and Society," McKay, George Frederick, The Washington Alumnus Magazine, May 1946.
*"John Cage's Theatre Pieces: Notations and Performances." Fetterman, W., Routledge 1996, pg. 5. (Includes Bonnie Bird's detailed description of stage production of "Marriage at the Eiffel Tower.")