Richard Wienhorst

Created and raised in a little town southern of Indianapolis, Richard William Wienhorst became skilled not merely on piano and saxophone, but in carpentry aswell. This unique capability to effectively combine both creative and practical strategies would characterize his build simply because composer. In 1942, he had taken his A.B. in public areas college music from Valparaiso School, a Lutheran organization in northwest Indiana, and offered in World Battle II, leading the 45th Armored Regiment Music group. Upon time for Indiana following war, Wienhorst became a member of the music faculty at Valparaiso School in 1946, originally as band movie director. At exactly the same time he begun to even more significantly pursue his compositional passions, going to the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago to review with mentioned composer Leo Sowerby. In 1949, a yr after getting his M.M. in structure from American, he wedded previous college student Sue Stonebraker, right now a teacher of theology and beliefs. The 1950s noticed spectacular artistic advancements for Wienhorst, called professor of structure and theory at Valparaiso in 1952. He received a give to study in the École d’Art Americaine in Fontainebleau with Nadia Boulanger, to whom he devoted the haunting, neoclassical Missa Brevis. An identical effective a cappella function in 1954 was the cantata The Seven Phrases of Christ in the Cross, where the tone of voice of Christ is normally strikingly symbolized by SATB chorus. Further Western european study was performed on the School of Freiburg in Germany. Back, he spearheaded the creation from the School Composer’s Exchange, a culture of composers over the faculties of Midwestern colleges specialized in the promulgation of songs. Other notable associates of the group included Alexander Tcherepnin (DePaul), Leslie Bassett (Michigan), and, briefly, John Cage (Illinois). At the moment Wienhorst also started work at his doctorate on the Eastman College of Music, learning with Bernard Rogers and Howard Hanson. His structure for soprano, alto, chorus, and orchestra, Magnificat (a preferred text), gained him the Ph.D. in 1962. In 1959, Valparaiso School built the Chapel from the Resurrection, which became in lots of respects ideal functionality space for the Wienhorst structure. The chapel, a big acoustical space practically challenging sound, was amply given liturgical music by Wienhorst. Its contemporary architecture made needs on the eye which his music matched up with demands over the ears and brain. Valparaiso’s internationally-known summer months Church Music Workshop also supplied the composer with an increase of opportunities because of this kind of music. Through the entire 1960s Wienhorst could effectively implement serial methods into cathedral music; the build row configurations of “Domine in Caelo,” a 1966 function for chorus and orchestra, though tough, are eminently singable, also unforgettable. The 1970s discovered Wienhorst leading the introduction of digital and taped music in to the Lutheran liturgy. From nothing and nearly single-handedly, he built an electronic studio room for the college or university. In 1984, he retired and was called Teacher Emeritus; the college or university to whom he previously given a lot named him Recognized Alumnus in 1995 and granted him an honorary Doctor of Sacred Music degree in 1996. Richard Wienhorst’s importance to college or university composers and Lutherans is still experienced in the musical community. Missa Brevis and Magnificat have already been hailed as “primary choral functions” from the twentieth hundred years (Herford and Decker). In his pension, Wienhorst’s compositional activity offers focused around children’s ensembles, like the 1989 opera The Runaway Cowboy. Prominent previous students consist of Tom Janssen, Robert Schuneman, and Frank Ferko. A assortment of his 380 compositions, including some 220 released works, right now resides in the archives at Valparaiso College or university.