View source for William Bolcom

{{Short description|American composer and pianist (born 1938)}}
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox musical artist 
| name        = William Bolcom
| image       = William Bolcom at Town Hall (cropped).jpg
| caption     = Bolcom in 1985
| origin      = American
| birth_date  = {{birth date and age|1938|5|26}}
| occupations = Composer, pianist
| label       = 
| website     = 
}}

'''William Elden Bolcom''' (born May 26, 1938) is an American [[composer]] and [[piano|pianist]]. He has received the [[Pulitzer Prize]], the [[National Medal of Arts]], a [[Grammy Award]],{{r|Bolcom_ND}} the [[Detroit Music Award]] and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by [[Musical America]]. He taught composition at the [[University of Michigan]] from 1973 until 2008 and was named the [[Ross Lee Finney]] Distinguished University Professor of Composition in 2006. He is married to [[mezzo-soprano]] [[Joan Morris]].

==Early life and education==
Bolcom was born in [[Seattle, Washington]]. At age 11, he studied under faculty at [[University of Washington]], including [[musical composition|composition]] with professors [[George Frederick McKay]] and [[John Verrall (composer)|John Verrall]], as well as [[piano]] with Madame Berthe Poncy Jacobson. "He later studied with [[Darius Milhaud]] at [[Mills College]] while working on his Master of Arts degree, with [[Leland Smith]] at [[Stanford University]] while working on his D.M.A., and with [[Olivier Messiaen]] at the [[Paris Conservatoire]], where he received the 2ème Prix de Composition".{{r|Bolcom2017}}

==Career==
Bolcom was awarded [[Guggenheim Fellowships]]<ref>{{Cite web
| url = https://www.gf.org/fellows/william-bolcom/
| title = William Bolcom - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
| website = www.gf.org
| access-date = 2024-06-26
}}</ref> in 1964 and 1968 for Music Composition. He won the [[Pulitzer Prize]] for music in 1988 for ''[[12 New Etudes for Piano]]''.{{r|Pulitzer1988}} He joined the faculty at the [[School of Music, Theatre, and Dance|University of Michigan School of Music]] in 1973. In the fall of 1994, he was named the [[Ross Lee Finney]] Distinguished University Professor of Composition.  In 2006, he was awarded the [[National Medal of Arts]]. He retired in 2008, after 35 years at the university.<ref name="minnesota opera">{{cite web |title=William Bolcom |url=https://mnopera.org/biography/william-bolcom/?utm_source=chatgpt.com |website=Minnesota Opera |access-date=4 August 2025}}</ref> Notable students include [[Gabriela Lena Frank]], [[Carter Pann]], [[Elena Ruehr]], [[Derek Bermel]], [[Joel Puckett]], and [[David T. Little]].

As a pianist, Bolcom has performed and recorded frequently in collaboration with Joan Morris, whom he married in 1975.{{r|GroveDict2001_Bolcom}} They have together recorded more than two dozen albums of music drawn from the American Popular Songbook, beginning with the Grammy-nominated ''After the Ball'', a collection of popular songs from around the turn of the 20th century.<ref name="bolcomandmoris.com">{{cite web |title=William Bolcom |url=https://bolcomandmorris.com/william-bolcom |website=bolcomandmorris.com |access-date=10 August 2025}}</ref> Their primary specialties in both concerts and recordings are [[show tune]]s, [[Parlour music|parlor]], and popular songs from the late 19th and early 20th century by [[Henry Russell (musician)|Henry Russell]], [[Henry Clay Work]] and others, and [[cabaret]] songs.

As a soloist, Bolcom has recorded his own compositions, as well as music by [[George Gershwin]], [[Darius Milhaud]]{{r|GroveDict2001_Bolcom}} and several of the classic [[ragtime]] composers. His compositions have been recognized and highlighted at Michigan State University in their Michigan Writers Series.{{r|MathsonETAL2002}}

==Works==
{{main list|List of compositions by William Bolcom}}
Bolcom's earliest compositions were written when he was around eleven years old; his early influences include [[Roy Harris]] and [[Béla Bartók]]. His compositions from around 1960 employed a modified [[Serialism|serial technique]], under the influence of [[Pierre Boulez]], [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], and [[Luciano Berio]], whose music he particularly admired. In the 1960s he gradually began to embrace an eclectic use of a wider variety of musical styles. His goal has been to erase boundaries between [[popular music]] and [[art music]].{{r|GroveDict2001_Bolcom}}

Together with [[Joan Morris]], Bolcom composed the satirical song "[[Lime Jello Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise]]" (1980).

He has composed four major operas. Three of them, ''[[McTeague (opera)|McTeague]]'', ''[[A View from the Bridge]]'', and ''[[A Wedding (opera)|A Wedding]]'' were commissioned and premiered by the [[Lyric Opera of Chicago]] and conducted by [[Dennis Russell Davies]]. All of these were composed with librettist [[Arnold Weinstein]], sometimes in collaboration with other writers. ''McTeague'', based on the [[McTeague|1899 novel]] by [[Frank Norris]], with libretto by Weinstein, was premiered on October 31, 1992. ''A View from the Bridge'', with libretto by Weinstein and [[Arthur Miller]], was premiered October 9, 1999. ''A Wedding'', based on the [[A Wedding (1978 film)|1978 motion picture]] by [[Robert Altman]] and [[John Considine (actor)|John Considine]], with libretto by Weinstein and Altman, was premiered on December 11, 2004. His fourth opera, [[Dinner at Eight (opera)|''Dinner at Eight'']], composed with librettist [[Mark Campbell (librettist)|Mark Campbell]], based on the [[George S. Kaufman]] and [[Edna Ferber]] play of the same name, was premiered March 11, 2017, by the commissioning organization, [[Minnesota Opera]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dinner at eight (Work - William Bolcom/Mark Campbell) {{!}} Opera Online - The opera lovers web site |url=https://www.opera-online.com/en/items/works/dinner-at-eight-bolcom-campbell-2017 |access-date=2024-06-15 |website=www.opera-online.com |language=en}}</ref>

He has also composed concertos such as ''Lyric Concerto'' for Flute and Orchestra for [[James Galway]], the Concerto in D for Violin and Orchestra for [[Sergiu Luca]], the Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra for [[Stanley Drucker]], and Concert Suite for [[alto saxophone]] and [[band (music)|band]], composed for University of Michigan professor [[Donald Sinta]] in 1998. He composed his concerto ''[[Gaea for Two Pianos Left Hand, and Orchestra|Gaea]]'' for two pianos (left hand) and orchestra for [[Gary Graffman]] and [[Leon Fleisher]], both of whom have suffered from debilitating problems with their right hands.  It received its first performance on April 11, 1996 by the Baltimore Symphony conducted by [[David Zinman]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pasles |first=Chris |date=1996-11-06 |title=Leading With the Lefts : Coordination Helped Composer Bolcom Knock Out 3 'Gaea' Concertos for 2 Pianists Who Use 1 Hand Each |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-11-06-ca-61685-story.html |access-date=2024-06-15 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> The concerto is constructed so that it can be performed in one of three ways, with either piano part alone with reduced orchestra, or with both piano parts and the two reduced orchestras combined into a full orchestra.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ruhe |first=Pierre |date=15 April 1996 |title=Baltimore Symphony Orchestra |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/04/15/baltimore-symphony-orchestra/39d85739-0b3c-4529-a0a3-37e1dd07e7c3/ |work=[[Washington Post]]}}</ref>

Bolcom's other works include nine [[symphony|symphonies]], twelve string quartets, four violin sonatas, a number of [[Ragtime|piano rags]] (one written in collaboration with [[William Albright (musician)|William Albright]]), four volumes of ''Gospel Preludes'' for organ, four volumes of cabaret songs, three musical theater works (''Casino Paradise'', ''Dynamite Tonite'', and ''Greatshot''; all with Weinstein), and a one-act chamber opera, ''Lucrezia'', with librettist Mark Campbell. William Bolcom was also commissioned to write ''Recuerdos''<ref>{{Cite web |title="Recuerdos (Three Traditional Latin-American Dances)" for Two Pianos, William Bolcom |url=https://www.hollywoodbowl.com/musicdb/pieces/64/recuerdos-three-traditional-latin-american-dances-for-two-pianos |access-date=2024-06-15 |website=Hollywood Bowl |language=en}}</ref> for two pianos by [[The Dranoff International Two Piano Foundation]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=William Bolcom and Joan Morris Interviews with Bruce Duffie . . . . . . . . . |url=http://www.bruceduffie.com/bolcom.html |access-date=2024-06-15 |website=www.bruceduffie.com}}</ref>

=== Song cycles ===
Bolcom has written a number of song cycles. Many of these were cabarets with lyrics by librettist/lyricist Arnold Weinstein and meant to be sung by mezzo-soprano Joan Morris,{{r|Holland2007}} William Bolcom's wife. These 24 cabarets were released in four volumes from the 1970s to the 1990s.{{Failed verification|date=November 2018}}<!--Inaccessible subscription-only website.--> and were released all together on CD. ''[[From the Diary of Sally Hemings]]'', a song cycle for voice and piano, is a collaboration with playwright/librettist [[Sandra Seaton]]. Among Bolcom's other song cycles, the most well-known is his setting of William Blake's ''Songs of Innocence and of Experience''. The recording of this massive work was estimated at $375,000 USD and its length stands at about two and a half hours.{{Failed verification|date=November 2018}}.

===''Songs of Innocence and of Experience''===

Bolcom's setting of [[William Blake]]'s ''[[Songs of Innocence and of Experience]]'', a three-hour work for soloists, choruses, and orchestra, was a culmination of 25 years of work on the piece.

:'''Inspiration'''
::At the age of seventeen, Bolcom wanted to set the complete poems of ''[[Songs of Innocence and of Experience]]'' by [[William Blake]] to music.{{r|Lister2006}} As he comprehended the huge diversity of the artistic ideas and the technical styles presented in the poems, he realized that he needed more musical vocabulary of different styles in order to complete his music. This realization also bolstered his ideas that genres of music should not be placed in a hierarchy and that there was no distinction between "serious" music and "popular" music.{{r|Hu2004}}

:'''Style and instrumentation'''
::Bolcom incorporated a variety of different musical styles and genres in the music, including modern classical style using pentatonic scales, tonal classical style, bluegrass, country, soul, folk vaudeville, rock musical, and reggae. Bolcom has used instruments that are not usually used in a traditional orchestra but are used in the genres that he chose: saxophones, guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, harmonica, electric violin, and "country, rock, and folk singers".{{r|WBConversation2019}}

:'''Premiere and performances'''
::According to [[Naxos Records]], the premiere of the ''Songs'' at the Stuttgart Opera in 1984 was followed by performances in [[Ann Arbor, Michigan|Ann Arbor]], [[Grant Park (Chicago)|Grant Park]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]], the [[Brooklyn Academy of Music]], [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]], [[Carnegie Hall]], and [[London]]'s [[Royal Festival Hall]], the latter performed by the [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]] under the direction of [[Leonard Slatkin]].{{r|Naxos2004_Slatkin}}

:'''Awards and reception'''
::In 2004, Naxos Records produced a recording of the ''Songs'' on location at [[Hill Auditorium]], featuring the [[University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance]] Symphony Orchestra, the student choirs from the same university, [[University Musical Society|University Musical Society Choral Union]], [[Michigan State University Children's Choir]], and a variety of solo instrumentalists and singers (who also included [[Joan Morris]], wife of Bolcom). In 2006, it won four [[Grammy Award]]s for Best Choral Performance, Best Classical Contemporary Composition, Best Classical Album, and Best Producer of the Year, Classical.{{r|NPRMusic20060209}}

::Composer and critic [[Robert Carl]] has stated that Bolcom wrote seemingly disparate genres of music with "sincerity," without irony, "as equal partners," and with "love for and mastery of popular music".{{r|Carl1990|p=61-62}}

==Festivals==
VocalEssence celebrated the music of William Bolcom with a two-week festival in [[Minneapolis]] and [[St. Paul, Minnesota]] in April 2007. Nine different performances and a number of [[master class]]es were part of the festival. The spotlight performance was of Bolcom's setting of William Blake's Songs ''of Innocence and of Experience'', performed in Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis with over 400 musicians performing under projections of Blake's accompanying artwork by Wendell K. Harrington.

Eastern Michigan University Celebrated its 16th Biennial Contemporary Music Festival by featuring William Bolcom as a guest composer.  The three-day festival showcased a range of Bolcom's compositions as well as a discussion on "Musical Grass-Roots" led by Bolcom himself.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hamilton|first=Heather|date=10 February 2009|title=Bolcom is featured guest composer at Music Now Fest.|work=Focus EMU Online|url=https://commons.emich.edu/focus/1233|access-date=24 June 2021}}</ref>

Le Piano Ouvert celebrated Bolcom's 75th birthday with a week of concerts and masterclasses in Paris in March 2014. William Bolcom and Joan Morris both performed, and were featured on France Musique{{r|FranceMusique2014b}} in a series of live performances and interviews.{{r|FranceMusique2014a}} The festival was directed by Guy Livingston, Anne de Fornel, and David Levi. Concerts were held at the Mona Bismarck American Center in Paris, and at the Hôtel Talleyrand on Place de la Concorde.{{r|wordpress2014c}}

In April 2022, as part of the international [[Heidelberger Frühling]] Music Festival, William Bolcom's second piano concerto was premiered by [[Igor Levit]] and the [[Mahler Chamber Orchestra]] conducted by [[Elim Chan]] in the auditorium of the Neue Universität Heidelberg.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bolcom's Piano Concerto No. 2 premiered in Heidelberg |url=https://williambolcom.com/blogs/news/posts/bolcom-s-piano-concerto-no-2-premiered-in-heidelberg |website=williambolcom.com |access-date=4 June 2022}}</ref>

==Ragtime/piano discography==
See [[Joan Morris]] page for Bolcom and Morris discography.
*''Heliotrope Bouquet: Piano Rags 1900–1970'',  [[Nonesuch Records]], 1971
*''Bolcom Plays His Own Rags'', Jazzology, 1972
*''Piano Music By George Gershwin'', [[Nonesuch Records]], 1973
*''Pastimes and  Piano Rags'', [[Nonesuch Records]], 1974
*''Ragtime Back To Back'' (with William Albright), U of M School of Music, 1976
*''Euphonic Sounds'', Omega Classics, 1988 (Reissued in 2019 as ''Scott Joplin: Ragtime Piano Gems'')

==References==
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Michigan State University Libraries|n.d.}}|reference="[https://lib.msu.edu/branches/vvl/writers/index.jsp Michigan Writers Series Audio Gallery]". Michigan State University Libraries website (accessed November 13, 2018).}}

<references>

<ref name=Bolcom_ND>Bolcom, William. n.d. "[https://williambolcom.com/honors-and-awards Honors and Awards]". williambolcom.com (accessed November 13, 2018).</ref>
<ref name=Bolcom2017>Bolcom, William. 2017. "[https://williambolcom.com/bio Biography]". williambolcom.com (accessed November 13, 2018).</ref>
<ref name=GroveDict2001_Bolcom>{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Steven |date=2001 |chapter=Bolcom, William (Elden) |editor1-last=Sadie |editor1-first=Stanley |editor1-link=Stanley Sadie |editor2-last=Tyrrell |editor2-first=John |editor2-link=John Tyrrell (professor of music) |title=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]] |edition=2nd |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9780195170672}}</ref>
<ref name=MathsonETAL2002>Mathson, Stephanie, Peter Berg, Sandra Seaton, and William Bolcom. 2002. "[https://lib.msu.edu/branches/vvl/writers/spring02/041902.jsp Playwright Sandra Seaton with Composer/Pianist William Bolcom] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620203234/https://lib.msu.edu/branches/vvl/writers/spring02/041902.jsp |date=2019-06-20 }}". Michigan State University, Michigan Writers Series (April 19; accessed May 24, 2019).</ref>
<ref name=Holland2007>[[Bernard Holland|Holland, Bernard]]. 2007. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/arts/music/25bolc.html Cabaret Conversation in Three-Part Harmony]". ''The New York Times'' (September 25).</ref>
<ref name=Lister2006>{{cite journal |last=Lister |first=Rodney |date=January 2006 |title=Bolcom, Gann and other Americans |journal=Tempo |volume=60 |issue=235 |pages=37–8 |doi=10.1017/S0040298206260042|s2cid=145133729 }}</ref>
<ref name=Hu2004>{{cite web |last=Hu |first=Chih-long |date=December 4, 2004 |title=Interview Record |website=Living Music - University of Michigan School of Music (Mark Clague, Ph.D. 2003) |archive-date=August 3, 2011 |url=http://sitemaker.umich.edu/livingmusic/browse_interviews%26mode%3Dsingle%26recordID%3D232908%26nextMode%3Dlist |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110803144417/http://sitemaker.umich.edu/livingmusic/browse_interviews%26mode%3Dsingle%26recordID%3D232908%26nextMode%3Dlist |access-date=March 17, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name=WBConversation2019>{{cite web |date=January 21, 2019 |title=In conversation with Chamber Music Society |website=William Bolcom website |url=https://williambolcom.com/in-the-media/blog/in-conversation-with-chamber-music-society |access-date=March 13, 2021}}</ref>
<ref name=Naxos2004_Slatkin>2004. " [https://www.naxos.com/news/default.asp?pn=News&displayMenu=In_the_Studio&op=In_the_Studio11 Leonard Slatkin Conducts William Bolcom]" (June 4). Naxos.com (accessed November 13, 2018).</ref>
<ref name=NPRMusic20060209>2006. [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5198397 William Bolcom Tops Classical Grammy Awards]". NPR Music (February 9), npr.org (accessed November 13, 2018).</ref>
<ref name=Carl1990>Carl, Robert. 1990. "Six Case Studies in New American Music: A Postmodern Portrait Gallery". ''College Music Symposium'' 30, no. 1 (Spring): 45–53. {{JSTOR|40373999}}</ref>
<ref name=FranceMusique2014b>2014. "[https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/42e-rue/concert-prive-avec-le-pianiste-et-compositeur-william-bolcom-et-la-soprano-joan-morris-22661 Concert privé avec le pianiste et compositeur William Bolcom et la soprano Joan Morris]". (April 27). FranceMusique.fr (accessed November 13, 2018).</ref>
<ref name=FranceMusique2014a>2014. "[https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/le-matin-des-musiciens/william-bolcom-parcours-d-une-oeuvre-1-2-22286 William Bolcom: Parcours d'une œuvre (1/2) : Renaud Machart consacre deux émissions au compositeur américain William Bolcom]". (March 13). FranceMusique.fr (accessed November 13, 2018).</ref>
<ref name=wordpress2014c>2014. "[https://bolcomfestival.wordpress.com William Bolcom Festival: William Bolcom à Paris]". wordpress.com (accessed November 13, 2018).</ref>
<ref name=Pulitzer1988>The Pulitzer Prizes. 1988. [https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/1988 Prize Winners by Year: 1988 Pulitzer Prizes]. The Pulitzer Prizes website (accessed May 24, 2019).</ref>

</references>

==External links==
{{Archival records|title=William Bolcom collection of pop orchestra arrangements, 1973-2018|location= [[Music Division, Library of Congress]]|description_URL=https://lccn.loc.gov/2017563969}}
*{{Official website|https://williambolcom.com/home}}
* [http://www.bolcomandmorris.com/ William Bolcom and Joan Morris's website]
* [http://www.ebmarks.com/composers/featured-composer-william-bolcom/ William Bolcom's page at the Edward B. Marks Music Company website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702172327/http://www.ebmarks.com/composers/featured-composer-william-bolcom/ |date=2018-07-02 }}
* [http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/june03/riches01.html Rags to Riches: Alumnus of the Year]
* [http://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_settings.html?ComposerId=3483 William Bolcom on the LiederNet Archive] Texts and titles of vocal settings in alphabetic order.
* [http://www.bruceduffie.com/bolcom.html Two Interviews with William Bolcom], June 29, 1986 (also Joan Morris); and November 5, 1992
* [https://www.americanpianomusic.com/post/william-bolcom Performance of Graceful Ghost Rag]

{{William Bolcom}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolcom, William}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:20th-century American classical composers]]
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