NEC Mourns Death of Composer, Longtime Faculty Daniel Pinkham

For Immediate Release:
December 18, 2006

Daniel Pinkham, beloved and prolific composer, organist, harpsichordist, conductor, pioneer in the early music movement, and longtime music director at Boston’s historic King’s Chapel, died December 18, 2006, at the age of 83. One of America’s most active and most-performed composers, he had taught at New England Conservatory since 1959.

Pinkham’s large output was unusual in scope for composers of today, in that it was designed to be performed frequently and heard by multitudes. Much of his music was written for use in church services or other ceremonial occasions, and reflected his longstanding relationship with King’s Chapel, where he was music director until a few years ago. Much of his concert music was within the technical ability of amateurs, and brought contemporary music back into the home. And in recent years, he had acquired an extremely young audience with his music based on Robert McCloskey’s children’s classic Make Way for Ducklings.

Pinkham was born on June 5, 1923, in Lynn, Mass., to a prominent family engaged in the manufacture of patent medicines; his great-grandmother was Lydia E. Pinkham. He studied organ and harmony at Phillips Academy, Andover, with Carl F. Pfatteicher. “The single event that changed my life was a concert [at Andover] by the Trapp Family Singers in 1939, right after they had escaped from Germany,” Pinkham once recalled. “Here, suddenly, I was hearing clarity, simplicity. It shaped my whole outlook.” At Harvard his first composition teacher was Walter Piston, with Aaron Copland, Archibald T. Davison, and A. Tillman Merritt also among his teachers. There he completed a bachelor’s degree in 1943 and a master’s in 1944. He also studied harpsichord with Putnam Aldrich and Wanda Landowska, and organ with E. Power Biggs. At Tanglewood, he studied composition with Samuel Barber and Arthur Honegger, and subsequently with Nadia Boulanger.

Pinkham was organist of King’s Chapel, but was exposed to a completely different set of ears as a frequent guest on the E. Power Biggs program on the CBS radio network. He performed regularly with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as an organist and as a harpsichordist. He was also harpsichordist in a duo with violinist Robert Brink, a fellow member of the NEC faculty. Pinkham wrote extensively for the organ, as a solo instrument and as accompaniment for chorus, solo voices, and other instruments.

The remainder of his repertoire covered the full range of musical forms, and included orchestral works, chamber music, works for piano, harpsichord, and other solo instruments, theatrical works with music, and soundtracks for television films. All was designed to be performed and heard. He said of his own music: “One of the most important influences on my music has been my contact with performers, and I am most happy when writing for a specific performance. This, I suppose, explains why I have no unperformed music. I have always been interested in making music technically accessible.” In 1981, Boston Globe music critic Richard Dyer wrote that Pinkham’s music “doesn’t turn up very often on the programs of societies for new music because it doesn’t have to live in that ghetto—he is among the most-performed American composers, and people like his music.”

Some of his best-known works are designed for services: the Christmas, Advent, and Wedding Cantatas. “My Wedding Cantata paid for the mortgage on this house,” Pinkham said from his home in Cambridge in 1993. The Christmas Cantata was written in 1958 for Lorna Cooke de Varon and the NEC Chorus. Adults who have performed his choral song cycle Bugs as children—with generous coaching from the composer, who did not see a youth choir as beneath him—have come back to sing the work in adult choirs.

The world of children was opened in a completely different way, though, with the 2003 premiere by the Boston Landmarks Orchestra of Make Way for Ducklings. In keeping with the name of the ensemble, the work was designed to be performed for families at the Boston Public Garden near the sculptures, beloved by children, based on Robert McCloskey’s equally endearing picture book, which has been permanently in print since 1941. But let there be no misunderstanding: while Pinkham wrote to please, and his roots as a church composer were in the Baroque and in traditional harmony, he was not afraid of experimentation, whether with electronics or in trying to create new sonorities with old instruments. While working with electronic music, he created a score notation as peculiar as anything from Stockhausen or Boulez.

Pinkham’s teaching career paralleled his years as a composer. In 1946 he was appointed to the faculty of the Boston Conservatory of Music. In 1953 and 1954, he picked up teaching appointments at Simmons College and Boston University. Following a stint as visiting lecturer at Harvard University, in 1957–1958, he joined the faculty of New England Conservatory, where he remained until his death. At NEC, Pinkham taught harmony and music history in addition to composition. At one time he also chaired NEC’s early music performance department and led the NEC Collegium Musicum in concert. When illness made it impossible for him to maintain his teaching load this fall, he was described as “irreplaceable” due to the unique approach to conveying knowledge that he had developed over the years. His support for New England Conservatory, beyond his work as a teacher, was both financial and in kind. On more than one occasion, he contributed instruments of high quality, most recently the Bennett & Giuttari continuo organ used in NEC’s choral concerts this semester.

At King’s Chapel, Pinkham’s time as music director ran concurrently with his time on the NEC faculty. The Sunday evening concert series he founded at King’s will celebrate its 50th season next year. Other ways he left his mark at Boston’s most venerable musical institution were the creation of a mixed choir and installation of a new three-manual tracker organ in 1964, of note because in 1713 King’s became the first American church with a pipe organ. Though his retirement was celebrated in 2000 with an all-Pinkham concert, there is no such thing as retirement for musicians, and his music as well as his person continued to be integral to the musical programming at King’s.

New music continued to emerge from Pinkham on a monthly basis. Audiences heard the Boston Pops premiere Weather Reports in 2004, and in September 2006, despite his poor health, Pinkham made it to NEC’s Jordan Hall for flutist Fenwick Smith’s premiere of Aerial Music. In January 2007, the First United Methodist Church of Oak Park, Ill., will present the world premiere of The Butterfly’s Ball for mixed chorus and piano—an appropriate valedictory work for a composer who often responded to the natural world in his music. Pinkham’s extensive catalog can be found at www.danielpinkham.net.

Pinkham’s scholarship and work were recognized with a Fulbright Fellowship in 1950 and a Ford Foundation Fellowship in 1962. He received honorary degrees from NEC as well as from Nebraska Wesleyan University, Adrian College, Westminster Choir College, Ithaca College, and the Boston Conservatory. The Boston Musicians' Association, AFM Local 9-535, just named him 2007 Musician of the Year.

Pinkham is survived by his partner, Andrew Paul Holman ’82 M.M. and a brother, Christopher Pinkham of Brookfield, N.H. Funeral services will be private. A celebration of Pinkham’s music is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 20 at King’s Chapel, at corner of Tremont and School Streets, Boston. ( King's Chapel )Memorial gifts may be made to Daniel Pinkham Scholarship Fund at New England Conservatory, 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston MA 02115 and to the Pinkham Endowment for Music at King’s Chapel, 64 Beacon Street, Boston MA 02108.

ABOUT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY

Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader among music schools, New England Conservatory offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to 750 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral music students from around the world. Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. Its alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide. Nearly half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC trained musicians and faculty.

The oldest independent school of music in the United States, NEC was founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee. Its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions. On the college level, it features training in classical, jazz, Contemporary Improvisation, world and early music. Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Collaboration Programs, it provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, adults, and seniors. Through its outreach projects, it allows young musicians to engage with non-traditional audiences in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes—thereby bringing pleasure to new listeners and enlarging the universe for classical music and jazz.

NEC presents more than 600 free concerts each year, many of them in Jordan Hall, its world- renowned, 100-year old, beautifully restored concert hall. These programs range from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to jazz and opera scenes. Every year, NEC’s opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.

NEC is co-founder and educational partner of “From the Top,” a weekly radio program that celebrates outstanding young classical musicians from the entire country. With its broadcast home in Jordan Hall, the show is now carried by National Public Radio and is heard on 250 stations throughout the United States.

Contact: Ellen Pfeifer
Public Relations Manager
New England Conservatory
617-585-1143
epfeifer@newenglandconservatory.edu

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