Shapey, Ralph

▪ 2003

      American composer and teacher (b. March 12, 1921, Philadelphia, Pa.—d. June 13, 2002, Chicago, Ill.), combined atonality with lyricism in his works. He composed some 200 pieces in a number of forms, including works for the voice and for orchestra and various combinations of instruments. Influenced by the serialism of Arnold Schoenberg, his music was at times dissonant and complex, but it also could be warmly expressive and romantic. Shapey began violin studies at the age of seven, and while still in his teens, he began conducting a youth orchestra in Philadelphia. His formal education ended with graduation from high school. For a number of years, he supported himself as a violinist in New York City, where he also studied composition with Stefan Wolpe, who had been a pupil of Schoenberg. He was on the faculty of the University of Chicago for nearly all of the period from 1964 until his retirement in 1991. In 1964 he formed the Contemporary Chamber Players, a group that became widely known for its performances of modern music. He was a guest conductor of a number of major orchestras. The outspoken Shapey was a man of strong opinions, and from 1969 to 1976, as a protest against what he felt was neglect of his music, he asked that it not be performed. Among his commissions was Concerto fantastique for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which in 1992 was chosen by the music jury to receive that year's Pulitzer Prize; the Pulitzer board overturned the choice, however. In 1982 Shapey received a grant from the MacArthur Foundation, and in later years he won other awards, including membership in the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1989. Although he was highly regarded by other musicians and by students, and although some of his works were recorded, his music never became part of the standard repertoire.

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▪ American composer

born March 12, 1921, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

died June 13, 2002, Chicago, Illinois

      American composer and conductor noted for his lyrical, often contrapuntal and serial compositions for orchestral and chamber group. He was called a “radical traditionalist” for his unusual juxtaposition of modern musical language with a somewhat spiritual and dramatic approach.

      Shapey initially played the violin, but his interest soon turned to composition. He began studying composition with the composer and pianist Stefan Wolpe (who was himself a student of Anton von Webern (Webern, Anton)) and from early in his career was concerned with 12-tone (12-tone music) compositional procedures. In 1945 Shapey moved to New York City and the following year wrote his first string quartet. With his second string quartet (1949), premiered by the Juilliard String Quartet, and his Fantasy for orchestra (1951; later withdrawn), Shapey began to make a reputation. His Dimensions (1960) and Incantations (1961) were scored for instrumental ensembles and a soprano who sings wordlessly, using only vowel sounds. In 1964 he started teaching at the University of Chicago (Chicago, University of) and later that year formed the Contemporary Chamber Players to perform new compositions; he went on to conduct the ensemble into the mid 1990s and was a professor at the university until his retirement in 1991. Shapey conducted the Buffalo and Chicago symphony orchestras in the premieres of his Ontogeny (1965) and Rituals (1966), respectively. In 1969, to protest conditions in the music business and in the world at large, he announced he would no longer compose or allow performances of his music.

      He nevertheless returned to composing in the mid 1970s, using the Bible as a source of the text of his oratorio Praise (1971), a Hebrew service, and The Covenant for soprano, 16 players, and tape (1977), in honour of the state of Israel's 30th anniversary. Although he usually composed for singers and instrumentalists, he sometimes also used tape recordings in his works. Most of his work is written in Neoclassical forms. He wrote more than 200 compositions and was the recipient of numerous honours, including election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1989) and a MacArthur Fellowship (1993).

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