Bernard Rogers Bernard Rogers

Bernard Rogers was born on February 4, 1893 in New York City. His first teachers in theory and composition were Hans van den Berg and Arthur Farwell. He later studied with Percy Goetschius, Ernest Bloch, Frank Bridge, and Nadia Boulanger.

During the early part of his career, Rogers was on the editorial staff of Musical America, was a music critic for the Cleveland Commercial and a program annotator for the State Symphony of New York. In 1920 his Dirge for Orchestra entitled To the Fallen won him the Pulitzer Traveling Scholarship, and in 1927 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship and spent two years in Europe. In 1929, Rogers joined the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, becoming Chairman of the Department of Composition. He retired from Eastman in 1967.

Rogers’ music includes five symphonies, other large orchestral works, four operas, choral music, and chamber music, as well as scores for documentary films. His command of the orchestral craft is evidenced by the masterful use of instrumental colors which characterizes his work. In addition to his musical compositions, Rogers was the author of The Art of Orchestration, a standard text.

The recipient of many honors, including a Fulbright Fellowship, the Loeb Prize, David Bisham Medal for Opera, Alice Ditson Award for Opera, Lillian Fairchild Award, and honorary doctorates from Valparaiso University and Wayne State University, Rogers was also a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and ASCAP.

Rogers died in Rochester, New York on May 24, 1968.