Rouse Christopher Rouse

Christopher Chapman Rouse III (February 15, 1949 – September 21, 2019) was an American composer. Though he has written for various ensembles, Rouse is primarily known for his orchestral compositions, including a Requiem, eleven concertos, and five symphonies. His work has received numerous accolades, including the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, the Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, and the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Rouse was the composer-in-residence for the New York Philharmonic from 2012 to 2015.

Biography

Rouse was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and studied with Richard Hoffmann at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, graduating in 1971. He later completed graduate degrees under Karel Husa at Cornell University in 1977. In between, Rouse studied privately with George Crumb.

Early recognition came from the BMI Foundation's BMI Student Composer Awards in 1972 and 1973. Rouse taught at the University of Michigan from 1978 to 1981, where he was also a Junior Fellow in the University's Society of Fellows and at the Eastman School of Music from 1981 to 2002. Since 1997, he has taught at the Juilliard School.

Rouse's Symphony No. 1 was awarded the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award in 1988, and his Trombone Concerto was awarded the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Music. In 2002, Rouse was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Also in that year, he won a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition for his Concert de Gaudí. In 2009, Rouse was named Musical America's Composer of the Year and the New York Philharmonic's Composer-in-Residence in 2012. Rouse has also served as Composer-in-Residence with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (1985–88), the Tanglewood Music Festival (1997), the Helsinki Biennale (1997), the Pacific Music Festival (1998), and the Aspen Music Festival (annually since 2000).

His notable students include Kamran Ince, Marc Mellits, Michael Torke, Nico Muhly, Robert Paterson, Jeff Beal, Jude Vaclavik, Kevin Puts, D. J. Sparr, and Joseph Lukasik.

Rouse has four children: Angela, Jillian, Alexandra, and Adrian.

Music

Rouse is a neoromantic composer. Some of his works are predominantly atonal (e.g., Gorgon, Concerto for Orchestra) while others are clearly tonal (Karolju, Rapture). Most often he seeks to integrate tonal and non-tonal harmonic worlds, as in his concerti for flute, oboe, and guitar. All of his music has been composed, in his words, "to convey a sense of expressive urgency." Rouse has been praised for his orchestration, particularly with percussion. He often quotes other composers' works (e.g., his Symphony No. 1, composed in 1986, incorporates quotations of Brucknerand Shostakovich).

Rouse's oldest extant works are two brief pieces for percussion ensemble, both inspired by mythological subjects: Ogoun Badagris (1976, Haitian) and Ku-Ka-Ilimoku (1978, Polynesian); a later percussion score inspired by rock drumming, Bonham was composed in 1988.

The death of Leonard Bernstein in 1990 was the first in a series of deaths that made a profound impression on Rouse, and his Trombone Concerto (1991) became the first score of his so-called "Death Cycle," a group of pieces that all served as reactions to these deaths. These scores memorialized William Schuman (Violoncello Concerto—1992), the James Bulger murder (Flute Concerto—1993), the composer Stephen Albert (Symphony No. 2—1994), and Rouse's mother (Envoi—1995). After Envoi he purposely set out to compose scores that were more "light infused", works intended to take on a less dark cast; pieces from this second half of the 1990s include Compline (1996), Kabir Padavali (1997), the Concert de Gaudí (1998), Seeing(1998), and Rapture (2000).

From 2000 on Rouse created works of varying temperaments, from his thorny Clarinet Concerto (2001) to his rock-infused The Nevill Feast (2003) to his romantic Oboe Concerto (2004).The most significant piece from these years is his ninety-minute Requiem, composed over 2001 and 2002. Rouse himself referred to the Requiem as his best composition. Major compositions of more recent vintage would include his Concerto for Orchestra (2008), Odna Zhizn (2009), Symphony No. 3 (2011), Symphony No. 4 (2013), Thunderstuck(2013), Heimdall's Trumpet (a trumpet concerto—2012), Organ Concerto (2014), Symphony No. 5 (2015), Bassoon Concerto (2016), and Berceuse Infinie (2017).

In late 2006, Rouse composed his first wind ensemble piece Wolf Rounds, which premiered in Carnegie Hall March 29, 2007.