William Mayer (November 18, 1925 – November 17, 2017) was an American composer, best known for his prize-winning opera A Death in the Family.
Life and career
Mayer was born in New York City, the son of Dorothy (née Ehrich) and John C. Mayer. His great-grandfather was Emanuel Lehman, co-founder of Lehman Brothers. He entered Yale University in 1944, but his college years were interrupted by military service (he served as a counter-intelligence agent in US-occupied Japan). Upon his discharge he re-entered Yale and graduated in 1949, then trained at the Juilliard School and the Mannes College of Music, studying with Roger Sessions and Felix Salzer, and later with Otto Luening, Emanuel Balaban and Izler Solomon.
The composer wrote three stage works in addition to his prize-winning A Death in the Family, and a variety of orchestral, chamber, choral and vocal works. John Rockwell of The New York Times has pointed out that Mayer was "especially known for his operas and songs ... his work sings out with real beauty, both in the vocal writing and the instrumental settings."
Distinguished artists have introduced his scores: Robert De Cormier led the New York Choral Society in its Lincoln Center premiere of "Spring Came on Forever"; sopranos Heidi Grant Murphy, Eleanor Steber and Christine Brewer have all premiered vocal-chamber works; and Leopold Stokowski (at eighty-eight) conducted Mayer's piano concerto Octagon at Carnegie Hall with William Masselos as soloist.
Mayer taught composition and orchestration at Boston University; was a guest lecturer at Yale, Columbia, the Pratt Institute and the Juilliard School; fulfilled writing and cultural assignments from the US Information Agency, one of which involved preparing lectures on American chamber opera to be delivered abroad; served on judging panels for the MacDowell Colony, the American Composers Orchestra, Composers Recordings, Inc., the National Opera Association and the National Federation of Music Clubs; and was Composer-in-Residence at the Conductors' Institute and Adirondack New Music Festival.
Mayer was the author of a provocative feature for The New York Times entitled "Live Composers, Dead Audiences".
Awards and honors
Citation from the National Institute for Music Theater, for contributions to "the advancement of American musical theater" Two National Endowment for the Arts Grants Guggenheim Fellowship MacDowell Colony Fellowship (two) Ford Foundation recording grant Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts Grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs Lifetime Achievement in Music from the Center for Contemporary Opera Peabody Award for outstanding children's work: Hello, World! Chairman of Composers Recordings, Inc. National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity
Work
Mayer's lyricism and humor have frequently been singled out. "His is a lyrical music, favored by an unusual flow of fancy and wit," wrote Joseph Machlis in his Introduction to Contemporary Music. AmeriGrove also touches on his humor: "His style is characterized by a contrasting of transparent textures with humorous, highly rhythmic and densely scored passages."
This humor is seen in the micro-opera Brief Candle (Milton Feist), in which a mime is hurdled from infancy to marriage, and then death in six minutes, followed by a ten-second recapitulation. It is also present in an article entitled "Good Friend, Bad Piece" (co-authored with his daughter Jane Mayer), which addresses a not-infrequent dilemma: what to say to a composer friend after having just heard—and disliked—his new piece.
Among Mayer's works for young people are Hello, World!, which was recorded with Eleanor Roosevelt as narrator, the ballet The Snow Queen and the opera One Christmas Long Ago. All three stage works have been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra.
His discography encompasses most media. Operatic and orchestral works have been recorded by the Manhattan School of Music, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony and Music Today (Gerard Schwarz, director); choral works by conductors Robert De Cormier, Peter Schubert and Gregg Smith (who recorded the oratorio The Eve of St. Agnes on Vox's "American Sings" Series); and chamber music by St. Luke's Chamber Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, North/South Consonance and the New York Brass and Wind Ensemble.
Both Mayer's Piano Sonata and Octagon have been recorded by William Masselos, while pianists Steven Mayer and Şahan Arzruni have recorded Abandoned Bells and Subway in the Sunlight and Other Memories. Most recorded of all are the composer's songs, especially with instrumental accompaniment.