Four Centuries of Great Music November 16, 2025 Celebration the Centennial of the Birth of Gunther Schuller

Today on Four Centuries of Great Music I am celebrating the centennial of the birth of American composer Gunther Schuller which is on the day this episode encores November 22^nd. 

Gunther Schuller was born in Queens, New York City, the son of Arthur Schuller, a violinist with the New York Philharmonic. He studied at the Saint Thomas Choir School and became an accomplished horn and flute player. At age 15, he was already playing horn professionally with the American Ballet Theatre (1943) followed by an appointment as principal hornist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (1943–45), and then the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York, where he stayed until 1959.  During his youth, he attended the Precollege Division at the Manhattan School of Music, later going on to teach at the school. He dropped out of high school to play music professionally and never attended any music school at the college level. He began his career in jazz by recording as a horn player with Miles Davis on his “Birth of the Cool” album (1949–50).

He began composing as a child but his first published work was a Nocturne for horn and piano written in 1942.  He composed continuously from then until his death in 2015.

As an educator, Schuller first taught at the Manhattan School of Music from 1950-53. From 1964-67 Schuller held the position of professor of composition at Yale University. At the request of Aaron Copland, Schuller began teaching at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood in 1963 and subsequently served as its artistic director from 1969-84.  In 1967 he became president of the New England Conservatory of Music.

Gunther Schuller coined the term “Third Stream” in a lecture at Brandeis University as a fusion of classical music and jazz.  It refers to composers incorporate elements of classical music, such as the use of classical instruments and classical music forms, into their jazz compositions or the incorporation of improvisation into their classical compositions.  This integration was a founding principle of the Modern Jazz Society, which Schuller founded in 1955 with composer and jazz pianist John Lewis and which later became known as the Jazz and Classical Music Society. This overlap was also critical to Schuller’s innovations as president of the New England Conservatory of Music.

Schuller led a group of musicians in recording the album Music for Brass (1957) to illustrate the principles of Third Stream.  An important work from that album was his Symphony for Brass and Percussion, Op. 16 written in 1950.  It is in 4 movements:

I. Andante-Allegro

II. Scherzo

III. Lento

IV. Quasi Cadenza - Allegro

Here is a performance of that work by Dimitri Mitropoulous conducting the Brass Ensemble of the Jazz and Classical Music Society from the album Music for Brass  Columbia Records/Sony Entertainment

As president of the New England Conservatory of Music he formalized NEC’s commitment to the third stream by establishing the first degree-granting jazz program at a major classical conservatory in 1969. Shortly thereafter, he instituted the Third Stream department, subsequently named the Contemporary Improvisation Department, to explore the regions where the two musical “streams” of classical and jazz meet and mingle. 

Although criticized early in it’s history – third stream is central to a lot of music being written today including string quartets written by jazz composers Wadada Leo Smith and Travis Laplante and a wide range of chamber and orchestral music written by composer and pianist Vijay Iyer and music written by the classically trained musician Modney which includes a lot of improvisation on traditionally classical music instruments on an album released by a jazz label.

Perhaps one of Gunther Schuller’s most famous works for orchestra is his Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee written in 1959 that of course is in 7 movement:

Gunther Schuller:  Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee _ No. 1, Antique Harmonies

Gunther Schuller:  Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee_ No. 2, Abstract Trio

Gunther Schuller:  Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee_ No. 3, Little Blue Devil

Gunther Schuller:  Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee_ No. 4, The Twittering Machine

Gunther Schuller:  Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee_ No. 5, Arab Village

Gunther Schuller:  Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee_ No. 6, An Eerie Moment

Gunther Schuller:  Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee_ No. 7, Pastorale

Erich Leinsdorf & Boston Symphony Orchestra

Masterworks of the 20th Century

Lets close this first hour celebrating he centennial of the birth of Gunther Schuller with his Chamber Symphony in three movements: Calmo-Animando-Calmo;  Arioso;  Vivo

as performed by Gunther Schuller conducting the Cleveland Chamber Symphony from the album Sound Encounters III: Works by Schuller, Lutoslawski and Cooper  GM Recordings

 Shift gears and focus this second hour on his chamber music:

String quartet #3 (1986)

Maestoso with great intensity

Canzona: adagio

Allegro vivace-Andante-Adagio-Andante-Tempo 1-Presto

Emerson String Quartet

American Contemporaries

Deutsche Grammophon

Sonata – Fantasia for Piano  (1992)

Maestoso

Lento

Animato Tempestoso

Russell Sherman, piano

GM Recordings

Piano Trio #3 (2012)

Tempo moderato

Largo

Allegro vivace

Gramercy Trio

Gramercy Trio World Premieres

Albany Records