Christopher Rouse (composer)

Rouse was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Christopher Rouse Jr., a salesman at Pitney Bowes, and Margorie or Margery Rouse, a radiology secretary.[4][3] He 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.[3] In between, Rouse studied privately with George Crumb.[3]

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. Beginning in 1997, he taught at the Juilliard School.

Rouse's Symphony No. 1 was awarded the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award in 1988,[5] and his Trombone Concerto was awarded the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Music.[6] 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.[7] In 2009, Rouse was named Musical America's Composer of the Year[8] and the New York Philharmonic's Composer-in-Residence in 2012.[9] Rouse 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 included Kamran Ince, Marc Mellits, Michael Torke, Lawrence Wilde, Nico Muhly,[10] Robert Paterson, Jeff Beal, Jude Vaclavik, Kevin Puts, D. J. Sparr, and Joseph Lukasik.

Rouse died on September 21, 2019 from complications of renal cancer in Towson, Maryland at the age of 70.[3]

Rouse was married twice, first to Ann Rouse (née Jensen) in 1983 and then in 2016 to Natasha Rouse (née Miller).[3][11] Rouse had four children, Angela, Jillian, Alexandra, and Adrian.[3]

Rouse was a neoromantic composer. Some of his works were predominantly atonal (Gorgon, Concerto for Orchestra) while others are clearly tonal (Karolju, Rapture, Supplica). Most often he sought to integrate tonal and non-tonal harmonic worlds, as in his concerti for flute, oboe, and guitar. All of his music was composed, in his words, "to convey a sense of expressive urgency." Rouse was praised for his orchestration, particularly with percussion.[12] He often quoted other composers' works (e.g., his Symphony No. 1, composed in 1986, incorporates quotations of Bruckner and Shostakovich).[13][14]

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.[14]

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.[15] These scores memorialized William Schuman (Violoncello Concerto—1992),[16] the James Bulger murder (Flute Concerto—1993),[17][18] the composer Stephen Albert (Symphony No. 2—1994),[19] and Rouse's mother (Envoi—1995).[20] 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 (1999),[21] Seeing (1998),[22] and Rapture (2000).[23]

Beginning in 2000, Rouse created works of varying moods, from his thorny Clarinet Concerto (2001) to his rock-infused The Nevill Feast (2003) to his romantic Oboe Concerto (2004).[24][25] The most significant piece from these years was his ninety-minute Requiem, composed over 2001 and 2002.[26][27] Rouse himself referred to the Requiem as his best composition.[28] Major compositions of more recent vintage included his Concerto for Orchestra (2008),[29] Odna Zhizn (2009),[30][31] Symphony No. 3 (2011),[32] Symphony No. 4 (2013),[33] Thunderstuck (2013),[14] Heimdall's Trumpet (a trumpet concerto—2012),[34][35] Organ Concerto (2014), Symphony No. 5 (2015), Bassoon Concerto (2017), and Berceuse Infinie (2017).

In late 2006, Rouse composed the wind ensemble piece Wolf Rounds, which premiered in Carnegie Hall March 29, 2007.[36]

Excerpts from Symphonies 1, 2 and 4, and Concerto per corde were used as the soundtrack to William Friedkin's 2017 film The Devil and Father Amorth.[37]

• Shulman, Laurie. 1997. "Christopher Rouse: An Overview" Tempo, new series, no. 199:2–8
• Shulman, Laurie. 2001. "Rouse, Christopher (Chapman)". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Slonimsky, Nicolas, Laura Kuhn, and Dennis McIntire. 2001. "Rouse, Christopher (Chapman)". Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, edited by Nicolas Slonimsky and Laura Kuhn. New York: Schirmer Books.

• Official website
• Chistopher Rouse at the Living Composers Project
• Christopher Rouse's page at Boosey & Hawkes (publisher): biography, works list, recordings and performance search.
• Documentary: Rouse on Rouse
• Art of the States: Christopher Rouse three works by the composer
• Interview with Christopher Rouse by Bruce Duffie April 29, 1994
• Interview on The Musicalist Podcast by Phil Oliver June 27, 2014