Richard G. Swift (September 24, 1927 – November 8, 2003) was an American composer and music theorist.

Life

Born in Middle Point, Ohio, Swift studied with Leland Smith, Grosvenor Cooper, and Leonard B. Meyer at the University of Chicago, where he received an MA in 1956. His career was spent teaching at the University of California, Davis, from 1956 until his retirement in 1991. He was the recipient of many awards, amongst others from the National Endowment for the Arts (1977), and the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1978). He died in Davis, California, in 2003.[1]

In addition to his activity as a composer, he also published many articles on twentieth-century music and music theory.

His wife, Dorothy Zackrisson Swift (1928–1990), was an accomplished musician and poet who wrote the libretto for Swift's opera, The Trial of Tender O'Shea (1964). Richard Swift also set two of her poems in the song cycle Roses Only, conceived as a memorial for her.[2] Her collected poetry was published posthumously.[3]

Compositions (selective list)

Writings (selective list)

• 1964. "The Demonstrations of J. K. Randall". Perspectives of New Music 2, no. 2 (Spring): 77–86.
• 1976. "Some Aspects of Aggregate Composition". Perspectives of New Music 14, no. 2 / 15, no. 1 ("Sounds and Words. A Critical Celebration of Milton Babbitt at 60") (Spring-Summer/Fall-Winter): 236–248.
• 1977. "1/XII/99: Tonal Relations in Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht". 19th-Century Music 1, no. 1 (July): 3–14.
• 1978–79. "Mahler's Ninth and Cooke's Tenth", 19th-Century Music 2:165–172.
• 1982–83. "A Tonal Analog: The Tone-Centered Music of George Perle", Perspectives of New Music 21, nos. 1–2: 257–284.
• 1995. "Schoenberg's Second Chamber Symphony, Op. 38". International Journal of Musicology 4:169–181.

References

Sources

• Fennelly, Brian. 2005. "Swift, Richard", Grove Music Online, edited by Deane Root (updated July 20, 2005; accessed 2 April 2012). (subscription access)
• Morris, Robert D. 1997. "Not Only Rows in Richard Swift's Roses Only". Perspectives of New Music 35, no. 1 (Winter): 13–47.
• Swift, Dorothy Zackrisson. 1992. Poems: 1950–1990. Sacramento: Deason and Stirn.

External links

• Richard G. Swift compositions, The Swift Fund for the Arts
• Richard Swift papers, Department of Special Collections, Library, University of California, Davis