SESSIONS, Roger
b Brooklyn, New York, 28 December1896
d Princeton, NJ, 16 March 1985 aged eighty-nine
He entered Harvard at the age of fourteen and, after graduating, went on to Yale. He taught theory at Smith College from 1917 to 1921, then became Bloch's assistant at Cleveland Conservatory. From 1925 to 1933 he lived mainly in Europe, and returned to the USA to teach at Princeton from 1935 to 1944. He was professor of music at the University of California at Berkeley from 1944 to 1952, and at Princeton from 1953 to 1965. From 1966 to 1967 he was Bloch Professor at Berkeley, was Norton Professor at Harvard from 1968 to 1969, and taught at the Juillard School. He has received a great number of honours.
1923 (27)
The Black Maskers, incidental music
1927 (31)
Symphony No 1
1930 (34)
Piano Sonata No 1
1935 (39)
Violin Concerto with orchestra which includes five clarinets but no violins
1936 (40)
String Quartet No 1
1938 (42)
Scherzino and March, for orchestra
1939 (43)
Pages from a Diary (From My Diary), for piano
1941-63 (45-67)
Montezuma, opera
1942 (46)
Duo for violin and piano
1944-6 (48-50)
Symphony No 2
1946 (50)
Piano Sonata No 2
1947 (51)
fp The Trial of Lucullus, opera
1951 (55)
String Quartet No 2
1953 (57)
Sonata for solo violin
1954 (58)
The Idyll of Theocritus, for soprano and orchestra
1955 (59)
Mass for unison male voices and organ
1956 (60)
Piano Concerto
1957 (61)
Symphony No 3
1958 (62)
Symphony No 4
String Quintet
1960 (64)
Divertimento for orchestra
1963 (67)
Psalm
140, for soprano with organ or orchestra
1964 (68)
Symphony No 5
1965 (69)
Piano Sonata No 3
1966 (70)
Symphony no 6
Six Pieces for cello
1967 (71)
Symphony No 7
1968 (72)
Symphony No 8
1970 (74)
Rhapsody, for orchestra
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd,cantata
1971 (75)
Concerto for viola and cello
1971-2 (75-6)
Three Choruses on Biblical Texts
1972 (76)
Concertino for chamber orchestra
1975 (79)
Five Pieces for chamber orchestra
1982 (86)
Concerto for orchestra
Undated Symphony No 9
Concertino for chamber orchestra
Turn, O Libertad, for chorus and orchestra
Idyll of Theocritus, for soprano and orchestra
See also MusicWeb page on Sessions