Morten Lauridsen

Morten Lauridsen (left) receiving the National Medal of Arts from George W. Bush in 2007.

Morten Lauridsen (born February 27, 1943 in Colfax, Washington) is an American composer of Danish ancestry. He is a long-time professor of Composition at the University of Southern California (USC) Thornton School of Music, and served as chairman of its Composition Department between 1990 and 2002.

He grew up in Portland, Oregon, and attended Whitman College and USC, where he studied advanced composition. Among his early teachers were Ingolf Dahl, Halsey Stevens, Robert Linn, and Harold Owen.^{[1] [2]}.

He was also Composer in Residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1994 to 2001, where he and former Music Director Paul Salamunovich were frequent collaborators. "There's not a note I've written over these years in which I didn't have Paul and the unique sound he achieves with the Master Chorale in mind," Lauridsen once said. "The way phrases are put together and melody is created--I always write for them."^[3]

Lauridsen's composition has won multiple awards, including the ASCAP Standard Award (in 1982) and the Phi Kappa Phi Award for Creative Works (in 1984).^[1] He was awarded a National Medal of Arts in 2007.^[4] On May 1, 2008, Dr. Lauridsen was initiated as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity.

Along with James Mulholland and Eric Whitacre, Lauridsen is arguably one of America's most-performed^[2] contemporary choral composers, and writes both sacred and secular music. Much of Lauridsen's appeal comes from his coloristic harmonies via added note tertian chords, perhaps most notably a 'signature' harmonic structure of a first-inversion major triad with an added tone a perfect fourth or major second above the chord root.

His five-movement work Lux Aeterna (1997) for chorus and orchestra has become popular in the United States, with numerous performances, recordings and radio broadcasts.

Vocal works

• Ave Dulcissima Maria (2004, written for the Harvard Glee Club)
• Ave Maria (1997)^[5]
• A Winter Come (on poems by Howard Moss)
  • I. When Frost Moves Fast
  • II. As Birds Come Nearer
  • III. The Racing Waterfall
  • IV. A Child Lay Down
  • V. Who Reads By Starlight
  • VI. And What Of Love
• Les Chansons des Roses (1993)^[5] (settings of poems by Rainer Maria Rilke)
  • I. En Une Seule Fleur
  • II. Contre Qui, Rose
  • III. De Ton Rêve Trop Plein
  • IV. La Rose Complète
  • V. Dirait-on
• Lux Aeterna (1997)^[5]
  • I. Introitus
  • II. In Te, Domine, Speravi
  • III. O Nata Lux
  • IV. Veni, Sancte Spiritus
  • V. Agnus Dei
• Madrigali: Six "Firesongs" on Italian Renaissance Poems
  • I. Ov'è, Lass', Il Bel Viso?
  • II. Quando Son Piu Lontan
  • III. Amor, Io Sento L'alma
  • IV. Io Piango
  • V. Luci Serene e Chiare
  • VI. Se Per Havervi, Oime
• Mid-Winter Songs (1980)^[5] (on poems by Robert Graves)
  • I. Lament for Pasiphae
  • II. Like Snow
  • III. She Tells Her Love While Half Asleep
  • IV. Mid-Winter Waking
  • V. Intercession in Late October
• Nocturnes (2005)
  • I. Sa Nuit d'Été
  • II. Soneto de la Noche
  • III. Sure on this Shining Night
• O Magnum Mysterium (1994)^[5]
• Ubi Caritas et Amor
• Cuatro Canciones Sobre Poesias de Federico Garcia Lorca^[1]

External links

• MortenLauridsen.com Official website

References