by Caiti Beth McKinney
Hello all, and happy Symposium month! This June, I want to draw your attention to the orchestral music of an outstanding composer whose music we almost completely lost—Julia Perry (1924-1979). Born in Lexington, Kentucky USA, Julia was a skilled singer, pianist, and violinist. She studied composition with Nadia Boulanger and won two Guggenheim Fellowships. In 1951, Perry wrote a work for solo contralto and string orchestra to the text of Stabat Mater and was subsequently rocketed to international fame. It was an experimental work for the composer, playing with dissonance and quartal harmonies while remaining inside the realm of tonality.
Over her lifetime, Perry shifted away from vocal compositions toward more instrumental works. She composed twelve symphonies, at least one of which was written for concert band. The piece I want to introduce to you today, however, is not a symphony but a standalone orchestral work Perry titled A Short Piece for Orchestra. To my ear, the opening sounds straight out of a score for an Alfred Hitchcock film, with jagged, angular motifs and dissonances. However, as the piece evolves and slows, a satisfyingly challenging horn solo (2:11) briefly soars above the strings and woodwinds. As this work becomes more and more mainstream with symphony orchestras, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Short Piece appear on audition lists.
A quick warning: Perry’s experience is an example of what can happen to music after composers die if the rights to their scores is unclear. After she suffered a series of strokes in the 1970s, Perry lost all mobility in the right side of her body and was forced to teach herself to write with her left hand to keep composing. She continued sending scores off to publishing companies who dismissed her efforts, despite her earlier fame and success. One even claimed they were simply “too busy with inventory” to accept her submissions (although it may well be that they were being casually racist and/or sexist). Perry, unfortunately, passed away far too young at the age of 55, and her mother died soon after, leaving no immediate descendants to care for her manuscripts. Her compositions subsequently became tied up in probate court with questions over copyright, and it is only in the last 5 years that advocates for Perry’s works have been successfully publishing and performing her pieces.
