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Gail Kubik

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Gail Kubik
in memory of Gail Kubik, American composer who lived in Venasque, 1963–1983

Gail Thompson Kubik (September 5, 1914, South Coffeyville, Oklahoma – July 20, 1984, Covina, California) was an American composer, music director, violinist, and teacher.[1]

Early life, education, and career

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Kubik was born to Henry and Evelyn O. Kubik. He studied at the Eastman School of Music, the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago with Leo Sowerby, and Harvard University with Walter Piston and Nadia Boulanger. He taught violin and composition at Monmouth College and composition and music history at Columbia University (1937), Teachers College and Scripps College.

Joining NBC Radio as staff composer in New York in 1940, he was music director for the Motion Picture Bureau at the Office of War Information, where, during World War II, he composed and conducted the music scores of motion pictures. He won the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for Music for Symphony Concertante.[1]

He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.[2]

Works

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  • American Caprice for piano and orchestra (1933 ; orch. 1936)
  • Piano Trio (1934)
  • Violin Concerto, Op. 4 (1934/36, dedicated to Jascha Heifetz)
  • Violin Concerto No. 2 (1940/41, dedicated to Ruggiero Ricci)
  • Suite for 3 recorders (1941)
  • Sonatina for Piano (dedicated to Walter Piston) (1941)
  • Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major (1946)
  • Sonata for piano (1947)
  • Celebrations And Epilogue, 10 short pieces for piano (1938-50)
  • Symphony Concertante for piano, viola, trumpet and orchestra (1952)
  • Symphony No. 2 in F major (1954-6)
  • Symphony No. 3 (1956)
  • Divertimento No. 1 for thirteen players (1959)
  • Divertimento No. 2 for eight players (1959)
  • Sonatina for clarinet and piano (dedicated to Nadia Boulanger) (1959)
  • String Quartet (1960)
  • In Praise of Johnny Appleseed (for bass, chorus, and orchestra), based on the Vachel Lindsay poem, entered into the 1942 National Federation of Music Clubs' choral composition contest. (Kettering won this contest with a work based on a Vachel Lindsay Johnny Appleseed poem)[3]
  • Symphony for 2 pianos (reworked from Symphony No. 1) (1949-79)
  • Prayer and Toccata for 2 pianos and organ (1969-79)

Opera

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  • Boston Baked Beans (1952)
  • A Mirror for the Sky (a folk opera, first performed 1957)

Film scores

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  • Men and Ships (1940)
  • Colleges at War (1942)
  • Menpower (1942)
  • Paratroops (1942)
  • The World at War (1942)
  • Dover (1942, aka Dover Front Line)
  • Earthquakers (1943)
  • Air Pattern-Pacific (1944)
  • The Memphis Belle (1944)
  • Thunderbolt! (1947)
  • C-Man (1949)
  • Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950 cartoon based on a story by Dr. Seuss); Kubik composed also a longer version which is sometimes performed as a narrated concert piece with Dr. Seuss's text
  • The Miner's Daughter (1950)
  • Two Gals and a Guy (1951, aka Baby and Me) (incidental music, also served as musical director)
  • The Desperate Hours (1955). Additional music by Daniele Amfitheatrof (uncredited)
  • I Thank a Fool (1962) This score was later replaced by Ron Goodwin
  • Music for Bells

References

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  1. ^ a b "BMOP: Music of American Composer Gail Kubik". New Music Buff. 2022-02-17. Retrieved 2024-05-10.
  2. ^ Delta Omicron Archived January 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Award to Miss Kettering with Bornschein in Contest" (PDF). The Diapason. 34 (3): 12. February 1, 1943. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 31, 2022. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
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