Life and Career of Robert CunninghamRomanticism

Growing up as a Romantic Composer in an Anti-Romantic Age

I decided at a very young age that I would become a composer and started writing little compositions from age eleven onward. For the most part, I did not share these with my teachers.

When I was an undergraduate, our theory professor offered an unofficial after-hours composing class for his best students, which culminated in a recital of our works. Although we did not use serial techniques, which were somewhat passé by the late 1960s, we were expected to eschew tonality and of course any vestiges of Romanticism. I quickly figured out that Dr. *** favored works that sounded chaotic, so for my assignment one day, I came up with a mathematical formula to produce a pseudo-random series of notes. He found that little piece much more appealing that its predecessors. In my files, I still have one manuscript from that class.  But alongside it is a manuscript for a piece I wrote on my own during the summer, titled “Fantasia di Morte e d’Amore” — a youthful Byronism that makes me chuckle today. I subtitled it a “piano piece in neo-romantic style,” and of course Dr. *** never heard about it. I was driven in a creative direction of my own, a direction contrary to the teachings of the time.

fantasia2

There was no place for a Romantic composer in those days, so I focused on performance instead, completing my degree in piano and then pursuing piano at Juilliard. But while the notion of becoming a concert pianist held a certain appeal, in the back of my mind remained the wistful awareness that I had abandoned my highest musical aspiration.

By the early 1980s, the atmosphere had begun to change, and in 1982 I completed my first piano sonata. My personal style was just beginning to develop, and I consider it my first real composition. (My works are listed here.) Unfortunately, I was well into my thirties by that time, and the opportunities for an unknown composer past the age of 30 are severely limited. I struggled hard over many years, and there were some heartbreaking experiences. But I did achieve some modest successes, rather remarkable given the circumstances. The photo shows the program for a concert given in 1992 by the Metamorphosis Woodwind Quartet. My Rhapsody for Piano and Winds (circled) was performed just after the intermission to an enthusiastic reception.

metamorphosis2

In the 1990s I decided to return to school, earning my MM in composition and my PhD in music theory (completing the latter at age 50). By then, attitudes had become far more open-minded in academia. My Romantic style of composition was fully accepted. (I also had fun dabbling in electronic music, although I do not consider those efforts part of my oeuvre.) In my PhD work, rather to my surprise, I was actively encouraged to pursue my interest in Rachmaninoff.

Today’s world, fortunately, is far removed from the anti-Romantic era of atonalist orthodoxy of my youth.  In my late sixties, I am finding opportunities for performances and recordings that were unavailable back then.  The Rhapsody mentioned above, for example, was revived for a concert in July.  You can enjoy a recording of it here.

 

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