Article

Wallace Berry

Published Online February 26, 2008

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Wallace (Taft) Berry. Composer, theorist, educator, pianist, b La Crosse, Wisc, 10 Jan 1928, d Vancouver, 16 Nov 1991; B MUS (Southern California) 1949, PH D (Southern California) 1956. Wallace Berry studied with Halsey Stevens and 1953-4 with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

Berry, Wallace

Wallace (Taft) Berry. Composer, theorist, educator, pianist, b La Crosse, Wisc, 10 Jan 1928, d Vancouver, 16 Nov 1991; B MUS (Southern California) 1949, PH D (Southern California) 1956. Wallace Berry studied with Halsey Stevens and 1953-4 with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He taught at the University of Southern California 1956-7 and at the University of Michigan 1957-77 before becoming the head of the music department at the University of British Columbia 1978-84, after which he taught music theory. He was a founding officer of and, 1982-5, president of the Society for Music Theory. In addition to writing about music theory, he has lectured at many symposia and conferences.

Wallace Berry's compositions were lauded for their expressiveness and conciseness. Berry also appeared as soloist in several performances of his Concerto for Piano. The Purcell String Quartet, known for premiering works by Canadian composers, commissioned Berry to compose Quartet No. 4 (1985). His papers, which include his own compositions in manuscript and a Schoenberg holograph transcription of a Reger Prelude, are deposited at Library and Archives Canada. Berry was a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre.

In 1978, Wallace Berry received an award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He received ASCAP composer awards 1979-80 and 1983-7.

Selected Compositions

Five Pieces for Small Orchestra. 1961. C Fischer 1965

Duo. 1964. Vn, piano. C Fischer 1964. 1980. Opus One 46 (Loban violin, Berry piano)

String Quartet No. 2. 1964. Elkan-Vogel 1967. 1972. Composers' Recordings, Inc. SD-282 (Composers String Quartet)

Canto Lirico. 1965. Va, piano. C Fischer 1970. 1972. Composers' Recordings, Inc. SD-282 (B. Zaslav viola, N. Zaslav piano)

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. 1965. C Fischer 1965

Duo. 1969. Fl, piano. Southern 1972. 1972. Composers' Recordings, Inc. SD-282

Sonata for piano. 1975-77. 1979. Composers' Recordings, Inc. SD-412 (Mehta piano)

Trio. 1970. Pf, violin, violoncello. C Fischer 1977. 1976. Composers' Recordings, Inc. SD-371 (Pignotti violin, Moores violoncello, Mehta piano)

Fantasy on 'Vom Himmel Hoch'. 1978. Org. C Fischer 1978

Variations on a 'Martyrs Tune'. 1978. Org. C Fischer 1978

Of the Changeless Night and the Stark Ranges of Nothing (Birney). 1979. Mezzo, piano, violoncello. Ms

Acadian Images. 1980. Orch. Ms

String Quartet No 4. 1984. Ms

The Moment: Summer's Night (Woolf). 1985. V, piano. Ms

Also earlier works for chamber ensemble, voice, and chorus, some published by Southern, Elkan-Vogel, and C Fischer

Selected Writings

Wallace Berry, Form in Music (Englewood Cliffs, NJ 1966, 1986)

'The music of Halsey Stevens,' Musical Quarterly, vol 54, Jul 1968

- and Chudacoff, E. Eighteenth-Century Imitative Counterpoint: Music for Analysis (New York 1969)

Structural Functions in Music (Englewood Cliffs, NJ 1975, 1987)

'On structural levels in music,' Music Theory Spectrum, vol 2, 1980

'Dialogue and monologue in the professional community,' College Music Symposium, vol 21, no. 2, 1983

'Metric and rhythmic articulation in music,' Music Theory Spectrum, vol 7, 1985

'Sense and sensibility: what can we know about music? What do we want to know?' Fact and Value in Contemporary Musical Scholarship (Boulder, Colo 1986)

Musical Structure and Performance (New Haven, Conn 1989)

Also articles and reviews for Journal of Music Theory, Notes, Perspectives of New Music, and other periodicals.