Editing Ned Rorem (section)

==Music==
{{see also|List of compositions by Ned Rorem}}

Although Rorem wrote works for piano, orchestra and chamber ensemble and solo instruments, he considered all of his music vocal and song-like in nature.{{sfn|McDonald|1989|p=9}} Often described as a neoromantic composer, Rorem generally rejecting the emergence of strict modernist aesthetics.{{sfn|Ewen|1982|p=542}} He wrote in a generally [[tonality|tonal]] manner, ''[[Grove Music Online]]'' asserts that he did so with considerable diversity, complexity and potency.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ para 6}}

===Songs===
[[File:Spring by Rorem excerpt.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Opening measures of ''Spring'' (1947) by Rorem. The piano's left hand employs [[ground bass]] below a higher melody]]
He is best known for his [[art song]]s, of which he wrote more than 500.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ paras 6–7}}{{refn|While older publications such as {{harvtxt|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ para 7}} approximate Rorem's song output as "nearly 400", the music critic [[Tim Page (music critic)|Tim Page]] explains that "By the time Mr. Rorem was 40, he had written more than 400 such songs", and that by his death "In all, he wrote{{nbsp}}... more than 500 songs".{{sfn|Page|2022}}|group=n}} Many are coupled into some thirty or so [[song cycle]]s, written from the early 1940s to 2000s.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ "Works"}}{{refn|Many of his earliest songs remain unpublished;{{sfn|Henry|1986|p=12}} his first published cycle was ''Flight for Heaven'' (1950), a setting of nine poems by the [[Lyric poetry|lyric]] poet [[Robert Herrick (poet)|Robert Herrick]], along with a piano interlude.{{sfn|Henry|1986|pp=33–36}} See {{harvtxt|Henry|1986|pp=12–14}} for an overview on Rorem's early unpublished song cycles.|group=n}} Rorem stressed the importance of a cycle's overall structure, paying close attention to the song order, progression of [[key signature|key]]s and transition between songs.{{sfn|Henry|1986|p=14}} He also emphasized [[theatricality]], aiming to convey an overarching message via a unified emotional affect or mood.{{sfn|Henry|1986|p=15}} Like in other genres, the musicologist Philip Lieson Miller remarked that "Rorem's chosen field of song is not for the avant garde and he must be classified as{{nbsp}}... conservative", and that "he has never striven for novelty".{{sfn|Miller|1978|p=31}} Rorem's strict definitions of what constitutes a song has molded them to be typically be single-voice and piano settings of lyrical poems of moderate length.{{sfn|Miller|1978|p=26}} He named songs by [[Monteverdi]], [[Schumann]], [[Poulenc]] and [[the Beatles]] as particular favorites.{{sfn|Lewis|2022}} To obtain certain effects, however, Rorem has occasionally experimented with more modernist sentiments, such as intense [[Chromatic scale|chromaticism]], successive [[Modulation (music)|modulations]] and alternating [[time signature]]s.{{sfn|Miller|1978|pp=27–31}}

Rorem's main interest in the art song is the setting of poetry, rather than the sound of the human voice.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ para 7}}{{sfn|Beck|Rorem|1993|p=31}} Numerous commentators have lauded his abilities in prosody, with ''[[Grove Music Online]]'' noting that he "sets words with naturalness and clarity, without compromising the range and scope of vocal lines".{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ para 7}} The vast majority of Rorem's songs are set in English and he has criticized American colleagues who prioritize setting other languages over English.{{sfn|Miller|1978|p=26}}{{sfn|Peyser|1987}} In his early years, he was particularly devoted to the poems of his friend [[Paul Goodman]], and later set many works by [[Theodore Roethke]].{{sfn|Miller|1978|p=26}} Rorem often composed entire cycles to the poetry of a single writer: [[John Ashbery]], [[Witter Bynner]], [[Demetrios Capetanakis]], [[George Darley]], [[Frank O'Hara]], [[Robert Herrick (poet)|Robert Herrick]], [[Kenneth Koch]], [[Howard Moss]], [[Sylvia Plath]], [[Wallace Stevens]], [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]], and [[Walt Whitman]], to whom he dedicated three cycles.{{sfn|Henry|1986|pp=115–116}} His few settings in other languages include French poems by [[Jean-Antoine de Baïf]], [[Jean Daurat]], {{ill|Olivier de Magny|fr}}, [[Henri de Régnier]], [[Pierre de Ronsard]], as well as ancient Greek texts by [[Plato]].{{sfn|Henry|1986|p=13}}

Many of Rorem's songs are accompanied by piano, though some have mixed instrumental ensemble or orchestral accompaniment.{{sfn|Henry|1986|p=v}} A pianist himself, his accompaniment parts for the instrument are not completely secondary to the voice and more a "full complement to the melody".{{sfn|Page|2022}} They include motives to emphasize textual elements—such as rain and clouds—and are wildly diverse in function, sometimes responding to the voice in counterpoint or simply [[Voicing (music)#Doubling|doubling]] the vocal line.{{sfn|Miller|1978|pp=30–31}} He sometimes uses the [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]]-derived [[ground bass]] technique of a slow and repeated [[bassline]] in the left hand.{{sfn|Miller|1978|p=30}} Reflecting on his piano accompaniments, the writer Bret Johnson describes Rorem's musical hallmarks as "chiming piano, rushing triplets, sumptuous harmonies".{{sfn|Johnson|1985|p=10}}

===Operas===
{{further|Miss Julie (Rorem opera)|Our Town (opera)|label1=Miss Julie|label2=Our Town}}
{{external media
| topic  = Final aria-monologue from ''Our Town''
| video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9N2yGGbcac Performance] by [[Marnie Breckenridge]]
}}

Only two full-length operas were written by Rorem: ''Miss Julie'' (1965) and ''[[Our Town (opera)|Our Town]]'' (2005).{{sfn|Johnson|2014|p=93}} ''Miss Julie'' was not well-received; the music critic [[Harold C. Schonberg]] commented that his melodies were bland and lacked individuality.{{sfn|Lewis|2022}} Holmes explained that Rorem himself "contends that song specialists cannot automatically turn out good operas any more than opera composers can turn out true songs: a gift for tune and a gift for tragedy do not always join hands".{{sfn|Holmes|2002}} The opera's libretto was written by [[Kenward Elmslie]], itself based on the [[Miss Julie|play of the same name]] by [[August Strindberg]].{{sfn|Ewen|1982|p=542}} Rorem revised it for a more successful revival in 1979;{{sfn|McDonald|1989|p=11}} it was again revived again in 1994 at the [[Manhattan School of Music]] Opera.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ para 8}}

His second full-length opera, ''Our Town'', was written 40 years later on the [[Our Town|play of the same name]] by [[Thornton Wilder]].{{sfn|Johnson|2014|p=93}} It received a successful 2006 premiere at the [[Indiana University Opera Theater, Bloomington|Indiana University Opera Theater]] and was later performed at the [[Juilliard Opera Center]], New York (2008) and the Central City Opera, Denver (2013).{{sfn|Lewis|2022}} The music critic Joshua Barone noted that it is "a tastefully restrained echo of the play's text that has found a home on smaller stages but deserves bigger ones".{{sfn|Barone|2022}} The play's already small-scale set and condense narrative was matched by Rorem's setting as a [[chamber opera]] and Johnson explained that "the economy of resources may well be the key to the opera's mobility and then its success".{{sfn|Johnson|2014|p=93}} The work's final monologue-aria from the character Emily Webb is particularly well-regarded and often standard repertoire for soprano singers.{{sfn|Smith|2013}}

Throughout his career Rorem wrote some six small one-act operas, many of which do not fit squarely into the genre.{{sfn|Holmes|2002}} The first of these was ''A Childhood Miracle'' of 1951, which had to wait three years for its premiere in New York 1955.{{sfn|Ewen|1982|p=541}} Rorem wrote his own libretto for his 1958 opera based on Chaucer's "[[The Pardoner's Tale]]", ''The Robbers''.{{sfn|Holmes|2002|loc=§ "Works"}} His 1961 two-act opera ''The Anniversary'' was never performed.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ "Works"}} It included a libretto by Jascha Kessler and was, unusually for Rorem, based on the serialist [[tone row]] which he included on the [[title page]].{{sfn|Kessler|2003}} Rorem wrote the one-act ''[[Bertha (opera)|Bertha]]'' (1968) to a libretto by Kenneth Koch.{{sfn|Holmes|2002|loc=§ "Works"}} The same year he wrote the three-act ''Three Sisters who are Not Sisters'' (1971), his second collaboration with Stein as the librettist.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ "Works"}} The 1970s saw his two final short operas: ''Fables'' (1971), 5 brief scene based on [[La Fontaine's Fables|La Fontaine's ''Fables'']]; and ''Hearing'' (1976) on a libretto by Holmes based on Rorem's song cycles.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ "Works"}}

===Orchestral works===

Rorem's three numbered symphonies were written in a span of eight years during the 1950s.{{sfn|Serebrier|2003|loc=§ para 4}} They have remained relatively "ostracized", even during the late 20th-century revival of neoromanticism.{{sfn|Sanderson}} The music critic [[David Hurwitz (music critic)|David Hurwitz]] remarked that "Ned Rorem's symphonies are shot through with long, lyrical melodies that some observers might relate to his gifts as a songwriter, but strike me as more likely inspired by the "Sunrise" sequence from Ravel's ''[[Daphnis et Chloé|Daphnis et Chloë]]''–music so strikingly lovely that the beauty it describes can only exist in the world of fantasy and make-believe."{{sfn|Hurwitz|2003|loc=§ para 1}}

Rorem's Symphony No. 1 (1950) is cast in four fairly brief movements: I:&nbsp;Maestoso, II:&nbsp;Andantino, III:&nbsp;Largo, and IV:&nbsp;Allegro;{{sfn|Sanderson|loc=§ "Track Listing"}} the composer himself noted that it "could easily be called a Suite".{{sfn|Serebrier|2003|loc=§ para 6}} The [[AllMusic]] critic Blair Sanderson considered it the most lyrical and gentle of his symphonies.{{sfn|Sanderson}} His Symphony No. 2 (1956) is cast in 3&nbsp;movements, I:&nbsp;Broad, Moderate; II:&nbsp;Tranquillo; III:&nbsp;Allegro.{{sfn|Sanderson|loc=§ "Track Listing"}} They are of highly unequal proportion—the second movement and the third movement combined being less than half the length of the first movement—akin to the structure of [[Symphony No. 6 (Shostakovich)|Symphony No. 6]] by [[Dmitri Shostakovich]].{{sfn|Hurwitz|2003|loc=§ para 1}} Both the first and second symphonies are infrequently performed; the second in particularly had not been performed since 1959 until, as the composer puts it, "[[José Serebrier]] resurrected" it 43&nbsp;years later.{{sfn|Serebrier|2003|loc=§ paras 6, 8}} The [[Symphony No. 3 (Rorem)|Third Symphony]] (1958) is cast in five movements: I:&nbsp;Passacaglia, II:&nbsp;Allegro molto vivace, III:&nbsp;Largo, IV:&nbsp;Andante, V:&nbsp;Allegro molto.{{sfn|Sanderson|loc=§ "Track Listing"}} It is the best known of Rorem's numbered symphonies,{{sfn|Rickards|2022}} described by Sanderson as "the most fully realized, [with] resilient rhythms and cogent structures".{{sfn|Sanderson}} Hurwitz opines that it should be among the "great American symphonies".{{sfn|Hurwitz|2003|loc=§ para 2}} Rorem later arranged the Scherzo movement for [[wind orchestra]] in 2002.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ "Works"}}

===Piano music===
From 1948 onwards, Rorem wrote numerous pieces for solo piano, usually dedicated to relatives or close friends.{{sfn|Smith|2013}} Many of these were written for his partner Holmes, and others are named for their recipient, such as ''For Shirley'' (1989) and ''For Ben'' (1999).{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ "Works"}} Johnson described most of them as brief sketches that contained precedents for his later works.{{sfn|Johnson|2014|pp=92–93}} His earliest published piano work was the 1948 set ''A Quiet Afternoon'', written for his sister's children.{{sfn|Johnson|2014|p=92}}

Among his main piano compositions are three sonatas written in his early years 1948, 1949 and 1954.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ "Works"}} Barone singles out the "sparking [[Toccata]]" third movement from the First Sonata,{{sfn|Barone|2022}} noting that it is a common [[encore]] for pianists.{{sfn|Barone|2018}} A few months after its publication, Rorem published the Toccata as a separate piece.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ "Works"}}