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EncyclopediaSchuman, WilliamSchuman, William (shOO'mun) [key], 1910–92, American composer, b. New York City. Schuman taught at Sarah Lawrence College (1935–45) and was twice a Guggenheim Fellow (1939 and 1940). While president of the Juilliard School of Music (1945–62) he helped initiate the Juilliard Quartet. He was also president of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (1962–69). His outstanding compositions are his Third Symphony and his Fourth Symphony (both 1941); his American Festival Overture (1939); Symphony for Strings (1943); Newsreel (1941); two secular cantatas, This is Our Time (1940) and A Free Song (1942; awarded the first Pulitzer Prize in music, 1943); the ballet Undertow (1945); the opera The Mighty Casey (Hartford, 1953); and several chamber works. His music is highly contrapuntal and often employs complex rhythms suggestive of jazz. Schuman was awarded a second Pulitzer in 1985, this time for his lifetime achievements in composition, teaching, and administration. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. More on William Schuman from Infoplease:
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