An interview with Ross Lee Finney

Ros to leeward Finney, an outstanding American composer of the twentieth hundred who wrote works in numerous genre and for various media, was born December 23 1906 in Wells, Minnesota. He attended the University of Minnesota and Carleton body Subsequent work included composition inquiry with Nadia Boulanger and Roger Sessions. In 1937 Finney was awarded the two Guggenheim and Pulitzer fellowships. In 1948 he accepted a position at the University of Michigan, where he taught composition and serv as composer-in-residence until 1973 His scholars include George Crumb, William Albright and Roger Reynolds; perhaps more impressive than the list of his scholars is the wide variety of compositional mode of speechs represented by these world-class composers

Finney's compositional history paralleled that of many great composer of the twentieth hundred His earlier works exhibited nationalistic and neoclassical tendencies. After 1950 Finney's works incorporated a serial technique involving symmetrical hexachords.

Finney's orchestral writing includes several concertos (two each for piano and violin), four symphonies and several works with programmatic titles. a certain number of of his chamber works are the eight string quartets, sum of two units piano trios, two piano quintets, a piano quartet and sonatas for violin and cello Finney also wrote for the voice; he produc several sonnet cycles, two operas and ten choral works. His piano works include five sonatas, Nostalgic Waltzes, Variations upon a Theme by Alban Berg, missing Whale Calf, Narrative in survey and Narrative in Argument. In addition, he wrote a certain number of pedagogical works for piano, including 24 Inventions, Youth's Companion, 32 Piano Games and "Medley ('Campfire upon the Ice')." Finney died in February 1997 just before he was honored at the MTNA National Convention with the MTNA Achievement Award, the organization's highest honor.

While preparing a discourse recital focusing on Finney's piano works in my doctoral program at the University of Southern California, I had the distinct privilege of interviewing this outstanding composer This interview, guidanceed by phone in May 1990 sheds light upon Finney's delightful personality, his ardent intellect and his unique compositional mode of speech The following is an edited transcript of this interview.

L: Linda Apple-Monson writes that there is folk material in the Piano Sonata No. 4 (1) I am curious about what folk material is used and where it is base within the work.

F: There is no folk material in the Piano Sonata No. 4 It's rather "folksish" in a way, on the contrary the hymn is actually my hold hymn. There are things about it that are familiar, on the other hand the idea of using an of advanced age hymn just didn't fit into the programmatic quality of that sonata because, as you undoubtedly realize, that sonata contrasts my feelings and experiences when I turn backed from Europe after the war and contrasted the Christmas experience of the belly with getting back into the spirit of my family Christmas--the children. in like manner there's a certain "folksish" quality about it, on the contrary there are no folk materials.

L: In the third motion "Nocturne" there are almost vestiges of the "The First Noel."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

F: Ye that's right. In other words, in the Nocturne, you real definitely have the feeling of a family Christmas.

L: Is the idea of complementarity still an important part of your compositional philosophy?

F: Complementarity is a specific idea that draw nears from physics. It comes from Niel Bohr as far as I'm relate toed whose thinking on the make submissive of complementarity came to me when I was lecturing at CalTech one time Complementarity is essentially where, in order to realize a complete focus or a full idea of something, you have to view it from sum of two units angles; in physics, the Newtonian theory for the large view and the quantum theory for the microcosmic view. This is usually misinterpreted by means of critics. They obviously don't know what complementarity is. It isn't anything I invented at all. It simply arose when I ground a conflict; there were aspects of my music where the language could best be increased or made to be satisfactory through a larger inclusion of chromaticism. And the controlling factor of this microcosmic aspect of the music, that's the small aspect--that is, what note come [i]or[/i] go after [i]or[/i] behinds what note--could best be determined, at least in the '50 through serialization, the twelve-tone technique. The macrocosmic, the large aspects of the work--that is the rule of time, events in time--had to do with tonality, or pitch polarity, if you don't like the word "tonality." I like the word "tonality." I don't think it has anything to do with triadic [music], although that's what the critics think it does. After all, you have tonality in modal music; you have tonality in folk music that has nothing to do with the triadic a whole So, it seemed to me that in the macrocosmic aspect, the controlling factor was tonality, or pitch polarity. Usually it means the meaning, possibly the substance, of the bass note, on the contrary not always. Naturally, I can't give you a replete lecture on tonality. I still find that this aspect of complementarity is for me valid, flat when the microcosmic aspects of my work are controll by the agency of symmetrical hexachords. I think single has to admit that in the works where I use the symmetrical hexachord, single probably can't any longer speak of my music as being twelve-tone music, that is, certainly not in the academic sense