Ernst Bacon (1898-1990) was an acclaimed American composer, pianist, and conductor. Born in Chicago, Bacon attended Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the University of California, Berkeley. Although mostly self-taught as a composer, he studied briefly with Karl Weigl in Vienna, Austria. He was on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and was appointed to head the WPA Music Project in San Francisco. He also founded the Carmel Bach Festival. His chief teaching positions were at Converse College in Spartanburg, SC (1938-45) and Syracuse University (1945-64), where he retired as Professor Emeritus.
Bacon’s music reflects the dual heritage of his Austrian mother and American father. While influenced by Schubert and Brahms, it also reveals the strength and vitality of his American roots. His Symphony #1 in D Minor was awarded a Pulitzer Scholarship in 1932, and he composed numerous orchestral and chamber works, many of them based on themes from American history (such as Ford’s Theatre, recorded on a NAXOS CD by Leonard Slatkin) and on American folk tunes (as in the geographical suite, From These States). However he is best-known for composing more than 250 art songs, including many settings of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman.
While at MacDowell, he became friends with Thornton Wilder, who praised Bacon’s two books, Words on Music and Notes on the Piano, both of which were written at the Colony. In the early 1950s he composed a suite for viola and piano called Peterborough, describing the scene and life at MacDowell. This piece was dedicated to Mrs. MacDowell.
Ernst Bacon was one of that pioneering generation of composers, including Thomson, Copland, and Harris, who sought a voice for American music, but he more or less went underground during the decades dominated by the avant-garde. His music is now being revived with the help of the Ernst Bacon Society (www.ernstbacon.org).
