William Mayer (1925-2017) was an American composer, best known for his prize-winning opera A Death in the Family. The composer wrote three stage works in addition to A Death in the Family, and a variety of orchestral, chamber, choral and vocal works. John Rockwell of The New York Times has pointed out that Mayer was "especially known for his operas and songs ... his work sings out with real beauty, both in the vocal writing and the instrumental settings." Distinguished artists have introduced his scores: Robert De Cormier led the New York Choral Society in its Lincoln Center premiere of Spring Came on Forever; sopranos Heidi Grant Murphy, Eleanor Steber, and Christine Brewer have all premiered vocal-chamber works; and Leopold Stokowski conducted Mayer's piano concerto Octagon at Carnegie Hall with William Masselos as soloist. Mayer taught composition and orchestration at Boston University; was a guest lecturer at Yale, Columbia, the Pratt Institute, and the Juilliard School; fulfilled writing and cultural assignments from the U.S. Information Agency, one of which involved preparing lectures on American chamber opera to be delivered abroad; served on judging panels for MacDowell, the American Composers Orchestra, Composers Recordings, Inc., the National Opera Association and the National Federation of Music Clubs; and was Composer-in-Residence at the Conductors' Institute and Adirondack New Music Festival.
William Mayer
Studios
Sprague-Smith
William Mayer worked in the Sprague-Smith studio.
In January of 1976, the original Sprague-Smith Studio — built in 1915–1916 and funded by music students of Mrs. Charles Sprague-Smith of the Veltin School — was destroyed by fire. Redesigned by William Gnade, Sr., a Peterborough builder, the fieldstone structure was rebuilt the same year from the foundation up, reusing the original fieldstone. A few…