Richard Frank Wernick (January 16, 1934 – April 25, 2025) was an American composer. He is best known for his chamber and vocal works. His composition Visions of Terror and Wonder won the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Life and career
Wernick was born January 16, 1934. His birthplace is reported variously as Newton, Massachusetts, Wernick went on to complete his undergraduate studies with Fine at Brandeis University. While at Brandeis, Wernick also studied with Harold Shapero, Arthur Berger, and Leonard Bernstein. His studies at Tanglewood included composition work with Ernst Toch, Aaron Copland, and Boris Blacher and conducting studies with Leonard Bernstein and Seymour Lipkin. Wernick also studied at Mills College with Leon Kirchner.
During the 1950s and early 1960s, Wernick worked as a theater, film, television, and dance composer.
Wernick spent much of his career as a composition professor, teaching at SUNY Buffalo (1964–1965) and the University of Chicago (1965–1968). However, his longest tenure was at the University of Pennsylvania, from 1968 to 1996.
In 1983, Riccardo Muti selected Wernick to be the Consultant for New Music to the Philadelphia Orchestra. His role as advisor was to assist Muti in identifying new works for the Philadelphia Orchestra to perform, with a stated emphasis on American composers. He held this position until 1989, when he was re-appointed Special Consultant to the music director. He continued until the end of Muti's tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1993.
Three of Wernick’s manuscript scores are held by the Library of Congress. His String Quartet no. 3 was the result of a 1988 commission by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation. His second Library of Congress-affiliated commission was under the auspices of The Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation. This commission resulted in Wernick’s 1996 Trio for violin, cello, and piano. Fittingly, he was honored as the first commission by The Irving and Verna Fine Fund, for which he composed Quintet for Horn and String Quartet in 2002.
Wernick won the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his composition Visions of Terror and Wonder. He won Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards in 1986 for his Violin Concerto (first place, tie with Bernard Rands), 1991 (first place, for String Quartet No. 4), and 1992 (second place, for Piano Concerto). He also received awards from the Ford, Guggenheim, and Naumburg Foundations.
Compositional style
Wernick described his style as one that attempts to find common ground with an audience:
<blockquote>My expectation is that I'm not writing down to an audience, but I'm not trying to write above their heads. I'm not writing to an audience which is illiterate and I'm not writing to an audience which is technically educated in music, but I do write for an audience that I assume has experience in listening to music and is willing to at least meet me halfway. So I'll go halfway to meet them."</blockquote>
As such, critics have sometimes identified his style as more audience-accessible, particularly when compared to more strictly serialist composers of the 20th century.
Harmonic analysis of Wernick's work suggests that his style makes reference to tonal harmony, but is usually based on fixed cells of intervals. He occasionally made use of twelve-tone sequences and their permutations, but this technique is not necessarily a defining feature of his output. Wernick also made extensive use of contrapuntal techniques, especially in his string quartets. Most of his manuscripts are held by the Special Collections of the Van Pelt Library at the University of Pennsylvania. His works have also been recorded on Deutsche Grammophon, Nonesuch Records, Centaur Records, Composers Recordings, Inc., and Albany Records.
- Duo for Cello and Piano, Scott Kluksdahl, cello, Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano. Centaur Records 2765: Sound Vessels
- 2000: Alfred I Dupont Award
- 1992: Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, 2nd Place
- 1991: Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, 1st Place
- 1986: Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, 1st Place
- 1982: National Endowment for the Arts Composition Grant