Wallingford Riegger

Wallingford Constantine Riegger (April 29, 1885 - April 2, 1961) was a prolific American music composer, well known for orchestral and modern dance music, and film scores. He was born in Albany, Georgia, but lived much of his life in New York City. He was known for his use of Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique which he used in much of his work.

Life
Riegger was born in 1885 to Ida Wallingford and Constantine Riegger. After his father's lumber mill burned down in 1888, his family moved to Indianapolis, and later to Louisville, finally settling in New York in 1900. A gifted cellist, he graduated from the first graduating class of the Institute of Musical Art, later known as the Juilliard School, in 1907, after studying under Percy Goetschius. He continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin for three years. After returning in 1910, he married Rose Schramm in 1911. For a time, he returned to Germany and accepted various conducting positions, but this was interrupted by the joining of America in World War I in 1917, after which he moved back to America. He had three daughters with her. In 1957, he was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was investigating Communism in the musical world. In 1958, Leonard Bernstein honored him by conducting his Music for Orchestra with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He died in New York in 1961 when he tripped over the leashes of two fighting dogs, resulting in a fall and a head injury from which he did not recover despite treatment.

Musical style
Riegger was known for his use of Schoenberg's twelve-tone system, but he did not use it in all of his compositions. For example, Dance Rhythms was not written in this style. Aside from Schoenberg, Riegger was also significantly influenced by his friends Henry Cowell and Charles Ives.

Early period
Early on in his career as a composer, the style of his compositions was markedly different from that of his later work, which mostly used the twelve-tone system. His compositions, following those of Goetschius, were somewhat romanticist.

Later period
Starting in the mid 1930's, Riegger began to write contemporary dance music. Later, as his career progressed, he began to use Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique more and more often, though he did occasinally revert to his earlier styles.

Works
Study in Sonority, 1927
Dichotomy, 1932
New Dance, 1940
Passacaglia and Fugue, 1942
New and Old, 1947
Symphony No. 3, 1948
Music for Brass Choir, 1949
Concerto for Piano with Wind Quintet, 1953
Dance Rhythms, 1954
Symphony No. 4, 1956
With My Red Fires
Music for Orchestra, 1958
Variations for Violin and Orchestra, 1960