A Spotlight on Boston's Irving Fine
Irving Fine (1914-1962) was a Boston-born composer who experimented with several styles throughout his career, including neoclassical, neoromantic, and serialism. Fine is considered one of several gifted composers of the “Boston School.”
He studied composition with Walter Piston at Harvard and with Nadia Boulanger in France. He remained at Harvard (1939-1950) where he taught music theory and history, and worked closely with Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, Serge Koussevitzky, and Leonard Bernstein.
Fine was recruited to build the music department at Brandeis University (1950-1962). During his twelve years at Brandeis, he founded and chaired its School of Creative Arts, brought Bernstein and Copland to the faculty, and established it as an internationally recognized birthplace for artistic talent.
Copland invited Fine to join the TMC composition faculty in 1946, where he taught for nine summers. He was surrounded by other promising composers, like Bernstein, Lukas Foss, and Harold Shapero. In 1947, he studied conducting with Koussevitzky.
Fine remained deeply committed to the BSO, which premiered three of his works: Toccata Concertante, Diversions for Orchestra, and Symphony 1962. The symphony premiered in Boston in March 1962 with a repeat performance at Tanglewood in August 1962, conducted by the composer who substituted for the ailing Charles Munch. Tragically, Fine died 11 days later at the age of 47 from a fatal heart attack.
Although his output was limited by his early death, his work remains highly regarded for its remarkable lyricism, beauty, and craftsmanship.
Copland praised Fine’s music for its “keenly conceived sonorities” and “elegance.” His body of work includes chamber and vocal music, popular choral works, and orchestral and string music. Several of his choral and chamber works are standard repertoire representing American mid-twentieth-century music.
Irving Fine, Boston-born composer and teacher
Photographer unknown
Early Performances by the Boston Pops and Symphony
The first composition by Irving Fine to be performed by the BSO or the Pops was his “Incidental Music” to Alice in Wonderland at Harvard Night at the Pops, May 6, 1937, the same year that he graduated from Harvard
Program for the BSO’s world premiere performance of Irving Fine’s Toccata Concertante, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky, October 22, 1948, at Symphony Hall
The Tanglewood Years: 1946-1957
Lukas Foss, Irving Fine, and Harold Shapero—three American composers—sit on a bench outside of the Tappan House, ca. 1946
Lukas Foss and Irving Fine were on the TMC faculty in 1946, while Harold Shapero studied orchestral conducting with Serge Koussevitzky.
Photograph by Ruth Orkin
American composer Irving Fine with Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera at Tanglewood, ca. 1946
Photographer unknown, courtesy Irving Fine Collection, Library of Congress
Verna and Irving Fine picnicking on the Tanglewood lawn, 1947
Photographer unknown, courtesy Irving Fine Collection, Library of Congress
Koussevitzky instructs Irving Fine in the art of conducting at the Tanglewood Music Center during the summer of 1947
That year Fine was both a member of the TMC faculty and a conducting student.
Photograph by Howard S. Babbitt
TMC faculty members Darius Milhaud, Irving Fine, and Aaron Copland at Tanglewood, 1948
Milhaud and Copland were composition faculty, and Fine taught harmonic analysis in 1948.
Photographer unknown, courtesy Irving Fine Collection, Library of Congress
An American Composer
Symphony (1962) and the Final Concert
Irving Fine (left) reviews the score to his Symphony (1962) with BSO Music Director Charles Munch as Brazilian conductor Eleazar de Carvalho looks on.
Munch conducted the BSO in the world premiere of Fine’s symphony at Symphony Hall, March 23, 1962.
Program for the August 12, 1962 concert at Tanglewood, with insert noting conductor change
Following its Boston premiere, Fine's Symphony (1962) was scheduled for Tanglewood audiences later that summer. However, Charles Munch was unable to conduct the Tanglewood concert, and as a result Irving Fine conducted the BSO in a performance of his work. The rest of the concert was conducted by Pierre Monteux.
Irving Fine conducts the BSO in a performance of his Symphony (1962) in the Music Shed at Tanglewood, August 12, 1962
Fine died unexpectedly just 11 days later, on August 23, 1962.
Photograph by Heinz Weissenstein, Whitestone Photo
Irving Fine acknowledges the audience applause after leading the BSO in a performance of his Symphony (1962) in the Music Shed at Tanglewood, August 12, 1962
Photograph by Heinz Weissenstein, Whitestone Photo
Recording by the BSO
For Further Reading
Phillip Ramay’s Irving Fine: An American Composer in His Time, was published by Pendragon Press in conjunction with the Library of Congress in 2005.
Additional resources are also available in the Irving Fine Collection at the Library of Congress.