George Crumb

George Crumb (born October 24, 1929, Charleston, West Virginia, U.S.—died February 6, 2022, Media, Pennsylvania) was an American composer known for his innovative techniques in the use of vivid sonorities obtained from an enormous range of instrumental and vocal effects, such as hissing, whispering, tongue clicking, and shouting at specified points in the composition. Crumb received many awards and grants and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1968 for his orchestral Echoes of Time and the River.

Most of his vocal music consisted of settings of poetry by Federico García Lorca, such as the song cycle Ancient Voices of Children (1970). His other works included Black Angels (1970), for electric string quartet; Star-Child (1977), a huge choral and orchestral composition that required the use of four conductors; Celestial Mechanics, Makrokosmos IV (1978); and Apparition (1980). Crumb taught at the University of Colorado (1959–64) before joining (1965) the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where he became the Walter H. Annenberg Professor in 1983. After retiring from teaching in 1997, Crumb became more prolific. Notable works from this period included American Songbooks (2002–10), a seven-part collection of vernacular songs, including hymns and folk songs; and Spanish Songbooks (2008–12), a three-part return to Lorca’s poems.