Arthur Cohn

Background

Arthur Cohn was born on November 6, 1910, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

Education

Cohn studied the violin and composition at the Combs Conservatory of Music, as well as at the University of Pennsylvania and the Juilliard School in 1934, where his composition teacher was Rubin Goldmark.

Career

At the beginning of his career, Cohn joined the staff of the Free Library of Philadelphia as the curator of the Fleisher Collection. In 1946 he began to head the music department, and in 1952 he became the director of Philadelphia’s Settlement Music School. He left for New York City in 1956 to accept a position with Mills Music. From 1966 to 1973 Cohn worked for MCA Music. He was also a critic for the American Record Guide for twenty years.

In 1994 Cohn liberated three of Shostakovich’s symphony scores from the Soviet Union. Cohn assisted in having them recorded for a debut with Western audiences. In addition to composing pieces such as Music for Ancient Instruments and Kaddish, Cohn conducted the Haddonfield Symphony Orchestra in New Jersey as well as others.

His written works include The Collector's Twentieth-Century Music in the Western Hemisphere, Musical Quizzical, Encyclopedia of Chamber Music, Musical Mind Benders, and the four-volume Literature of Chamber Music.

As a performer, Cohn founded the Dorian Quartet and the Stringart Quartet, ensembles that specialized in new music, in the 1930's. He was for many years the conductor of the orchestra of the Symphony Club of Philadelphia, as well.

Cohn's symphonic works included ''Music for Ancient Instruments'', a concerto for five antique instruments with a modern orchestra (1939), a Flute Concerto (1941), Variations for Clarinet, Saxophone and Strings (1945), ''Kaddish'' (1964) and a Percussion Concerto (1970). Among his chamber scores were ''Machine Music'' for two pianos (1937), six string quartets composed between 1928 and 1945, and ''Quotations in Percussion,'' for six musicians to play on 103 instruments (1958).

Achievements

• Cohn's writings about contemporary music in Recorded Classical Music: A Critical Guide to Compositions and Performances afforded him success as he was honored with the Deems Taylor Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Musical Puzzlemania: Musical Quizzical III

    (Similar to all collections of puzzles, the author's purpo...)

    1998
  • Musical mind benders

    (Musical quizzical II)

    1992
  • Musical Quizzical

    (77 Puzzles)

    1998
  • The Collector's Twentieth Century Music In The Western Hemisphere 1972

Connections

Arthur married Lois, the director of marketing and public relations for the New York Philharmonic. The marriage produced a daughter Leslie Cohn Hettle and a son Alan.

Wife:

Lois Cohn

Daughter:

Leslie Cohn Hettle

Son:

Alan Cohn