Background
Ratner, Leonard Gilbert was born on July 30, 1916 in Minneapolis. Son of Nathan Tobias and Ethel (Greenspan) Ratner.
Ratner, Leonard Gilbert was born on July 30, 1916 in Minneapolis. Son of Nathan Tobias and Ethel (Greenspan) Ratner.
After studying the violin and viola, and studying composition with Frederick Jacobi, Arnold Schoenberg, Ernest Bloch, and Arthur Bliss, he received a Doctor of Philosophy in musicology in from the University of California at Berkeley under Manfred Bukofzer, the first such degree to be given by that university.
In 1947, he joined the newly formed Department of Music at Stanford University, and continued there until his retirement in 1984 composing, teaching, and conducting research on music theory. He composed a chamber opera, The Necklace, and several chamber works. He taught composition and theory to advanced students and coached chamber music
He also taught elementary music appreciation courses for undergraduates, Stanford alumni, and the general public.
His research was devoted to emphasizing "sonata form"s harmonic underpinnings as an antidote to the thematic perspective" and developing a theory of musical period and form. the Beethoven String Quartets: Compositional Strategies and Rhetoric Stanford: Stanford tore, 1995.
Member American Musicol.
Married Ingeborg Hecht, February 11, 1944. Children: Karen, Miriam.