Vincent Persichetti

American composer Vincent Persichetti (1915-1987) was, along with William Schuman and Walter Piston, one of the foremost representatives of what has become known, somewhat inappropriately, as the American academic school of composition. Born in Philadelphia during the First World War, Persichetti began studying music at the age of 5, taking lessons in piano, organ, and, later, theory and composition. During the mid-1920s Persichetti began to find work as an accompanist and radio pianist, and by age 16 his skill at the organ had earned him a position at Arch Street Presbyterian...