Will Gay Bottje

Will Gay Bottje (June 30, 1925; Grand Rapids, Michigan - January 7, 2018; Grand Rapids, Michigan^[1]) was an American composer known for his contributions to electronic music.

Bottje was a graduate of the Juilliard School (Bachelor of Music in flute performance and Master of Music in composition) where he studied composition with Vittorio Giannini. He went on to pursue studies at the Eastman School of Music where he was a pupil of Bernard Rogers and Howard Hanson.^[2] From Eastman he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition, the second such degree to be awarded to a student from any institution.^[3] He also studied composition privately with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, and was a pupil of Henk Badings at the University of Utrecht's electronic music studio.^[4]

From 1957–1981 Bottje taught on the music faculty at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. There he founded and directed SIU's electronic music studio. One of his notable pupils at SIU was composer Larry Lake.^[5]

Selected compositions

Orchestral

Commentaries for Guitar & Small Orchestra (also piano reduction)
Concertino for Piccolo & Orchestra (piano reduction Zalo)
Concerto for 2 Flutes & Orchestra (Piano vers. J/P publication)
Concerto for Horn & Orchestra (also piano reduction)
Concerto for Oboe, Violin & Orchestra (small)
Flavors (Community or select high school)
Full Circle
Opener
Sinfonia for Young String Orchestra
Sounds From the West Shore
The Ballad Singer

Vocal and choral

A Sentence Once Begun – Soprano, Str Quartet (Ch. Fry) (piano reduction)
Cantata for the 53rd Sunday ( A Prayer for Middle Age) – SATB, 3 solos, keyboard, soprano obligato instrument
Carol (from Wind In the Willows) – SATB
Credo (R. Roland) – SSAATTBB
Diptych (Rilke) – SSAATTBB, part 2 with keyboard
Exhortation of the Dawn – SATB and Brass Ensemble or keyboard
In Caverns All Alone (7 songs on mind) – Soprano or Tenor, flute, bassoon and piano
In Praise of Music (5 songs) (Elizabethan texts) – Mezzo-Soprano and String Quartet (Rev. 1997–98)
Last Minute Message for a Time Capsule – SATB, ten dr
Quests of Odysseus (Kazantzakis) – tenor and piano (8 songs)
Radiant Musings (N. Cousins) – SATB and keyboard, 11 short settings which can be done as a whole, in part, or individually
"Songs from the Land Between the Rivers - SATB and Orchestra"
Thrush Song – SSAATTBB, solos & flute
Wayward Pilgrim (5 songs) (E. Dickinson) – Soprano or Mezzo-soprano & Piano

Chamber music

Brief Acquaintances – Oboe, Clarinet, Cello
Brief Candles – Flute and Guitar
Chorale and Allegro – four trumpets
Concerto for Tuba – Tuba & Piano (also in ms. orch version)
Country Wife-Suite (5 dances for Wycherly play) – flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon.
Dances: Real & Imagined – Guitar & String Quartet
Designs- 2 flutes, cello, piano
Diversions (Settings of Jim Thurber texts) – narrator, flute, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, horn and piano
Dune Music – flute, oboe, cello and piano
Duo Sonatina – 2 Euphoniums, piano (a vers. with 14 piece ensemble, also)
Fireflies – Oboe, Harpsichord & String Quartet
Incidental Music for a Restoration Comedy – clarinet, viola and cello
Lighter Strings – Guitar & Harpsichord
Litanies, Refrains & Alleluias – Trombone and piano
Little Sonata No.1 – Flute and organ
Little Sonata 5 – Clarinet and organ
Little Sonata No.7 – Trumpet and organ
Lyric Sonata (rev. 1998) – Bassoon and piano
Music for a Joyous Occasion III – 2 flutes (or violins), and cello
Prelude & Fugue – Tuba and piano
Quintet for Flute & Strings
Quintet for Clarinet, bassoon, french horn, violin, and contrabass
Quintet Nr. 2 For Winds – flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn
Ready, Set-- 3 cellos, or 3 bassoons, or 3 Clarinets
Recitative, Arioso & Finale – Trombone and piano
Serenade – Wind quintet and string quartet
Sextet for Strings – 2 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos
Sonata for 2 Cellos
Sonatas 1,2, and 3 – cello and piano
Sonata for Flute & Piano
Sonata for Guitar
Sonata for Trumpet & Piano
Sonata for Violin & Piano
Song and Dance (1998) – Violin and Piano
Soundings – Oboe and Harpsichord
Sprites & Phantoms – flute, oboe, clarinet, cello and piano
String Quartets Nrs. 2, 4 & 5
Symphony for Cello and Piano four-hands (rev. 1998)
Three Flared Bells – trumpet, French horn and trombone
Three Miniatures – flute and piano
Tides – two pianos
Trio – flute, cello and piano
Trio (rev. 1998) – violin, cello and piano
Triple Play- Clarinet & Piano
Variations & Fugue – 4 trombones (400)
Well-Tempered Flutes – 43 Preludes & Fugues from Bach WTC, arr for 2 flutes
Wonders of the Night Sky – 8 piano ensemble

References

^ "Will G. Bottje Obituary & Funeral | Grand Rapids, MI | Heritage Life Story Funeral Homes".
^ Neil Butterworth (2005). Dictionary of American Classical Composers. Taylor & Francis. pp. 514–515.
^ Howard Hanson: In Theory and Practice, by Allen Laurence Cohen, pg. 14, Praeger (2004) OCLC 52559264 ISBN 9780313321351
^ "Will Gay Bottje". American Composers Alliance.
^ The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music: Composers and Their Music, Volume 1. Integrity Press. 1991. p. 94.

External links

Will Gay Bottje at the American Composers Alliance

[1] "Will G. Bottje Obituary & Funeral | Grand Rapids, MI | Heritage Life Story Funeral Homes".

[2] Neil Butterworth (2005). Dictionary of American Classical Composers. Taylor & Francis. pp. 514–515.

[3] Howard Hanson: In Theory and Practice, by Allen Laurence Cohen, pg. 14, Praeger (2004) OCLC 52559264 ISBN 9780313321351

[4] "Will Gay Bottje". American Composers Alliance.

[5] The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music: Composers and Their Music, Volume 1. Integrity Press. 1991. p. 94.

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