Richard Wernick

 ( 1934 Births ) 

During the 1950s and early 1960s, Wernick worked as a theater, film, television, and dance composer. His output during this time includes the film score for the short comedy A Bowl of Cherries.

Wernick spent much of his career as a composition professor, teaching at SUNY Buffalo (1964–1965) and the University of Chicago (1965–1968). However, his longest tenure was at the University of Pennsylvania, from 1968 to 1996. For his notable students, David Patrick Stearns of The Philadelphia Inquirer considered Wernick's time at Penn, especially during the 1970s, to represent the height of his compositional influence as part of the university's composition "triumvirate" (Wernick, George Crumb, and George Rochberg).Stearns, David Patrick. "Philadelphia's Latest Generation of Emerging Composers". The Philadelphia Inquirer. May 2, 2010, p. H01

In 1983, Riccardo Muti selected Wernick to be the Consultant for New Music to the Philadelphia Orchestra. His role as advisor was to assist Muti in identifying new works for the Philadelphia Orchestra to perform, with a stated emphasis on American composers.Holland, Bernard. "Riccardo Muti Makes Music His Way". The New York Times. October 9, 1983, Arts and Leisure p. 1 He held this position until 1989, when he was re-appointed Special Consultant to the music director. He continued until the end of Muti's tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1993.Theodore Presser Company. "Wernick, Richard"

Wernick won the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his composition Visions of Terror and Wonder. He won Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards in 1986 for his Violin Concerto (first place, tie with Bernard Rands), 1991 (first place, for String Quartet No. 4), and 1992 (second place, for Piano Concerto). He also received awards from the Ford Foundation, Guggenheim, and Naumburg Foundations. (See also List of Awards below.)

Wernick lived outside of Philadelphia with his wife, bassoonist Bea Wernick, . His son Adam Wernick is a writer, composer and sound designer. Another son, Lew Wernick, is a guitarist. A third son, Peter, died in 1986. Wernick died April 25, 2025, in Haverford, Pennsylvania, at the age of 91.

My expectation is that I'm not writing down to an audience, but I'm not trying to write above their heads. I'm not writing to an audience which is illiterate and I'm not writing to an audience which is technically educated in music, but I do write for an audience that I assume has experience in listening to music and is willing to at least meet me halfway. So I'll go halfway to meet them."Duffie, Bruce. "Composer Richard Wernick: A Conversation with Bruce Duffie", December 27, 1993

As such, critics have sometimes identified his style as more audience-accessible, particularly when compared to more strictly serialism composers of the 20th century.Horowitz, Joseph. "Wernick's 'Introits and Canons'". The New York Times. January 15, 1978, p. 47.

Harmonic analysis of Wernick's work suggests that his style makes reference to tonal harmony, but is usually based on fixed cells of intervals. He occasionally made use of twelve-tone sequences and their permutations, but this technique is not necessarily a defining feature of his output. Wernick also made extensive use of counterpoint techniques, especially in his string quartets.

In vocal and programmatic works, Wernick's choice of texts often reflect an ideological message. Kaddish Requiem mourns "the victims of Indochina," referring to the contemporaneous Vietnam War as well as to related violence throughout the region. Likewise, the final movement of his Duo for Cello and Piano is a memorial for the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001. Several of his works, most notably Kaddish Requiem and Visions of Terror and Wonder, combine religious texts from multiple traditions.

Performers with whom Wernick frequently worked include the Juilliard String Quartet, the Emerson String Quartet, David Starobin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jan de Gaetani, Lambert Orkis, and Gregory Fulkerson.