John Craton
John Douglas Craton (born August 6, 1953) is an American classical composer. His works have been performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. While his compositions cover a diverse range, he is best known for his operas, ballets, and works for classical mandolin.[1]
Biography[]
Craton was born August 6, 1953, in Anniston, Alabama. Though neither of his parents was musical, his extended family included many musicians, both amateurs and professionals,[2] among them his cousin, concert pianist and composer . He began his formal musical training at age 10 studying violin under retired violinist and conductor, . After graduating from he studied violin and piano at Jacksonville State University before transferring to Lipscomb University, where he earned his B.A. Craton studied theory and composition under , , and . His graduate degree from Indiana University Bloomington was in audiology, and Craton practiced as a clinical audiologist for several years in Indiana before returning to his musical roots and devoting his full-time to teaching and composing.[3]
Craton's music is highly tonal and in general reflects a style of English pastoralism, often incorporating onomatopoeic elements sometimes described as "nature music."[4] His music has been variously characterized as "atmospheric,"[5] "dramatic and challenging,"[6] "largely traditional ... playful,"[7] and occasionally even reflecting "a medieval/Renaissance flavor."[8] He has been performed by such artists and ensembles as , , , , , , the Orkest van het Oosten, , , and the . Romanian opera composer and conductor has described Craton's music as "coming from some other time and planet," stating that although he "may be an American living in the present, ... [his] music comes from the time of Haydn and Mozart, or, better, from a world without time, where ... even the cares are easy and bright ... a musical world of sonorous peace and joy." Many of Craton's works are published by .[9]
While in his early years Craton often performed on violin, piano, recorder, and other instruments, he abandoned public performance after a hand injury and has since devoted himself completely to teaching and composing. He currently operates a private music studio in Bedford, Indiana.[10]
Works[]
Opera[]
- The Curious Affair of the Count of Monte Blotto
- Defiance: A One-minute Opera
- The Fashionable Lady
- Gilgamesh
- Inanna: An Opera of Ancient Sumer
- The Parliament of Fowls
- The Reconciliation
- Tom Ojos Azules
- Vasya Whitefeet
Ballet[]
- Les chats du Bagarreau
- Dans les ténèbres
- La Boîte à musique
- Le Grenier
- Le Cimetière
- The Dartmoor Pixies
- Emilia
- Les gentilles sirènes
- The Huluppu Tree (from Inanna)
- The Jumblies
- Labyrinth (pas seul)
- Mother Goose
- The Muleshoe Marathon
- Nefertiti
- Pierrot & Pierrette (aka Le mime solitaire)
- La Soirée des animaux
- The Tattered Slippers
- Through the Looking-Glass
- Voyageur de temps : un ballet électronique
Orchestral[]
- Ann Putnam Overture
- Apologetic Waltz for string orchestra
- Assyrian Fantasy for violin, strings & percussion
- Ava's Vignettes for string orchestra
- Beowulf: The Orchestral Suite
- Bloemen van Spanje (Flowers of Spain) for two guitars & strings
- Cantique des montées
- A Christmas Card
- Coronach for the Martyrs of Our Lady of Salvation
- Danseries anciennes for mandolin orchestra
- Gilgamesh Overture
- Inanna Orchestral Suite
- Lassitude for string orchestra with solo violin & violoncello
- The Legend of Princess Noccalula for mandolin & orchestra
- Mongolian Folk Songs for viola & chamber orchestra
- Pagan Festivals for string orchestra
- A Silly Jig for mandolin orchestra
- Three Paintings by Nikolai Blokhin for violin & strings
- Triptych for string orchestra
Concertos[]
- Concerto for 2 Mandolins & Orchestra ("Rromane Bjavela")
- Flute Concerto
- Mandolin Concerto No. 1 in D Minor
- Mandolin Concerto No. 2 in D Major
- Mandolin Concerto No. 3 in E Minor
- Mandolin Concerto No. 4 in G Major
- Tuba Concerto in G Minor
Chamber[]
- Les Adieux for violin & piano
- Antebellum Suite for violin & piano
- Autumn Leaf for flute & harp
- Beowulf: A Suite for Ancient Instruments
- Berceuse for violin & piano
- Charon Crossing the Styx for mandolin & double bass
- Dance of the Fey Folk for violin & piano
- Dioses aztecas for mandolin & piano
- Divertissements médiévaux for violin & piano
- Duettino No. 1 in A for two violins
- Duettino No. 2 in D for two violins
- Duettino No. 3 in B-flat for two violins
- Elementals for flute & piano
- Five Apothegms for violin, horn & trombone
- Five Observations for five to six instruments & voice
- Four Cornish Sketches for violin & piano
- Four Little Pastorales for violin & piano
- Four Whimsies for mandola & mandocello
- Gorillas for two violins
- Les gravures de Gustave Doré for mandolin & guitar
- The Gray Wolf for mandolin solo
- In Memoriam: George Kirles for violoncello & piano
- Kalimba Maya for kalimba solo
- L'Ombre de la tour d'horloge for violoncello & piano
- Perpetuum Mobile for mandolin solo
- Petite Suite for violin & piano
- Processional for string quartet
- Quatuor pour les jeunes for string quartet
- Ricordando Pi for violin & piano
- Romanza for clarinet & piano
- Scherzo for violin & piano
- Seven Pieces in First Position for violin & piano
- Seven Variations on "What If a Day, or a Month, or a Yeare" for lute or guitar
- Six Easy Pieces for viola & piano
- Six Pantomimes for two mandolins
- Sonata Colloquia for marimba & piano
- Sonata for Solo Violin
- Sonate for violin, clarinet & piano ("Trois petites filles")
- Sonatina for saxophone & piano
- Sonatina in F for recorder & harpsichord
- Sonatina No. 1 for violin & piano
- Sonatina No. 2 in A Major for violin & piano
- Sonatina No. 3 in G Major for violin & mandolin
- Sonatina No. 4 ("Sonatina semplice") for violin & piano
- Sonatina No. 5 in E Major for violin & piano
- Sonatina No. 6 ("Israeli Sonatina") for violin & piano
- String Quartet
- Tango for four guitars & chitarrone
- Three Tableaux from George MacDonald for recorder, mandolin & violoncello
- Tombeau for Richard Dohrmann for violin & piano
- Triosatz for three violins
- Trois sœurs assyriennes for flute & piano
- Twelve Variations on La Follia for violin & piano
- Valse-Caprice for violin & piano
- Variations from Der Fluyten Lust-hof of Jakob Van Eyck for mandolin solo
- Variations on a Traditional Theme for solo violin
- The Visitation for violin & piano
Piano (keyboard)[]
- L'anneau des fees (for celesta or piano)
- Bag o' Tails: A menagerie of (almost) 10 bagatelles for piano and unbreakable Native American medicine rattle
- A Cat's Life
- A Childhood Scrapbook
- Eight Little Vignettes
- Five Psalms for Organ
- I Am Goya
- Morris Dance (piano, 4 hands)
- Nymphes (2 pianos, 4 hands)
- Passacaglia for Organ
- Pegasus Suite
- Piano Sonata in Free Form (Hilton Head, S.C.)
- Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Major
- The Rennab Delgnaps Rats
- Simple Pleasures
- Six Little Pastorals
- Six Miniatures
- Southern Indiana Sketches
- Where They Dwell
Vocal/choral[]
- An Aestuary (A Calm Evening) for voice & piano
- Arreglos de Canciones Tradicionales Españolas for voice & piano
- A Child's Prayer at Evening for voice & piano
- Jardin sentimental : Cinq poèmes d'Émile Nelligan for voice & piano
- The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for tenor & strings
- Messe en l'honneur des martyrs modernes for SSAATTBB choir & organ
- A Morning Prayer for voice & piano
- Six Japanese Songs for soprano & piano
- Songs for Children, Books 1, 2 & 3 for voice & piano
- The Way Everlasting for SATB choir
Arrangements/orchestrations[]
- Biber — Sonata Representativa (string orchestra)
- Craton — The Armadillo Races at Victoria, Texas (wind ensemble)
- Craton — Coronach for the Martyrs of Our Lady of Salvation (wind ensemble)
- Craton — Lullaby (from "Four Whimsies") (string orchestra)
- — Festival (soprano, mezzo-soprano & orchestra)
- — Maiden of Dreams (soprano & orchestra)
- — Memories of Fatherland (soprano & orchestra)
- — Nineveh (soprano & orchestra)
- — Spinning Wheel Song (soprano, mezzo-soprano & orchestra)
- — Tears of the Beloved (mezzo-soprano & orchestra)
- — Three Rags (mandolin orchestra)
- Gianneo — Cinco Piezas (solo mandolin & string orchestra)
- — Qooyama (chorus & orchestra)
- — Roomrama (soprano & orchestra)
- — Ya Umta (chorus & orchestra)
- Khofri — The Nation Sacrifices (chours & orchestra)
- Khofri — The Vacant Nineveh (chorus & orchestra)
- — Four Souvenirs (string orchestra)
- Salieri — 26 Variazioni sulla Follia di Spagna (violin & piano)
Discography[]
- Excerpt from Gilgamesh: An Assyrian Opera — Tablet VII: "Enkidu's Death & Lament of Gilgamnesh." Gottschalk Music Center Orchestra, John Kendall Bailey, cond. Assyryt: The Assyrian Diamond CD and DVD. Assyrian Market, MN2009DVD/CD.
- Excerpts from Gilgamesh: An Assyrian Opera — Overture; Tablet VI: "The Bull of Heaven." Excerpts from Inanna: An Opera of Ancient Sumer — Aria: "I, the Lady"; Ballet: "The Huluppu Tree"; Drinking Song from beginning of Act III. Sibel Demirman, Donn Bradley, Lorraine Davis, Julie Anne Miller, Barbara Wesley, vocalists; Sarah Weaver, Joseph Adkins, David Riskin, dancers of the Central West Ballet; René Daveluy, choreographer; orchestra of the Townsend Opera Players; Chase Spruill, solo violin; Ryan Murray, cond. Mediterranean Night CD and DVD. Assyrian Market, mesc-001 (CD), mesd-001 (DVD).
- The Orchestral Music of John Craton. Ann Putnam Overture, Excerpts from The Parliament of Fowls, The Reconciliation, The Fashionable Lady, La Boîte à musique, and The Curious Affair of the Count of Monte Blotto; Orchestral Suite from Inanna. Wolfhead Music, 884501052672.
- "The Gray Wolf." Fantasia Romantica. Sebastiaan de Grebber, mandolin. Stemra, SDG001-07.
- "The Legend of Princess Noccalula." Music for Mandolin Orchestra. Sebastiaan de Grebber, solo mandolin. Het CONSORT. Alex Timmerman, conducting. Stemra ATSDG03-08.
References[]
- ^ Opera America, Fall 2007, pages 46-47.
- ^ "A Classical Approach — New Music for Mandolin" by Marilynn Mair, Mandolin Magazine, Archived 2001-04-05 at the Wayback Machine Spring 2006, volume 7, number 4, pages 19-21.
- ^ "Life in a Major Key" by Joel Pierson, H&L, June 2010, volume 6, number 5, pages 20-23.
- ^ "John Craton, Composer," by Carol Johnson, Bedford Times-Mail, March 6, 2006.
- ^ "Het Consort is andere koek dan Jo met de banjo," by Maarten Mestrom, De Stentor (Zwolle), July 7, 2008, p. 20.
- ^ “La Boîte à musique, by Sara Clifford, Bedford Times-Mail, May 7, 2009.
- ^ “A Classical Approach — New Music for Mandolin” by Marilynn Mair, Mandolin Magazine, Archived 2001-04-05 at the Wayback Machine Spring 2006, volume 7, number 4, pages 19-21.
- ^ "The Parliament of Fowls," by Megan Young, Opera America, Fall 2008, page 49.
- ^ “New Classics,” by Mike Lewis, Bedford Times-Mail, May 29, 2008.
- ^ "European Debut," by Carol Johnson, Bedford Times-Mail, March 7, 2006, page C1.
External links[]
- 1953 births
- Living people
- American male classical composers
- American classical composers
- American mandolinists
- American opera composers
- Male opera composers
- American opera librettists
- People from Anniston, Alabama
- Musicians from Alabama
- Jacksonville State University alumni
- Lipscomb University alumni
- Indiana University Bloomington alumni
- Audiologists
- Classical mandolinists
- American classical mandolinists