Verrall, John, 1908-2001

John Verrall was born in Britt, Iowa, in 1908 and died in Seattle in 2001. He was a composer and professor of music. Verrall studied composition with Zoltan Kodaly at the Liszt Conservatory of Music in Budapest. He also studied with Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, and Frederick Jacobi. Before becoming an editor for G. Schirmer and the Boston Music Company, he taught at Hamline University, 1934-1942, and Mount Holyoke College, 1942-1946. He taught composition at the University of Washington from 1948 until his retirement in 1993. Verrall composed works in a variety of genres, ranging from solo piano works for children to large orchestral and operatic pieces. For the Washington Centennial Celebration, he wrote a choral symphony in honor of Chief Joseph that was premiered by the Walla Walla Symphony Orchestra in 1989. Many of his compositions used a nine-pitch scale consisting of two tetrachords on either side of a central pitch that was alterable (C-Db-Eb-E, F or F♯, G-Ab-Bb-B).

Originally composed as Sinfonietta, for small orchestra; revised and enlarged 1940. First performance of revised version New York Philharmonic, New York, 8 January 1941, Dimitri Mitropoulos conductor.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

Inspired by Biblical passages. Composed 1941 at the request of Dimitri Mitropoulos. First performance Minneapolis, 14 March 1941, Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos conductor. Dedicated to Dimitri Mitropoulos.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

John Verrall was born in Britt, Iowa, in 1908 and died in Seattle in 2001. He was a composer and professor of music at the University of Washington from 1948 to 1973. He received a B.M. from the Minneapolis College of Music in 1929 and a B.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1934. Verrall studied composition with Zoltan Kodaly at the Liszt Conservatory of Music in Budapest. He also studied with Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, and Frederick Jacobi. Before becoming an editor for G. Schirmer and the Boston Music Company, he taught at Hamline University from 1934 to 1942 and at Mount Holyoke College from 1942 to 1946. Verrall received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1947 and a D.H. Lawrence Fellowship in 1964. He taught composition at the University of Washington from 1948 until his retirement in 1993.

Verrall composed works in a variety of different genres, ranging from solo piano works for children to large orchestral and operatic pieces. He wrote seven string quartets, and composed or arranged a large number of works for the solo french horn with accompaniment. For the Washington Centennial Celebration, he wrote a choral symphony in honor of Chief Joseph; it was premiered by the Walla Walla Symphony Orchestra in 1989. Many of his compositions used a nine-pitch scale consisting of two tetrachords on either side of a central pitch that was alterable (C-Db-Eb-E, F or F#, G-Ab-Bb-B).