Denny, William, 1910-1980

William Douglas Denny was Professor of Music at the University of California, Berkeley.

Biographical Sketch

The enclosed biographical sketch of Professor William D. Denny will appear in the forthcoming American Supplement to The New Grove's Dictionary.

Denny has been described as a "musician's composer." His music was thoroughly personal and abstract with the intensely lyrical and rhythmical elements predominating. As a consummate craftsman the structure and symmetry of his music were flawlessly balanced often with an underlying complex contrapuntal texture. His orchestration and idiomatic writing for instruments were admired in particular. Denny's harmonic language was dissonant yet oriented around large tonal centers, and his overall style had a definite proclivity with the mature works of Walter Piston. During the 1940's and 50's he was one of the most respected composers active in the San Francisco Bay Area, and his compositions were performed by the CBS and NBC symphony orchestras, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the Griller String Quartet, the Budapest String Quartet, the Julliard String Quartet, and the University Chorus at Berkeley, among others. His compositions and memorabilia are held by the Music Library at Berkeley.

--John A. Emerson Music Library, University of California at Berkeley