George Perle

George Perle (born May 6, 1915, Bayonne, N.J., U.S.—died Jan. 23, 2009, New York, N.Y.) was an American composer, music theorist, musicologist, and educator who expanded ways of working with all 12 notes of the Western chromatic scale, from both a music-compositional and an analytical perspective.

Perle earned a B.A. (1938) in music from DePaul University, Chicago, and continued compositional studies with Austrian American composer Ernst Krenek, a prominent exponent of the 12-tone technique of musical composition. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Perle returned to his studies, completing a Ph.D. (1956) at New York University. He then served as professor (1961–84) at Queens College, New York City.

In his Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern (1962; 6th ed., rev., 1991)—a book based on his doctoral dissertation—Perle developed a revolutionary theoretical framework for music analysis that moved beyond traditional tonal harmony and rhythmic schemes into the realm of what he called “12-note-tonality.” The work became a standard in the fields of music theory and musicology. Perle also was a recognized authority on the music of Austrian composer Alban Berg, and his work on Berg’s opera Lulu led to the first complete performances of that masterpiece.

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Although his body of musical works was relatively small—Perle destroyed those pieces that did not meet his exacting standards—he was well regarded for his expressive, lyrical, and apparently (but deceptively) uncomplicated compositions. In 1986 his Wind Quintet IV (1984) won the Pulitzer Prize, and that same year he was awarded a MacArthur fellowship. During the course of his career, Perle received numerous other honours for both his academic and his musical works, and his compositions were featured on the programs of major symphonies worldwide.