Daniel Pinkham (1923–2006) was a remarkable musician—a prolific composer, performer and conductor who continued to actively contribute to our community until his death at the age of 83.
Born in Lynn, Daniel Pinkham plunged into the rich musical life of the Boston area, entering Harvard at age 17 and studying composition with Archibald Davison, Walter Piston, and Aaron Copeland. In 1945 he enrolled in private lessons with Nadia Boulanger, who was then at the Longy School in Cambridge. In the summer of 1947, he studied with Arthur Honegger, then composer-in-residence at Tanglewood. When bad health forced Honegger to return to Europe, Pinkham continued his Tanglewood studies with Samuel Barber.
Meanwhile, Pinkham was developing his skills on harpsichord (with Wanda Landoweska) and organ (with E. Power Biggs). In the 1940s and 1950s, as the only professional harpsichordist in the Boston area, he performed with the Boston Symphony, as part of a violin-harpsichord duo with Robert Brink, and as a soloist, pursuing a keen interest in early music and in experimentation. In the mid-1950s, Brink and Pinkham founded the Cambridge Festival Orchestra, which Pinkham conducted.
In 1958, Pinkham was appointed organist and choir director at King’s Chapel in Boston, where he served for 42 years, retiring in June, 2000. Also around that time, he joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory, where he lectured in composition and headed the department of early music performance. These positions became a nucleus for intensive activity of commissions, performances and composition that continues to this day.
Daniel Pinkham has been called “one of the most versatile of American composers.” He has written four symphonies and other works for large ensembles; concertos for piano, piccolo, organ, violin, and trumpet; theater works and electronic music; and scores for 20 television documentaries. He has written a large body of vocal music, including cantatas and oratorios, short choral pieces, songs, and longer compositions for choir and various instruments. He promoted the revival of early music and has arranged works by Handel, Purcell, and others, but has also enthusiastically explored avant-garde techniques and electronic music.
As might be expected, Chorus pro Musica's founding Music Director Alfred Nash Patterson and Daniel Pinkham knew each other well. Bud Patterson's Chorus pro Musica performed many Pinkham works, some for the first time. Glory Be to God, a “Motet for Christmas Day” published in 1966, was dedicated to Bud.