Wienhorst Collection

Richard Wienhorst was born in Seymour, Indiana, on April 21, 1920 and died on March 31, 2010. Wienhorst, Professor Emeritus of Composition, Music Theory, and Electronic Music, received his AB from Valparaiso University, the MM from The American Conservatory of Music, and a Ph.D from the Eastman School of Music. He also studied at the Ecoles D'Art Americaines du Fontainebleau, Albert-Ludwigs Universitaet in Freiburg, Germany, and at Southern Illinois University. His composition teachers were Leo Sowerby, Nadia Boulanger, Bernard Rogers, and Howard Hanson. He received an honorary Doctor of Sacred Music degree from Valparaiso University in 1996. He retired at the end of the academic year in 1984 after having served on the Valpo faculty for 38 years.

Dr. Wienhorst served as Band Leader of the 45th Armored Regiment Band during World War II and joined the faculty of Valparaiso University in 1946. He served as Executive Secretary to the University Composers Exchange, president of the Indiana Music Teachers Association, member of the music committee of the Indiana Arts Commission, and as Music Department Chairman at Valparaiso University. He received a composition award from the Ecoles d'Art Americaines, a Danforth Teacher Fellowship, a Central States College Research Grant, and an Eli Lilly Foundation Open Faculty Fellowship. Valparaiso University honored him with a Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1995 and an honorary Doctor of Sacred Music degree in 1996. His Missa Brevis (W.VI.2) and Magnificat for Chorus and Orchestra (W.III.5) are listed in Herford and Decker's approximately one hundred "core" 20th-Century choral works(1).

More than 200 of his compositions have been published. His compositions have been performed by the Indianapolis Symphony, Det Norske Soloistkor, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, the Dutch Radio Chorus and Orchestra, and by leading choirs and ensembles in the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He is author of Harmonic Perception: A Programmed Approach and Handbook to 16th-Century Counterpoint. Recordings include Richard Wienhorst: Sacred Music published by ECS Music's Arsis Records division.

Dr. Wienhorst was a member of the Society of Composers, the American Music Center, the American Composers Alliance, and the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. His music is licensed by BMI.

(1)Choral Conducting: A Symposium, Herford & Decker, eds.; New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1973, p. 144.