User:Paul Berkowitz/Leonard Berkowitz (1919-2007)

Leonard Berkowitz (8 February 1919 - 16 September 2007) was one of the founding faculty of the Department of Music at California State University, Northridge. While at Yale, he studied under German composer Paul Hindemith and maintained a correspondence with Hindemith throughout the war years. Berkowitz was also an award-winning photographer, receiving the Sierra Club's coveted Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography in 1973. His photographic works have been displayed throughout the United States and Canada.

Life and Career

Leonard Berkowitz was born February 8, 1919, in Sioux City, Iowa. He was the youngest of seven children in the family of Russian emigrants David Berkovich (d: 1928), a blacksmith, and Anna (Kozberg)^[1].

Immediately following graduation from Los Angeles High School in 1936, Berkowitz was accepted into the Yale School of Music. He traveled east to New Haven, Connecticut, accompanied by longtime friend and future University of California, Santa Barbara professor of art Howard Warshaw . During his third year at Yale, Paul Hindemith came as a visiting professor fleeing an increasingly oppressive Germany, and Berkowitz along with one other student (Lukas Foss), became Hindemith’s first students in composition.

Berkowitz was drafted into the U.S Army, 41st Infantry in October 1941. In addition to his responsibilities as a basic infantryman, he was the 41st Division Band director, responsible for 40 musicians who traveled throughout the Pacific Theater for various musical performances^[2]. He was honorably discharged from the military on September 12, 1945. A series of wartime letters between Hindemith and Berkowitz are included in several books on Hindemith^[3],^[4][5].

Returning to Los Angeles after the war, Berkowitz met his future wife, Lucille (née Mushkin, b: 1921), also from Sioux City, Iowa. The two were married on January 12, 1947. Shortly thereafter, they moved back to New Haven where, with support from the G.I. Bill, he continued his studies with Hindemith, receiving a master’s degree in Music Theory and Composition in 1948.

Immediately after his graduation, Berkowitz began his first academic position at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He later moved to Los Angeles where he worked at various positions until joining the Department of Music at San Fernando Valley State College, later renamed California State University, Northridge ,where he taught, composed and conducted until his retirement in 1984. Berkowitz is considered a founding faculty who rose through the academic ranks to become the chair of the theory and composition section of the Music Department at CSUN^[6]. His compositions and those of his students were performed throughout Southern California^{[7] [8][9]}.

When not occupied with his academic responsibilities, Berkowitz was an avid photographer, having many displays throughout the United States and Canada. His photographic accomplishments were recognized in 1973 when he became the third recipient of the Sierra Club's Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography^[10].

Following his retirement Leonard and Lucille moved to the Seattle area, where he continued composing^[11]. He passed away from complications of Parkinson’s disease on September 16, 2007^[12] . He was survived by his wife, Lucille, and two sons, Carl (b: 1951) and Paul (b: 1953).

Music

Most of the original manuscripts of Berkowitz’s compositions are housed in ‘The Leonard Berkowitz Collection, 1914 – 2000’ at the The Oviatt Library, CSUN^[13][14]. For the purposes of organization, his music has been divided into a) Ensembles of Six or More Instruments (composed between 1963 and 1967), b) Ensembles of Five or Less Instruments and Solo Works (composed of works between 1956 and 1973, and in 2000), and b) Vocal Works composed between 1964 and 1969. Stylistically, his music can be broken into three groups. The first group brings together compositions that make use of bimodality and non-diatonic scales to create dramatic textural contrasts. The second group consists of compositions reminiscent of Paul Hindemith’s style with disjunctive melodies and strong rhythm. His third group consists of vocal works, many done in a madrigal style and influenced by the chorales of J.S. Bach.

Photography

Berkowitz's interest in photography began while serving in the army, using a "Sports Dolly" camera with an F2.8 Schneider-Xenar lens. Upon his return to civilian life, he expanded into larger formats (4X5) in addition to 120 and 35mm. Berkowitz maintained his own darkroom, where he processed his own B&W, and later color film and prints.

Berkowitz's photographs have been exhibited in magazines such as Popular Photography , and more than 30 galleries and other venues throughout the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, including The American Embassy (Wellington, New Zealand), The Tweed Art Museum (University of Minnesota), Brigham Young University Art Center (Salt Lake City, UT), Grand Canyon National Park Visitor Center, The Nova Scotia Art Gallery, CANON (Canon Corporation Headquarters Gallery, U.S.A.) and the Sierra Club National Headquarters (San Francisco, CA).

Most of Berkowitz's B&W photographs are "human interest" pieces, as well as abstract pieces capturing shapes and lighting in urban and other developed settings^[15][16]. His color works generally featured natural settings and landscapes. In recognition of those latter works and their impact on advocacy for wilderness preservation, in 1973 Berkowitz became the third recipient of the Sierra Club's Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography^[17] .

References