Allen Sapp: Works-List, Discography, and  Bibliography.  Addenda.

The lists below are intended as updates to the works-list, discography, and bibliography presented in Alan Green’s Allen Sapp: A Bio-Bibliography (New York; Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996).

Works-List

W1. Piano Sonata I

Title on holograph: Sonata for Piano
Medium: Piano solo.
Composition date and location: 13 March 1941, in Cambridge, Mass.
Dedication: “To Robert Middleton”
Location of holograph: Allen Sapp Score Collection, Mus. Arc. 1.1, Box 1, Folder 1, University at Buffalo Music Library.
Duration: 15 min.
Score: 13 p.
Movements: I. Andante — II. Allegro
Notes: Irving Fine wrote an ossia for a passage in the “Allegro” from mm. 168 to 185, of which Sapp approved.
First performance (with Irving Fine’s ossia):

P1a. Ca. late March-early May (not later than 3 May) 1941, Irving Fine, piano, at a meeting of the Harvard and Radcliffe Music Clubs at the home of Prof. Edward Ballantine, 18 Trail Street, Cambridge, Mass.

First performance (original version, without Irving Fine’s ossia):

P1b. 12 April 2024, Rosemarie Suniga, piano, as part of the session “Allen Sapp as Composer and
Teacher,” American Musicological Society New York State – St. Lawrence Chapter meeting, Robert Washburn Rehearsal Room, Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam, Potsdam, NY.

W94. Two Songs

Medium: Mezzo soprano and piano.
Composition date and location: Fall 1988, in Cincinnati.
Dedication: “for Sharon Radionoff”
Duration: 12 min.
Score: 24 p.
Vocal range: a – a”
Movements: I. Anonymous Eponymous [“Mister Nobody”] — II. Riley Set Wryly (Boisterously!)
Notes: The text of song II is “The Raggedy Man” by James Whitcomb Riley; the text of song I is anonymous, known popularly as “Mister Nobody” (“I know a funny little man as quiet as a mouse”)
First performance:

P94a. 15 May 1993, Sharon Radionoff, mezzo soprano, and Erica Ohm, piano, at Hart Recital Hall, Music Building, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.

Other known performances:

P94b. 30 January 2025, Chelsea Hart Melcher, soprano, and Paul Melcher, piano, at Mees Auditorium, Capital University Conservatory of Music, Columbus, OH (“Riley Set Wryly”).

W144. Concerto for Clarinets and Orchestra

Medium: Clarinet solo (playing B.Cl. in B-flat, Cl. in A, and Cl. in E-flat) with orchestra.
Composition date and location: 1996-97, Cincinnati, and Montclair, N.J.
Dedication: “for Elsa” [Tung-Wing Lam]
Location of holograph: Unknown.
Duration: 20 min.
Score: 56 p.
Instrumentation: 3 Fl., 2 Ob., 1 E.H., 2 Bn., 1 C.Bn., 4 Hn., 3 Tpt. in C, 3 Tbn., 1 Tuba, 2 Perc., Strings.
Movements: I. Allegro with fire! — II. Andante. — III. Presto, Joyfully!
First performance:

P144a. 4 March 1997, Elsa Tung-Wing Lam, clarinets, with the Concert Orchestra of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, conducted by Christopher Zimmerman, at Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

W145. Synapses

Medium: Piano solo.
Composition date and location: December 1993-January 1994, “at sea.”
Dedication: “For Gerhard Samuel”
Location of holograph: Allen Sapp Score Collection, Mus. Arc. 1.1, Box 2, Folder 21, University at Buffalo Music Library.
Duration: 2 min.
Score: 2 p.
1 movement: With affectionate feeling.
Notes: No known public concert performances.

W146. Fughetta per la donna dei Cappelli

Medium: Piano solo.
Composition date and location: [January] 1998 [Cincinnati].
Dedication: “For Keith and Joni” [Keith Lockhart and Joni Herschede].
Location of holograph: Allen Sapp Collection,  Music & Dance Library, The Ohio State University.
Duration: 2 min.
Score: 2 p.
1 movement: Moderato.
Notes: No known public concert performances. Fughetta per la donna dei Cappelli is dedicated to Keith Lockhart, then conductor of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and Cincinnati philanthropist Joni Herschede. The title is in reference to Herschede’s love of wearing stylish hats to public events. The piece is a fugue on the melody of “Happy Birthday to You,” written as a birthday present for Joni Herschede. The title page is dated 1998, and her birthday was on January 14, 1940, so this composition was likely composed shortly before January 14, 1998.

W147. Fantasy IV [A Family Matter]

Medium: Piano solo.
Composition date and location: March 1998, Cincinnati.
Dedication: “To Michael Chertock”
Location of holograph: Allen Sapp Collection,  Music & Dance Library, The Ohio State University.
Duration: 3 min.
Score: 4 p.
1 movement: Moderately.
Notes: No known public concert performances. This is likely the final completed composition by Allen Sapp.

 

Discography

A Concerto for Chamber Orchestra: “The Four Reasons” (W122)

D43. Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Keith Lockhart. On Allen Sapp. New York: Composers Recordings, Inc., CRI CD 765. Recorded on 4 November 1996, Emery Theater, Cincinnati; released 1998. Compact disc.

Imaginary Creatures (W118)

D44. Eiji Hashimoto, harpsichord soloist, with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Keith Lockhart. On Allen Sapp. New York: Composers Recordings, Inc., CRI CD 765. Recorded on 1 October and 4 November 1996, Emery Theater, Cincinnati; released 1998. Compact disc. See also: D39.

Overture to “The Women of Trachis” (W115)

D45. Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Keith Lockhart. On Allen Sapp. New York: Composers Recordings, Inc., CRI CD 765. Recorded on 1 October 1996, Emery Theater, Cincinnati; released 1998. Compact disc. See also: D15a, D15b.

Piano Sonata II (W16)

D46. Lambis Vassiliadis, piano. Hamburg: Koch Discover International, 920532. Released November 1999. Compact disc. See also: D16a, D16b.

Piano Sonata III (W19)

D47. Lambis Vassiliadis, piano. Hamburg: Koch Discover International, 920532. Released November 1999. Compact disc. See also: D17, D18a, D18b, D35.

Piano Sonata IV (W20)

D48. Lambis Vassiliadis, piano. Hamburg: Koch Discover International, 920532. Released November 1999. Compact disc. See also: D19a, D19b.

 

Writings about Sapp

Entries are in chronological order.

  • Dufallo, Richard. Trackings: Composers Speak with Richard Dufallo. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. On p. 75, Richard Wernick remarks that Sapp enticed him to come to SUNY at Buffalo in 1964 as an assistant professor for a position that “was supposed to have a small amount of administrative work connected with it. And of course what happened was I ended up hardly teaching at all, because there was no time for it. I was putting in some sixty or seventy hours a week on the Creative Associates project.” Wernick left Buffalo for a position at the University of Chicago in 1965, in part because of the perceived interpersonal tension between the musicians associated with the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts. Wernick described it as being caught in “this kind of trap between Alan [sic] and Lukas on the one hand, and being trapped between different musicians; and trying to keep all of these forces reconciled . . . no one else was doing it.”
  • Gelfand, Janelle. “Fischer Loss Stuns CSO Patrons.” Cincinnati Enquirer, 17 March 1996. After it was announced that the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra did not renew their contract with Principal Guest Conductor Ivan Fischer, Sapp commented that “[Fischer] struck me as being more than competent. . . . Coming in and taking over someone else’s orchestra is always tough.”
  • Gelfand, Janelle. “Classical Hall Idea Rolls Along: National Interest Up; Locals Make Progress.” Cincinnati Enquirer, 15 September 1996. In an article discussing the development of the Classical Music Hall of Fame in Cincinnati, Gelfand states that the hall’s Foundation board “is co-chaired by composers Samuel Adler and Allen Sapp, and includes Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gunther Schuller.”
  • Gelfand, Janelle. “CCO’s first disc pulsates ‘Energy.'” Cincinnati Enquirer, 22 September 1996. At the end of this article, which describes a recording of works by Eduardo Alonso- Crespo and Nancy Galbraith recorded by Keith Lockart and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, it is announced that Lockhart and the CCO “will record their second album next month, featuring works by Cincinnati composer Allen Sapp.”
  • Gelfand, Janelle. “Concert Reviews: Lockhart, CCO Begin Elegantly.” Cincinnati Enquirer, 30 September 1996. A review of Sapp’s Overture to The Women of Trachis, performed by Keith Lockhart and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra on 29 September 1996. “The opening oboe solo . . . was elegiac and poignant; the work’s flowing counterpoint was played elegantly by the strings. A brisk middle section, using serial technique, was as enthralling for the CCO’s edge-of-their-seat playing, as for its intriguing construction.”
  • Gelfand, Janelle. “Samuel Took CCM to New Level; Retiring Professor Made Orchestra Great.” Cincinnati Enquirer, 10 November 1996. Sapp comments upon the contributions made by his long time colleague and friend Gerhard Samuel to the orchestral program at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). “He’s created something unparalleled for discipline, precision, and excellence of sound. . . . No other [university] orchestra equals [the CCM Philharmonia Orchestra] in versatility and repertory, with its heavy concentration of 20th-century music. It’s been an imaginative series of 20 years, in which he has created a different kind of training climate.”
  • Palmieri, Robert. Review of Alan Green,  Allen Sapp: A Bio-Bibliography (New York; Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996). American Reference Books Annual (1997): 475.
  • Heintze, James. R. Review of Alan Green, Allen Sapp: A Bio-Bibliography (New York; Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996). Choice 34 (February 1997): 943.
  • Johnson, Robert O. Review of Alan Green, Allen Sapp: A Bio-Bibliography (New York; Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996). RQ 36, no. 3 (spring 1997): 447-48.
  • Sickbert, Murl. Review of Alan Green, Allen Sapp: A Bio-Bibliography (New York; Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996). Notes 54, no. 3 (March 1998): 714-16.
  • Lehman, Mark L. “Guide to Records: Sapp.” American Record Guide 61, no. 4 (July 1998): 191. Review of the compact disc Allen Sapp (CRI CD 765), released by CRI in 1998.
  • Curtin, David Thomas. “The Piano Music of Allen Dwight Sapp: A Performer’s Guide to the Complete Miscellaneous Works.” DMA diss., University of Cincinnati, 1998.
  • Danzig, Joan. “Allen D. Sapp, Jr., Dies, Former Chair of UB Music Department.” News Center: Official News and Information from UB, Release Date: January 8, 1999 (dated cited August 18, 2023), https://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/1999/01/3668.html
  • “Allen D. Sapp Jr.” The American Organist 33, no. 4 (April 1999): 68. [Obituary.]
  • Lehman, Mark L. “Guide to Records: SAPP.” American Record Guide 63, no. 3 (May 2000): 179. Review of the compact disc Allen Sapp: Piano Sonatas (Koch Discover International DICD 920535), released by Koch in 1999.
  • Hogan, Charles. “The Piano Sonatas of Allen Sapp A Study of Style and Language.” DMA diss., University of Cincinnati, 2011.
  • Green, Alan, ed. Allen Sapp: Piano Sonatas I–IV. Recent Researches in American Music. Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, 2021.
  • Komara, Edward M. Review of Alan Green, Allen Sapp: Piano Sonatas I–IV.” Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 79, no. 4 (June 2023): 655–59.
  • Green, Alan, ed. Allen Sapp: Violin Sonatas I–IV and Viola Sonata. Recent Researches in American Music. Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, 2024.