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Robert Ward

Biography

Robert Ward is an American composer. He joined the army during World War II and attended the Army Music School at Fort Myer. After being discharged from military service at the end of World War II, Ward returned to Juilliard, where he earned his postgraduate certificate and immediately joined the faculty, teaching there until 1956. He served as an Associate in Music at Columbia University from 1946 to 1948.

Ward wrote his first opera to a libretto by Bernard Stambler, He Who Gets Slapped, and it was premiered in 1956. His next opera, The Crucible, based on Arthur Miller's play, premiered in 1961, became Ward's best known work. For it Ward received the Pulitzer Prize for music. It is frequently produced around the world.

After the success of The Crucible, Ward received several commissions for ceremonial works, such as Hymn and Celebration in 1962, Music for a Celebration in 1963, Festive Ode in 1966. He also wrote chamber music, such as the First String Quartet of 1966 and the Raleigh Divertimento of 1985.