page_title: Robert Boury
hierarchical_section_title: Robert Boury
caption_attribution_description: English: Dr. Robert Boury (born 28 December 1946), is an American composer and pianist.
context_page_description: Robert Boury is an American composer and pianist. Boury was part of the revival of Ragtime led by William Albright and William Bolcom in the late sixties. Boury has composed many types of instrumental works and in a variety of medias and genres, such as solo/duet piano works, art songs, both comic opera/opera seria, choral works, ragtime works, orchestral works and elect acoustic pieces.
  As a professor of music and resident composer at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, he is an active musician and a devoted teacher, who hosts a "Songwriters Showcase" for his students each semester. Boury's commissioned work, To Dream Again, which contains four songs from Shakespeare's The Tempest, was given its first performance in the summer of 2003 at the 100th Anniversary Convention of Sigma Alpha Iota, in Dearborn, Michigan. In 2004, his university commissioned him to create a work in honor of the opening of the Clinton Library in Little Rock and he continues to volunteer in schools and churches to share his music.
  Boury has composed music for his university's alma mater, as well as for opera and theater events, produced at University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
context_section_description: Robert Boury (born December 28, 1946) is an American composer and pianist. Boury was part of the revival of Ragtime led by William Albright and William Bolcom in the late sixties. Boury has composed many types of instrumental works and in a variety of medias and genres, such as solo/duet piano works, art songs, both comic opera/opera seria, choral works, ragtime works, orchestral works and elect acoustic pieces.
  
  As a professor of music and resident composer at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, he is an active musician and a devoted teacher, who hosts a "Songwriters Showcase" for his students each semester. Boury's commissioned work, To Dream Again, which contains four songs from Shakespeare's The Tempest, was given its first performance in the summer of 2003 at the 100th Anniversary Convention of Sigma Alpha Iota, in Dearborn, Michigan. In 2004, his university commissioned him to create a work in honor of the opening of the Clinton Library in Little Rock and he continues to volunteer in schools and churches to share his music.
   Boury has composed music for his university's alma mater, as well as for opera and theater events, produced at University of Arkansas at Little Rock. His many art songs and chamber music pieces have been performed regionally, nationally and internationally as well. Robert Boury is known for his beautiful art songs and cycles. His renowned songs are well thought of and are sung by students and professionals nationwide. Boury also composed many solo piano pieces along with piano ensemble works such as two pianos, four hands pieces (Two Beguines, op. 4, Duelin' Pianos, op. 10d) and one piano, eight hands piece (The Mice Will Play, op. 19).
  Like many composers before him, Boury was influenced by different eras and musical styles. Having been born in the middle of the 20th century, he was exposed to a variety of compositional styles. His works combine elements of tonal and non-tonal classical music with a touch of American music and non-Western music. For instance, some of his piano works exhibit a Romantic style while others consist of Rag style influences. His recent piano works show his interest in a Medieval compositional technique called soggetto cavato (Italian: Carved-out subject), which is an innovation that Renaissance composer Josquin des Prez used. In this technique, the vowels of words are transformed into a musical theme by matching them to the corresponding pitches. The details of his compositional styles will be discussed later in this document, along with his piano solo pieces. His solo piano pieces are also listed in chronological order.
  Despite the fact that Boury is a well-established composer, it appears that no written analyses of his piano works exist. His piano works indicate that Boury has absorbed a number of influences, for instance J. S. Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Ross Lee Finney. The variety of styles in Boury's piano pieces reveal music history itself in that they connect to the music of an earlier age, such as Renaissance and Baroque eras to Romantic, and Contemporary eras. This characteristic is crucial to the understanding and appreciation of Boury's style/compositions, and is in need of research and analysis for those who desire to explore Boury's piano works.
caption: Robert Boury
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