Wallingford Riegger - 3 Canons for Woodwinds, Op. 9 (1931)

Wallingford Constantine Riegger (April 29, 1885 – April 2, 1961) was an American modernist composer and pianist, best known for his orchestral and modern dance music. He was born in Albany, Georgia, but spent most of his career in New York City, helping elevate the status of other American composers such as Charles Ives and Henry Cowell. Riegger is noted for being one of the first American composers to use a form of serialism and the twelve-tone technique.

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3 Canons for Woodwind Quartet (1931)
Dedicated to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge (1864-1953)

1. Moderato (0:00) for flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon
2. Allegretto grazioso (2:09) for flute and clarinet
3. Allegro (5:47) for flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon

New York Woodwind Quintet

Riegger was known for his use of a twelve-tone system, related to that of Schoenberg. He became familiar with the technique through Schoenberg's American student Adolph Weiss. However, he did not use it in all of his compositions and his usage varied from that of Schoenberg, for example in not always using rows with twelve tones and not using transposed forms of the rows. Riegger's Dance Rhythms, for example, did not use these techniques. Aside from Schoenberg, Riegger was also significantly influenced by his friends Henry Cowell and Charles Ives.

During the greater part of the time from 1930 to 1956, he continued to compose and publish while he taught at various colleges in New York State, notably the Institute of Musical Art and Ithaca College. In 1957, he was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was investigating communism in the musical world. In 1958, Leonard Bernstein honored him by conducting his Music for Orchestra with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He died in New York in 1961 when he tripped over the leashes of two fighting dogs, resulting in a fall and a head injury from which he did not recover despite treatment. Bernstein said of him in his eulogy, "All who knew Wally loved him.