PISTON, Walter – All Classical Research

Born in Rockland, ME, 20 Jan 1894
Died in Belmont, MA, 12 Nov 1976

Walter Piston was a self-taught musician. As a young adult, he earned money playing piano and violin in dance bands, orchestras, and chamber ensembles in Massachusetts.
- When the U.S. joined WWI, Piston quickly taught himself the saxophone so he could join the Navy Band.
Following the war, Piston pursued music studies at Harvard, then spent a period at the École Normale de Musique in Paris, where he studied with Paul Dukas, Nadia Boulanger, and George Enescu.
Piston returned to Boston in 1926 and joined the music faculty at Harvard, a position he maintained until 1960. He spent summers composing.
- As an educator, Piston wrote several significant textbooks: Principles of Harmonic Analysis (1933), Harmony (1941), Counterpoint (1947), and Orchestration (1955).
- Leonard Bernstein, Elliott Carter, and Leroy Anderson were among his students.
As a composer, Piston’s earlier works were largely neoclassical. Later on, he explored more complex harmonies as well as serialism (within a tonal context).
- He had a close, collaborative relationship with Serge Koussevitzky at BSO and wrote many orchestral works for the ensemble.
- Among MANY other accolades, Piston won two Pulitzer Prizes: one for Symphony No. 3 and one for Symphony No. 7.¹

Learn More
Bio via Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Bio via American Symphony Orchestra