Howard Hanson: An Institution of American Music

In this installment of ‘The Art of Liberty,’ we meet an influential classical music composer.

(L) The Eastman School of Music and (R) Howard Hanson, the school's first director and influential composer and teacher of American classical music. Public Domain

Some composers are instantly recognizable by name. Others have penned compositions that we frequently hear on the radio. One composer isn’t familiar to most Americans, either by name or through his music.

Nevertheless, Howard Hanson (1896–1981) greatly influenced the development of composing, teaching, and performing classical music in the United States.