Samuel Adler (Composer) 

Samuel Adler | Composing is a love affair not a trade.

Adler´s is a life dedicated to music. He is Professor emeritus at the prestigious Juilliard, one of the many musical institutions of excellence where he has taught. Samuel Adler is one of those people who have dedicated their lives to composition with emphasis on pedagogy and creating school. Not for nothing he was a pupil of Aaron Copland, Paul Hindemith, Walter Piston and Randall Thompson. 

He is a man that defines composition as a love story rather than a trade. Full of energy, he tells us that for him a composer must have technique and love for humanity. He also tells us that his musical roots come from the classics authors and principles in which he was trained musically and which influence him still. 

We hope you enjoy with his interview.

Ruth Prieto, for The Composer Speaks, interviews composer Samuel Adler
Toledo, Ohio, February 2013 



Composing is a love affair not a trade.

1. Ruth Prieto: To start with, what do composers speak about?

Samuel Adler: We usually discuss what is going on in music currently.

2. Ruth Prieto: Which characteristic defines you best?

Samuel Adler: Most people say that my music is ´athletic´ meaning it has a lot of energy.

3. Ruth Prieto: To what extent is composing a trade?

Samuel Adler: Composing is a love affair not a trade.

4. Ruth Prieto: What virtues does a composer have to have?

Samuel Adler: First of all, he needs a technique, then a love of humanity, at least I feel that way.

5. Ruth Prieto: And defects?

Samuel Adler: I don´t know what defects mean.

6. Ruth Prieto: What are your musical roots (real or imaginary)?

Samuel Adler: I was brought up on the classics and they still influence me.

7. Ruth Prieto: What inspires you as a composer and why?

Samuel Adler: I am inspired by the person, ensemble or group that I am writing for. I need to hear their particular sound and that inspires me.

8. Ruth Prieto: What was most recent moment of pleasure that you got from music? And the most recent unpleasant surprise?

Samuel Adler: I get pleasure and sometimes disgust from so many moments with music that I cannot really pick out any particular one.

9. Ruth Prieto: What is composition for you in this day and age?

Samuel Adler: Composition this day is as it always was, a desire on the part of the composer to communicate with an audience.

10. Ruth Prieto: If you had not been a composer, what would you like to have been?

Samuel Adler: If I had not become a composer I would have liked to be an historian.

11. Ruth Prieto: ¿What does music contributes to education?

Samuel Adler: Great music contributes to education the elevation of the self and a greater consciousness of our humanity.

12. Ruth Prieto: ¿Do you have a definition for musical happiness?

Samuel Adler: I consider musical happiness whenever I hear a work which makes me feel that life is truly worth living.

13. Ruth Prieto: ¿Who would you rescue from the past?

Samuel Adler: The past is interesting to study and from it to learn all one can.

14. Ruth Prieto: ¿And what´s interesting about the present?

Samuel Adler: This time is the most exciting time to be alive with all the advances in science, medicine and the exploration of the universe.

15. Ruth Prieto: What do you expect from the future?

Samuel Adler: I am an optimist and would hope that the world has learned a lesson from the mistakes we have made in the past.

16. Ruth Prieto: Can you define «contemporary» 

Samuel Adler: ´contemporary´ is everything which is created today no matter what style, since not one style has triumphed in our time.

17. Ruth Prieto: What is your main obsession when working?

Samuel Adler: My main obsession is to write the best work I am able whenever I begin a piece.

18. Ruth Prieto: What are you working on now? 

Samuel Adler: I just finished a Violin Concerto, and have a commission for a flute and piano piece as well as a new string quartet.

19. Ruth Prieto: What would be your advice to a young composer?

Samuel Adler: My advice to a young composer is to work hard study the classics to hone your technique and never get discouraged.

20. Ruth Prieto: What makes you laugh?

Samuel Adler: What make me laugh are the antics of my three grandsons

21. Ruth Prieto: What makes you cry?

Samuel Adler: What makes me cry is that we still allow too much poverty in the world.

22. Ruth Prieto: Which musician(s) or work(s) have made an impression on you as a composer?

Samuel Adler: Too many composers have made impressions on me. It would be foolish to try to enumerate them all.

23. Ruth Prieto: Which is your favourite hobby?

Samuel Adler: My favorite hobby is reading wonderful books.

24. Ruth Prieto: Have you got a motto?

Samuel Adler: My motto is ´Nothing is enough until your all is spent´

25. Ruth Prieto: What would Samuel Adler say about Samuel Adler?

Samuel Adler: I would say about myself that I have had a wonderful life, full of great experiences, and now that I am turning 85 next week, I feel extremely lucky and blessed. 

                                                                        Samuel Adler, Toledo Ohio, February 2013