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Collaboration with
Merton Brown
From 1978 to 1994 Merton Brown and Thomas Hewitt collaborated on a series of ballet scores emphasizing the dramatic aspects of love. This led to the creation of the ballets Poetic Moods - Poetry in Motion and Music, Love and Life After, Nello Spirito d'Amore, and La Infanta. After Mr. Brown died, Mr. Hewitt continued to serve as the agent for the music that was created as a result of this collaboration until his death in 2009.
Brief Biography of Merton Brown
Born in 1913, Merton Brown was a composition student of Wallingford Riegger and Carl Ruggles. During the 1940s his music was frequently performed in New York City, including a Times Hall performance. His association with dance began at this time when he received a commission from modern dancer and choreographer Matti Haim, a former Martha Graham dancer. Upon special request, Mr. Brown revised and improved a score for the gifted young choreographer Jose Limon.
While he was in Rome during the 1950s and 1960s, Mr. Brown's orchestral compositions and chamber works were performed live in Rome and Naples, in addition to many broadcasts which are now part of the Italian Radio Library. His works were also selected for special performances by the Orchestra Scarlatti da Napoli.
Returning to the United States, Mr. Brown moved to Boston in 1968. During the 1970s, performances of Mr. Brown's compositions at conservatories and universities in the New England area were frequent. Radio station (WCRB) in the Boston area devoted a full 40 minute program to his music. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) commissioned a major work for their Concert Band which was also performed at the Boston Conservatory. MIT's classical music radio station aired a 30 minute ballet score, composed in collaboration with Thomas Hewitt, as part of a special "New Music" program.
In addition to his work for dance in the 1940's, he composed scores in the 1960s and 1970s for modern dance works which were performed at Colby College in New Hampshire and at the Boston Conservatory. In the 1980s he created a three-movement solo dance suite which was presented by the Copley Square Ballet in Boston; and For Our Children for the Peninsula Ballet Theatre.
Mr. Brown appears in Baker's Encyclopedia of Musicians and Who's Who in Music in America. Harvard University has a cataloging of his works.
© 2006 Thomas Hewitt. All rights reserved.