SOWERBY, LEO

born May 1, 1895, Grand Rapids, Mich., U.S. died July 7, 1968, Port Clinton, Ohio American composer, organist, and teacher, whose organ and choral works provide a transition between 19th- and 20th-century American church-music styles. Sowerby studied in Chicago and in Rome as the first American winner of the Prix de Rome. He taught composition and theory at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago (192562) and was organist at St. James Church (now Cathedral) there from 1927 to 1962. He became director in 1962 of the College of Church Musicians in Washington, D.C., where he also was associated with the National Cathedral (Episcopal). Sowerby combined a fine melodic talent with a use of modern harmonies. His Canticle of the Sun for chorus and orchestra, based on Matthew Arnold's translation of a canticle by St. Francis, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1946. In Syncopata (1924) and Monotony he experimented with jazz. His orchestral works include tone poems, notably Prairie (1929), and four symphonies. He also wrote chamber music, concerti for piano, cello, and organ, and extensive choral and organ works.