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Gail Kubik
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Gail Kubik
Gail Thompson Kubik (September 5, 1914 – July 20, 1984) was an American composer, music director, violinist, and teacher.
He first gained widespread recognition for his scores for World War II documentary films, including Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944). He is best remembered for winning the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Symphony Concertante, and for his score for Gerald McBoing-Boing.
Kubik was born in South Coffeyville, Oklahoma, the second of three sons to Henry and Evalyn O. Kubik, a singer who had studied with Schumann-Heink. In the 1930s his mother and her sons formed the Kubik Ensemble (Gail on violin, Howard on piano, and Henry Jr. on cello) and toured the midwest. All three brothers studied at the Eastman School of Music, where Kubik studied composition with Howard Hanson and violin with Samuel Belov and Scott Willits. It is likely that Kubik played violin in Eastman's orchestra, taking part in the American Composers' Concerts and getting nationally broadcast on NBC. Kubik graduated with distinction in 1934 in a class that included Wayne Barlow and Kent Kennan.
Kubik then received his master's degree in music in 1935 at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, where he studied with Leo Sowerby. He studied one year in 1937-1938 towards a doctorate in music at Harvard University where he studied with Walter Piston and Nadia Boulanger.
He was a prodigy; at the time becoming Eastman's youngest graduate (in both violin and composition), the youngest student admitted to Harvard's doctoral program, and the youngest MacDowell Colony fellow.
His professional career began with a series of teaching engagements. He first taught violin and composition at Monmouth College (where his brother taught cello) from 1935/1936. He then taught composition and music history at Dakota Wesleyan University from 1936/1937. In 1938 he moved to New York City and taught for two years at Columbia University Teachers College. From 1940 he taught at the Rand School and at Finch Junior College. Among his students included Gordon Binkerd and Marjorie Merryman.
In 1940 he joined NBC Radio in New York as staff composer. In the 17 weeks before his contract expired in 1941, he contributed scores for The World Is Yours and Great Plays series, and for the NBC 1940 Christmas program Puck. In this year he also composed incidental music for Max Catto's play They Walk Alone.
In 1941 he composed the score the short documentary film Men and Ships, which was produced by George Gercke for the United States Maritime Commission. The score was a success, and Kubik conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the work's radio premiere. This success lead to his 1942 recruitment by the Office of War Information's Motion Picture Bureau to be their Director of Music, working for Lowell Mellett. He moved to Hollywood where he composed and conducted the music for many of the OWI's films, most notably The World At War, and supervised other composers in their work for the OWI (including Virgil Thomson, Morton Gould, Paul Creston, Arthur Kreutz, and Gene Forrell).
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Gail Kubik
Gail Thompson Kubik (September 5, 1914 – July 20, 1984) was an American composer, music director, violinist, and teacher.
He first gained widespread recognition for his scores for World War II documentary films, including Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944). He is best remembered for winning the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Symphony Concertante, and for his score for Gerald McBoing-Boing.
Kubik was born in South Coffeyville, Oklahoma, the second of three sons to Henry and Evalyn O. Kubik, a singer who had studied with Schumann-Heink. In the 1930s his mother and her sons formed the Kubik Ensemble (Gail on violin, Howard on piano, and Henry Jr. on cello) and toured the midwest. All three brothers studied at the Eastman School of Music, where Kubik studied composition with Howard Hanson and violin with Samuel Belov and Scott Willits. It is likely that Kubik played violin in Eastman's orchestra, taking part in the American Composers' Concerts and getting nationally broadcast on NBC. Kubik graduated with distinction in 1934 in a class that included Wayne Barlow and Kent Kennan.
Kubik then received his master's degree in music in 1935 at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, where he studied with Leo Sowerby. He studied one year in 1937-1938 towards a doctorate in music at Harvard University where he studied with Walter Piston and Nadia Boulanger.
He was a prodigy; at the time becoming Eastman's youngest graduate (in both violin and composition), the youngest student admitted to Harvard's doctoral program, and the youngest MacDowell Colony fellow.
His professional career began with a series of teaching engagements. He first taught violin and composition at Monmouth College (where his brother taught cello) from 1935/1936. He then taught composition and music history at Dakota Wesleyan University from 1936/1937. In 1938 he moved to New York City and taught for two years at Columbia University Teachers College. From 1940 he taught at the Rand School and at Finch Junior College. Among his students included Gordon Binkerd and Marjorie Merryman.
In 1940 he joined NBC Radio in New York as staff composer. In the 17 weeks before his contract expired in 1941, he contributed scores for The World Is Yours and Great Plays series, and for the NBC 1940 Christmas program Puck. In this year he also composed incidental music for Max Catto's play They Walk Alone.
In 1941 he composed the score the short documentary film Men and Ships, which was produced by George Gercke for the United States Maritime Commission. The score was a success, and Kubik conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the work's radio premiere. This success lead to his 1942 recruitment by the Office of War Information's Motion Picture Bureau to be their Director of Music, working for Lowell Mellett. He moved to Hollywood where he composed and conducted the music for many of the OWI's films, most notably The World At War, and supervised other composers in their work for the OWI (including Virgil Thomson, Morton Gould, Paul Creston, Arthur Kreutz, and Gene Forrell).
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