# Julian Work

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{{short description|American classical composer}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Julian Work
| image       =
| image_size  =
| caption     =
| birth_name  = Julian Cassander Work
| birth_date  = September 25, 1910
| birth_place = [Nashville, Tennessee](/source/Nashville%2C_Tennessee)
| death_date  = June 15, 1995
| death_place = [Tolland, Massachusetts](/source/Tolland%2C_Massachusetts)
| education   = [Fisk University](/source/Fisk_University)
| employer    = [CBS](/source/CBS)
| occupation  = arranger, composer
| spouse      = 
| partner     =
| children    =
| parents     =  [John Wesley Work Jr.](/source/John_Wesley_Work_Jr.) (father)
| relatives   = John Wesley Work (grandfather),  [John Wesley Work III](/source/John_Wesley_Work_III) (brother)
}}

'''Julian Cassander Work''' (September 25, 1910—June 15, 1995) was an arranger and composer.

Work was born in [Nashville, Tennessee](/source/Nashville%2C_Tennessee), to a family of professional musicians. His grandfather, John Wesley Work (1848–1923) was a composer and arranger for the [Fisk Jubilee Singers](/source/Fisk_Jubilee_Singers); his father, [John Wesley Work Jr.](/source/John_Wesley_Work_Jr.) (1871–1925) was the first African-American collector of folk songs and spirituals, and also a choral director, educator and songwriter; his brother [John Wesley Work III](/source/John_Wesley_Work_III) (1901–1967) was a composer, educator, choral director, musicologist and scholar of African-American folklore and music; his mother, Agnes Hayes Work, was a singer who also helped train the Fisk Jubilee Singers.<ref  name=southern>Eileen Southern, ''Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musician'' (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982), p. 415.</ref>

Work studied music with local teacher Mary E. Chamberlain and was involved in musical activities from an early age, participating in neighborhood musical groups and performing as a jazz pianist.<ref name=wyatt>[Lucius R. Wyatt](/source/Lucius_R._Wyatt), "Composers Corner: Julian C. Work," ''Black Music Research Newsletter'' 8, no. 3, p. 5.</ref><ref  name=southern/> He studied composition with his brother John Wesley Work III while attending [Fisk University](/source/Fisk_University), where he majored in [sociology](/source/sociology).<ref name=wyatt/><ref name=grove>William Burres Garcia and Willie Strong, "Work Family: Julian C(assander), Work," ''Grove Music Online''. (accessed 11 July 2021)</ref> By 1929 he had moved to [New York City](/source/New_York_City) and was playing piano on the radio.<ref>For example, see "Radio Programs for Tuesday, August 20," ''New York Herald Tribune'' (August 19, 1929), p. G3.</ref> He became a staff arranger for [CBS](/source/CBS) Radio, becoming one of the first Black American composers to write music for radio and television.<ref name=grove/> He was also the sole music arranger for the [Voice of Firestone](/source/Voice_of_Firestone) on radio and television.<ref name=wyatt/> Work was also a member of the American Society of Music Arrangers and served on its national board in the mid-1940s.<ref>Marvin, Wanda. ”Arrangers Want Some ‘Cake’ Too; ASMA Will Voice Beefs.” Billboard 56:50 (9 December 1944), 14, 22.</ref>

Work married Kathryn Holliday in 1953.<ref>"New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018" on Ancestry.com.</ref>  Upon his retirement they moved to [Tolland, Massachusetts](/source/Tolland%2C_Massachusetts), where he died.<ref name=grove/>

==Partial list of compositions==
*Wanderlust (1938)<ref>"Martinelli Sings Eighth 'Otello, Last of Season", ''New York Herald Tribune'' (March 19, 1938), p. 8.</ref>
*Myriorama by Night (orchestra, ca. 1946)<ref>"Anderson Booked with Philharmonic." Los Angeles Times, 3 February 1946 (article gives LA Philharmonic premiere of the work as 7 February 1946).</ref>
*Portraits from the Bible (1956)<ref name=grove/>
*Autumn Walk (wind band, 1957)<ref name=grove/>
*Processional Hymn (arrangement of "Gaudeamus Igitur" for chorus with band or piano accompaniment, 1957)<ref  name=southern/>
*Driftwood Patterns (wind band, 1961)<ref name=grove/><ref>The work is reviewed in Instrumentalist magazine, June 1961, 64 ("New Music").</ref>
*Stand the Storm (1963)<ref name=grove/>
*Reflections, Poems of Praise<ref name=wyatt/>
*Forest Images<ref name=wyatt/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://archives.nypl.org/mus/25793 The CBS Collection of Manuscript Scores] in the Music Division of the [New York Public Library for the Performing Arts](/source/New_York_Public_Library_for_the_Performing_Arts) (contains over 270 scores arranged and orchestrated by Julian Work)
*[https://www.nypl.org/blog/2021/07/22/invisible-no-more-julian-work Invisible No More: Julian Work] (blog post)

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Work, Julian}}
Category:1910 births
Category:1995 deaths
Category:African-American classical composers
Category:20th-century American classical composers
Category:African-American male classical composers
Category:American male classical composers
Category:Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee
Category:Fisk University alumni
Category:CBS people
Category:20th-century African-American musicians
Category:20th-century American male composers

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Julian Work](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Work) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Work?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.