{{short description|American classical composer (1924–2002)}} {{use mdy dates|date=May 2026}} '''Mark Bucci''' (26 February 1924 – 22 August 2002) was an American composer, lyricist, and dramatist. Influenced by Giacomo Puccini, his work is composed in a contemporary yet lyrical style, which frequently employs marked rhythms and memorable harmonies and melodies.
==Early life and education== Mark Bucci was born on 26 February 1924 in New York City.<ref name="Grove"/> His parents were of Sicilian and Scottish ancestry.<ref>{{cite book|title=My Brother's Keeper|author=Peggy Phillips|year=2002|publisher=iUniverse}}</ref> He studied music composition with Tibor Serly in New York City from 1942 to 1945 and then at the Juilliard School with Frederick Jacobi and Vittorio Giannini.<ref name="Grove">{{Cite Grove|year=2002|first=Robert Paul|last= Kolt|title=Bucci, Mark|id=A2218777}}</ref> At Juilliard he was notably the first winner of the school's Irving Berlin scholarship award in 1948 which was made possible through a donation by Rodgers and Hammerstein.<ref>{{cite news|title=Stage and Music News|work=The Boston Globe|date= October 26, 1948|page= 20}}</ref> Bucci also studied composition under Aaron Copland at the Tanglewood Music Center during the summers.<ref name="variety">{{cite news | url=https://www.variety.com/article/VR1117873327.html?categoryid=25&cs=1| title=Obituaries:Mark Bucci, Television, legit composer| work=Variety| date= September 25, 2002| access-date= May 18, 2009}}</ref> He was awarded Guggenheim Fellowships in 1953 and 1957.<ref name="Grove"/>
==Career== Bucci's orchestral work ''Introduction and Allegro'' was programmed in five concerts given by the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra during the 1946-1947 season.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://archive.org/details/etude-magazine_1948-01_66_1/mode/2up?q=%22Mark+Bucci%22|title=Hedgerow Theatre|date=January 1948|work=Etude|page=1}}</ref> He wrote the score to Holland Dills's play ''Cadenza'' which was given its premiere at the Hedgerow Theatre (HT) in 1947.<ref>{{cite news|title=''Cadenza'' in Premiere at Hedgerow Theater|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date= November 16, 1947|page=24, section SO}}</ref> This was followed by the score for ''Androcles and Lion'' which was staged at the HT the following year.<ref>{{cite news|title=Androcles and Lion|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date= August 8, 1948|page=63}}</ref> Bucci's first opera, ''The Boor'', was premiered at Finch College on December 29, 1949.<ref name="EOAO">{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Encyclopedia_of_American_Opera/FZMuEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Mark+Bucci%22+%22The+Dress%22&pg=PA56&printsec=frontcover|title=Encyclopedia of American Opera|first= Ken|last= Wlaschin|author-link=Ken Wlaschin|year= 2024|isbn= 9781476612386|publisher=McFarland & Company|chapter=Bucci, Mark|page=56}}</ref> It used a libretto by Eugene Haun based on Anton Chekhov's 1888 short story of the same name.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_musical-america_1949-12-15_69_16/page/26/mode/1up?q=%22Mark+Bucci%22|title=After Dinner Opera Plans New Production|date=December 15, 1949|work=Musical America|page=26}}</ref>
In 1950 Bucci arranged the music for a performance of ''The Beggar's Opera'' by the Interplayers at Carnegie Recital Hall.<ref>{{cite news|title=Curtain Time|first=Louis|last=Sheaffer|work=Brooklyn Eagle|date= June 30, 1950|page= 6}}</ref> He composed the music to the short play ''Summer Afternoon'' which was staged by the American Lyric Theater at the Provincetown Playhouse in 1952.<ref>{{cite news|title=Village's Lyric Theater In Entertaining Bill of Fare|first=Louis|last=Sheaffer|work=Brooklyn Eagle|date= September 10, 1952|page= 12}}</ref> That same year he wrote the score to William Saroyan's ''Elmer and Lily'' which was staged at Alfred University.<ref>{{cite news|title=The World of Music|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/03/09/archives/the-world-of-music-columbia-university-will-renew-festival-of.html|first= Ross|last= Parmenter|author-link=Ross Parmenter|page=7|date=March 9, 1952|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> He composed the music for an adaptation of James Thurber's ''The 13 Clocks'' which was broadcast on th ABC television program ''The Motorola Television Hour'' in 1953.<ref>{{cite news|title=Thurberian Guggle to Zatch|first=John|last=Crosby|work=The Times-Union|date=May 2026}}|date= January 6, 1954|page= 38}}</ref> The production starred Roberta Peters as Saralinda, John Raitt as the Prince, and Basil Rathbone as the evil Duke.<ref>{{cite news|title=Television Programs|work=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News|date= December 29, 1953|page= 16}}</ref> It was later staged at the Westport Country Playhouse in July 1954 in a double bill with Leonard Bernstein's ''Trouble in Tahiti''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Passing Show|first=Fred|last=Russell|work=Connecticut Post|date= July 23, 1954|page=15}}</ref> Gene Saks portrayed the Duke and Constance Brigham the Princess.<ref>{{cite news|title=Passsing Show|first=Fred|last=Russell|ref=none|work=Connecticut Post|date= July 27, 1954|page= 10}}</ref>
In June 1953 Bucci's operetta ''The Dress'' was given its premiere in a private performance at the home of Parker O. Griffith, president of the Griffith Piano Company of Newark with Edith Gordon and Earl Redding leading the cast.<ref>{{cite news|title=Griffith Foundation Gives Garden Party|work=The Herald-News|date= June 12, 1953|page= 10}}</ref> It was later given its official premiere on December 8, 1953 in a double bill with another new opera by Bucci, ''Sweet Betsy from Pike'', at the 92nd Street Y.<ref name="EOAO"/> In August 1954 the American Mime Theatre performed ''The Western'' using a score composed by Bucci.<ref>{{cite news|title=Mime Theater, Gray Dancers In Final Pillow Programs|work=The Morning Union|date= August 29, 1954|page= 61}}</ref>
Commissions for musical revues and operas followed, including the opera ''Tale for a Deaf Ear'' which premiered at the Tanglewood Music Festival in August 1957 and was later mounted at the New York City Opera in 1958. His opera ''The Hero'', commissioned by the Lincoln Center Fund and first broadcast from New York in 1965, won the Italia Prize in 1966.<ref name="variety"/><ref name="EOAO"/> Bucci also wrote music for two Broadway musical revues, ''Vintage '60'' (1960) and ''New Faces of 1962'' (1962),<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/americansongcomp01bloo/page/512/mode/2up?q=%22Mark+Bucci%22|title=American Song: The Complete Musical Theatre Companion|volume= 1|first= Ken|last= Bloom|year=1985|publisher=Facts on File|pages=513, 767}}</ref> and several film scores including ''Seven in Darkness'' (1969), ''My Friends Need Killing'' (1976) and ''Human Experiments'' (1979). He is also the author of a handful of plays.
==Personal life and death== He had one son, Jonathan Phillips Bucci, with his wife theatre publicist and playwright Peggy Phillips Bucci.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01E2D61439F932A05751C1A9629C8B63|title=Deaths Bucci, Peggy Phillips|work=The New York Times|date=December 31, 2004}}</ref>
Bucci died in Camp Verde, Arizona on 22 August 2002.<ref name="Grove"/> ==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{IBDB name}} * {{IMDb name|0117889}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bucci, Mark}} Category:1924 births Category:2002 deaths Category:20th-century American classical composers Category:20th-century American male composers Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:American lyricists Category:American musical theatre composers Category:American male musical theatre composers Category:American opera composers Category:American male opera composers Category:American television composers Category:American writers of Italian descent Category:Juilliard School alumni Category:Musicians from Manhattan Category:Songwriters from New York (state) Category:American male songwriters Category:20th-century American songwriters