Creston, Paul

Creston, Paul, 1906–85, American composer, b. New York City as Guiseppe Guttoveggio. Creston was largely self-taught in composition. His music is generally tonal and conservative. Among Creston's many works are six symphonies (1940–81), Two Choric Dances (1938) for orchestra, two violin concertos (1956, 1960), a concerto for marimba (1940), and a concerto for alto saxophone (1941). Creston wrote Principles of Rhythm (1964) and Rational Metric Notation (1979).

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Creston, Paul

 orig. Giuseppe Guttoveggio

(born Oct. 10, 1906, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Aug. 24, 1985, San Diego, Calif.) U.S. composer. Born to a poor immigrant family, he was largely self-taught in music. His numerous works, many of which achieved wide performance, are highly rhythmical and tonally accessible. They include six symphonies, a Requiem and three masses, and several concertos. He is noted for the rhythmic vitality and full harmonies of his music, which is marked by modern dissonances and polyrhythms.