In the fall of 1923 Koutzen came to the
United States and became a member of the first violin section of the
Philadelphia orchestra under
Leopold Stokowski. From 1937 until 1945 he was a member of the
NBC Symphony Orchestra under
Arturo Toscanini. Mr. Koutzen was head of the violin department of the Philadelphia Conservatory from 1925-1962. In 1944 he joined the faculty of
Vassar College, where he taught violin and conducted the Vassar orchestra until 1966.
He died after suffering a heart attack while conducting a dress rehearsal, only a few months after retiring his teaching post at Vassar. He was survived by his family of musicians: his wife Inez, a pianist, his son George, cellist and administrator of the
Little Orchestra Society, and his daughter Nadia, a concert violinist.[1]
Selected works
Stage
You Never Know, Comic Opera in 1 act (1960)
Orchestral
Valley Forge (1931), which won a Juilliard School of Music award in 1943[1]
From the American Folklore, Concert Overture (1943)
Divertimento (1956)
Pop Concert
At the Ballet
Holiday Mood
Elegiac Rhapsody (1961)
Solitude, Poème-nocturne
Symphony in C
Fanfare, Prayer, and March
Band
Symphonic Rhapsody
Concertante
Symphonic movement (Mouvement symphonique) for violin and orchestra (1931)
Concerto for cello, flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn and string orchestra (1934)
Concert Piece for cello and string orchestra (1946)
Concerto for viola and orchestra (1949)
Morning Music for flute and string orchestra (1950)
Concertino for piano and string orchestra
Concerto for violin and orchestra
Chamber and instrumental music
Légende for violin and piano (1928)
Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano (1928)
String Quartet No. 1
Nocturne for violin and piano (1930)
Duo concertante for violin and piano (1944)
Music (Serenade) for saxophone, bassoon and cello (1945)
String Quartet No. 2 (1945)
Holiday Mood for violin and piano (1948)
Foundation of Violin Playing (1951)
Sonata for violin and cello (1952)
Landscape and Dance for woodwind quintet (1953)
Pastorale and Dance for violin (or clarinet) and piano (1965)
Trio for flute, cello and harp (1965)
Melody with Variations for violin (or clarinet) and piano (1966)
Music for Violin Alone (1968)
Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano (1970)
Piano Trio (1977)
Poem for violin solo and string quartet
Sonata for solo violin
Keyboard
Enigma for piano (1929)
Sonatina for piano (1931)
Fervent Is My Longing, Choral Prelude for organ (1935)
Eidólons, Poem for piano (1953)
Clown's Reverie and Dance for piano (1958)
Sonnet for Organ (1965), premiered Feb 20th 1949 by E. Harold Geer at the Vassar College chapel[2]
Sonatina for 2 pianos (1944)
Choral
An Invocation for women's voices and orchestra (or piano) (1958); words by
John Addington Symonds