Dahl, Ingolf
Born in Hamburg of Swedish parents on 9 June 1912, Ingolf Dahl was a member of that distinguished community of emigre composers who settled in Southern California in the years immediately before the beginning of the Second World War. For a time, his Los Angeles neighbours included such diverse and potent talents as Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Darius Milhaud, Ernst Krenek, and Mario Castelnuovo – Tedesco. In Los Angeles, Dahl worked closely with Stravinsky as a musical assistant, arranging for piano the scores of Danses concertantes and Scenes de ballet.
Appointed to the faculty of the University of Southern California in 1945 and as head of the Tanglewood Study Group of the Berkshire Music Center for the summers of 1952/53 and 1955/56, Dahl remained an inspired and inspiring teacher until his death in August of 1970. One of his best¬known pupils is Michael Tilson Thomas.
A fastidious craftsman whose music is as distinctive for its intellectual integrity as its emotional depth, Dahl – like his near¬contemporary Paul Hindemith – was fascinated by the problems of dissonant counterpoint and constantly strove to connect the music of the twentieth century.
