Arthur Berger, a composer, teacher and critic, died on Oct. 7 of heart failure. He was 91.
Berger studied music at New York University and Harvard University, then moved to Paris to train with Nadia Boulanger and at the Sorbonne. When he returned to the states, Berger spent a decade working as a music writer for The New York Sun and The New York Herald Tribune.
During the 1940s, he received recognition for his own neo-classical compositions. Although he mostly wrote pieces for piano and chamber ensembles, Berger’s “Ideas of Order” debuted in 1952 in a performance of the New York Philharmonic. The following year, Berger moved to Boston and took a teaching job at Brandeis University, where he remained for more than a quarter of a century. The composer then spent the next two decades teaching at the New England Conservatory.
His book, “Reflections of an American Composer,” was published last year to mark his 90th birthday.