New York University
Manhattan School of Music

Principal teachers: John Corigliano, Giampaolo Bracale

WORKS:

SONG CYCLES

All The Way Through Evening
for: baritone and piano (or baritone and orchestra)
date: 1990
poetry: Perry Brass
     The Disappearance of Light
     Train Station
     An Elegy to Paul Jacobs
     Poussin
     Walt Whitman in 1989 (see also separate listing below)
published: Classical Vocal Reprints (piano version)
  orchestral score and parts available by rental through Harry Huff
premiere: Michael Dash, baritone, Chris DeBlasio, piano, Benson Series, Downtown Music Productions, New York 12/2/90.
recorded:
Michael Dash, baritone, Chris DeBlasio, piano, And Trouble Came: Musical Responses to AIDS, Musicians Accord, CRI CD 729 (1996).
Gilles Denizot, baritone, Mimi Stern-Wolfe, piano, Sudden Sunsets: Highlights from the Benson Series, Downtown Music Productions, Leonarda Records LE 354 (forthcoming).

Walt Whitman in 1989
     from All The Way Through Evening
     from The AIDS Quilt Songbook (original version 1992)
for: baritone and piano
date: 1990
published: The AIDS Quilt Songbook, Boosey & Hawkes (1993)
recorded (independent of All The Way Through Evening):
Michael Dash, baritone, Chris DeBlasio, piano, Gay American Composers, CRI CD 721 (1996).
S. Sylvan, baritone, D. Breitman, piano, The AIDS Quilt Songbook, Harmonia Mundi HMN 907602 (1994).
R. Osborne, baritone, H. Huff, piano, Tom Bogdan: L'Amour Bleu, Poppy Records (1999).
B. Kent, baritone, J. Jensen, piano, Heartbeats: New Songs from Minnesota for the AIDS Quilt Songbook, Innova No. 500 (1994).

In Endless Ascent
for: voice and piano
date: 1991
     Anaphora
     Insomnia
     Sonnet (1928)
     Letter to New York
text: poetry by Elizabeth Bishop
published: Classical Vocal Reprints
recorded: Tom Bogdan, tenor, Harry Huff, piano, Tom Bogdan: L'Amour Bleu, Poppy Records (1999).

Villagers
for: voice and piano
date: 1989
     Paris (Ilsa Gilbert)
     The Heart Does Not Care (Perry Brass)
     Butcher (Ilsa Gilbert)
     Rushes (Ilsa Gilbert)
     Lyric 4 (Perry Brass)
published: Classical Vocal Reprints
recorded ("Butcher"): Veronica Burke, soprano, Mimi Stern-Wolfe, piano, Sudden Sunsets: Highlights from the Benson Series, Downtown Music Productions, Leonarda Records LE 354 (forthcoming).

See also Opera: Whatever You Say, He Sings (An Opera Scena)

CABARET SONGS

Better Things To Do and Four Other Songs
for: voice and piano
date: 1986
     Better Things To Do
     To A Friendly Neighbor
     Sailors
     Riverside
     A Letter from Barb
text: ?

Bores and Four Other Cabaret Songs
for: voice and piano
date: 1983
     Bores
     Three Double Dactyls
     The Skater's Waltz
     Tourists
     Horror Movie
text: ?

By the River and Three Other Songs
for: voice and piano
date: 1990
     By the River
     Beside You On My Own
     To A Friendly Neighbor
     I Saw In Louisiana

Geography: A Song and Eight Other Songs
for: voice and piano
date: 1986
     Geography: A Song
     Small Elegy
     Waltz: Down At The Docks
     The Writer At The End Of The Bar
     Cats And Dogs (A Study in Race Relations)
     Pavane: The East Side
     Song For Two Assistants
     Adolescent's Song
     Romantic Love: A Footnote
text: ?

I Want That Happy Ending Now and Four Other Theater Songs
for: voice and piano
date: 1986
     I Want That Happy Ending Now
     The Old Whore's Song
     Maybe We'll Make It
     Staten Island Blues
     Where Is The Girl?
text: ?

Instant Lives
for: voice and piano
date: 1984 (song titles unknown)
text: based on poetry and prose of Howard Moss
note: intended as a musical theater work but never produced.

Mary's Song and Three Other Theater Songs
for: voice and piano
date: 1982
     Mary's Song
     Chicago
     Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind
     Hiding
text: ?

A Rented Sail and Seven Other Songs
for: voice and piano
date: 1986
     A Rented Sail
     The Gross And The Net
     A Ship Going Down
     A Swim Off The Rocks
     Tango: The South Bronx (Howard Moss)
     A Song Struck From the Records
     Circle
     Companies
text: ?
recorded: "Tango: The South Bronx," Chris DeBlasio, baritone, Chris Berg, piano, Tellus #16 (cassette)

The Things To Do and Seven Other Songs
for: voice and piano
date: 1986
     The Thing To Do
     Suicide Soliloquy
     What A Man Must Do
     The Best Of Circles
     You Mustn't Have A Bonbon, Auntie
     No More Than I Deserve
     A Memory And A Sign
     The Bigger The Bomb, The Better
text: ?
note: unpublished (with Sharon Holland)

The Waiting Room and Four Other Songs
for: voice and piano
date: 1982
     The Waiting Room
     Stay With Me
     Do Me The Do
     A Man Like You
     You've Been On My Mind
text: ?

CHORAL

The Best-Beloved
for: soprano, SATB, strings, harp, percussion
date: 1990
Four motets on Jacobean poems
     Psalm 63
     Holy Sonnet (John Donne)
     "My thoughts hold mortal strife..." (W. Drummond)
     "My beloved is mine, and I am his" (F. Quarles)
published: Wayne Leupold Editions (full score with strings: WL410001; each movement also available separately)
recorded:
I Cantori di New York conducted by Mark Shapiro, Echoes and Shadows: Romantic Choral Music, PGM 401 (1997)
The Stonewall Chorale

Five Gay Jewish Prayers
for: baritone, three-part men's chorus, piano
date: 1986
     B'rashees
     When I'm Alone
     When I Wondered
     The Shortened Life
     Haverim
poetry: Perry Brass
note: written for the New Orleans Gay Men's Chorus

Higher O'er the Lonely Hills and Two Other Liturgical Pieces
for: SATB chorus and organ
date: 1990
     High O'er The Lonely Hills
     When Jesus Came To Jericho
     Christ And The Widow Of Nain Psalm 41
for: baritone, mezzo-soprano, SATB chorus, congregation, organ
date: 1992
note: commissioned and premiered at Central Synagogue, 11/30/92

INSTRUMENTAL

Dances for Clavichord
for: clavichord
date: 1988
note: written for harpischordist Andrew De Masi (1947-1993).

God Is Our Righteousness
for: guitar and organ
date: 1987
published: Wayne Leupold Editions WL610001
note: written for guitarist Nicholas Goluses and organist Harry Huff
recorded: Nicholas Goluses, guitar, Harry Huff, organ, Memento Bittersweet, BMG/Catalyst 09026-61979-2 (1994).

Music for a Short Subject
for: soprano saxophone and organ
date: 1989
published: To the Fore Publishers
note: written for saxophonist Anders Paulsson and organist Harry Huff

Prelude and Fugue
for: soprano saxophone, string quartet, bass
date: 1991
published: To the Fore Publishers
note: written for saxophonist Anders Paulsson

Serenade for Violin and Organ
for: violin and organ
date: 1991
published: Wayne Leupold Editions WL610002
note: written for violinist Christina Sunnerstam and organist Harry Huff

MUSICAL THEATRE

All in collaboration with director Nicholas Deutsch:
Adam and the Experts
date: ?
original production: 3-Dollar Bill Theater, New York

Night Sweat
date: ?
original production: Meridian Theater, New York

Stray Dog Story
date: ?
original production: Meridian Theater, New York
See also Cabaret Songs: Instant Lives

OPERA

A Murder is Foretold (An Operatta)
date: 1990
Suggested by an Oscar Wilde story
text: book and lyrics by Sharon Holland
productions?

Whatever You Say, He Sings (An Opera Scena)
for: voice and piano
date: 1990
poetry: Ilsa Gilbert
published: Classical Vocal Reprints
premiere: "The Poet of Bleecker Street," Greenwich House, New York City 1/26/90

UNCOMPLETED WORKS:
Unknown

WRITINGS:
Unknown

DISCOGRAPHY:
All The Way Through Evening (complete song cycle):
Michael Dash, baritone, Chris DeBlasio, piano, And Trouble Came: Musical Responses to AIDS, Musicians Accord, CRI CD 729 (1996).
Gilles Denizot, baritone, Mimi Stern-Wolfe, piano, Sudden Sunsets: Highlights from the Benson Series, Downtown Music Productions, Leonarda Records LE 354 (forthcoming).

Walt Whitman in 1989:
Michael Dash, baritone, Chris DeBlasio, piano, Gay American Composers, CRI CD 721 (1996).
S. Sylvan, baritone, D. Breitman, piano, The AIDS Quilt Songbook, Harmonia Mundi HMN 907602 (1994).
R. Osborne, baritone, H. Huff, piano, Tom Bogdan: L'Amour Bleu, Poppy Records (1999).
B. Kent, baritone, J. Jensen, piano, Heartbeats: New Songs from Minnesota for the AIDS Quilt Songbook, Innova No. 500 (1994).

In Endless Ascent (complete song cycle):
Tom Bogdan, tenor, Harry Huff, piano, Tom Bogdan: L'Amour Bleu, Poppy Records (1999).

"Butcher" (from Villagers song cycle): Veronica Burke, soprano, Mimi Stern-Wolfe, piano, Sudden Sunsets: Highlights from the Benson Series, Downtown Music Productions, Leonarda Records LE 354 (forthcoming).
"Tango: The South Bronx" (from A Rented Sail and Seven Other Songs): Chris DeBlasio, baritone, Chris Berg, piano, Tellus #16 (cassette).
"God Is Our Righteousness," Nicholas Goluses, guitar, Harry Huff, organ, Memento Bittersweet, BMG/Catalyst 09026-61979-2 (1994).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• "Chris DeBlasio" by William Berger, Loss Within Loss, Artists in the Age of AIDS, edited by Edmund White, in cooperation with the Estate Project for Artists with AIDS, University of Wisconsin Press (2001).
• "Chris DeBlasio: Walt Whitman in 1989" by Perry Brass, liner notes to Gay American Composers, CRI CD 721 (1996).
• "DeBlasio, Chris" by Tim Page, The Grove Dictionary of Music, Grovemusic.com (2001).

PERFORMING RIGHTS AFFILIATION:
BMI

RESOURCES:
Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.
35 East 21st Street
New York, NY 10010
(212) 358-5300
fax: (212) 358-5303
www.boosey.com

Classical Vocal Reprints
3253 Cambridge Avenue
Bronx, NY 10463-3618
(800) 298-7474 ; (718) 601-1959
fax: (718) 601-1969
ClasVocRep@aol.com
www.classicalvocalrep.com

To The Fore Publishers
82 Copley Avenue
Teaneck, NJ 07666
(201) 287-1872
fax: (201) 287-1873
members.aol.com/tothefore/navigation.html

Wayne Leupold Editions
8510 Triad Drive
Colfax, NC 27235
(336)996-8445
www.wayneleupold.com

MUSICAL EXECUTOR:
Harry Huff
61 Gramercy Park North
New York, NY 10010
(212) 473-2877
HuffHary@aol.com

OTHER CONTACTS:
William Berger (executor)
28 Bedford Street Apt. 9
New York, NY 10014
(212) 675-7828
berdetal@aol.com