William Mayer (composer)

William Mayer (November 18, 1925 – November 17, 2017) was an American composer, best known for his prize-winning opera A Death in the Family. Life and career Mayer was born in New York City, the son of Dorothy (née Ehrich) and John C. Mayer. His great-grandfather was Emanuel Lehman, co-founder of Lehman Brothers. His father worked in finance and played the violin as an amateur; his mother was a writer. He entered Yale University in 1944, but his college years were interrupted by military service (he served as a counter-intelligence agent in US-occupied Japan). Upon his discharge he re-entered Yale and graduated in 1949, then trained at the Juilliard School and the Mannes College of Music, studying with Roger Sessions and Felix Salzer, and later with Otto Luening, Emanuel Balaban and Izler Solomon. The composer wrote three stage works in addition to his prize-winning A Death in the Family, and a variety of orchestral, chamber, choral and vocal works. John Rockwell of The New York Times has pointed out that Mayer was “especially known for his operas and songs … his work sings out with real beauty, both in the vocal writing and the instrumental settings.” Distinguished artists have