Kubik, Gail

• Gail T. Kubik

Gail Kubik was an internationally recognized composer and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. After growing up in Coffeyville, Kansas, Kubik, at the age of 15, became the youngest person ever awarded a scholarship to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York in 1929. His composition “"The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" won first prize in the Kansas Federation of Music Clubs annual contest in 1931. After graduating from the Eastman School in 1934 with degrees in composition and violin, Kubik became an instructor of violin and a conductor at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois and at South Dakota Wesleyan University. In 1937, he became the youngest person ever admitted to Harvard’s doctoral music program. From 1938 to 1939, Kubik taught at Columbia University, while from 1940 to 1941, he worked as NBC’s staff composer. Throughout this time, his compositions continued to win awards and were performed nationwide.

During World War 2, Kubik served as a music consultant for the Bureau of Motion Pictures in the Office of War Information, then as composer for the Army Air Corp’s First Motion Picture Unit. In 1943, he received the National Association for American Composers and Conductors Citation for “Best Documentary Film Score of the Year” for “World at War.” In 1944, he was stationed in England to complete the score for “Memphis Belle,” which would go on to win a New York Film Critics’ Award. Kubik returned to the U.S. in 1945 and left the military in 1946.

Kubik briefly returned to work in Hollywood on film scores from 1949 to 1950, including for the Academy Award-winning “George McBoing-Boing,” after which he lived in Europe for several years conducting for multiple orchestras, including the Orchestra Sinfonica della Radio Italiana, the London Philharmonic, the BBC orchestra and the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris. In 1952, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his “Symphony Concertante.” After living in Europe from 1959 to 1967, Kubik was a visiting professor at Kansas State University in 1969. While at K-State, he was commissioned to compose a dedication piece for McCain Auditorium, which resulted in “A Record of Our Time.” Throughout the 1970s, Kubik continued to serve as a visiting professor at various universities. He died on July 20, 1984.

Written in February 2021 by Jarrod Kuckelman.

Creator Source: Library of Congress Name Authority File