National media profiles late York-born opera composer Dominick Argento

Dominick Argento died on Feb. 20 in Minneapolis.

York Daily Record

It's not everyday that a York native is recognized by big national media.

But, if you had the exemplary career of opera composer Dominick Argento, news of your death and legacy would reach further than a local news outlet.

Argento died Feb. 20 at the age of 91. Since then, The Washington Post and PBS News Hour wrote articles highlighting his life and his contributions to music.

York native Dominick Argento was a world-class opera composer. He died Wednesday at 91 in his adopted home of Minneapolis.

With nearly a dozen operas under his belt, including "Christopher Sly," "The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe" and "Miss Havisham's Fire," The Washington Post referred to Argento as "a modern master of opera."

More:World-class composer Argento left a legacy beyond music. He was just Uncle Dominick.

Fun fact: A song cycle based on the diary entries of Virginia Woolf won Argento the Pulitzer Prize in 1976.

While it's true that Argento "wrote musical works inspired by the lives and literature of Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Casanova, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Henry James and Virginia Woolf," he didn't want his music to wind up where you'd undoubtedly find a copy of "The Raven" or "Great Expectations".

According to The Washington Post, Argento once said to High Fidelity Magazine, "I have never had any desire to write music for library shelves. If you want a school, include me in the Mozart, Verdi, Mussorgsky school."

Despite how many of those shelves Argento actually evaded, his music and legacy are bookmarked pages in operatic history.