Allen Sapp (composer)

A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Sapp was a United States Army veteran who had served as a cryptanalyst in England, France, Belgium, and Germany during World War II.

During the 1940s, Sapp earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Harvard University,[1] having studied primarily with Walter Piston and Irving Fine, and privately with Nadia Boulanger and Aaron Copland.

[2] [3] After a brief appointment at Wellesley College (1958–61),[4] he was appointed Chair of the music department at the University of Buffalo (later, State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo).

While at Buffalo, Sapp presided over many significant projects promoting contemporary music and art, including the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts (with Lukas Foss), and helped build a significant music faculty including the Budapest String Quartet, musicologists Jeremy Noble and James McKinnon, and music librarians James B. Coover and Carol June Bradley.

[8] Sapp died from heart failure at his home in Cincinnati, Ohio on Monday, January 4, 1999 at the age of 76.