Andrew Welsh Imbrie ’42

Andrew Imbrie, a distinguished composer and teacher, died Dec. 5, 2007, at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was the son of Andrew C. Imbrie 1895 and the grandson and great-grandson of Princeton graduates.

Andy prepared at the Lawrenceville School. At Princeton he came under the influence of composer Roger Sessions. He graduated with highest honors in music and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year. His senior thesis, the first of his five string quartets, won the New York Critics’ Award and was recorded by the Juilliard Quartet.

After Army service as a translator of Japanese, Andy rejoined Sessions as a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. He served on its faculty from 1949 until his retirement in 1991. He also taught at Harvard, Brandeis, Northwestern, New York University, the University of Alabama, and the University of Chicago.

He composed works in all of the principal genres, including three symphonies, eight concertos, many songs, sonatas, chamber works, choral compositions, and two operas. One piece, Angle of Repose, commissioned by the San Francisco Opera, received national acclaim. He wrote a requiem to memorialize his son, John ’84. His music has been praised for its profound artistic integrity, ardent expression, intense conviction, and drive.

To his wife, Barbara, and son Andrew Philip ’80, the class sends its sympathy.