- Made his entire financial income almost exclusively by composing music.
- Pictured on one of a set of eight 32¢ US commemorative postage stamps in the Legends of American Music series, issued 12 September 1997, celebrating "Classical Composers & Conductors". Others honored in this issue are Leopold Stokowski, Arthur Fiedler, George Szell, Eugene Ormandy, Ferde Grofé Sr., Charles Ives, and Louis Moreau Gottschalk.
- Was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera to write a new American opera, for the inaugural opening of the new Met at Lincoln Center, September 16, 1966. The result of this commission was "Antony and Cleopatra." The libretto was by Franco Zeffirelli.
- Studied at the newly founded Curtis Insitute of Music, beginning in 1926.
- His 1958 opera "Vanessa," comissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, and his 1962 Piano Concerto, comissioned by the opening festivities of Lincoln Center, both individually won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, in their respective years.
- His opera "Vanessa" is one of the few to receive an "original cast" recording. The recording also featured the same conductor (Dimitri Mitropoulos) who led the premiere of the opera.
- Attended B. Reed West Chester Henderson High School, and is credited for composing alma mater. (Class of 1926)
- Spoke fluent French.
- Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives." Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 39-41. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
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