George Rochberg was an American composer whose career encompassed both serial composition and a later return to tonal expression. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, he studied at the Mannes School of Music and, after military service in World War II, at the Curtis Institute. He taught at Curtis before joining the University of Pennsylvania, where he chaired the music department and later became Annenberg Professor of the Humanities. His Third String Quartet became a prominent statement of his changing musical outlook. Rochberg wrote symphonies, concertos, chamber music and opera, and also published essays on musical aesthetics. His books include The Aesthetics of Survival and the memoir Five Lines, Four Spaces.