Elliott Carter, 1908-2012

[karlhenning]

Ursula has recorded a CD in honor of Carter turning 100 . . . and the cover has a younger photo of her?     

[Joe Barron]

Ursula has recorded a CD in honor of Carter turning 100 . . . and the cover has a younger photo of her?     

Well, she seems a lot younger on the cover than in the inside photo.

[Mark G. Simon]

I was reading the Encyclopedia Britannica article on Carter and found this statement, which I thought cannot possibly be true:

The Variations for Orchestra (1954–55) marked another phase of Carter's development, leading to a serial approach to intervals and dynamics.

Surely Carter has never used serialism in any form, and surely not in this work! Is there anyone who can contradict me on this?

[Joe Barron]

I'll save you! Carter is not a serialist, and anyone who says he is is either misinformed or expanding the definition of "serial" beyond all coherent meaning.

One of the themes in the Variations is a twelve-tone row, and that's about as close to serial technique as Carter ever got. The use of a single Schoenbergian technique is appropriate here, since, as Schiff says, the Variations is an overview of the compositional techniques of the period, though its real innovation is its approach to acceleration and deceleration. In writing the piece, Carter studied Schonberg's Variations, among others, but, Schiff writes, the work "is a reaction against Schoenberg's ... Schoenberg's Variations, with their invocation of the name of the name BACH, are a monument to new-found serial order; Carter's are a celebration of motion and change."

[Mark G. Simon]

Good to have some comfirmation. I was looking for inaccuracies in Britannica's articles on music, and this one leapt out at me.

[karlhenning]

Maybe there's wiggle-room in the phrase "a serial approach" . . . .

[bwv 1080]

Maybe there's wiggle-room in the phrase "a serial approach" . . . .

how bout this


Carter's serial technique involved having notes follow one another sequentially in time

[Joe Barron]

Good to have some comfirmation. I was looking for inaccuracies in Britannica's articles on music, and this one leapt out at me.

Any others?

[Catison]

Good to have some comfirmation. I was looking for inaccuracies in Britannica's articles on music, and this one leapt out at me.

For reference, would you say Carter's article on Wikipedia is more or less reliable?

[Joe Barron]

Maybe there's wiggle-room in the phrase "a serial approach" . . . .

In discussing Stockhausen, Al Moritz has defined total serialism as a sort of democratic process, an attempt to keep any one key, rhythm, speed, chord, pitch or dynamic from taking precedence over any of the others. This certainly expands the wiggle room of the serial approach, but even by that broad definition, I doubt that Carter qualifies as a serialist. Carter's idea of democracy in music (and he has spoken of it as such) is not complete equality, but, rather, strong individual personalities making personal contributions to the musical society. (Ives's notion of "everyone having a say" is relevant here.) In this approach, some elements of dynamics and pitch --- and certainly intervals, chords and gestures --- can and do come to the fore in the musical texture. Al, if you're reading, I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Carter has also said that he is not a serialist in so far as he does not consciously resort to serial techniques. This leaves wiggle room, of course, for unconscious and unintended use of serial techniques, but it's rather hard to imagine anyone doing what Boulez and Babbitt do unintentionally.

[Joe Barron]

For reference, would you say Carter's article on Wikipedia is more or less reliable?

I would say the parts I wrote are reliable. 

[Catison]

In discussing Stockhausen, Al Moritz has defined total serialism as a sort of democratic process, an attempt to keep any one key, rhythm, speed, chord, pitch or dynamic from taking precedence over any of the others. This certainly expands the wiggle room of the serial approach, but even by that broad definition, I doubt that Carter qualifies as a serialist.

I would modify this to add that serialism is a systematic way of achieving democracy.  Schoenberg's initial flirtations with atonality shouldn't qualify as serialism.

[Joe Barron]

I would modify this to add that serialism is a systematic way of achieving democracy.  Schoenberg's initial flirtations with atonality shouldn't qualify as serialism.

Noted. It would be the grouping of various elements into sets and manipulating those sets. The wikipedia article on serialism is helpful here.

[bwv 1080]

I would say the parts I wrote are reliable. 

And given that I posted Joe's parts in and consulted with him on the parts I wrote, I would concur

[karlhenning]

Oh, we're getting into a positively Ivesian attribution quandary here 

[bwv 1080]

BTW, after having nothing for years, there are a whole slew of Carter videos on youtube - clips of rehersal with the Julliard quartet, the Piano Quintet film from the Quintets & Voices CDs and several individual performances including a couple by Ursula Oppens.

[bhodges]

For anyone in the New York City area, on Monday, Nov. 24, the New York New Music Ensemble is performing Carter's Triple Duo, on a program of works by Harvey Sollberger, Marina Rosenfeld and Annelies van Parys.  Information is on the NYNME website, here.

--Bruce

[Joe Barron]

A centernary article from, of all places, Women's Wear Daily. Notice the kind of music Mr. Carter writes is not discussed. And the title of the opera is wrong.

The Music Man
by Michelle Edgar 
Posted Monday November 24, 2008

At the age of 100, most people would be well into their retirement and simply looking forward to a quiet old age. But composer Elliott Carter plans to work faster than ever.

"Composing is the thing I enjoy most," says the legend, who has had a major impact on modern classical music. "There's nothing better than waking up in the morning and figuring out what I'm going to do that day, what I hope to accomplish, what kind of music I'd like to write. Or perhaps, I will try to solve some problem in music that made itself clear to me that evening.

"I used to enjoy writing it down," he confides, "but now, I'm getting a little tired of that, so I instead try to find things I like in my head before I write them."

Carter completes a single composition almost every week, one of the reasons for his prodigious output throughout his career. He's composed more than 140 works—47 in the last 10 years and nine alone in 2007.

"An old man has no memory whatsoever, so I don't have many pieces in my head," Carter says in his self-deprecating manner. "I get stuck with whatever piece it is I'm working on and I become a fanatic. I just want to get it down and finish it. I never stop thinking about things in the piece and what to do with them. As I'm getting older, I'm getting more impatient and want to finish pieces soon."

Most people get birthday presents wrapped up in fancy paper, but for his centenary on December 11, Carter is being honored with concerts around the world, including one at Carnegie Hall led by James Levine of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Barenboim, pianist and former conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Levine and the Boston Symphony will introduce Carter's Interventions for Piano and Orchestra, along with a program that includes Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Barenboim will perform on the piano.

"Elliott is one of the most important composers of the last 50 years—it's a physical phenomenon that after the age of 85, he developed a new style and I don't even dare say it is a late style because he might find another one 20 years from now," says Barenboim. "Many years from now, people will see his music as some of most important music written of our time."

Several years ago, Carter completed his first one-act, 47-minute opera, What's Next?, which revolves around a car crash. He wanted to present opera in a more modern setting and based on a topic that is current. "I wanted to write about something in modern civilization that people think about a great deal, and I thought, why not an automobile accident?" Carter says. "I realized if I were to choose a literary subject that's well known, like The Great Gatsby or Huckleberry Finn, I would have to write music that 'goes back in time,' but I wanted to write music that's about right now."

Levine says he is especially devoted to Carter's What's Next?, and this past summer at the Tanglewood Music Center, Levine took on the directorship of The Festival of Contemporary Music, which was dedicated to Carter's works. "His music is always very exciting to me—from the vocal ranges to the rhythmic and harmonic intricacies to the way the characters interact with one another—it's a kind of contrapuntal vitality you can hear through the different textures with each of the voices creating such distinct impressions," says Levine. "It makes me wish he would continue making more operas since there's such a degree of vital invention as he challenges opera."

Challenging conventions has been the main theme throughout Carter's career, beginning with his decision to study music in the first place.

His father, who was a lace importer, did everything in his power to prevent his son from pursuing a musical career. "My parents weren't sympathetic toward me becoming a composer. In fact, they found the idea unpleasant," he says. "They thought, very sensibly, that you can't make much money out of it, and my father made every effort to get me off 'the music stuff.' So he had me move freight cars to help his business."

His aunt was the one who opened his ears and mind to music when he was age six, and purchased a set of records for him when he was eight. Before he was 16, Carter was studying with Charles Ives, who took him to concerts. He realized he was destined to be a composer when he was 19, and first heard Stravinsky's Rite of Spring at Carnegie Hall in 1928. "I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever heard and thought to myself, I'd love to write something like that." He laughs as he adds, "I remember half of the audience walked out and that's what I liked, too."

"It's rather touching for me to see the halls packed today with people because there were times when I was lucky if I could fill one row at a big concert hall," he recalls.

In 1932, he left to study in Paris, after completing his studies at Harvard, where he received a degree in English, and a master's degree in music. Carter honed his technique in Paris, studying with Nadia Boulanger for three years. He was never a devotee of the classical masters, however. "I thought Beethoven and Brahms were boring, and it was only after I studied with Nadia, who had me listen to the whole repertoire of music, that I realized I had different tastes," says Carter, sitting on the sofa in his Union Square apartment in New York, the only surface not covered in sheet music.

And even though he's met such music giants as Stravinsky, Ives and Aaron Copland, and in a moment he terms a highlight, actually sat next to George Gershwin during a performance, Mozart is a personal favorite. "Mozart developed the idea of dramatic change in musical composition—a way that music had never been experienced before. I like things that change suddenly, and go off in a new direction. I like something that seems out of the frame, yet still fits into the frame," he says, describing variations on a theme.

Carter didn't receive recognition as a composer until midway through his career. He never imagined during the years he struggled that he would one day meet his inspiration— Stravinsky. "He was always a very enthusiastic, lively man, and liked my music a lot, which was very flattering.

"I can say it's only in my maturity that I began being recognized. I was in my 40s already," adds Carter.

As his reputation spread, Carter turned to literature, poetry and even films for inspiration, and was heavily influenced by the works of Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein. "I found it very interesting the way he cut his films—the way he featured different shots from the same scenes, but from different angles of the camera," says Carter.

Reflecting on his present success, he laughs. "I don't know whether I've made it even now," he says. "What I am certain about is that I'm going to be 100 this year. I cannot but help feel that I'm getting a lot of performances because of my age." He smiles. "If I had these kind of performances at a time when I was not strikingly old—I would have felt I had made it."

[karlhenning]

A centernary article from, of all places, Women's Wear Daily. Notice the kind of music Mr. Carter writes is not discussed. And the title of the opera is wrong.

And thus was born the proverbial Close enough for WWD.

[karlhenning]

Is hard-copy today's issue, Joe?  One of our analysts subscribes, and I could scarf this up readily . . . .