MUS 100 notes - to end of semester
FRANZ LISZT 1811-1886 (p. 267)
Hungarian-born, his daughter Cosima left Hans von Bulow,
her conductor husband, to marry her lover Richard Wagner
great pianist, conductor, teacher, orchestrater, composer, lover
greatest piano virtuoso of the entire 19th century
(maybe of all time!)
invented the idea of the piano recital
-- i.e. a program of works by composers other than the performer
-- Liszt was also the first pianist to play a whole recital from
memory sitting at a piano with his profile to the audience
(the position we take for granted)
famous for his transcriptions
-- arrangements of other composer's works originally written for
other media (e.g. Beethoven symphonies, Schubert songs, Verdi
arias, Wagner overtures, etc.)
invented the symphonic poem (or tone poem)
-- one-movement programmatic works for orchestra which describe
a poem or tell a story
-- thus the a priori form of the literary work dictates the form
of the composition
used a style known as transformation of themes in which a theme is
almost never heard the same way twice
The Five
(Russian Nationalism)
Alexander Borodin (1833-87)
Mili Balakirev (1837-1910)
César Cui (1835-1918)
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-81)*
Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov (1844-1908)*
* became outstanding composers
Programmatic Music -
music based on a text or program
vs.
Absolute Music -
instrumental music based upon abstract principles of music
19th Century Concerto
More lyrical with more colorful orchestrations, expanded harmonic resources,
and less likely to follow classical forms than the 18th c. concerto.
FELIX MENDELSSOHN 1809-1847 (p. 271)
the finest education money and culture could buy
-- and his family had both!
the most conservative and Classical of all the Romantics
he called Berlioz's music "a frightful muddle -- one ought to wash
one's hands after handling one of his scores"
he conducted a centenary performance of J.S. Bach's St. Matthew
Passion in 1829, beginning the "Bach revival" which has never
ended
wrote in all genres but opera
he is best known for his great oratorio Elijah, his "Scotch",
"Italian" and "Reformation" Symphonies and his overture
and incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream
created the concert overture
-- i.e. an overture to nothing, rather a one-movement non-
programmatic orchestral work
the Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream is the greatest work of
music by a 17-year-old
the "Scherzo" from his Octet for Strings is the greatest work of
music by a 16-year-old
perfect Classical forms -- beautifully articulated, impeccable
craftsmanship
a superb contrapuntal sense
(his study of J.S. Bach taught him something!)
an almost Baroque-like sense of rhythmic continuity
Sister, Fanny (1805-1847) outstanding pianist and composer
JOHANNES BRAHMS 1833-1897 (p. 273)
after Beethoven and Wagner, the greatest composer of the 19th
century
a very conservative composer
-- a "Classical Romanticist" (like Mendelssohn)
like Beethoven, famous for his symphonies (4), piano concerti (2)
and violin concerto -- all the best of their kind since Beethoven
(his Symphony No. 1 was called the Beethoven 10th)
his German Requiem is a staple of the choral literature
-- it is the only important Requiem that is NOT liturgical
(i.e. it does not make use of the Latin text for the
Mass of the Dead)
-- it is really a Protestant Requiem
the greatest traditional structuralist after Beethoven
-- NO ONE handled sonata form better
-- his development sections are especially brilliant
Brahms had a fondness for deep, rich, dark colors and "cello range"
melodies
Listening:
Brahms:
Sections from the
German Requiem
Robert Schumann (1810-56)
Clara Wieck Schumann (1819-96)
began his career as a piano virtuoso but injured his hand
met his beloved Clara Wieck and turned to composition
esp. Lieder or love songs to Clara
(Clara became a well-known concert pianist)
the paradigm Romantic in his love of extreme contrasts, even writing
under the pseudonyms of "Florestan"
(his Dionysian, impetuous side)
and "Eusebius"
(his more Apollonian, gentle and lyrical side)
tried to commit suicide by jumping in the Rhine and died in an asylum
wrote in ALL genres
created the character piece for piano
a short piece with a programmatic or poetic title
changed concerto form back to a simpler sonata form by eliminating
the double exposition, central tutti and closing tutti
typical Romantic weakness in thematic development, he loved
repetition
a fairly clumsy orchestrater with rather thick scoring
i.e. lots of doubling of lines by several instruments
the most rhythmically creative composer of the 19th century
much rhythmic novelty and syncopation
(i.e. accents off the main beat)
wonderfully, even rapturously lyrical
Listening:
Robert Schumann:
Piano Concerto in A Minor, I
FREDERIC CHOPIN
The Poet of the Piano
1810-1849
(p. 291)
a dandy of French salons (e.g. the Rothschilds)
Liszt introduced him to the woman novelist, George Sand,
with whom he lived for many years
the first and greatest specialist in piano music
almost everything he composed is still in the active
piano repertory
the first conscious nationalist (he was born in Poland)
he created the Polonaise and Mazurka (Polish national
dances) as idealized dances for the piano
one of the greatest lyrical melodists in history
Character Piece
Short, highly subjective piano compositions which express in a few measures
what other composers hope to say in a lifetime!
Examples: nocturnes, impromptus, ballades, preludes, études, mazurkas and
polonaises of Chopin.
Listening:
p. 294
Chopin:
Polonaise in Ab Major
Vladimir Horowitz, piano
Side/Band 2/4 Track 53
RICHARD WAGNER
and Music Drama
1813-1883
(p. 303)
the most influential composer in the 2nd half of the 19th century
(Beethoven had dominated the 1st half)
-- almost the entire musical world revolved around Wagner and his
style (he even married Liszt's daughter, Cosima von Bulow)
like Verdi, a one-medium man (opera)
created the Music Drama
-- esp. The Ring of the Nibelungen, the most gigantic work of musical
art and Wagner's greatest achievement
-- its requirements included the building of a special theater, the
Festspielhaus at Bayreuth in southern Germany
(with the money of mad King Ludwig of Bavaria)
The Ring = 26 years to complete, 4 operas, 19 records, 14 hours!
(normally The Ring is produced in Bayreuth in four successive nights)
a Music Drama has seamless acts
-- no "numbers" such as recitatives, arias, duets and choruses as in
a standard opera
-- the style has been described as "endless melody"
(Wagner)
created the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk
-- a total work of art in which the creator does everything:
writes the libretto, composes the musical score, decides on the
sets and, in the case of The Ring, designs the building for its
performance!
created the Leitmotiv which organizes and unifies the entire work
-- every person, place, thing and emotion has its own "signature tune"
enlarged the orchestra to huge proportions
-- added new instruments to the orchestra: tenor tuba, contrabass
trombone, contrabass tuba, bass trumpet
(how the Germans love their brass!)
-- The Ring requires, in addition to the strings and percussion,
2 piccolos, 4 flutes, 4 oboes, 4 bassoons, 8 horns, 4 trumpets,
4 trombones, 5 tubas and (in the first opera in The Ring, Das
Rheingold) 7 harps!
-- only Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 ("Symphony of a Thousand")
requires a larger orchestrata compete with the huge orchestra
Heldentenors ("heroic tenors" with powerful voices) and Wagnerian
sopranos (usually big ladies with big voices) are required
the opening chord of Tristan und Isolde, the "Tristan Chord" created a
harmonic revolution
(there is even a book devoted solely to this chord!)
-- almost all of the notes in the famous chord are non-harmonic tones
that require resolutions
Wagner had the greatest polyphonic technique of any 19th-century
composer
(Wagner)
-- the texture is not that of voice and subordinate accompaniment
(as in Verdi), instead (as in J.S. Bach) the voice is treated as
another color in the polyphonic complex
one of the greatest orchestraters in history, certainly the greatest
orchestrater among opera composers (but there's always Mozart!)
use of Sprechgesang
-- a kind of "speech song" declamation replaced the more standard
operatic recitative
soaring, arching melodies with a long-range sense of climax
(and what climaxes!)
a rhythmic style of constantly shifting meters, dependent upon the
Leitmotiv being heard
Listening:
p. 306
Wagner:
Music Drama (excerpt)
Prelude to Tristan und Isolde
Side/Band 2/1 Track 45
--
CLAUDE DEBUSSY 1862-1918 (p. 321)
the father of Impressionism in music
his Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (1894) was the first
Impressionistic musical work and one of the most innovative
compositions in music history
he is also famous for his La Mer, Images and Jeux, all for orchestra,
his opera, Pelleas and Melisande and his many piano pieces
he made a complete break with sonata form and other traditional
structures -- each work generates its own mosaic form
he ranks with Chopin and Liszt as a significant contributor to the
development of piano technique, especially in the skillful and subtle
use of the damper (sustain) pedal
elegant, delicate scoring with subtle color contrasts and no sense of
Germanic heaviness
most pieces end softly
a pioneer in non-functional harmony
-- i.e., chords do not resolve in traditional ways
he loves parallel chords and pentatonic and whole-tone scales
amorphous sense of meter, lacking traditional stress patterns
mostly fragmentary themes lacking conventional antecedent/
consequent phrase structures
(rarely is there a "tune" a la Elgar, Puccini or Rachmaninoff)
MAURICE RAVEL 1875-1937 (p. 324)
while his Jeux d'eau anticipates Debussy's Impressionism in piano
music, he is more important as a Post Impressionist
best known for his Rapsodie espagnole, Alborado del gracioso,
La Valse, Valses nobles et sentimentales, Bolero and jazz-
influenced Piano Concerto in G
his nostalgic use of Classical genres (String Quartet, Sonatine,
suites, etc.) anticipates the neo-Classicism of Stravinsky
took an almost exhibitionistic delight in exotic, brilliant, flamboyant
orchestral color with sharper contrasts and more fun with climaxes
than Debussy
more solid and traditional sense of key than Debussy
loved intoxicating rhythms -- many of his works became ballets
much more conventionally tuneful than Debussy
ERIK SATIE 1866-1925 (p. 406)
godfather of the avant garde
saw music as satire and the ridicule of tradition
(like Marcel Duchamp's Dadaism in art)
his Vexations for piano is to be repeated 840 times!
his Dada ballet, Parade , utilizes a typewriter, revolver, siren,
steam whistle and rattle in the orchestra
member of Les Six
most of his piano works are short and quite repetitious with
extremely clear (anti-Impressionist) articulations
most of his orchestral pieces utilize rather sparse orchestrations
usually homophonic textures (i.e., melody and accompaniment) with
neo-tonal harmonies (i.e., triads used in unconventional ways with
many unresolved dissonances)
likes ostinato patters (often to the point of monotony)
more traditional melodic phrases than Debussy
-- many of them are quite lovely
Listening:
p. 325
Debussy:
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Prélude à l'aprèsmidi d'un Faune
Side/Band 1/2 Track 2 (CD 3)
--
20th c
THE WAVES OF "ISMS."
Like waves hitting the shore, these successive waves of influential "isms" have
tended to overwhelm 20th-century compositional styles. "Schools" of
composers followed the leader of the pack and, for almost the first half
of the 20th century, Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) was the undoubted leader
of two schools, Primitivism and Neo-Classicism.
PRIMITIVISM
The artistic equivalent of Primitivism, Fauvism, was led by Henri Matisse
(1869-1954), Georges Rouault (1871-1958), Andre Derain (1880-1954),
Maurice Vlaminck (1876-1958) and Albert Marquet (1875-1947). Their works,
full of distortions of perspective and painted in brilliant, often violent
colors, created a furor at the Paris Salon d'Automne Exhibition of 1905,
prompting a critic to dub the artists collectively as "Les Fauves"
(the wild beasts). Primitivism was Stravinsky's first stylistic period.
His seminal Rite of Spring (1913), with its exhibitionistic use of brilliant
and often violently percussive, orchestral colors coupled with dissonant
distortions of the tonal system and pounding, barbaric, asymmetrical rhythms,
became the single most famous 20th-century composition. (The fact that Le
Sacre, like Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase, caused a riot
at its premiere in 1913 has undoubtedly helped its reputation in the cause
of modernism.)
GENRE Primitivism was seen most often in ballets (e.g., Stravinsky's
Firebird, Petrouchka,
Rite of Spring; Prokofiev's Scythian Suite ) and piano music
SONORITY large 19th-century orchestral apparatus with a special emphasis
on a huge
percussion section
sharper contrasts than in Impressionism
HARMONY neo-tonal (retains use of the triad) non-functional harmony
bitonality (e.g., "Petrouchka chord")
polytonality
pandiatonicism (vs. chromaticism)
new or exotic scales (e.g., Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms )
RHYTHM rhythm now became a primary rather than a subordinate element
driving, constantly shifting, irregular, asymmetrical rhythmic patterns
polymetric (i.e., different meters in different voices)
many ostinati
MELODY motivic material (motives, melodic fragments) rather than "tunes" in
conventional phrases
NEO-CLASSICISM
The artistic equivalent of Neo-Classicism, Cubism, was led by Pablo Picasso
(1881-1973), Georges Braque (1882-1963), Juan Gris (1887-1927), Fernand Leger
(1881-1955) and Robert Delaunay (1885-1941). Their works with sharp, clean,
clearly articulated geometric shapes often explore the relationships of the
parts of 3-dimensional objects via the 2-dimensional picture surface. Far
less brilliantly colorful and flamboyant than the Fauvists, the Cubists gave
their first exhibition in 1907 in Paris.
Neo-Classicism was Stravinsky's second stylistic period. This period, 1918-1951,
beginning with his L'Histoire du soldat (1918), included such staples of the
repertory as Pulcinella (1920), Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920), Octet
for Wind Instruments (1923), Oedipus Rex (1925), Symphony of Psalms (1930),
Symphony in C (1940), Symphony in Three Movements (1945) and that
greatest of neo-classical operas, The Rake's Progress (1951). Longer lived
and more widespread than Primitivism, Neo-Classicism had many adherents
including Bela Bartok (1881-1945), Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), Paul
Hindemith (1895-1963), Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), Sir Benjamin Britten
(1913-1976), Aaron Copland (b.1900) and Walter Piston (1894-1976).
EXPRESSIONISM
"Expressionism", a term first used by German critics in 1911 to describe the
"Fauvists" and the works of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), soon became a term
almost universally applied to all the arts sharing a similar style. Exploring
the inner "Freudian" world of emotional and psychological states and the
grotesque, demonic, sinister, aggressive, depressing, dark side of human
nature, Expressionism reflects the conflict, anxiety, violence, alienation,
pessimism and restlessness that has pervaded so much of Western society in
this century; a world in which nightmares and violent passions replace
tranquility, beauty and loveliness. While Expressionism began in France, it
found more fertile soil in Germany and Austria (until the Nazis began its
suppression in 1933.)
Igor Stravinsky 1882-1971 (p. 327)
with Bartok and Schoenberg, one of the three greatest and/or influential
composers of
the 20th century -- Le Sacre du printemps is to the
20th century what Bach's Mass in B
Minor is to the 18th century and Beethoven's Symphony
No. 9 and Wagner's
Tristan und Isolde are to the 19th century
born in Russia, Stravinsky left for Paris in 1914 and Hollywood in 1939
Stravinsky and Picasso became THE symbols of modernism
three great influences on Stravinsky
1) study with Rimsky-Korsakov, a pioneer in Russian nationalism and
one of the most
brilliant orchestrators in history
2) the music of Debussy -- "Le Sacre owes more to Debussy
than to anyone except
myself" -- e.g., free dissonance and mosaic
or modular (non a priori) forms
3) Sergei Diaghilev, director of the Ballet Russe in Paris
Diaghilev was an impressario and a choreographer -- Pavlova,
Massine and Nijinsky danced for him
Stravinsky's three most famous ballets were
written for Diaghilev
Firebird (1910), Petrouchka (1911)
and The Rite of Spring (1912)
three major periods (like Beethoven, Bartok and Schoenberg)
Stravinsky was the leader in the "Primitivist" and "Neo-Classical" schools
1) 1908-1917 Primitivism
Firebird (1910), Petrouchka (1911), Le Sacre du printemps (1912)
2) 1918-1951 Neo-Classicism
L'Histoire du soldat (1918), Pulcinella (1920),
Symphony of Psalms (1930), Symphony in C (1940),
Symphony in Three Movements (1945), The Rake's Progress (1951)
3) 1952-1972 modified serial
Canticum Sacrum (1956), Agon (1957), Threni (1958)
most famous for his three early primitivistic ballets mentioned above
for Stravinsky, music was form and logic -- he was totally in agreement with
St. Thomas Aquinas' idea that "beauty is the splendor of order"
perhaps the greatest and most brilliant orchestrator of the 20th century
-- equally adept at
handling the huge 19th-century orchestral apparatus and more intimate, reduced
neo-classic chamber groups
a creative orchestrator, not just a good one
when others were saying the tonal system was exhausted, Stravinsky was THE
great genius of neo-tonality -- incl. bitonality ("Petrouchka chord"), polytonality,
pandiatonicism (vs. chromaticism), new or exotic scales (e.g., Symphony of Psalms )
fond of heterophony -- an accumulative layering of disparate ideas
(non-imitative polyphony)
father of the rhythmic revolution
rhythm was the least exploited element in the 19th century
constantly shifting, irregular, asymmetrical rhythms totally divorced from the
regular duple and triple meters in use from 1600 to Debussy
created a host of memorable thematic materials (but not necessarily "tunes")
firmly neo-tonal and often quite chromatic
highly polyphonic -- many canonic and fugato passages
liked unusual modes or scales -- whole-tone, pentatonic and acoustic (overtone) scale
(i.e., C D E F# G A Bb C)
highly energetic, often frenetic, with the rhythmic vitality and snap of
Hungarian and Slavic folk songs and dances
loves changing meters and ostinati
often highly motivic but prefers a mixture of motives
and more conventional melodic phrases
likes short thematic fragments that sound like phrases from Hungarian folk songs
the melodies often center and play around 3rds and 4ths
Listening: (p. 329)
Stravinsky
Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring)
Side/Band 1/3 Track 6
Arnold Schoenberg 1874-1951 (p. 332)
with Stravinsky and Bartok, one of the three greatest and/or
influential composers of the 20th century
Viennese "father" of Expressionism and the "second Viennese school"
Alban Berg (1885-1935) and Anton von Webern (1883-1945) were his pupils
replaced Stravinsky as THE musical prophet for the second
1/3 of the 20th century
emigrated to California and taught at UCLA
poked fun at Stravinsky's neo-classicism; ridiculed the "pseudo-tonalists";
ridiculed the "folklorists" (i.e., Bartok) -- all in all, he took himself
a bit too seriously!
typically Northern (Germanic) attitude (e.g., Bach, Mozart, Beethoven,
Brahms) toward the importance of structure and organization
"father" of serialism or the 12-tone system
a special fondness for chamber ensembles
wide and highly contrasted dynamic range
worked his way from hyper-chromaticism through highly dissonant
atonality and serialism
(though in his later works there was some relaxation of strict
adherence to the series)
highly contrapuntalamorphous metric feeling with frequent changes of meter and tempo
highly disjunct (i.e., movement by leap) and motivic athematic lines
he loves wide leaps)
fond of Sprechstimme -- a type of speaking/singing declamation in
which the performer is instructed to hit (approximately) the notated
(by an "x" on the staff) pitch and
immediately glide away from it
Listening
Survivor form Warsaw
Listening: (p. 333)
Schoenberg
Monderstrunken from Pierrot Lunaire
Side/Band 1/4 Track 13
Alban Berg 1885-1935 (p. 334)
with his teacher, Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) and his fellow Schoenberg pupil,
Anton von Webern (1883-1945), one of the three giants of the
"second Viennese school"
Berg is the most widely performed of all the "expressionists"
Sibelius called Berg Schoenberg's greatest work!
Berg had a more "Romantic" or "Dionysian" style, while Webern was far more "Classic",
"Apollonian" and cerebral
fond of large-scale works: esp. important are his Three Pieces for Orchestra (1915);
Wozzeck (1921); Lyric Suite (1926) - 3 of these 6 movements for
string quartet are serial or 12-tone; Violin Concerto (1933) - serial,
but the row is based on a series of interlocking minor and major triads;
Der Wein (1929); Lulu (1935, unfinished opera) -- serial
most traditional sense of meter of the 3 great Viennese expressionists
Viennese Landler (i.e., country dances), marches, scherzos
the most lyrical of the 3 great Viennese expressionists, utilizing a
greater variety of melodic
styles - all the way from Sprechstimme to almost bel canto-like lyricism
his rows often function as themes, not merely as material, motives, or
"cells" to be used as building materials
Listening:
Wozzeck
Anton von Webern 1883-1945 (p. 378)
with his teacher, Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) and fellow
Schoenberg pupil, Alban Berg
(1885-1935) one of the three giants of the "second Viennese school"
Schoenberg's most rigid serialist, Apollonian and cerebral pupil
(Alban Berg was more Dionysian and tonally oriented)
accidentally shot by an American soldier
wrote mostly short chamber works -- esp. important are his Five Pieces for Orchestra
Op. 10 (1913) - atonal; Symphony 21 (1928) - serial, for 9 solo
instruments; Concerto
for Nine Instruments Op. 34 (1934) - serial (Karlheinz Stockhausen's
[b.1928] analysis
of the work became almost as famous as the Concerto itself)
highly economical, short, concentrated, abstract works -- absolutely free of
fat or padding (No. 5 of Op. 10 last only 20 seconds)
relationships of intervals take over from tonality as the main
organizational principle
"pointillistic" style -- clear, delicate, transparent, crystalline
textures "Klangfarbenmelodie" -- a row may be distributed among different
instruments so that 1 to 5 successive notes will
be heard in the same timbre
most of his works are quiet -- "like a whisper", "scarcely audible"
loves special effects: string harmonics, pizzicato, muting, tremolo
totally athematic -- the interval is the basic structural element
John Cage 1912-1992 (p. 391)
studied with Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg
THE symbol of radical modernism for the 3rd quarter of the 20th century
involved in a constant search for new sounds, even from "old" instruments
-- especially interested in the piano and in exploring a wide range of
percussion instruments he objected to nearly all contemporary music
-- neo-Classical, serial, jazz and rock -- because
the results were fixed objects rather than processes
ALEATORY (CHANCE or INDETERMINATE) PROCEDURES (Cowell influence) -- minimizing
the composer's control over the aural result vs. the serialist's
maximizing of control; among his most important aleatory works:
Music of Changes (1951) for piano -- the
"performance" is determined by the toss of 3 coins 6 times
which through the use of the
I Ching, the Chinese Book of Changes, generates a
numbered value of 1 to 64; Concerto
for Prepared Piano and Orchestra (1951); Imaginary Landscape No. 4
(1951) for 12 radios and 24 "players" (one twirling the dial,
one regulating the volume) 4'33" (1952) in "three movements"
-- for piano, though transcriptions would be easy -- the
pianist quietly sits for the intervel of the title
SOME QUAINT CAGE APHORISMS
"Whenever I've found that what I'm doing has become pleasing, even to one
person, I have redoubled my efforts to find the next step."
"I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry."
He described his artistic intentions as "purposeful purposelessness"
"In Zen they say: If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four.
If still boring, try it for eight, sixteen, thirty-two, and so on.
Eventually one discovers that it's not boring but
very interesting." [One does wonder if everything said in Zen is true.]
Aaron Copland
Charles Ives
Leonard Bernstein
George Gershwin
Philip Glass
Electronic Music
Milton Babbitt
Edgar Varèse
John Adams b.1947 (p. 401 Glass, minimalism)
studied at Harvard with Leon Kirchner, Roger Sessions and David Del Tredici
then moved to California and became interested in Cage, electronics and Reich
considered by many critics as the best of the minimalists (though Donal Henahan
writing in the
NY Times of 24 Oct. 1987 said, "Mr. Adams does for the arpeggio what
McDonald's did for
the hamburger, grinding out one simple idea unto eternity."
-- If Henahan had said "Mr.
Glass" instead he would have been much closer to the target!)
the least austere or "minimalist" of the minimalists -- the most
Romantic" of this school, with
a sense of direction and climax and great deal more sonic and rhythmic
variety -- he is
especially fond of references to earlier music (e.g., Wagner, foxtrot, gospel,
marching-band music, Beethoven) -- he is also not afraid of lush
string sonorities
"What sets me apart from Reich and Glass is that I am not a modernist.
I embrace the
whole musical past, and I don't have the kind of refined,
systematic language that they
have." some of his more popular pieces:
Christian Zeal and Activity (1973)
Phrygian Gates - for piano (1977)
Shaker Loops - for string septet [string orchestra version in 1983] (1978)
Common Tunes in Simple Time - his first work for orchestra (1979)
Harmonium - for orchestra and chorus (1981)
Grand Pianola Music - a parody of marching-band music,
gospel and Beethoven (1982)
Light Over Water - for brass and synthesizers (1983)
Harmonielehre - for orchestra (named after Schoenberg's
treatise on tonal harmony) (1985)
The Chairman Dances - replete with a foxtrot, lush strings
and repetitious pulsations (1985)
Short Ride on a Fast Machine (1986)
Tromba Lontana (1986)
Nixon in China - opera [his longest work] (1987);
Fearful Symmetries - for orchestra [the same forces used for
Nixon in China ] (1988);
The Wound-Dresser - for orchestra and baritone (1989)
[end]