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| Background = non_performing_personnel
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| Born = {{Birth date and age|1908|12|1}}<br>{{flagicon|New York}} <small>[[New York, New York]], [[United States]]
| Born = {{Birth date and age|1908|12|11}}<br>{{flagicon|New York}} <small>[[New York, New York]], [[United States]]
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| Genre = [[Classical music|Classical]], [[Neoclassicism]]
| Genre = [[Classical music|Classical]], [[Neoclassicism]]

Revision as of 21:35, 15 October 2007

Elliott Carter

Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. (born December 11, 1908) is an American composer of classical music.

Elliott Carter was born in New York, New York. He was encouraged as a young musician by Charles Ives and studied English and music at Harvard University and Longy School of Music, where his professors included Walter Piston and where he sang with the Harvard Glee Club. He then went to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger, returning to the USA in 1935 where he directed the Ballet Caravan. From 1939 to 1941 he taught courses in physics, mathematics and classical Greek, in addition to music, at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland.

During World War II, Carter worked for the Office of War Information. He later held teaching posts at the Peabody Conservatory (1946 - 1948), Columbia University, Queens College, New York (1955-56), Yale University (1960-62), Cornell University (from 1967) and the Juilliard School (from 1972). In 1967 he was appointed a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Style and works

Carter's earlier works are influenced by Stravinsky and Hindemith, and are mainly neoclassical in aesthetic. He had a strict and thorough training in counterpoint, from medieval polyphony through Stravinsky, and this shows in his earliest music, such as the ballet Pocohontas (1938-9). Some of his music during the Second World War is frankly diatonic, and includes a melodic lyricism reminiscent of Samuel Barber. Interestingly, Carter abandoned neoclassicism around the same time Stravinsky did, saying that he felt he had been evading vital areas of feeling.

His music after 1950 is typically atonal and rhythmically complex, indicated by the invention of the term metric modulation to describe the frequent, precise tempo changes found in his work. While Carter's chromaticism and tonal vocabulary parallels serial composers of the period, Carter does not employ serial techniques in his music. Rather he independently developed and cataloged all possible collections of pitches (i.e. all possible 3 note chords, 5 note chords etc.). Musical theorists like Allan Forte later systematized this data into musical set theory. A series of works in the 1960s and 1970's generates its tonal material by using all possible chords of a particular number of pitches. The Piano Concerto (1964-65) uses the collection of three note chords for its pitch material; the Third String Quartet (1971) uses all four-note chords; the Concerto for Orchestra (1969) all five-note chords; and the Symphony of Three Orchestras utilizes the collection of six note chords. Carter also makes frequent use of "tonic" 12-note chords. Of particular interest are "all-interval" 12-tone chords where every interval is represented within adjacent notes of the chord. His 1980 solo piano work Night Fantasies utilizes the entire collection of 88 all-interval 12 note chords. Typically the pitch material is segmented between instruments, with a unique set of chords or sets assigned to each instrument or orchestral section. This stratification of material, with individual voices assigned not only their own unique pitch material, but texture and rhythm as well, is a key component of Carter's musical style. Carter's music after Night Fantasies has been termed his late period and his tonal language has become less systematized and more intuitive, but retains the basic characteristics of his earlier works.

Carter's use of rhythm can best be understood within the concept of stratification. Each instrumental voice is typically assigned its own set of tempos. A structural polyrhythm, where a very slow polyrhythm is used as a formal device, is present in many of Carter's works. The solo piano work Night Fantasies, for example, uses a 216:175 tempo relation that coincides at only two points in the entire 20+ minute composition. This use of rhythm is part of his goal to expand the notion of counterpoint to encompass simultaneous different characters, even entire movements, rather than just individual lines.

Carter developed his technique to further his artistic goals. His use of rhythm allows his music a structured fluidity and sense of time perhaps unique in classical music. The music also is overtly expressive and dramatic. He has said that "I regard my scores as scenarios, auditory scenarios, for performers to act out with their instruments, dramatizing the players as individuals and participants in the ensemble." He has also talked about his desire to portray a "different form of motion," in which players are not locked in step with the downbeat of every measure. He has said that such steady pulses remind him of soldiers marching or horses trotting, sounds that are not heard anymore in the late 20th century, and he wants his music to capture the sort of continuous acceleration of deceleration experienced in an automobile or an airplane. While Carter's music shows little trace of American popular music or jazz, his vocal music has demonstrated strong ties to contemporary American poetry. He has set works of Elizabeth Bishop, John Ashbery, Robert Lowell, William Carlos Williams and, most recently, Wallace Stevens. Several of his large instrumental works such as the Concerto for Orchestra or Symphony of Three Orchestras are inspired by Twentieth Century American poets as well.

Among his better known works are the Variations for Orchestra (1954-5); the Double Concerto for harpsichord, piano and two chamber orchestras (1959-61); the Piano Concerto (1964-65), written as an 85th birthday present for Igor Stravinsky; the Concerto for Orchestra (1969), loosely based on a poem by Saint-John Perse; and A Symphony of Three Orchestras (1976). He has also written five string quartets[1], of which the second and third won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1960 and 1973 respectively. Symphonia: Sum Fluxae Pretium Spei (1993-1996) is his largest orchestral work, complex in structure and featuring contrasting layers of instrumental textures, from delicate wind solos to crashing brass and percussion outbursts.

In spite of a usually rigorous derivation of all pitch content of a piece from a source chord, or series of chords, Carter never abandons lyricism, and ensures that a text is sung intelligibly, sometimes even simply. In A Mirror on Which to Dwell (1975) (based on poems by Elizabeth Bishop) Carter writes colorful, subtle, transparently clear music; yet almost every pitch in the piece is derived from the content of a single sonority. While Carter seems to set up rigorous systems for deriving the pitch content of a piece, he deviates from them on occasion: not every note can be explained with the same rigor as can be done, for example, in Webern.

Most of Carter's music is published by either G. Schirmer/Associated Music Publishers (works up to 1982) or Boosey & Hawkes (works since 1982).

Recent Years

Carter has been known to live in Greenwich Village[citation needed] and is currently working on a new piece of music to be played when he turns 100 in 2008.[citation needed]

Selected works

  • Pocahontas (Ballet) (1938-39)
  • Symphony No. 1 (1942, revised 1954)
  • Holiday Overture (1944, revised 1961)
  • Piano Sonata (1945-46)
  • The Minotaur (Ballet) (1947)
  • Cello Sonata (1948)
  • Eight Etudes and a Fantasy for Wind Quartet (1949)
  • String Quartet No.1 (1951)
  • Variations for orchestra (1955)
  • String Quartet No.2 (1959)
  • Double Concerto for piano, harpsichord and 2 chamber orchestras (1959-61)
  • Piano Concerto (1964)
  • Eight Pieces for Four Timpani (1950/66)
  • Concerto for Orchestra (1969)
  • String Quartet No.3 (1971)
  • Brass Quintet (1974)
  • Duo for Violin & Piano (1974)
  • A Mirror on Which to Dwell for Soprano and Ensemble (1975)
  • A Symphony of Three Orchestras (1976)
  • Syringa for Mezzo-Soprano, Bass-Baritone, Guitar and Ensemble (1978)
  • Three Poems of Robert Frost for Baritone and Ensemble (1942, orchestrated 1980)
  • Night Fantasies for Piano (1980)
  • In Sleep, in Thunder for Tenor and Ensemble (1981)
  • Changes for Guitar (1983)
  • Triple Duo (1983)
  • Penthode (1985)
  • String Quartet No.4 (1986)
  • Three Occasions for Orchestra (in three parts: A Celebration of some 150x100 notes, Remembrance and Anniversary) (1986-89)
  • Violin Concerto (1989)
  • Quintet for Piano and Winds (1991)
  • Trilogy for Oboe and Harp (in three parts: Bariolage for Harp, Inner Song for Oboe and Immer Neu for Oboe and Harp) (1992)
  • Of Challenge and of Love for Soprano and Piano (1994)
  • String Quartet No.5 (1995)
  • Symphonia: Sum Fluxae Pretiam Spei (in three parts: Partita, Adagio Tenebroso and Allegro Scorrevole) (1993-96)
  • Clarinet Concerto (1996)
  • What Next? (opera in one act) (1997)
  • Luimen for Ensemble (1997)
  • Quintet for Piano and Strings (1997)
  • Tempo e Tempi for Soprano, Oboe, Clarinet, Violin and Cello (1998-99)
  • Two Diversions for Piano (1999)
  • Four Lauds for Solo Violin (1999, 1984, 2000, 1999)
  • ASKO Concerto (2000)
  • Oboe Quartet (2001)
  • Cello Concerto (2001)
  • Boston Concerto (2002)
  • Dialogues for Piano and Orchestra (2003)
  • Three Illusions for Orchestra (in three parts: Micomicón, Fons Juventatis and More's Utopia) (2002-04)
  • Mosaic for Harp and Ensemble (2004)
  • Réflexions for Ensemble (2004)
  • Soundings for Piano and Orchestra (2005)
  • Intermittences for Piano (2005)
  • Catenaires for Piano (2006)
  • In the Distances of Sleep for voice and ensemble (2006)
  • Horn concerto (2007)
  • Interventions for piano and orchestra (2007)

Recommended recordings

  • Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello and Harpsichord; Sonata for Cello and Piano; Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano With Two Chamber Orchestras. Paul Jacobs, hpschd; Joel Krosnick, cello; Gilbert Kalish, piano; The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Arthur Weisberg, cond. Elektra/Nonesuch 9 79183-2.
  • String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2. The Composers Quartet. Elektra/Nonesuch 9 71249-2
  • Piano Concerto; Variations for Orchestra. Ursula Oppens, piano; Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Michael Gielen, cond. New World Records, NW 347-2.
  • Triple Duo; Clarinet Concerto; short pieces. Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Lorraine Vaillancourt, cond. ATMA Classique, ACD2 2280.
  • Complete Music for Piano. Charles Rosen, Piano. Bridge 9090.
  • Vocal Works (1975-81): A Mirror on Which to Dwell; In Sleep, In Thunder; Syringa; Three Poems of Robert Frost. Speculum Musicae with Katherine Ciesinki, mezzo; Jon Garrison, tenor; Jan Opalach, bass; Christine Schadeberg, soprano. Bridge, BCD 9014.
  • Dialogues; Boston Concerto; Cello Concerto; ASKO Concerto. Nicolas Hodges, piano; Fred Sherry, cello; London Sinfonietta, BBC Symphony Orchestra, ASKO Ensemble, Oliver Knussen, cond. Bridge 9184.

Notable students

See also

References

  1. ^ 'Minimalism is death'. Telegraph, 26 July 2003.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Elliott Carter.

Interviews

Listening

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