Topic: Milton Babbitt

Milton Babbitt 1916-, American composer, b. Philadelphia. Babbitt turned to music after studying mathematics. He was a composition pupil of Roger Sessions at Princeton. Babbitt has attempted to apply twelve-tone principles to all the elements of composition: dynamics, timbre, and rhythm, as well as melody and harmony. He calls this "total serialization" (see serial music ). In 1959, Babbitt became one of the directors of the new Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York City. His works include Three Compositions for Piano (1947), three string quartets (1942, 1954, 1969-70),... Read more