Rzewski, Frederic (Anthony)

Rzewski, Frederic (Anthony) , American pianist, teacher, and avant-garde composer; b. Westfield, Mass., April 13, 1938. He studied counterpoint with Thompson and orchestration with Piston at Harvard Univ. (B.A., 1958) and continued his studies with Sessions and Babbitt at Princeton Univ. (M.F.A., 1960); then received instruction from Dallapiccola in Florence on a Fulbright scholarship (1960–61) and from Carter in Berlin on a Ford Foundation grant (1963–65). With Curran and Teitelbaum, other similarly futuroscopic musicians, he founded the M.E.V. (Musica Elettronica Viva) in Rome in 1966; was active as a pianist in various avant-garde settings; played concerts with the topless cellist Charlotte Moorman; also devoted much time to teaching. In 1977 he became prof. of composition at the Liège Cons. As a composer, he pursues the shimmering distant vision of optimistic, positivistic anti-music. He is furthermore a granitically overpowering piano technician, capable of depositing huge boulders of sonoristic material across the keyboard without actually wrecking the instrument.

Works

ORCH. : Nature morte for 25 Instruments (1965); A Long Time Man for Piano and Orch. (1979); The Price of Oil for 2 Speakers, Winds, and Percussion (1980); Satyrica for Jazz Band (River Falls, Wise, April 27, 1983); Una breve storia d’estate for 3 Flutes and Small Orch. (1983). instrumental : Octet for Flute, Clarinet, Trumpet, Trombone, Piano, Harp, Violin, and Double Bass (1961–62); For Violin (1962); Speculum Dianae for 8 Instruments (1964); Les Moutons de Panurge for Variable Ensemble (1969); Last Judgement for 1 or More Trombones (1969); Attica for Narrator and Variable Ensemble (1972); Coming Together for Narrator and Variable Ensemble (1972); What Is Freedom? for 6 Instruments (1974); 13 Instrumental Studies (1977); Song and Dance for Flute, Bass Clarinet, Vibraphone, and Electric Bass (1977); Whang Doodles, trio for Violin, Piano, and Percussion (Chicago, Aug. 20, 1990); Crusoe for 4 to 12 Performers (1993). piano : Preludes (1957); Poem (1959); Sonata for 2 Pianos (1960); Study I (1960) and 77 (1961); Falling Music for Amplified Piano and Tape (1971); Variations on No Place to Go but Around (1974); The People United Will Never Be Defeated, 36 variations on the Chilean song El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido! (1975); 4 pieces (1977); 4 North American Ballads (1978–79); Squares (1979); Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues for 2 Pianos (1980); A Machine for 2 Pianos (1984); Sonata (1991). other : Spacecraft (his magnum opus; 1967; “plan for spacecraft” publ. in Source, 3, 1968); Impersonation, audiodrama (1967); Requiem (1968); Symphony for Several Performers (1968).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire