This compact introduction to the life and works of composer Elliott Carter provides a fresh perspective on one of the most significant American composers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. A leading voice of the American classical music tradition and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, Carter was initially encouraged to become a composer by Charles Ives, and he went on to learn from Walter Piston at Harvard University and Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Drawing on Carter's voluminous writings and compositions, James Wierzbicki provides a clear discussion of Carter's evolving understanding of musical time and the influence of film on his work. Celebrating his 100th birthday in 2008 by premiering a number of new compositions, Carter has been a powerful presence on the American new music scene, an important connection to American music's foundational figures, and a dynamic force in its continuing evolution.''A gratifying success. The story of Elliott Carter's life and work is succinctly told and is one that specialists and non-experts alike can read with great profit.''--Arnold Whittall, author of Exploring Twentieth-Century Music: Tradition and Innovation ''The most complete picture of Carter's early life and career to date. Wierzbicki shows more clearly than anyone else how Carter's temporal techniques evolved over the course of his career.''--Anne C. Shreffler, coeditor of Elliott Carter: A Centennial Portrait in Letters and Documents
introduction 1 1. Foundations (1908-45) 5 2. Three Seminal Works (1945-51) 32 3. Maturity (1950-80) 50 4. New Directions (1980-2010) 75 Epilogue 97 notes 101 index 117
''...excellent short introduction to the composer's life and work...His short book is the clearest, sanest introduction to Carter's life and music. It helps to make accessible an achievement that, for many, represents the outer limits of modernist complexity.'' Andy Hamilton, Wire ''A gratifying success. The story of Elliott Carter's life and work is succinctly told and is one that specialists and non-experts alike can read with great profit.'' Arnold Whittall, author of Exploring Twentieth-Century Music: Tradition and Innovation ''The most complete picture of Carter's early life and career to date. Wierzbicki shows more clearly than anyone else how Carter's temporal techniques evolved over the course of his career.'' Anne C. Shreffler, co-editor of Elliott Carter: A Centennial Portrait in Letters and Documents
