THE PLAYER PIANO MUSIC OF CONLON NANCARROW: AN ANALYSIS OF SELECTED STUDIES (AND) "FAIR SEED-TIME" FOR TENOR AND ORCHESTRA (SELECTIONS FROM WILLIAM WORDSWORTH"S "PRELUDE"). (ORIGINAL COMPOSITION) (ARKANSAS, MEXICO).
Item
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Title
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THE PLAYER PIANO MUSIC OF CONLON NANCARROW: AN ANALYSIS OF SELECTED STUDIES (AND) "FAIR SEED-TIME" FOR TENOR AND ORCHESTRA (SELECTIONS FROM WILLIAM WORDSWORTH"S "PRELUDE"). (ORIGINAL COMPOSITION) (ARKANSAS, MEXICO).
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Identifier
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AAI8611334
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identifier
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8611334
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Creator
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CARLSEN, PHILIP CALDWELL.
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Contributor
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Charles Dodge
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Date
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1986
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Music | Biography
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Abstract
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The composer Conlon Nancarrow was born in Arkansas in 1912, played jazz trumpet as a young man, studied composition and counterpoint for brief periods in Cincinnati and Boston (including work with Slonimsky, Piston, and Sessions), fought in the Spanish Civil War as a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, became involved in the New York new music scene on his return to the United States in 1939, and emigrated to Mexico a year later as a result of the U.S. government's refusal to issue him a passport. He has lived in Mexico ever since, working for many years in virtual isolation from other composers and musicians. Gradually, however, with the ongoing release of scores and recordings of his music, Nancarrow has gained increasing recognition and stature, a fact exemplified by his receipt in 1982 of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" award.;Because of his isolation and his longstanding frustration at the inability of musicians to deal with even moderately difficult rhythms, he turned in the 1940s to the player piano. He has since written nearly fifty studies for the instrument, a unique body of work that is particularly notable for its exhaustive explorations of rhythmic and temporal complexity. In this essay, Studies No. 19, 36, 8, 23, and 35 are analyzed in depth. Examples from other works are also cited. The music amply demonstrates Nancarrow's wit, inventiveness, mastery of counterpoint, preoccupation with numbers and structures, and his ability to transform the mechanical player piano into an instrument of great virtuosic and expressive power.;Fair Seed-time, an original composition of approximately 17 minutes duration, is a set of four songs for tenor and orchestra based on excerpts from Book I of William Wordsworth's Prelude. The movements are entitled (I) "This Gentle Breeze," (II) " Fair Seed-time", (III) "Above the Raven's Nest," and (IV) "In the Frosty Season.".
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Music
