Frederic Rzewski

Frederic Anthony Rzewski (/ˈʒɛfski/ ZHEF-skee; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist. He was considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. From 1977 on, he lived primarily in Belgium. His major compositions, which often incorporate social and political themes, include the minimalist Coming Together and the theme and variations set The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, which has been called "a modern classic".

Early life and education

Rzewski was born on April 13, 1938, in Westfield, Massachusetts, to Polish-American parents, and raised Catholic. He began playing piano at age 5 and attended Phillips Academy, Harvard University, and Princeton University, where his teachers included Randall Thompson, Roger Sessions, Walter Piston, and Milton Babbitt. In 1960, he went to Italy on a Fulbright grant, a trip which was formative in his future musical development. In addition to studying composition with Luigi Dallapiccola in Florence, he began a career as a performer of new piano music, often with an improvisatory element.

Career

In 1966, Rzewski co-founded Musica Elettronica Viva with fellow American expatriates Alvin Curran and Richard Teitelbaum in Rome. Musica Elettronica Viva conceived music as a collective, collaborative process, with improvisation and live electronics prominently featured. In 1971, he returned to New York from Italy.

In 1977, Rzewski became Professor of Composition at the Royal Conservatory of Liège in Belgium, then directed by Henri Pousseur. He taught for short periods at other schools and universities throughout the US and Europe, including Yale University, the University of Cincinnati, the California Institute of the Arts, the University of California, San Diego, the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and Trinity College of Music in London.

Many of Rzewski's works were inspired by secular and socio-historical themes, show a deep political conscience, and feature improvisational elements. His better-known works include The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (36 variations on Sergio Ortega's "El pueblo unido jamás será vencido" for piano); Coming Together, a setting of letters from Sam Melville, an inmate at Attica State Prison prior to the Attica Prison riot; North American Ballads (1978–79); Night Crossing with Fisherman; Fougues; Fantasia and Sonata; The Price of Oil and Le Silence des Espaces Infinis, both of which use graphical notation; Les Moutons de Panurge; and the Antigone-Legend. Rzewski's later compositions include Nanosonatas (2006–2010) and Cadenza con o senza Beethoven (2003). Rzewski played the solo part in the world premiere of his piano concerto at the 2013 BBC Proms.

Personal life and death

In 1963, Rzewski married Nicole Abbeloos; they had five children. While Rzewski never divorced Abbeloos, his companion for about the last 20 years of his life was Françoise Walot, with whom he had two children. He also had five grandchildren.

Rzewski died of an apparent heart attack in Montiano, Tuscany, Italy, on June 26, 2021, aged 83.

Appraisal

Nicolas Slonimsky called Rzewski "a granitically overpowering piano technician, capable of depositing huge boulders of sonoristic material across the keyboard without actually wrecking the instrument." In 2018, Michael Schell deemed him "the most important living composer of piano music, and surely one of the dozen or so most important living American composers".

In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), music critic and journalist Robert Christgau called the premiere recording of Coming Together "amazing" and "political art as expressive and accessible as Guernica".

Selected discography

Literature

• Rzewski, Frederic. Nonsequiturs—Writings & Lectures on Improvisation, Composition, and Interpretation (Unlogische Folgerungen—Schriften und Vorträge zu Improvisation, Komposition und Interpretation). Edition Musiktexte, Cologne, 2007. ISBN 3-9803151-8-5.
• Петров, Владислав Олегович. Фредерик Ржевски: путь обновления традиций. Astrakhan: AIPKP, 2011, p. 100.
• Petrov, Vladislav O. Frederic Rzewski: upgrade path traditions. Astrakhan: AIPKP, 2011, p. 100.

References

Further reading

• Murray, Edward. "Rzewski, Frederic" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vols. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2.
• Murray, Edward. "Rzewski, Frederic" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. 29 vols. London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001. ISBN 1-56159-239-0.
• Schönmaier, Eleonore. "Fred's Dog" and "Nocturnes" in Dust Blown Side of the Journey. London: McGill–Queen's University Press, 2017.
• Zimmermann, Walter, Desert Plants – Conversations with 23 American Musicians, Berlin: Beginner Press in cooperation with Mode Records, 2020 (originally published in 1976 by A.R.C., Vancouver). The 2020 edition includes a cd featuring the original interview recordings with Larry Austin, Robert Ashley, Jim Burton, John Cage, Philip Corner, Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, Joan La Barbara, Garrett List, Alvin Lucier, John McGuire, Charles Morrow, J.B. Floyd (on Conlon Nancarrow), Pauline Oliveros, Charlemagne Palestine, Ben Johnston (on Harry Partch), Steve Reich, David Rosenboom, Frederic Rzewski, Richard Teitelbaum, James Tenney, Christian Wolff, and La Monte Young.

External links

• Frog Peak Music (a composers' collective) has scores of some of Rzewski's compositions.
• Frederic Rzewski page on New Albion Records
• "Frederic Rzewski" (biography, works, resources) (in French and English). IRCAM.
• Free scores by Frederic Rzewski at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), which also hosts various live recordings of Rzewski playing his music.
• Frederic Rzewski at 80: Directions Inevitable or Otherwise at Second Inversion
• Frederic Rzewski discography at Discogs
• Frederic Rzewski at IMDb