INSIDEINSIDE Bernstein and Copland, the Cold

Home , Alexei Haieff, Arthur Berger (composer), Emmanuel Feldman, Henry Brant, Jerome Moross, John Lessard

H ARVARD UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF

Art Placement only MUSIC NEWSLETTER

Vol. 4, No. 1/Winter 2004 Bernstein and Copland, the Cold War: Music Building Oja and Schreffler’s 20th-Century Studies North Yard CAROL J. OJA “I would have never thought of it in America,” Harvard University says Anne Shreffler of her current project, a Cambridge, MA 02138 book on new music during the Cold War. Shreffler spent nine years in Europe, at the 617-495-2791 University of Basel, before joining the faculty at Harvard. www.music.fas.harvard.edu “It changed my life. I thought about the dif- ferences between Europe and America every day while I was there. Europeans do it this way, Americans do it this way; it was a constant back- ground noise, this awareness of difference.” Shreffler is interested in the decade after INSIDEINSIDE WWII—1945-1957—and in exploring the dif- ferences in political context between American 22Faculty News “I take pride in working across disciplines,” says 32 Shelemay in Ghana Carol J. Oja, referring to her recent work with ANNE C. SHREFFLER 43 Library News 20th-century American music. Oja has just fin- 4 Jazz innovator Greg ished her first semester at Harvard as the newly Osby at Harvard appointed William Powell Mason Professor of 5 Alumnae News Music. 6Graduate News “I really loved my graduate seminar this fall. 6Undergraduate News The discussion around the table was extraordi- 7 Heisey-Rotner’s nary, with students in ethnomusicology, theory, Music & Art composition, and historical musicology—even 8 Aaron Berkowitz: An one from the History of American Civilization— Interview and the sparks that flew were pretty amazing. 9 Arthur Berger I’m looking forward to building a network of 10 Calendar graduate students interested in investigating 11 2004 Fromm American musical traditions from diverse disci- Commissions Announced plinary perspectives.” and European new music: “We had such differ- 11 Staff News For Oja, “American” is most compelling when ent experiences of the war, our music histories 12 Yannatos Celebrates widely defined. are different. It wasn’t just Soviet and commu- 40 Years at Harvard “The notion of ‘national identity’ is continu- nist cultures that created a political music, what ally fluid, posing all sorts of intriguing issues. we think of when we think of Eisler and Brecht. Take Cage. Cage was certainly American, but his People in the West were writing music—Cage, work was profoundly shaped by Asian philoso- Schoenberg, Boulez—that occupied an ideologi- phies at the same time as it had a strong impact cal position. It was a political music as well.” in Western Europe. Studying American music New music, Shreffler believes—music per- DEPARTMENT CHAIR isn’t about being a nativist booster but rather ceived by creators and listeners as advanced, or Thomas F. Kelly provides an opportunity to probe our culture in experimental—was part of the political context DEPARTMENT ADMINISTRATOR terms of its internal diversities and relationship of the Cold War. Nancy Shafman to traditions around the globe.” “One strand of new music after WWII in NEWSLETTER EDITOR Oja is happy to be stepping onto the moving America was highly systematized. It was related Lesley Bannatyne train at Harvard. “The maverick here in study- to science and technology—think IBM in the ing American music was Eileen Southern [the 50s. There was an academic establishment be- Continued on page 3 Continued on page 4 F aculty News

Professor Emeritus REINHOLD BRINKMANN Shelemay in Ghana delivered a “Wiener Vorlesung” at the Schubert-Saal of the Vienna Konzerthaus Kay Kaufman Shelemay took a research trip commemorating the 175th anniversary of to Ghana during the first half of January, Schubert’s death. The topic was Schubert’s 2004. Shelemay worked primarily in Accra, “Winterreise.” In March, Professor the Ghanaian capital, where she researched a Brinkmann will give the annual Donald J. case study of urban musical life for the sec- Grout lecture at Cornell University, also on ond edition of her Soundscapes textbook. In Schubert songs. collaboration with Harvard historian Emmanuel Akyeampong, Shelemay also vis- Assistant Professor MAURO CALCAGNO and ited traditional healers in the Volta region to James Edward Ditson Professor ANNE the east of Accra, where she and Akyeampong SHREFFLER initiated a seminar on opera at explored collaborative research possibilities the Harvard Humanities Center. The semi- relating to healing, ritual, and music for the nar is a discussion group, and will provide a Harvard African Studies initiative. forum for presenting new work and bring- Akyeampong and Shelemay also met with of- ing together scholars from different fields. ficials at the University of Ghana and trav- elled north to Kumasi, where they had an SEAN GALLAGHER is co-editor of Western audience with the Asantehene (King of the Plainchant in the First Millennium, a collec- Asante Nation), Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. tion of essays recently published by Ashgate. While in Ghana, Shelemay attended many He is on leave this year, thanks to a fellow- events with rich musical content including ship from the American Council of Learned church services, healing rituals, performances Societies, and is currently writing a book on by various funeral and dance associations, and musical poetics in the fifteenth century. a rehearsal of the national Ghana Dance En- semble. Shelemay interviewed a number of Morton B. Knafel Professor THOMAS FORREST Ghanaian musicians and came back with re- KELLY gave the opening lecture for the Los cordings and photographs documenting Angeles Philharmonic orchestra in Walt many aspects of present-day Ghanaian mu- Disney Hall during a series entitled “First sical life. Nights,” based on his Harvard Core course and his book of the same title. In February Top to bottom: Children from families associated with he was the Geiringer Lecturer at the Univer- African Star Dancers in Accra learn to play drums; Star Dancers performing a dance to drum accompaniment; sity of California, Santa Barbara. He pre- Master drummer accompanying singing and dancing of sented a paper to the American Musicologi- the Agbadza by an Ewe Funeral Society in Accra. cal Society on a new fragment of Old-Ro- Photos by Kay Shelemay. man chant, and he spoke in the Department's own lecture series. Kelly also addressed the Harvard Clubs of Westchester and Louisville. Visiting Faculty & Associates Dwight D. Robinson, Jr. Professor ROBERT LEVIN is working full tilt on his commission DEBORAH BURTON’s forthcoming book— from Carnegie Hall to complete the Mozart Tosca's Prism Northeastern U. Press, 2004— C-minor Mass, K.427 (to be premiered by won an AMS subvention grant to help with Helmuth Rilling at Carnegie, January 15, musical examples. The book derives from an 2005). Recent performances include concerts international conference Burton organized with Günter Herbig, the Detroit Symphony; in Rome in June 2000 for the centennial of Christopher Hogwood, Götegorg Symphony Puccini's “Tosca” and the bicentennial of the (Sweden); Nicholas McGegan, New World historical events depicted in the opera. Both Symphony (Miami Beach, FL); Sir Roger Professors Kelly and Lockwood were on the Norrington, Stuttgart Radio Orchestra Advisory Committee. continued on page 5

2 Oja, continued from page 1 first professor with a dual appointment in Block, the series editor, just published the first Afro-American Studies and Music], whose volume, about Richard Rodgers. Library News Music of Black Americans (1971) simulta- “When I first was approached about the neously established a scholarly model and series, I considered writing about Gershwin,” made a political statement. Currently, Ingrid says Oja, “but I was intrigued by the idea of Computer Workstations at Monson, Kay Kaufman Shelemay, and Anne tackling a later time period.” Loeb Music Library Shreffler are all working on different corners Why Bernstein? Tailored for Music Scholars of the American scene, and our methodolo- “I admire Bernstein’s theatrical scores, and gies vary considerably, yielding a wonderful West Side Story was an important part of my Computer workstations tailored for multi- synergy.” adolescence. I am a pianist and organist, and media music research are available in the Oja developed her interest in 20th-cen- in high school I played for lots of musicals, Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library’s Aldrich tury American music through graduate study including that one. This repertory is central reading room. Students can complete with H. Wiley Hitchcock at the Graduate to our national identity. On a scholarly level, course listening assignments, compose School of the City University of New York. Bernstein’s music attracts me in part because music, or access online multimedia re- A project about the music of Aaron Copland of his relationship with Copland; it feels like sources from the workstations, which are hooked her early on: “As a first-year student, a natural extension of work I’ve done before. equipped with high-end sound cards, I interviewed Copland for a paper and There are some dissertations emerging about headphones, and headphone amplifiers. In jumped headlong into archival research– Bernstein, but the scholarly literature remains addition, Finale, a notation software for which in this case meant having the good surprisingly slim.” creating, editing, and printing sheet mu- fortune to work with correspondence and Oja is also co-editing a volume of essays sic, is installed on each of the four ma- music manuscripts housed in his basement about Copland with Judith Tick, to be pub- chines. Regular software updates ensure in Peekskill, New York. This material is now lished in conjunction with the Bard Festival the latest versions of plugins, such as at the Library of Congress.” in 2005 (Princeton University Press), and she RealAudio and Beatnik, are installed. Research into American 20th-century is currently president of the Society for “Music scholars have always conducted music led to Oja’s extensive publications American Music. Tucked away in her file for their research using a variety of informa- about a who’s who of composers: Aaron the future is a project about Minna tional formats including text, manuscripts, Copland, George Gershwin, Ruth Crawford Lederman, editor of the “little magazine” printed scores, and recordings. As multi- Seeger, Virgil Thomson, William Grant Still, Modern Music, from 1924 to1946: “I’m the media technologies become more sophis- Edgard Varèse, Henry Cowell, Carl Ruggles, executor of Lederman’s literary estate, and I ticated and quality digital content becomes Marion Bauer, Dane Rudhyar, Colin want to publish a volume of her essays and more widely available, music scholars are McPhee—musicians who collectively made correspondence.” Lederman trained a gen- turning to the web to find full text articles up the New York music scene early in the eration of American composer-journalists and and books, digital images, midi reproduc- century. For her book, Making Music Mod- wrote personal remembrances about them tions of manuscript and printed scores, ern: New York in the 1920s (Oxford Univer- and others, including Cage, Copland, Elliott and online audio and video. These work- sity Press, 2000), Oja sketched a broad cul- Carter, Igor Stravinsky, and Virgil Thomson. stations were designed to make accessing tural environment for young American com- She also had close ties to poets and artists these technologies easy and straightfor- posers of the day. such as John Ashbury, Edwin Denby, Elaine ward,” said Connie Mayer, Public Services “I explored poetry, painting, and sculp- DeKooning, and Jasper Johns. Librarian for Loeb Music Library. ture to contextualize musical developments The Aldrich reading room is open dur- in the U.S. And I focused closely on transat- Carol Oja’s Making Music Modern is avail- ing library hours. lantic networks; a lot of composers in my able from Oxford University Press; it won the book either spent substantial time in Europe, Lowens Award of the Society for fusing strong links to composers there, or American Music and an ASCAP- got to know the newest European composi- Deems Taylor Award. Her previous tions through the dissemination of scores and book, Colin McPhee: Composer in —Thomas Forrest Kelly, Chair recordings. For example, a two-piano ar- Two Worlds (1982), also received Morton B. Knafel Professor of rangement of Stravinsky’s famous Rite of an ASCAP Award; it will be released Music Spring circulated among American compos- in paperback this year by the Uni- ers during the 1910s, providing the first op- versity of Illinois Press. portunity for many of them to come in contact with it.” Her current project is Leonard Bernstein and Musical Theater for Yale University Press, part of a new series that will include a book Connie Mayer with Chuck Gabriel at the for each major Broadway composer. Geoffrey new Aldrich Room workstations.

3 Shreffler, continued from page 1 ginning to set up big electronic music studios. Composers and theo- is rhetoric in early 50s that rejects atonal styles for more accessible rists were joining the academy for first time, and hard science legiti- art. But then Stravinsky, and others, started writing serial music in mized their field and work. 1955, and new music became associated with progress.” “But in Europe it was different. New music was banned in Nazi New music, posits Shreffler, although not intrinsically political, Germany and under fascist regimes: 12-tone music became associated becomes “in” for reasons formed by political situation; it cannot with anti-fascism. Just writing it during the war was dangerous. As stand outside the sphere of politics. soon as WWII was over, people in Europe wanted to find out every- Shreffler began thinking about this book in 1996 when she wrote thing Schoenberg had been writing—they had a hunger for what they’d an article for an exhibit catalog addressing why so many composers missed. And it was liberating: com- after WWII rejected posing and performing new music NEW MUSIC WAS BANNED IN NAZI GERMANY AND UNDER FASCIST RE- neo-classicism. Research was an acknowledgement of anti- GIMES: 12-TONE MUSIC BECAME ASSOCIATED WITH ANTI-FASCISM. JUST brought her to the Paul fascism. People in Europe re-discov- WRITING IT DURING THE WAR WAS DANGEROUS. Sacher Foundation, ered 12-tone music between 1945- which houses 70 collec- 48. They associated it with solidar- tions of composers, in- ity and leftist values. It was, in fact, highly political; some composers cluding Webern, Stravinsky, Boulez, Carter, Berio, and Ligeti. “It’s a even worked with the resistance. And some even sympathized with wonderful place to think about music history. You have to get as the Soviet Union as the epitome of the avant garde. good a sense as you can of the whole landscape.” She especially loved “Then, in 1948, things changed. The Soviets clamped down and the letters she found there. “Composers express strong political opin- instituted a hard program of socialist realist art. All of a sudden, 12- ions, and from their letters you can find out a lot about the texture tone music was elitist. Soviets demanded their composers write ac- of their lives.” cessible music for the masses, which is where you get ballets created around tractor drivers. Or even work by Shostakovich, a wonderful Anne Shreffler is the James Edward Ditson Professor of Music. She will teach her first composer, who wrote real pieces as well as pieces for the Soviet apparatus. courses at Harvard this spring semester, Current Methods in Historical Musicology “This jolted Westerners. People had to articulate—in 1948-49- (focusing on the status of musical performance in the academic discipline) and a 50—why new music was reconcilable with left wing thinking. There graduate seminar on American avant-garde and experimental music after 1945.

Jazz Innovator Greg Osby at Harvard

The Department of Music Blodgett Distinguished Artist Series presented a concert by the Greg Osby Four at John Knowles Paine Concert Hall in November. Osby came to campus for a week to share his knowledge of jazz and improvisation with Harvard students, including several at the music department. Ethnomusicology graduate student Matthew Clayton studies privately with Osby, and had this to say about his work:

“Greg Osby is truly an innovator in the realm of jazz at a time when innovation is scarce in the genre. He has developed his own theory of music, something he and saxophonist Steve Coleman initiated in the early 80’s with their M-BASE collective. This theory deals with motivic cells that are treated intervallically, allowing for colorful and daring substitutions, harmonic and melodic angularity, and a deeper extension of the mathematic ground rules that define all current jazz practice (i.e. chord changes, voice leading, “swing”). Osby exposes his students to the widest range of musical sources, from jazz, to classical, to world music, to pop, and he is par- ticularly sensitive to tailoring lessons to each student’s needs. His work with pianist An- drew Hill was very significant in his career, with Hill being one of Osby’s heroes and mentors. The recording “Inner Circle” best represents Greg Osby’s wonderfully creative, and far-reaching, musical mind.” —Matthew Clayton, Ethnomusicology graduate student

Greg Osby with Professor Ingrid Monson; Greg Osby Four in concert. Photo by James Leach.

4 Faculty News, continued (Mannheim, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe); and JEANNIE GUERRERO (PhD 2003), professor Mario Venzago, Indianapolis Symphony. Alumnae News of music theory at the Eastman School of Levin was conductor/soloist for the Orches- Music, presented “Multidimensional tra of the Age of Enlightenment’s perfor- JUDAH COHEN’s (PhD 2002) book, Through Counterpoint and Social Subversion in mances of Beethoven Piano Concertos No. the Sands of Time: A History of the Jewish Luigi Nono’s Choral Works” at SMT, a pa- 1 in C major, Op. 15, and No. 3 in C mi- Community of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Is- per which received the 2003 MTSNYS nor, Op. 37 (Bristol, London). lands, has been released and is available on Emerging Scholar Award and will be pub- amazon.com. Says Cohen, “It’s mostly his- lished in Theory and Practice. She partici- In December 2003, Professor Emeritus tory, with ethnographic twists.” Cohen has pated in the third of the Seminari LEWIS LOCKWOOD gave a lecture at the been negotiating his way through the Ju- Internazionali Estivi “Jacopo da Bologna” American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the daic Studies department at NYU as the sole in Dozza, Italy. topic was “Beethoven and His Royal Dis- representative for music/arts, anthropology/ ciple.” social science, and Caribbean studies. He One of APRIL JAMES’ (PhD 2002) long-time just completed teaching his first class on dreams came true: she had a lead role in Associate Professor KAREN PAINTER, who re- the Holocaust. the New York production of Christmas cently gave birth to Elizabeth Homer Painter, Revels. The theme was the Italian Renais- is completing work on a volume she is co- Soprano CAPRICE CORONA (AB ’97) was sance, complete with solar eclipse and editing with art historian Thomas Crow. In awarded First Prize in the Nineteenth An- commedia dell’arte. James played addition to her essay, “Mozart in the Shadow nual International Opera Singers Compe- Arlecchina. of Beethoven: Biography and Musical Inter- tition, sponsored by the Center for Con- pretation in the Twilight of Idealism, 1827- temporary Opera in New York City. Co- ROE-MIN KOK (PhD 2003) has been ap- 1871,” the book’s contributors on music in- rona was chosen from twenty-one semifi- pointed Assistant Professor of Music at clude Zoe Lang (doctoral candidate in mu- nalists. In addition to the cash prize she will McGill University, Montreal, Canada. sicology at Harvard University), John be presented in recital during the 2004- Rockwell (a member of the music 2005 season at Weill Recital Hall in New LEONARD LEHRMAN (AB ’71) in 2003 be- department’s visiting committee), Stanley York City. Corona recently teamed up with came Director of the Oceanside Chorale, Cavell (emeritus professor of Philosophy at composer/husband Jonathan Holland Minister of Music at Christ Church Harvard), Frank Gehry, John Deathridge, (PhD 2001) for a performance of Holland’s Babylon, Organist at Temple Isaiah in Great and Bryan Gilliam. “Love Songs” at Berklee College of Music. Neck, Music Director of Parkside Players, and Associate Music Director of Broadway The International Contemporary Ensemble Blockbusters. He completed editing the presented The Music of Bernard Rands, a ret- third and final volume of The Marc rospective celebrating Walter Bigelow Rosen Blitzstein Songbook for Boosey & Hawkes. Professor BERNARD RANDS’ 70th birthday. Original Cast Recordings released the first His new string quartet was premiered at complete recording of an opera of his (his Symphony Space in New York City by the tenth), “The Wooing,” on a libretto after Ying Quartet. Anton Chekhov’s “The Boor” by Abel Meeropol (1903-1986), in honor of the ALEX REHDING’S book Hugo Riemann and the latter’s centennial. Lehrman’s article, “Mak- Birth of Modern Musical Thought was recently ing the Political Personal,” appeared on the published by Cambridge University Press American Music Center’s online magazine and is available both in the U.K. and the U.S. NewMusicBox, with many references and links to his Harvard productions, especially JAMES YANNATOS’ Concerto for Double Bass Caprice Carona. Photo by Susan Wilson. the 1970 Boston premiere of “I’ve Got the was performed by Alea III (Edwin Barker, Tune,” with Leonard Bernstein in atten- bass) in February. His Prayers from the Ark THOMAS J. CROWELL (AB ’43) continues to dance. In October 2004 Lehrman will be was also performed, both in Philadelphia by work at combining chemistry and music, performing his own and other composers’ Orchestra 2001 and again at Swarthmore playing chamber music on piano and doing music at the Nadia Boulanger Symposium College, also in February. Albany Records chemical research. in Boulder, Colorado, along with Robert recently released Yannatos’ 2nd and 7th Sym- Levin, among others. phonies. SARA JOBIN (AB ’91) will be the first woman to conduct at the San Francisco Opera this ANNE STONE (PhD 1995) and JEFF NICHOLS Errata: upcoming fall, when she conducts Tosca on (PhD 1991) announce the delivery of their The portrait of Bernard Rands in the previous issue was erroneously attributed. The photographer is November 7th, and Flying Dutchman on De- baby boy twins, Aaron and Gabriel, on Sep- th Megan Summers. cember 1st. tember 13 .

5 Graduate Student News

AARON GIRARD co-organized a panel at the 2003 Annual Conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music in Los Angeles in September. As part of the panel, “The Popularizing Voice: Questions of Singing and Gender,” he read a paper entitled “Singing Along with the Posthuman Voice.” His research on music theory in American universities has led him to many other con- ferences and academic events.

This November JOSÉ LUIS HURTADO won the Award of the City of Wolkersdorf (Austria), premiered April 10), received first prize in the with his compositions De verde y gris (en- “Luigi Russolo” competition for electroacous- Undergraduate News semble) and Tres Piezitas Op.15 (piano solo). tic music, and was hired as assistant professor The prize includes a monetary award and two at Berklee College of Music. Congratulations to junior FRANCESCA concerts in Vienna in April of 2004. His com- ANDEREGG, violin, and sophomore WEI-JEN position Seis (for fifteen instruments) won the JESSE RODIN recently directed a concert en- YUAN, piano, who were named finalists in the 20 de Noviembre Prize in Mexico. titled “A Roman Armed Man”—a ‘compos- Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra 2004 Concerto ite’ L’homme armé mass with movements by Competition. LARA PELLEGRINELLI contributed the entry on Josquin, Compère, Tinctoris, de Orto, and Ella Fitzgerald to the National African Ameri- Vaqueras. Department members CAROLANN Two music concentrators received Office for can Biography edited by Henry Louis Gates. BUFF, MARY GERBI, EVAN MACCARTHY, SCOTT the Arts Music Grants this year. MARISA An article she wrote on jazz vocalist Shirley METCALFE, MATTHEW PEATTIE, and JON W ILD GREEN ‘04 was awarded an Eckstein-Lipson Horn appeared in the New York Times Sun- sang. grant for a production of the Baroque opera day Arts & Leisure section last spring. Her ❖ The Ethiop by Harvard Early Music Society. “Singing for Our Supper: Are Vocalists Sav- ALEXANDER NESS ‘04 earned a Kahn Grant for ing the Jazz Industry?” appeared as the cover three fall projects: a concert of contemporary, of the December issue of Jazz Times and Lara We welcome your news and suggestions. classical, experimental, and electronic music moderated a panel on the same topic at the Please send information about your re- featuring works by undergraduates and estab- International Association of Jazz Education cent activities, publications and projects. lished composers; the staging of a parade in annual conference in New York City. To contribute an article, please contact Harvard yard featuring homemade instru- newsletter editor Lesley Bannatyne at: ments; and the creation of a permanent per- KEN UENO received a Fromm Music Founda- Music Building forming group that promotes the composition commission for his upcoming piece for North Yard tion and performance of contemporary mu- the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra (to be pre- Harvard University sic by undergraduates. miered May 16, 2004 at Sanders Theatre), Cambridge, MA 02138 was named composer-in-residence for the [email protected] ❖ Radius Ensemble (commissioned piece to be

The Department holiday party, left to right: Juniors Toni Marie Marchioni and DoanNhi Le with 93r T.A. Robbie Merfeld; Ethnomusicology graduate student Natalie Kirschstein; Administrator Nancy Shafman, Communications Coordinator Lesley Bannatyne, theory graduate student Mary Greitzer and Front Office Co-manager Kaye Denny. Top of page: Musicology graduate students Myke Cuthbert and Matthias Roeder with Professor Thomas Forrest Kelly.

6 James Heisey-Rotner Heisey-Rotner’s Music & Art thinks of his paintings and compositions as complete thoughts, not en- n the walls of his studio hang canvases tirely interdependent. He O in saturated colors: some vertical stripes, wants them to be coher- some still life paintings that evoke the topog- ent works that can stand raphy of a city. Notebook paper, brushes and alone, but that open up other channels of thought the guts of an old stereo crowd a table top. when experienced to- James Heisey-Rotner is at work on his senior gether . . . “I make little thesis, an installation in which the observer ‘metaworlds’ where will view paintings while listening to musical people can enjoy interre- lationships between the compositions on a walkman: “Each group of visual and the aural . . . ” paintings coordinates with a collection of H eisey- pieces of music. I want the viewer to set their R otner’s own pace, find their own rhythm.” senior thesis Heisey-Rotner is a joint music/visual stud- installation ies concentrator, and his thesis marries the two will be presented in artforms to focus inquiry on sources of sound May, 2004 and image, and how the two inform each at the to Harvard College in 2001 because it of- other. Carpenter fered the most flexible guidelines for a joint “The paintings I’m working on now are Center. concentration. “I’ve been able to study with in two distinct formats, because the installa- incredible professors in both departments, tion will have two parts. The first involves including Professors Rands and Levin in the music compositions that were written as pri- He also started piano lessons at five. music department and Nancy Mitchnick mary works in traditional forms, like a fugue “There was a point around the time my par- and Sue Williams in VES. In retrospect, or a theme and variations. For this part, the ents divorced (I was eight at the time) when studying with any one of those professors paintings are made “after” the compositions, I really got into music, and from then on it would have been would have been remark- following a tradition established by Kandinsky remained my primary interest until shortly able at Michigan, and I think it just goes to and Klee. They might be described as stripes before college. I think it represented a very show how incredible the faculty is here.” of color, which use line and rhythm in a se- private mode of expression, and improvising There aren’t many others at Harvard quence that suggest the passage of time. They in particular became an important daily ritual working in this vein. “Almost anyone in- were inspired by drawings I did of the inter- for me. I had a great piano teacher who used volved in this kind of multimedia work nal cavity of a grand piano, where the strings to have everyone compose a piece for a book seems to be using a visual medium that has have such a strong potential for sound. she made annually, and I quickly learned to a temporal dimension similar to music— “For the second part, the relationships are love hearing other people play my music far like film, video, or animation—or they’re reversed, and the paintings—still lifes portray- more than playing it myself.” using music that uses a nontraditional, frac- ing the inside of a stereo—are primary in the Heisey-Rotner was a senior in high school tured element of time in tandem with vi- process. The music builds aural invocations when the two art forms started to fit together. sual art. In both cases the different combi- of them, using ideas such as layering of form. “While they are very different in some re- nations make a lot of sense: you can either To me the paintings represent a contempo- spects—music has the element of time, while move the visual component closer to the rary visual world, an electronic cityscape. In painting doesn’t; painting was founded in rep- aural or the other way around, making the part I think they’re talking about sources of resentation, while music is ‘the abstract art’— connections easier to illuminate. For me, sound and if there really is any validity to vi- I could see lots of paths connecting them, though, the traditional/acoustic aspect of sual information. One can certainly see the like rhythm, phrasing, and the many identi- what I’m doing is very important. The fact aural potential of acoustic instruments, but is ties of color. By putting them together in in- that the temporal dimension is an apparent that connection lost in the electronic world?” stallations I hope I can make little gulf between the media is a challenge I Painting was Heisey-Rotner’s first me- ‘metaworlds’ where people can enjoy interre- really enjoy facing. I think it’s like any point dium. His mother, a quilter, introduced James lationships between the visual and the aural... in the creative process where you are faced to visual art very early on: “I still have these sort of like synonyms across the two media. with an incongruity—the process of hav- foggy pictures in my head of when she used In a way I think it’s like looking at the world ing to build a conceptual bridge, or in ef- to sit me on the floor with a series of fabric as if it were either slowed down near to a stop fect to rethink how the proposition was swatches and have me arrange them into a or sped up until everything organic is sim- mapped in the first place, often seems to quilt design,” remembers Heisey-Rotner. “In plified in excess.” yield the most interesting results.” a way I still look at paintings like personali- Heisey-Rotner went to University of ties of color.” Michigan School of Music, but transferred ❖

7 Aaron Berkowitz: An Interview You’ve completed three years of medical school. Why earn a PhD in Musicology too? A.B.: I have been interested in both music and science/medicine for a long time and have gone back and forth between seeking some sort of combination or synthesis of these fields and keeping them entirely separate. As an undergrad I did a BA in music and a BS in biology (at George Washington University) “in parallel.” Although I was familiar with physicians who treated problems of musicians as well as music therapists, to me, music and science/ medicine were at that time far more interesting separately. Much of my work in biology was in the domain of cognitive neuroscience, the study of neural mechanisms of higher cortical processes such as learning, memory, language, etc. Over time I became very interested in music as a fascinating system with which to study these questions and have thus returned to seeking synthesis of my interests in music and science.

How do you see the two fields informing each other? A.B.: Music is a highly complex phenomenon requiring recruitment of various neural networks ranging from those involved in auditory learning/memory to motor planning to imag- ery to emotion and so on. There is a lot of interest in the neuroscience/psychology community in music for these same reasons. Some seek to understand music better by studying the brain, some seek to localize musical functions in the brain to compare these musical networks with speech networks, for example. I am most interested in what studying music can tell us about the brain. In elucidating mechanisms of brain function, hopefully new insights into diseases of the nervous system could be discovered....some day... For example, there is some evidence that music can help Parkinson’s patients overcome trouble with movement.

Combining the humanities and sciences must have I AM MOST INTERESTED IN WHAT STUDYING MUSIC CAN TELL US ABOUT THE BRAIN. IN other benefits, at least in terms of your research ELUCIDATING MECHANISMS OF BRAIN FUNCTION, HOPEFULLY NEW INSIGHTS INTO DISEASES and training. How will your graduate work here OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM COULD BE DISCOVERED . . . benefit your medical work later? A.B.: Doing an MD/PhD is not uncommon, though obviously it is usually a PhD in a more medically related field than music. I wanted to pursue a PhD for broader exposure to research methodologies as well as the chance to focus on specific research questions and projects. I thought of pursuing a PhD in neuroscience but realized that I could look at some of the same questions in a graduate program in music. In this way I will become “cross-trained” (to quote one of my medical school advisors) in the humanities and sciences which will hopefully lead to a broader perspective on the questions I am interested in, as well as lead me to new questions. Also, being in the humanities offers me the opportunity to learn more languages which I am very excited about. This will permit me unique opportunities for ethnography, for potentially practicing medicine abroad, and, in the process of learning a variety of languages, hopefully also give me interesting perspectives on some of the questions of auditory learning and memory that interest me in music. At Johns Hopkins, where I am working on my MD, the motto is “Research, Teaching, and Patient Care.” This triad of responsibilities for the physician really resonates with me and the potential to excel in each of these areas will undoubtedly be shaped by my experience in the humanities at Harvard. It is my hope that “cross-training” will inform and enhance my practices of music, medicine, science, and teaching in the long run. I am of course very fortunate to have had such open-minded, flexible, and encouraging advisors at Johns Hopkins (Dr. H. Franklin Herlong and Dr. David Newman-Toker) who not only helped make the leave of absence possible but who truly support my pursuit of a PhD at Harvard. I cannot thank them enough for their guidance. Of course I am also deeply indebted to my advisors here at Harvard, Professor Shelemay and Professor Hasty, whose work cuts across disciplinary boundaries and who encourage and support my work across disciplines.

And why Harvard? A.B.: Harvard’s program was a clear choice. Obviously the music department and its faculty are outstanding. What really drew me here was the interdisciplinary nature of the faculty...music functions here as part of the broader web of the intellectual community at Harvard. For example, Professors Shelemay and Hasty collaborate with scientists in the medical school, at MIT, and in the MBB (Mind/Brain/Behavior). One really gets the sense of an academic “web” at Harvard which cuts across disciplinary boundaries and is thus ideal for the sort of research I am interested in. I am also a composer and the composition department here is phenomenal as are the opportunities for performance of student pieces.

What overlap, if any, is there between the process of composing and that of doctoring/studying medicine? continued on page 11

8 Arthur Berger (1912-2003) “On one occasion,” Brant continued, “he [Berger] . . . brought in a clipping from the New York —by Carol Oja Sun where the critic was W. J. Henderson. He wrote an article wondering if young people, when they met to talk about music these days [i.e., 1932], ever pronounced the word ‘beauty.’ We decided rthur Berger, pupil of Walter Pis- to satisfy Mr. Henderson and all pronounce ‘beauty’–and we did so, with expression!” ton and self-described member of —Henry Brant to Vivian Perlis the “‘Harvard’ or ‘Boston’ group” A th of composers, died on October 7 . He was Berger was “the critic” among them. “On Copland have continued to address—and he 91. A leader among mid-twentieth-cen- one occasion,” Brant continued, “he . . . highlighted aesthetic criteria, such as tury composers who fused teaching, analy- brought in a clipping from the New York Sun “economy of means” and “declamatory style” sis, and composition, Berger produced a where the critic was W. J. Henderson. He that have become standard in the critical solid body of music and criticism, all the wrote an article wondering if young people, vocabulary for Copland. while confidently articulating a centrist when they met to talk about music these days As a composer, Berger produced an aesthetic position in an era that leaned [i.e., 1932], ever pronounced the word equally impressive body of work, mostly for toward either serialism or experimental- ‘beauty.’ We decided to satisfy Mr. orchestra, chamber ensemble, and piano. In ism. He knew where he stood artistically, Henderson and all pronounce ‘beauty’—and the New York Times this past December, An- and he became a spokesperson for Ameri- we did so, with expression!” (Copland: 1900 thony Tommasini listed Berger’s “Complete can composers with university positions through 1949, 1984). Through this light- Orchestral Music” among the best “classical who wrote in traditional forms and hearted anecdote, Brant put his finger on CD’s” of the year; it features the Boston worked imaginatively with tonal proce- Berger’s role as critic—continually trying to Modern Orchestra Project, conducted by Gil dures. communicate the nature of “beauty” in the Rose (New World Records). It’s a stunning A native of New York, Berger attended newest music. Berger shaped a distinctive CD, highlighting the pointillistic clarity, City College in its heyday, completing his prose style that combined hard-edged surfaces, undergraduate education at New York the evocative description A LEADER AMONG MID-TWENTIETH- and timbral brilliance University. During that period, he partici- of a critic with the nuts- typical of Berger’s style. CENTURY COMPOSERS WHO FUSED pated in the now-famous Young Compos- and-bolts details of an His chamber music has ers’ Group, a gathering of twenty-some- analyst. Some of his prose TEACHING, ANALYSIS, AND COMPO- earned a place in the things under the informal leadership of reached the general pub- SITION, BERGER PRODUCED A SOLID repertory, especially his Aaron Copland. Also included were Henry lic, especially when he BODY OF MUSIC AND CRITICISM, ALL Quartet for Winds Brant, Israel Citkowitz, Lehman Engel, wrote for daily newspa- (1941) and Chamber THE WHILE CONFIDENTLY ARTICULAT- Vivian Fine, Irwin Heilner, Bernard pers during the 1940s and Music for 13 Players Herrmann, Jerome Moross, and Elie 1950s (including the Bos- ING A CENTRIST AESTHETIC POSITION (1956). Siegmeister. Graduate work followed at ton Transcript, New York IN AN ERA THAT LEANED TOWARD EI- Over the Harvard, with an MA in 1936. Among Sun, and, most famously, THER SERIALISM OR EXPERIMENTAL- years, Berger grappled Berger’s friends on campus were Oscar the New York Herald Tri- with defining his own ISM. HE KNEW WHERE HE STOOD AR- Handlin, Robert Motherwell, and bune, where he was part compositional style— Delmore Schwartz. But a central part of of an illustrious team as- TISTICALLY, AND HE BECAME A and that of composers his experience at Harvard came from work sembled by Virgil SPOKESPERSON FOR AMERICAN COM- he considered artistic with Piston. In his trenchant Reflections of Thomson). He also con- POSERS WITH UNIVERSITY POSITIONS comrades—in a cultural an American Composer (University of Cali- tributed to specialized environment that WHO WROTE IN TRADITIONAL FORMS fornia Press, 2002), Berger recalled Piston journals, founding two of seemed to privilege ex- as “soft-spoken and placid” with students. them: Musical Mercury, AND WORKED IMAGINATIVELY WITH perimentation. One “In the sessions one on one with him,” which he started together TONAL PROCEDURES. such statement, titled Berger continued, “I had to pry the words with Bernard Herrmann “Stravinsky and the out to get him to talk. It was well worth it in 1934, and Perspectives Younger American since he always spoke good sense.” Under of New Music, which he helped found thirty- Composers,” was selected by Gilbert Chase a John Knowles Paine Fellowship, Berger two years later. for inclusion in The American Composer went to Paris to study with Nadia Perhaps Berger’s best known publication Speaks (1969). There, Berger allied himself Boulanger. He held long-standing univer- was Aaron Copland of 1953, the first book with Harold Shapero, Lukas Foss, Irving sity appointments at Brandeis, the Juilliard to address Copland’s music. It established a Fine, Alexei Haieff, and John Lessard as School, and the New England Conserva- foundational perspective on Copland. Build- members of “a Stravinsky school,” a rubric tory. ing on the criticism of Paul Rosenfeld, Berger that Berger proudly seized at the same time Berger made a great impact in both identified stylistic stages in Copland, sepa- as he recognized that it put him and his col- prose and music. In recounting the dy- rating the “‘serious’ or more ‘abstract’” works leagues in “a vulnerable spot.” “I may be namics within the Young Composers’ from those incorporating folk song—a dis- doing an injustice in calling attention to this

Group, Henry Brant told Vivian Perlis that tinction that subsequent writers about continued on page 11

9 Fromm Players at Harvard

n the current context where Boston has many superb new music groups, the Music department Ifelt that it was time to refocus the Fromm concerts: adding something unique to the Boston music scene, that would complement, not compete with, other Bos- ton groups. We decided to create a Fromm Festival. The first two-concert mini-festival will be held this Spring and a second festival will take place in Spring 2005 with a different curator (Elliott Gyger). Each year’s festival will be organized around a theme with pedagogical as well as musical ambitions. One goal of the festival will be to perform pieces that other groups can't do— because they require too many rehearsals or demand too many players. Each season we hope to program at least four or five really big works that are rarely performed. This year we will be doing Elliott Carter’s double concerto, for example, with its great virtuosity, large percus- sion setups, 16 players, two soloists, and one now historical harpsichord with a 16-foot set of strings. The festival format allows us to contract really superb national and international soloists in addition to the finest local players. We are asking these players not March 5 & 6, 2004 at 8:00 pm just to perform in the soloist role, but to play with the FROMM PLAYERS AT HARVARD ensemble in the other works. This, we hope, will give Solo-Tutti: The Evolution of the audiences a chance to hear world-class performances of Concerto and the Soloist works they wouldn’t ordinarily get to hear, and give lo- Jeffrey Milarsky, Conductor cal performers a chance to work with out-of-town con- ductors and performers of the first rank. Moreover, they Friday, March 5: will have the chance to play repertoire they wouldn’t Salvatore Sciarrino: Hermès (Patrice Bocquillon, flute) ordinarily get to perform. This should help make the Elliott Carter: Double Concerto for Harpsichord Fromm Players into a real orchestra of soloists. and Piano with Two Chamber Orchestras There will be discussions in tandem with the (Robert Levin, harpsichord, Ya-Fei Chuang, piano) concerts fleshing out the pedagogical function of the Mario Davidovsky, Synchronisms No. 6 for piano & tape festival. We are a University Music department and it is (Aleck Karis, piano) important to help show the larger context in which these Giacento Scelsi: Anahit works came into being. To this same end we are also (Curtis Macomber, violin) commissioning substantive articles for the program book. This year’s theme is “Solo-Tutti.” It will focus Saturday, March 6: on the contemporary evolution of the solo both within George Crumb: Vox Balaenae concerto-like and solo pieces. The different works cover George Ligeti: Cello Concerto the gamut of new relationships between soloist and en- (Emmanuel Feldman, cello) Bernard Rands: Concertino for oboe semble, within the solo voice itself, and even within a (Jacqueline Leclair, oboe) solo voice constructed jointly by an ensemble. Calendar Tristan Murail: Ethers We want this to be a really wonderful weekend (Patrice Bocquillon, flute) that highlights the special things that we as a university, with the support of the Fromm Foundation, can do best. (Free parking at the Everett Street garage after 7:00 pm.) —Joshua Fineberg, curator Fromm Festival at Harvard 2004

10 Berger, continued from page 9 Berkowitz, continued from page 8 2003 Fromm Foundation Commissions Announced common cause,” he observed. “Twelve- Probably the clearest parallel between these tone composers enjoy a certain immu- processes is the need for simultaneously think- Board of Directors of The Fromm Music nity from the accusation of being servile ing on the global level and on the level of Foundation at Harvard University are followers. Their method is taken to be minute detail. In both medical diagnosis and pleased to announce the names of the twelve abstract and impersonal, something that composing, one is constantly going back and composers selected to receive 2003 Fromm may be adapted to individual ends. But forth between these "micro" and "macro" lev- commissions. These composers were cho- though the principles embodied in els... sen from 149 applicants. Stravinsky’s music may be abstracted and The composers who received commis- adapted in a somewhat similar fashion I know you play classical piano; how did you sions are: Bruce Christian Bennett (San (though not as a concrete system), his pick up sitar? Francisco, CA); Steven Burke (New York, dominating personality is likely to be in- NY); Cindy Cox (Oakland, CA); Eleanor voked in the mind of the critic or listener My story is similar to the one I have now heard Cory (New York, NY); Michael Gandolfi whenever these principles are applied many times by “western” musicians who fall (Cambridge, MA); Derek Hurst elsewhere.” “Neo-classicism,” he con- in love with Indian music. When living in (Somerville, MA); Leroy Jenkins (Brooklyn, ceded, was an even more “unfortunate Paris (where I was teaching English and study- NY); Louis Karchin (Short Hills, NY); Eric rubric.” At the same time, he felt the im- ing piano and composition), I, on a whim, Moe (Pittsburgh, PA); Mathew Rosenblum pact of serialism and responded to it, tell- went to hear a concert of Indian music per- (Pittsburgh, PA); Ken Ueno (Cambridge, ing an interviewer, “You can easily un- formed on the sitar. I was absolutely blown MA); and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon (Roch- derstand that the mannerisms and devices away by the music on many different levels, ester, NY). issuing out of Vienna were too remote began reading, listening, and eventually went These commissions represent one of the for this purpose [that is, for articulating to India to begin studying. I now study with principal ways that the Fromm Music Foun- an American identity]. We found them George Ruckert at MIT. One of my fascina- dation seeks to strengthen composition and too highly imbued with the atmosphere tions with Indian music is how it is taught, a to bring contemporary concert music closer of Central Europe, of gaslit attics in system quite different from the system of to the public. In addition to the commis- Vienna. It was only later, when the pedagogy we use here in the West for music. sioning fee of $10,000, a subsidy is avail- twelve-tone approach divested itself of I am quite interested in cross-cultural com- able for the ensemble performing the pre- local color, when it could be separated parisons of music pedagogy (for example, how miere of the commissioned work. Among a out as an international technique, that does one teach improvisation, "style", or com- number of other projects, the Fromm Mu- anyone concerned with national identity position in a given culture?) and curious as to sic Foundation sponsors the annual Fromm was to feel freer to adopt it” (Perspectives what insights into learning/memory/educa- Contemporary Music Series at Harvard and of New Music, 1978). tion can be gleaned from such comparisons. supports the Festival of Contemporary Mu- Over and over again, Berger sought sic at Tanglewood. to map out this central plateau, all the Aaron Berkowitz is a Presidential Scholar of Applications for commissions are re- while striving to define a stylistic—and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, an viewed on an annual basis. The annual ultimately, historical—position for those appointment offered to a select group of students deadline for proposals is June 1. American composers at mid-century who in the humanities and social sciences on the rec- www.fas.harvard.edu/musicdpt/fromm.html/ worked with a fusion of serialism and ex- ommendation of their academic departments. tended tonality and who never veered from the “high” end of the cultural spec- S taff News trum. Or to put it another way: Berger focused on the unlabeled ones—those like himself whose music offers great re- KEITH HAMPTON joined the department as wards and still awaits in-depth consider- staff assistant in November. Keith is a mu- ation. sician and alumnus of Boston University.

EAN WHITE was artist-in-residence at the Taipei Artist Village, now under the auspices of the Taipei National University of the Arts. He gave a talk at the University and at the The University Hall Recital Series, an intimate, lunch- new Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts. He was time treat for the Harvard community held in the Fac- also production manager for a troup of Japa- ulty Room at University Hall, was inaugurated this past summer. Pictured here are Sonya Chung ’03 and Rob- nese ice sculptors who recreated Edo Castle ert Merfeld, Teaching Fellow for Chamber Music. on Boston Common as part of First Night.

11 Program

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Yannatos conducting in the 1970s. Yannatos Celebrates 40 Years at Harvard Excerpted from Overture In 1964, James and he told me about this opening at Harvard. So I was one of Yannatos was ap- six selected to come to Harvard to audition with the orchestra, pointed music direc- and the students and faculty selected me as both conductor and tor of the HRO. He’s member of the music department—a double appointment. led the group on What were some highlights during the years? tours, organized and I definitely remember we started out with a bang, with my very co-directed New first concert. It was an ambitious program: Berlioz’s Roman Car- England Composers nival Overture, Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Orchestra and 7th Symphony, and we played it very well and surprised quite a “Instruments are an extension of few people, I think. Then a few years later we went to Carnegie the voice. If something doesn’t Tanglewood Young sing, doesn’t breathe, it’s not real, Artists Orchestra, and Hall and performed at a concert of all Harvard composers. In not human.” has been guest con- 1979 we went to Berlin as the U.S. representative for the von ductor-composer at Karajan competition of youth orchestras, and got 3rd place— festivals in North America and the Soviet Union. Recipient of though I think we were so good that we should have won 1st numerous commissions for orchestra, vocal and instrumental (laughs). In 1984, we started touring Europe and Russia. works, his most ambitious is Trinity Mass. He has written for the What were some of your favorite parts of being involved with the HRO? stage and television, chamber, choral and vocal works, and pub- I enjoy seeing and working with students not only in an aca- lished music for children. Yannatos’ Violin Concerto will be pre- demic context. . .but outside of the institutional setting. I will miered by Joseph Lin and the HRO on April 16, 2004, celebrat- always remember the fellowship of the group, a communal spir- ing the 40th anniversary of Dr. Yannatos at Harvard University. ited experience that happens when we travel and perform to- To start, how did you begin working at Harvard? gether. It’s also immensely gratifying to see graduates of the HRO Yannatos: My first full season was 1964–65. . . By that point, I in professional orchestras such as the Chicago or Boston Sym- had met with Leonard Bernstein, who taught me at Tanglewood, phonies, and to see them contribute to the world.