Milton Babbitt: Words about Music

By Stephen Dembski

Book Overview

Many consider Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Milton Babbitt to be the preeminent figure in post-World War II American music. Beyond the extraordinary power of his music, he is also, as he says, "somewhat known as a talker." In fact, he is renowned as an energetic teacher and inspired lecturer.
In 1983 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Babbitt presented a concise summary of his most essential musical insights in a series of lectures and seminars. These are gathered here, presenting for the first time in book form a comprehensive overview of the subjects that have formed the core of his teaching for the past forty years.
Babbitt's central concern in these lectures is the twelve-tone tradition with which he is so closely identified. His discussion of this tradition ranges from close consideration of specific compositional problems to frank evaluation of his own position in that tradition. In his characteristically penetrating way, Babbitt discusses the most controversial issues in twentieth-century music, from serialism and atonality to the responsibility of the listener and the place of music in the university.
Until now, few have had direct exposure to Babbitt's ideas. In Madison, he spoke to a variety of audiences and, because of the pedagogical context, his presentation was direct and explanatory. This volume preserves the dazzling constructions and spontaneous excitement of his spoken language.
At the time of publication, Milton Babbitt was William Shubael Conant Professor of Music Emeritus at Princeton University. He has been showered with awards during his long and distinguished career, including the Pulitzer Prize (1982) and a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship (1986). He was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0299107949
• ISBN13: 9780299107949
• Release Date: April 1987
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

More than Worthwhile

In never ceases to amaze me how many people who call themselves "amateurs" and even "experts" misunderstand Milton Babbitt. If anyone ever would take the time to listen, they would understand him better. The first tragedy of the "Who Cares if You Listen" essay, is that it was the choice of the publisher, not the author, to change the title. Whether this is an acceptable answer or not, it is well documented. It is sad to say that most people don't even get past the title of the essay. In this way, the irony of the message actually comes through: the people who are too quick to judge something end up being the last person any artist wants to please. Mr. Babbitt makes it clear that he is not interested in pleasing every single person that listens to his music. Why is this a crime? Any composer who writes "serious" music is deluding themselves if they think their music is going to be accepted by and adored by the greater public. So a composer has a concert with a major orchestra or fifty--can those composers imagine what their audience listens to when they are away from the concert hall? I am sure they would like to think that their music lifted the audiences' spirits or realized a deeper truth about music. The reality is: this notion is more the exception than the rule. This collection of essays is full of wit and the wry sense of humor that hides just beneath the surface. His commentary on the societies of music making is appropriate if not at times misgiving. Mr. Babbitt is an iconoclast that stands out from his peers, both in his compositions and his writings. Anyone who knows him would tell you that, (though watch out for the baseball stories).

worthwhile

Milton Babbitt is the most intelligent and articulate of the serialist propagandists. He is very often dead wrong, but he is always worthwhile to read. His monographs published in "The Journal of Music Theory" and elsewhere have been very influential, but as far as I know they have never been collected in book form. This is a valuable compendium of his thought. The last lecture reprises the argument of his notorious "Who Cares If You Listen?" article. For a reprint of the original article and an apposite rebuttal, see "Music in the Western World: A History in Documents" edited by Piero Weiss and Richard F. Taruskin.I also recommend (very much) PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST by Jeff Burns.