Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. (born December 11, 1908) is an American composer from New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music. His compositions, which have been performed all over the world, include orchestral and chamber music as well as instrumental and vocal works. is the 345th day of the year (346th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Nadia Boulanger (September 16, 1887 – October 22, 1979) was an influential French composer, conductor, and music professor. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... Atonality describes music not conforming to the system of tonal hierarchies, which characterizes the sound of classical European music between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. ... For other uses, see Orchestra (disambiguation). ... Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. ...

Biography

Elliott Carter was born in New York City. His father, Elliott Carter, Sr. was a businessman and his mother was the former Florence Chambers. The family was well-to-do. As a teenager he developed an interest in music and was encouraged in this regard by the composer Charles Ives (who sold insurance to his family). Although Carter majored in English at Harvard College, he also studied music there and at the nearby Longy School of Music. His professors included Walter Piston. He sang with the Harvard Glee Club. Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ... This photo from around 1913 shows Ives in his day job. He was the director of a successful insurance agency. ... Harvard Yard Harvard College is the undergraduate section and oldest school of Harvard University, a private university in the United States, founded in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. ... The Longy School of Music, Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... Walter Hamor Piston Jr. ... Harvard Glee Club logo The Harvard Glee Club is a 60-voice, all-male choral ensemble at Harvard University. ...

He did graduate work in music at Harvard, from which he received a master's degree in music in 1932. He then went to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger (as did Aaron Copland, George Gershwin and many other American composers). Carter worked with Mlle Boulanger from 1932-35 and in 1935 he received a doctorate in music (D Mus) from the Ecole Normale in Paris. Later in 1935 he returned to the US where he directed the Ballet Caravan. This article is about the capital of France. ... Nadia Boulanger (September 16, 1887 – October 22, 1979) was an influential French composer, conductor, and music professor. ... Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American composer of concert and film music, as well as an accomplished pianist. ... Gershwin redirects here. ... The École normale supérieure (also known as Normale Sup, Normale, ENS, ENS-Paris, ENS-Ulm or Ulm) is a prestigious French grande école, possibly the most prestigious. ...

From 1939 to 1941 Elliott Carter taught courses in physics, mathematics and classical Greek, in addition to music, at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. On July 6, 1939, Carter married Helen Frost-Jones. They had one child, a son, David Chambers Carter. St. ...

During World War II, Carter worked for the Office of War Information. He later held teaching posts at the Peabody Conservatory (1946 - 1948), Columbia University, Queens College, New York (1955-56), Yale University (1960-62), Cornell University (from 1967) and the Juilliard School (from 1972). In 1967 he was appointed a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a government agency created during World War II to consolidate government information services. ... Located in Baltimore, Maryland, the Peabody Conservatory of Music (or just The Peabody) is one of the most prestigious musical institutions in the world, and also the first conservatory in America. ... Alma Mater Columbia University is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. ... Queens College is one of the senior colleges of the City University of New York. ... Yale redirects here. ... Cornell redirects here. ... The Juilliard School is one of the worlds premier performing arts conservatories, in New York City. ... American Academy of Arts and Letters is an organization whose goal is to foster, assist, and sustain an interest in American literature, music, and art. ...

Style and works

Carter's earlier works are influenced by Stravinsky and Hindemith, and are mainly neoclassical in aesthetic. He had a strict and thorough training in counterpoint, from medieval polyphony through Stravinsky, and this shows in his earliest music, such as the ballet Pocohontas (1938-9). Some of his music during the Second World War is frankly diatonic, and includes a melodic lyricism reminiscent of Samuel Barber. Interestingly, Carter abandoned neoclassicism around the same time Stravinsky did, saying that he felt he had been evading vital areas of feeling. Igor Stravinsky. ... Paul Hindemith aged 28. ... Late Baroque classicizing: G. P. Pannini assembles the canon of Roman ruins and Roman sculpture into one vast imaginary gallery (1756) Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that... Samuel Barber, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1944 Samuel Osborne Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer of classical music ranging from orchestral, to opera, choral, and piano music. ...

His music after 1950 is typically atonal and rhythmically complex, indicated by the invention of the term metric modulation to describe the frequent, precise tempo changes found in his work. While Carter's chromaticism and tonal vocabulary parallels serial composers of the period, Carter does not employ serial techniques in his music. Rather he independently developed and cataloged all possible collections of pitches (i.e. all possible 3 note chords, 5 note chords etc.). Musical theorists like Allen Forte later systematized this data into musical set theory. A series of works in the 1960s and 1970's generates its tonal material by using all possible chords of a particular number of pitches. The Piano Concerto (1964-65) uses the collection of three note chords for its pitch material; the Third String Quartet (1971) uses all four-note chords; the Concerto for Orchestra (1969) all five-note chords; and the Symphony of Three Orchestras utilizes the collection of six note chords. Carter also makes frequent use of "tonic" 12-note chords. Of particular interest are "all-interval" 12-tone chords where every interval is represented within adjacent notes of the chord. His 1980 solo piano work Night Fantasies utilizes the entire collection of 88 all-interval 12 note chords. Typically the pitch material is segmented between instruments, with a unique set of chords or sets assigned to each instrument or orchestral section. This stratification of material, with individual voices assigned not only their own unique pitch material, but texture and rhythm as well, is a key component of Carter's musical style. Carter's music after Night Fantasies has been termed his late period and his tonal language has become less systematized and more intuitive, but retains the basic characteristics of his earlier works. Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Atonality describes music not conforming to the system of tonal hierarchies, which characterizes the sound of classical European music between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. ... For other uses, see Rhythm (disambiguation). ... In music a metric modulation is a change (modulation) from one time signature/tempo (meter) to another, wherein a note value from the first is made equivalent to a note value in the second, like a pivot. ... For other uses of serial or serialism, see Serial (disambiguation). ... Musical set theory is an atonal or post-tonal method of musical analysis and composition which is based on explaining and proving musical phenomena, taken as sets and subsets, using mathematical rules and notation and using that information to gain insight to compositions or their creation. ...

Carter's use of rhythm can best be understood within the concept of stratification. Each instrumental voice is typically assigned its own set of tempos. A structural polyrhythm, where a very slow polyrhythm is used as a formal device, is present in many of Carter's works. The solo piano work Night Fantasies, for example, uses a 216:175 tempo relation that coincides at only two points in the entire 20+ minute composition. This use of rhythm is part of his goal to expand the notion of counterpoint to encompass simultaneous different characters, even entire movements, rather than just individual lines. Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms. ...

Carter developed his technique to further his artistic goals. His use of rhythm allows his music a structured fluidity and sense of time perhaps unique in classical music. The music also is overtly expressive and dramatic. He has said that "I regard my scores as scenarios, auditory scenarios, for performers to act out with their instruments, dramatizing the players as individuals and participants in the ensemble." He has also talked about his desire to portray a "different form of motion," in which players are not locked in step with the downbeat of every measure. He has said that such steady pulses remind him of soldiers marching or horses trotting, sounds that are not heard anymore in the late 20th century, and he wants his music to capture the sort of continuous acceleration or deceleration experienced in an automobile or an airplane. While Carter's music shows little trace of American popular music or jazz, his vocal music has demonstrated strong ties to contemporary American poetry. He has set works of Elizabeth Bishop, John Ashbery, Robert Lowell, William Carlos Williams and, most recently, Wallace Stevens. Several of his large instrumental works such as the Concerto for Orchestra or Symphony of Three Orchestras are inspired by Twentieth Century American poets as well. For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ... Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979), was an American poet and writer. ... John Ashbery John Ashbery (born July 28, 1927) is an American poet. ... Robert Lowell (March 1, 1917–September 12, 1977), born Robert Traill Spence Lowell, IV, was a highly regarded mid-twentieth-century American poet. ... William Carlos Williams Dr. William Carlos Williams (sometimes known as WCW) (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963), was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. ... Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was a major American Modernist poet. ...

Among his better known works are the Variations for Orchestra (1954-5); the Double Concerto for harpsichord, piano and two chamber orchestras (1959-61); the Piano Concerto (1964-65), written as an 85th birthday present for Igor Stravinsky; the Concerto for Orchestra (1969), loosely based on a poem by Saint-John Perse; and A Symphony of Three Orchestras (1976). He has also written five string quartets^[1], of which the second and third won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1960 and 1973 respectively. Symphonia: Sum Fluxae Pretium Spei (1993-1996) is his largest orchestral work, complex in structure and featuring contrasting layers of instrumental textures, from delicate wind solos to crashing brass and percussion outbursts. Harpsichord in the Flemish style A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. ... Pianoforte redirects here. ... Igor Stravinsky. ... Saint-John Perse (pseudonym of Alexis Leger) (May 31, 1887 – September 20, 1975) was a French poet and diplomat who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1960 for the soaring flight and evocative imagery of his poetry. ... The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963 A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments—usually two violins, a viola and cello—or a piece written to be performed by such a group. ... The Pulitzer Prize for Music was first awarded in 1943. ...

In spite of a usually rigorous derivation of all pitch content of a piece from a source chord, or series of chords, Carter never abandons lyricism, and ensures that a text is sung intelligibly, sometimes even simply. In A Mirror on Which to Dwell (1975) (based on poems by Elizabeth Bishop) Carter writes colorful, subtle, transparently clear music; yet almost every pitch in the piece is derived from the content of a single sonority. While Carter seems to set up rigorous systems for deriving the pitch content of a piece, he deviates from them on occasion: not every note can be explained with the same rigor as can be done, for example, in Webern. Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979), was an American poet and writer. ... Anton Webern (December 3, 1883 – September 15, 1945) was an Austrian composer and conductor. ...

Most of Carter's music is published by either G. Schirmer/Associated Music Publishers (works up to 1982) or Boosey & Hawkes (works since 1982). G. Schirmer Inc. ... Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher, the largest classical music publisher in the world. ...

Recent years

Carter has lived in Greenwich Village^{[citation needed]} and has recently completed Interventions, to be premiered by pianist Daniel Barenboim and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine when the composer turns 100 in 2008.^[2] He is also rumored to be working on a concerto for flute. The Washington Square Arch Greenwich Village (IPA pronunciation: ), also called simply the Village, is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern) Manhattan in New York City named after Greenwich, London. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The Boston Symphony Orchestra is one of the worlds premiere orchestras. ... James Levine (born June 23, 1943 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American orchestral pianist and conductor and most well known as the music director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. ...

Partial list of works

• Pocahontas (Ballet) (1938-39)
• The Defense of Corinth (1942)
• Symphony No. 1 (1942, revised 1954)
• Elegy for Viola and Piano (1943)
• Holiday Overture (1944, revised 1961)
• Piano Sonata (1945-46)
• The Minotaur (Ballet) (1947)
• Cello Sonata (1948)
• Eight Etudes and a Fantasy for Wind Quartet (1949)
• String Quartet No.1 (1951)
• Variations for orchestra (1955)
• String Quartet No.2 (1959)
• Double Concerto for piano, harpsichord and 2 chamber orchestras (1959-61)
• Piano Concerto (1964)
• Eight Pieces for Four Timpani (1950/66)
• Concerto for Orchestra (1969)
• String Quartet No.3 (1971)
• Brass Quintet (1974)
• Duo for Violin & Piano (1974)
• A Mirror on Which to Dwell for Soprano and Ensemble (1975)
• A Symphony of Three Orchestras (1976)
• Syringa for Mezzo-Soprano, Bass-Baritone, Guitar and Ensemble (1978)
• Three Poems of Robert Frost for Baritone and Ensemble (1942, orchestrated 1980)
• Night Fantasies for Piano (1980)
• In Sleep, in Thunder for Tenor and Ensemble (1981)
• Changes for Guitar (1983)
• Triple Duo (1983)
• Penthode (1985)
• String Quartet No.4 (1986)
• Three Occasions for Orchestra (in three parts: A Celebration of some 150x100 notes, Remembrance and Anniversary) (1986-89)
• Violin Concerto (1989)
• Quintet for Piano and Winds (1991)
• Trilogy for Oboe and Harp (in three parts: Bariolage for Harp, Inner Song for Oboe and Immer Neu for Oboe and Harp) (1992)
• Of Challenge and of Love for Soprano and Piano (1994)
• String Quartet No.5 (1995)
• Symphonia: Sum Fluxae Pretiam Spei (in three parts: Partita, Adagio Tenebroso and Allegro Scorrevole) (1993-96)
• Clarinet Concerto (1996)
• What Next? (opera in one act) (1997)
• Luimen for Ensemble (1997)
• Quintet for Piano and Strings (1997)
• Tempo e Tempi for Soprano, Oboe, Clarinet, Violin and Cello (1998-99)
• Two Diversions for Piano (1999)
• Four Lauds for Solo Violin (1999, 1984, 2000, 1999)
• ASKO Concerto (2000)
• Oboe Quartet (2001)
• Cello Concerto (2001)
• Boston Concerto (2002)
• Dialogues for Piano and Orchestra (2003)
• Three Illusions for Orchestra (in three parts: Micomicón, Fons Juventatis and More's Utopia) (2002-04)
• Mosaic for Harp and Ensemble (2004)
• Réflexions for Ensemble (2004)
• Soundings for Piano and Orchestra (2005)
• Intermittences for Piano (2005)
• Catenaires for Piano (2006)
• In the Distances of Sleep for voice and ensemble (2006)
• Horn concerto (2007)
• Interventions for piano and orchestra (2007)
• Clarinet Quintet (2007)

Eight Pieces for Four Timpani is a collection of short pieces by Elliott Carter for solo timpani – four drums played by one musician. ...

Partial discography

• Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello and Harpsichord; Sonata for Cello and Piano; Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano With Two Chamber Orchestras. Paul Jacobs, hpschd; Joel Krosnick, cello; Gilbert Kalish, piano; The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Arthur Weisberg, cond. Elektra/Nonesuch 9 79183-2.
• String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2. The Composers Quartet. Elektra/Nonesuch 9 71249-2
• Piano Concerto; Variations for Orchestra. Ursula Oppens, piano; Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Michael Gielen, cond. New World Records, NW 347-2.
• Triple Duo; Clarinet Concerto; short pieces. Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Lorraine Vaillancourt, cond. ATMA Classique, ACD2 2280.
• Complete Music for Piano. Charles Rosen, Piano. Bridge 9090.
• Vocal Works (1975-81): A Mirror on Which to Dwell; In Sleep, In Thunder; Syringa; Three Poems of Robert Frost. Speculum Musicae with Katherine Ciesinki, mezzo; Jon Garrison, tenor; Jan Opalach, bass; Christine Schadeberg, soprano. Bridge, BCD 9014.
• Dialogues; Boston Concerto; Cello Concerto; ASKO Concerto. Nicolas Hodges, piano; Fred Sherry, cello; London Sinfonietta, BBC Symphony Orchestra, ASKO Ensemble, Oliver Knussen, cond. Bridge 9184.

Notable students

• Ronald Caltabiano
• Joel Chadabe
• Alvin Curran
• Tod Machover
• Jeffrey Mumford
• David Schiff
• William Schimmel
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

Ronald Caltabiano (b. ... Composer Alvin Curran (born 13 December 1938 in Providence, Rhode Island) is the co-founder, with Frederic Rzewski and Richard Teitelbaum, of Musica Elettronica Viva, and a former student of Elliott Carter. ... Tod Machover (1953 –) is the son of a pianist and a computer scientist. ... Jeffrey Mumford Jeffrey Mumford (born 1955 in Washington, D.C.) is a U.S. composer. ... Dr. William Schimmel is one of the principal architects in the resurgence of the accordion, the revival of the Tango in America and the philsophy of Musical Reality (composition with pre-existing music). ... Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (born April 30, 1939) is an American post-modernist composer (writing in a neo-romantic style). ...

See also

• Category:Compositions by Elliott Carter

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Elliott Carter

• Elliott Carter: A Centennial Portrait in Letters and Documents by Felix Meyer & Anne C. Shreffler published by the Boydell Press in association with the Paul Sacher Foundation.
• Elliott Carter at G. Schirmer/AMP
• Elliott Carter at Boosey and Hawkes
• The String Quartets of Elliott Carter Booklet note for recording by the Arditti Quartet of Quartets 1-4 and Elegy (1988 ETCETERA KTC 1065/1066), by David Harvey
• CompositionToday - Elliot Carter article and review of works
• Elliott Carter Centenary 2008
• John Link's Analysis of Night Fantasies

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. ... The Arditti Quartet is an internationally acclaimed string quartet founded in 1974. ...

Interviews

• American Gothic: An Interview with Elliott Carter, by Andy Carvin, 1992
• A January 1994 interview with Elliott Carter by Phil Lesh
• NewMusicBox: Elliott Carter in conversation with Frank J. Oteri, 2000
• MusicMavericks.PublicRadio.org: An interview with Elliot Carter by Alan Baker, Minnesota Public Radio, July 2002
• Elliott Carter interview by Bruce Duffie, June 1986

Phillip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940 in Berkeley, California) is a musician and founding member of the rock band, Grateful Dead; he played bass guitar in that group throughout their entire 30-year career. ...

Listening

• Elliott Carter: A Life In Music, a documentary (1983)
• Art of the States: Elliott Carter three works by the composer
• Elliott Carter interview from American Mavericks site