Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. (born
December 11,
1908) is an
American composer of
classical music.
Carter was born in
New York, New York. He was encouraged as a young musician by
Charles Ives and studied English and
music at
Harvard University and
Longy School of Music, where his professors included
Walter Piston and
Gustav Holst and where he sang with the
Harvard Glee Club. He then went to
Paris to study with
Nadia Boulanger, returning to the USA in 1935 where he directed the Ballet Caravan. From 1939 to 1941 he taught courses in physics, mathematics and classical Greek, in addition to music, at
St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland.
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.
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.
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. 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 (1967), 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, 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.
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.
Carter's large mature works are usually built around gigantic polyrhythms, and he attempts to expand the notion of counterpoint to encompass simultaneous different characters, even entire movements, rather than just individual lines.
Most of Carter's music is published by either
G. Schirmer/Associated Music Publishers (works up to 1982) or
Boosey and Hawkes (works since 1982).
Pocahontas (Ballet) (1938-39)
Symphony No. 1 (1942, revised 1954)
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)
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) (1997)
Luimen for Ensemble (1997)
Quintet for Piano and Winds (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)
*
Ronald Caltabiano*
Alvin Curran*
Tod Machover*
Jeffrey Mumford*
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich*
Elliott Carter: A Life In Music, a documentary (1983)*
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
*
CompositionToday - Elliot Carter article and review of works *
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
*
Elliott Carter at G. Schirmer/AMP*
Elliott Carter at Boosey and Hawkes*
Elliott Carter Centenary 2008Listening
*
Art of the States: Elliott Carter three works by the composer
*
Elliott Carter interview from American Mavericks site
