George Crumb
For the inventor of potato chips, see George Crum.George Crumb (born
October 24,
1929) is an
American composer of modern and
avant garde music. He is noted as an explorer of unusual
timbres and
extended technique. Examples include spoken flute (one speaks while blowing into the instrument) and glass marbles poured onto an open piano.
Crumb was born in
Charleston, West Virginia, and began to compose at an early age. He studied
music first at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and then briefly in
Berlin before returning to the United States to study at the
University of Michigan, from which he received his Ph.D. 1959.
Although his scores and recordings sell steadily, Crumb has earned his living primarily from teaching. His first teaching job was at a college in
Virginia, before he became professor of piano and composition at the
University of Colorado in 1958. In 1965 he began a long association with the
University of Pennsylvania, becoming Annenberg Professor of the Humanities in 1983. Some of his most prominent students include
Margaret Brouwer,
Uri Caine,
Osvaldo Golijov,
Jennifer Higdon,
James Primosch, and
Gerald Levinson.
Crumb retired from teaching in 1997, though in early 2002 was appointed with
David Burge to a joint residency at
Arizona State University. He has continued to compose.
Crumb has been the recipient of a number of awards, including the
Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1968 for his orchestral work
Echoes of Time and the River and a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition in 2001 for his work
Star-Child .
After initially being influenced by
Anton Webern, Crumb became interested in exploring unusual
timbres. He often asks for instruments to be played in unusual ways and several of his pieces are written for electrically amplified instruments.
Crumb's music often seems to be concerned about the theatre of performance as much as the music itself. In several pieces he asks players to leave and enter the stage during the piece. He has also used unusual layouts of
musical notation in a number of his
scores. In several pieces, the music is symbolically laid out in a circular or spiral fashion.
Several of Crumb's works, including the four books of
madrigals he wrote in the late
1960s and
Ancient Voices of Children, a
song cycle of 1970 for two singers and small
instrumental ensemble (which includes a
toy piano), are settings of texts by
Federico García Lorca. Many of his vocal works were written for the virtuoso singer
Jan DeGaetani.
Black Angels (1970) is another piece which displays Crumb's interest in exploring a wide range of timbres. Written for amplified
string quartet (referred to as "electric string quartet" by the composer in the score, although the instruments called for are acoustic ones), the players are required to play various
percussion instruments and to bow small goblets as well as to play their instruments in both conventional and unconventional ways. It is one of Crumb's best known pieces, and has been recorded by the
Kronos Quartet.
Another of Crumb's best known works are the four books of
Makrokosmos. The first two books (1972, 1973), for solo piano, make extensive use of
string piano techniques; the third, known as
Music for a Summer Evening (1974), is for two pianos and
percussion; the fourth,
Celestial Mechanics (1979), is for piano four-hands. The title
Makrokosmos alludes to
Mikrokosmos, the six books of piano pieces by
Béla Bartók; like Bartók's work,
Makrokosmos is a series of short character pieces. Apart from Bartók,
Claude Debussy is another composer Crumb acknowledged as an influence here, although the works call for techniques far from what either of those composers ever employed. The piano is both amplified and
prepared by the placing of objects on and between the strings (Crumb has referred to string and prepared piano techniques collectively as "extended piano"). On several occasions the pianist is required to sing or shout certain words as well as playing.
Makrokosmos was premiered by
David Burge, who later recorded the work.
Crumb's works are published by the C. F. Peters Corporation.
* Two Duos (1944?) for flute and clarinet
* Four Pieces (1945) for violin and piano
* Four Songs (1945?) for voice, clarinet and piano
* Sonata for piano (1945)
* Poem (1946)
* Seven Songs (1946) for voice and piano
* Gethsemane (1947) for small orchestra
* Three Early Songs (1947) for voice and piano
* Alleluja (1948) for unaccompanied chorus
* Sonata for violin and piano (1949)
* A Cycle of Greek Lyrics (1950?) for voice and piano
* Prelude and Toccata (1951) for piano
* String Trio (1952)
* Three Pastoral Pieces (1952) for oboe and piano
* Sonata for viola and piano (1953)
* String Quartet (1954)
* Sonata for solo cello (1955)
* Diptych (1955) for orchestra
* Variazioni (1959) for large orchestra
* Five Pieces (1962) for piano
* Night Music I (1963, revised 1976) for soprano, piano/celeste, and two percussionists
* Four Nocturnes (Night Music II) (1964) for violin and piano
* Madrigals, Books I (1965) for soprano, vibraphone, and double bass
* Madrigals, Books II (1965) for soprano, flute/alto flute/piccolo, and percussion
* Eleven Echoes of Autumn (Echoes I) (1966) for violin, alto flute, clarinet, and piano
* Echoes of Time and the River (Echoes II) (1967) for orchestra
* Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death (1968) for baritone, electric guitar, electric double bass, amplified piano/electric harpsichord, and two percussionists
* Night of the Four Moons (1969) for alto, alto flute/piccolo, banjo, electric cello, and percussion
* Madrigals, Books III (1969) for soprano, harp, and percussion
* Madrigals, Books IV (1969) for soprano, flute/alto flute/piccolo, harp, double bass, and percussion
* Ancient Voices of Children (1970) for mezzo-soprano, boy soprano, oboe, mandolin, harp, amplified piano (and toy piano), and percussion (three players)
*
Black Angels (Images I) (1970) for electric string quartet
*
Lux Aeterna (1971) for soprano, bass flute/soprano recorder, sitar, and percussion (two players)
* Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) (1971) for electric flute, electric cello, and amplified piano
* Makrokosmos, Volume I (1972) for amplified piano
* Makrokosmos, Volume II (1973) for amplified piano
* Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III) (1974) for two amplified pianos and percussion (two players).
* Dream Sequence (Images II) (1976) for violin, cello, piano, percussion (one player), and off-stage glass harmonica (two players)
* Star-Child (1977, revised 1979) for soprano, antiphonal children's voices, male speaking choir, bell ringers, and large orchestra
* Apparition (1979) for soprano and amplified piano
* Celestial Mechanics (Makrokosmos IV) (1979) for amplified piano (four hands)
* A Little Suite for Christmas, A.D. 1979 (1980) for piano
* Gnomic Variations (1981) for piano
* Pastoral Drone (1982) for organ
* Trio for Strings (1982)
* Processional (1983) for piano
* A Haunted Landscape (1984) for orchestra
* The Sleeper (1984) for soprano and piano
* An Idyll for the Misbegotten (Images III) (1986) for amplified flute and percussion (three players).
* Federico's Little Songs for Children (1986) for soprano, flute/piccolo/alto flute/bass flute, and harp
* Zeitgeist (Tableaux Vivants) (1988) for two amplified pianos
* Easter Dawning (1991) for carillon
* Quest (1994) for guitar, soprano saxophone, harp, double bass, and percussion (two players)
* Mundus Canis (A Dog's World) (1998) for guitar and percussion
* Unto the Hills (2001) for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
* Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik (A Little Midnight Music) (2002) for piano
* A Journey Beyond Time (2003) for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
* Otherworldly Resonances (2003) for two pianos
* River of Life (2003) for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
* Winds of Destiny (2004) for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
George Crumb: The Voice of the Whale (1976). Directed and produced by Robert Mugge. Interviewed by Richard Wernick. New York, New York: Rhapsody Films (released 1988).
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Official home pageListening
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Art of the States: George Crumb four works by the composer
