Frederic Rzewski


Frederic Anthony Rzewski was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. From 1977 on, he lived primarily in Belgium. His major compositions, which often incorporate social and political themes, include the minimalist Coming Together and the variation set The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, which has been called "a modern classic".

Early life and education

Rzewski was born on April 13, 1938, in Westfield, Massachusetts, to parents of Polish descent, and raised Catholic. He began playing piano at age 5 and attended Phillips Academy, Harvard, and Princeton, where his teachers included Randall Thompson, Roger Sessions, Walter Piston, and Milton Babbitt. In 1960, he went to Italy on a Fulbright grant, a trip which was formative in his future musical development. In addition to studying with Luigi Dallapiccola in Florence on a Fulbright scholarship he began a career as a performer of new piano music, often with an improvisatory element.

Career

In 1966, Rzewski co-founded Musica Elettronica Viva with Alvin Curran and Richard Teitelbaum in Rome. Musica Elettronica Viva conceived music as a collective, collaborative process, with improvisation and live electronic instruments prominently featured. In 1971, he returned to New York from Italy.
In 1977, Rzewski became Professor of Composition at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Liège, Belgium, then directed by Henri Pousseur. Occasionally, he taught for short periods at schools and universities throughout the U.S. and Europe, including Yale University, the University of Cincinnati, the California Institute of the Arts, the University of California, San Diego, the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and Trinity College of Music, London.
Many of Rzewski's works were inspired by secular and socio-historical themes, show a deep political conscience and feature improvisational elements. His better-known works include The People United Will Never Be Defeated! ; Coming Together, a setting of letters from Sam Melville, an inmate at Attica State Prison, at the time of the riots there, which were also the inspiration for the companion piece Attica; North American Ballads ; Night Crossing with Fisherman; Fougues; Fantasia and Sonata; The Price of Oil, and Le Silence des Espaces Infinis, both of which use graphical notation; Les Moutons de Panurge; and the Antigone-Legend. Rzewski's later compositions include Nanosonatas and Cadenza con o senza Beethoven, written for Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto. Rzewski played the solo part in the world premiere of his piano concerto at the 2013 BBC Proms.

Personal life and death

In 1963, Rzewski married Nicole Abbeloos; they had five children. While Rzewski never divorced Abbeloos, his companion for about the last 20 years of his life was Françoise Walot, with whom he had two children. He also had five grandchildren. Rzewski died of an apparent heart attack in Montiano, Tuscany, Italy, on June 26, 2021, at the age of 83.

Appraisal

Nicolas Slonimsky said of Rzewski in 1993: "He is furthermore a granitically overpowering piano technician, capable of depositing huge boulders of sonoristic material across the keyboard without actually wrecking the instrument." Michael Schell called Rzewski "the most important living composer of piano music, and surely one of the dozen or so most important living American composers".
In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies, Robert Christgau reviewed Coming Together/Attica/Moutons de Panurge, an album recorded with vocals by performance artist Steve Ben Israel and released in 1973 by Opus One Records. "The design of 'Coming Together' is simple, even minimal", Christgau said. "Steve ben Israel reads and rereads one of Sam Melville's letters from Attica over a jazzy, repetitious vamp. Yet the result is political art as expressive and accessible as Guernica. In ben Israel's interpretation, Melville's prison years have made him both visionary and mad, and the torment of his incarceration is rendered more vivid by the nagging intensity of the music. The other side features a less inspiring political piece and a percussion composition, each likable but not compelling, but that's a cavil. 'Coming Together' is amazing."

Selected discography

As composer

Four North American Ballads, played by Paul Jacobs & 79006-2 1980 1993 The People United Will Never Be Defeated! and Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues played by on American Dissident 2022.The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, played by Stephen Drury 1994The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, played by Marc-André Hamelin 1998The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, played by Corey Hamm 2014De Profundis, 4 North American Ballads, played by Lisa Moore 2003Main Drag played by Alter Ego 2003Fred – Music of Frederic Rzewski played by Eighth Blackbird 2005Rzewski & Adams: Piano Works played by Emanuele Arciuli 2006The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, played by Ralph van Raat 2008The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, played by Christopher Hinterhuber 2012Four Pieces, Hard Cuts and The Housewife's Lament played by Ralph van Raat et al. 2014The People United Will Never Be Defeated! and Four Hands played by Ursula Oppens and Jerome Lowenthal 2015The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, played by Igor Levit on Igor Levit plays Bach, Beethoven, Rzewski 2015Songs of Insurrection, played by Thomas Kotcheff 2020Sometimes, played by Imani Winds on Bruits. 2021.Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues, played by Christina Petrowska-Quilico on Retro Americana 2021.The Turtle and the Crane, played by Christina Petrowska-Quilico on Vintage Americana 2021.Speaking Rzewski, played by Stephane Ginsburgh on 2021.

As pianist

Literature

  • Rzewski, Frederic. Nonsequiturs—Writings & Lectures on Improvisation, Composition, and Interpretation. Edition Musiktexte, Cologne, 2007..
  • Петров, Владислав Олегович. Фредерик Ржевски: путь обновления традиций. Astrakhan: AIPKP, 2011, p. 100.
  • Petrov, Vladislav O. Frederic Rzewski: upgrade path traditions. Astrakhan: AIPKP, 2011, p. 100.

Interviews

  • Duffie, Bruce. "". Interview from January 19, 1995.
  • Golden, Barbara. "Conversation with Frederic Rzewski". . Montréal: CEC.
  • Hoffman, Joel. . The Rumpus.
  • Varela, Daniel. . Perfect Sound Forever.