Classic Ross Amico

Tag: George Antheil

St Valentine’s Skull & Antheil Waltzes

Happy Valentine’s Day! Behold the skull of St. Valentine and enjoy these “Valentine Waltzes” by Trenton’s own George Antheil.

There are eleven of them in all. Here’s the 5th:

And Number 9:

February 14, 2017
Presidents Day Music Washington Lincoln

Presidents Day (Washington’s Birthday observed).

Here are two pieces of music I was unable to fit into my five-hour presidential salute the other morning (in honor of Lincoln’s birthday) on WPRB 103.3 FM.

“McKonkey’s Ferry (Washington at Trenton)”, by Trenton’s own George Antheil:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dROk2QXrFOs

“Aspects of Lincoln and Liberty,” variations on an 1860 campaign song, by Paul Turok:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XHBMEqCmIQ

A couple of ditties to carry with you as you head out to the white sales.

February 15, 2016
Ezra Pound’s Opera A Shocking UK Premiere

Did you know that Ezra Pound wrote an opera?

As a blow against Debussy and the pernicious influence of “Pelleas,” Pound contrived to write music of such rhythmic complexity as to leave “Le sacre du printemps” in the shade. Characteristically, the freewheeling poet described his method as “improving a system by refraining from obedience to all its present ‘laws.’” In other words, he was a proud contrarian.

In 1919, when Pound was 34 years-old, he conceived “Le Testament de Villon,” an operatic setting of François Villon’s poem of 1461. An ardent champion of Trenton’s own George Antheil from the composer’s early days in Paris, Pound enlisted Antheil’s help in developing a system of micro-rhythms the better to express the vitality of Villon’s Old French. The two worked at it in 1923. In 1924, Pound wrote a book titled “Antheil and the Treatise of Harmony,” a piece of hagiography so extravagant that it succeeded even in embarrassing the composer.

Preview performances in 1924 and 1926 brought criticism from the performers of the utter impracticality of the score. There are no rests or breath marks. There are crushing dissonances. The work’s demands call for scratches, hiccoughs, and the use of human bones in the percussion part.

Virgil Thomson praised the piece. “The music was not quite musician’s music,” he wrote, “though it may well be the finest poet’s music since Thomas Campion.” Pound’s colleague, the poet William Carlos Williams, described him thus: “…He knows nothing of music, being tone-deaf. That’s what makes him a musician.”

Excerpts from Pound’s “Le Testament de Villon” will receive a rare performance at the London Contemporary Music Festival on December 15. It is being advertised as the work’s UK premiere in its original version for two tins and a washboard. The first complete performance, in Antheil’s arrangement for small orchestra, was given over BBC radio in 1933.

Subsequently, Pound began work on two other operas. Neither was ever completed.

More about the upcoming performance here:

https://billetto.co.uk/lcmf-2015-15-december

Anyone remember this out-of-print Philips LP?

November 30, 2015
Hedy Lamarr Google Doodle Honors Trenton’s Antheil

If Google is your search engine of choice, keep an eye out today for Trenton’s own George Antheil. Antheil makes an appearance in Google’s tribute to actress Hedy Lamarr on what would have been her 101st birthday.

Not only was Lamarr marketed as the stunner she was, but she possessed a scientific curiosity decidedly at odds with her big screen persona. During WWII, she and Antheil devised a frequency-hopping system that would have prevented the Nazis from jamming radio-controlled Allied torpedoes.

What this article doesn’t tell us is that Lamarr had initially approached Antheil, a neighbor, to discuss endocrinological matters (a noted polymath himself, Antheil had written books on the subject), in reference to increasing the size of certain of her “assets,” or that neither Lamarr or Antheil ever saw a cent for their patent, which went on to form the basis for modern wireless technology.

Antheil, of course, was the self-proclaimed “Bad Boy of Music” (actually the title of his autobiography), who set Paris on its ear with his “Ballet Mécanique.” The work, conceived for 16 player pianos, 3 airplane propellers, 7 electric bells, and siren, instigated one of classical music’s most notorious riots. Later, the composer settled into a more conservative language to become one of America’s most performed composers.

There was never anything romantic between Lamarr and Antheil. They were just two quirky, misunderstood, lonely, intelligent Americans looking to do their patriotic duty. Happy birthday, Hedy Lamarr, and thank you, Google, for acknowledging George Antheil.

If you’re not a Google user, read more about it and see the animation here:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/09/entertainment/hedy-lamarr-google-doodle-feat/

November 9, 2015
George Antheil Returns to Trenton

Trenton’s prodigal son returns! I was so excited to be able to write about George Antheil again. Antheil, if you don’t know, was the greatest composer ever to emerge from New Jersey’s capital city.

The self-proclaimed “Bad Boy of Music” (the title of his autobiography), Antheil would practice the piano with such ferocity that he would have to pause periodically to soak his hands in two fish bowls. During his recitals, he would ostentatiously remove a pistol from a silk holster sewn into his jacket and place it atop the piano, to let the audience know up front that he would brook no nonsense.

Of course, he had good reason. His “Ballet Mécanique,” scored for player pianos, airplane propellers, siren and electric bells, inspired one of classical music’s great riots at its Paris premiere in 1926.

This weekend, the New Jersey Capital Philharmonic Orchestra will present a substantial suite from Antheil’s ballet, “Capital of the World,” on a concert which will also feature works on Spanish themes by Emmanuel Chabrier, Maurice Ravel and Manuel de Falla.

Based on the short story by Ernest Hemingway, “Capital of the World” tells of a young waiter who dreams of becoming a matador. Unfortunately, some spirited horseplay leads to tragic results.

Just don’t go into it expecting Antheil the enfant terrible. By the Second World War, his music had taken a turn toward the kind of populism embraced by many American composers of mid-century. Also, he had entered into a sideline of writing for film (“The Pride and the Passion,” also with a Spanish setting, was one of the projects he scored).

The ballet features a prominent part for flamenco dancer. Liliana Ruiz will be the soloist in tomorrow night’s performance. The concert will take place at the Trenton War Memorial, beginning at 8 p.m.

You can read more about it in my article in today’s Trenton Times:

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2015/05/classical_music_nj_capital_phi_1.html

If you missed it, here’s a write-up of an Antheil walking-and-driving tour I took, back in 2013:

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2013/08/early_life_in_trenton_left_mar.html

PHOTO: The Original Trenton Cracker

May 8, 2015

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