Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Lewis Carroll

David Del Tredici: A Life in Music Remembered

How quickly time passes.

It seems only yesterday that David Del Tredici was one of America’s brightest young composers. Now I learn that he has died at the age of 86.

Del Tredici began his studies as a pianist. (He said if he hadn’t become one, he would have become a florist.) He was mentored by Bernhard Abramovitch and Robert Helps at the University of California, Berkeley. At the same time, he began to venture into composition. He performed his work, “Opus 1,” for a favorably-disposed Darius Milhaud.

Subsequently, Del Tredici attended Princeton University, where his teachers included Roger Sessions, Earl Kim, and Seymour Shifrin. At Princeton, he received a grounding in serialism. Later, he gravitated back toward tonality and became a pioneer of the Neo-Romantic movement.

He achieved considerable recognition for a cycle of works inspired by the writings of Lewis Carroll. One of these, “Child Alice,” was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1980. “Child Alice” was inspired by two prefatory poems from Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There” and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” If Carroll and Gustav Mahler had had a love-child, it would probably have come out sounding something like this.

Here’s an excerpt from Part One, “In Memory of a Summer Day,” conducted Gil Rose. If you like what you hear, I highly recommend Rose’s recording of “Child Alice” with Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP).

One day, back in 1990, when I was in my early 20s and living in a cramped efficiency in Philadelphia, I opened my apartment door, and who happened to be standing there in the hall, but Del Tredeci. This was just a few years after Bernstein recorded his orchestral work, “Tattoo,” for release on Deutsche Grammophon. What a surreal experience that was. It turns out he was an acquaintance of my landlord, who lived upstairs. It’s sobering to think, at the time, Del Tredici was younger than I am now.

Del Tredici taught at Harvard, Yale, Boston University, Juilliard, the University of Buffalo, and City College of New York. He was composer-in-residence with the New York Philharmonic from 1988 to 1990.

He also composed a lot of song settings, many of them on “gay” themes.

Del Tredici is the subject of this “Capricorn Conversation,” hosted by my friend, the documentarian H. Paul Moon.

An earlier interview with Bruce Duffie

https://www.bruceduffie.com/tredici.html

“Del Tredici is that rare find among composers – a creator with a truly original gift. I venture to say that his music is certain to make a lasting impression on the American musical scene. I know of no other composer of his generation who composes music of greater freshness and daring, or with more personality.” – Aaron Copland

R.I.P.

November 18, 2023
Child Alice A Carroll Mahler Masterpiece Rediscovered

If Lewis Carroll and Gustav Mahler had a love child, this would be it.

David Del Tredici’s “In Memory of a Summer Day,” part one of his massive “Child Alice,” won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1980. The work was inspired by two prefatory poems from Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There” and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” It was performed for the first time in its completed form – including part two (an additional 73 minutes of music) – at Carnegie Hall in 1986.

“Child Alice” was revived only last year by soprano Courtenay Budd and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), conducted by Gil Rose. A recorded performance was issued last month, with the same forces, on the BMOP Sound label. It is one of several stimulating releases from BMOP to arrive in my mailbox over the past 12 months.

We will sample from “Child Alice,” among our featured recordings, this Thursday morning on WPRB, as I remove the shrink wrap from a number of CDs I have been unable to work into my usual thematic format. Curiously, I’ll also be including a selection from one of several releases of chamber music by a distant cousin of Carroll, Stephen Dodgson – composer.

In addition, there will be a corker of a new release in the form of world premiere recordings of music composed for a trio of Greek plays by Ralph Vaughan Williams, issued on Albion Records, the official label of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society.

With the holidays fast approaching, you might be looking for some interesting stocking stuffers. Join me this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM or at wprb.com. It will beat the hell out of batteries and new razors, on Classic Ross Amico.

December 7, 2017
Stephen Dodgson Composer Remembered

The English composer Stephen Dodgson was born on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1924. At the time I spoke with him in 2012, he was the closest living relative to share the surname Dodgson with his famous forebear, Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll.

At 88, he was in good physical health, it seemed, but unfortunately he was developing serious problems with his memory. His wife informed me after our interview, which took place via telephone, that he had good days and bad days, and that he had been perfectly lucid the day before. In any case, he was a perfectly articulate and charming man, who even invited me to dinner at his house outside of London. However, at the end of 15 or 20 minutes, I still had nothing that I could use on my radio show, “The Lost Chord.”

Dodgson wasn’t making a lot of sense that afternoon, but when it came to his music, it was like a cloud lifted. He may not have been able to stay on topic long enough to give me any useful audio, but he had no trouble at all naming some of his favorite pieces.

After the program aired, in October of 2012, I was told by his wife that the two were able to listen to the webcast and that it brought Stephen a lot of pleasure to hear it. I was sorry to learn that he died six months later, nearly a month after his 89th birthday. This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” I will be rebroadcasting that program, a few days in advance of what would have been Dodgson’s 93rd birthday.

The composer was perhaps best known for his guitar music, beginning with a commission from Julian Bream in 1952. The show will open and close with selections from “Watersmeet,” from 2002, written for John Williams (the guitarist was to have been the Dodgsons’ dinner guest on the night that we spoke), for solo guitar and guitar ensemble.

Flutist Robert Stallman, who lived in Philadelphia for many years, will perform Dodgson’s Flute Quintet, composed in 2003. We’ll also hear the cantata “The Last of the Leaves,” from 1975, on texts of Austin Dobson, Ernest Rhys, G.K. Chesterton and Harold Monro, with bass Michael George and clarinetist John Bradbury. This was an absolute favorite of the composer and his wife.

Dodgson wrote no symphonies, but he wrote eight large-scale orchestral movements, which he called “Essays.” He selected the fifth of those for inclusion in our program. The Essay No. 5 was composed in 1985.

Stephen Dodgson was a gentleman in all regards. He was also an educator (beginning at the Royal College of Music in 1947) and a radio host (with the BBC). I am sorry I wasn’t able to take him up on his invitation for dinner, but it was a pleasure at least to make contact with him by telephone, since I genuinely admire his music. I hope you’ll join me tonight at 10:00 EDT* for “Dodgson’s Choice,” on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

*Did you remember to turn your clocks ahead?

ON A RELATED NOTE: The Stephen Dodgson Charitable Trust has been quite active recently in promoting his music. You can learn more at their Facebook page, Stephen Dodgson – composer, or at stephendodgson.com.

March 12, 2017

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