Frederic Rzewski

{{Infobox person

| name = Frederic Rzewski

| image = FredericRzewski.jpg

| image_upright =

| caption = Rzewski in 2011

| birth_name = Frederic Anthony Rzewski

| birth_date = {{birth date|1938|04|13}}

| birth_place = Westfield, Massachusetts, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|06|26|1938|04|13}}

| death_place = Montiano, Italy

| education = {{plainlist|

}}

| occupation = {{plainlist|

Composer
Pianist
Academic teacher

}}

| known_for = {{plainlist|

}}

| notable_works = List of compositions

| organization = {{plainlist|

Musica Elettronica Viva
Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Liège

}}

| awards =

}}

Frederic Anthony Rzewski ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʒ|ɛ|f|s|k|i}} {{respell|ZHEF|skee}}; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. From 1977 up to his eventual death, he lived mainly 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!,{{Cite web|url=https://www.secondinversion.org/2018/04/19/frederic-rzewski-at-80-directions-inevitable-or-otherwise/|title=Frederic Rzewski at 80: Directions Inevitable or Otherwise|last=Schell|first=Michael|date=April 19, 2018|website=Second Inversion|access-date=April 19, 2018}} which has been called "a modern classic".{{Cite web|last=Swed|first=Mark|date=July 15, 2020|title=Listen to Rzewski's 'People United' and hear protest music that stirs the soul|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-07-15/how-to-listen-frederic-rzewski-people-united-will-never-be-defeated|access-date=June 27, 2021|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}

Early life and education

Rzewski was born on April 13, 1938, in Westfield, Massachusetts, to parents of Polish{{Cite web|last=Gilmore|first=Bob|date=September 30, 2011|title=Frederic Rzewski|url=http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine/interviews/rzewski.html|access-date=June 26, 2021|website=www.paristransatlantic.com}} and Jewish descent,{{Cite web|last=Kim|first=Sujin|date=2011|title=Understanding Frederic Rzewski's North American Ballads|url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1262054539&disposition=inline|access-date=July 14, 2021|website=etd.ohiolink.edu|page=19|archive-date=June 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626231047/https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1262054539&disposition=inline|url-status=dead}} and raised Catholic.{{Cite web|title=Frederic Rzewski interview|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/6987672/Frederic-Rzewski.html|access-date=June 26, 2021|website=www.telegraph.co.uk|date=January 14, 2010 }} 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{{Cite news|last=Robin|first=William|date=June 27, 2021|title=Frederic Rzewski, Politically Committed Composer and Pianist, Dies at 83|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/27/arts/music/frederic-rzewski-dead.html|access-date=June 28, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} 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."Frederic Rzewski", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.

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! (36 variations on the Sergio Ortega song "El pueblo unido jamás será vencido"); Coming Together, a setting of letters from Sam Melville, an inmate at Attica State Prison, at the time of the riots there (1972); North American Ballads (I. Dreadful Memories; II. Which Side Are You On?; III. Down by the Riverside; IV. Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues) (1978–79); 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.{{Cite web|title=Rzewski, Frederic|url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000024218|access-date=June 30, 2021|website=Grove Music Online|year=2001|language=en|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.24218|isbn=978-1-56159-263-0|last1=Murray|first1=Edward}} Rzewski's later compositions include Nanosonatas (2006–2010) and Cadenza con o senza Beethoven (2003), 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/enprzc |publisher=BBC |title=Prom 50: White, Barry, Rzewski, Feldman |access-date=February 21, 2021 |date=August 19, 2013}}

Personal life and death

In 1963, Rzewski married Nicole Abbeloos; they had five children.{{cite web |last=Rzewski |first=Alexis |authorlink=Alexis Rzewski (composer's son) | date=April 26, 2023 | url=https://www.facebook.com/groups/2224384635/?multi_permalinks=10160660775504636&hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&__cft__[0]=AZVCxbg9j7JPtVJnZTYGI6SgzgbcOswshGbb4PpZadg9TdG_Fv3lskwC56WfpkScePleKSGWAZeQp9DdUVd4UiNDeKtAFAHQRQLadmygXtwLWr4zjY9DZ3lguZ4jlRpMWHeYcUE0pBDTzvh4He-xPpXNfUp5tV9aMzoI6dkuI8sAgqI4Qnm0cA-pmyuXd46oYuY&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R | title=Facebook |website=Facebook | access-date=April 26, 2023}} 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,{{cite web |url=https://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/musica/2021/06/27/news/e_morto_frederic_rzewski_temerario_pianista_di_el_pueblo_unido_-307913784/ |title=È morto Frederic Rzewski, temerario pianista di 'El pueblo unido' |last=Assante |first=Ernesto |author-link=Ernesto Assante|date=June 27, 2021 |website=la Repubblica |access-date=June 28, 2021 |language=Italian}} on June 26, 2021, at the age of 83.

{{cite news |last=Page |first=Tim |authorlink=Tim Page (music critic)|date=June 27, 2021 |title=Frederic Rzewski, 'daredevil pianist' and iconoclastic composer, dies at 83 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/frederic-rzewski-dead/2021/06/26/f1f2af28-d6b6-11eb-a53a-3b5450fdca7a_story.html |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=June 27, 2021}}

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."{{Cite book|last=Slonimsky|first=Nicolas|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/28710250|title=The concise edition of Baker's biographical dictionary of musicians|date=1994|publisher=Schirmer Books|isbn=0-02-872416-X|edition=8|location=New York|oclc=28710250|page=857}} 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 (1981), 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 [LP's] 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."{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|publisher=Ticknor & Fields|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: R|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=R&bk=70|access-date=March 12, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}

Selected discography

= As composer =

Four North American Ballads, played by Paul Jacobs (Nonesuch Records on Paul Jacobs Plays Blues, Ballads & Rags D-79006 (LP) & 79006-2 (CD re-issue ) 1980(LP) 1993 (CD){{Cite web|title=Paul Jacobs Plays Blues, Ballads & Rags|url=https://www.nonesuch.com/|access-date=June 26, 2021|website=Nonesuch Records Official Website|language=en}}
The People United Will Never Be Defeated! and Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues played by [https://michaelnoble.net Michael Noble] on American Dissident (198004840682) 2022.{{Cite web |title=American Dissident |url=https://michaelnoble.hearnow.com/ |access-date=2023-01-09 |website=American Dissident |language=en}}
The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, played by Stephen Drury (New Albion NA 063) 1994{{Cite web|title=The People United Will Never Be Defeated! Stephen Drury, piano|url=http://www.newalbion.com/2/post/1998/04/-frederic-rzewski-the-people-united-will-never-be-defeated.html|access-date=June 26, 2021|website=New Albion Records, Inc.|language=en}}
The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, played by Marc-André Hamelin (Hyperion Records CDA67077) 1998{{Cite web|title=Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated!|url=https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67077|access-date=June 27, 2021|website=Hyperion Records|language=en}}
The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, played by Corey Hamm (Redshift Records TK431) 2014{{Cite web|title=Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated!|url=https://www.redshiftrecords.org/releases/tk431/ |access-date=October 24, 2021|website=Redshift Records|date=July 2015 |language=en}}
De Profundis, 4 North American Ballads, played by Lisa Moore (Cantaloupe Music 21014) 2003{{Cite web|title=RZEWSKI, F.: De Profundis / 5 North American Ballads (Which Side Are You On?) (Moore) - CA-21014|url=https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=CA-21014|access-date=June 27, 2021|website=www.naxos.com}}
Main Drag played by Alter Ego (Stradivarius STR33631SD) 2003{{Cite web|title=Chamber Music - RZEWSKI, F. / RIMBAUD, R. / IELASI, G. / PASSARANI, M. (Main Drag) (Alter Ego)|url=https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=STR33631SD|access-date=November 26, 2023|website=www.naxos.com}}
Fred – Music of Frederic Rzewski played by Eighth Blackbird (Cedille CDR90000-084) 2005{{Cite web|title=fred: Music by Frederic Rzewski {{!}} Classical|url=https://www.cedillerecords.org/albums/fred-music-by-frederic-rzewski/|access-date=June 27, 2021|website=Cedille Records|language=en}}
Rzewski & Adams: Piano Works played by Emanuele Arciuli (Stradivarius STR33735) 2006{{Cite web|title=RZEWSKI, F.: 4 Pieces / ADAMS, J.: Phrygian Gates (Arciuli)|url=https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=STR33735|access-date=November 26, 2023|website=www.naxos.com}}
The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, played by Ralph van Raat (Naxos 8.559360) 2008{{Cite web|title=RZEWSKI, F.: People United will never be Defeated (The) (van Raat) - 8.559360|url=https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559360|access-date=June 27, 2021|website=www.naxos.com}}
The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, played by Christopher Hinterhuber (Paladino PMR0037) 2012{{Cite web|date=March 29, 2014|title=Rzewski & Bach: Variations|url=https://www.paladino.at/cds/pmr-0037|access-date=June 27, 2021|website=paladino music|language=en}}
Four Pieces, Hard Cuts and The Housewife's Lament played by Ralph van Raat et al. (Naxos 8.559759) 2014{{Cite web|title=RZEWSKI, F.: 4 Piano Pieces / Hard Cuts / The Housewife's Lament (van Raat, Lunapark, Marinissen) - 8.559759|url=https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559759|access-date=June 27, 2021|website=www.naxos.com}}
The People United Will Never Be Defeated! and Four Hands played by Ursula Oppens and Jerome Lowenthal (Cedille CDR90000-158) 2015{{Cite web|title=RZEWSKI, F.: People United will never be Defeated (The) / Four Hands (Oppens, Lowenthal) - CDR90000-158|url=https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=CDR90000-158|access-date=June 27, 2021|website=www.naxos.com}}
The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, played by Igor Levit on Igor Levit plays Bach, Beethoven, Rzewski (Sony Classical 88875060962) 2015{{Cite web|title=Igor Levit: Bach, Beethoven, Rzewski Album Available via Sony Classical on October 30, 2015|url=https://www.sony.com/content/sony/en/en_us/SCA/company-news/press-releases/sony-music-entertainment/2015/igor-levit-bach-beethoven-rzewski-album-available-via-sony-classical-on-october-30-2015.html|access-date=June 27, 2021|website=www.sony.com|language=en-US}}
Songs of Insurrection, played by Thomas Kotcheff (Coviello Contemporary COV 92021) 2020{{Cite web|title=COV 92021 – Frederic Rzewski: Songs of Insurrection|url=http://covielloclassics.de/en/Katalog/cov-92021-frederic-rzewski-songs-of-insurrection/|access-date=June 27, 2021|website=Coviello Classics|language=en-US}}
Sometimes, played by Imani Winds on Bruits (Bright Shiny Things). 2021.{{Cite web | title=Imani Winds: Bruits|url=https://imani-winds.bandcamp.com/album/bruits|access-date=December 12, 2021|website=bandcamp.com|language=en-US}}
Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues, played by Christina Petrowska-Quilico on Retro Americana (Navona Records NAV6361) 2021.{{Cite web|title=Retro Americana|url=https://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6361|access-date=February 25, 2022|website=www.navonarecords.com|language=en-US}}
The Turtle and the Crane, played by Christina Petrowska-Quilico on Vintage Americana (Navona Records NAV6384) 2021.{{Cite web|title=Vintage Americana|url=https://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6384|access-date=February 25, 2022|website=www.navonarecords.com|language=en-US}}
Speaking Rzewski, played by Stephane Ginsburgh on (Sub Rosa SR523) 2021.{{Cite web|title=Sub Rosa|url=https://subrosalabel.bandcamp.com/album/speaking-rzewski-pieces-for-speaking-pianist-by-stephane-ginsburgh|access-date=August 27, 2022|website=subrosalabel.bandcamp.com|language=en-US}}

= As pianist =

Anthony Braxton – Creative Orchestra Music 1976 (Arista, 1976)
Anthony Braxton – For Two Pianos (Arista, 1980 [1982]){{Cite web|title=Anthony Braxton Catalog|url=https://www.jazzdisco.org/anthony-braxton/catalog/#arista-al-9559|access-date=June 27, 2021|website=www.jazzdisco.org}}
Marc-Henri Cykiert, Capriccio Hassidico (Igloo Records IGL095) 1991{{Cite web|title=Capriccio Hassidico|url=https://www.igloorecords.be/album/capriccio-hassidico-frederic-rzewski/?lang=en|access-date=June 27, 2021|website=Igloo Records|language=en-US}}
Cornelius Cardew – We Sing For The Future! 2001{{Citation|title=We Sing For The Future! by Frederic Rzewski|url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/we-sing-for-the-future/51248564|language=en-US|access-date=June 27, 2021}}
Tom Johnson – An Hour for Piano (1985){{Citation|last1=Johnson|first1=Tom|title=Hour for Piano|url=https://www.amazon.com/Hour-Piano-TOM-JOHNSON/dp/B00005B7GZ|access-date=June 27, 2021}}
Henri Pousseur – Aquarius-Memorial (2001){{Citation|last=Pousseur|first=H.|author-link=Henri Pousseur| title=Aquarius-Memorial|url=https://www.amazon.com/Henri-Pousseur-Aquarius-Memorial-Frederic-Rzewski/dp/B000063RWO|access-date=June 27, 2021}}
Henri Pousseur – La Guirlande de Pierre (1995){{Citation|last=Henri Pousseur, Vincent Bouchot & Frederic Rzewski|title=Pousseur: La Guirlande de Pierre|url=https://www.amazon.com/Pousseur-Vincent-Bouchot-Frederic-Marianne/dp/B003QWKX4M|access-date=June 27, 2021}}
Stockhausen – Kontra-Punkte (RCA Victrola, 1967)
Stockhausen – Klavierstück X (Wergo) 2014 CD re-issue{{Citation|last=Christoph Caskel, Max Neuhaus & Frederic Rzewski|title=Stockhausen: Zyklus / Klavierstück X|url=https://www.amazon.com/Stockhausen-Neuhaus-Frederic-Rzewski-Christoph/dp/B00IXUWX1I|access-date=June 27, 2021}}
Rzewski Plays Rzewski: Piano Works 1975–1999 (7-CD box set, Nonesuch, 2002){{Cite web|title=Nonesuch Records Rzewski Plays Rzewski: Piano Works, 1975-1999|url=https://www.nonesuch.com/|access-date=June 27, 2021|website=Nonesuch Records Official Website|language=en}}

Literature

Rzewski, Frederic. Nonsequiturs—Writings & Lectures on Improvisation, Composition, and Interpretation (Unlogische Folgerungen—Schriften und Vorträge zu Improvisation, Komposition und Interpretation). Edition Musiktexte, Cologne, 2007. {{ISBN|3-9803151-8-5}}.
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.

References

External links

[http://www.frogpeak.org/ Frog Peak Music (a composers' collective)] has scores of some of Rzewski's compositions.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20040204185424/http://www.newalbion.com/artists/rzewskif/ Frederic Rzewski page on New Albion Records]
{{BrahmsOnline|2815}}
{{IMSLP|id=Rzewski, Frederic}}, which also hosts various live recordings of Rzewski playing his music.
[https://www.secondinversion.org/2018/04/19/frederic-rzewski-at-80-directions-inevitable-or-otherwise/ Frederic Rzewski at 80: Directions Inevitable or Otherwise] at Second Inversion
{{Discogs artist|Frederic Rzewski}}
{{IMDb name|id=3464896}}

= Interviews =

Duffie, Bruce. "[http://www.kcstudio.com/rzewski2.html Composer/Pianist Frederic Rzewski: A Conversation with Bruce Duffie]". Interview from January 19, 1995.
Golden, Barbara. "Conversation with Frederic Rzewski". [http://cec.concordia.ca/econtact/12_2/interviews_golden.html eContact! 12.2 – Interviews (2)] (April 2010). Montréal: CEC.
Hoffman, Joel. [http://therumpus.net/2015/07/the-rumpus-interview-with-frederic-rzewski/ The Rumpus Interview with Frederic Rzewski]. The Rumpus (July 2015).
Varela, Daniel. [http://www.furious.com/perfect/rzewski.html Interview with Frederic Rzewski]. Perfect Sound Forever (March 2003).