Anyone note the passing of Elliott Carter?

[cmg]

He died on Monday and so did most of us in NYC when that hurricane hit.  Let's pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands homeless, powerless in NYC and NJ and to Carter -- his music never touched me, but it certainly always has impressed me.

[ahinton]

He died on Monday and so did most of us in NYC when that hurricane hit.  Let's pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands homeless, powerless in NYC and NJ and to Carter -- his music never touched me, but it certainly always has impressed me.

There's already another thread on this elsewhere on the forum although there has been a dismayingly small number of posts to it.

Best,

Alistair

[teosoleil]

Oh gosh. How did I miss this? A great composer with a life of great work. Saddens me to see the passing of a great and celebrated man, but his work shall live on in the likes of the greats...

[sevencircles]

He must have been 104 years old or something 

The oldest published composer known, right?

[ahinton]

He must have been 104 years old or something 

The oldest published composer known, right?

He would have been 104 next month. Ornstein is probably the only composer whose lifespan exceeded his but, like all other nonagenarian and centenarian composers (as far as I am aware), had ceased to compose before reaching the age of 100 whereas Carter's final three works were all written at the age of 103 and he'd already written 17 more since his centenary.

Best,

Alistair

[fftransform]

Roy Douglas is older, still alive and working.

Paul le Flem wrote until 95 and lived until 103.

Jeno Takacs lived to 103, although I'm not sure if/when he stopped composing.



Henri Dutilleux is 96 and still writing.  Boulez has a ways to go, still, but is certainly getting on.

[ahinton]

Roy Douglas is older, still alive and working.

I knew that he's still alive but had no idea that he was still working! Most of his works that I've come across are in the field of film music and date from the 1930s and 40s, but I'm no authority on him. He was born one year and one day before Carter.

Paul le Flem wrote until 95 and lived until 103.

This I did know; his final work, a set of orchestral Préludes, was abandoned while in progress because the composer's eyesight finally failed him.

Jeno Takacs lived to 103, although I'm not sure if/when he stopped composing.

I don't know about that either; the last known work of his that I've heard about is Rudolf-Polka for piano which dates from 1998 and, if that is indeed his final piece (which it may not be), he'll have ended his creative life as did Carter with a work for his own instrument. He was a pupil of another nonagenarian, Hans Gál (1890-1987) who settled in Scotland and died there at the age of 97 - as well as of Joseph Marx.

Henri Dutilleux is 96 and still writing.

Is he really?! Well, I know that he'll be 97 in less than two months' time but I did not know for certain that he's still working; I very much hope that he is! The last that I heard of him from a reliable source, however, he was apparently very frail.

Boulez has a ways to go, still, but is certainly getting on.

Indeed he does, but I fear for his condition, too, especially after he cancelled his London Proms appearances on health grounds this past summer when a major conspectus of his work was on the menu - but is he still writing? I don't know, but the last work of his with which I am at all familiar or know anything about is Dérive II, which was on of the works performed in this year's London Proms season played by 11 members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim; at around 50 minutes, it's one of his most ambitious works and happens to be dedicated to Elliott Carter, but it's six years since Boulez finally completed it (assuming that he has!) and I know nothing of what he might have written since or be writing now...

Best,

Alistair

[sevencircles]

but it's six years since Boulez finally completed it (assuming that he has!) and I know nothing of what he might have written since or be writing now...

He is working on a violinconcerto for Anne-Sophie Mutter if I am not entirely wrong. 

[ahinton]

He is working on a violinconcerto for Anne-Sophie Mutter if I am not entirely wrong.  

What is your information source for this?

Best,

Alistair

[sevencircles]

What is your information source tor this?

Best,

Alistair

https://contemporarymusic.blogspot.se/2006/11/premieresgubaidulina-boulez-and-previn.html

I have heard it in more recent interviews as well.

[ahinton]

https://contemporarymusic.blogspot.se/2006/11/premieresgubaidulina-boulez-and-previn.html

I have heard it in more recent interviews as well.

Well, it seems not to have happened and I've heard nothing of it as a work in progress. Boulez is about to reach 90 but seems to have bee too ill to do anything much for quite some time.

Best,

Alistair