Milton Babbitt summary

Discover the life and works of Milton Babbitt, American composer, and theorist

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Milton Babbitt, (born May 10, 1916, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died Jan. 29, 2011, Princeton, N.J.), U.S. composer. At Princeton University he studied with composer Roger Sessions and later joined the faculty. He became one of the first U.S. 12-tone composers, and he was (with his Three Compositions for Piano, 1947) perhaps the first composer to write totally serialized music based on ordered structures not only of pitch but of elements such as rhythm and dynamics. Working with RCA’s Mark II synthesizer from 1957 to 1975, he became one of the first Americans to write electronically synthesized music. His music was considered difficult to perform but also good-humoured and playful. In 1982 he received a lifetime Pulitzer Prize in composition.

electronic music Summary

Electronic music, any music involving electronic processing, such as recording and editing on tape, and whose reproduction involves the use of loudspeakers. Although any music produced or modified by electrical, electromechanical, or electronic means can be called electronic music, it is more

music Summary

Music, art concerned with combining vocal or instrumental sounds for beauty of form or emotional expression, usually according to cultural standards of rhythm, melody, and, in most Western music, harmony. Both the simple folk song and the complex electronic composition belong to the same activity,

art criticism Summary

Art criticism, the analysis and evaluation of works of art. More subtly, art criticism is often tied to theory; it is interpretive, involving the effort to understand a particular work of art from a theoretical perspective and to establish its significance in the history of art. Many cultures have