338 DIRECTORY
music. Babbitt was a firm proponent of
serialism, as well as a pioneer of electronic
music. His most important works include
Three Compositions for Piano (1947),
Ensembles for Synthesizer (1962–1963),
and Philomel (1964) for solo soprano
with electronic accompaniment.LUIGI NONO
1924–1990The Venetian Luigi Nono was a radical
in music and politics alike, and often
combined the two. His Il canto sospeso
(“The interrupted song”; 1955–1956)—
for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra—
excerpts letters written during World
War II by members of the anti-Nazi
resistance awaiting execution. Nono’s
Marxist beliefs are also clear in his
first opera, Intolleranza (1960), about an
Italian migrant looking for work. In the
1960s, he began staging pieces, such as
La fabbrica illuminata (“The illuminated
factory”; 1964), in factories and other
places of work.PIERRE BOULEZ
1925–2016The avant-garde French composer Pierre
Boulez was a hugely influential figure in
the late 20th century. One of his most
admired early works was Le Marteau
sans maître (The Hammer without a
Master; 1954), a setting of poems by the
surrealist René Char. A decade later, he
composed the successful Pli selon pli
(“Fold upon fold”; 1964) for soprano and
orchestra. Among his later works was
Répons (1985), for chamber orchestra
with six percussive soloists and live
electronics. Boulez had an international
career as a conductor, including periods
with the New York Philharmonic and the
BBC Symphony Orchestra in London.MORTON FELDMAN
1926–1987Born in Queens, New York, Morton
Feldman was notable for the slow,
deliberate quietness of his music and
the exceptional length of his later works.The quietness, he said, meant that
audiences could hear the sounds. In
1977, he composed Neither for soprano
and orchestra, a setting of a monologue
by the playwright Samuel Beckett. His
later works, such as the String Quartet II
(1983), which lasts for five hours without
break, were immersive, almost mystical
experiences for listeners.HANS WERNER HENZE
1926–2012A German living in Italy, Hans Werner
Henze is known for a shimmering
lyrical style that drew inspiration from
traditions as varied as Romanticism,
neoclassicism, and jazz. Highly prolific,
he wrote 10 symphonies as well as solo
instrumental, chamber, and orchestral
music. He found fame, above all, for his
operas, including two collaborations
with the English poet W.H. Auden:
Elegy for Young Lovers (1961) and
The Bassarids (1966).HARRISON BIRTWISTLE
1934–Harrison Birtwistle was part of a group
of students at the Royal Manchester
College of Music in northern England,
who became known as the Manchester
School. Modernists, they also drew
inspiration from medieval and early
Renaissance music. Birtwistle came into
his own in the 1960s with works such
as Tragoedia (1965) for wind quintet,
harp, and string quartet and his first
opera, Punch and Judy (1968). Operas
remain an important part of his output,
including The Mask of Orpheus (1986),
Gawain (1991), and The Minotaur (2008);
his instrumental works include Exody
(1997) for orchestra, The Cry of Anubis
(1994) for tuba and orchestra, and
Harrison’s Clocks (1998) for solo piano.HELMUT LACHENMANN
1935–The German Helmut Lachenmann’s goal
as a composer is to open up new “sound
worlds.” A Modernist who studied underLuigi Nono, he coined the term “musique
concrète instrumentale” (“concrete
instrumental music”). In Pression (1970)
for solo cello, he uses not only the sounds
the cellist has been trained to produce
but also other more mechanical sounds,
as when the bow is pressed down hard
on the strings. He also incorporates
recordings (often distorted) of well-
known pieces, such as Mozart’s Clarinet
Concerto, into his compositions, as in
his work for clarinet, orchestra, and tape,
Accanto (1976). Other pieces include
NUN (1999) for flute, trombone, male
chorus, and orchestra, and an opera,
Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern
(“The little match girl”) in 1997.ARVO PÄRT
1935–The Estonian-born Pärt’s early works
include unmistakably Modernist pieces,
such as Nekrolog (1960) and his first two
symphonies (1963 and 1966). From 1968,
however, he almost completely ceased
composing for eight years, partly in
response to the repressive censorship in
his still Soviet-controlled homeland, but
also in the light of his devout Russian
Orthodox faith. His new style emerged
in a short solo piano piece, Für Alina
(1976), remarkable for its pared-back
minimalism and the bell-like quality of
the sound. A stream of works followed,
including Tabula Rasa (1977), Summa
(1977), the Cantus in memoriam
Benjamin Britten (1977), and a St. John
Passion (1982).ARIBERT REIMANN
1936–Aribert Reimann, a Berlin-born
composer, pianist, and teacher, has
written chamber works, concertos, and
orchestral pieces but is mainly known
for his deft use of the human voice—
Reimann had a long, close association
with the baritone Dietrich Fischer-
Dieskau, for whom he often acted as
accompanist. Reimann wrote a series
of successful operas, mostly based on
the works of famous dramatists. Lear,
adapted from the Shakespeare play, isUS_332-339_Directory.indd 338 26/03/18 1:02 PM