Frederic Rzewski

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American composer and pianist (1938–2021)

title: "Frederic Rzewski" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1938-births", "2021-deaths", "20th-century-american-classical-composers", "21st-century-american-classical-composers", "harvard-university-alumni", "princeton-university-alumni", "american-male-classical-composers", "american-contemporary-classical-music-performers", "american-male-classical-pianists", "american-male-pianists", "modernist-composers", "composers-for-piano", "pupils-of-roger-sessions", "pupils-of-walter-piston", "members-of-the-academy-of-arts,-berlin", "academic-staff-of-the-royal-conservatory-of-liège", "20th-century-american-pianists", "21st-century-american-classical-pianists", "20th-century-american-male-musicians", "21st-century-american-male-musicians", "music-&-arts-artists", "people-from-westfield,-massachusetts", "phillips-academy-alumni", "members-of-the-american-academy-of-arts-and-letters", "american-people-of-polish-descent"] description: "American composer and pianist (1938–2021)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Rzewski" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American composer and pianist (1938–2021) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameFrederic Rzewski
captionRzewski in 2011
birth_nameFrederic Anthony Rzewski
birth_date
birth_placeWestfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
death_date
death_placeMontiano, Italy
education{{plainlist
occupation{{plainlist
known_for{{plainlist
notable_worksList of compositions
organization{{plainlist
::

| name = Frederic Rzewski | image = | image_upright = | caption = Rzewski in 2011 | birth_name = Frederic Anthony Rzewski | birth_date = | birth_place = Westfield, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Montiano, Italy | education = {{plainlist|

Early life and education

Rzewski was born on April 13, 1938, in Westfield, Massachusetts, to parents of Polish descent, and raised Catholic. 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 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.

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), which were also the inspiration for the companion piece Attica; 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. 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.

Personal life and death

In 1963, Rzewski married Nicole Abbeloos; they had five children. 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. on June 26, 2021, at the age of 83.

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." 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."

Selected discography

As composer

As pianist

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. .
  • 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

References

  1. Schell, Michael. (April 19, 2018). "Frederic Rzewski at 80: Directions Inevitable or Otherwise".
  2. Swed, Mark. (July 15, 2020). "Listen to Rzewski's 'People United' and hear protest music that stirs the soul".
  3. Gilmore, Bob. (September 30, 2011). "Frederic Rzewski".
  4. Kim, Sujin. (2011). "Understanding Frederic Rzewski's North American Ballads".
  5. (January 14, 2010). "Frederic Rzewski interview".
  6. Robin, William. (June 27, 2021). "Frederic Rzewski, Politically Committed Composer and Pianist, Dies at 83". The New York Times.
  7. "Frederic Rzewski", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.
  8. (2001). "Rzewski, Frederic".
  9. (August 19, 2013). "Prom 50: White, Barry, Rzewski, Feldman". [[BBC]].
  10. Rzewski, Alexis. (April 26, 2023). "Facebook".
  11. Assante, Ernesto. (June 27, 2021). "È morto Frederic Rzewski, temerario pianista di 'El pueblo unido'".
  12. Slonimsky, Nicolas. (1994). "The concise edition of Baker's biographical dictionary of musicians". Schirmer Books.
  13. Christgau, Robert. (1981). "[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]". [[Ticknor & Fields]].
  14. "Paul Jacobs Plays Blues, Ballads & Rags".
  15. "American Dissident".
  16. "The People United Will Never Be Defeated! Stephen Drury, piano".
  17. "Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated!".
  18. (July 2015). "Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated!".
  19. "RZEWSKI, F.: De Profundis / 5 North American Ballads (Which Side Are You On?) (Moore) - CA-21014".
  20. "Chamber Music - RZEWSKI, F. / RIMBAUD, R. / IELASI, G. / PASSARANI, M. (Main Drag) (Alter Ego)".
  21. "fred: Music by Frederic Rzewski {{!}} Classical".
  22. "RZEWSKI, F.: 4 Pieces / ADAMS, J.: Phrygian Gates (Arciuli)".
  23. "RZEWSKI, F.: People United will never be Defeated (The) (van Raat) - 8.559360".
  24. (March 29, 2014). "Rzewski & Bach: Variations".
  25. "RZEWSKI, F.: 4 Piano Pieces / Hard Cuts / The Housewife's Lament (van Raat, Lunapark, Marinissen) - 8.559759".
  26. "RZEWSKI, F.: People United will never be Defeated (The) / Four Hands (Oppens, Lowenthal) - CDR90000-158".
  27. "Igor Levit: Bach, Beethoven, Rzewski Album Available via Sony Classical on October 30, 2015".
  28. "COV 92021 – Frederic Rzewski: Songs of Insurrection".
  29. "Imani Winds: Bruits".
  30. "Retro Americana".
  31. "Vintage Americana".
  32. "Sub Rosa".
  33. "Anthony Braxton Catalog".
  34. "Capriccio Hassidico".
  35. "We Sing For The Future! by Frederic Rzewski".
  36. "Hour for Piano".
  37. Pousseur, H.. "Aquarius-Memorial".
  38. Henri Pousseur, [[Vincent Bouchot]] & Frederic Rzewski. "Pousseur: La Guirlande de Pierre".
  39. Christoph Caskel, Max Neuhaus & Frederic Rzewski. "Stockhausen: Zyklus / Klavierstück X".
  40. "Nonesuch Records Rzewski Plays Rzewski: Piano Works, 1975-1999".

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1938-births2021-deaths20th-century-american-classical-composers21st-century-american-classical-composersharvard-university-alumniprinceton-university-alumniamerican-male-classical-composersamerican-contemporary-classical-music-performersamerican-male-classical-pianistsamerican-male-pianistsmodernist-composerscomposers-for-pianopupils-of-roger-sessionspupils-of-walter-pistonmembers-of-the-academy-of-arts,-berlinacademic-staff-of-the-royal-conservatory-of-liège20th-century-american-pianists21st-century-american-classical-pianists20th-century-american-male-musicians21st-century-american-male-musiciansmusic-&-arts-artistspeople-from-westfield,-massachusettsphillips-academy-alumnimembers-of-the-american-academy-of-arts-and-lettersamerican-people-of-polish-descent