Born: October 24, 1929, Charleston, South Carolina.
Came from a musical family. Father—clarinetist, conductor, music transcriber.
Mother—principle cellist with the Charleston Symphony.
Began studying clarinet with father at age 7. By the time he was 9, he had began piano lessons as well.
Constantly performed chamber music with entire family.
Didn’t excel at school. Would read composer biographies instead of English books. He would also constantly bring scores to school to study instead of paying attention in class.
Education:
Completed formal high school education.
B.M. from Mason College (Charleston, SC)—focus on piano and composition.
Masters from University of Illinois—Champagne-Urbana—studied with Eugene Weigel. Also studied viola and readying foreign languages, such as Spanish, French, German, and Italian.
Doctorate from University of Michigan—Ann Arbor—studied composition with Ross Lee Finney. Crumb learned his meticulous notation from him.
Went to Germany to study with Boris Blacher.
1958-59: Hollins College. Taught theory and analysis.
1959-1964: University of Colorado—Boulder. Taught secondary students piano.
1964-1965: Composer-in-residence at Buffalo Center for the Creative and Performing Arts
1965-1997: University of Pennsylvania. Teacher of composition.
Has been awarded 6 honorary doctorates.
Began composing at 10 or 11 years of age.
When growing up, was exposed to “country music” more associated today with folk or mountain music. This basis caused him to incorporate in his pieces such instruments as the musical saw, harmonica, and banjo.
Fascinated by composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, and Chopin so much so that in his early works he attempted to imitate their styles.
He had a difficult time composing serial music in his college years, even though that was the standard music of the time.
Considered to be an “avant-garde” and “experimental” composer. In the 1960s, he and John Cage were considered the forerunners in American composition.
He stretched technical and resource limits to the brink. Composed for non-traditional instruments such as the glass harmonica, sitar, and mandolin.
Combined ethnic sources into music including the natural dialect with the historical settings.
Notable pieces for percussion:
§ Ancient Voices of Children
§ Dream Sequence (Images II)
§ An Idyll for the Misbegotten (Images III)
§ Lux Aeterna
§ Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III)
§ Night Music I
§ Night of the Four Moons
§ Quest
§ Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death
Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III)
Composed: 1974
Series: third and final in the Makrokosmos Series
Instrumentation: 2 pianos and 2 percussionists
Special percussion instrumentation: jawbone of an ass, Japanese temple bells, thunder sheet, African log drums, Tibetan prayer stones, sistrum, bows to apply to other instruments, etc.
Premiere: Swarthmore College Pennsylvania, March 30, 1974. Percussionist Raymond DesRoches and Richard Fitz
Movements:
I. Nocturnal Sounds (The Awakening)
II. Wanderer-Fantasy
III. The Advent
IV. Myth
V. Music of the Starry Night
Purpose: Inspired by the Bartok Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion
Composed: 1970
Series: Part of a cycle of songs based on the texts of Federico Garcia Lorca
Instrumentation: Mezzo-soprano, boy soprano, oboe, mandolin, harp, amplified piano, toy piano (played by the pianist), 3 percussionists.
Special percussion instrumentation: musical saw, Japanese temple bells, and Tibetan prayer stones.
Premiere: October 31, 1970 by the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Movements:
I. El nino busca su voz (Dances of the Ancient Earth)
II. Me he perdido muchas veces por el mar
III. De donde Viernes, amor, mi nino? (Dance of the Sacred Life-Cycle)
IV. Todas las tardes en Granada, todas las tardes se muere un nino (Ghost Dance)
V. Se ha llenado de luces mi corazon de seda
Quotations: incorporated non-western patterns and feelings as well as Ravel’s Bolero, Maher’s Das Lied von der Erde.
An Idyll for the Misbegotten (Images III)
Composed: 1985
Premiere: November 1986 in Toronto
Instrumentation: amplified flute and 3 percussionists
Duration: 9 min.
Gillespie, Don. George Crumb: Profile on a Composer. C. F. Peters Corporation. New York. 1986.
Holland, James. Percussion. MacDonald and James. London. 1978. Pgs. 1, 48, 109, 131.
Nicholls, David. The Cambridge History of American Music. Cambridge University Press. 1998. Pgs. 261, 517, 531.
www.puk.ac.za/musdocs/crumb/crumb.html (official George Crumb web site including discography, biography, complete composition listing, and program notes)
www.americancomposers.org/millen1.htm
www.edition-peters.com/crumb/crumb_engl.html
Ucsu.Colorado.edu/~madry/crumb/crumb_research.html (complete bibliography)
Theory.music.Indiana.edu/t556/crumb.html (complete bibliography)
Desktop12.cis.mcmaster.ca:80/~mus701/Melissa/essay.htm (entire breakdown and essay on Black Angles)