MILTON BABBITT: A Celebration of his Life and Music
October
31-November 1, 2003
Millsaps College
Jackson, Mississippi
Ralph
Hartsock
University of North Texas
Precursors to the Formation of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center
This paper will explore the precursors to the CPEMC, the Composers' Forum of May, 1952 at Columbia, featuring Vladimir Ussachevsky (revealing the actual date of this embryonic event), the concert of Otto Luening's and Ussachevsky works at the Museum of Modern Art in October 1952, and their collaboration in Rhapsodic Variations in 1954. This is followed by the works of Edgard Varese (Poeme electronique) and the formation of the grant, with Milton Babbitt and Roger Sessions to form the Center. The original concert repertoire featured on May 9 and 10 of 1961 is examined, and the web of controversy it spawned in the press, particularly from Paul Henry Lang and Jacques Barzun.
