Comments on: Milton Babbitt, RIP

By: steve kay

steve kay — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:06:27 +0000

My great-grandmother, Rita (Diamond) Stern, told me a long time ago, we had relatives in England that were famous musicians and composers / conductors named Babit / Bobith / Babbitt. I am just wondering if Milton Babbitt is my relative. If anyone has any insights, please contact me!

Thanks!

Steve Kay
West Bloomfield, MI.
skay011@aol.com

By: Paul Goldstein

Paul Goldstein — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 04:46:07 +0000

His was a true gift of compositional genius. Milton’s pioneering work showed us it was possible to create highly fascinating music of captivating sound artistry, while at the same time exploring the potentials of musical applications of advanced mathematics and total-serial techniques. His unique output of both music and theoretical writings was widely influential to an entire generation of composers. Though his physical presence will be greatly missed, his music will always survive.

Unlike many of you writing above, I never had the pleasure of meeting Milton personally (though I did perform a few of his piano works in concerts).
However, I have long heard of his charming, witty, and friendly personality, confirmed in many of the remarks above – certainly an apt complement to the charm of the music that he gave to the world.

Here is a delightful article – an obituary from the Guardian – written by one of my music professors from many years ago, who knew him personally:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jan/30/milton-babbitt-obituary

By: Frank J. Oteri

Frank J. Oteri — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 18:35:06 +0000

Plus a loving remembrance from soprano Judith Bettina who recorded a definitive performance of The Head of the Bed for New World: http://www.newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=6768

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:43:46 +0000

From those of us here at Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media, Gabrielle Zuckerman’s unedited interview with Milton Babbitt, from 2002: http://j.mp/babbittinterview

By: Leader

Leader — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 06:52:05 +0000

Oh no. RIP Mr. Babbitt, you will be missed!

By: Steve Layton

Steve Layton — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:49:31 +0000

Composer David Rakowski’s tender & eloquent remembrance:

http://www.newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=6762

By: David Ward-Steinman

David Ward-Steinman — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 04:48:26 +0000

I was a composition student of Babbitt’s at Tanglewood in 1957 and once heard him refer, in casual conversation, to the “chromatically equal-tempered quantization of the frequency continuum,” whereupon I tuned out for a moment to translate. I finally figured out that he meant the “chromatic scale.” He was a brilliant and insightful teacher with a vocabulary all his own, and wide-ranging interests outside music. At our first lesson he asked me what I thought of the Modern Jazz Quartet, which shouldn’t have surprised me. I later was a postdoctoral Visiting Fellow at Princeton, and audited his lectures which were filled with incredible detail and personal reminiscences of major figures and events in music. Subsequent contacts at professional meetings were invariably stimulating and enriching. His charm and wit belied his image as a master of inscrutable arcana,
and he will be greatly missed.

By: Dalit Warshaw

Dalit Warshaw — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 16:24:39 +0000

How saddening to hear this! I first met Milton when I was nine years old, at my first BMI Awards ceremony. From that time through my studies with him later at Juilliard, I was so privileged to benefit from his uncanny wisdom, his warmth, his wit, his music. (And, incidentally, was also initially advised by him not to attend Juilliard, but to opt for Columbia instead!) I will also miss his presence – and amusing asides – at concerts. This is truly the end of an era …

By: Randolph Pitts

Randolph Pitts — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 08:13:54 +0000

Thank you, Milton Babbitt, for your music, your wit, your wisdom, and your inspiration. Our love, esteem, and gratitude will always be with you. And your music will never leave us.

By: Sukato

Sukato — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 07:44:38 +0000

A very sad day.

I studied with him for a year at Juilliard. As a teacher, he was surprisingly laissez-faire. He didn’t make value-judgements or say “this is wrong” or “this is bad.” He wasn’t looking for converts, as most of his students were working in completely different styles. He would bury his head in your score and study it intensely, making astute observations. He would teach by innuendo and implication — you had to listen closely. His wit was legendary and provided a much-needed levity to the sometimes tense composers’ forums and juries.