Eric Salzman

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Eric Salzman
Salzman at the Cell Theater in 2011 for the Center for Contemporary Opera atelier of his opera, Big Jim and the Small-Time Investors.
Born(1933-09-08)September 8, 1933
New York City, U.S.
DiedNovember 12, 2017(2017-11-12) (aged 84)
New York City, U.S.
EducationColumbia University (BA)
Princeton University (MFA)
Occupation(s)Composer, producer, author, music critic
Years active1958–2017

Eric Salzman (September 8, 1933 – November 12, 2017) was an American

American Music Theater Festival and was, at the time of his death in 2017, Composer-in-Residence at the Center for Contemporary Opera.[2]

Salzman's one true opera, Big Jim and the Small-Time Investors (written and revised between 1985 and 2017), was developed in workshops at CCO in 2010 and 2014. It received its world-premiere production at Symphony Space in 2018, five months after his death, praised by Opera News as "truly a fine piece of post-modern creative work."[3] Performers of his works include the New York Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic; conductors Pierre Boulez, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Dennis Russell Davies and Lukas Foss; ensembles Western Wind and Kronos Quartet; soloists Philip Langridge, Mary Thomas, Elise Ross, Stanley Silverman, Alan Titus, Rinde Eckert, Igor Kipnis, Paul Zukofsky, Theo Bleckmann, Thomas Young; actors Stacy Keach, John O'Hurley and Paul Hecht.

Early life

Salzman was born September 8, 1933, in New York City and attended Forest Hills High School (1946–1950).

After studying composition privately (1949–51) with Morris Lawner, who taught at the

New York High School of Music and Art, he continued his studies at Columbia University (1954 Bachelor of Arts),[4] majoring in music and minoring in literature. At Columbia, his teachers included Jack Beeson, Lionel Trilling, Otto Luening, and Vladimir Ussachevsky
.

He pursued postgraduate work at

Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Goffredo Petrassi and at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse in Darmstadt with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Bruno Maderna, and Luigi Nono
.

Music critic, producer, broadcaster

In 1958, he returned to the United States and began a career as a

New York Magazine
, and other publications in Germany, France, and England.

Salzman founded and ran The Electric Ear at the Electric Circus from 1967 until 1968. He served as music director of WBAI-FM (Pacifica Radio) from 1962 until 1964, and again from 1968 until 1972, winning a Major Armstrong Award for broadcasting.[7] He interviewed numerous artists, including Stefan Wolpe and Edgard Varèse, and was himself interviewed by Virgil Thomson as the special guest on Thomson's radio program for WNCN-FM in 1970.[8]

Through his work at WBAI, where he founded the Free Music Store, Salzman was approached by Joseph Papp in 1968 to create concerts for the then-vacant Martinson Hall at The Public Theater.[9] As a result, the Free Music Store presented free concerts in Martinson Hall until Papp evicted the group in 1971. The Free Music Store provided a platform for musicians who wanted to explore new musical projects while foregoing compensation. Among many programs, the Free Music Store organized formal performances of ragtime music, presenting concerts featuring Eubie Blake and others. Salzman left the Free Music Store in 1972, though the Free Music Store continued operating in various locations under the leadership of Ira Weitzman.

From 1975 to 1990, Salzman produced and directed over two dozen recordings, mainly for

Stereo Review Award for Record of the Year and was featured prominently in the films Scent of a Woman (1992) and True Lies (1994). The album has been credited for bringing attention to tango music both in Argentina and internationally. Salzman also produced several recordings featuring the music of Harry Partch and William Bolcom
, as well as his own music.

New Music Theater

According to Salzman's writing, the future of opera and musical theater lies in economically viable, small-scale theater where music is the dominant driving force. This concept is evident in Salzman's early works, such as:

The Nonesuch recording of Nude Paper Sermon was chosen separately by both Dennis Báthory-Kitsz and David Gunn, creators and hosts of the Kalvos & Damian New Music Bazaar, for their "Top 100" desert island recordings.

In 1967, Salzman founded the "New Image of Sound" series at

Laborintus II.[10] In 1972, Pierre Boulez conducted the piece with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.[11]

In 1970, Salzman founded the Quog Music Theater, a mixed-media performing group, which included accordionist William Schimmel and percussionist David Van Tieghem. The ensemble performed many of Salzman's works, including Ecolog, a music theater piece for television (premiered on Channel 13), which received its live premiere at the New York Philharmonic's "Prospective Encounters" series in 1972, as conducted by Boulez.[12] With Quog, Salzman experimented with theatrical forms and ensembles, creating an a capella radio opera and the music drama Lazarus (1973), combining contemporary and medieval elements, which appeared at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in 1974 before touring in Europe.[13]

Salzman created numerous theatrical works with the musician Michael Sahl, with both artists generally serving as co-composer and co-librettist. Among their many collaborations were The Conjurer (1975) which premiered at the Public Theater under the direction of

National Public Radio and Nonesuch records, and won the Prix Italia and a Backstage Award. Other Sahl/Salzman collaborations were produced in partnership with the Pratt Institute, Victory Theater, WNYC, Theater for the New City, KCRW
(Santa Monica), Quog Music Theater, and the American Music Theater Festival.

American Music Theater Festival

In 1984, Salzman founded the

X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X; Julie Taymor, Elliot Goldenthal, and Sidney Goldfarb's The Transposed Heads; Duke Ellington's Queenie Pie; Emily Mann, Ntozake Shange, and Baikida Carroll's Betsy Brown; Bob Telson and Lee Breuer's The Gospel at Colonus; David Henry Hwang, Philip Glass, and Jerome Sirlin's 1000 Airplanes on the Roof; Robert Xavier Rodriguez' Frida, Harry Partch's Revelation in the Courthouse Park; William Bolcom's Casino Paradise; and a 1987 production of Salzman's and Sahl's 1976 work, Stauf, a music theater version of Faust directed by Rhoda Levine
.

Center for Contemporary Opera

From 2000 until 2012, Salzman was Artistic Director of the Center for Contemporary Opera in New York City and served as Composer-in-Residence for the company. The Center for Contemporary Opera presented the United States premiere of Salzman's La Prière du loup (2003) and The True Last Words of Dutch Schultz (Symphony Space, 2007), and workshops of other works, including Big Jim & the Small-time Investors at The Flea Theater (2010) and the Faison Firehouse Theater (2014). Among the major works which were produced at the Center for Contemporary Opera during Salzman's tenure are Michael Dellaira and J. D. McClatchy's The Secret Agent and Daron Hagen and Paul Muldoon's Vera of Las Vegas.[15]

Other projects

In 1997True Last Words of Dutch Schultz had its world premiere at the Internationaal Opera Centrum Nederland, starring

chamber orchestra
suite based on the work.

In 1980, Salzman composed and conducted instrumental music and song for

C.F. Peters.[17] Salzman's more recent work includes the madrigal comedy Jukebox in the Tavern of Love, with text and stage direction by Valeria Vasilevski. The piece was commissioned by the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble and performed at the Flea Theater in 2008, then Brooklyn's Bargemusic in 2009.[18]

Publications, teaching, musicology

Salzman was editor of

Banff Centre for the Arts, Yale University School of Music, the Conservatoire Nationale de Lyon, and other institutions. In 1966, he was invited by Friedelind Wagner to present several lectures at the Bayreuth Festival
as part of the Master Classes on contemporary music in the theater

He wrote The New Music Theater: Seeing the Voice, Hearing the Body with Thomas Desi (

G. Schirmer Inc., 1986), in addition to articles in various publications. He published an essay on the new music theater movement, "Music-Theater Defined: It's ... Well... Um..."[20]

Eric Salzman Award for New Music Theater

The Eric Salzman Award for New Music Theater was established in 2018 by the Quog Music Theater and the Estate of Eric Salzman. The inaugural award was adjudicated by Marcus Paus, Victoria Bond and Scott Joiner,[21] and was given to Marisa Michelson and Anna K. Jacobs.

Personal life

Salzman was married to environmental activist, writer, and Green Party founding member Lorna Salzman (née Jackson) from 1955 until his death. They had two daughters, the poet Eva Salzman and composer/songwriter Stephanie Salzman.[22]

Salzman was an avid

Eastern Long Island
.

He died on November 12, 2017, from a heart attack, aged 84.[2]

Recordings

  • Civilization & Its Discontents (reissued January 2012; Labor Records LAB 7089)
  • The Nude Paper Sermon/Wiretap (reissued October 2012; Labor Records LAB 7092) (The Nude Paper Sermon originally issued on Nonesuch, Wiretap originally issued on Finnadar)[23]
  • Jukebox in the Tavern of Love (released May 2014 – Labor Records LAB 7094) * This recording by the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble also features Meredith Monk's Basket Rondo;[24] was a WQXR Q2 Album of the Week in May 2014; was chosen by Gramophone Magazine for inclusion in their 2014 Recordings of the Year.[25]

References

  1. ^ "Eric Salzman obituary, November 18, 2017". Legacy.com/New York Times. 18 November 2017. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Eric Salzman, Composer Who Championed Avant-Garde, Dies at 84". New York Times. 24 November 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  3. ^ McKinnon, Arlo (April 9, 2018). "Big Jim and the Small-Time Investors" Opera News July 2018 — Vol. 82, No. 12
  4. ^ "Other Deaths Reported". Columbia College Today. Spring 2018. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  5. S2CID 216590782
    . Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  6. ^ "Hilton Kramer Papers 1950 - 2012, n.d." Bowdoin College. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  7. ^ "WBAI Folio from the Pacifica Radio Archives April 16 - April 29, 1962". Internet Archive. 1962. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  8. ^ "Radio". The New York Times. February 23, 1970. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  9. ^ Henahan, Donal (February 28, 1971). "They've Gotta Be Free; They've Gotta Be Free" The New York Times.
  10. ^ Strongin, Theodore (December 1, 1967). "Salzman and Berio Presented at Hunter In Modern Series" The New York Times.
  11. ^ "Concert, BBC Radio 3". BBC Genome Project. January 31, 1972. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  12. ^ Rockwell, John (February 19, 1973). "Salzman's QUOG Is Not All It's Supposed to Be" The New York Times.
  13. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Lazarus (1975)". Accessed July 3, 2018.
  14. ^ Page, Tim (September 15, 1985). "The Music Theater Festival, a Mere Idea in 1983, Starts Second Big Season" The New York Times.
  15. ^ "About Us". Center for Contemporary Opera. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  16. ^ The Odyssey of Homer. Blackstone Audio. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  17. ^ "Early Music". Kronos Quartet. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  18. ^ Schweitzer, Vivien (July 9, 2009). "Music Review: All in the Same Boat, Singing Away the Blues" The New York Times.
  19. ISBN 978-0195099362
    . Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  20. ^ "Music-Theater Defined". Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  21. ^ "Eric Salzman Award for New Music Theater". Archived from the original on 2018-11-20. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  22. ^ "Miss Lorna Jackson a Prospective Bride October 5, 1955". The New York Times. 5 October 1955. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  23. ^ "Catalogue". Labor Records. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  24. ^ "Western Wind Vocal Ensemble Delivers Buoyant Meredith Monk and Eric Salzman". WQZR.org. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  25. ^ "Recordings of the Year (Sounds of America, III)". Gramophone.co.uk. Retrieved Jan 6, 2015.

Further reading

External links

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