George Perle
George Perle | |
---|---|
Born | Bayonne, New Jersey, United States | 6 May 1915
Died | 23 January 2009 New York City, US | (aged 93)
Occupation(s) | Composer, music theorist |
Spouse(s) | Laura Slobe (1950–1952) (div.) Barbara Philips (died 1978) Shirley Perle |
Website | georgeperle |
George Perle (6 May 1915 – 23 January 2009) was an American composer and music theorist. As a composer, his music was largely atonal, using methods similar to the twelve-tone technique of the Second Viennese School. This serialist style, and atonality in general, was the subject of much of his theoretical writings. His 1962 book, Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern remains a standard text for 20th-century classical music theory. Among Perle's awards was the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Wind Quintet No. 4.[1]
Life and career
Perle was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, to Russian Jewish parents.[2] He graduated from DePaul University, where he studied with Wesley LaViolette and received private lessons from Ernst Krenek. Later, he served as a technician fifth grade in the United States Army during World War II.[3] He earned his doctorate at New York University in 1956.[4]
Perle composed with a technique of his own devising called "twelve-tone tonality". This technique was different from, but related to, the twelve-tone technique of the Second Viennese School,[5] of which he was an "early admirer" and whose techniques he used aspects of but never fully adopted.[4] Perle's former student Paul Lansky described Perle's twelve-tone tonality thus:
Basically this creates a hierarchy among the notes of the chromatic scale so that they are all referentially related to one or two pitches which then function as a tonic note or chord in tonality. The system similarly creates a hierarchy among intervals and finally, among larger collections of notes, 'chords.' The main debt of this system to the 12-tone system lies in its use of an ordered linear succession in the same way that a 12-tone set does".[6]
In 1968, Perle cofounded the Alban Berg Society with Igor Stravinsky, and Hans F. Redlich, who had the idea (according to Perle in his letter to Glen Flax of 4/1/89[citation needed]). Perle's important work on Berg includes documenting that the third act of Lulu, rather than being an unfinished sketch, was actually three-fifths complete and that the Lyric Suite contains a secret program dedicated to Berg's love-affair.[4]
After retiring from
He died aged 93 in his home in New York City in January 2009.[4] He was buried in Calverton National Cemetery.
A growing number of younger artists have come to express their appreciation for Perle.[
Perle was married to the sculptor Laura Slobe from 1940 to 1952; the couple were members of the Socialist Workers Party.[8] His second wife, Barbara Philips, died in 1978. Perle married Shirley Gabis Rhoads in 1982.[9]
Works
Richard Swift differentiates between Perle's 'free' or 'intuitive', tone-centered, and twelve-tone modal music.[10] He lists Perle's tone-centered compositions:
- Sonata for Solo Viola (1942)
- Three Sonatas for Solo Clarinet (1943)
- Hebrew Melodies for Solo Cello (1945)
- Sonata for Solo Cello (1947)
- Quintet for Strings (1958)
- Sonata I for Solo Violin (1959)
- Wind Quintet I (1959)
- Wind Quintet II (1960)
- Monody I for Flute (1962)
- Monody II for Double Bass (1962)
- Three Inventions for Bassoon (1962)
- Sonata II for Solo Piano (1963)
- Solo Partita for Violin and Viola (1965)
- Wind Quintet III (1967)
Selected publications
- Perle, George (1962, reprint 1991). Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. University of California Press.
- Perle, George (1992) [1978]. Twelve-Tone Tonality. University of California Press.
- Perle, George (1980). The Operas of Alban Berg. Vol. 1: Wozzeck. California: University of California Press.
- Perle, George (1984). "Scriabin's Self-Analysis", Musical Analysis III/2 (July).
- Perle, George (1985). The Operas of Alban Berg. Vol. 2: Lulu. California: University of California Press.
- Perle, George (1990). The Listening Composer. California: University of California Press.
- Perle, George (1992). "Symmetry, the Twelve-Tone Scale, and Tonality", Contemporary Music Review 6 (2), pp. 81–96.
References
- ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membershiprequired)
- ^ "George Perle dies at 93; theorist and composer championed atonal music". Los Angeles Times. 31 January 2009.
- ^ Perle, George (2007). "Biography". georgeperle.net. Retrieved 11 May 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c d e f Kozinn, Allan (24 January 2009). "George Perle, a Composer and Theorist, Dies at 93". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
- ^ Perle 1992, p. [page needed].
- ISBN 0-252-06275-2.
- ^ Schweitzer, Vivien (11 May 2014). "Paying Homage, Vivaciously and Somberly: From Michael Brown, an Evening of George Perle". New York Times. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
- ^ "Guide to the Laura Gray Political Cartoons GRAPHICS.013". Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
- ^ Pasles, Chris (31 January 2009). "George Perle dies at 93; theorist and composer championed atonal music". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- JSTOR 832876.
External links
- Official website
- Michael Brown plays George Perle's Six Celebratory Inventions on Classical Connect
- Interview with George Perle, 20 May 1986
- Interview with George Perle on WNCN-FM, 9 December 1983