An Introduction to the Music of Milton Babbitt

by Andrew Washburn Mead

In this celebration of Milton Babbitt's art, Andrew Mead explores the development of a central figure in contemporary American music. As a teacher and writer, Babbitt has influenced two generations of students, including such notable musicians as Stephen Sondheim and Donald Martino. He has helped establish the study of music theory as a serious academic pursuit, and his articles on Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and the twelve-tone system constitute a seminal body of research. But Babbitt is first and last a composer, whose works are, in Mead's words, "truly music to be heard." With Mead as a guide, we discover the strong emotional and expressive charge of Babbitt's music that is inextricably entwined with its structure.

Babbitt is a twelve-tone composer, unabashedly so, and it is precisely his profound understanding of Arnold Schoenberg's epochal insight that gives Babbitt's music its special quality. By examining the underlying principles of twelve-tone composition, Mead allows us to appreciate Babbitt's music on its own terms, as a richly varied yet unified body of work. In achieving this purpose, he provides an excellent introduction to twelve-tone music in general. Without relying on professional jargon, he lucidly and succinctly explains Babbitt's complexities. A catalog of compositions, a discography, and a bibliography complete a book that will interest performers, music theorists, and music historians, as well as other readers who are enthusiastic or curious about contemporary musical works.

Originally published in 1994.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Genres: Music

264 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1993

Reviews

[Thomas Feng]

some books you read for business and not pleasure. as such it doesn’t feel fair to give this book a “rating”.

in some sense it is indispensable as a pioneering survey of Babbitt’s music up to that point. i walked away with a decent grasp of Babbitt’s compositional “habits”, periodized rather nearly into early, middle, and late periods.

i would not have made it through this book without first having read Babbitt’s own Words About Music, which was still dense but written in a livelier, more casual style, where i don’t mind as much how much goes over my head. Prof. Mead knows what he’s talking about and lays it all out precisely but i confess i find it awfully dry. the examples are dense and i often only glanced at them without investigating the tables and charts to confirm that indeed a lyne pair split between saxophone and the lower register of the piano was combinatorial.

perhaps my outstanding criticism is that the analyses focus mostly on the (pitch-class) arrays; though Mead notes that an analysis of the array of a piece is NOT an analysis of the piece, an outsized part of the text is dedicated to describing how those arrays are used, with the musical effect only sometimes explicated. at times it is illuminating indeed (the final analysis of Soli e Duettini, and comparisons of superarray disposition in three late concerted works) – but this level of technical detail far outweighed any further hermeneutics. (i wonder though if Babbitt et al would have protested to that kind if “subjective” analysis)

(much as i hate to be that person, some of the things are like… this final section of Post-Partitions indexes other sections by playing dyads from other parts of the piece! NO ONE CAN HEAR THAT but what do i know, once upon a time i couldn’t follow a sonata)

ANYWAY it would have been nice to talk more about rhythm in particular. the time-point technique is introduced and expanded upon but i think usually rhythmic aspects of a piece are described almost like an afterthought, supporting larger pitch-related structures rather than carrying the ear along the flow of music (my opinion)

focus too is spent largely on instrumental works; the electronic works are not given much discussion at all nor is much attention given to the texted works as such.

glad i read it but will only be returning for reference