AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES                                                                   215 a-h

Christopher Rouse

With Ev Grimes

Rochester, New York

May 29, 1989

TA BLE OF CONTENTS

Side a                                                                                                             pp. 1-13

Earliest musical experiences--first music lessons--deciding very early on music as career--writing pieces for entrance requirement to Oberlin--learning music on his own--recordings--visit with Varese at age 13--meeting Carl Orff--attraction of music--musicianship class at Peabody--evaluation by Peabody teacher--Oberlin years and different approaches to composition.

Side b                                                                                                                        pp. 13-25

Writing a serial piece--interest in Copland, Piston, Schuman--set of songs and accompanying essay--influence of new Romanticism--curriculum revision at Oberlin--effect of not playing piano on his orchestration--study with George Crumb in Philadelphia--meeting Carl Orff in Germany--rock and roll--lack of interest in jazz--Indian music--composer influences.

Side c                                                                                                             pp. 25-36

Rock and roll groups--influence of Led Zeppelin--Jagannath-- withdrawal of early works--Crumb-influences pieces--studying at Cornell with Karel Husa--mysticism as source of musical inspiration--mythology--difference between music school and music department--research project on Bruckner's Eighth Symphony--new Romanticism--Ogoun Badagris, Ku-Ka-Ilimoku for percussion ensemble=Aphrodite Cantos, withdrawn work--Four Madrigali--Cello Suite.

Side d                                                                                                                        pp. 36-47

Daily routine of listening to recordings in library at Cornell--minors in musicology and theatre--teaching at University of Michigan as Fellow--year spent composing before Michigan position--course "Ali Akbar Khan, Messiaen, and The Jefferson Starship"--course on history of rock and roll--change in style of compositions--Liber Daemonum--The Infernal Machine--critic Andrew Porter--teaching at Eastman.

Side e                                                                                                             pp. 47-58

Teaching position at Eastman--Meet the Composer residencies in Indianapolis and Baltimore--book on William Schuman in honor of his 70^th birthday--relationship between composing and teaching--listening to music of 19^th and early 20^th centuries for sustenance--Berlioz--emotionality is highest purpose of music--serialism as artistic aberration--John Adams.

Side f                                                                                                             pp. 58-69

Failure of romantic relationships and deaths of loved ones influenced angry style of his music--relationship with father--Mitternachtlieder, songs to Trakl texts--poet Georg Grakl--setting text in foreign language--other angry pieces--concern with loss of the allegro--first string quartet--Passion Wheels--Phantasmata, Gorgon,--myths--Lares Hercii, Surma Ritornelli.

Side g                                                                                                             pp. 69-79

Gorgon for Rochester Philharmonic--excess and "bad taste"--symbolic meaning of Gorgon--Phantasmata-- bass concerto--Phaethon--First Symphony, single slow movement--marriage--purpose of art--Mark Rothko--new Romanticism, a return to basic notion that music speaks to us.

Side h                                                                                                                        pp. 79-89

Subjectivity of greatness--Jagannath--history of rock and roll course--concern about education--culture in decline.