Nicolas Slonimsky
Encyclopedia
Nicolas Slonimsky was a Russia
n born American composer, conductor, musician, music critic, lexicographer
and author. He described himself as a "diaskeuast" (from Greek
διασκευαστής); "a reviser or interpolator."
. He was of Jewish origin, but his parents adopted the Orthodox faith after the birth of his older brother, and Nicolas was baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church
. His maternal aunt, Isabelle Vengerova
, was his first piano teacher.
Slonimsky was brought to the United States in 1923 by Vladimir Rosing
to work as an accompanist in the newly formed Opera Department at the Eastman School of Music
in Rochester, New York
, where he continued his composition and conducting studies. He also accompanied Rosing at many of his vocal recitals, including a performance at Carnegie Hall in October 1924. After two years, Slonimsky moved to Boston to work as an assistant for Boston Symphony Orchestra
conductor Serge Koussevitzky
, for whom he had earlier worked as a rehearsal pianist in Paris. During this time, Slonimsky taught music theory at Boston Conservatory and the Malkin Conservatory, and began to write music articles for The Boston Evening Transcript
, The Christian Science Monitor
and the magazine, The Etude.
In 1927, Slonimsky formed the Boston Chamber Orchestra, for which he solicited music from contemporary composers. Slonimsky was a great champion of contemporary music. He conducted the world premieres of Edgard Varèse
's Ionisation
for thirteen percussionists in 1933; of Charles Ives
' Three Places in New England
in 1931; and various other works.
In 1958, Slonimsky took over the supervision of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians
and worked as head editor until 1992. He also wrote Music Since 1900, a survey of almost every important musical event in the 20th century and The Lexicon of Musical Invective, a compilation of hilariously bad reviews by critics of composers since Beethoven
's time. One of his best-known books is the Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns (ISBN 0-8256-1449-X), which has influenced many jazz musicians and composers (including Frank Zappa
, John Coltrane
, John Adams, guitarist Buckethead
, Paul Grabowsky
, Jaco Pastorius
, and Allan Holdsworth
).
During the mid-1970s, Slonimsky was a frequent and favorite guest on Ara Guzelimian's weekly program on KUSC
-FM, Los Angeles, sharing many of the fascinating stories and classical music lore he had accumulated over the years. In 1986, he made frequent Saturday afternoon visits to appear on the Doug Ordunio show, heard over KFAC
-FM, Los Angeles. During one of the shows, a crew came out from the New York public television station, WNET
, to film the entire show. Portions of this session were included in the "Aging" segment of the PBS Series The Mind. Slonimsky possessed a sly sense of humor, a trait he would exhibit on the various appearances he made on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
. Late in life, he became a good friend of avant-garde
composer and rock guitarist Frank Zappa
, and performed some of his own compositions at a Zappa concert in Santa Monica, California
in 1981. Slonimsky named his cat Grody-to-the-Max after learning the phrase from Zappa's daughter Moon Zappa
.
Slonimsky's notable students include Cynthia Tse Kimberlin
. He wrote an autobiography, Perfect Pitch (ISBN 0-1931-5155-3), filled with lively anecdotes about a great range of music figures of the 20th century, including his mentor, Serge Koussevitzky
, Charles Ives
, Henry Cowell
, Igor Stravinsky
, Frank Zappa
, and many others.
Slonimsky died at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Los Angeles at age 101, on Christmas Day 1995.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n born American composer, conductor, musician, music critic, lexicographer
Lexicography
Lexicography is divided into two related disciplines:*Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries....
and author. He described himself as a "diaskeuast" (from Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
διασκευαστής); "a reviser or interpolator."
Life
He was born Nikolai Leonidovich Slonimsky in Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. He was of Jewish origin, but his parents adopted the Orthodox faith after the birth of his older brother, and Nicolas was baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
. His maternal aunt, Isabelle Vengerova
Isabelle Vengerova
Isabelle Vengerova was a Russian, later American, pianist and music teacherShe was born Izabella Afanasyevna Vengerova , in Minsk . Her elder brother Semyon Vengerov was a venerable literary historian...
, was his first piano teacher.
Slonimsky was brought to the United States in 1923 by Vladimir Rosing
Vladimir Rosing
Vladimir Sergeyevich Rosing , aka Val Rosing, was a Russian-born operatic tenor and stage director who spent most of his professional career in England and the United States...
to work as an accompanist in the newly formed Opera Department at the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, where he continued his composition and conducting studies. He also accompanied Rosing at many of his vocal recitals, including a performance at Carnegie Hall in October 1924. After two years, Slonimsky moved to Boston to work as an assistant for Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
conductor Serge Koussevitzky
Serge Koussevitzky
Serge Koussevitzky , was a Russian-born Jewish conductor, composer and double-bassist, known for his long tenure as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1949.-Early career:...
, for whom he had earlier worked as a rehearsal pianist in Paris. During this time, Slonimsky taught music theory at Boston Conservatory and the Malkin Conservatory, and began to write music articles for The Boston Evening Transcript
Boston Evening Transcript
The Boston Evening Transcript was a daily afternoon newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts, published from July 24, 1830, to April 30, 1941.-Beginnings:...
, The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
and the magazine, The Etude.
In 1927, Slonimsky formed the Boston Chamber Orchestra, for which he solicited music from contemporary composers. Slonimsky was a great champion of contemporary music. He conducted the world premieres of Edgard Varèse
Edgard Varèse
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, , whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
's Ionisation
Ionisation (Varèse)
Ionisation is a musical composition by Edgard Varèse written for thirteen percussionists, the first concert hall composition for percussion ensemble alone. The premiere was at Steinway Hall, on March 6, 1933, conducted by Nicolas Slonimsky, to whom the piece was later dedicated...
for thirteen percussionists in 1933; of Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
' Three Places in New England
Three Places in New England
The Three Places in New England is a composition for orchestra by Charles Ives. It was composed across a long span of time , however the bulk was written between 1911 and 1914. The piece is famous for its use of musical quotation and paraphrasing, as explained later in this article...
in 1931; and various other works.
In 1958, Slonimsky took over the supervision of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians is a biographical dictionary of musicians.The first edition of Baker's, under the title A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, was published in 1900 by Theodore Baker; it has since gone through nine editions.The 5th edition of 1958, 8th edition of 1992,...
and worked as head editor until 1992. He also wrote Music Since 1900, a survey of almost every important musical event in the 20th century and The Lexicon of Musical Invective, a compilation of hilariously bad reviews by critics of composers since Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's time. One of his best-known books is the Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns (ISBN 0-8256-1449-X), which has influenced many jazz musicians and composers (including Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
, John Adams, guitarist Buckethead
Buckethead
Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...
, Paul Grabowsky
Paul Grabowsky
-Biography:Grabowsky was born on 27 September 1958 in Lae, Papua New Guinea; his father Alistair had lived in Papua New Guinea with his wife Charlotte since the 1930s working on oil rigs, building roads, flying planes and playing the drums...
, Jaco Pastorius
Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....
, and Allan Holdsworth
Allan Holdsworth
Allan Holdsworth is an English guitarist and composer. He has released twelve studio albums as a solo artist and played many different styles of music over a period of four decades, but first drew attention for his work in jazz fusion...
).
During the mid-1970s, Slonimsky was a frequent and favorite guest on Ara Guzelimian's weekly program on KUSC
KUSC
KUSC is a listener-supported classical music radio station broadcasting from downtown Los Angeles, California, USA. KUSC is owned and operated by the University of Southern California, which also operates student-run KXSC and San Francisco's classical station KDFC...
-FM, Los Angeles, sharing many of the fascinating stories and classical music lore he had accumulated over the years. In 1986, he made frequent Saturday afternoon visits to appear on the Doug Ordunio show, heard over KFAC
KFAC
KFAC was a commercial classical music radio station in Los Angeles, broadcasting for most of its life on 1330 kHz AM, and subsequently in both simulcast and separate programming on 92.3 MHz FM as well. "Only 41 of nearly 9,000 commercial radio stations in the United States play classical music" and...
-FM, Los Angeles. During one of the shows, a crew came out from the New York public television station, WNET
WNET
WNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...
, to film the entire show. Portions of this session were included in the "Aging" segment of the PBS Series The Mind. Slonimsky possessed a sly sense of humor, a trait he would exhibit on the various appearances he made on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
. Late in life, he became a good friend of avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
composer and rock guitarist Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, and performed some of his own compositions at a Zappa concert in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
in 1981. Slonimsky named his cat Grody-to-the-Max after learning the phrase from Zappa's daughter Moon Zappa
Moon Zappa
Moon Unit Zappa is an American actress, musician and author. She goes by the name Moon Zappa; "Unit" is her middle name.-Personal life:...
.
Slonimsky's notable students include Cynthia Tse Kimberlin
Cynthia Tse Kimberlin
Cynthia Tse Kimberlin is an American ethnomusicologist. She is the Executive Director and Publisher of the Music Research Institute and MRI Press, based in Point Richmond, California...
. He wrote an autobiography, Perfect Pitch (ISBN 0-1931-5155-3), filled with lively anecdotes about a great range of music figures of the 20th century, including his mentor, Serge Koussevitzky
Serge Koussevitzky
Serge Koussevitzky , was a Russian-born Jewish conductor, composer and double-bassist, known for his long tenure as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1949.-Early career:...
, Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
, Henry Cowell
Henry Cowell
Henry Cowell was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. His contribution to the world of music was summed up by Virgil Thomson, writing in the early 1950s:...
, Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
, Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, and many others.
Slonimsky died at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Los Angeles at age 101, on Christmas Day 1995.
External links
- Nicolas Slonimsky web site
- Nicolas Slonimsky
- Nicolas Slonimsky In Memoriam (from Other MindsOther MindsOther Minds is a San Francisco based private 501 not-for-profit organization, founded in 1992 by Charles Amirkhanian and Jim Newman...
)
Listening to Slonimsky
- Newmillenniumrecords.com (Doug Ordunio converses with Slonimsky at his home, 1979)
- Speaking of Music (Charles AmirkhanianCharles AmirkhanianCharles Amirkhanian is an American composer. He is a percussionist, sound poet, and radio producer of Armenian extraction. He is mostly known for his electroacoustic and text-sound music...
talks to Slonimsky, 1987) - Music & Conversation with Slonimsky at his home in Los Angeles, 1979
- Ode to Gravity Music by and for Slonimsky on his 97th birthday (with Charles AmirkhanianCharles AmirkhanianCharles Amirkhanian is an American composer. He is a percussionist, sound poet, and radio producer of Armenian extraction. He is mostly known for his electroacoustic and text-sound music...
, June 1991) - Slonimsky at 76 Slonimsky discusses Igor StravinskyIgor StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
and Charles IvesCharles IvesCharles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
with Charles AmirkhanianCharles AmirkhanianCharles Amirkhanian is an American composer. He is a percussionist, sound poet, and radio producer of Armenian extraction. He is mostly known for his electroacoustic and text-sound music...
& Robert Commanday, 1971 - On Frank Zappa Slonimsky discusses his relationship with Frank ZappaFrank ZappaFrank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, 1983 - A dinner at Mrs. Antheil's house Slonimsky shares roast duck with Charles AmirkhanianCharles AmirkhanianCharles Amirkhanian is an American composer. He is a percussionist, sound poet, and radio producer of Armenian extraction. He is mostly known for his electroacoustic and text-sound music...
, Carol Law and the widow of composer George AntheilGeorge AntheilGeorge Antheil was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor. A self-described "Bad Boy of Music", his modernist compositions amazed and appalled listeners in Europe and the US during the 1920s with their cacophonous celebration of mechanical devices.Returning permanently to...
, 1971 - Lecture at Berkeley Piano Club, 1971
- On Shostakovich, after the composer's death, 1975 Slonimsky discusses the work of Dmitri ShostakovichDmitri ShostakovichDmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
- A program on the elder statesmen of American music, including Slonimsky
- Slonimsky talks with David Cloud on the 40th anniversary of the world premiere of Ionisation (Varèse)Ionisation (Varèse)Ionisation is a musical composition by Edgard Varèse written for thirteen percussionists, the first concert hall composition for percussion ensemble alone. The premiere was at Steinway Hall, on March 6, 1933, conducted by Nicolas Slonimsky, to whom the piece was later dedicated...
, 1973