George Antheil
1900 - 1959
American
Summary
The Parisian artistic community, including Joyce, Pound, Yeats, Satie, Picasso, and others, championed Antheil as musical spokesman for their modernist ideas. His crowning achievement during this period would be the spectacular Ballet mécanique, a milestone in the literature for percussion ensemble. The piece literally shattered conventions and, in a production complete with airplane propellers, created an uproar at its 1927 American premiere in Carnegie Hall.
Later, Antheil would adopt neo-romantic and neo-classic elements such as in the Symphonie en fa and Piano Concerto. In 1936, he settled in Hollywood and began writing film scores.
Biography
The work of George Antheil, the self-proclaimed "bad boy of music," is marked by sustained rhythmic vitality, harmonic pungency, and melodic vigor. Born on 8 July 1900 in Trenton, New Jersey, Antheil studied with Constantin von Sternberg, Ernest Bloch, and with Clark Smith at the Philadelphia Conservatory. In 1922, he traveled to Europe to pursue a career as a concert pianist, performing in recital many of his own works such as Mechanisms, Airplane Sonata, and Sonata Sauvage. The riots that often ensued contributed to the composer's growing notoriety. In Berlin, he met Stravinsky who became an important influence on his compositional style.
The Parisian artistic community, including Joyce, Pound, Yeats, Satie, Picasso, and others, championed Antheil as musical spokesman for their modernist ideas. His crowning achievement during this period would be the spectacular Ballet mécanique, a milestone in the literature for percussion ensemble. The piece literally shattered conventions and, in a production complete with airplane propellers, created an uproar at its 1927 American premiere in Carnegie Hall.
Later, Antheil would adopt neo-romantic and neo-classic elements such as in the Symphonie en fa and Piano Concerto. In 1936, he settled in Hollywood and began writing film scores. The last 20 years of his life would be a fertile period, producing four symphonies as well as several operas including the farcical Volpone. A remarkable achievement in satire and caricature, Volpone is set to a musical score that combines a heterogeneous harmonic language with thematic versatility, rhythmic energy, mosaic construction, and colorfully programmatic timbres — all hallmarks of the mature Antheil style.
Composed in Berlin in the 1920s, Antheil's Piano Concerto No. 1 had its world premiere in March 2001, and its Berlin premiere in February 2002. Pianist Michael Rische was the soloist in both performances, first with the BBC Symphony, then with the Berlin Philharmonic. Also new to the Schirmer Rental Library are the new edition of Ballet mécanique with MIDI software for performance with player pianos and the arrangment of A Jazz Symphony for piano and 11 instruments by Milton Phibbs, premiered by 20th Century Unlimited.
The Parisian artistic community, including Joyce, Pound, Yeats, Satie, Picasso, and others, championed Antheil as musical spokesman for their modernist ideas. His crowning achievement during this period would be the spectacular Ballet mécanique, a milestone in the literature for percussion ensemble. The piece literally shattered conventions and, in a production complete with airplane propellers, created an uproar at its 1927 American premiere in Carnegie Hall.
Later, Antheil would adopt neo-romantic and neo-classic elements such as in the Symphonie en fa and Piano Concerto. In 1936, he settled in Hollywood and began writing film scores. The last 20 years of his life would be a fertile period, producing four symphonies as well as several operas including the farcical Volpone. A remarkable achievement in satire and caricature, Volpone is set to a musical score that combines a heterogeneous harmonic language with thematic versatility, rhythmic energy, mosaic construction, and colorfully programmatic timbres — all hallmarks of the mature Antheil style.
Composed in Berlin in the 1920s, Antheil's Piano Concerto No. 1 had its world premiere in March 2001, and its Berlin premiere in February 2002. Pianist Michael Rische was the soloist in both performances, first with the BBC Symphony, then with the Berlin Philharmonic. Also new to the Schirmer Rental Library are the new edition of Ballet mécanique with MIDI software for performance with player pianos and the arrangment of A Jazz Symphony for piano and 11 instruments by Milton Phibbs, premiered by 20th Century Unlimited.
— April 2002
News
Performances
31st December 2024
- PERFORMERS
- Minnesota Orchestra
- CONDUCTOR
- William Eddins
- LOCATION
- Orchestra, Minneapolis, MN, United States of America
31st December 2024
- PERFORMERS
- Dallas Symphony
- LOCATION
- Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, TX, United States of America
1st January 2025
- PERFORMERS
- Minnesota Orchestra
- CONDUCTOR
- William Eddins
- LOCATION
- Orchestra, Minneapolis, MN, United States of America
1st January 2025
- PERFORMERS
- Staatstheater Braunschweig
- CONDUCTOR
- Srba Dinić
- LOCATION
- Stadthalle, Gifhorn, Germany
2nd January 2025
- PERFORMERS
- Staatstheater Braunschweig
- CONDUCTOR
- Srba Dinić
- LOCATION
- Staatstheater, Braunschweig, Germany
Features
- Independent Repertoire: Inspired by American Art and Writing
- Many composers have drawn potent inspiration from American art and poetry. The Unite States’ visual art and writing have been particularly influential on several generations of American composers, as represented by the following works.
- New works for live ensemble to film
- Since the invention of machines that projected images onto screen in the early 1800’s, filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock, Dziga Vertov, Charles Chaplin and many others created silent moving pictures for presentation on theatre screens, in this golden era of cinema between 1894-1929. The genre has inspired composers from George Antheil to Joby Talbot to write new scores to accompany these silent masterpieces in the concert hall.
- Violin Concertos
- Peruse a selection of violin concertos sure to soar, sear, and stun music-loving audiences. These scores offer distinct opportunities to spotlight both concertmasters and internationally renowned soloists.
- American Symphonies from Ives to Zwilich
- G. Schirmer & Associated Music Publishers is pleased to announce that a digital download of our critical edition to Charles Ives' Symphony No. 4 is now for sale by Classical On Demand.