In the Realm of Tones

A Composer's Memoir
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-64825-117-7
Verlag: Boydell & Brewer Ltd.

Buch, Englisch, 232 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 231 mm, Gewicht: 454 g

A poignant, compelling and clear-eyed memoir of a life in music, with the dogged pursuit of composing at its center.

Perhaps no art form has ever splintered into as many factions, genres, languages, philosophies, and mutually exclusive audiences as the art of music did in the mid-twentieth century.
Allen Shawn's memoir fascinatingly evokes this tumultuous time, while weaving together his art and his life, hinting at their unexpected and sometimes paradoxical interconnections.
Shawn grew up in an atmosphere of cultural privilege in New York City, the son of New Yorker editor William Shawn. An instinctive composing prodigy at age ten, it took him until the age of thirty to compose music he was proud of.

Shawn sketches his childhood and long apprenticeship, his experiences composing for theater, dance, and concert hall, his forty years as a teacher at Bennington College, and his unexpected emergence as a writer. The book balances an account of his musical evolution, ups and downs, and life choices, offering glimpses into family life and of the many people with whom he interacted, including Leon Kirchner, Earl Kim, Nadia Boulanger, Pierre Petit, Jacques-Louis Monod, J. D. Salinger, John Updike, Benny Goodman, Louis Malle, and Vivian Fine.
Along the way, Shawn offers reflections on such issues as social class, aging, loneliness, politics, and music education. In the Realm of Tones: A Composer's Memoir is a unique and touching account of one individual's internal search for self-expression and self-understanding, and of his effort to construct a life around it.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Shawn, Allen

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Biographien & Autobiographien: Historisch, Politisch, Militärisch
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikinstrumente Tasteninstrumente
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikwissenschaft Allgemein Einzelne Komponisten und Musiker

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

PART I
1. New York: My father at the piano and other early musical experiences (1948-1962)
2. Vermont: Putney and Weston, Vermont (1962-1966)
3. Cambridge, Massachusetts (1962-1966)
4. Paris: Nadia Boulanger (1970-1972)
5. New York: Teaching, playing the piano, composing, studying (1972-1974)
6. Columbia (1974-1977)

PART II
7. A varied working life and a marriage (1977-1983)
8. More theater and personal music; Visit to Bennington (1983-1985)
9. Bennington (1985-1988)

10. Darker music (1989-1992)
11. Upheavals (1993-1994)
12. A changed campus, eclectic pieces, rupture (1994-2001)

PART III
13. New Life (2001-2007)
14. Consolidation and gratitude (2007-2019)

Appendix: List of Works by Allen Shawn
Biographical Glossary
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Shawn, Allen
ALLEN SHAWN is a composer and pianist who teaches composition at Bennington College, VT.