Morton Subotnick
Encyclopedia
Morton Subotnick is an American composer
of electronic music
, best known for his Silver Apples of the Moon, the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, Nonesuch
. He was one of the founding members of California Institute of the Arts
where he taught for many years.
Subotnick has also worked extensively with interactive electronics and multi-media, co-founding the San Francisco Tape Music Center
with Ramon Sender
, and often collaborating with his wife Joan La Barbara
. His oldest son, Steven Subotnick
, is an animator; his youngest son, Jacob Subotnick, is a sound designer and his daughter, Tamara Winer, is a psychiatric social worker. Students of his include Ingram Marshall
, Mark Coniglio
, Carl Stone, Rhys Chatham and Lois V Vierk
.
. Buchla's modular voltage-controlled synthesizer, which he called the Electric Music Box and which was constructed partly based on suggestions by Subotnick and Sender, was both more flexible and easier to use, and its sequencing ability was integral to Subotnick's music.
At a time when electronic music was highly abstract, largely concerned with pitch and timbre, with rhythm an afterthought or of no consequence and patterns largely avoided, Subotnick broke with the academic avant-gardists by including sections with regular rhythms. Both Silver Apples and 1968's The Wild Bull (another Nonesuch-commissioned work for tape; they have since been combined on a Wergo CD) have been choreographed by dance companies around the world.
and Leon Kirchner
at Mills College
in Oakland, California
.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
of electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
, best known for his Silver Apples of the Moon, the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, Nonesuch
Nonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP...
. He was one of the founding members of California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
where he taught for many years.
Subotnick has also worked extensively with interactive electronics and multi-media, co-founding the San Francisco Tape Music Center
San Francisco Tape Music Center
The San Francisco Tape Music Center was founded in 1962 by composers Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender as a "nonprofit cultural and educational corporation, the aim of which was to present concerts and offer a place to learn about work within the tape music medium"...
with Ramon Sender
Ramon Sender
Ramon Sender Barayón is a composer, writer and the co-founder, with Morton Subotnick, of the San Francisco Tape Music Center in 1961. He studied with George Copeland, Elliott Carter, and Robert Erickson....
, and often collaborating with his wife Joan La Barbara
Joan La Barbara
Joan La Barbara is an American vocalist and composer associated with contemporary music. She is a former student of Helen Boatwright...
. His oldest son, Steven Subotnick
Steven Subotnick
Steven Subotnick is an animation teacher and award-winning independent animator. He received a BFA in Film from UCLA. He later received an MFA in Experimental Animation from California Institute of the Arts. While at CalArts, he was mentored under Jules Engel....
, is an animator; his youngest son, Jacob Subotnick, is a sound designer and his daughter, Tamara Winer, is a psychiatric social worker. Students of his include Ingram Marshall
Ingram Marshall
Ingram Marshall is an American composer and a former student of Vladimir Ussachevsky and Morton Subotnick. Son of Bernice Douglas and Harry Reinhard Marshall, Sr. He was a talented soprano in the Boy's Choir at the Mt. Vernon Community Church, and was influenced early by noted music instructor,...
, Mark Coniglio
Mark Coniglio
Media artist, composer, and programmer Mark Coniglio is recognized as a pioneer in the integration of live performance and interactive digital technology. With choreographer Dawn Stoppiello he is co-founder of Troika Ranch, a New York City based performance group that that integrate music, dance,...
, Carl Stone, Rhys Chatham and Lois V Vierk
Lois V Vierk
Lois V Vierk is a "post-minimalist" or "totalist" composer who lives in New York City.She received a B.A. degree in piano and ethnomusicology from UCLA in 1974. She then attended Cal Arts, studying composition with Mel Powell, Leonard Stein, and Morton Subotnick, receiving her M.F.A. in 1978...
.
Silver Apples of the Moon
Early electronic music was made using wave generators and tape-manipulated sounds. Subotnick was among the first composers to work with electronic instrument designer Don BuchlaDon Buchla
Don Buchla is a pioneer in the field of sound synthesizers, releasing his first units months after Robert Moog's first synthesizers...
. Buchla's modular voltage-controlled synthesizer, which he called the Electric Music Box and which was constructed partly based on suggestions by Subotnick and Sender, was both more flexible and easier to use, and its sequencing ability was integral to Subotnick's music.
At a time when electronic music was highly abstract, largely concerned with pitch and timbre, with rhythm an afterthought or of no consequence and patterns largely avoided, Subotnick broke with the academic avant-gardists by including sections with regular rhythms. Both Silver Apples and 1968's The Wild Bull (another Nonesuch-commissioned work for tape; they have since been combined on a Wergo CD) have been choreographed by dance companies around the world.
Approach to music
Where previous electronic music had used non-traditional structures, Subotnick's electronic compositions are structured more like the classical music for acoustic instruments with which audiences are familiar, but with nontraditional timbres and pitch manipulations no orchestra could produce. He has also written for acoustic instruments, and studied with Darius MilhaudDarius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
and Leon Kirchner
Leon Kirchner
Leon Kirchner was an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his String Quartet No. 3.Kirchner was born in Brooklyn, New York...
at Mills College
Mills College
Mills College is an independent liberal arts women's college founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men. Located in Oakland, California, Mills was the first women's college west of the Rockies. The institution was initially founded...
in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
.
Selected works
- Sonata for viola and piano (1958)
- Silver Apples of the Moon (1967)
- The Wild Bull (1968)
- Touch (1969)
- Sidewinder (1971)
- Four Butterflies (1973)
- Until Spring (1975)
- A Sky of Cloudless Sulfur (1978)
- An Arsenal of Defense for solo viola and "electronic ghost score" (1982)
- The Key to Songs (1985)
- Jacob's Room (1986)
- and the butterflies begin to sing (1988)
- All My Hummingbirds Have Alibis (1991)
- Gestures (1999-2001)
External links
- MortonSubotnick.com
- Morton Subotnick's Creating Music
- CalArts Faculty: Morton Subotnick
- http://www.inmc.org/Subotnick.html
- New Albion Artist: Morton Subotnick
- European American Music Distributors LLC: Morton Subotnick
- Morton Subotnick at Schott Music
- Malaspina Great Books: Morton Subotnick
- From Moog to Mark II, to MIDI to MAX By Kyle Gann for American Public Media
- Interview
- Interview with Peter Shea at the University of Minnesota
Listening
- Interview with Dublab
- Mars Millennium Project 2030: Artist: Morton Subotnick
- Morton Subotnick interview
- Art of the States: Morton Subotnick Echoes from the Silent Call of Girona (1998)
- Subotnick's The Double Life of Amphibians at the Internet Archive Avant Garde Project has FLAC files made from high-quality LP transcriptions (originally from the Avant Garde Project) available for free download.