George Antheil - Second Sonata for Violin with Accompaniment of Piano and Drums

George Antheil (1900-1959)
Second Sonata for Violin with Accompaniment of Piano and Drums (1923)

Chameleon Arts Ensemble:
Joanna Kurkowicz, violin
Gloria Chien, piano
Deborah Boldin, drums

Paintings: "American Landscape" by Charles Sheeler (1883-1965)

Self-described "bad boy of music," George Antheil (1900-1959) is best known for the modernism and iconoclasm of his early works such as Airplane Sonata (1921) and Ballet mécanique (1923-1925). These works were inspired by the composer's interest in machines and time-space theories, the fragmentation of cubist art, and the propulsive music of Igor Stravinsky. From the late 1920's onward Antheil moved away from this modernist aesthetic to a more neoclassic and "fundamentally American style" (Antheil), incorporating folk music from the US into his compositions. He became a respected composer for opera, ballet, musical theater, and film, believing that more popular genres could attract larger audiences for modern music. Antheil's late works bear a highly Romantic sensibility.

Antheil was born in Trenton, New Jersey, the son of a shoe salesman. At six years of age he began studying piano, and in his teenage years studied theory and composition with Constantin von Sternberg in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1919 he moved to New York City to study with Ernest Bloch; two years later he returned to Phildelphia and found a patron in Mary Louise Curtis Bok, founder of the Curtis Institute of Music, who supported Antheil for the next two decades. In 1922 Antheil toured Europe as a concert pianist, becoming a sensation; he based himself in Berlin, Germany, where he met Igor Stravinsky, who had a strong influence on Antheil's musical style.

The next year Antheil relocated to Paris, France, gaining notoriety for the riotous response to his piano recital in October 1923. He came to know a wide circle of artists including Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Pablo Picasso, Ezra Pound, Erik Satie, Gertrude Stein, and William Butler Yeats. A prominent figure in modernism of the time, Antheil within a few years abandoned the style for a more neoclassical idiom. He became interested in the resurgence of opera in Germany, and composed two operas in the coming years: Transatlantic (1927-1928) and Helen Retires (1930-1931). Antheil travelled widely between Europe and United States during this time, finally returning to New York City in 1933. There he was active in ballet, musical theatre, and film, creating dance scores for choreographers George Balanchine and Martha Graham and film music for directors Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.

Antheil's interest in film led him to Hollywood, California in 1936. He became a prolific film composer, composing dozens of scores for directors such as Cecil B. DeMille, John Huston, Fritz Lang, and Nicholas Ray. He wrote many articles on film music and a range of other subjects, developed a new tablature notation for piano called SEE-note, and with actress Hedy Lamarr created and patented a 'secret communications system' inspired by player piano technology which later became the basic principle behind cellular communiciation. The 1940's and 1950's proved to be the most fertile period in Antheil's career, as he embraced a new Romanticism and composed a number of well-received symphonies and operas. He died of a heart attack in 1958.

Category:

Music

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• antheil
• american
• modernism
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• sonata