Newsgroups: rec.music.classical Subject: Re: Death of Nicholas Slonimsky Date: 29 Dec 1995 In a brief posting on a different board yesterday, the death of Nicholas Slonimsky was said to have happened on Monday. He was a remarkable and clever musicologist who was active and imaginative almost to the end of his life. With a wry sense of humor in a field generally without it, his volume of negative reviews on masterpieces of music (and indexed with an "ivecticon") was a remarkable accomplishment. I believe that it was he who first questioned the entire business of the circumstances surrounding Mozart's death by examining the weather records from the Viennese meteorological department to see whether or not it was raining on the day of his funeral. A mind like his comes around once a century, if we are very lucky. Daniel N Leeson _____ I recommend the recent book edited by Richard Kostelanetz, "Nicolas Slonismky: The First Hundred Years." Clever title, but now a little saddening; it is a pity that there was not a full "second hundred" years to Slonimsky's life. Timothy Virkkala _______ When we look at the deadly serious flames emanating from a thread about why some age group does not "appriciate" good music (whatever that might be) or worse yet, when we listen to that radio station with which I used to be associated, and we hear the deadly dull manner in which they now present music that is supposed to attract the "larger" audience and is supposed to be light and lively, THEN we can begin to understand what a loss the passing of Slonimsky is. He tried to be accurate and informative, but he also saw the humor of the human condition and was not afraid to inject it into his scholarship. And he was an iconoclast - particularly with regard to Serge Koussevitzky after Koussy dismissed him! R.L. Kaye ________ Newsgroups: rec.music.classical Subject: Re: Death of Nicholas Slonimsky Date: 24 Jan 1996 Matthew H. Fields wrote: Does anybody out there know anything about Slonimsky's compositions? _________ I'll go right to the source: Slonimsky's autobiographical article in his 8th edition of "Baker's": As a composer, he cultivated miniature forms, usually with a gimmick, e.g., "Studies in Black and White" for Piano (1928) in "mutually exclusive consonant counterpoint," a song cycle, "Gravestones", to texts from tombstones in and old cemetery in Hancock, N.H. (1945), and "Minitudes", a collections of 50 quaquaversal piano pieces (1971-77). His only decent orch. work is "My Toy Balloon" (1942), a set of variations on a Brazilian song, which includes in the score 100 colored balloons to be exploded *fff* at the climax. He also conjured up a "Moebius Strip-Tease", a perpetual vocal canon notated on a Moebius band to be revolved around the singer's head; it had its 1st and last performance at the Arriere-Garde Coffee Concert at UCLA, on May 5, 1965, with the composer officiating at the piano non-obbligato. A priority must be conceded to him for writing the earliest singing commercials to authentic texts from the *Saturday Evening Post* advertisements, among them "Make This a Day of Pepsodent", "No More Shiny Nose", and "Children Cry for Castoria" (1925). (End of quote from Baker's) Slonimsky obviously had great fun in writing this article about himself, managing to be both truthful and tongue-in-cheek at the same time. I heard him performing many of his "Minitudes" as part of a lecture-demonstration given in the 70's. It was broadcast on Pacifica radio and may still be available in their archives. They are, in fact, miniature etudes in a variety of serious and not-so-serious styles. I remember him, either in this same lecture or another one, demonstrating that doubling all the intervals in a piece by Bach (thereby eliminating all þòsemitones,minor thirds, etc.) made it sound strangely like Debussy. I also heard what may be his last composition, which is not referred to either in Baker's or in his autobiography, the "Quaquaversal Suite" (1990), performed at the National Flute Association convention in L.A. in August 1992. It was performed by Paul Taub, flute, Virginia Mitchell, piano, and David Johnson, percussion. The movements are as follows: Sqaure Root of Beethoven's 5th Gypsy-Russian Song (in which the flutist put down his instrument and sang in a lusty baritone) Anatomy of Melancholy (with Cat) (the role of the cat in this performance ably faked by Ms. Mitchell) Big Loud Tone Clusters Alternating With Soft Chords Interplay of Two Mutually Exclusive Scales Typographical Games (Black & White with a Regular Typewriter) Bitonal Scales with Birds Mr. Slonimsky was in attendance, and talked publicly with Paul Taub afterward, then took questions from the audience. He was 98 years old. BTW, the word "quaquaversal", which appears both in the Baker's article and in the name of the flute-piano suite is defined by Nicolas Slonimsky as meaning "every which way". Tod Brody ___________ A Nicolas Slonimsky Memorial is planned for Monday evening January 22, '96 at the UCLA Faculty Center. The event will begin at 7:30pm and will include a showing of the famous documentary video, a long list of guest speakers, an exhibit reflecting Slonimsky's life and work, food and drink, and a wonderful gathering of his friends and admirers. Everyone who knew Nicolas or knew about him and appreciated him and his work is invited. Guest speakers range from Lawrence Weschler, a senior writer for THE NEW YORKER who often wrote about Nicolas, and Laura Kuhn, the Interdisciplinary Arts scholar from Arizona State University who worked with Nicolas and John Cage, and Robert Stevenson, the distinguished UCLA Music Faculty member, to Ida James, Slonimsky's long-time houskeeper, Charles Friedman, his doctor, and Electra Slonimsky Yourke, his daughter, and Kate Yourke, his granddaughter. The distinguished composer David Raksin, Slonimsky's friend and admirer for many years, will serve as the master of ceremonies. This will be an wonderful event celebrating the life and work of Slonimsky, and memorializing his contributions to music and lexicography which have influenced us all. I hope to see your there! Steve Fry Stephen M. Fry UCLA Music Library ecz5msc@mvs.oac.ucla.edu _______________ To: Multiple recipients of list MLA-L Subject: Nicolas Slonimsky Memorial and thanks The family of Nicolas Slonimsky is touched and delighted to hear of the internet exchanges about him following his death on December 25, 1995. As his daughter, Electra Yourke, I will be happy to answer any questions you have about him and his work, though I am not a musician. I can be reached at 121 Waverly Place, New York, NY, 10011 (212) 982-8973. A memorial event will take place on January 22, 1996 at 7:30PM, at the UCLA Faculty Center, California Room. All are welcome. -Alex Yourke (grandson) P.S. Please do NOT reply to my email address (I'll be swamped!) - instead please direct any inquiries to my mother's address and phone number above. Thank you!