Brown, Earle (Appleton Jr.)

Brown, Earle (Appleton Jr.) significant American composer; b. Lunenburg, Mass., Dec. 26, 1926. He took courses in engineering and mathematics at Northeastern Univ. in Boston, and then studied theory with Kenneth McKillop (from 1946) and composition with Roslyn Brogue (from 1947), graduating from the Schill-inger School in 1950. From 1952 to 1955 he was associated with the Project for Music for Magnetic Tape in N.Y. He soon adopted the most advanced compositional techniques, experimenting with serial methods as well as aleatory forms. He was fascinated by the parallelism in abstract expressionism in painting, mobile sculptures, and flexible musical forms, which prompted him to develop the idea of graphic notation in 1952 and of open from in 1953. Brown professes no parti pris in his approach to techniques and idioms of composition, whether dissonantly contrapuntal or serenly triadic. Rather, his music represents a mobile assemble of plastic elements, in open-ended or closed forms. As a result, his usages range from astute asceticism and constrained constructivism to soaring sonorism and lush lyricism, sine ira et studio. Brown has had many lectureships and received many honors. He served as composer-in-residence at the Peabody Cons, in Baltimore (1968–73), the Aspen (Colo.) Music Festival (1971, 1975, 1981), the Rotterdam Phil, and Cons. (1974), the Calif. Inst. of the Arts (1974–83), the American Academy in Rome (1987) et al. He also was a visiting prof, at the Basel Academy of Music (1975), the State Univ. of N.Y. at Buffalo (1975), the Univ. of Calif, at Berkeley (1976), the Univ. of Southern Calif, in Los Angeles (1978), Yale Univ. (1980-81; 1986-87) et al. In 1965-66 he held a Guggenheim fellowship. He was given an honorary doctorate in music by the Peabody Cons, in 1970. From 1986 to 1989 Brown was president of the American Music Center in N.Y.

Works

Fugue for Piano (1949); Home Burial for Piano (1949); Trio for Clarinet, Bassoon, and Piano (1949; unfinished); Passacaglia for Piano (1950); Strata for 2 Pianos (1950); String Quartet (1950); 3 Pieces for Piano (1951); Perspectives for Piano (1952); Music for Violin, Cello, and Piano (1952); Folio for Unspecified Instruments (1952-53: October 1952, November 1952 [Synergy], December 1952, MM 87 and MM 135, and Music for Trio for 5 Dancers; arranged for Chamber Ensemble, 1981); Music for “Tender Buttons” for Speaker, Flute, Horn, and Harp (1953); Octet I (1952–53) and II (1957) for 8 Tapes; 25 Pages for 1 to 25 Pianos (1953; N.Y., April 14, 1954); 4 Systems for Unspecified Instruments (1954; arranged for Chamber Ensemble, 1981); Indices for Chamber Orch. (1954); Music for Cello and Piano (1954–55); 4 More for Piano (1956); Pentathis for Flute, Bass Clarinet, Trumpet, Trombone, Harp, and Piano Quartet (1957–58); Holograph I for Flute, Piano, and Percussion (1959); Available Forms I for 18 Musicians (1961) and II for Large Orch. and 2 Conductors (1962); Light Music for Large Orch., Lights, and Electronics (1961); Novara for Flute, Bass Clarinet, Trumpet, Trombone, Harp, and Piano Quartet (1962); From Here for 4 Sopranos, 4 Altos, 4 Tenors, 4 Basses, and 20 Instruments (1963); Times 5 for Flute, Trombone, Harp, Violin, Cello, and 4-track Tape (1963); Corroborée for 3 or 2 Pianos (1964); 9 Rarebits for 1 or 2 Harpsichords (1965); String Quartet 1965 (1965); Calder Piece for 4 Percussion and Mobile (1963–66); Modules I-II (1966) and III (1969) for Orch.; Event: Synergy II for 11 Woodwind and 8 Strings (1967–68); Small Piece for Large Chorus (1969–70); Syn-tagm III for Flute, Bass Clarinet, Vibraphone, Marimba, Harp, Piano, Violin, and Cello (1970); New Piece Loops for 17 Instruments (1971–72); Time Spans for Large Orch. (1972); Centering for Violin and Chamber Orch. (1973); Sign Sounds for 18 Instruments (1972); Cross Sections and Color Fields for Orch. (1975); Windsor Jambs (Transients) for Mezzo-soprano, Flute, Clarinet, Piano, Percussion, Violin, Viola, and Cello (1980); Folio II for Unspecified Instruments (1981); Sounder Rounds for Orch. (1982; Saarbrücken, May 12, 1983, composer conducting); Tracer for Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, Violin, Cello, Double Bass, and 4-Track Tape (1984; Berlin, Feb. 8, 1985).

Bibliography

P. Quist, Indeterminate Form in the Works of E. B.(diss., Peabody Cons, of Music, 1984).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire