Dlugoszcwski, Lucia

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Dlugoszcwski, Lucia

DlugOSZCWski, Lucia, innovative American composer, performer, teacher, and inventor; b. Detroit, June 16, 1931; d. N.Y., April 11, 2000. She studied piano with Agelageth Morrison at the Detroit Cons. (1940–6); after courses in physics at Wayne State Univ. in Detroit (1946–49), she went to N.Y. and studied analysis with Salzer at the Marines Coll. of Music (1950–53); she also had lessons in piano with Crete Sultan and in composition with Varese. The latter greatly influenced her, as did the N.Y. School of painters and poets. In an effort to expand her compositional parameters, she invented several instruments. Her most noteworthy creation was the so-called timbre piano (c. 1951), a revamped conventional piano activated by striking the strings with mallets, or having the strings bowed and picked. She became especially successful as a composer for the dance, and was closely associated with the Erick Hawkins Dance Co. From 1960 she was also with the Foundation for Modern Dance. In 1966 she received the National Inst. of Arts and Letters Award and in 1977 she became the first woman to receive the Koussevitzky International Recording Award for her Fire Fragile Flight.

Works

DRAMATIC opéra : Tiny opéra (1953); The Heidi Songs (1970). D a n c e : Openings of the Eye (1952); Here and Now with Watchers (1954–57); 8 Clear Places (1958–60); Cantilever (1964); To Everyone Out There (1964); Geography of Noon (1964); Lords of Persia No. 1 (1965), No. 2 (1968), and No. 3 (1971); Dazzle on a Knife’s Edge (1966); Tight Rope (1968); Agathlon Algebra (1968); Black Lake (1969); Of Love… Or He Is a Cry, She Is His Ear (1971); Angels of the Inmost Heaven (1972); Avanti (1983); The Woman Denude Amor (1984–85). Also incidental music and film scores. ORCH.: Orchestra Structure for the Poetry of Everyday Sounds (1952); Orchestral Radiant Ground (1955); Arithmetic Points (1955); flower Music for Left Ear in a Small Room (1956); Instants in Form and Movements for Timbre Piano and Chamber Orch. (1957); Suchness Concerto for Orch. of Invented Percussion (1958–60); 4 Attention Spans (1964); Beauty Music 3 for Timbre Piano and Chamber Orch. (1965); Quick Dichotomies for 2 Trumpets, Clarinet, and Orch. of Invented Percussion (1965); Naked Flight Nageire for Chamber Orch. (1966); Hanging Bridges (1968; also for String Quartet); Kitetail Beauty Musicfor Violin, Timbre Piano, and Orch. of Invented Percussion (1968); Naked Swift Music for Violin, Timbre Piano, and Orch. of Invented Percussion (1968); Skylark Concert: An Evening of Music for Chamber Orch. (1969–70); Kireji: Spring and Tender Speed (1972); Tender Theatre Flight Nageire for Brass Quintet and Percussion Orch. (1972–79); Abyss and Caress for Trumpet and Small Orch. (1975); Amor New Tilting Night for Chamber Orch. (1978); Startle Transparent Terrible Freedom (1981); Quidditas Sorrow Terrible Freedom (1983–84); Duenda Amor (1983–84). CHAMBER: Flute Sonata (1950); Transparencies No. 1 for Harp (1952), No. 2 for Flute (1952), No. 3 for Harp and Violin (1952), and No. 4 for String Quartet (1952); Naked Wabin for 6 Instruments (1956); Flower Music for String Quartet (1959); Rates of Speed in Space for Ladder Harp and Quintet (1959); Delicate Accidents in Space for Unsheltered Rattle Quintet (1959); Concert of Man Rooms and Moving Space for Flute, Clarinet, Timbre Piano, and 4 Unsheltered Rattles (1960); Archaic Aggre-gates for Timbre Piano, Ladder Harps, Tangent and Unsheltered Rattles, and Gongs (1961); Beauty Music for Clarinet, Percussion, and Timbre Piano (1965); Suchness with Radiant Ground for Clarinet and Percussion (1965); Balance Naked Flung for 5 Instrumentaliss (1966); Naked Quintet for Brass (1967); Leap and Fall, Quick Structures for 2 Trumpets, Clarinet, 2 Violins, and Percussion (1968); Space Is a Diamond for Trumpet (1970); Swift Diamond for Timbre Piano, Trumpet, and Invented Percussion (1970); Velocity Shells for Timbre Piano, Trumpet, and Invented Percussion (1970); pure Flight Air for String Quartet (1970); Amor Elusive Empty August for Woodwind Quintet (1979); Cicada Terrible Freedom for Flute, String Quintet, and Bass Trombone (1980–81); Wilderness Elegant Tilt for 11 Instruments (1981–84); Quidditas for String Quartet (1984–85). VOCAL: Fire Fragile Flight for Voice and Orch. (1973).