Philip Glass

Philip Glass

Salt Lake Community College

Introduction to Music

D. Jack Dunn

February 5, 2013

References

Online: www.wikipedia.org : “Philip Glass”

Online Article: www.encylopedia.com by: Tim LaBorie

Article (online): “Review: In 'Einstein on the Beach,' everything is grandly relative”

From the Los Angeles Times by Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times Music Critic

Article (online): “Philip Glass: Music in Twelve Parts” by Uncle Dave Lewis from: www.allmusic.com

Online: www.last.fm “Philip Glass”

Online: www.sfcv.org “Philip Glass”

Philip Glass

Philip Morris Glass is an American composer and was born in Baltimore Maryland on January 31, 1937. He has written works for, operas, musical theatre, symphonies, concertos, solo works, as well as chamber music including two string instrumental sonatas as well as dance and film scores. Three of his film scores have been nominated for Academy Awards, and was also nominated for three Golden Globes. In 1999, he was part of a Golden Globe winner for Best Original Score for the Movie the Truman Show. Philip Glass has received numerous awards. Some include the Broadcast Music Industry Award, Lado Prize, (two) Benjamin awards as well as a Young Composers’ Award.

Glass became interested in music at a very young age. Starting at the age of 6 is when he played the violin. By the age of 8 he was playing the flute. He also played the piano, bass trumpet and the glockenspiel as a young adult.

By age 15, Philip attended University of Chicago, for gifted youth. He studied philosophy and mathematics at this university. When Philip reached the age of 19 he received his Bachelor of Arts degree. By 1959, Philip entered in the Juilliard School of Music. While attending this school he wrote 70 compositions. When he finished the Juilliard School in 1962, Philip moved to Pittsburgh. He worked as a school-based composer-in-residence in the public school system, composing various choral, chamber and orchestral music.

At the age of 27 Glass received a Fulbright Scholarship and moved to Paris, France. While in Paris, Glass worked as a music director/composer on a film score with Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha. By 1966, Philip he traveled to Northern India and stayed there for a year. In 1967, Glass returned back to New York. He attended a performance by Steve Reich. He was influenced greatly by Steve and they formed an ensemble with Jon Gibson and others. They performed in art galleries and studio lofts. During this time Philip composed 9 works. Some of these works are, “Strung out”, “Music in the Shape of a Square”, “How Now”, and “One Plus One”.

During 1977, Philip Glass composed music for Sesame Street. He also has composed music for a video game called Grand Theft Auto IV.

Some of Philip’s early works can be classified as a Minimalist. Although, Philip considers himself as a composer of “music with repetitive structures”. Between 1971 and 1976 Philip composed work called “Music in Twelve Parts”. He felt like this was a breakthrough for him because it was the end of his minimalism. This piece of his work is over 4 hours long and is divided into 12 movements. It is performed by three keyboards, three woodwind instruments has a vocal singer.

Philip has enjoyed writing opera’s on men that changed the world. For example his first opera was on Albert Einstein that greatly influenced science, the second was based on Mohandas Gandhi which influenced politics and the third was Akhnaten that influenced religion. By the mid 1970’s, Philip and Robert Wilson wrote an opera called “Einstein on the Beach”. It was first performed in Europe before it was performed here in the United States in November 1976. This opera was sold out at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Since this opera was so successful, Philip and Robert Wilson have recently revamped this opera and was re-released. They began their world tour of “Einstein on the Beach” in March of 2012, in France. This opera is a series of Einstein images that are transformed into four acts and is approximately 5 hours in length without intermission.

His second opera called “Satyagraha”, which was performed in Holland in September 1980. Satyagraha tells the story of Mohandas Gandhi. The title of the opera is referred to Gandhi’s non-violent resistance to injustice. It contains only three acts.

Philip’s third opera called “Akhnaten” is based on the life and religious convictions of the pharaoh Akhnaten. This opera had its world premier in 1984. What is interesting about this opera is that it is sung in three other languages, Akkadian, Biblical Hebrew and Ancient Egyptian.

By the time 1989 rolled around, Glass started composing chamber music. He composed two string quartets, No. 4 and No. 5 for the Kronos Quartet.

One of Philip’s most popular works was “Glassworks”. This opera is a chamber of music work of six movements. Philip wanted to create this opera that was intended for a general audience. Glassworks was released in 1982 and sold over 100,000 copies.

Another well known opera that Philip Glass composed was called “Waiting for the Barbarians”. It is based on the novel by John M. Coetzee. It was first performed in September of 2005. The theme of this opera seems very dark. It is based on repression, torture, “cold” love and preventative war. It is based on two acts.

Some of Philip’s well known symphonies include: “Low”, “Hero’s”, “Plutonian Ode”, and “Toltec”. Some of Philip’s recent film scores are: “They Were There” in 2011, “Elena” in 2011, “Nosso Lar” in 2010.

The movie that was released in 1998, “The Truman Show” had music composed by Philip Glass and by Burkhard Dallwitz, won a Golden Globe for the best original film score. This movie that stars Jim Carey that is about a man who is unaware that he is living a reality television show that everyone tunes in to watch. He tries to discover the truth about his life.

Another movie that Philip composed the music for was “The Hours”. This movie was released in 2002. It had nine Academy Award Nominations. The Hours is based on the novel written by Michael Cunningham.

Philip’s newest work is “The Perfect American”. The Perfect American was composed in 2011. This opera held its world premiere in Madrid on January 22, 2013. It is the first opera to explore the well known man Walt Disney. He is known for co-producing Walt Disney Production. This opera will reveal the last months of Walt Disney’s life. Glass describes Disney as a complex and contradictory person, that during his youth as a European immigrant, he was marked by misfortune, which bolstered his pursuit of the American Dream.

As of January 29, 2013, iTunes has selected Phillip Glass’ music of Symphony No.8, Duos Nos.1-5 to be a part of an album that they believe to be masterpieces of the history of classical music.

Philip Glass has collaborated music with very well artists such as: David Bowie, Brian Eno, Doris Lessing, David Henry Hwang, Jerome Robbins, Linda Ronstadt, Yo-Yo Ma, and Leonard Cohen.

Glass has been influenced by Franz Schubert, Johann Sebastian Bach as well as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Philip Glass has four children and one grandchild. He is the first cousin to a Radio Personality Ira Glass that hosts the show This American Life. To this day Philip Glass still plays the piano and the Farfisa organ. It is said that Philip Glass is one of the most influential composers of the late 20th and early 21st century that composes classical music and is one of the most versatile living composers today.

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