Milton Babbitt R.I.P. - Bebop to Babbitt

Milton Babbitt the composer, music theorist, mathematician, and educator died last Saturday at the age of 94. I relished the Composers String Quartet recordings of Babbitt's 2nd and 5th Quartets and the AR/DG vinyl recording with Bethany Beardslee (soprano) of Philomel: For Soprano, Recorded Soprano, and Synthesized Sound, and All Set. Attention to Babbitt's music has involved to a very great extent criticism, both to the music, his theories of composition, and his music polemics.

A phrase for my past comes directly to mind: If you can't cop it, bebop it. Now what this means is this: If one understands bebop, one should be in a position to understand Babbitt's music. Try it. Concentrate on Bird, Diz, Klook, and Bud. OK, Monk too. Now obviously "cop" means comprehend in this context. But it means feel the musics - bebop and Babbitt. My thesis is this: Anyone who can understands (feel) bebop, can understand (feel) Babbitt's music. Now how many listeners undersand bebop? Not many! How many listeners feel bebop? Lots.

Because I grew up with Bird, Diz, Klook, Bud, and Monk Milton Babbitt's music sounded and felt natural to me. Listen to Babbitt's All Set and Gunther Schuller's Variations on a Theme of Thelonius Monk; this will get one closer to what it is.

Next time I'll treat a paper by Professor Diana Raffman, "Is Twelve-Tone Music Artistically Defective?", Midwest Studies in Philosophy, XXVII (2003), pps. 69 - 87.