Mario Davidovsky

Mario Davidovsky
Born	(1937-03-04)March 4, 1937 Médanos, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Died	August 23, 2019(2019-08-23) (aged 82) New York City
Occupation	Composer
Notable work	Synchronisms
Awards	Pulitzer Prize for Music (1971)

Mario Davidovsky (March 4, 1934 – August 23, 2019) was an Argentine-American composer. Born in Argentina, he emigrated in 1960 to the United States, where he lived for the remainder of his life. He is best known for his series of compositions called Synchronisms, which in live performance incorporate both acoustic instruments and electroacoustic sounds played from a tape.

Biography

Davidovsky was born in Médanos, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, a town nearly 600 km southwest of the city of Buenos Aires and close to the seaport of Bahía Blanca. Aged seven, he began his musical studies on the violin. At thirteen he began composing. He studied composition and theory under Guillermo Graetzer at the University of Buenos Aires, from which he graduated.

In 1958, he studied with Aaron Copland and Milton Babbitt at the Berkshire Music Center (now the Tanglewood Music Center) in Lenox, Massachusetts. Through Babbitt, who worked at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, and others, Davidovsky developed an interest in electroacoustic music. Copland encouraged Davidovsky to emigrate to the United States, and in 1960, Davidovsky settled in New York City, where he was appointed associate director of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. It was at that time he began to compose electo-acoustic works called Synchronisms.

Most of his published compositions since the 1970s have been nonelectronic. His only published electroacoustic compositions since that time are Synchronisms No. 9 (1988) and Synchronisms No. 10 (1992). However, Davidovsky received a commission by a group led by the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) to compose two more electroacoustic works in the Synchronisms series. No. 11 and No. 12 premiered in 2007 at the SEAMUS National Conference in Ames, Iowa.

Davidovsky's association with the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center continued, and from 1981 to 1993 he was the lab's director as well as professor of music at Columbia. In 1994 he became professor of music at Harvard. During his career, Davidovsky has also taught at many other institutions: University of Michigan (1964), the Di Tella Institute of Buenos Aires (1965), the Manhattan School of Music (1968–69), Yale University (1969–70), and the City College of New York (1968–80).

He served on the composition faculty of Mannes College The New School for Music.

In 1982, Davidovsky was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Personal life

Davidovsky married Elaine Blaustein in 1962; she died in 2017. They had two children, and three grandchildren. He died in New York City on August 23, 2019, at the age of 85.

Awards

• The American Academy of Arts and Letters' Academy Award (1965)
• Pulitzer Prize (1971)
• Brandeis University Creative Arts Award
• Aaron Copland-Tanglewood Award
• SEAMUS Lifetime Achievement Award (1989)
• Naumburg Award
• Peggy Guggenheim Award (1982)
• Barlow Endowment for Music Composition – Commission (2003)

Fellowships

• Koussevitzky fellowship (1958)
• Rockefeller fellowships (1963,1964)
• Guggenheim fellowships (1960,1971)
• Williams Foundation Fellowship
• Walter Channing Cabot Fellowship

Works

• String Quartet No. 1 (1951)
• Concertino for Percussion and String Orchestra (1954)
• Quintet for Clarinet and Strings (1955)
• Suite Sinfonica Para "El Payaso" (1955), orchestra
• Three Pieces for Woodwind Quartet (1956)
• Noneti for Nine Instruments (1956)
• String Quartet No. 2 (1958)
• Serie Sinfonica 1959 (1959), orchestra
• Contrastes No. 1 (1960), string orchestra and electronic sounds
• Electronic Study No. 1 (1961) Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center
• Piano 1961 (1961), orchestra
• Electronic Study No. 2 (1962)
• Synchronisms No. 1 (1962), flute and electronic sound
• Trio for Clarinet, Trumpet, and Viola (1962)
• Synchronisms No. 2 (1964), flute, clarinet, violin, cello and tape
• Synchronisms No. 3 (1964), cello and electronic sound
• Electronic Study No. 3 (1965)
• Inflexions (1965), chamber ensemble
• Junctures (1966), flute, clarinet, and violin
• Synchronisms No. 4 (1966), chorus and tape
• Music for Solo Violin (1968)
• Synchronisms No. 5 (1969), percussion players and tape
• Synchronisms No. 6 (1970), piano and electronic sound (won 1971 Pulitzer Prize)
• Chacona (1971), violin, cello, and piano
• Transientes (1972), orchestra
• Ludus 2 (1973), flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano
• Synchronisms No. 7 (1974), orchestra and tape
• Synchronisms No. 8 (1974), woodwind quintet and tape
• Scenes from Shir ha-Shirim (1975), soprano, two tenors, bass soli and chamber ensemble
• String Quartet No. 3 (1976)
• Pennplay (1979), sixteen players
• Consorts (1980), symphonic band
• String Quartet No. 4 (1980)
• String Trio (1982), violin, viola, violoncello
• Romancero (1983), soprano, flute (piccolo, alto flute), clarinet (bass clarinet), violin and violoncello
• Divertimento (1984), cello and orchestra
• Capriccio (1985), two pianos
• Salvos (1986), flute (piccolo, alto flute), clarinet, harp, percussion, violin and cello
• Quartetto (1987), flute, violin, viola and violoncello
• Synchronisms No. 9 (1988), violin and tape
• Biblical Songs (1990), soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
• Concertante (1990), string quartet and orchestra
• Simple Dances (1991–2001), flute (piccolo, alto flute), two percussion, piano, and cello
• Synchronisms No. 10 (1992), guitar and electronic sounds
• Shulamit's Dream (1993), soprano and orchestra
• Festino (1994), guitar, viola, violoncello, contrabass
• Concertino (1995), violin and chamber orchestra
• Flashbacks (1995), flute (piccolo and alto flute), clarinet (bass clarinet), violin violoncello, piano and percussion
• Quartetto No. 2 (1996), oboe, violin, viola, violoncello
• String Quartet No. 5 (1998)
• Quartetto No. 3 (2000), piano, violin, viola, and violoncello
• Cantione Sine Textu (2001), soprano and chamber ensemble
• RecitAndy (2001), cello
• Duo Capriccioso (2003), piano and violin
• Sefarad: Four Spanish-Ladino Folkscenes (2004), baritone voice, flute (piccolo, alto flute), clarinet (bass clarinet), percussion, violin and cello
• Quartetto No. 4 (2005), clarinet, violin, viola and cello
• Synchronisms No. 11 (2005), contrabass and tape
• Synchronisms No. 12 (2006), clarinet and tape
• Piano Septet (2007)
• Divertimento for 8 ‘Ambiguous Symmetries’ (2015), flute, clarinet, percussion, violin, viola, cello, bass, piano
• String Quartet No. 6 ("Fragments")(2016)

Discography

• Works by Martin Brody, Mario Davidovsky, Miriam Gideon, Rand Steiger, Chinary Ung, New World Records, New World 80412–2. Release date: December 8, 1992.
  • Synchronisms No. 6; Fred Bronstein, Piano.
• Korf: Symphony No.2/Davidovsky: Divertimento/Wright: Night Scenes, New World Records, New World 80383–2. Release date: December 8, 1992.
  • Divertimento; Fred Sherry, cello; Riverside Symphony, George Rothman conducting.
• Flashbacks: Music by Mario Davidovsky, Bridge Records, Bridge 9097. Release date: June 27, 2000.
  • Flashbacks; The New York New Music Ensemble.
  • Festino; Speculum Musicae.
  • Romancero; Susan Narucki, soprano; Speculum Musicae.
  • Quartetto No. 2; Peggy Pearson, oboe; Bayla Keyes, violin; Mary Ruth Ray, viola; Rhonda Rider, violoncello.
  • Synchronisms No. 10; David Starobin, guitar.
  • String Trio; Speculum Musicae.
• Mario Davidovsky: 3 Cycles on Biblical Texts; Susan Narucki, soprano; Riverside Symphony, George Rothman conducting; Bridge Records, Bridge 1112. Release Date: July 30, 2002.
  • Shulamit's Dream.
  • Scenes from Shir ha-Shirim.
  • Biblical Songs.
• Harvard Composers, Mendelssohn String Quartet, BIS Records, BIS-SACD-1264. Release date: September 9, 2003.
  • String Quartet No. 5.
• Salvos: Chamber Music of Mario Davidovsky, Empyrean Ensemble; Susan Narucki, soprano. Arabesque Records, Arabesque Z6777. Release date: January 6, 2004.
  • Simple Dances.
  • Cantione Sine Textu.
  • Quartetto.
  • Salvos.
  • String Trio.
• The Music of Mario Davidovsky, Vol. 3, Bridge Records, Bridge 9171. Release date: September 1, 2005.
  • Synchronisms No. 5; The Manhattan School of Music Percussion Ensemble, Jeffrey Milarsky, conductor.
  • Synchronisms No. 6 Aleck Karis, piano.
  • Synchronisms No. 9; Curtis Macomber, violin.
  • Chacona; Curtis Macomber, violin; Eric Bartlett, cello; Aleck Karis, piano.
  • Quartetto; Susan Palma Nidel, flute; Curtis Macomber, violin; Maureen Gallagher, viola; Eric Bartlett, violoncello.
  • Duo Capriccioso; Curtis Macomber, violin; Aleck Karis, piano.

Notable students

For Davidovsky's notable students, see List of music students by teacher: C to F § Mario Davidovsky.

Further reading

• Cole Gagne and Tracy Caras, Soundpieces: Interviews with American Composers, Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1982.
• "Mario Davidovsky: An Introduction" by Eric Chasalow, AGNI 50 – via ericchasalow.com
• "Music: Does it Have a Future?" by George Crumb, a slightly revised article, originally appearing in The Kenyon Review, Summer 1980.
• Charles Wuorinen, "Mario Davidovsky: Contrastes No. 1", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 4, no. 2 (Spring–Summer 1966), 144–149.
• Liner notes to discs Bridge 9097 and Bridge 9112 (see Discography)
• Interview at the Wayback Machine (archived April 15, 2012), by Bob Gluck on September 24, 2005.

External links

• "Electronic Study No. 3, In Memoriam Edgar Varèse", Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, recording, from Aspen, no. 4, The McLuhan issue; via UbuWeb
• Art of the States: Mario Davidovsky – RealAudio streams of three works by the composer
• Performance on 2006-10-22 by Lynn Kuo of Synchronisms No. 9: Part 1 on YouTube, Part 2 on YouTube.
• Mario Davidovsky (February 15, 2006). "Mario Davidovsky: A Long Way from Home". NewMusicBox (Interview). Interviewed by Frank J. Oteri (published November 1, 2006). (includes video)