Frederic Anthony Rzewski, né le 13 avril 1938 à Westfield dans le Massachusetts, est un compositeur et pianiste virtuose américain.
Frederic Rzewski a étudié à l'université Harvard et à l'université de Princeton, où ses professeurs furent respectivement Randall Thompson, Roger Sessions, Walter Piston et Milton Babbitt. En 1960, il partit pour l'Italie lors d'un voyage qui revêtit une grande importance dans son développement musical : il y étudia non seulement avec Luigi Dallapiccola, mais entama également une carrière de pianiste interprète de la musique nouvelle, comportant notamment des éléments d'improvisation. Quelques années plus tard, il cofonda le groupe Musica Elettronica Viva en compagnie d'Alvin Curran et de Richard Teitelbaum. Musica Elettronica Viva concevait la musique en tant que processus collectif et collaboratif, accompagné d'improvisation et de musique électronique live. En 1971 il rentra à New York. (Sadie 1980)
En 1977 Rzewski devint professeur de composition au Conservatoire royal de musique de Liège en Belgique. Il enseigne de manière occasionnelle dans diverses écoles et universités américaines et européennes parmi lesquelles Yale, l'université de Cincinnati, le California Institute of the Arts, l'université de San Diego et le Conservatoire de La Haye (ibid).
Nicolas Slonimsky (1993) a dit de lui dans le Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians : « Il est de plus un technicien du piano d'une puissance granitique, capable de produire d'énormes masses de matériau sonore sans nécessairement détruire l'instrument. »
Frederic Rzewski réside actuellement à Bruxelles en Belgique et est le père de plusieurs enfants. Un de ses fils, Jan Rzewski, est saxophoniste de jazz.
En 2009, il a reçu les insignes de docteur honoris causa de l'université de Liège.
Oeuvres
La plupart des œuvres de Rzewski ont un contenu ouvertement politique et proposent des éléments d'improvisation. Il a toujours été un marxiste déclaré et un anti-militariste convaincu. Parmi ses œuvres les plus connues, on peut retenir :
The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, série de 36 variations sur la chanson révolutionnaire El pueblo unido jamás será vencido, sur le modèle des Variations Diabelli de Beethoven;
Coming Together, constitué d'une série de lettres écrites par un prisonnier de la prison d'état Attica à l'époque des fameuses révoltes qui s'y déroulèrent en 1971;
North American Ballads, quatre pièces basées sur des airs populaires américains;
Night Crossing with Fisherman; The Price of Oil et Le Silence des Espaces infinis, qui utilisent une notation graphique.
COMPLETE LIST OF WORKS (source : http://composers21.com/compdocs/rzewskif.htm )
Oeuvres scéniques
The Persians – Les Perses – Die Perser (music theatre work, libretto by the composer, after Aeschylus), 4 soloists, 5 actors, bass clarinet (+ contrabass clarinet, sopranino saxophone), trombone, double bass (+ bass guitar), piano, 2 percussion, 1985;
The Triumph of Death (staged oratorio, text by Peter Weiss), 4 voices, string quartet, 1987-88
Orchestre
Nature Morte, small orchestra (winds, French horn, trumpet, harp, violin, cello, piano, organ, 5 percussion), 1964;
A Long Time Man, piano, orchestra, 1979;
Satyrica, guitar, double bass, piano, synthesizer, vibraphone, percussion, symphonic band, 1983;
Una Breve Storia d'Estate, 3 flutes, orchestra, 1983;
Scratch Symphony, 1997; Movable Types, 1999
Musique de chambre
Speculum Dianae, any 8 improvisational players, 1964;
Selfportrait, any player, 1964;
Prose Pieces, improvisational ensemble, 1967-68;
Les Moutons de Panurge, any number of melody instruments, 1968;
Last Judgment, trombone/any number of unison trombones, 1969;
Second Structure, improvisational ensemble, 1972;
Song and Dance, flute, bass clarinet, double bass, vibraphone, 1976;
Thirteen Instrumental Studies, variable ensemble, 1972-77;
Moonrise with Memories, bass trombone, ensemble (any 6 soprano-range instruments), 1978;
Three Pieces, soprano saxophone, trombone, piano, 1979;
Aria, flute, 1981;
Pennywhistlers, recorder, 1981;
Wails, bass clarinet (+ sopranino saxophone), piano, 2 percussion, 1984;
Lost and Found (player also speaks), percussion, 1985;
To the Earth (player also speaks), percussion, 1985;
Spots, any 4 players, 1986;
Don't Have it Today (player also speaks), double bass, 1986;
The Lost Melody, clarinet, piano, 2 percussion, 1989;
Roses, flute, clarinet, trumpet, tuba, violin, cello, accordion, percussion, 1989;
Aerial Tarts, flute, clarinet/saxophone, violin, cello, piano, 2 percussion, 1990;
Whangdoodles, hammer dulcimer (+ mallet instruments ad libitum), violin, piano, 1990;
Shtick, clarinet/soprano saxophone, 1990
Knight, cello, 1992;
Holes, any 4-8 players, 1993;
Crusoe, any 4-12 players, 1993;
Histories, 4 saxophones, 1993; Whimwhams, marimba, string quartet, 1993;
Family Scenes, flute, 3 saxophones, French horn, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, double bass/bass guitar, piano, 1995;
When the Wind Blows, flute, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, flügelhorn, trombone, guitar, double bass/bass guitar, piano, 1996;
Spiritus, 4 recorders, percussion, 1997;
ForHanns, flute, clarinet, cello, piano, 1998;
Trio, violin, cello, piano, 1998;
Main Drag, any 9 players, 1999;
Cradle Rock, flute, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, flügelhorn, trombone, guitar, double bass/bass guitar, piano, 1999;
Pocket Symphony, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion, 2000;
96 (canon), 5 players, 2003
Piano
Chain of Thought, 1953;
Tabakrauch, 1954;
Preludes, 1957;
Poem, 1958;
Introduction and Sonata, 2 pianos, 1959;
Study 2 (Dreams), 1961;
Falling Music, 1971 (also version for amplified piano, tape, 1971);
No Place to Go but around, 1974;
36 Variations on 'The People United Will Never Be Defeated!', 1975;
Four Pieces, 1977;
Squares, 1978;
North American Ballads, 1978-79 (each of its four sections may be performed separately: Dreadful Memories; Which Side are You on?; Down by the Riverside; Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues; also version of Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues for 2 pianos, 1980);
A Machine, 2 pianos, 1984;
Eggs, 1986;
Steptangle, 1986;
The Turtle and the Crane, 1988;
Mayn Yingele, 1988;
Fantasy, 1989;
Bumps, 1990;
Ludes, 1990-91;
Sonata, 1991;
De Profundis, 1991-92;
Andante con Moto, 1992;
A Life, 1992;
Night Crossing with Fisherman, 2 pianos, 1994;
Fougues, 1994;
Turns (The Road, Part 1), 1995;
Tracks (The Road, Part 2), 1996;
Tramps (The Road, Part 3), 1997;
Stops (The Road, Part 4), 1998;
A Few Knocks (The Road, Part 5), 1999;
Travelling with Children (The Road, Part 6), 1999;
Final Preparations (The Road, Part 7), 1999-2002;
The Big Day Arrives (The Road, Part 8), 2002-03;
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier, 2003;
Cadenza, 2003;
Dust, 2003
Clavecin: The Housewife's Lament, 1980
Choeurs
Requiem, Part 1, speaker, male chorus, Jew's harp, piano, organ/electronic simulation, tubular bells, bull-roarer, woodblock, radio, 1963-67;
Struggle Song, mixed chorus, 1973 (version by Gregory Rose of vocal work); Le silence des Espaces Infinis, female chorus, any player, 7 orchestral groups, tape, 1980;
Stop the War!, mixed chorus, 1995;
Stop the Testing!, mixed chorus, 1995
Musique vocale
Jefferson (text by Thomas Jefferson), voice, piano, 1970;
Freud, voice, 1970;
Coming Together, speaker, variable ensemble, 1971;
Attica, speaker, variable ensemble, 1972;
Struggle Song, voice, variable ensemble, 1973 (also version by Gregory Rose for mixed chorus); The Price of Oil, 2 voices/vocal ensembles, 8 amplified pipe ensembles, any 2 similar ensembles, 1980;
Snacks, voice, mixed chorus ad libitum, any ensemble ad libitum, 1981;
Antigone-Legend (text by Bertolt Brecht [translated by Judith Malina]), voice, piano, 1982;
Songs, voice, piano, 1973-83;
Mayakovsky, speaker, piano, string quartet, 1984;
Mary's Dream, soprano, contrabass clarinet, cello, piano, percussion, 1984;
Force, 2 speakers, any 1-2 wind instruments, any 1-2 plucked instruments, 1-2 noisemakers, weigher ad libitum, 1985;
The Waves, speaker, variable ensemble, 1988;
Tinkleberries (collection of ditties), voice, any number of players, 1980-90;
The Burghers of Rostock, voice, piano, 1992;
Snippets, speaker, piano, 1994;
Logique (text by Paul Verlaine), voice, flute, cello, piano, 1997
Electroacoustique: Zoologischer Garten, tape, 1965
Accueil 
