I Sang the Unsingable -

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Résumé :
American soprano Bethany Beardslee rose to prominence in the postwar years, when the modernist sensibilities of European artists and thinkers were flooding American shores and challenging classical music audiences. With her lightlyric voice, her musical intuition, and her fearless dedication to new music, Beardslee became the go-to girl for twelve-tone music in New York City. She was the first American singer to build a repertoire performing the music ofArnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Alban Berg, Milton Babbitt, and Pierre Boulez, making a vibrant career singing difficult music. I Sang the Unsingable is an autobiographical account of the acclaimed twentieth-century art song soprano. In her memoir, Beardslee tells the story of how she made her way from an inauspicious depression-era East Lansing to Carnegie Hall, and how her unique combination of musical gifts and training were alchemy for challenging mid-century music. This is Beardslee's own perspective on a formidable catalogue of premieres, a forty-six-year long career, and a deep and lifelong dedication to performing the work of the composers of our time. BR> Born in 1925 in Lansing, Michigan, Bethany Beardslee is an American soprano particularly noted for her collaborations with major twentieth-century composers. Minna Zallman Proctor is an editor and essayist. Her book and art criticism has been published in BookForum, BOMB, The Nation, Aperture, NPR.org, American Scholar, The New York Times Book Review, and Salon. She teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Fairleigh Dickinson University and is editor of The Literary Review.

Biographie:
Bethany Beardslee, Minna Zallman Proctor

Sommaire:
Part One: Childhood (1925--50) Christmas 1925 The Great Depression East Lansing College Years Lessons with J. Herbert Swanson Father New York, Here I Come Part Two: The Monod Era (1948-55) Juilliard The Monod Era, 1949 Work with Jacques Farewell, Juilliard Paris and the Monod Family Home Again New Music in New York City All the Right People The Duo: Recital Tours for the Association of American Colleges and Universities Fifty-Nine New Pieces of Music 1955 and Pierrot lunaire: A Tumultuous Year Camera Concerts with Stanley Seeger Part Three: Godfrey (1956-62) A Season of Change: Summer 1956 Godfrey Winham London New York Pro Musica: 1958 The Fromm Music Foundation Earl Kim and Russell Sherman Working with Martha Graham Threni and the Altenberg Lieder Princeton and Saskatoon The Russian Delegation Recordings with Robert Craft To Prove My Love Baird and Christopher Winham: Life in Princeton Das Buch der h?ngenden G?rten: Opus 15 by Arnold Schoenberg Part Four: New Music (1963-75) Vision and Prayer, or, My First Adventure with Electronic Music Camelot Years: 1962 Le marteau sans ma?tre The Sixties Philomel: 1964 A Composer's Singer Darmstadt: 1964 Aaron Copland, Imeneo, and Max: 1965 Belle Mead Godfrey and the Computer Marlboro and Penderecki: 1967-68 Old Friends and New Pieces Erwartung How Things Wind Down: 1973 Godfrey Part Five: Farewell and Farewell Remembering Milton Aftermath Singing Again Lieder with Richard Goode: 1980-90 Pierrot Records: New Ventures Encore with Robert Helps Farewell and Farewell Appendix A: Discography Appendix B: Premieres by Bethany Beardslee Notes Bibliography Index