A Ned Rorem reader / Ned Rorem ; foreword by J.D. McClatchy.

Author/creator Rorem, Ned
Other author McClatchy, J. D., 1945-2018 writer of foreword.
Format Book
Publication InfoNew Haven : Yale University Press, ©2001.
Descriptionxxiv, 287 pages ; 22 cm
Subjects
Music--History and criticism.

Contents Preface: two hats -- Part 1. Diaries and musings. The art of the diary -- Lies: notes on craft -- Becoming a composer -- Jackson Park -- "P" -- New York baths -- Mescaline in the Poconos -- Vocabulary -- Being alone -- Of vanity -- Interlude: on music -- Part 2. Music matters. Pictures and pieces -- Poetry of music -- The Beatles -- Edith Piaf and Billie Holiday -- Lotte Lenya -- Opera past, present, and future -- Ravel -- Poulenc -- Pelléas et Mélisande -- Carmen -- Bluebeard's Castle -- Stravinsky -- Gershwin -- Interlude: notes on death -- Part 3. Portraits and memorials. Marc Blitzstein -- Martha Graham -- Paul Bowles -- Francis Poulenc -- Virgil Thomson -- Aaron Copland -- Samuel Barber -- Leonard Bernstein -- Franco Zeffirelli -- Frank O'Hara -- Julian Green -- Allen Ginsberg -- Tennessee Williams -- Truman Capote -- Envoi.
Abstract The author, a composer and writer, is both a gifted memoirist and one of our most acerbic cultural commentators. This anthology of his musings on music, people, and life surveys the full range of his literary achievement and reflects the evolution of his sensibilities. The first part of the book is devoted to writing of an autobiographical nature, including ruminations on being alone and on becoming a composer. The second part focuses on music and individuals from Bartok and Ravel to Edith Piaf and the Beatles. The final part consists of portraits and memorials of such figures as Martha Graham, Paul Bowles, Marc Blitzstein, Frank O'Hara, Allen Ginsberg, and Truman Capote. The book also includes a lengthy conversation on the art of the diary.
LCCN 2001033334
ISBN0300089848 (alk. paper)