Robert Ashley

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Robert Ashley (born March 28, 1930 in Ann Arbor , Michigan , † March 3, 2014 in New York City ) was an American composer , known for experimental operas and plays .

life and work

Robert Ashley studied at the University of Michigan with Ross Lee Finney and from 1957 to 1960 at the Manhattan School of Music . He was used as a military musician in the United States Army .

Robert Ashley was the founder of the ONCE Group and a member of the Sonic Arts Union , which also includes David Behrman , Alvin Lucier and Gordon Mumma . Ashley founded the Ann Arbor's Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music with Gordon Mumma. He became director of the San Francisco Tape Music Center in 1969 and director of Mills College in the 1970s . Well-known former students of Robert Ashley are Maggi Payne , Beth Anderson , John Esposito , Peter Gordon , Rodney Waschka II and many more. Sam Ashley is his son from his first marriage to Mary Tsaltas . In 1979 Robert married Ashley Mimi Johnson .

Since 1980, Ashley has worked on experimental operas with his son Sam, Joan La Barbara , Thomas Buckner , Jacqueline Humbert and Tom Hamilton .

Ashley has composed music for Trisha Brown and the Judson Dance Theater (Son of Gone Fishin ', 1983), Merce Cunningham (Problems in the Flying Saucer, 1988), Douglas Dunn (Ideas from The Church, 1978 for Dunn's "Coquina"), Steve Paxton (The Park and The Backyard for "PA RT", Automatic Writing and Dust for "Night Stand") and many others.

The documentary Four American Composers of Peter Greenaway shows (1983) Robert Ashley, John Cage , Philip Glass and Peter Gordon . In 1987 Ashley took part in documenta 8 in Kassel with Atlanta Strategy . As a co-production of Bayerischer Rundfunk / Radio Play and Media Art with Lovely Music , Ashley realized the work Your Money My Life Goodbye and Dein Geld Mein Leben Machs Gut (1999) in two versions (English and German ).

Awards

Fonts

  • Outside of time. Ideas about Music / Outside of Time. Thoughts on music , edited and translated by Ralf Dietrich, Cologne: Edition MusikTexte 2009, ISBN 978-3-9813319-0-5
  • Language as music. A musical "autobiography" , in: MusikTexte 88, February 2001, 37–51.
  • Change of form , in: MusikTexte 88, February 2001, 61–62.
  • "... we have a few basic rules. On the work of the ONCE Group ” , in: MusikTexte 88, February 2001, 81–82.
  • And this is how it looks, depending. "Perfect Lives (Private Parts)", in: MusikTexte 123, August 2010, 18–22.

Interviews

  • Music with roots in the ether: Interviews with and essays on seven American composers , by Robert Ashley, Philip Makanna, translated by Peter Niklas Wilson , Cologne: Edition MusikTexte, 2001, ISBN 978-3-98031-5-173

Secondary literature

  • Boris von Haken: Music for television. Robert Ashley's video operas , in: MusikTexte 88, February 2001, 52–56.
  • Ralf Dietrich: Uncensored simultaneity of the voices. Robert Ashley's early work , in: MusikTexte 88, February 2001, 63–81.
  • On the death of Robert Ashley. Contributions by Christian Wolff , Alex Waterman, Joan La Barbara , Jacqueline Humbert, Thomas Buckner, Tom Hamilton, Joan Jonas , Jill Kroesen, David van Tieghem, Sam Ashley, Peter Gordon, John Sanborn, John Bischoff, Maggi Payne, Rhys Chatham, Fast Forward, "Blue" Gene Tyranny , William Farley, David Rosenboom, Terry Riley , Tom Johnson , Gordon Mumma , David Behrman , Alvin Lucier , Roger Reynolds , George Manupelli, Gisela Gronemeyer, Ralf Dietrich, in: MusikTexte 141, May 2014, 73 -99.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pitchfork Robert Ashley, Composer, Dead at 83, accessed on September 24, 2015 (English)
  2. ↑ Ubu Robert Ashley accessed September 24th (English)
  3. ↑ Reinhard Oehlschlägel Robert Ashley , accessed on September 24, 2015.
  4. ↑ documenta 8 catalog: Volume 1: Essays; Volume 2: Catalog page 313; Volume 3: artist book; Kassel 1987, ISBN 3-925272-13-5 .
  5. ↑ Herbert Kapfer (Ed.): From broadcast game to media art. The history of the radio play in Bavarian radio. Complete directory 1949-1999. Belleville, Munich, ISBN 3-923646-97-6 .
personal data
SURNAME Ashley, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer
DATE OF BIRTH March 28, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Ann Arbor , Michigan
DATE OF DEATH March 3, 2014
Place of death New York City