Del Sol Featured Composer-
George Antheil (1900-1959)

photo: Antheil returning to New York in 1927
(Estate of George Antheil, all rights reserved)


George Antheil, (1900-1959) made a flamboyant leap to notoriety in 1920’s Europe as a composer and pianist. In the 30’s he returned to America, and settled in Hollywood, writing film scores and whenever possible, serious chamber music and orchestral works. By the late 1940’s he was the third most performed American-born contemporary composer. Since his death in 1959, the bulk of his music has been largely overlooked, with the exception of Ballet mécanique for 16 player pianos and percussion (1925). This relentlessly driving piece, composed for Fernand Léger and Dudley Murphy’s movie of the same name, had an impact at its Paris premiere on the order of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. It also put Antheil on the American musical map at its 1927 New York premiere, and continues to be the work that defines the public image of George Antheil.

Antheil’s works for string quartet cover a wide range of his stylistic experimentation. Lithuanian Night, composed in 1919, is an evocative piece in two short movements. Chromatic harmonies in the muted lower strings accompany a penetrating, singing line in the first violin, creating a soundscape that foreshadows the slow movements of both his 6 Little Pieces and the slow movements of his later string quartets. The presto is a moto perpetuo that builds to a frenetic finish. With its surprising use of ponticello (a glassy, scraping sound made by bowing near the bridge) Antheil was breaking new ground, and paving the way for his experimentation in the early 1920’s.

The young George and his wife Böski moved to Paris in 1923, and soon mixed in the most avant-garde circles. At the salons he frequented at the home of Natalie Barney, he mixed with the richest intellectuals who supported most of the “modern art” created at the time. He enjoyed shocking the bourgeoisie in the vein of Man Ray, James Joyce and Pablo Picasso. Indeed, his landlady was Sylvia Beach, the owner of the Shakespeare and Co. Bookstore at 12, Rue de l’Odéon, and publisher of Ulysses; her bookstore was the place for English speakers to congregate and discuss literature and philosophy. Ernest Hemingway lovingly describes the bookstore in The Movable Feast.

The First String Quartet was composed after two violin sonatas commissioned by Ezra Pound and the most experimental piano music; the Sonata Sauvage, Airplane Sonata and Ballet mécanique. Having broken new ground in these pieces, he seemed drawn again to the more clean sounds of Stravinsky, one of his great idols. Written in one continuous movement, the most jarring aspect of the form is in the dynamic range. Apparently created in a spurt of manic activity (Antheil describes himself as “exhausted after several sleepless weeks”) the work has a catchy, asymmetrical motive, usually intoned by the viola. Though not in strict Rondo form, this motive returns throughout the piece, occasionally inverted, and often truncated, serving as a trumpet call to attention. The disjointed transitions and short episodes are perhaps an indication of the composer’s penchant for creating movie music. In total, the piece is very effective, resounding with Antheil’s quirky sense of tonality, pitting rich chords with glaring dissonances, and propelling itself forward with relentless motoric energy. The premiere of the Quartet was on New Year’s Day 1926, and its success resulted in an immediate commission for a second Symphony, much to Antheil’s delight.

The Second Quartet is on a much grander scale, in four movements; Antheil credits his inspiration to Beethoven’s late quartets, and even writes a lengthy fugue into the first movement. The Quartet is dedicated to Sylvia Beach. Until now, the only version recorded of this quartet is in a reconstruction, by Dutch cellist Eduard van Regteren Altena, of the Mondriaan quartet. He used notes written in red over the original score, which appears to be remarks Antheil made in 1943. Since there is little evidence that these changes actually improve the original conception, the Del Sol String Quartet is performing from the original 1928 version.

After a unison opening, the first movement launches in with an eighth note theme in the cello. Although here it serves as a rhythmic underpinning for a broader violin solo, this theme actually becomes the fugue subject later on. Antheil is fascinated by the effects of polytonality; one is often reminded of Ives as he simultaneously intones two totally unrelated melodies, or Stravinsky who created a whole personal language by having melody and accompaniment in different keys. After a serene second movement, the third movement is a witty, quirky, Rondo. As in the First Quartet, a theatrical quality is created here by sudden tempo changes and melodic shifts. The quartet ends on a humorous note with a short, fast movement; themes from previous movements interject, and after a mad rush to the top of a high scale, the piece ends in “F minor.”

The Six Little Pieces were composed for a festival at Woodstock in upstate New York. Apparently, the musicians were supposed to play one of the Quartets, but Antheil had mistakenly left the score at home, so over night he whipped up these quintessentially personal gems. Although they do not demonstrate Antheil’s capacity to create form or breadth in his work, the Six Little Pieces serve as a wonderful introduction to the harmonic and textural world of George Antheil. In each tiny work, the composer explores accompanimental figures that weave through chromatic, dense harmonies; he calls for extremes of sound, such as the airy quality of sul tasto (over the fingerboard) or the whistle of sul ponticello (at the bridge) as well as a huge dynamic range; there are surprising tempo changes and funny interruptions of popular tunes.

By 1948, when Antheil wrote his third and last String Quartet, he was unabashedly using popular or folk melodies in his work. On relocating to America after his stint abroad, he spent some time collecting songs as he traveled across the country. Although not specific, the themes in the Third Quartet are unmistakably American in flavor, and the piece as a whole is much less daring even than his second quartet. What the piece is lacking in innovation, it gains in maturity and overall construction. In the first movement the violin and cello pass a long dialogue back and forth, and the motoric accompaniment adds energy but never competes with the thematic material. Throughout the piece, Antheil still makes use of dissonant harmonies and bi-tonality, but there is a greater sense of care for the harmony rather than youthful indulgence in shock-value.

Seen as a complete oeuvre, Antheil’s string quartets add an important voice to the twentieth century, and deserve an honored place in the repertoire. This virtuoso pianist/composer who lived hard and died young gave the string quartet five vital and captivating pieces that allow us to enjoy a fusion of European culture with an American irreverence.


More Antheil info and links:

Bad Boy of Music by George Antheil, Publisher Samuel French Trade, ISBN: 0573606048

A selection of photos from the George Antheil Archives (from the Estate of George Antheil)
http://www.otherminds.org/html/Antheilphotos.html

Antheil music and biography at G. Schirmer and Associated Music Publisher
http://www.schirmer.com/composers/antheil_bio.html

The official website of the George Antheil Festival
http://www.paristransatlantic.com/festival/index.html
Antheil: Composer, Pianist, Inventor
http://www.paristransatlantic.com/antheil/frameset.html

Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil had the first patent on spread-spectrum communications
http://www.ncafe.com/chris/pat2/index.html

Columbia University, Rare Book and Manuscript Library: Antheil paper 1919-1959 (ca.1,900 items)
Correspondence, manuscripts, music scores, and printed materials. Among the cataloged correspondents are: Luis Bunuel, John Cage, Aaron Copland, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Pablo Picasso, Leopold Stokowski, Igor Stravinsky, and Kurt Weill.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/rare/guides/Antheil/

The ballet mécanique
The ballet mécanique page: http://www.antheil.org/
The score:
ballet mécanique score

The ballet mécanique (French, 1924, 15 min, b&w, silent, 16mm) Directed by Dudley Murphy and Fernand Leger
http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/fnf96n3.html
Blast From the Past, by By Paul D. Lehrman
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.11/ballet.html


Discography:

The Complete String Quartets of George Antheil
Del Sol String Quartet
Other Minds Label: OM 1008-2

Antheil Plays Antheil
Valentine Waltzes (1949), Eight Fragments from Shelley (1950), McKonkey's Ferry Overture (1948), Symphony No. 5, "Joyous" (1947-48), Two Odes of John Keats (1950), "The Prostitute," from the ballet Capital of the World (1953), Peter Pokes a Pig (Story for Peter, 1942), Mu-uh-uch in the Moonlight, Prediction of Allied Invasion of North Africa (1942), Biggest Muscles Waltz (Story for Peter, 1942), Captain Peter Shoots Down Nazi Air Ship (Story for Peter, 1942), George Antheil Speaks (1958)The SPA Interview (1981), Charles Amirkhanian interviews Hannah M. Adler and Norman Fox
Other Minds

GEORGE ANTHEIL, Fighting the Waves
Ballet mécanique, Jazz Symphony, Concerto for Chamber Orchestra, Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1, Fighting the Waves, Lithuanian Night, Jazz Sonata, Printemps
Heinz Karl Gruber directing the Ensemble Modern
Red Seal

Symphony No. 1 , No. 6 and Archipelago by George Antheil
Hugh Wolff directing the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
CPO Records

Symphony no 4 "1942", Symphony no 5 "Joyous", Decatur at Algiers by George Antheil
Hugh Wolff directing the directing the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
CPO Records

American Classics: George antheil
Ballet mécanique, Serenade For String Orchestra, No. 1, Symphony For Five Instruments
Daniel Spalding directing the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra
Naxos

George Antheil - Bad Boy Of Music
Transatlantic: Tango, Sonata for Piano no 4, Valentine Waltzes, Little Shimmy
Marthanne Verbit, piano
Albany Records

Antheil: The Lost Sonatas
Fifth Sonata (1950), Sonate Sauvage (1923), Woman Sonata (1923), Fourth Sonata (1948), Third Sonata (1947)
Guy Livingston, piano
Wergo

Nancarrow, Antheil: Piano Works
Herbert Henck, piano
ECM New Series

Antheil - Capital of the World - Slovak State Symphony Orchestra
Capital of the World, Symphony no 5 "Joyous", Archipelago
Barry H. Kolman directing the Slovak State Symphony Orchestra
Centaur Records

American Classics - Antheil: Symphony No 4 & 6
McKonkey's Ferry Overture, Symphony no 4 "1942" , Symphony no 6 "after Delacroix"
Theodore Kuchar directing the Ukrainian National Symphony Orchestra
Naxos

George Antheil, String Quartets
Quartet no 1, (1925), Quartet no 2, red. E. v. R. Altena, 1927, Quartet no 3, 1948
Mondriaan Quartet
Etcetera