The Muse That Sings: Composers Speak about the Creative Process

McCutchan, Ann ; ; Foreward by Leonard Slatkin; Testimonials of Eric Stokes, Steve Reich, William Bolcom, John Corigliano, John Harbison, Joan Tower, John Adams, Claude Baker, Dan Welcher, Daniel Godfrey, Fred Lerdahl, Shulamit Ran, Christopher Rause, Steven Stucky, Libby Larsen, Lois Vierk, John Zorn, Michael Daugherty, James Mobberley, Bruce Adolphe, Bright Sheng, Richard Danielpour, David Lang, Sebastian Currier, and Aaron Jay Kernis.

ISBN 10: 0195127072 / ISBN 13: 9780195127072

Published by Oxford University Press, New York, New York / Oxford, England, 1999

About this Item

xv, 262 pp. LCC: 9847028 Very good condition; a few markings in pencil.

Seller Inventory # LL08121115

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Muse That Sings: Composers Speak about the Creative Process
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, New York, New York / Oxford, England
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195127072
• ISBN 13: 9780195127072
• Binding: Hardcover
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Faith in a Secular Age and the Second Half of t...

About this title

Synopsis

The Muse That Sings is a unique behind-the-scenes look at both twentieth-century music and the nuts and bolts of creative work. Here, twenty-five of America's leading composers--from Adams to Zorn, from Bolcom to Vierk--talk candidly about their craft, their motivations, their difficulties, and how they how proceed from musical idea to finished composition.

While focusing on the process and the stories behind specific works, the composers also touch on topics that will interest anyone involved in creative work. They discuss teachers and mentors, the task of revision, relationships with performers, and the ongoing struggle for a balance between freedom and discipline.

They reveal sources of inspiration, artistic goals, and the often unexpected ways their musical ideas develop. Some describe personal tonal systems; others discuss the impact of computers and other electronic tools on their work; still others reflect philosophically on the inner impulses and outer influences that continue to drive them.

While serious music has a reputation for being difficult and inaccessible, The Muse That Sings provides a powerful antidote. The composers in this book speak clearly and thoughtfully in response to key questions of concern to all readers interested in contemporary music.

Each interview has been edited to stand alone as a concise meditation on muse and technique, and the book includes selected discographies as well as brief biographical sketches.

Anyone with an interest in twentieth-century music or in the creative process will find this lively collection a valuable source of inspiration and insight.

About the Author

Ann McCutchan is the author of six books, most recently The Life She Wished to Live: A Biography of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Author of The Yearling, released in 2021 by W.W. Norton. As well, she is a busy lyricist and librettist, with eight commissioned works, most recently The Dreamer, an opera based on an original story with composer Mark Alan Taggart, premiered by the East Carolina University Opera Studio in 2021. Her personal essays have appeared in various journals and The Best American Spiritual Writing.