Elodie Lauten (October 20, 1950 – June 3, 2014) was a French-born American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

described as

postminimalist Postminimalism is an art term coined (as post-minimalism) by Robert Pincus-Witten in 1971Chilvers, Ian and Glaves-Smith, John, ''A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art'', second edition (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. ...

or a

microtonal Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones—intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of tw ...

ist.

Biography

Born in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

as Genevieve Schecroun, and educated in Paris at the

Lycée Claude Monet In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

, the Conservatoire (piano) and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques.Obituary
nytimes.com; accessed March 4, 2015. Her father was

Errol Parker Errol Parker (né Raphaël Schecroun; 30 October 1925 – 2 July 1998) was a French-Algerian jazz pianist who played with Django Reinhardt, James Moody, Don Byas and Kenny Clarke, among others. Born in Oran, French Algeria, Raphaël Schecroun ...

(né Raphaël Schecroun), an

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

n-born jazz musician; her mother was a classical pianist. Lauten was classically trained as a pianist since age 7. She contributed to the early punk-rock scene in Paris in 1975 and 1976. After relocating to New York City, she received a Master's in composition from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

where she studied Western composition with Dinu Ghezzo, and

Indian classical music Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...

with Ahkmal Parwez. She became an American citizen in 1984. She received awards from the NEA,

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

, MTC, and the

American Music Center New Music USA is a new music organization formed by the merging of the American Music Center with Meet The Composer on November 8, 2011. The new organization retains the granting programs of the two former organizations as well as two media program ...

, as well as chamber and orchestral commissions. A writer of operas, theater pieces, orchestral, chamber and instrumental music, she was recognized in North America and Europe as a pioneer of postminimalism and a force on the new music scene with over 20 releases on a number of labels including Lovely Music, Point/Polygram, 4-Tay, O.O. Discs, and New Tone (Italy).Kyle Gann
Elodie Lauten profile
''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

'' (1998-2003).

Musical style

Lauten's music was always a combination of two contradictory streams, one a cloudy, beatless stasis derived from

minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

, the other a neoclassical attachment to tonal melody and

ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include ...

. These two were present from the beginning of her recording

career The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defin ...

, the first in her ''Concerto for Piano and Orchestral Memory'' (1984), the second in her ''Sonata Ordinaire'' (1986) for piano. Her 1987 opera ''The Death of Don Juan''—feminist tract and

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

meditation combined—was one of the major postminimalist works of the 1980s; it was revived in April 2005 at

Franklin Pierce College Franklin Pierce University is a private university in Rindge, New Hampshire. It was founded as Franklin Pierce College in 1962, combining a liberal arts foundation with coursework for professional development, professional preparation. The scho ...

(in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

), directed by Robert Lawson. Her neoclassical tendency blossomed into a full neo-baroque idiom in her ''Deus ex Machina'' Cycle for voices and Baroque ensemble (1999). ''Variations On The Orange Cycle'' (1991, recorded by Lois Svard for Lovely Music in 1998) is one of the cloudier works, an improvisation in a

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...

-ish vein that was recorded and transcribed (as few of her piano works have been) for performance by others. Svard's recording of the work was included in Frank J. Oteri's "The Century List: 100 Reasons to Play This Century's Music", a list of 100 recommended recordings for classic radio programmers distributed at the 1998 Music Personnel in Public Radio conference and subsequently published in ''Chamber Music'' magazine in 1999.Bradley Bambarger
"Classical: Keeping Score"
''Billboard'', March 21, 1998. Lauten's opera ''Waking in New York'', written on poems by her late friend

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

, was presented by the

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013 (when it filed for bankruptcy), and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, du ...

VOX and Friends 2004, after being released on 4Tay in 2003. Smoothly suave but with a gentle rock beat, the work pioneered a mixture of genres by combining vocal soloists from three styles: classical, Broadway, and gospel. ''OrfReo'', an opera for Baroque ensemble, was premiered at Merkin Hall by the Queen's Chamber Band, who also included Lauten's ''The Architect'' in their CD New Music Alive (Capstone, 2004). ''OrfReo'' was released on CD in December 2004 (Studio 21). In 2004, she was composer-in-residence at

Hope College Hope College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Holland, Michigan. It was originally opened in 1851 as the Pioneer School by Dutch immigrants four years after the community was first settled. The first freshman college class matricul ...

(in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

). Her ''Symphony 2001'' was premiered in February 2003 by the SEM Orchestra in New York. Lauten was the 2014 recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts' Robert Rauschenberg Award."Phill Niblock & Elodie Lauten Receive Top FCA Awards"
newmusicbox.org; accessed March 4, 2015.

Personal life

Genevieve adopted the name "Elodie" after moving to the United States and took the surname Lauten from her first husband. That marriage ended in divorce, as did her second, to Carl Karas. She had no children.

Death

Lauten died in Beth Israel Hospital,

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, aged 63, from cancer.

Works

Chamber music

*''Links'', solo flute, 2004 *''The Wish of the Quickening Moon'',

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

, 2003 *''Sex and Pre-Anti-Post Modernism'', contrabass/voice, setting of text by

Michael Andre Michael Andre (born August 31, 1946) is a Canadian, disc jockey, poet, critic and editor living in New York City. Andre was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to a civil engineer doing wartime work on a military hospital. His mother's father was a ne ...

, 2002 *''T.E.V.B. (The Elusive Virgin Bachelor)'', trio (piano, violin, cello), 2002 *''Space-Time Sextet'', string sextet (3 violins, viola, cello, contrabass), 2001 *''Mantra'', vocal sextet, 2001 *''American Dreamscape'', solo piano, 2000 *''Lunaticity'', Baroque ensemble, 1999 *''Prophecy'', solo viola, 1999 *''Irrational Synergies'', baritone, flute, clarinet, saxophone, cello; setting of poems by

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

E. E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings, who was also known as E. E. Cummings, e. e. cummings and e e cummings (October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962), was an American poet, painter, essayist, author and playwright. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, two autobi ...

, commissioned by The Lark Ascending, 1998 *''Discombobulations'', electronic, electric guitar, flute, and soprano, lyrics by Steven Hall, 1997 *''Variations on the Orange Cycle'', solo piano, 1991 *''Concerto for Piano and Orchestral Memory'', piano, tape, synthesizer, cello, trombone, violin, viola, 1984

Dance

*''The Soundless Sound'', electronic, 2004 *''She-Wolf'', electronic (Fairlight computer), 1987 *''Oedipus Rex'', electronic/computer (Fairlight), 1984

Operas and cycles

*''The Death of Don Juan'', revision of 1985 opera, 2005 *''Orfreo'', soprano, mezzo, countertenor, baritone, and Baroque orchestra: harpsichord, string quartet, oboe, flute, contrabass;

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by Michael Andre, commissioned by Harpsichord Unlimited, 2004 *''Waking in New York'', baritone, soprano, mezzo, full orchestra, libretto by Allen Ginsberg, 2004 *''Waking in New York'', soprano, mezzo, baritone, string quartet, flute, contrabass, percussion, synthesizer, libretto by Allen Ginsberg, 1999 *''The Deus Ex Machina Cycle'', two sopranos, baritone, harpsichord, string quartet, flute; libretto by, among others: Lauten,

Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...

Verlaine Verlaine (; wa, Verlinne) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Verlaine had a total population of 3,507. The total area is 24.21 km2 which gives a population density Population d ...

Pascal Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Fren ...

, and Steven Hall, 1995 *''Existence'', yenor, soprano, mezzo-soprano and narrator, piano, synthesizer, percussion; music and libretto by Lauten, 1990 *''The Death of Don Juan'', computer generated tape, 4 sopranos, harpsichord, Trine (custom lyre), cello, synthesizer, Grand Trine (custom harp); music and libretto by Lauten, 1985

Orchestral

*''Harmonic Protection Circle'', 2003 *''Symphony 2001'', 2000

Soundtracks

*''Crossroads Variations'', solo piano, 2004 *''Harmonic Protection Circle 2004'', synthesizer, electric guitar, percussion, contrabass, 2004 *''Harmonic Protection Circle 2003'', Trine, electric guitar, 2003 *''The Mystery of the Elements'', piano, electronic, 2002 *''S.O.S.W.T.C.'', electronic, 2001 *''Double X'', electronic, voice, flute, 1999 *''Inscapes from Exile'', electronic, 1995 *''Tronik Involutions'', electronic, 1993 *''Remembrance of Things Past'', electronic, cello, music for sound installation based on the writing of

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...

, 1988 *''Untitled '', 5 pieces for live Fairlight computer, electric violin, cello, Trine, piano; commissioned by the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

Serious Fun Series, 1988 *''Blue Rhythms'', piano and electronic, 1987 *''Krash Music'', electronic, singers, 1986 *''Sonate Ordinaire'', solo piano, 1986 *''Sonate Modale'', piano and tape, 1985 *''Action Music'', piano and sound environment, 1985 *''Music for the Trine'', a custom-designed amplified lyre, electronic, Trine, voice, cello, 1985 *''Magnetic Fields'', electronic, Trine, 1985 *''The Soundless Sound'', electronic, 1984 *''The Enigma of a Lovely/Loveless Existence'', concrete, Casiotone, voice, 1983 *''Piano Works'', piano, concrete, synthesizer, 1983

Discography

*''Tronik Involutions: From the Gaia Cycle Matrix a Work in Umi'' (1995/1996). Studio 21/OO Discs: 7108. Composed and performed by Elodie Lauten. *''The Deus Ex Machina Cycle: New music for voices and Baroque ensemble'' (1999). 4Tay Inc.: CD 4013. *''Inscapes from Exile'' (2000). Robi Droli/Newtone: 7004.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lauten, Elodie 1950 births 2014 deaths 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers French emigrants to the United States American women classical composers American classical composers French women classical composers Deaths from cancer in New York (state) People from Manhattan Pupils of La Monte Young Musicians from Paris Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development alumni Women in electronic music 21st-century American composers 20th-century American women musicians 20th-century American composers 20th-century French composers 21st-century French composers 21st-century American women musicians 20th-century women composers 21st-century women composers 20th-century French women musicians