George Antheil
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George Antheil (June 8, 1900 – February 12, 1959) was an American composer and pianist of Lutheran German descent, born in Trenton, New Jersey. (His autobiography, Bad Boy of Music, is incorrect: he is not of Polish Jewish descent; his family immigrated to the US from Ludwigswinkel, GermanyProof of this can be found in his birth records and family records, including records available from his estate. More information is available from the [Trenton Historical Society]..) He first established a career as a concert pianist, mostly in Europe, but shortly thereafter also attracted notice for his avant-garde compositions, which were strongly influenced by Stravinsky. His most famous work is Ballet mécanique (1926), intended as a concert piece and not as music for dancers, despite the title: it's the machines that are doing the dancing in this piece, which includes parts for electric buzzers and airplane propellers. The ballet was greeted with riot on its first performance, which critics claim was induced and managed by film director Marcel Lherbier for his film L'Inhumaine. The music was also meant to accompany the film of the same title by Fernand Leger, but a "married" print of the film and music was not made until 2000 by sound engineer Paul Lehrman, using advanced computer technology. During the 1920s, Antheil frequently toured playing together with Olga Rudge the violinist and mistress of his friend Ezra Pound.
In the 1930s Antheil's music grew more traditional, but at the same time he found difficulty making a living, and at various times he wrote film scores, conducted a lonely-hearts column, and wrote for Esquire Magazine. Among other pieces, he wrote a series of articles for Esquire on glandular-analysis (endocrinology was his hobby). Antheil was a good friend of writer Jack Woodford.
His autobiography Bad Boy of Music (1945) was a popular success, and it remains a vivid and entertaining, however not always factual account of his experiences. In the last two decades of his life he was in demand as a composer of operas and film scores. Long after his death, his work in yet another field was belatedly recognized: he and Hedy Lamarr are credited with inventing the frequency-hopping spread spectrum technique for signal transmission in 1942. He died in 1959, in New York City leaving his wife, Boski and Son Peter Antheil, along with another son Chris Beaumont who struggles to be recognized by the Antheil estate and his half brother, Peter.
Written works
- Everyman His Own Detective: A study of glandular criminology (1937)
- The Shape of the War to Come (1940)
- Death In the Dark
- Bad Boy of Music (1945)
Film scores
- The Spectre Of The Rose
- Buccaneer, The (1938)
- Pride and the Passion, The (1957)
- 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) (uncredited)
- Young Don't Cry, The (1957)
- Werewolf, The (1956) (uncredited)
- Juggler, The (1953)
Operas
- The Brothers (1954)
- Helen Retires (1930-31)
- Venus in Africa (1954)
- Volpone -- A Satire in Music(1949-52)
- The Wish (1954)
- Transatlantic
Important works
- Ballet mécanique (1924; first version)
- Airplane Sonata (1923)
- Sonate Sauvage (1923)
- Woman Sonata (1923)
- La Femme 100 Tetes (1930s)
- Collected Violin Sonatas (1923, 1940s)
- 6 symphonies (actually 7; there are two versions called 5)
- Operas
- Varied Choral and Orchestral Works
- String Quartets
Notes
External links
- [Schirmer.com: George Antheil]
- [Wikiquote: George Antheil]
- [Antheil.org]
- [IMDB page of Antheil's film scores]
Listening
- [American Mavericks: Program 3 - Oh to be Popular] Three Antheil works performed by the San Francisco Symphony
- [New Music Jukebox: George Antheil] Three works performed by the American Composers Orchestra
- [Tate Modern Online: George Antheil] La Femme 100 têtes (1933)
- [Art of the States: George Antheil] Second Sonata for Violin with Accompaniment of Piano and Drums (1923)
- [Del Sol Quartet: George Antheil] The Complete Works For String Quartet by Del Sol Quartet
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