Frederic Anthony Rzewski (/ˈʒɛfski/ZHEF-skee; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time.[1][2] From 1977 up to his eventual death, he lived mainly inBelgium. His major compositions, which often incorporate social and political themes, include the minimalistComing Together and thevariation setThe People United Will Never Be Defeated!,[1] which has been called "a modern classic".[2]
Many of Rzewski's works were inspired bysecular and socio-historical themes, show a deep political conscience and feature improvisational elements. His better-known works includeThe People United Will Never Be Defeated! (36 variations on theSergio Ortega song "El pueblo unido jamás será vencido");Coming Together, a setting of letters fromSam Melville, an inmate atAttica State Prison, at the time ofthe riots there (1972);North American Ballads (I.Dreadful Memories; II.Which Side Are You On?; III.Down by the Riverside; IV.Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues) (1978–79);Night Crossing with Fisherman;Fougues;Fantasia andSonata;The Price of Oil, andLe Silence des Espaces Infinis, both of which use graphical notation;Les Moutons de Panurge; and theAntigone-Legend.[8] Rzewski's later compositions includeNanosonatas (2006–2010) andCadenza con o senza Beethoven (2003), written forBeethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto. Rzewski played the solo part in the world premiere of his piano concerto at the 2013BBC Proms.[9]
In 1963, Rzewski married Nicole Abbeloos; they had five children.[10] While Rzewski never divorced Abbeloos, his companion for about the last 20 years of his life was Françoise Walot, with whom he had two children. He also had five grandchildren.[11] Rzewski died of an apparent heart attack inMontiano,Tuscany, Italy,[12] on June 26, 2021, at the age of 83.[11]
Nicolas Slonimsky said of Rzewski in 1993: "He is furthermore a granitically overpowering piano technician, capable of depositing huge boulders of sonoristic material across the keyboard without actually wrecking the instrument."[13] Michael Schell called Rzewski "the most important living composer of piano music, and surely one of the dozen or so most important living American composers".[1]
InChristgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981),Robert Christgau reviewedComing Together/Attica/Moutons de Panurge, an album recorded with vocals by performance artist Steve Ben Israel and released in 1973 by Opus One Records. "The design of 'Coming Together' is simple, even minimal", Christgau said. "Steve ben Israel reads and rereads one of Sam Melville's letters from Attica over a jazzy, repetitious vamp. Yet the result is political art as expressive and accessible asGuernica. In ben Israel's interpretation, Melville's prison years have made him both visionary and mad, and the torment of his incarceration is rendered more vivid by the nagging intensity of the music. The [LP's] other side features a less inspiring political piece and a percussion composition, each likable but not compelling, but that's a cavil. 'Coming Together' is amazing."[14]
Four North American Ballads, played by Paul Jacobs (Nonesuch Records onPaul Jacobs Plays Blues, Ballads & Rags D-79006 (LP) & 79006-2 (CD re-issue ) 1980(LP) 1993 (CD)[15]
The People United Will Never Be Defeated! andWinnsboro Cotton Mill Blues played byMichael Noble onAmerican Dissident (198004840682) 2022.[16]
Rzewski, Frederic.Nonsequiturs—Writings & Lectures on Improvisation, Composition, and Interpretation (Unlogische Folgerungen—Schriften und Vorträge zu Improvisation, Komposition und Interpretation). Edition Musiktexte,Cologne, 2007.ISBN3-9803151-8-5.
Петров, Владислав Олегович.Фредерик Ржевски: путь обновления традиций.Astrakhan: AIPKP, 2011, p. 100.
Murray, Edward. "Rzewski, Frederic" inThe New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed.Stanley Sadie. 20 vols. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.ISBN1-56159-174-2.
Murray, Edward. "Rzewski, Frederic" inThe New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie andJohn Tyrrell. 29 vols. London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001.ISBN1-56159-239-0.
