Carl Ruggles
American composer Charles Sprague Ruggles (March 11, 1876 - October 24, 1971), better known as Carl, wrote finely-crafted pieces using "dissonant counterpoint", a term coined by Charles Seeger to describe Ruggles' music. Famous for his prickly personality, Ruggles was nonetheless friends with Henry Cowell, Edgard Varèse, Charles Ives, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Charles Seeger. One-time friend Lou Harrison dissociated himself from Ruggles after the 1949 performance of Angels because of the older composer's racism, noting specifically a luncheon at Pennsylvania Station in New York at which Ruggles shouted anti-black and anti-Semitic slurs (Miller and Lieberman 1998, p.44). Ruggles wrote painstakingly slowly so his output is quite small with compositions including:
- Toys (1919), song for soprano and piano
- Angels (1921), for muted brass. (Originally for six trumpets. In 1940, Ruggles rescored the work for trumpets and trombones.)
- Men (1921), for orchestra
- Vox Clamans in Deserto (1923), for soprano and orchestra
- Men and Mountains (1924), for orchestra
- Portals (1925), for orchestra
- Sun-Treader (1931), for orchestra - at 16 minutes, Ruggles' longest (**and best known**) work
- Evocations (1943) - two versions: for orchestra or solo piano
- Organum (1947), for orchestra
- Exaltation (1958), his last completed work, a hymn dedicated to the memory of his wife.
His students include James Tenney. Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas has championed Ruggles' music, recording the complete works with the Buffalo Philharmonic and occasionally performing Sun-Treader with the San Franscisco Symphony.
His method of atonal counterpoint was based on a non-serial technique of avoiding repeating a pitch class until a generally fixed number such as eight pitch classes intervened. Ruggles was also a prolific painter, selling hundreds of paintings during his lifetime.
Source
- Miller, Leta E. and Lieberman, Frederic (1998). Lou Harrison: Composing a World. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511022-6