Christian Wolff
Christian Wolff was born in Nice France. He’s lived mostly in the U.S. since 1941. He studied piano with Grete Sultan and composition, briefly, with John Cage. Though mostly self-taught as composer, the work of John Cage, Morton Feldman, David Tudor and Earle Brown have been important to him, as well as long associations with Cornelius Cardew and Frederic Rzewski. A particular feature of his music is the various freedoms it allows performers at the time of performance as well as the variable results possible for any one particular piece, for which various new notations have been invented. Underlying notions in the work are shared freedom, self-determination and democratically-spirited collaboration.
The music, currently about 170 pieces, is published by C.F. Peters, New York and much of it is recorded (including 19 solo CDs), on many labels. A number of pieces, starting in 1953, have been used and commissioned by Merce Cunningham and his dance company. Wolff has been active as a performer and as improvisor – with Takehisa Kosugi, Steve Lacey, Christian Marclay, Keith Rowe, William Winant, the group AMM, Kui Dong and Larry Polansky. His writings on music (up to 1998) are collected in “Cues: Writings and Conversations”, published by MusikTexte, Cologne.
He has received awards and grants from the American Academy and National Institute of Arts and Letters, the Ford Foundation, DAAD Berlin, the Asian Cultural Council, the Fromm Foundation, the Mellon Foundation and Meet the Composer. In 1995 he received the John Cage Award for Music from the Foundation for Contemporary Performing Arts. He is a member of the Akademie der Kuenste in Berlin and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2004 he received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts. Academically trained as a classicist, Wolff taught classics at Harvard from 1963 to 1970 and was professor of classics and music at Dartmouth College from 1971 to 1999.
Christian Wolff by Edition
Edition 1: Bread & Roses (mode 43)
Edition 2: Chamber Works – I Like to Think of Harriet Tubman (mode 69)
Edition 3: Tilbury Pieces (complete); Snowdrop (mode 74)
Edition 4: Look She Said: Complete Works for Bass (mode 109)
Edition 5: Complete Works for Violin and Piano (mode 126)
Edition 6: (Re):Making Music (133/134)
Edition 7: Incidental Music & Keyboard Miscellany (286/287, 2-CDs)
Christian Wolff Discography
Bread and Roses (1976)
Sally Pinkas, piano
First Recording
from the CD Bread and Roses (mode 43)
Dark as a Dungeon (1977)
for bass and trombone
Robert Black, bass
Julie Josephson, trombone
from the CD Look She Said: Complete Works for Bass (mode 109)
for clarinet
First Recording
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
Digger Song (1988)
for violin, viola, cello & percussion
First Recording
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
Duo for Violinist and Pianist (1961)
two live, unedited performances
Marc Sabat, violin
Stephen Clarke, piano
from the CD Complete Works for Violin and Piano (mode 126)
violin and piano
Marieke Keser, violin
Frank Denyer, piano
First Recording
from the CD Volume 2: Chamber Works – I Like to Think
of Harriet Tubman (mode 69)
Eisler Ensemble Pieces (1984)
flute, clarinet, cello and piano
The Barton Workshop
James Fulkerson, conductor and director
First Recording
from the CD Volume 2: Chamber Works – I Like to Think
of Harriet Tubman (mode 69)
The Eleven Preludes (1981)
Sally Pinkas, piano
First Recording
from the CD Bread and Roses (mode 43)
Emma (1988-89)
for viola, cello & piano
The Barton Workshop
First Recording
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
Exercise 15 (1975)
for solo piano
Frank Denyer, piano
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
Exercise 16 (1975)
for 2 instruments (clarinet and cello)
John Anderson, clarinet
Judith van Swaay, cello
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
Exercise 17 (1975)
for solo trombone (valve trombone)
James Fulkerson, trombone
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
Exercise 18 (1975)
for 4 instruments (clarinet, cello, valve trombone, piano)
The Barton Workshop
James Fulkerson, conductor and director
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
Exercise 28 (2000)
for theremin, violin, French horn and double-bass
Ensemble Sospeso: Gemeinhardt, Menzies, McCoy
composer prepared recording
from the CD Spellbound (mode 199)
For 5 or 10 Players (1962)
Version for 5 players
for trombone, violin, viola, cello & percussion
The Barton Workshop
First Recording
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
Version for 10 players
for flutes, clarinet, bassoon, trombone, melodica, violin, viola, cello, bass, piano & percussion
The Barton Workshop
First Recording
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
For Morty (1987)
vibraphone, glockenspiel and piano
The Barton Workshop
James Fulkerson, conductor and director
First Recording
from the CD Volume 2: Chamber Works – I Like to Think
of Harriet Tubman (mode 69)
From Leaning Forward (1988)
for soprano, bass-baritone, clarinet/bass-clarinet, cello & piano
Nicola Walker-Smith, soprano
Charles van Tassel, bass-baritone
The Barton Workshop
James Fulkerson, conductor and director
First Recording
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
Hay una Mujer Desaparecida (1979)
Sally Pinkas, piano
First Recording
from the CD Bread and Roses (mode 43)
I Like To Think of Harriet Tubman (1984)
woman’s voice, violin, clarinet, contrabass
The Barton Workshop
Judith van Sway, voice
James Fulkerson, conductor and director
First Recording
from the CD Volume 2: Chamber Works – I Like to Think
of Harriet Tubman (mode 69)
Incidental Music (2003-04)
Numbers 1–35
Number 37
Numbers 40–45
Numbers 47–67
Numbers 69–78
Numbers 80–81
Number 83
Numbers 85–95
Number 97: For J.A. (John Ashbery) two versions
Numbers 99–100
Christian Wolff, piano & melodica
mode 286/87 (2-CDs)
Jasper (1991)
for bass and violin
Robert Black, bass
Robin Lorentz, violin
First Recording
from the CD Look She Said: Complete Works for Bass (mode 109)
Kegama (1991)
for violin, clarinet/bass-clarinet, cello, piano & percussion
The Barton Workshop
James Fulkerson, conductor and director
First Recording
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
Keyboard Miscellany (1997–)
A Valentine (1997)
For Kurtág (7.97)
Keyboard Miscellany No.2, for David Tudor
Keyboard Miscellany No.3, for Alvin Lucier
Keyboard Miscellany No.5
Keyboard Miscellany No.6
Keyboard Miscellany No.9
Keyboard Miscellany No.11 (two versions)
Keyboard Miscellany No.12
Keyboard Miscellany No.13, for Björn Nilsson
Melody (X.13–14.98), for Gisela Gronemeyer and Reinhard Oehlschlägel
Melody 2 (1998)
Name Piece (for Charles Hamm) (5.29.91)
Travelling Melody (XII.16-27.98), for Walter Zimmermann
Variation on Morton Feldman’s Piano Piece 1952 (1988)
40 for Jan Steckel (VIII.22.02) (two versions)
50 for Holly (8/28/93)
60 for John T. (February 8, 1996)
70 (and more) for Alvin (two versions)
70 for Earle (12.27.96)
Sixty for Charles Dodge (V.28.02)
Christian Wolff, piano & melodica
mode 286/87 (2-CDs)
Look She Said (1991)
for solo bass with voice
Written for Robert Black
Robert Black, bass
First Recording
from the CD Look She Said: Complete Works for Bass (mode 109)
Peace March 1 (“Stop using uranium”) (1983-84)
for flute
Jos Zwaanenburg, flute
First Recording
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
Peace March 2 (1984)
for flute, clarinet, cello, piano, percussion
The Barton Workshop
James Fulkerson, conductor and director
First Recording
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
Pebbles (1999)
written for Sabat/Clarke
Marc Sabat, violin
Stephen Clarke, piano
First Recording
from the CD Complete Works for Violin and Piano (mode 126)
Piano Song (I am a Dangerous Woman) (1983)
Sally Pinkas, piano
First Recording
from the CD Bread and Roses (mode 43)
piano solo
Frank Denyer, piano
from the CD Volume 2: Chamber Works – I Like to Think
of Harriet Tubman (mode 69)
Piano Trio (1985)
violin, cello and piano
Greenham
Seneca
Camiso
The Barton Workshop
James Fulkerson, conductor and director
First Recording
from the CD Volume 2: Chamber Works – I Like to Think
of Harriet Tubman (mode 69)
Schoenen met veters (1999)
for flute, clarinet/bass-clarinet, trombone, violin, viola, cello & bass
written for The Barton Workshop
Commissioned by the Fromm Foundation, 1998-99
The Barton Workshop
James Fulkerson, conductor and director
First Recording
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
Serenade (1950)
flute, clarinet and violin
The Barton Workshop
James Fulkerson, conductor and director
First Recording
from the CD Volume 2: Chamber Works – I Like to Think
of Harriet Tubman (mode 69)
Snowdrop (1970)
Roland Dahinden, trombones, melodica
Hildegard Kleeb, piano
Dimitrios Polisoidis, violin, viola
First Recording
from the CD Tilbury Pieces (complete) Snowdrop (mode 74)
Stardust Pieces (1984)
cello and piano
Judith van Sway, cello
Frank Denyer, piano
First Recording
from the CD Volume 2: Chamber Works – I Like to Think
of Harriet Tubman (mode 69)
String Bass Exercise out of “Bandiera Rossa” (1975)
for solo bass
Robert Black, bass
from the CD Look She Said: Complete Works for Bass (mode 109)
Three Pieces (1979-80)
for violin & viola
Marieke Keser, violin
Elisabeth Smalt, viola
First Recording
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
Tilbury 1 – 4 (1969-1970)
Roland Dahinden, trombones, melodica
Hildegard Kleeb, piano
Dimitrios Polisoidis, violin, viola
First Recording
from the CD Tilbury Pieces (complete) Snowdrop (mode 74)
Tilbury 5 (1996)
Written for Dahinden, Kleeb & Polisoidis
Roland Dahinden, trombones, melodica
Hildegard Kleeb, piano
Dimitrios Polisoidis, violin, viola
First Recording
from the CD Tilbury Pieces (complete) Snowdrop (mode 74)
Untitled (1996)
for electric bass-guitar
Robert Black, electric bass-guitar
First Recording
from the CD Look She Said: Complete Works for Bass (mode 109)
Violinist Pieces (1984)
Marieke Keser, violin
First Recording
from the CD Volume 2: Chamber Works – I Like to Think
of Harriet Tubman (mode 69)
Violist Pieces (1997)
Elisabeth Smalt, viola
First Recording
from the CD (Re):Making Music (mode 133/134)
