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Setting the Tone

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A distinquished American composer presents a selection of personal observations on the people around him and essays on the lives and work of such musicians as Stravinsky, Copland, Boulez, and Debussy

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First published May 1, 1983

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About the author

Ned Rorem

175 books6 followers
Ned Rorem (born October 23, 1923) is a Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and diarist. He is best known and most praised for his song settings.

Rorem was born in Richmond, Indiana and received his early education in Chicago at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, the American Conservatory of Music and then Northwestern University. Later, Rorem moved on to the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and finally the Juilliard School in New York City.

In 1966 he published The Paris Diary of Ned Rorem, which, with his later diaries, has brought him some notoriety, as he is honest about his and others' sexuality, describing his relationships with Leonard Bernstein, Noël Coward, Samuel Barber, and Virgil Thomson, and outing several others[vague] (Aldrich and Wotherspoon, eds., 2001). Rorem has written extensively about music as well. These essays are collected in anthologies such as Setting the Tone, Music From the Inside Out, and Music and People. His prose is much admired, not least for its barbed observations about such prominent musicians as Pierre Boulez. Rorem has composed in a chromatic tonal idiom throughout his career, and he is not hesitant to attack the orthodoxies of the avant-garde.

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Profile Image for GONZA.
7,364 reviews124 followers
June 21, 2013
Such an interesting book, essays, notes, diaries, sketches about the life in the 50/60/70 with all the most important people. A critical and cynical eye but never mean, Ned Rorem tells about music, its protagonists and those times with an incredible capacity to describe and to be interesting at the same time.

Libro veramente interessante, saggi, note, diari, brevi descrizioni della vita durante gli anni '50,'60 e '70 e dei suoi protagonisti piú importanti, sia in campo artistico che no. Con un occhio critico e a volte cinico, ma mai cattivo, Ned Rorem racconta la musica, ed i suoi compositori con un'incredibile capacitá descrittiva.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA FOR THE PREVIEW!
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