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Opera on the Beach: On His New World of Music
This autobiographical study by Philip Glass tells how, inspired by Samuel Beckett's "Play", he began to write the iconoclastic ballet and opera music which has turned him into a cult figure, responsible for drawing a new audience into opera houses. His works span the worlds of classical and rock music. The book gives accounts of his works "Einstein on the Beach", "Satyagraha" and "Akhnaten".
- GenresMusic
222 pages, Hardcover
Published January 9, 1989
About the author
Philip Glass
106 books70 followersPhilip Glass is a three-time Academy Award-nominated American classical music composer. He is considered one of the most influential composers of the late-20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public (along with precursors such as Richard Strauss, Kurt Weill and Leonard Bernstein).
His music is described asminimalist, from which he distanced himself in being a composer of "music with repetitive structures". Although his early, mature music is minimalist, he has evolved stylistically. Currently, he describes himself as "Classicist", trained in harmony and counterpoint and studied Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Schubert.
Glass is a prolific composer: he has written ensemble works, operas, 8 symphonies, 8 concertos, film scores, and solo works. Glass counts many visual artists, writers, musicians, and directors among his friends, including Richard Serra, Chuck Close, Doris Lessing, Allen Ginsberg, Errol Morris, Robert Wilson, JoAnne Akalaitis, John Moran, actors Bill Treacher and Peter Dean, Godfrey Reggio, Ravi Shankar, Linda Ronstadt, Paul Simon, David Bowie, Patti Smith, the conductor Dennis Russell Davies, and electronic musician Aphex Twin, who have all collaborated with him. Among recent collaborators are Glass' fellow New Yorkers Leonard Cohen, and Woody Allen. He has also composed an opera for the opening of the Expo '98.
He describes himself as "a Jewish-Taoist-Hindu-Toltec-Buddhist",[10] and a supporter of the Tibetan cause. In 1987 he co-founded the Tibet House with Columbia University professor Robert Thurman and the actor Richard Gere. He has four children: two, Zachary (b. 1971) and Juliet (b. 1968) with first wife, theater director JoAnne Akalaitis (m. 1965, div. 1980); and two, Marlowe and Cameron with his fourth and current wife, Holly Critchlow. [11] Glass lives in New York and in Nova Scotia. He is the first cousin once removed of Ira Glass, host of the nationally syndicated radio show This American Life. Philip Glass's father is Ira Glass's great uncle.
His music is described asminimalist, from which he distanced himself in being a composer of "music with repetitive structures". Although his early, mature music is minimalist, he has evolved stylistically. Currently, he describes himself as "Classicist", trained in harmony and counterpoint and studied Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Schubert.
Glass is a prolific composer: he has written ensemble works, operas, 8 symphonies, 8 concertos, film scores, and solo works. Glass counts many visual artists, writers, musicians, and directors among his friends, including Richard Serra, Chuck Close, Doris Lessing, Allen Ginsberg, Errol Morris, Robert Wilson, JoAnne Akalaitis, John Moran, actors Bill Treacher and Peter Dean, Godfrey Reggio, Ravi Shankar, Linda Ronstadt, Paul Simon, David Bowie, Patti Smith, the conductor Dennis Russell Davies, and electronic musician Aphex Twin, who have all collaborated with him. Among recent collaborators are Glass' fellow New Yorkers Leonard Cohen, and Woody Allen. He has also composed an opera for the opening of the Expo '98.
He describes himself as "a Jewish-Taoist-Hindu-Toltec-Buddhist",[10] and a supporter of the Tibetan cause. In 1987 he co-founded the Tibet House with Columbia University professor Robert Thurman and the actor Richard Gere. He has four children: two, Zachary (b. 1971) and Juliet (b. 1968) with first wife, theater director JoAnne Akalaitis (m. 1965, div. 1980); and two, Marlowe and Cameron with his fourth and current wife, Holly Critchlow. [11] Glass lives in New York and in Nova Scotia. He is the first cousin once removed of Ira Glass, host of the nationally syndicated radio show This American Life. Philip Glass's father is Ira Glass's great uncle.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 8, 2018
Glass' memoir Words Without Music left me somewhat disappointed. I think that's my fault however. I went into it expecting him to talk all about his music - his operas, his scores, his albums. Not shockingly, what I actually got was a memoir of Glass mostly just talking about this actual life and not much discussion of the music. Opera on the Beach however, is exactly the book I was hoping Words Without Music to be.
This book, which looks to be completely out of print and I only availed of it when I came across a rather battered old copy in my library, focuses mostly on Glass' trilogy of portrait operas, namely 'Einstein on the Beach', 'Satyagraha', and 'Akhnaten'. It begins with Glass retracing his musical education very briefly and in nowhere near the amount of detail we find in his memoir. The main bulk of the book is made up of Glass discussing, in fantastic detail, the processes of the creation of his three most famous operas.
He talks about everything, even down to the funding and the accounts. If you're a fan of Glass, and these operas in particular, you'll just absolutely adore this book, much like I did. A really wonderful extra is that the librettos of each opera are included in here as well. For those of us who really only know the music (I must admit that the only opera of the trilogy that I've watched is Einstein, because it is the most popular and therefore is available on YouTube, the others will involve a much deeper hunt) the librettos are a goldmine.
The book ends with a short chapter on some of Glass' other projects that he worked on over the period that he composed the operas, namely the Glassworks album, Songs from Liquid Days, and The Photographer. All of which are hugely popular within the Glass canon so it was fun to get little insights into their creation too.
Overall I really loved this book. I will admit however, if you're not already a fairly devoted fan of Einstein, Satyagraha, and Akhnaten then you're not going to get much out of this. It's something of a Glass book for Glass fanatics. But it does confuse me as to why this hasn't been reprinted in years, it seems like such an important primary source on some of the most important operas of the 20th century. Now I'll have to track down a personal copy, ugh, wish me luck.
This book, which looks to be completely out of print and I only availed of it when I came across a rather battered old copy in my library, focuses mostly on Glass' trilogy of portrait operas, namely 'Einstein on the Beach', 'Satyagraha', and 'Akhnaten'. It begins with Glass retracing his musical education very briefly and in nowhere near the amount of detail we find in his memoir. The main bulk of the book is made up of Glass discussing, in fantastic detail, the processes of the creation of his three most famous operas.
He talks about everything, even down to the funding and the accounts. If you're a fan of Glass, and these operas in particular, you'll just absolutely adore this book, much like I did. A really wonderful extra is that the librettos of each opera are included in here as well. For those of us who really only know the music (I must admit that the only opera of the trilogy that I've watched is Einstein, because it is the most popular and therefore is available on YouTube, the others will involve a much deeper hunt) the librettos are a goldmine.
The book ends with a short chapter on some of Glass' other projects that he worked on over the period that he composed the operas, namely the Glassworks album, Songs from Liquid Days, and The Photographer. All of which are hugely popular within the Glass canon so it was fun to get little insights into their creation too.
Overall I really loved this book. I will admit however, if you're not already a fairly devoted fan of Einstein, Satyagraha, and Akhnaten then you're not going to get much out of this. It's something of a Glass book for Glass fanatics. But it does confuse me as to why this hasn't been reprinted in years, it seems like such an important primary source on some of the most important operas of the 20th century. Now I'll have to track down a personal copy, ugh, wish me luck.
August 27, 2017
Original Faber hardcover edition. Identical to the title Music by Philip Glass.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews