December 11 - Elliott Carter (The Musical Birthday Series)

Elliott Carter (11 December 1908 – 5 November 2012) was an American composer of exhilarating works of great complexity.

The verse on the Piano Concerto has appear previously in my earlier blog "the Once Was a Man who Wrote Verse."

Colonial

The suite from the ballet Pocahontas

Has nothing whatever to daunt us.

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Piano Concerto

A pianist once said,"I'm a martyr

To the Piano Concerto of Carter -

I've worked on the score

'Til my fingers were sore -

It's opening tritone

Is the ringtone on my phone -

But it's still not a thing

I can whistle or sing -

And it's rhythmic esprit

(Six and five against three)

Is too much for me...

It's intended for somebody smarter." 

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String Quartets

In all there are five string quartets

(Though the Third is a pair of duets…).

They make such demands

On the brains and the hands

That the players all break out in sweats.

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Accidents Happen

When Carter had finished What Next?

He took one last look at the text.

And decided that he

Was as flummoxed as we,

Though rather less vexed and perplexed.

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Seniority

Said Carter, “One hundred and one

Might be a good age to be done,

But I’ll get out a score

And write even more,

For I’m not at the end of my run."

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