George Henry Crumb Jr. (October 24, 1929 – February 6, 2022) was an American composer known for creating unusual and innovative classical music. Early in his career, he avoided a common style of music called serialism, instead developing his own unique way of writing music that can range from calm to unsettling. His compositions often challenge musicians with special techniques that push the limits of skill. The unusual sounds he created produce surreal and intense atmospheres, using large and sometimes eerie soundscapes. His major works include Echoes of Time and the River (1967), which earned the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Music, and Star-Child (1977), which received the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. However, most of his music was written for small groups of musicians or single performers. Some of his most famous pieces are Black Angels (1970), a powerful piece about the Vietnam War for an electric string quartet; Ancient Voices of Children (1970), for a mixed group of musicians; and Vox Balaenae (1971), a piece inspired by humpback whales, performed on electric flute, electric cello, and amplified piano.

Crumb was born into a musical family and was exposed to classical music early in life. He remained deeply influenced by composers from the Classical and Romantic periods, such as Mahler, Debussy, and Bartók. He created his four-volume piano collection Makrokosmos (1972–1979) as a response to Bartók’s earlier work Mikrokosmos. His music often includes quotes from other composers, such as Bach, Chopin, Schubert, Strauss, and jazz pianist Thelonious Monk. He also used text from poet Federico García Lorca, setting his poems in eleven different compositions. His music sometimes includes theatrical elements that inspired choreography for dance groups. To express his complex and original style, Crumb wrote his scores as detailed handwritten copies, using unique symbols and shapes, such as curved and circular staff lines. Some of his students became notable composers, including Osvaldo Golijov, Jennifer Higdon, Christopher Rouse, and Melinda Wagner.

Life and career

George Henry Crumb Jr. was born on October 24, 1929, in Charleston, West Virginia. He was born into a musical family and grew up playing chamber music with his parents. Both of his parents were members of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (CSO). His father, George Henry Crumb Sr., played the clarinet, and his mother, Vivian (born Reed), played the cello. His father had many roles as a musician, including conducting a theatre orchestra for silent films, teaching clarinet, and working as a music copyist and arranger. George Jr. began composing music at a young age. When he was still a teenager, two of his orchestral pieces were performed by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. In 1947, he studied at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. He later studied music at Mason College of Music and Fine Arts, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1950. He received his master's degree in music from the University of Illinois in 1952. After that, he briefly studied in Berlin, Germany, as a Fulbright fellow, and later earned a doctorate in music from the University of Michigan in 1959.

George Crumb worked as a teacher for most of his life. His first teaching job was at a college in Virginia. Later, he became a professor of piano and composition at the University of Colorado in 1958. At this university, he met pianist David Burge, who asked Crumb to write a piece for him. While working on this piece, Crumb realized he had been copying the styles of other composers. From that point, he began experimenting with new, unusual techniques in his music.

In 1965, Crumb started a long connection with the University of Pennsylvania. He became the Annenberg Professor of the Humanities in 1983.

From the 1960s onward, Crumb’s music appealed to people who enjoyed traditional concert music but were not interested in the most experimental styles. His work was influenced by older styles, such as neoclassicism, and was less extreme than the avant-garde movement. However, he also used some new ideas in his compositions.

During this time, Crumb joined other composers who wanted to connect with audiences who felt disconnected from modern music. In works like Ancient Voices of Children (1970), he used dramatic performances, including masks, costumes, and unusual sounds. In some pieces, musicians entered and left the stage during the performance. He also used creative layouts for musical notation, such as arranging notes in circles or spirals.

Many of Crumb’s compositions, including his four books of madrigals from the late 1960s and Ancient Voices of Children, were based on texts by Federico García Lorca. Many of his vocal works were written for the talented mezzo-soprano Jan DeGaetani.

In 1970, Crumb composed Black Angels (Thirteen Images from the Darkland), a piece written to protest the Vietnam War. It used spoken words, bowed water glasses, and electronic sounds. The piece also included a string quartet that played unconventional instruments, such as small goblets, and used both traditional and unusual methods to play their instruments. Black Angels is one of Crumb’s most famous works and has been performed by groups like the Kronos Quartet.

Crumb’s most famous work is Makrokosmos, a collection of 24 pieces published in four books. The first two books (1972, 1973) are for solo piano and use techniques that require amplification, as the music ranges from very soft to very loud. The third book, Music for a Summer Evening (1974), is for two pianos and percussion. The fourth book, Celestial Mechanics (1979), is for piano four-hands.

The title Makrokosmos refers to Mikrokosmos, a set of piano pieces by Béla Bartók. Like Bartók’s work, Makrokosmos includes short, character-driven pieces. Crumb also acknowledged the influence of composer Claude Debussy, whose Préludes are two books of 12 pieces. The first two books of Makrokosmos contain 12 pieces, each with a dedication. Some pieces include instructions for the pianist to sing, shout, whistle, or play the piano in unusual ways. Makrokosmos was first performed by David Burge, who later recorded it.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Crumb composed fewer works. Starting in 2000, he created a series called American Songbook, which includes arrangements of American hymns, spirituals, and popular songs. He planned to write four volumes but continued creating more. The seventh volume, Voices from the Heartland, was completed in 2010. These pieces keep the familiar melodies but use amplified piano and percussion with many different sounds. As of 2017, American Songbook had 65 movements, 62 texts, 150 percussion instruments, and over five hours of music.

Crumb retired from teaching in 1995. In 2002, he and David Burge were appointed to a joint residency at Arizona State University. He continued composing music until his death.

Crumb’s son, David Crumb, is also a composer and has been an assistant professor at the University of Oregon since 1997. His daughter, Ann Crumb, was an actress and singer. She performed Crumb’s Three Early Songs on a 1999 CD and his Unto the Hills in 2001. She passed away on October 31, 2019, at her parents’ home.

In his later years, Crumb returned to settings of Lorca’s poetry in a series called Spanish Songbook. George Crumb died on February 6, 2022, in Media, Pennsylvania, at the age of 92.

Music

George Crumb was first influenced by Anton Webern. He became interested in using unusual sounds, which he believed were as important as rhythm, harmony, and counterpoint. He often asked musicians to play instruments in special ways. Some of his compositions, such as Black Angels (a string quartet) and Ancient Voices of Children (a mixed ensemble), require electronic amplification even though they are written for standard chamber music groups. Crumb described music as "a system of proportions in the service of spiritual impulse." Musicologist Richard Taruskin noted that Crumb used sounds not to represent musical styles but to express timeless ideas.

In 1980, Crumb wrote an essay for The Kenyon Review titled "Music: Does It Have a Future?" In it, he explained his belief that global cultures and music were becoming more connected. He argued that composers now have access to music from many parts of the world, such as Asia, Africa, and South America. He believed this global awareness would greatly influence the future of music. Crumb continued to follow this belief 37 years later, as noted in a 2017 interview. Music writer William Dougherty stated that Crumb’s use of sounds from other cultures created a unique and rich musical style. Composer Michael Schell said that Crumb was likely the most important living composer of piano music and the last major figure in a line of innovative percussion writers. Critic Mark Swed noted that although Crumb was not widely known outside of specialized music circles, his work had a significant impact beyond those groups.

Crumb’s compositions were published by Edition Peters. Recordings of his music have been released on many labels, including several LPs from Nonesuch Records in the 1970s. Recently, Bridge Records has released a series of CDs titled The Complete Crumb Edition.

• George Crumb: The Voice of the Whale (1976). Directed and produced by Robert Mugge. Interviewed by Richard Wernick. Released by Rhapsody Films in 1988.
• Bad Dog!: A Portrait of George Crumb (2009). Directed by David Starobin. Features interviews with Crumb and performances of Apparition, Three Early Songs, and Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik. Released on DVD by Bridge Records (BRIDGE 9312).

List of compositions

Crumb's works were published by Edition Peters, such as:

• Gethsemane (1947), for small orchestra
• Diptych (1955)
• Variazioni (1959), for large orchestra
• Echoes of Time and the River (Echoes II) (1967)
• A Haunted Landscape (1984)

• Star-Child (1977, revised 1979), for soprano, antiphonal children's voices, male speaking choir, bell ringers, and large orchestra

• Two Duos (1944?), for flute and clarinet
• Four Pieces (1945), for violin and piano
• Violin Sonata (1949)
• Three Pastoral Pieces (1952), for oboe and piano
• Viola Sonata (1953)
• String Quartet (1954)
• Sonata for Solo Cello (1955)
• Four Nocturnes (Night Music II) (1964), for violin and piano
• Eleven Echoes of Autumn, 1965 (Echoes I) (1966), for violin, alto flute, clarinet, and piano
• Black Angels (Images I) (1970), for electric string quartet
• Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) (1971), for electric flute, electric cello, and amplified piano
• Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III) (1974), for two amplified pianos and percussion (two players)
• Dream Sequence (Images II) (1976), for violin, cello, piano, percussion (one player), and off-stage glass harmonica (two players)
• Pastoral Drone (1982), for organ
• An Idyll for the Misbegotten (Images III) (1986), for amplified flute and percussion (three players)
• Easter Dawning (1991), for carillon
• Quest (1994), for guitar, soprano saxophone, harp, double bass, and percussion (two players)
• Mundus Canis (A Dog's World) (1998), for guitar and percussion
• Kronos – Kryptos (2019, revised 2020), for percussion (four players)

• Piano Sonata (1945)
• Prelude and Toccata (1951)
• Five Pieces (1962)
• Makrokosmos, Volume I (1972), for amplified piano
• Makrokosmos, Volume II (1973), for amplified piano
• Celestial Mechanics (Makrokosmos IV) (1979), for amplified piano (four hands)
• A Little Suite for Christmas, A.D. 1979 (1980)
• Gnomic Variations (1981)
• Processional (1983)
• Zeitgeist (Tableaux Vivants) (1988), for two amplified pianos
• Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik (A Little Midnight Music) (2001)
• Otherworldly Resonances (2003), for two pianos
• Metamorphoses, Book I (2017)
• Metamorphoses, Book II (2019)

• Four Songs (1945?), for voice, clarinet and piano
• Seven Songs (1946), for voice and piano
• Three Early Songs (1947), for voice and piano
• A Cycle of Greek Lyrics (1950?), for voice and piano
• Night Music I (1963, revised 1976), for soprano, piano/celeste, and two percussionists
• Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death (1968), for baritone, electric guitar, electric double bass, amplified piano/electric harpsichord, and two percussionists
• Night of the Four Moons (1969), for alto, alto flute/piccolo, banjo, electric cello, and percussion
• Ancient Voices of Children (1970), for

Awards and honors

Crumb received several awards. In 1968, he won a Pulitzer Prize for Music for his musical piece Echoes of Time and the River. In 2001, he received a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for his work Star-Child. In 1995, Crumb was given the Edward MacDowell Medal.

Notable students

Crumb's students include composers such as Ofer Ben-Amots, Margaret Brouwer, Uri Caine, Robert Carl, Osvaldo Golijov, Jennifer Higdon, Cynthia Cozette Lee, Gerald Levinson, Christopher Rouse, Melinda Wagner, and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon.