Publisher Description

For more than half of his long life, composer Roger Sessions was a commanding figure on the American musical scene. He enjoyed the solid respect of his peers, and as a teacher of a generation of composers and author of compelling writings on his craft, his influence on musical thought remains profound. Yet, even in his lifetime, his music endured vastly disrespectful neglect. He was a "difficult" composer. Sessions was well aware of it. In a New York Timesarticle, he wrote, "I have sometimes been told that my music is 'difficult' for the listener. There are those who consider this as praise, those who consider it a reproach. For my part I regard it as, initself, neither one or the other...it is the way the music comes, the way it has to come." The way Sessions's music "had to come" is a recurrent focus of this biography. As the story is told, often in the composer's own words, the complex picture emerges of a remarkable man who, gradually and not very willingly, learned to accept his unexpected lot as a "difficult" Prausnitz, an acquaintance of Sessions and conductor of his work, combines personal andmusical insights to present this fascinating portrait of an influential, yet often overlooked, modernist composer.

Review

"[A] thorough study of previously unpublished materials."--Symphony"Sessions taught....inspiring generations of composers from Milton Babbitt to David Brewbaker....In his endeavor to explain "how a 'difficult' composer got that way," Prausnitz leads us through Sessions's life....Prausnitz has been, and is, another champions, "willing ears," and time are needed."--Times Literary Supplement , November 15, 2002"Prausnitz's book complements Andrea Olmstead's well-balanced but shorter study Rogers Sessions and His Music (1985). Prausnitz offers more detail about Sessions' life and provides perspective about contemporary music in the US and Europe, as he follows Sesions' path from a neoclassic to a 12-tone composer."--Choice"[A] thorough study of previously unpublished materials."--Symphony"Sessions taught....inspiring generations of composers from Milton Babbitt to David Brewbaker....In his endeavor to explain "how a 'difficult' composer got that way," Prausnitz leads us through Sessions's life....Prausnitz has been, and is, another champion....New champions, "willing ears," and time are needed."--Times Literary Supplement , November 15, 2002"Prausnitz's book complements Andrea Olmstead's well-balanced but shorter study Rogers Sessions and His Music (1985). Prausnitz offers more detail about Sessions' life and provides perspective about contemporary music in the US and Europe, as he follows Sesions' path from a neoclassic to a 12-tone composer."--Choice

Promotional

The only biography of Sessions in print, it makes use of many previously unpublished letters

Long Description

For more than half of his long life, composer Roger Sessions was a commanding figure on the American musical scene. He enjoyed the solid respect of his peers, and as a teacher of a generation of composers and author of compelling writings on his craft, his influence on musical thought remains profound. Yet, even in his lifetime, his music endured vastly disrespectful neglect. He was a "difficult" composer. Sessions was well aware of it. In a New York Times
article, he wrote, "I have sometimes been told that my music is 'difficult' for the listener. There are those who consider this as praise, those who consider it a reproach. For my part I regard it as, in itself, neither one or the other...it is the way the music comes, the way it has to come." The way
Sessions's music "had to come" is a recurrent focus of this biography. As the story is told, often in the composer's own words, the complex picture emerges of a remarkable man who, gradually and not very willingly, learned to accept his unexpected lot as a "difficult" composer. Frederik Prausnitz, an acquaintance of Sessions and conductor of his work, combines personal and musical insights to present this fascinating portrait of an influential, yet often overlooked,
modernist composer.

Review Text

"[A] thorough study of previously unpublished materials."--Symphony
"Sessions taught....inspiring generations of composers from Milton Babbitt to David Brewbaker....In his endeavor to explain "how a 'difficult' composer got that way," Prausnitz leads us through Sessions's life....Prausnitz has been, and is, another champions, "willing ears," and time are needed."--Times Literary Supplement , November 15, 2002
"Prausnitz's book complements Andrea Olmstead's well-balanced but shorter study Rogers Sessions and His Music (1985). Prausnitz offers more detail about Sessions' life and provides perspective about contemporary music in the US and Europe, as he follows Sesions' path from a neoclassic to a 12-tone composer."--Choice
"[A] thorough study of previously unpublished materials."--Symphony
"Sessions taught....inspiring generations of composers from Milton Babbitt to David Brewbaker....In his endeavor to explain "how a 'difficult' composer got that way," Prausnitz leads us through Sessions's life....Prausnitz has been, and is, another champion....New champions, "willing ears," and time are needed."--Times Literary Supplement , November 15, 2002
"Prausnitz's book complements Andrea Olmstead's well-balanced but shorter study Rogers Sessions and His Music (1985). Prausnitz offers more detail about Sessions' life and provides perspective about contemporary music in the US and Europe, as he follows Sesions' path from a neoclassic to a 12-tone composer."--Choice

Review Quote

"Sessions taught....inspiring generations of composers from Milton Babbittto David Brewbaker....In his endeavor to explain "how a 'difficult' composer gotthat way," Prausnitz leads us through Sessions's life....Prausnitz has been,and is, another champion....New champions, "willing ears," and time areneeded."--Times Literary Supplement , November 15, 2002

Feature

The only biography of Sessions in print, it makes use of many previously unpublished letters

Details