Finished just weeks before his death, George Rochberg's eloquent memoir offers a detailed look at his fruitful life as a composer, publisher, and teacher of music. The volume traces a life immersed in music, with early study under George Szell and Gian Carlo Menotti and later long-term collaborations with the Concord Quartet and commissions for major orchestras and opera companies. Rochberg takes care to describe the intellectual and aesthetic changes that led him down certain paths as a composer, often challenging the conventions of the day. Reflecting on music, aesthetics, colleagues, and the life of the creative mind, Rochberg's memoir captures not only the spirit but also the intellectual climate of the second half of the twentieth century. Rochberg's life as a composer was marked by an ongoing search for his artistic place between tradition and the avant-garde, with an extensive oeuvre comprising over one hundred works including chamber ensembles, string quartets, symphonies, solo pieces, songs, and an opera. In addition to his importance as an American composer, he was also a central figure in academia and publishing. He served as chair of the University of Pennsylvania's music department, and as an editor and director of publications at the Theodore Presser Company, he helped marshal the company into one of the premier American musical publishing houses. Through the course of the book, Rochberg reveals the thought processes that led him in unexpected directions as he pursued the independent path of his career. This is the story of a creative mind developing, at times struggling, and constantly growing. Publication for this book was supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments   ix Introduction   xi PART 1 Chapter 1. "Save Something for the End": Second Symphony and George Szell   3 Chapter 2. A Concert of Music: Caprice Variations for Solo Violin   25 Interlude 1. A Distant Music: Serenata d'Estate   42 Chapter 3. The Last Gershwin Prize: Night Music and Dimitri Mitropoulos   46 Chapter 4. After and Before: Twelve Ragatelles and String Quartet No. 1 Chapter 5. "Let the Other George Do It": Symphony No. 1 and Eugene Ormandy   75 Interlude 2. Rilke's Angels: String Quartet No. 2 with Soprano   87 Chapter 6. Breaking with Modernism: Third String Quartet and the Concord String Quartet   96 Chapter 7. "It's Only a Small, Little, Wooden Box": Violin Concerto and Isaac Stern   116 Interlude 3. Stravinsky's Caveat: Circles of Fire and the Hirsch-Pinkas Piano Duo   131 Chapter 8. Unlocking the Past: Contra Mortem et Tempus and Music for the Magic Theater   143 PART II Chapter 9. A Passion According to the Twentieth Century: Third Symphony and the Juilliard Orchestra and Chorus   167 Interlude 4. "O for a Muse of Fire": Eliot Fisk and Works for Guitar -- Solo, Duo, and Ensemble   177 Chapter 10. Pictures of the Floating World: Ukiyo-E, Slow Fires of Autumn, Between Two Worlds, and Imago Mundi   186 Chapter 11. A Trio of Symphonies: Four, Five, and Six   199 Interlude 5. Gods of Wrath: Phaedra, a Monodrama for Mezzo-Soprano and Orchestra   216 Chapter 12. A Triptych of Sonatas: Sonata for Violin and Piano (1988), Sonata for Viola and Piano (1979), Sonata-Aria for Cello and Piano 1992)   223 Chapter 13. Blown on the Wind: Oboe and Clarinet Concertos   232 Chapter 14. A Trio of Trios: Piano Trio No. 1 (1962-63), Piano Trio No. 2 (1985), Piano Trio No. 3 (Summer, 1990)   244 Interlude 6. Constructing with Canons: Sonata-Fantasia for Solo Piano   254 Chapter 15. Some Things Saved for the End   260 Chronology   279 Notes   287 Index   297 Illustrations follow page 142.