Thanks for this. I had the honor of studying with Ned for three weeks in 1984 at The Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida. He was 60 and looked 40. In those weeks I learned more about what it means to be a composer than I had learned studying for years with teachers at a university School of Music. Every day, Ned would assign his pool of students -- I think there were 6 of us, including Daron Hagen, the only one who would go on to make a name for himself -- a poem to set for voice and piano by the next day. The texts ranged from Tennyson to Wallace Stevens. Once the assignments were turned in, Ned would throw each song on the piano rack and sing and play it at sight. Then he would point out each song's strengths and weaknesses. That simple, that effective. He was still journaling in those days and I made mention in his Nantucket Diary, sans scandal. Thank you, Ned.
Oct 23, 2022·edited Oct 23, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia
“I’ve already said everything I have to say. Including that sentence.”
On a par with John Cage: "I have nothing to say, and I am saying it." Who was first? Or, who's on first?
" . . . Ned Rorem is now settling more scores than he composes." Thanks, Mr. Gioia for that little gem!
“I am not a homosexual. I am a composer. I am not a composer. I am Ned Rorem.” Love this, and one doesn't have to be "woke," which is largely a silly construct of the far right, to wish for a time in which a woman is simply a "composer/artist/sculptor/author/etc." and NOT a "female/gay/trans/etc." such.
I could never dream of being as colorful a diarist as Rorem; not only do I lack the ability to rub elbows with such household names of his time, but apparently he was as much skilled as a diarist as a composer of orchestra. One thing I am certain of is that if I were planning my own demise, I wouldn’t be asking anyone to RSVP! I do hope that we haven’t yet read the last of his entries, and it’s very likely that posthumous immunity will allow even more truths to be plainly unveiled!
Ned Rorem did a brief stint as composer-in-residence at the University of Utah (Utah!! Yes!), when I was a music student there. I believe he said of his time there "it's such a boring place that I could get a lot of work done" (or words to that effect). During that time, we students had the chance to hear his music performed--many more chances that we would have had otherwise. I remember getting to know many of the Paul Goodman songs. It all prompted some of us to read the diaries, which we probably wouldn't have heard of otherwise. Wasn't there a wicked parody in The New Yorker, under the title "The Last Diary"? I seem to recall a diary entry that probably wouldn't pass the political correctness test today: "Cooks, hairdressers, and harpists: most are women, but the best are men".
Well, in my funny little world, I went to sleep last night listening to Willie Nelson, and woke up and listened to this… Now I’m stuck wondering what would happen if they ended up in the same room, and wrote a song together? Crazy? Or wonderful? I have no idea, but it’s fun to think about… Thanks!
Knowing When to Stop, Ned Rorem's memoir, is just a fascinating book! I am in awe of the life he has led! I told him that in a letter years ago when I first read it, and he even wrote back.
Rorem's chamber and orchestral work are also, IMHO, truly recommendable as is Ted's insightful essay about him and his diaries; put simply, Rorem is waaaay underappreciated. But then, America has quite a history of ignoring or scorning its own. Check out Rorem's Violin Concerto, the first movement a startling evocation of twilight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8wfBz8Bj_s BTW: it's FRANCIS Poulenc, not François.
First time I heard of Mr. Rorem and I am glad I did via Ted Gioia's skillful pen, it provided the right amount of stimulus for further investigation. THB delivers big time.
Thanks, Ted. I was working at the music library in college when I discovered Rorem's writing and I was hooked. As you describe, I only later came to appreciate his music as well.
I listened to all the Susan Graham renditions of Ned Rorem's songs and barely understood a word she sang. I wonder if the songs would be memorable if transcribed for instruments.?
His father was on the faculty of Earlham College, a Quaker school in Richmond, Indiana, where Ned was born. The Quaker heritage is crucial, though the family moved to Chicago when Ned was about six months old. Still, it’s mind-boggling to imagine him as a Virginian by birth.
Thanks for this. I had the honor of studying with Ned for three weeks in 1984 at The Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida. He was 60 and looked 40. In those weeks I learned more about what it means to be a composer than I had learned studying for years with teachers at a university School of Music. Every day, Ned would assign his pool of students -- I think there were 6 of us, including Daron Hagen, the only one who would go on to make a name for himself -- a poem to set for voice and piano by the next day. The texts ranged from Tennyson to Wallace Stevens. Once the assignments were turned in, Ned would throw each song on the piano rack and sing and play it at sight. Then he would point out each song's strengths and weaknesses. That simple, that effective. He was still journaling in those days and I made mention in his Nantucket Diary, sans scandal. Thank you, Ned.
“I’ve already said everything I have to say. Including that sentence.”
On a par with John Cage: "I have nothing to say, and I am saying it." Who was first? Or, who's on first?
" . . . Ned Rorem is now settling more scores than he composes." Thanks, Mr. Gioia for that little gem!
“I am not a homosexual. I am a composer. I am not a composer. I am Ned Rorem.” Love this, and one doesn't have to be "woke," which is largely a silly construct of the far right, to wish for a time in which a woman is simply a "composer/artist/sculptor/author/etc." and NOT a "female/gay/trans/etc." such.
Not important what I am, but I am Tom Rhea.
I could never dream of being as colorful a diarist as Rorem; not only do I lack the ability to rub elbows with such household names of his time, but apparently he was as much skilled as a diarist as a composer of orchestra. One thing I am certain of is that if I were planning my own demise, I wouldn’t be asking anyone to RSVP! I do hope that we haven’t yet read the last of his entries, and it’s very likely that posthumous immunity will allow even more truths to be plainly unveiled!
Ned Rorem did a brief stint as composer-in-residence at the University of Utah (Utah!! Yes!), when I was a music student there. I believe he said of his time there "it's such a boring place that I could get a lot of work done" (or words to that effect). During that time, we students had the chance to hear his music performed--many more chances that we would have had otherwise. I remember getting to know many of the Paul Goodman songs. It all prompted some of us to read the diaries, which we probably wouldn't have heard of otherwise. Wasn't there a wicked parody in The New Yorker, under the title "The Last Diary"? I seem to recall a diary entry that probably wouldn't pass the political correctness test today: "Cooks, hairdressers, and harpists: most are women, but the best are men".
Well, in my funny little world, I went to sleep last night listening to Willie Nelson, and woke up and listened to this… Now I’m stuck wondering what would happen if they ended up in the same room, and wrote a song together? Crazy? Or wonderful? I have no idea, but it’s fun to think about… Thanks!
Knowing When to Stop, Ned Rorem's memoir, is just a fascinating book! I am in awe of the life he has led! I told him that in a letter years ago when I first read it, and he even wrote back.
Rorem's chamber and orchestral work are also, IMHO, truly recommendable as is Ted's insightful essay about him and his diaries; put simply, Rorem is waaaay underappreciated. But then, America has quite a history of ignoring or scorning its own. Check out Rorem's Violin Concerto, the first movement a startling evocation of twilight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8wfBz8Bj_s BTW: it's FRANCIS Poulenc, not François.
You just turned this professional Country Music songwriter into a Ned Rorem fan. Thanks for the introduction.
Ted, thanks for letting me know of him. Ravel might have been "sanely consistent" because his father was a Swiss watchmaker.
I never heard of the man or his diaries, but I will be reading them now. 🙏
First time I heard of Mr. Rorem and I am glad I did via Ted Gioia's skillful pen, it provided the right amount of stimulus for further investigation. THB delivers big time.
Thanks, Ted. I was working at the music library in college when I discovered Rorem's writing and I was hooked. As you describe, I only later came to appreciate his music as well.
I listened to all the Susan Graham renditions of Ned Rorem's songs and barely understood a word she sang. I wonder if the songs would be memorable if transcribed for instruments.?
For some reason I find Ned's music irritating/abrasive/trivial - like having nothing to say so shout something, feel the same way about his writing.
His father was on the faculty of Earlham College, a Quaker school in Richmond, Indiana, where Ned was born. The Quaker heritage is crucial, though the family moved to Chicago when Ned was about six months old. Still, it’s mind-boggling to imagine him as a Virginian by birth.
& now waiting for the diaries of Ted Gioia....(!)