Robert Ashley / Kyle Gann.

Oh, how we misunderstand : introduction -- The vessel of the eternal present : the early years -- When slow starts to mean something, we crave fast: the ONCE years -- Incredibly slowly our view begins to slide : the Mills College years -- I'm not the same person that I used to be : Perfect lives -- Who could speak if every word had meaning? : Atalanta (Acts of God) -- If you have to ask you can't afford one : Now Eleanor's idea -- One thing follows the next and I just do it : Dust, Celestial excursions, Concrete, and smaller pieces.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 143-144), discography (pages 145-146), and index.

Print version record.

This work explores the life and works of pioneering opera composer Robert Ashley, one of the leading American composers of the post-Cage generation. Ashley's innovations began in the 1960s when he, along with Alvin Lucier, Gordon Mumma, and David Behrman, formed the Sonic Arts Union, a group that turned conceptualism toward electronics. He was also instrumental in the influential ONCE Group, a theatrical ensemble that toured extensively in the 1960s. During his tenure as its director, the ONCE Festival in Ann Arbor presented most of the decade's pioneers of the performing arts. Particularly known for his development of television operas beginning with Perfect Lives, Ashley spun a long series of similar text/music works, sometimes termed "performance novels." These massive pieces have been compared with Wagner's Ring Cycle for the vastness of their vision, though the materials are completely different, often incorporating noise backgrounds, vernacular music, and highly structured, even serialized, musical structures.

English.

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