Introducing George Antheil (1900-1959)

On 10 April 1927, George Antheil’s “notorious” Ballet mécanique was introduced to an American audience. It had, for its time, an eccentric scoring: ten pianos, one mechanical piano, six xylophones, two bass drums, a wind machine with a regulation airplane propeller and siren. The pianists included Aaron Copland and Colin McPhee.

This was heard at an all-Antheil concert given at the Carnegie Hall. Prior to the Ballet mécanique, listeners heard his String Quartet [No.1], the Jazz Symphony and the Sonata for violin, piano and drum.

The Ballet had been premiered in Paris during 1926 and had generated a near riot. Nothing as serious occurred at the New York performance. That said, the New York Times reported that “The audience did not restrain itself. A number of persons cheered loudly while others expressed their disapproval in other kinds of vocal activity.” This included waving of handkerchiefs to denote their pleasure, while one beleaguered man tied a particularly white kerchief over a cane, hoisted it over his head and waved it from side to side in token of surrender.” The cries of “pleasure and pain” at times failed to drown out the “Mécanique” elements of the music.

Sadly, despite the success of the Jazz Symphony, the critics were not overenthusiastic. Looking back, a hundred years on, it is difficult to see what the fuss was all about. In the post-John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Frank Zappa age, the Ballet mécanique is remarkably tame, but exciting all the same. I guess that Antheil’s music has been under a shadow ever since. He never recaptured the modernity of this work: in fact, his later style returned to a tonal, more traditional aesthetic.

Brief Biography of George Antheil

• Born on 8 July 1900 at Trenton, New Jersey. He was of German descent.
• Studied music with former Liszt student, Constantin von Sternberg, Ernest Bloch and at the Settlement School in Philadelphia.
• Toured Europe in 1922, staging several concerts. He concertized as a pianist in England and France.
• The Symphony No.1 “Zingareska” premiered in Berlin during 1922.
• Began to gain a reputation as an enfant terrible with his avant-garde music.
• Settled in Paris during 1923 to concentrate on composition.
• Whilst in Europe, Antheil moved in the rarefied circles of the arts world. He counted James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Ernest Hemingway among his friends.
• Gained the nickname of “The Bad Boy of Music.”
• First public performance of the infamous Ballet mécanique in Paris, 19 June 1926.
• Appointed Assistant Musical Director of the Berlin Stadtheater.
• Successful performance of the jazz-opera Transatlantic in Berlin, on 25 May 1930.
• Awarded a Guggenheim Scholarship in 1932, which enabled him to travel abroad and complete his opera Helen Retires.
• Returned to the United States during 1933. His music was unwelcome in Nazi Germany.
• Began his career as a film score writer and moved to Hollywood in 1935.
• In 1939 Antheil resumed composition for the concert hall.
• Completed his autobiography, Bad Boy of Music, published in 1945.
• Developed a more traditional style, which was romantic in feeling.
• George Antheil died on12 February 1959 in New York City.

Six Selected Works:
Few people will have explored the entirety of George Antheil’s vast catalogue which includes more than three hundred compositions. The core of his achievement are the six numbered symphonies, (there were others), two piano concertos, many chamber works and many pieces for solo piano. Music for films included The Pride and the Passion starring Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, and Sophia Loren.

The clue to understanding Antheil’s music is the simple rule of thumb that as he aged, his style became more ‘conservative’ and ‘tonal’ in sound. By the mid-1930s he was progressing towards neo-romanticism and neo-classicism.

I have selected six of George Antheil’s works that give a broad view of his achievement. All are available on CD, streaming, download or YouTube.

1.  Symphony No.1 “Zingareska” (1922)
2.  Ballet Mécanique (1924)
3.  Jazz Symphony (1925)
4.  Sonatina for Radio, piano solo (1929)
5.  McKonkey’s Ferry (Washington at Trenton): A Concert Overture (1948)
6.  Violin Concerto (1946)

Bibliography:

The key text is Linda Whitesitt’s The Life and Music of George Antheil 1900-1959, (Studies in Musicology, no.70, Ann Arbor, MI 1983). This book documents every aspect of Antheil’s life. There is a detailed catalogue of his music, a discography (up to 1982), endnotes and a comprehensive bibliography. Peter Dickinson, in a contemporary review, noted that Whitesitt “is under no illusions” for “In Antheil's music there are many beautiful moments; however, there is also a sense that the totality of the creation is incomplete, that the overall conception lacks a certain amount of spiritual discipline, purpose and maturity.”

Mention must also be made of Antheil’s autobiography Bad Boy of Music published in 1945. Virgil Thomson, reviewing the book for the New York Herald Tribune, wrote "just as in Antheil's musical composition, a rude and rowdy surface texture deceives many into thinking the content irresponsible. It is not so, I assure you... He is a satirist, a great clown, in both music and letters. Viewed in this light, his memoirs (and don't forget that they deal with the nowadays pretty incredible '20s) appear to a survivor of that period quite as realistic as anybody else's. Need I add that they are also hilariously diverting?"

These memoirs give an entertaining impression of the period, although I guess that historians will be obliged to double check (where possible) the facts and stories presented.

If you can only hear one CD:

There are many CDs devoted either entirely or in part to the music of George Antheil. Chandos have issued three volumes dedicated to his orchestral works, including all the extant numbered symphonies (No.2 was withdrawn). CPO have released six CDs also including the symphonies as well as the two piano concertos, several tone-poems and the opera, The Brothers. Naxos has recorded the Symphony for five instruments as well as the Ballet Mécanique. This company have also issued Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6. Other CDs have promoted the violin sonatas, chamber works and the piano music.

I would recommend George Antheil: Ballet Mécanique on Nimbus Records NI 2567. The entire CD is a recreation of his Carnegie Hall Concert in 1927. The disc also includes the approachable A Jazz Symphony, the Second Sonata for violin, piano, and drum and the String Quartet No.1. Maurice Peress conducts the New Palais Royale Orchestra and Percussion Ensemble. It was originally released in 1992 and was reissued in 2010.

Bob Briggs, assessing this disc for MusicWeb International states that “Here [the Ballet Mécanique] is, in all its 1920s gaudy splendour, colossal, noisy, outrageous, a tough listen – without a doubt – but a rewarding one.” And the other performances are worthwhile too.

Finally, if you can only listen to one work:

On the one hand, I would recommend the Ballet Mécanique. Most musical historians would regard this as Antheil’s most significant achievement. For all the outrage (some of it faux) that it caused at the premieres, it is now regarded as being tame. Even by the time he revised it in 1954, the sting in its tail had virtually disappeared. A performance can be heard on YouTube, here. This video features the surrealistic film, Ballet Mécanique, that was created by Fernand Léger in collaboration with American film-maker Dudley Murphy. It is often claimed to be the earliest and best example of experimental films. It is “a cornucopia of fibrillating images, geometric figures, kaleidoscopic objects and so forth. All glued together with a cacophonous and bizarre music score by George Antheil.” (Warning: it contains flashing images). It remains an iconic film experience.

On the other hand, I suggest that a good approach to Antheil’s music is the Jazz Symphony dating from 1925. This was composed the year after George Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue. Antheil’s take is a fusion of modernism, neo-classicism, jazz, and romanticism. There is even an allusion to a Franz Lehar-like waltz at its conclusion. Elizabeth Schwartz has characterised it as “a crazy-quilt pastiche of Tin Pan Alley, Afro-Cuban jazz, evocative solos (for piano, trumpet and clarinet, in particular) and dissonant chord clusters.”  At the time, the composer stated that “I have written a piece - a super jazz piece…as they call it, which even Gershwin’s best friends assure me will put Gershwin in the shade…It is a tour de force of America today…”

Originally scored for jazz orchestra, Antheil reworked it for a small symphony orchestra in 1955. Both versions demand to be heard.

Finally, my personal favourite score by George Antheil is his Violin Concerto (1946). To my knowledge there is no modern recording of this piece, although YouTube does have the a copy of the live première performance given on 9 February. The soloist was Werner Gebauer with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, under Antal Dorati.