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Alexander Goehr, Composing a Life
Teachers, Mentors & Models
Alexander (Sandy) Goehr is a leading British composer and teacher. Born into a Jewish musical family in Berlin in 1932 (his father a composer and conductor, pupil of Arnold Schoenberg; his mother a trained pianist from the Moscow Conservatory) he arrived in England in 1933. Raised in Lancashire, he attended Richard Hall's classes at the Royal College of Music in Manchester. There he formed the "Manchester School" – a group of young musicians including Peter Maxwell Davies, Harrison Birtwistle and pianist John Ogden, who specialized in the performance of new music. He was introduced to Olivier Messiaen's music when his father conducted the first British performance of Turangalila in 1950. Later he studied with Messiaen in Paris, with Boulez, Stockhausen and Xenakis.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s he became known in Britain as a radical exponent of serial music. Since then, he has composed nearly one hundred major works, including operas, orchestral and chamber pieces, and music for film, television, dance and theatre. He is one of Europe's most important music educators and has written and lectured extensively. His music is performed all over the world. He divides his time between his two homes, in Cambridge and Jerusalem.
Jack van Zandt, one of Goehr's grateful pupils, has written this first comprehensive account of the creative formation and life of this great composer and teacher.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s he became known in Britain as a radical exponent of serial music. Since then, he has composed nearly one hundred major works, including operas, orchestral and chamber pieces, and music for film, television, dance and theatre. He is one of Europe's most important music educators and has written and lectured extensively. His music is performed all over the world. He divides his time between his two homes, in Cambridge and Jerusalem.
Jack van Zandt, one of Goehr's grateful pupils, has written this first comprehensive account of the creative formation and life of this great composer and teacher.
About the author
Jack Van Zandt is a Los Angeles and Ireland-based composer of music for concerts, public spaces, gallery installations, television, film, and advertising. He studied composition at Cambridge University with Alexander Goehr; the Dartington Summer School of Music with Peter Maxwell Davies; and at University of California Santa Barbara with Thea Musgrave, Peter Racine Fricker, and electronic music with Emma Lou Diemer. He was Alexander Goehr's teaching, personal and musical assistant from 1978-1984.