composer and performer of avant-garde electronic music who was closely associated with John Cage and who succeeded him as the music director of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1992, died at his home in Tomkins Cove, N.Y. He was 70.
Mimi Johnson, his manager at Performing Artservices, said he had recently had a series of strokes, and died in his sleep.
In many of his works, Mr. Tudor used a combination of taped and live sounds. Often, both the live and recorded sounds would be modified by electronic devices and computer programs that were designed to his specifications.
And often the devices themselves were pieces of art. For ''Web for John Cage II'' (1989), for example, the instrument was a brass and gold spider web with a crystal spider. By touching the web with brushes, sponges, his fingers or the spider, Mr. Tudor produced sounds that were amplified and sent through a computer sound-modification program. There was a theatrical side to Mr. Tudor's music as well. ''Reunion,'' a work on which he collaborated with several other composers and artists in 1968, was built around a chess game between Cage and Marcel Duchamp.
Mr. Tudor's music was most frequently heard -- and was considered most effective -- in productions that involved collaborations with artists in other disciplines. Jacqueline Monnier and Robert Rauschenberg were among the visual artists with whom he worked. And he composed copiously for Mr. Cunningham. One of his most recent works for the Cunningham company, ''Soundings: Ocean Diary,'' was performed at the Lincoln Center Festival '96 recently.
Continue reading the main story
Mr. Tudor came to prominence as a pianist who specialized in contemporary music. He gave the American premiere of Pierre Boulez's extraordinarily difficult Second Piano Sonata in New York in 1950. Karlheinz Stockhausen dedicated his ''Klavierstuke IV'' to him, and Mr. Tudor gave first performances of several other Stockhausen works. He also gave premieres of pieces by Earl Brown, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff, Mauricio Kagel, Sylvano Bussotti and LaMonte Young, many of which he recorded.
Yet it was to Cage's music that his ties were strongest. He gave the first performances of ''Music of Changes'' (1952), ''4'33'' '' (1952) and the Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1958), and collaborated with Cage on several works, including ''Indeterminacy'' (1959), ''Cartridge Music'' (1960), Variations II (1961) and Variations III (1963). Cage once said that all his works composed before 1970 were written either for Mr. Tudor or with Mr. Tudor in mind.
David Eugene Tudor was born in Philadelphia on Jan. 20, 1926. He studied organ with William Hawke, and worked as an organist at St. Mark's Church in Philadelphia from 1938 to 1943 and at Swarthmore College from 1944 to 1948. After studies in composition with Stefan Wolpe and piano with Irma Wolpe, he began to shift the emphasis of his performing career toward contemporary piano music, and by the end of 1950 he had established himself as a formidable and perceptive interpreter of difficult new works.
Mr. Tudor began his association with Cage about this time, and he began working with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company when it was founded in 1953. Among the works he composed for the company were ''Rainforest I'' (1968), ''Toneburst'' (1974), ''Forest Speech'' (1976), ''Phonemes'' (1981), ''Webwork'' (1987) and ''Neural Synthesis'' (1992).
He began producing electronic works in the late 1950's, but unlike most composers of electronic music, who created their works exclusively on tape, Mr. Tudor preferred to work with live sound. Using radios, electronic sound modules and recordings of natural sounds as his basic materials, he created sound sculptures by distorting, twisting and recombining the sounds in unusual ways.
In the late 1960's, Mr. Tudor abandoned his career as a pianist to devote himself fully to composing and teaching. He gave courses at the University of California at Davis and Mills College, and he was an artistic director of the Experiments in Art and Technology Project at the Pepsi Pavilion at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan.
He is survived by a sister, Joy Nemiroff of Asheville, N.C.
Mimi Johnson, his manager at Performing Artservices, said he had recently had a series of strokes, and died in his sleep.
In many of his works, Mr. Tudor used a combination of taped and live sounds. Often, both the live and recorded sounds would be modified by electronic devices and computer programs that were designed to his specifications.
And often the devices themselves were pieces of art. For ''Web for John Cage II'' (1989), for example, the instrument was a brass and gold spider web with a crystal spider. By touching the web with brushes, sponges, his fingers or the spider, Mr. Tudor produced sounds that were amplified and sent through a computer sound-modification program. There was a theatrical side to Mr. Tudor's music as well. ''Reunion,'' a work on which he collaborated with several other composers and artists in 1968, was built around a chess game between Cage and Marcel Duchamp.
Mr. Tudor's music was most frequently heard -- and was considered most effective -- in productions that involved collaborations with artists in other disciplines. Jacqueline Monnier and Robert Rauschenberg were among the visual artists with whom he worked. And he composed copiously for Mr. Cunningham. One of his most recent works for the Cunningham company, ''Soundings: Ocean Diary,'' was performed at the Lincoln Center Festival '96 recently.
Continue reading the main story
Mr. Tudor came to prominence as a pianist who specialized in contemporary music. He gave the American premiere of Pierre Boulez's extraordinarily difficult Second Piano Sonata in New York in 1950. Karlheinz Stockhausen dedicated his ''Klavierstuke IV'' to him, and Mr. Tudor gave first performances of several other Stockhausen works. He also gave premieres of pieces by Earl Brown, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff, Mauricio Kagel, Sylvano Bussotti and LaMonte Young, many of which he recorded.
Yet it was to Cage's music that his ties were strongest. He gave the first performances of ''Music of Changes'' (1952), ''4'33'' '' (1952) and the Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1958), and collaborated with Cage on several works, including ''Indeterminacy'' (1959), ''Cartridge Music'' (1960), Variations II (1961) and Variations III (1963). Cage once said that all his works composed before 1970 were written either for Mr. Tudor or with Mr. Tudor in mind.
David Eugene Tudor was born in Philadelphia on Jan. 20, 1926. He studied organ with William Hawke, and worked as an organist at St. Mark's Church in Philadelphia from 1938 to 1943 and at Swarthmore College from 1944 to 1948. After studies in composition with Stefan Wolpe and piano with Irma Wolpe, he began to shift the emphasis of his performing career toward contemporary piano music, and by the end of 1950 he had established himself as a formidable and perceptive interpreter of difficult new works.
Mr. Tudor began his association with Cage about this time, and he began working with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company when it was founded in 1953. Among the works he composed for the company were ''Rainforest I'' (1968), ''Toneburst'' (1974), ''Forest Speech'' (1976), ''Phonemes'' (1981), ''Webwork'' (1987) and ''Neural Synthesis'' (1992).
He began producing electronic works in the late 1950's, but unlike most composers of electronic music, who created their works exclusively on tape, Mr. Tudor preferred to work with live sound. Using radios, electronic sound modules and recordings of natural sounds as his basic materials, he created sound sculptures by distorting, twisting and recombining the sounds in unusual ways.
In the late 1960's, Mr. Tudor abandoned his career as a pianist to devote himself fully to composing and teaching. He gave courses at the University of California at Davis and Mills College, and he was an artistic director of the Experiments in Art and Technology Project at the Pepsi Pavilion at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan.
He is survived by a sister, Joy Nemiroff of Asheville, N.C.
composer and performer of avant-garde electronic music who was closely associated with John Cage and who succeeded him as the music director of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1992, died at his home in Tomkins Cove, N.Y. He was 70.
Mimi Johnson, his manager at Performing Artservices, said he had recently had a series of strokes, and died in his sleep.
In many of his works, Mr. Tudor used a combination of taped and live sounds. Often, both the live and recorded sounds would be modified by electronic devices and computer programs that were designed to his specifications.
And often the devices themselves were pieces of art. For ''Web for John Cage II'' (1989), for example, the instrument was a brass and gold spider web with a crystal spider. By touching the web with brushes, sponges, his fingers or the spider, Mr. Tudor produced sounds that were amplified and sent through a computer sound-modification program. There was a theatrical side to Mr. Tudor's music as well. ''Reunion,'' a work on which he collaborated with several other composers and artists in 1968, was built around a chess game between Cage and Marcel Duchamp.
Mr. Tudor's music was most frequently heard -- and was considered most effective -- in productions that involved collaborations with artists in other disciplines. Jacqueline Monnier and Robert Rauschenberg were among the visual artists with whom he worked. And he composed copiously for Mr. Cunningham. One of his most recent works for the Cunningham company, ''Soundings: Ocean Diary,'' was performed at the Lincoln Center Festival '96 recently.
Continue reading the main story
Mr. Tudor came to prominence as a pianist who specialized in contemporary music. He gave the American premiere of Pierre Boulez's extraordinarily difficult Second Piano Sonata in New York in 1950. Karlheinz Stockhausen dedicated his ''Klavierstuke IV'' to him, and Mr. Tudor gave first performances of several other Stockhausen works. He also gave premieres of pieces by Earl Brown, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff, Mauricio Kagel, Sylvano Bussotti and LaMonte Young, many of which he recorded.
Yet it was to Cage's music that his ties were strongest. He gave the first performances of ''Music of Changes'' (1952), ''4'33'' '' (1952) and the Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1958), and collaborated with Cage on several works, including ''Indeterminacy'' (1959), ''Cartridge Music'' (1960), Variations II (1961) and Variations III (1963). Cage once said that all his works composed before 1970 were written either for Mr. Tudor or with Mr. Tudor in mind.
David Eugene Tudor was born in Philadelphia on Jan. 20, 1926. He studied organ with William Hawke, and worked as an organist at St. Mark's Church in Philadelphia from 1938 to 1943 and at Swarthmore College from 1944 to 1948. After studies in composition with Stefan Wolpe and piano with Irma Wolpe, he began to shift the emphasis of his performing career toward contemporary piano music, and by the end of 1950 he had established himself as a formidable and perceptive interpreter of difficult new works.
Mr. Tudor began his association with Cage about this time, and he began working with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company when it was founded in 1953. Among the works he composed for the company were ''Rainforest I'' (1968), ''Toneburst'' (1974), ''Forest Speech'' (1976), ''Phonemes'' (1981), ''Webwork'' (1987) and ''Neural Synthesis'' (1992).
He began producing electronic works in the late 1950's, but unlike most composers of electronic music, who created their works exclusively on tape, Mr. Tudor preferred to work with live sound. Using radios, electronic sound modules and recordings of natural sounds as his basic materials, he created sound sculptures by distorting, twisting and recombining the sounds in unusual ways.
In the late 1960's, Mr. Tudor abandoned his career as a pianist to devote himself fully to composing and teaching. He gave courses at the University of California at Davis and Mills College, and he was an artistic director of the Experiments in Art and Technology Project at the Pepsi Pavilion at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan.
He is survived by a sister, Joy Nemiroff of Asheville, N.C.
Mimi Johnson, his manager at Performing Artservices, said he had recently had a series of strokes, and died in his sleep.
In many of his works, Mr. Tudor used a combination of taped and live sounds. Often, both the live and recorded sounds would be modified by electronic devices and computer programs that were designed to his specifications.
And often the devices themselves were pieces of art. For ''Web for John Cage II'' (1989), for example, the instrument was a brass and gold spider web with a crystal spider. By touching the web with brushes, sponges, his fingers or the spider, Mr. Tudor produced sounds that were amplified and sent through a computer sound-modification program. There was a theatrical side to Mr. Tudor's music as well. ''Reunion,'' a work on which he collaborated with several other composers and artists in 1968, was built around a chess game between Cage and Marcel Duchamp.
Mr. Tudor's music was most frequently heard -- and was considered most effective -- in productions that involved collaborations with artists in other disciplines. Jacqueline Monnier and Robert Rauschenberg were among the visual artists with whom he worked. And he composed copiously for Mr. Cunningham. One of his most recent works for the Cunningham company, ''Soundings: Ocean Diary,'' was performed at the Lincoln Center Festival '96 recently.
Continue reading the main story
Mr. Tudor came to prominence as a pianist who specialized in contemporary music. He gave the American premiere of Pierre Boulez's extraordinarily difficult Second Piano Sonata in New York in 1950. Karlheinz Stockhausen dedicated his ''Klavierstuke IV'' to him, and Mr. Tudor gave first performances of several other Stockhausen works. He also gave premieres of pieces by Earl Brown, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff, Mauricio Kagel, Sylvano Bussotti and LaMonte Young, many of which he recorded.
Yet it was to Cage's music that his ties were strongest. He gave the first performances of ''Music of Changes'' (1952), ''4'33'' '' (1952) and the Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1958), and collaborated with Cage on several works, including ''Indeterminacy'' (1959), ''Cartridge Music'' (1960), Variations II (1961) and Variations III (1963). Cage once said that all his works composed before 1970 were written either for Mr. Tudor or with Mr. Tudor in mind.
David Eugene Tudor was born in Philadelphia on Jan. 20, 1926. He studied organ with William Hawke, and worked as an organist at St. Mark's Church in Philadelphia from 1938 to 1943 and at Swarthmore College from 1944 to 1948. After studies in composition with Stefan Wolpe and piano with Irma Wolpe, he began to shift the emphasis of his performing career toward contemporary piano music, and by the end of 1950 he had established himself as a formidable and perceptive interpreter of difficult new works.
Mr. Tudor began his association with Cage about this time, and he began working with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company when it was founded in 1953. Among the works he composed for the company were ''Rainforest I'' (1968), ''Toneburst'' (1974), ''Forest Speech'' (1976), ''Phonemes'' (1981), ''Webwork'' (1987) and ''Neural Synthesis'' (1992).
He began producing electronic works in the late 1950's, but unlike most composers of electronic music, who created their works exclusively on tape, Mr. Tudor preferred to work with live sound. Using radios, electronic sound modules and recordings of natural sounds as his basic materials, he created sound sculptures by distorting, twisting and recombining the sounds in unusual ways.
In the late 1960's, Mr. Tudor abandoned his career as a pianist to devote himself fully to composing and teaching. He gave courses at the University of California at Davis and Mills College, and he was an artistic director of the Experiments in Art and Technology Project at the Pepsi Pavilion at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan.
He is survived by a sister, Joy Nemiroff of Asheville, N.C.
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