Leonard Stein | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 1, 1916[1][2] Los Angeles, United States |
| Died | June 23 or 25, 2004 (aged 87) |
| Genres | 20th-century classical |
| Occupation(s) | Musicologist, pianist, conductor, and educator |
| Instrument(s) | Piano |
| Years active | 1946–2004 |
Leonard David Stein (December 1, 1916 – June 23 or 25, 2004) was a musicologist, pianist, conductor, university teacher, and influential in promoting contemporary music on the American West Coast. He was for years Arnold Schoenberg's assistant, music director of the Schoenberg Institute at USC, and among the foremost authorities on Schoenberg's music.
Stein studied piano under the Busoni disciple Richard Buhlig at Los Angeles City College, and composition and theory under Schoenberg at USC (1935–36) and UCLA (BA: 1939, MM: 1941, MA: 1942).[3][failed verification] In addition to the composers Gerald Strang and Richard Hoffmann, and the musicologist Patricia Carpenter,[citation needed] Stein was an assistant to Schoenberg at UCLA from 1939 until Schoenberg's retirement in 1942, thereafter until Schoenberg's death nine years later Stein was his personal assistant, working closely with Schoenberg on the editing of his scores,[4] and later, completing four of Schoenberg's posthumously published theoretical writings pertaining to counterpoint, harmony, and composition, including an extended compilation to the second edition (1975) of Schoenberg's thought (Style and Idea). Lawrence Schoenberg, the youngest of Schoenberg's children, considered Stein the most important advocate of Schoenberg's music.[4]
Stein later returned to the University of Southern California for post-graduate studies, receiving a DMA in 1965 with a dissertation titled "The Performance of Twelve-Tone and Serial Music for the Piano",[1] which included analyses of important piano works by Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, and others. Beginning in 1946 he taught at Occidental College, Los Angeles City College, Pomona College, UCLA, UC San Diego, Cal State Dominguez Hills, and primarily at the California Institute of the Arts, and what is now Claremont Graduate University.
Highly regarded among peers and composers, such as Igor Stravinsky, Robert Craft, and Pierre Boulez,[4] Stein's pedagogy, which stems directly from the teachings of Schoenberg, was a historical turning point in the cross fertilization of European art music in the development of mid-to late 20th-century music in America, having influenced a generation of American performers and composers of all genres, particularly in the development of the West coast-derived movement that later became known as minimal music, as represented in the works of La Monte Young, Terry Jennings, Lois V. Vierk, and others.[citation needed] Stein was a guest lecturer at many universities and schools, including Harvard, Columbia, the New England Conservatory of Music, and at Darmstadt.[citation needed] For his students, See: List of music students by teacher: R to S#Leonard Stein.
Stein was not only an influential pedagogue but also active as a conductor and pianist: his recorded performances on piano ranged from the music of Busoni, Schoenberg and Hindemith to more contemporary works of Cage and on the Moog polyphonic instrument for Donald Erb's Reconnaisance, among the earliest works (1965) written for live synthesizer and acoustic instruments (Nonesuch H-71223, 1969).[citation needed] He oftentimes toured with the violinist Rose Mary Harbison, a disciple of Rudolf Kolisch, performing at Harvard, Duke and Wisconsin universities (LA Times, 01-13-91).[citation needed]
Stein also created and directed the Encounters concert series in 1960 with Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and John Cage in attendance;[4] and the Piano Spheres series in 1994, which on May 2013 directed a concert in tribute to Stein, performed by his former piano students Gloria Cheng, Vicki Ray, Mark Robson, and Susan Svrček.[citation needed] Described as "legendary" in a 2009 Los Angeles Times article by Josef Woodard, John Harbison composed a work of thirteen pieces for piano as a tribute to Stein, based on word permutations of Stein's name, entitled Leonard Stein Anagrams, which was premiered by Gloria Cheng at the Colburn School of Music on October 13, 2009.[5]
While working as an adjunct professor Stein was the music director of the Schoenberg Institute at USC from 1975 to 1991, where he played a seminal role in promoting Schoenberg's music and his legacy to the American public by also organizing seminars and performing in concerts devoted to Schoenberg and new music.[3] Notable was Stein's role for a 1987 conference on Pierrot Lunaire to have the Schoenberg Institute's commissioning of musical settings by prominent composers on the other 29 poems of the Pierrot cycle, that are not included in the original 21 poems of Schoenberg's work.[citation needed] Stein was also editor of the Journal of the Schoenberg Institute from 1977 to 1991.[3] At his retirement in 1991 Stein was awarded the Phi Kappa Phi Diploma of Honor for Lifetime Achievement. The UC San Diego houses the Leonard Stein Papers,[3] consisting of a collection of his voluminous correspondence with major composers from the late twentieth century, including Ernst Krenek, Elliot Carter, Olivier Messiaen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Milton Babbitt, György Ligeti, Pierre Boulez, Iannis Xenakis, Luciano Berio, et al. He also toured as a conductor and pianist.[1][failed verification]
Stein died of natural causes at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, on June 23[4] or June 25,[3] 2004.