Elliott Carter obituary

It wasn't Elliott Carter's longevity that made him so remarkable.  It was the way he kept getting better with age.  Carter was born in New York City, December 11, 1908, the son of a lace importer.  As the Guardian obituary points out, Carter was not a prodigy.  He made his way to the pinnacle of success as a composer by unswerving commitment and self-confidence.  A student of Charles Ives and a contemporary of Aaron Copland, Carter took what he liked from dodecophony, serialism, jazz, and every other movement of the 20th century and made it his own.  His music was never hard on the ears like Webern or Xenakis, but Carter knew how to incorporate atonality and dissonance in his music all the same. 

Carter kept working until the end.  His compositions never sounded outmoded or tired.  We might have wished for just one more from the old boy, but he gave us more than we had the right to expect.

Elliott Carter died in his native New York City on November 5, 2012, five weeks shy of his 104th birthday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1bVxbyoxJU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC6qTmsAnQI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP-n0vOeWvc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1SJWkaIL28

I hope I can live to at least 103!