# Matthew Greenbaum > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Matthew_Greenbaum > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Matthew_Greenbaum.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Greenbaum > Source revision: 1350822636 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American musician, composer and author}} '''Matthew Jonathan Greenbaum''' (born February 12, 1950) is an American musician, composer and author. ==Background== Born in New York City, Greenbaum studied privately with [Stefan Wolpe](/source/Stefan_Wolpe), and [Mario Davidovsky](/source/Mario_Davidovsky) at the [Graduate Center of the City University of New York](/source/Graduate_Center_of_the_City_University_of_New_York). He holds a Ph.D. in composition from the Graduate Center (1985), and has served as a professor of music composition at [Temple University](/source/Temple_University)'s Boyer College of Music and Dance since 1998.{{Cite web|url=https://boyer.temple.edu/about/faculty-staff/matthew-j-greenbaum-swordfis|title=Matthew J. Greenbaum|date=4 March 2019|publisher=Boyer College of Music and Dance, [Temple University](/source/Temple_University)|access-date=August 9, 2021}} Since 1999 Greenbaum has worked with [computer animation](/source/computer_animation) to create hybrid works of visual music, as well as [chamber music](/source/chamber_music) with a video component. Greenbaum has also written on [Claude Debussy](/source/Claude_Debussy), [Arnold Schoenberg](/source/Arnold_Schoenberg) and [Edgard Varèse](/source/Edgard_Var%C3%A8se) in relation to Wolpe's dialectical and "cubist" approach to musical structure. He is the curator of Amphibian, a new music and video series in the Hi Art Gallery in New York City.{{Cite web|url=https://composers.com/matthew-greenbaum|title=Matthew Greenbaum|publisher=[American Composers Alliance](/source/American_Composers_Alliance)|access-date=August 9, 2021}}{{failed verification|date=August 2021|reason=No mention of an art gallery there.}} ==Music== Greenbaum's most significant work is ''Nameless'', a 25-minute wordless [psalm](/source/Psalms) for three sopranos and two chamber ensembles. It was composed for the Momenta Quartet and the Cygnus Ensemble, and bears a quotation from the Medieval Jewish philosopher [Moses Maimonides](/source/Maimonides).{{Cite web|url=https://www.newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/nameless-works-by-matthew-greenbaum/|title=''Nameless'': Works by Matthew Greenbaum|website=New Focus Recordings}} ==Awards== Greenbaum's awards include the following: *Mary Flagler Charitable Trust Award Recording Award, 2008 *''Es ist zum Lachen'': Commission, [Serge Koussevitzky](/source/Serge_Koussevitzky) Fund/[Library of Congress](/source/Library_of_Congress) for Ensemble Surplus (Freiburg), 2007 *Academy Awards: [American Academy of Arts and Letters](/source/American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Letters), 2005{{clarify|date=August 2021|reason=Which?}} *''Crossing Brooklyn Ferry'': [Fromm Music Foundation](/source/Fromm_Music_Foundation) commission 1994 *''Amulet for piano'', commissioned by Meet the Composer/Reader's Digest Commission for a consortium of pianists ([Gilbert Kalish](/source/Gilbert_Kalish), [Marc-André Hamelin](/source/Marc-Andr%C3%A9_Hamelin), David Holzman, [Randall Hodgkinson](/source/Randall_Hodgkinson), [Kathleen Supové](/source/Kathleen_Supov%C3%A9) and Anthony De Mare) and [WGBH-Boston](/source/WGBH_Educational_Foundation) 1989 *Fellowship, [New York Foundation for the Arts](/source/New_York_Foundation_for_the_Arts), 1986 *[John Simon Guggenheim Foundation](/source/John_Simon_Guggenheim_Foundation) award, 1984 *''Chamber Music'': Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Recordings, 1982 ==Selected works== ===Solo instrument=== *''Double Song'' for viola sola: In memoriam [Milton Babbitt](/source/Milton_Babbitt) (2011) *''Chaconne by Attrition'' for solo violin (2006) *''You Crack Me Up'' for piano solo (2012) *''Ballate'' for solo piano (2005) *''Mute Dance'' for solo guitar (2000) *''Elegy'' for solo piano (1998) *''Amulet'' for solo piano (1990) ===Solo instrument with piano=== *''Untimely Observations'' for viola and piano (2002) *''Dance Moments'' for flute/violin and piano (2000) *''Nod Quiet Ox'' for oboe and piano (1994) *''On the river the shadowy group'' for baritone sax and piano (1993) ===Chamber music=== *''More Venerable Canons'' for string quartet (2014) *''Venerable Canons'' for flute and violin (2007) *''Es ist zum Lachen'' for oboe, trombone, violin, cello, percussion and piano (2008) (commissioned by Ensemble Surplus and the Serge Koussevitzky Fund/Library of Congress *''Castelnau'' for string quartet (2002) *''Enharmonicon'' for clarinet trumpet and violin (1994) ===Chamber music with voice=== *''Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes'' for soprano and two guitars (2014) *''West-Östicher Divan'' (2010) for soprano and 2 guitars (2010) *''Wild Rose, Lily, Dry Vanilla'' for soprano, flute, oboe, violin, cello, guitar and banjo (2004) *Psalter for mezzo, alto flute, English horn, string trio harp and piano (1992) ===Orchestral music=== *''The Jig is Up'' for oboe and string orchestra (2009) *''Nameless'' for three sopranos, [alto flute](/source/alto_flute), English horn, violin, [cello guitar](/source/cello_guitar) and [mandolin](/source/mandolin) and string quartet (2009) *''Spherical Music'' for piano and chamber orchestra (1995) ===Theater works=== *''A Floating Island'', chamber opera for soprano, [saxophone](/source/saxophone), [harpsichord](/source/harpsichord), percussion and dancers (2000) ===Visual music (video animation and electronic sound)=== *''I saw the Procession of the Empress on First Avenue'' (2014) *''Automat'' (2012) *''Headshot'' (2012) *''23 Skidoo'' (2011) *''On Broadway'' (2008) ===With instruments/voice=== *''Leviathan'' for [trombone](/source/trombone) and video animation (2016) *''Effacement'' for piano and video animation (2014) *''Bits and Pieces'' for saxophone and video animation (2012) *''Rope and Chasm'' for [mezzo-soprano](/source/mezzo-soprano) and video animation (2010–13) ===Recordings=== *''Double Song for viola sola'', a contribution to ''[Perspectives of New Music](/source/Perspectives_of_New_Music)''{{'}}s memorial to [Milton Babbitt](/source/Milton_Babbitt), Spring 2012{{cite journal|jstor=10.7757/persnewmusi.49.issue-2s|volume=49|issue=2S|date=Spring 2012|journal=[Perspectives of New Music](/source/Perspectives_of_New_Music)|title=Supplemental Issue – Milton Babbit: A Composer's Memorial}} *''Nameless'' and other Works: Furious Artisans Recordings; The Cygnus Ensemble and the Momenta Quartet, with sopranos Priscilla Herreid, Elizabeth Farnum and Julie Bishop, mezzo-soprano Re'ut Ben Ze'ev, and violinist Miranda Cuckson **''Nameless'' for three sopranos, alto flute, [English horn](/source/English_Horn), violin, cello guitar and mandolin and string quartet (2009) **''Wild Rose, Lily, Dry Vanilla'' for mezzo-soprano, flute, oboe, violin, cello, guitar and [banjo](/source/banjo) **''Chaconne by Attrition'' for violin alone **''Venerable Canons'' for flute and violin *''Psalter'' and other works, Centaur #2789 **''Psalter'', Joyce Castle/Parnassus **''Prospect Retrospect'' for cello and piano: Fred Sherry/Blair McMillen **from ''A Floating Island'': Cyndie Bellen-Berthézène **''Castelnau'' for string quartet: The Momenta Quartet **''Elegy'': David Holzman, piano **''Untimely Observations'' for viola and piano: Stephanie Griffin/Blair McMillen *''Nod Quiet Ox'' for oboe and piano: Fabian Menzel and Bernhard Endres. Antes/Bella Musica *''Amulet'', for piano solo: David Holzman, Centaur CRC 2291 *''Chamber Music'', for flute, cello and piano: The Contemporary Trio re-release. New World NWCRL513 ==Articles== Greenbaum is the author of the following articles: *"Dialectic in Miniature: Schoenberg's 'Sechs Kleine Klavierstücke Op. 19.'" ''[Ex Tempore](/source/Ex_Tempore_(magazine))'' (Summer 2010) *"Surrealism in New York." ''New Music Jukebox'' (American Music Center) (Fall 2009){{Cite web|url=http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/From-Revolutionary-to-Normative-A-Secret-History-of-Dada-and-Surrealism-in-American-Music/|title=New Music Box|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=|access-date=|archive-date=2016-03-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316132242/http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/From-Revolutionary-to-Normative-A-Secret-History-of-Dada-and-Surrealism-in-American-Music/|url-status=dead}} *"Debussy, Wolpe and Dialectical Form." ''Contemporary Music Review'': Stefan Wolpe Issue (Spring 2008) *"The Proportions of ''[Density 21.5](/source/Density_21.5)'': Wolpean Symmetries in the Music of Edgard Varèse", ''On the Music of Stefan Wolpe''. Austin Clarkson, ed. Pendragon (Hillsdale, New York: 2003) *"Stefan Wolpe's Dialectical Logic: A Look at the 'Second Piece for Violin Alone{{'"}}, ''[Perspectives of New Music](/source/Perspectives_of_New_Music)'', volume 40, number 2 (2002){{cite journal|last=Greenbaum|first=Matthew|title=Stefan Wolpe's Dialectical Logic: A Look at the 'Second Piece for Violin Alone'|journal=[Perspectives of New Music](/source/Perspectives_of_New_Music)|date=Summer 2002|volume=40|issue=2|pages=91–114|jstor=25164488}} *Stefan Wolpe, "On Proportions" trans. Matthew Greenbaum. ''Perspectives of New Music'' 34/2 (1996) ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Portal bar|Biography|Classical music}} {{Authority control|state=collapsed}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Greenbaum, Matthew}} Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American classical composers Category:20th-century American male composers Category:21st-century American classical composers Category:Musicians from New York City Category:CUNY Graduate Center alumni Category:American male classical composers Category:Composers for piano Category:Jewish composers Category:Modernist composers Category:21st-century American male composers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Matthew Greenbaum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Greenbaum) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Greenbaum?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.