{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/t727941m5m/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Beaser, Robert"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/115/original/Boxed_Milken_Center_logo.png?1628711583","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Preferred Citation"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eBeaser, Robert. 1998. Interview by Neil W. Levin. Milken Archive Oral History Project. 21 October.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Publisher"]},"value":{"en":["Milken Family Foundation"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e© Milken Family Foundation. Unauthorized use is prohibited. For inquiries, please contact info@milkenarchive.org.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Beaser, Robert (Composer)","Levin, Neil W. (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["1998-10-21"]}},{"label":{"en":["Coverage"]},"value":{"en":["New York, NY (Place of Recording)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English (Primary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eOral history interview with Robert Beaser focused on The Heavenly Feast, a composition for orchestra and soprano (first recorded 1999). Also encompasses Beaser's compositional approach, his relationship to Judaism, and other projects at the time of the interview.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.milkenarchive.org/artists/view/robert-beaser\"\u003eView Artist Page from the Milken Archive\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["Beta SP"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["Jews -- Music (Topical Term)","Oral Histories (genre/form)","Schnackenberg, Gjertrude (Person or Corporate Body)","new tonalism (Topical Term)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Keyword"]},"value":{"en":["Alban Berg, American Composers Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, cantorial music, Catholicism, Central Park (New York, N.Y.), Congregation Mishkan Tefila (Chestnut Hill, Mass.), David Zinman, Dawn Upshaw, Gjertrude Schnackenberg, Glimmerglass Opera, Great Performances (Public Broadcasting Service), Gregor Shelkan, Harry Rabinowitz, James Paul (Conductor), Judith Clurman, Lauren Flanigan, Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), Massachusetts -- Boston, Massachusetts -- Newton, new tonalism, New York City Opera, psalm, psalm setting, Simone Weil, Terrence McNally, The Heavenly Feast, The Lamplit Answer, thematic transformation, tonality,"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eOral history interview with Robert Beaser focused on The Heavenly Feast, a composition for orchestra and soprano (first recorded 1999). Also encompasses Beaser's compositional approach, his relationship to Judaism, and other projects at the time of the interview.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.milkenarchive.org/artists/view/robert-beaser\"\u003eView Artist Page from the Milken Archive\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u0026copy; Milken Family Foundation. Unauthorized use is prohibited. For inquiries, please contact info@milkenarchive.org.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/115/original/Boxed_Milken_Center_logo.png?1628711583","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/110/782/small/Robert-Beaser.jpg?1618941024","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - B7794_MA_Robert_Beaser_2017_Logo_Fix_2.mp4"]},"duration":1160.87286,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/110/782/small/Robert-Beaser.jpg?1618941024","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-milken.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/110/782/original/B7794_MA_Robert_Beaser_2017_Logo_Fix_2.mp4?1616105991","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":1160.87286,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Edited Transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tLEVIN:  Mr. Beaser, it’s good to have you here.\n\nBEASER:  Good to be here.\n\nLEVIN:  We are going to just talk about some of your music that we’re going to be including in the Archive, the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music.  I mean, the most imminent recording session is clearly The Heavenly — is it The Heavenly Feast or Feasts?\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=16.0,36.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  The Heavenly Feast.\n\nLEVIN:  The Heavenly Feast, which is an interesting instrumentation.  Tell us about it.\n\nBEASER:  Do you want to hear about the instrumentation, or the…\n\nLEVIN:  Well, I want to hear everything about it.  In the first place, I want to hear about how it came to be, and how you…\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=36.0,52.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  Well, The, The Heavenly Feast was a piece that was commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony and David Zinman, for Dawn Upshaw.\n\n\t\tAnd initially, when I got the commission, I was looking at a number of texts.  And, as I usually do, when I, I, I’m going to write a vocal piece, I, I spend a lot of time perusing.  And eventually, I wound up sort of where I began, with a poet who I, whose work I’m very fond of — Gjertrud Schnackenberg, who’s an American poet who is roughly my generation, within a year or two of my age, who I met at the American Academy in Rome when I was, back in ’83.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=52.0,101.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tAnd she wrote, in her book, The Lamp-Lit Answer, a poem with the title, The Heavenly Feast, and this piece is eponymous in title with that poem.  And the poem — as soon as I read it, I knew immediately that I, I was going to set it.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=101.0,119.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tThe poem is essentially a, set as an interior monologue at the gravesite of Simone Weil.  Gjertrude found an inscription in her grave in Italy and was fascinated by it — something about holding within its grasp the pain of the world and her people.  It was a, it was a quote that she used rather liberally in the poem.  The poem is, has to do with Simone’s, Simone Weil’s death.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=119.0,165.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tAnd Simone Weil was a French philosopher/theosophist, who was born Jewish, and born, actually, in New York — Riverside Drive.  And she later converted.  I believe she converted to Catholicism.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=165.0,188.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tThe poem — her, her life, actually, ended in 1942 — no — I think in ’44 — in a sanitarium in Kent, England, where she essentially starved herself to death.  She had tuberculosis, and she wasn’t doing all that well.  But she just stopped, she just wouldn’t eat.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=188.0,215.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tAnd, when asked why, she, in this gesture which was baffling — completely baffling, a sort of strange transference — said that she wanted to give the food that she was, that was not entering her mouth to the people behind Nazi-occupied lines.  And, of course, this was an impossibility.  And people were questioning her about this, and she kept insisting.  And more and more, as she got frailer and frailer, this became something of a, of a, an incredible enigma.  And she eventually died.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=215.0,256.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tGjertrud Schnackenberg wrote a poem which contemplated this sort of martyrdom and tried to describe it in an incredibly powerful way and a very moving way; and really wound up with a, with no answer, but, but a, almost a really profound understanding of, of, of the act.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=256.0,292.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tAnd the piece on — what, what I did with the poem is what I do when I set any poem — is, I try to get into the words, and to try to understand the psychological meaning of, of what’s happening.  Also, try to derive, really, the narrative, try to uncover the narrative arc in the poem.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=292.0,315.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tAnd, in this case, there is this incredible moment, where she basically ascends to the heavens, accompanied by sort of birds.  And it, it’s an, it’s an amazing image.  And it’s a very moving image.  And, and one which I, I felt almost unequipped to, to illustrate.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=315.0,344.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBut constantly, throughout writing the piece, I kept feeling as though I was somewhat possessed by the words.  And I felt like I had to really live up to them.  And I, I found a solution.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=344.0,359.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tI remember very vividly coming up with the solution two-thirds of the way through the piece, and feeling like I had, something had happened in a divine way that, to give this to me.  And I still feel that way, when I hear it.\n\nLEVIN:  You did it for the Baltimore Symphony.\n\nBEASER:  Yes.\n\nLEVIN:  But this piece doesn’t have strings in it, does it?\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=359.0,381.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  Yes.\n\nLEVIN:  It does?\n\n\t\tBEASER:  Yes.  It’s an orchestra piece.\n\nBEASER:  Yes.  I wrote it for the Baltimore Symphony.\n\nAnd actually, David Zinman wound up — that was the week that he was, there were two weeks that he had to stop conducting, on doctor’s orders.  And that was one of them.  So there was this incredible…\n\nLEVIN:  But it’s a full, it’s a full symphony orchestra?\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=381.0,401.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  Full orchestra and soprano, yeah.\n\nSo there was, it wound up that, at the last minute, James Paul conducted it, and Dawn sang it.  And it is, it’s one of my favorite works.\n\nLEVIN:  How would you characterize the technical aspects?  I mean, in terms of your harmonic language, in terms of your approach to tonality, or the absence of same.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=401.0,430.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  Well, I’m, I’m probably referred to, more often than not, as, as a, as a quote-unquote “new tonalist”, which is somewhat baffling to me, because I don’t think tonality is, is really new, but — or can be new.  I think it’s sort of pre-existent, and, and rather — well, it will always remain that way.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=430.0,440.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBut there seems to be some, some sort of feeling that, that something happened in, in, at one point in the, in the century, and, and it became obliterated and then was reborn.  Much to the grin of composers — the chagrin of composers — such as Ned Rorem, who would say that, you know, he’d been doing it all along.  He’s publicly said that.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=440.0,468.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBut for those of us in a certain generation, there was a sort of a sense that we had inherited a, a rather confining world of, in contemporary music.  And then, I think a lot of composers of my generation went and tried to investigate other, other avenues to, to, to see what they could find.  And I certainly fall into that category.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=468.0,494.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tFor me, the other avenues were simply, I, I was interested in, in, in recovering, if you will, elements that I had felt had been lost in music.  And one of them is simply the ability to tell a story.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=494.0,511.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tI, I genuinely feel that, that the music that most reaches me is music that somehow evolves, in some sense, and you feel like you’ve ended up in a different place than when you began.  My language in music tends to evolve, sui generisly, from piece to piece, depending upon what the, the forces are, and what the issues are.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=511.0,536.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tIn this, whenever there’s text involved, I’m very much aware that I am serving the text.  So it actually takes a certain burden off me, and also, it gives me another responsibility.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=536.0,553.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tThis piece, I was responding very much to the words.  And actually, the language of it is probably the simplest tonal language I’ve ever used.\n\n\t\tI tend to be rather complex and tonal.  Meaning, when I started writing music, in the ‘70s, and I started sort of seriously, a sort of post-Bergian language and, rather….  But I, I gradually simplified my language over the years, to try to, to try to find, really, what I think is the essence, and not say any more than I need to.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=553.0,582.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tThe Heavenly Feast is a, uses very, very simple, canonic, canonic phrases which are, were almost, when I started writing it, it was almost embarrassing.  For me, you know, I just, I just felt like, oh, I couldn’t possibly do this.  And then, I kept referring to the words, and the words are so pure.  And the images are so striking — and strikingly simple — that I, I really felt like this was absolutely what had to happen.  So it, it grad, it gradually just evolved, out of that.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=582.0,620.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBut one of the things that I want to say about the piece, which is sort of fascinating, is one of the, one of the things that I love about the use of the text is how images keep recycling throughout the course of the poem.  And you, you keep getting phrases which reoccur, and then are slightly transformed or slightly off the, rhythmically altered.  But, but, but nevertheless, they, they come back.  And it’s almost like a tapestry.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=620.0,648.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tAnd what I did in the, in the piece was, I really developed multiple thematic material which kept weaving its way through.  And each thread would transform itself and return, constantly.  And so, you would get this sort of tapestry, really, of, of ideas which, at the end, have evolved into something entirely different.\n\nLEVIN:  Have you written other works, Judaicly related in any way?\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=648.0,678.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  Most of the — you know, my relationship to Judaism is, is such that I grew up in, outside of Boston, in Newton.  And I had a, a Jewish upbringing; I had a bar mitzvah.  After my bar mitzvah, I pretty much left the fold.  I, I felt somewhat alienated by things, and, and didn’t particularly like what I, like what I felt.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=678.0,713.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tI was at a temple Mishkan Tefila, which was actually Leonard Bernstein’s temple, in his — I remember going to, I remember when I was young, his parents sat two rows behind us.  Well, one of the things that struck me about that is there was a special set of, of music written for that temple.  I think it was Rabinowitz.  I, I, I honestly, I was trying to remember today who wrote it.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=713.0,744.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBut this is a specialized and wonderful music, that I know Bernstein grew up with.  And I felt that I really shared something very special with that.  And any time that I heard Bernstein’s music, I always felt the presence of that music in Mishkan Tefila,\nLEVIN:  You’re talking about the cantorial music, and the…\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=744.0,761.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  The cantorial music.\n\nLEVIN:  Well, there was a music director there by the name of…\n\nBEASER:  You’ll say it.\n\nLEVIN:  It begins with a B.\n\nBEASER:  Yeah.  And he’s the, he’s the, he’s the person I’m trying to remember.   And this was before my time…\n\nLEVIN:  Yeah.  Oh, yeah.\n\nBEASER:  So I don’t…\n\nLEVIN:  Yeah, it’s before our time.  I’ll think of it in a moment.  And his, of course, the cantor there was Gregor Shelkan.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=761.0,786.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  Yeah, Gregor Shelkan taught me my bar mitzvah.  That was my…\n\nLEVIN:  But, it’s on the tip of my tongue.  It starts with a B.  He was also, he had come from Vienna.  Shelkan had…\n\nBEASER:  Right.\n\nLEVIN:  …he was not, was from Latvia, actually.  But…\n\nBEASER:  Was he from Latvia?  I never knew that.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=786.0,800.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tLEVIN:  Yeah.  But he did spend time in Vienna.  I mean, he had been, he sung in the choir in Vienna, in the ‘20s.\n\nBEASER:  Right.\n\nLEVIN:  It will come in a few minutes, and we’ll come back to it.  But he was the organist, and…\n\n\t\tBEASER:  That’s right.  And that, and that is that, that whole sort of foundation of music, which, which that was my introduction to…\n\nLEVIN:  Yeah.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=800.0,821.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  …to Jewish cantorial music.  And that, and it’s part of me.  I mean, it’s, I grew up with it.  And, and whether I left or stayed, it’s never, it was…\n\nLEVIN:  He’s actually not a bad composer, compared to most of the — I mean, as they say in the Cantor’s Assembly, oh, yeah this one —  a shtickel composer, already.  He didn’t publish a lot of things.  But I have a lot of his manuscripts.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=821.0,845.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  Yeah.  But, but you know, that was all, that was all the foundation of the music.  And, and I, I can’t go to a, I can’t go to another temple without sort of missing…\n\nLEVIN:  Maybe it doesn’t start with a B.  Maybe it starts with a Z.  I don’t know.\n\nBEASER:  Well, it’s going to, it’s going to drive me crazy, before we…\n\nLEVIN:  Yeah.\n\nBEASER:  …before that.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=845.0,860.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBut anyway, so that was, that was my, that was sort of my foundation.\n\n\t\tAnd I, I think of, for me, I associate Jewish music with psalms.  So I’ve, I’ve basically done three psalm settings.  And that…\n\nLEVIN:  Those are the ones that were recorded by Clurman?\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=860.0,879.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  Those are the ones recorded — well, actually, two of them are recorded by Clurman.  The first work I ever wrote was a psalm, setting of the 23rd Psalm, which is not a piece which — I mean, exists.\n\nLEVIN:  Yeah.  But the two that you recorded with Clurman…\n\n\t\tBEASER:  Was 119 and 150.\n\nLEVIN:  Yeah.  Now, those are, that is a surprisingly good recording, in terms of the performance level, too, I think.\n\nBEASER:  Yeah\n\nBEASER:  No, I’m happy with it, I’m happy with this.\n\nLEVIN:  Yeah.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=879.0,899.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  Those performances.  I have no problem with it.  They were very — 119 is a very difficult piece.\n\n\t\tLEVIN:  Yeah.\n\nBEASER:  A very long piece.  A cappella.\n\nAnd I actually — you know, 119 is the longest psalm in the, in the Bible.\n\nLEVIN:  Yeah.\n\nBEASER:  And…\n\nLEVIN:  No, I have the CD.  I heard the CD.  It’s a good CD.\n\nBEASER:  Yeah.  It is.\n\nLEVIN:  Have you ever written anything in Hebrew?\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=899.0,921.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  No.  I have never written anything in Hebrew.\n\nI, I, you know, my relationship to Hebrew is that I learned it, I learned Hebrew growing up, but never could speak it.  So I, I felt, I don’t feel I, I don’t feel the relationship to Hebrew in the way that I, that I should.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=921.0,938.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tAnd I, I, I feel that, in order for me to set something in a language, that I have to feel, I have to feel a really close relationship to the language and to the, to the meaning and to the pronunciation.  I think that that’s, that’s really essential.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=938.0,955.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tSo I wouldn’t, I don’t think I would want to set anything in, in Hebrew.\n\nLEVIN:  Or Hebrew, or Yiddish, or anything like that.\n\n\t\tBEASER:  Well, Yiddish, even, even less.\n\nLEVIN:  \u003cINAUDIBLE\u003e.\n\n\t\tBEASER:  I mean, you know, Hebrew I could set.  I could set in Hebrew.  I just, again, I, I don’t feel it.  It’s not, it’s not part of me.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=955.0,972.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tIt, you know, I feel that, that if I were setting something in Hebrew, I, it would be fraudulent.  That’s all.  Very simple.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=972.0,986.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tLEVIN:  Um…\n\nBEASER:  I’ve set things in Italian.  I speak Italian.  I have a much stronger relationship with Italian…\n\nLEVIN:  Yes, you have, yeah, yeah.\n\n\t\tBEASER:  …than, than I do, than I do Hebrew.\n\nLEVIN:  The Judaic output of related — I mean, there’s no such thing as “Jewish music,” as far as I’m concerned.  It’s a question of something that relates to Jewish experience.\n\nBEASER:  Right.  Right.\n\nLEVIN:  This is a good representation of your work.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=986.0,1009.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  Oh, it’s a very good.  It’s a, it’s, The Heavenly Feast and the two psalms is, is definitely the, the probably the sum and total, besides the other psalm, of, of my Jewish music.\n\nLEVIN:  They touch upon experience.  Yeah.  You know, it doesn’t…\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=1009.0,1020.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  Absolutely.  And, and I, you know, and we all have to, we all have to enter, enter into it according to what we feel comfortable with.  And, for me, the psalms are, are totally natural, and a total extension of, of, of how I, you know, I, how I see my relationship to, to Jewish music.  So it’s perfect.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=1020.0,1040.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tAnd 150 is, is certainly a psalm that, that I, I almost, when I was asked — you know, I was, I was commissioned to do it — I almost felt like I couldn’t set it, because it was a psalm.\n\nLEVIN:  That’s a wonderful piece.  I mean, I heard the CD.  I said, let’s check that out, right away.\n\nBEASER:  Thanks.\n\nLEVIN:  It’s a very good piece.\n\nBEASER:  Thanks.\n\nLEVIN:  All right.  Is there anything else that you want to say about Heavenly Feast or other songs, musically, or….  I think you’ve covered it, but if there’s anything else you want to say, feel free.  That you might want to get in.\n\nLEVIN:  Anything that you might want to say, that you would be sorry later that you didn’t mention on camera.\n\nBEASER:  Oh, God.  I don’t know.  It’s…\n\nLEVIN:  But otherwise, I think you’ve covered it.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=1040.0,1073.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  Fine.\n\nLEVIN:  I mean, the one performance is the, is the Dawn Upshaw performance.\n\nBEASER:  Yes.  Right.  And it’s being…\n\nLEVIN:  And it’s coming up.\n\n\t\tBEASER:  Yeah.  It’s being done with Lauren and the ACO.\n\nLEVIN:  With ACO.  When is that?\n\nBEASER:  Again.  It’s in October ’99.\n\nLEVIN:  October ’99.  Yeah.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=1073.0,1088.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  Right.  And that’s going to be right around the time my opera is being done.  She’s doing my opera.  It’s the opera.\n\nLEVIN:  What’s the opera?\n\n\t\tBEASER:  I’m doing an opera with Terrence McNally.  And it, he’s writing the librettos for the Central Park Trilogy that’s Glimmer Glass and the New York City Opera are doing.\n\nLEVIN:  And what’s that?  What’s the subject?\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=1088.0,1102.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  The subject is Central Park.\n\nLEVIN:  Oh, it’s about Central Park.\n\n\t\tBEASER:  It’s about Central Park.  No Jewish themes.  We have a, I have a homeless lady who could be Jewish.\n\nLEVIN:  Not likely.\n\nBEASER:  Not likely.  So how would you know?\n\nLEVIN:  Well…\n\nBEASER:  And Terrence McNally is not, is not exactly a Jewish writer, so it’s…\n\nLEVIN:  Yeah.  No, no, I mean…\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=1102.0,1120.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tBEASER:  But anyway, Lauren — it’s funny, because Lauren is actually the central character in my opera.  And she’s, and she’s also doing The Heavenly Feast within about a week of the, of the premiere in, at the opera.  And it’s going on to be on Great Performances, so….\n\nLEVIN:  Great.\n\nBEASER:  So, so, that’s what’s going to happen to that piece.\n\nBut we, we obviously need to discuss how…\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=1120.0,1143.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782/transcript/24233/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\t\tLEVIN:  Yeah.  Discuss how to get it recorded.\n\nBEASER:  Minor details.\n\nLEVIN:  All right.\n\nBEASER:  Yeah.\n\nLEVIN:  Well, it’s great.\n\nBEASER:  Good.\n\nLEVIN:  Thank you for coming in.\n\nBEASER:  Okay.\n\n\u003cEND OF INTERVIEW\u003e\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39407/file/110782#t=1143.0,1160.87286"}]}]}]}