[Smt-talk] Milton Babbitt

[Carol Baron]

Dear Colleagues,

I want to add a tribute to Milton Babbitt, which emerges from a far more 
limited contact than that enjoyed by many readers of this list, but one 
no less appreciated and treasured. I was introduced to Milton after a 
concert, sometime in the early 1990s, shortly after publishing a paper 
about turn of the twentieth century American music theory. He 
immediately associated my name with the article and, with a touch of 
humor and a hug, paid me a wonderful compliment by saying, "I thought I 
was the only person in the world who knew about Julius Klauser." After 
that, to my amazement, he always recognized me and had something to say. 
He seemed to read everything, and forget nothing and no one.

I visited him in Princeton shortly after his 92nd birthday concert at 
the Miller Theater. I went backstage because there was something I 
wanted to ask him about, and he invited me to visit. I was working on a 
discovery I made about Schoenberg's early operas and, at that time, not 
yet being a Schoenberg scholar, I thought it would be great to talk to 
the person who knew more about Schoenberg than anyone else. I needed a 
"go ahead." Although it was an effort for him to walk down the stairs in 
his home, he was as brilliant as ever. He was totally convinced by what 
I told him, even, thrilled. We talked about many related matters and, 
because of his enthusiasm and efforts, I met Schoenberg's grandson Randi 
(who opened important research sources). Milton seemed to have boundless 
energy and interests. Not least among our losses is the presence of such 
a model of brilliance and generosity combined.

Carol K. Baron
Fellow for Life, Stony Brook University
cbaron at stonybrook.edu