composer news stories on Newser

Epilepsy Likely Fueled Chopin's Visions

Matt Cantor — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 08:59:06 CST

The 19th-century composer Frédéric Chopin suffered frightening hallucinations, ranging from ghosts to creatures coming out of his piano. Now, researchers believe the visions may have been prompted by temporal lobe epilepsy, the Daily Telegraph reports. The disease can cause short, detailed hallucinations, and “could easily have been overlooked by Chopin’s...

Outcry Kills Plans for Wagner, Israel Reconciliation

Rob Quinn — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 04:50:00 CDT

The great-granddaughter of Hitler's favorite composer has called off a visit to Israel amid a public outcry. Katharina Wagner had planned to announce that the Israel Chamber Orchestra would be invited to play at an annual festival in Germany celebrating Richard Wagner's music. Israeli orchestras have been boycotting the anti-Semitic...

Composers Seek Pay Tune-Up With Teamsters

Rob Quinn — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:58:59 CST

A group of composers for movies and TV seeking a better deal now have the Teamsters in their corner. The musicians, who complain that their pay is shriveling as studios expect them to absorb more costs, were one of the few groups of Hollywood workers not covered by union contracts....

Lloyd Webber Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:05:31 CDT

British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, a spokeswoman said today in a statement that said "the condition is in its very early stages. Andrew is now undergoing treatment and expects to be fully back at work before the end of the year."

Beach Boy Wilson to Complete Gershwin Songs

Harry Kimball — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:08:23 CDT

Beach Boys songster Brian Wilson will put a gloss on unfinished tunes by revered Jazz Age composer George Gershwin. Gershwin’s estate tells the Los Angeles Times that dozens of fragments, from “a few bars to some almost finished songs and everything in between,” have been in limbo since Gershwin’s death...

Hold Music Improves, But Slowly

Harry Kimball — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 18:40:00 CDT

We may have Erik Satie to blame for hold music—the composer “developed a very cynical attitude” toward a distracted listening public and decided modern music would be more like a chair than an intellectual pursuit—but the science behind it is state-of-the-art, Newsweek reports. Studies on the intrusion of...

iTunes Offers Silent Freebie

Rob Quinn — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:32:08 CDT

ITunes' April 1 giveaway is a landmark composition by avant-garde American composer John Cage, Gizmodo reports. The first movement of Cage's 4'33 —an experimental piece consisting entirely of silence—has been made available for free download, although listeners who enjoy the first minute and 46 seconds of silence and want...

Doctor Zhivago Composer Dies

Ambreen Ali — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:59:53 CDT

Maurice Jarre, the composer who wrote the Oscar-winning scores of Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and A Passage to India , has died of cancer at the age of 84. The Frenchman—who rose to fame after moving to Los Angeles in the '60s—worked with such film director legends as...

To Combat Digital Piracy, Try Stealing

Katherine Thompson — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:47:08 CST

A Hollywood composer wants you to stop illegally downloading music, and he's willing to put his freedom in jeopardy to make his point. Because the public doesn't seem to equate swapping digital files with stealing, Richard Gibbs is pushing for people to swipe other products in a nationwide "day of...