Appleton, Jon (Howard)
Appleton, Jon (Howard)
Appleton, Jon (Howard), American composer and teacher; b. Los Angeles, Jan. 4, 1939. He studied at Reed Coll. (B.A., 1961), with Imbrie in Berkeley, Calif. (1961–62), with Keller at the Univ. of Ore. (M.A., 1965), and with Ussachevsky at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center (1965–66). In 1966–67 he taught at Oakland Univ. in Rochester, Mich. In 1967 he joined the faculty of Dartmouth Coll., where he founded its Breg-man Electronic Music Studio and, in 1979, received an endowed chair. With the engineer Sydney Alonso and the software designer Cameron Jones, Appleton developed the Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer (1972–74) and the Synclavier, a polyphonic digital synthesizer. He received Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships (1970) and 2 NEA awards (1976). Appleton has written on the technology, theory, aesthetics, and social role of music. With R. Perera, he ed. the anthology The Development and Practice of Electronic Music (1975). He publ. 21st-Century Musical Instruments: Hardware and Software (1989). In addition to his many electronic scores, he has also composed tonal works for acoustic instruments.
Works
DRAMATIC: Theater Music: The Ghost Sonata (1969); Subject to Fits (1978); Death Takes a Holiday (1987); Aunt Dan and Lemon (1988). dance music:Pilobolus (1971); Spyrogyra (1972); Cameo (1972); Anaendrom (1972); Aubade (1973); dona (1974); Otahiti (1978); The Sydsing Camklang (1978); Prelude (1979); Nukuoro (1980); Beginnings (1980); The Tale of William Mariner (1980). Film: Nobody Knows Everything (1965); Anuszkiewicz (1968); Scene Unobserved (1969; in collaboration with W. Wadham, P. Payne, and J. Mellquist); Computer Graphics at 100 Baud (1969); Charlie Item and Double X (1970); Glory!, Glory! (1971); Arriflex 16SR (1978); Hay Fever (1988); Rassias in China (1991). ORCH.: After “Nude Descending a Staircase” (1965). CHAMBER: 2 Movements for Woodwind Quintet (1963); 6 Movements for Woodwind Quintet (1964); 4 Explorations for Violin and Piano (1964); 4 Inventions for 2 Flutes (1965); Winesburg, Ohio for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano (1972); String Quartet (1976); Soviet-American Dances for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Viola, Cello, Percussion, and Synclavier (1984); Duo for Oscar for Piano and Synclavier (1985); The Endless Melody for Clarinet and Synclavier (1986); ...to the Islands for Violin, Saxophone, Accordion, and Contrabass (1989); Nihon No Omide for Violin (1996). Piano: 3 Lyrics (1963); Sonata No. 2 (1968); Duobatoni for 2 Pianos (1994); The Turkina Suite (1995); Quatre regards sur le Parc du Roy d’Espagne for Piano, 4-Hands (1995); Eight Hands for 2 Pianos, 8-Hands (1996). VOCAL: The American Songs for Tenor and Piano or Orch. (1966); Ballad of the Soldier for Men’s Voices, after Brecht (1974) Sonaría for 4 Voices and Synclavier (1978); Le Dernier Voyage for Children’s Chorus, Narrator, and Synclavier (1989); HOPI: La Naissance du désert for Children’s Chorus and Orch. (1993). OTHER: Double Structure, mixed media piece (1971; in collaboration with C. Wolff); The Lament of Kamuela for Chorus, Tape, Hawaüan Singer, Japanese Classical Singer, Rock Band, Film, and Video (1983); over 50 electronic pieces (1966–97).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire