Escot, Pozzi

Escot, Pozzi, American composer, teacher, music theorist, and writer; b. Lima, Peru (of French-Morrocan parents), Oct. 1, 1933. She began her training in Lima, where she studied with Andrés Sàs at the Sas-Rosay Academy of Music (1949–53) and took courses in mathematics at San Marcos Univ. (1950–52). In 1953 she emigrated to the U.S. and shortly thereafter became a naturalized American citizen. After studies at Reed Coll. in Portland, Ore., she pursued training with Bergsma at the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y. (B.S., 1956; M.S., 1957). In 1957 she went to Germany on a Deutscher Akademischer Austauchdienst fellowship and pursued studies with Jarnach at the Hamburg Hochschule für Musik until 1961. In 1964 she joined the faculty of the New England Cons, of Music in Boston, and concurrently taught at Wheaton Coll. in Norton, Mass., from 1972. She held Harvard-Radcliffe Bunting Inst. fellow-ships (1969–71) and a residency at the Rockefeller Foundation Center for Scholars in Bellagio (1995). In 1980 she became ed. of the journal Sonus. She became president of the International Soc. of Hildegard von Bingen Studies in 1993. Escot has lectured widely in the U.S. and abroad on various interdisciplinary aspects of music. She has described her compositions as “pure arithmetic and geometry” in which “every dimension of the sonic design is structured accordingly.” Her works have received many performances and recordings.

Writings

With R. Cogan, Sonic Design:The Nature of Sound and Music (1976); with R. Cogan, Sonic Design:Practice and Problems (1981); The Poetics of Simple Mathematics in Music (1999).

Works

ORCH 6 syms.:No. 1, Little (1954), No. 2 (1955), No. 3 (1957), No. 5, Sands (1965), and No. 6, Naye-e Sin (1999); Piano Concerto (1982). CHAMBER : Metamorphosis, ballet for Chamber Ensemble (1952); 5 string quartets:No. 1 (1953), No. 2 (1956), and No. 5, Jubilation (1991); Concertino for 9 Instruments (1956); Three Movements for Violin and Piano (1960); Trilogy No. 2, Christos, for 3 Violins, Alto Flute or Flute, Contrabassoon or Bassoon, and Percussion (1963); Interra I for Piano, Tape, Spot Lights, and Film or Piano (1968); Neyrac Lux for 3 Guitars, 1 Performer (1978); Eure Pax for Violin (1980); Pluies for Alto Saxophone and Tape (1981); In Memoriam Solrac for Violin, Cello, and Piano (1984); Mirabilis I for Viola and Tape (1990) and II for Clarinet or Saxophone or Trumpet, Piano, and Percussion (1991); Sarabande for 5 Flutes, 2 Cellos, and 2 Snare Drums (1999). KEYBOARD :Piano : Six Portraits (1949); 4 sonatinas (1951, 1951, 1951, 1992); Differences (2 groups, 1961, 1963); Interra II for Piano Left Hand or Both Hands and Tape or Without Tape (1980). Organ :Are (1975). VOCAL : Two Lamentations for Soprano and Piano (1951); Four Songs for Soprano and Piano (1955); Songs of Wisdom for Soprano and Piano (1956); String Quartet No. 3, Credo, with Soprano (1958), and No. 4, Three Poems ofRilke, with Reciter (1959); Sym. No. 4, Cantata Roots, for Alto, Chorus, and Orch. (1958); Trilogy No. 1, Lamentus, for Soprano, 2 Violins, 2 Cellos, Piano, and 3 Percussion (1962) and No. 3, Visions, for Flute, Piccolo, Alto Flute, Alto Saxophone, Soprano, Contrabassoon, and Percussion (1964); Ainu I for Chorus (1970) and II for Voice (1978); Fergus Missa Triste for Chorus, Women, and Any 3 Instruments (1981); Visione 87 for Voice and Piano or Tape (1987); Your Kindled Valors Bend for Voice, Clarinet, and Piano (1989); Mirabilis III for Voice, 3 Flutes, and 3 Violins (1995); Bels Dous Amies for Voice, Oboe, and Viola (1993); Vollkommen ist den wessen for Voice, Flute, Drum, and Bell (1994); Visione 97 for 8 Solo Voices or Chorus (1997); Aria for Voice, Flute, Clarinet, and Saxophone (1998).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire