Editing George Crumb

{{Short description|American composer (1929–2022)}}
{{For|the American chef|George Crum}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name             = George Crumb
| image            = George Crumb.jpg
| caption          = Crumb in 2019 attending a performance at [[Alice Tully Hall]] in honor of his 90th birthday
| birth_name       = George Henry Crumb Jr.
| birth_date       = {{birth date|df=yes|1929|10|24}}
| birth_place      = [[Charleston, West Virginia]], U.S.
| death_date       = {{death date and age|2022|2|6|1929|10|24|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Media, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
|alma_mater=[[University of Michigan]] 
|occupation       = {{plainlist|
* Composer 
}}
| notable_works    = [[#List of compositions|List of compositions]]
| awards           = {{plainlist|
* [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]]
* [[Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition|Grammy Award]]
* [[#Awards and honors|Full list]]
}}
| website          = {{URL|georgecrumb.net}}
}}

'''George Henry Crumb Jr.''' (24 October 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an American composer of avant-garde [[contemporary classical music]]. Early in his life he rejected the widespread [[Modernism (music)|modernist]] usage of [[serialism]], developing a highly personal musical language which "range[s] in mood from peaceful to nightmarish".<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |last=Schweitzer |first=Vivien |date=6 February 2022 |title=George Crumb, Eclectic Composer Who Searched for Sounds, Dies at 92 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/06/obituaries/george-crumb-dead.html |url-access=limited |access-date=7 February 2022 }}</ref> Crumb's compositions are known for pushing the limits of technical prowess by way of frequent use of [[extended technique]]s. The unusual [[timbre]]s he employs evoke a [[Surrealist music|surrealist]] atmosphere which portray emotions of considerable intensity with vast and sometimes haunting [[soundscape]]s.{{sfn|Steinitz|2013|loc=§ para. 4}} His few large-scale works include ''[[Echoes of Time and the River]]'' (1967), which won the 1968 [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]], and ''[[Star-Child]]'' (1977), which won the 2001 [[Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition]]; however, his output consists of mostly music for [[chamber music|chamber ensembles]] or solo instrumentalists. Among his best known compositions are ''[[Black Angels (Crumb)|Black Angels]]'' (1970), a striking commentary on the [[Vietnam War]] for electric [[string quartet]]; ''[[Ancient Voices of Children]]'' (1970) for a mixed chamber ensemble; and ''[[Vox Balaenae]]'' (1971), a musical evocation of the [[humpback whale]], for electric flute, electric cello, and amplified piano.

Born to a musical family, Crumb was acquainted with [[classical music]] at an early age and his affinity for [[Classical period (music)|Classical]] and [[Romantic music|Romantic]] composers in particular would stay throughout his life.{{sfn|Steinitz|2013|loc=§ para. 1}} He was especially influenced by composers such as [[Mahler]], [[Debussy]] and [[Bartók]]; Crumb wrote his four-volume piano set ''[[Makrokosmos]]'' (1972–1979) in response to Bartók's earlier piano set ''[[Mikrokosmos (Bartók)|Mikrokosmos]]''.<ref name="NYT"/> His compositions often contain [[musical quotation]]s from wide range of composers including [[Bach]],{{sfn|Steinitz|2013|loc=§ para. 5}} [[Chopin]],{{sfn|Cohen|2002|p=14}} [[Schubert]],<ref name="NYT"/> [[Richard Strauss|Strauss]], and the [[jazz]] pianist and composer [[Thelonious Monk]].{{sfn|Cohen|2002|p=23}} The use of [[pastiche]] is also found in his music,{{sfn|Steinitz|2013|loc=§ para. 6}} as is text by [[Federico García Lorca]], whose poetry Crumb set eleven times.{{sfn|Steinitz|2013|loc=§ para. 4}} Elements of theatricality appear in numerous compositions, inspiring [[choreography (dance)|choreographies]] from [[contemporary dance]] groups.{{sfn|Steinitz|2013|loc=§ para. 7}} To convey his unorthodox and complex musical style, Crumb's musical [[Sheet music|score]]s are [[facsimile]] [[manuscript]]s, using special [[musical notation|notation]] "distinguished by astonishing clarity, precision and elegance, and by arresting graphic symbols in which staves are bent into arches, circles and other pictorial devices."{{sfn|Steinitz|2013|loc=§ para. 11}} Among his students were the composers [[Osvaldo Golijov]], [[Jennifer Higdon]], [[Christopher Rouse (composer)|Christopher Rouse]] and [[Melinda Wagner]].
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==Life and career==
===Upbringing and education (1929–1959)===
George Henry Crumb Jr. was born in [[Charleston, West Virginia]] on 24 October 1929 to a musical family and he grew up playing chamber music with them.{{sfn|Borroff|1986|p=192}} <ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=George Crumb obituary |newspaper=[[The Times]] |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/george-crumb-obituary-blf3b237v |access-date=2022-04-06 |issn=0140-0460}}</ref> Both of Crumb's parents played in the [[West Virginia Symphony Orchestra|Charleston Symphony Orchestra]] (CSO);{{refn|The [[West Virginia Symphony Orchestra|Charleston Symphony Orchestra]] of Crumb's early life has since become the [[West Virginia Symphony Orchestra]].{{sfn|Cohen|2002|p=1}}|group=n}} his father George Henry Crumb Sr. was a [[clarinet]]ist while his mother Vivian ([[née]] Reed) was a [[cello|cellist]].{{sfn|Cohen|2002|p=1}} The elder Crumb was a multifaceted musician, with activities that included conducting [[theatre orchestra]] for the music of [[silent film]], teaching clarinet privately and at the Mason College, and working as both a music copyist and arranger.{{sfn|Borroff|1986|p=192}} George, Jr. began to compose at an early age and had two of his orchestral works performed by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra while he was still in his teens.<ref name=":0" /> In 1947 he studied at the [[Interlochen Center for the Arts|National Music Camp]] in Interlochen, Michigan. He majored in music at the Mason College of Music and Fine Arts (subsequently subsumed into the [[University of Charleston]]), where he received his [[Bachelor of Music|bachelor's degree]] in 1950. He obtained his [[M.Mus.]] at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]] in 1952 and then briefly studied as a [[Fulbright fellow]] at the [[Hochschule für Musik]] in Berlin before returning to the United States to study at the [[University of Michigan]], from which he received a [[D.M.A.]] in 1959.<ref name="Tsioulcas">{{cite news |last = Tsioulcas | first = Anastasia | title = George Crumb, an influential and deeply American composer, has died at age 92 |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2022/02/07/847418700/george-crumb-an-influential-and-deeply-american-composer-has-died-at-age-92 | publisher = [[NPR]] | date = 7 February 2022 | access-date = 8 February 2022}}</ref>

===Teaching and early works (1960s – early 1970s) ===
He earned his living primarily from teaching. His first teaching job was at a college in [[Virginia]], before he became professor of piano and composition at the [[University of Colorado at Boulder|University of Colorado]] in 1958. [https://lolo816.tripod.com/crumb.htm] It was here that he met the pianist David Burge, who asked Crumb to compose a piece for him. While creating this, Crumb woke up in a cold sweat one night, realising that thus far he had simply been rewriting the works of other composers. From here on he began experimenting with new, avant-garde techniques.<ref name=":0" />

In 1965 he began a long association with the [[University of Pennsylvania]],<ref name="Tsioulcas" /> becoming Annenberg Professor of the Humanities in 1983.<ref>Cope, David, ''Biography'' in Gillespie, ''op.cit.'', p.15</ref>

From the 1960s on, Crumb's music filled a niche for sophisticated—though still conservative—concertgoers. His music fell between [[Neoclassicism (music)|neoclassicism]], which was perceived as outmoded, and the more radical music of the [[avant garde]]. Although his music from this period exhibits some novel features, it owes more to traditional techniques than to the more experimental areas of the avant-garde.<ref>James L. McHard, ''The Future of Modern Music: A Philosophical Exploration of Modernist Music in the 20th Century and Beyond'', third edition (Livonia, MI: Iconic Press, 2008): 325. {{ISBN|978-0-9778195-2-2}}; Richard W. Bass, “The Case of the Silent G: Pitch Structure and Proportions in the Theme of George Crumb’s Gnomic Variations”, in ''George Crumb and the Alchemy of Sound: Essays on His Music'', edited by Steven Bruns and Ofer Ben-Amots, general editor Michael D. Grace, 157–70 (Colorado College Music Press, 2005). {{ISBN|978-0-935052-07-7}}.</ref>

In this period, Crumb shared with a number of other young composers regarded as being under the umbrella of "new accessibility" a desire to reach out to alienated audiences. In works like ''Ancient Voices of Children'' (1970), Crumb employed theatrical ritual, using evocative masks, costumes, and sonorities.<ref>K. Robert Schwarz. 1988. "Classical". ''The Wilson Quarterly'' 12, no. 3 (Summer): 77–87. Citation on 84.</ref> In other pieces he asks players to leave and enter the stage during the piece, and has also used unusual layouts of [[musical notation]] in a number of his [[sheet music|scores]]. In several pieces, the music is symbolically laid out in a circular or spiral fashion.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/CrumbSpiral.gif |title=As shown in this image of 'Spiral Galaxy' from ''Makrokosmos 1'' |access-date=22 January 2014 |archive-date=2 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202163015/http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/CrumbSpiral.gif |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Several of Crumb's works, including the four books of [[Madrigal (music)|madrigal]]s he wrote in the late 1960s and ''Ancient Voices of Children'', a [[song cycle]] for two singers and small [[instrumental ensemble]]—including a [[toy piano]] (1970), are settings of texts by [[Federico García Lorca]].{{sfn|''Britannica''|2022|loc=§ para. 2}} Many of his vocal works were written for the virtuoso mezzo-soprano singer [[Jan DeGaetani]].<ref>[https://www.esm.rochester.edu/about/portraits/degaetani/ Jan DeGaetani] [[Eastman School of Music]], retrieved 7 February 2022</ref>

''[[Black Angels (Crumb)|Black Angels (Thirteen Images from the Darkland)]]'' was written in 1970, and published in 1971, in protest against the [[Vietnam War]], using spoken word, bowed water glasses and electronics.<ref name="Tsioulcas" /> It also explores a wide range of timbres, such as an electric string quartet, with its players required to play various [[percussion instrument]]s and to bow small goblets as well as to play their instruments in both conventional and unconventional ways. It is one of Crumb's best known pieces, and has been recorded by several groups, including the [[Kronos Quartet]],<ref>Elektra Nonesuch CD 7559-79242-2</ref> whose formation was inspired when violinist David Harrington first heard ''Black Angels''.<ref name="Tsioulcas" />

=== ''Makrokosmos'' (1972–1979) ===
Crumb's most ambitious work, and among his more famous, is the 24-piece collection ''[[Makrokosmos]]'', published in four books.<ref>[[Michael Kennedy (music critic)|Kennedy, Michael]] (2006), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'', 985 pages,  {{ISBN|0-19-861459-4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/composition/makrokosmos-ii-for-amplified-piano-mc0002382695|title=Makrokosmos II, for amplified piano {{!}} Details {{!}} AllMusic|website=AllMusic|access-date=12 March 2017}}</ref> The first two books (1972, 1973), for solo piano, make extensive use of [[string piano]] techniques and require amplification, as dynamics range from {{serif|''pppp''}} to {{serif|''ffff''}}. The third book, known as ''Music for a Summer Evening'' (1974), is for two pianos and [[Percussion instrument|percussion]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.kairos-music.com/cds/0015029kai |title = Geoge Crumb: Makrokosmos I-III | publisher = [[Kairos (record label)|Kairos]] |date = 5 October 2018}}</ref> The fourth book, ''Celestial Mechanics'' (1979), is for [[Piano four hands|piano four-hands]].{{sfn|''Britannica''|2022|loc=§ para. 2}}

The title ''Makrokosmos'' alludes to ''[[Mikrokosmos (Béla Bartók)|Mikrokosmos]]'', the six books of piano pieces by [[Béla Bartók]]. Like Bartók's work, ''Makrokosmos'' is a series of short [[character piece]]s. Apart from Bartók, [[Claude Debussy]] is another composer Crumb acknowledged as an influence here: Debussy's ''[[Préludes (Debussy)|Préludes]]'' comprise two books of 12 character pieces. Crumb's first two books of ''Makrokosmos'' for solo piano contain 12 pieces, each bearing a dedication (a friend's initials, however he also wittily dedicates a piece to himself) at the end. On several occasions, the pianist is required to sing, shout, whistle, whisper, and moan, as well as play the instrument unconventionally. ''Makrokosmos'' was premiered by [[David Burge]], who later recorded the work.<ref>Book 1: Nonesuch LP H-71293</ref>

=== 1980s – early 2000s ===
During the 1980s and 1990s, Crumb's musical output was less prolific.{{sfn|Steinitz|2013|loc=§ para. 9}} Beginning in 2000 Crumb wrote a number of works subtitled ''American Songbook''.{{sfn|''Britannica''|2022|loc=§ para. 2}} Each of these works is a set of arrangements of American [[hymn]]s, [[spirituals]], and popular tunes: Crumb originally planned to produce four such volumes,<ref>Note by Eric Bruskin to CD BRIDGE 9335</ref> but in fact he continued to produce additional sets after the fourth (''The Winds of Destiny'') was written, with the seventh volume of the series (''Voices from the Heartland'') completed in 2010.<ref name="Tsioulcas" /> Typically these settings preserve the familiar tunes more-or-less intact,<ref>"I determined to leave the beautiful melodies intact": quote from the composer in the note to CD set BRIDGE 9218</ref> but the accompaniments for amplified piano and percussionists use a very wide range of musical techniques and exotic sounds. As of 2017, ''American Songbook'' totalled 65 movements, 62 texts, 150 percussion instruments, more than five hours of music.<ref name="Dougherty" />

Crumb retired from teaching in 1995,<ref name="Tsioulcas" /> though in early 2002 he was appointed with [[David Burge]] to a joint residency at [[Arizona State University]]. [https://keep.lib.asu.edu/items/11659] He continued to compose.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Acclaimed composers take part in New Music Ensemble concerts at ASU|url=http://herbergerinstitute.asu.edu/news/press_release.php?id=420|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629132440/http://herbergerinstitute.asu.edu/news/press_release.php?id=420|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 June 2010|access-date=27 January 2016|website=herbergerinstitute.asu.edu}}</ref>

===Personal life and death===
Crumb's son,  [[David Crumb]] is also a composer and, since 1997, assistant professor at the University of Oregon. [https://musicanddance.uoregon.edu/directory/faculty/all/drcrumb]George Crumb's daughter, [[Ann Crumb]], was an actress and singer. She recorded his ''Three Early Songs'' for the CD ''George Crumb 70th Birthday Album'' (1999), and had also performed his ''Unto the Hills'' (2001). She died at her parents' home on 31 October 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.anncrumb.com/ |title=Anncrumb.com |access-date=24 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511010202/http://www.anncrumb.com/ |archive-date=11 May 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In his later compositions, which have the subtitle ''Spanish Songbook'', Crumb returned to settings of Lorca.{{sfn|''Britannica''|2022|loc=§ para. 2}}<ref name="Tsioulcas" /> Crumb died in his home in [[Media, Pennsylvania]], on 6 February 2022, at the age of 92.<ref name="NYT"/><ref name="Tsioulcas" />

==Music==
===Overview===
After initially being influenced by [[Anton Webern]], Crumb became interested in exploring unusual [[timbre]]s, something he considered as important as rhythm, harmony, and counterpoint.<ref name="Dougherty">{{Cite web |last=Dougherty |first=William |date=11 January 2017 |title=Unified Music |url=http://van-magazine.com/mag/george-crumb/ |access-date=7 February 2022 |website=VAN Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> He often asks for instruments to be played in unusual ways and several of his pieces, although written for standard chamber music ensembles, such as ''[[Black Angels (Crumb)|Black Angels]]'' ([[string quartet]]) or ''[[Ancient Voices of Children]]'' (mixed ensemble), call for electronic amplification.<ref>For example, the score of ''Black Angels'' specifies that in places, amplification should reach 'the threshold of pain'.</ref>  Crumb defines music as "a system of proportions in the service of spiritual impulse."<ref>Gillespie, Donald, ed. (1986) ''George Crumb: Profile of a Composer'', C. F. Peters Corporation, 1986, p.77</ref> Musicologist [[Richard Taruskin]] said of Crumb's music: "The ingredients in Crumb’s collages were chosen not as representatives of styles but as expressive symbols of timeless content."<ref name="Dougherty" />

In 1980, Crumb wrote an essay for ''[[The Kenyon Review]]'' titled, "Music: Does It Have a Future?"<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Crumb|first=George|date=1980|title=Music: Does It Have a Future?|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4335131|journal=The Kenyon Review|volume=2|issue=3|pages=115–122|jstor=4335131|issn=0163-075X}}</ref> In it, he codified his worldview of unified culture and music, arguing that, "the total musical culture of Planet Earth is ‘coming together,’ as it were. An American or European composer, for example, now has access to the music of various Asian, African, and South American cultures. […] This awareness of music in its largest sense—as a worldwide phenomenon—will inevitably have enormous consequences for the music of the future.” Of this worldview, which Crumb noted he still followed 37 years later in a 2017 interview for ''[[VAN Magazine]],'' William Dougherty wrote: "Wherever one stands on the ethics of appropriation, it’s undeniable that Crumb, by incorporating in his work sounds from other cultures, succeeded in finding a timbrally rich sound world unlike any of his contemporaries."<ref name="Dougherty" /> Of his legacy, Michael Schell said "on the morning of his death Crumb was arguably the most important living composer of piano music, and the last giant in a distinctively American line of innovative percussion writers.".<ref name="Schell">{{cite web |last1=Schell |first1=Michael |title=George Crumb in Retrospect |url=https://www.sequenza21.com/2024/05/george-crumb/ |website=Sequenza21 |date=6 May 2024 |access-date=9 May 2024}}</ref> Mark Swed said "Crumb may not have been well known outside of new-music circles, but he mattered beyond those perimeters."<ref name="Swed">{{cite news |last1=Swed |first1=Mark |title=Appreciation: How George Crumb became one of America's most surprisingly consequential composers |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-02-08/george-crumb-composer-appreciation |access-date=9 May 2024 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=8 February 2022}}</ref>

Crumb's works were published by the [[Edition Peters]].<ref name="Peters works">{{cite web | title = Works by George Crumb | url = https://www.edition-peters.com/writer/george-crumb/w00945 | publisher = [[Edition Peters]] | date = | access-date = 8 February 2022}}</ref> Recordings of Crumb's music have appeared on many labels, including several LPs issued by [[Nonesuch Records]] in the 1970s.<ref>{{cite web | title = George Crumb | url = https://www.nonesuch.com/artists/george-crumb | publisher = [[Nonesuch Records]] | date = 2022 | access-date = 8 February 2022}}</ref> More recently, [[Bridge Records]] has issued a series of CDs, the Complete Crumb Edition.<ref name="Bridge">{{cite web | title = Complete Crumb Edition | url = https://bridgerecords.com/collections/complete-crumb-edition | publisher = [[Bridge Records]] | date = 2022 | access-date = 8 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine | last = Dickinson | first = Peter | title = Complete George Crumb Edition Volume 6 | url = https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/complete-george-crumb-edition-volume-6 | magazine = [[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]] | date = July 2003 | access-date = 8 February 2022}}</ref>

===Filmography===
* ''George Crumb:  The Voice of the Whale'' (1976).  Directed and produced by Robert Mugge.  Interviewed by Richard Wernick.  New York, New York:  Rhapsody Films (released 1988).<ref name="Tsioulcas" />
* ''Bad Dog!: A Portrait of George Crumb'' (2009).  Directed by David Starobin.  Interviews with the composer and performances of ''Apparition'', ''Three Early Songs'' and ''Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik''.  Released on DVD by Bridge Records (BRIDGE 9312).<ref>{{Cite web|title=George Crumb: Bad Dog! (DVD) BRIDGE 9312|url=https://bridgerecords.com/products/9312|access-date=9 February 2022|website=Bridge Records}}</ref>

==List of compositions==
Crumb's works were published by Edition Peters, including:<ref name="Peters works" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=George Crumb at Pytheas|url=http://www.pytheasmusic.org/crumb.html|access-date=10 February 2022|website=Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music}}</ref>

===Orchestral===
* ''Gethsemane'' (1947), for small orchestra<ref name="Kim">Hyangmee Kim: [https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc9071/m2/1/high_res_d/dissertation.pdf A Performer's Guide to George Crumb's Makrokosmos IV (Celestial Mechanics)] University of North Texas 2008</ref>
* ''Diptych'' (1955)
* ''Variazioni'' (1959), for large orchestra<ref name="Kim" />
* ''[[Echoes of Time and the River]]'' (''Echoes II'') (1967)
* ''A Haunted Landscape'' (1984)

===Vocal  with orchestral===

* ''[[Star-Child]]'' (1977, revised 1979), for soprano, antiphonal children's voices, male speaking choir, bell ringers, and large orchestra

===Chamber music===
* Two Duos (1944?), for flute and clarinet
* Four Pieces (1945), for violin and piano
* Violin Sonata (1949)
* Three Pastoral Pieces (1952), for oboe and piano
* Viola Sonata (1953)<ref name="Kim" />
* String Quartet (1954)
* [[Sonata for Solo Cello (Crumb)|Sonata for Solo Cello]] (1955)
* Four Nocturnes (''Night Music II'') (1964), for violin and piano
* ''Eleven Echoes of Autumn, 1965'' (''Echoes I'') (1966), for violin, alto flute, clarinet, and piano
* ''[[Black Angels (Crumb)|Black Angels]]'' (''Images I'') (1970), for electric string quartet
* ''[[Vox Balaenae]]'' (''Voice of the Whale'') (1971), for electric flute, electric cello, and amplified piano
* ''[[Makrokosmos#Volume III|Music for a Summer Evening]]'' (''Makrokosmos III'') (1974), for two amplified pianos and percussion (two players).
* ''Dream Sequence'' (''Images II'') (1976), for violin, cello, piano, percussion (one player), and off-stage glass harmonica (two players)
* ''Pastoral Drone'' (1982), for organ
* ''An Idyll for the Misbegotten'' (''Images III'') (1986), for amplified flute and percussion (three players).
* ''Easter Dawning'' (1991), for [[carillon]]
* ''Quest'' (1994), for guitar, soprano saxophone, harp, double bass, and percussion (two players)
* ''Mundus Canis'' (''A Dog's World'') (1998), for guitar and percussion
* ''Kronos - Kryptos'' (2019, revised 2020), for percussion (four players)

===Piano===
* Piano Sonata (1945)
* Prelude and Toccata (1951)
* Five Pieces (1962)
* ''[[Makrokosmos#Volume I|Makrokosmos]]'', Volume I (1972), for amplified piano
* ''[[Makrokosmos#Volume II|Makrokosmos]]'', Volume II (1973), for amplified piano
* ''[[Makrokosmos#Volume IV|Celestial Mechanics]]'' (''Makrokosmos IV'') (1979), for amplified piano (four hands)
* ''[[A Little Suite for Christmas|A Little Suite for Christmas, A.D. 1979]]'' (1980)
* ''Gnomic Variations'' (1981)
* ''Processional'' (1983)
* ''Zeitgeist'' (''Tableaux Vivants'') (1988), for two amplified pianos
* ''Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik'' (''A Little Midnight Music'') (2001)
* ''Otherworldly Resonances'' (2003), for two pianos
* ''Metamorphoses,'' Book I (2017)
* ''Metamorphoses,'' Book II (2019)

===Vocal===
* Four Songs (1945?), for voice, clarinet and piano
* Seven Songs (1946), for voice and piano
* Three Early Songs (1947), for voice and piano
* A Cycle of Greek Lyrics (1950?), for voice and piano
* ''Night Music I'' (1963, revised 1976), for soprano, piano/celeste, and two percussionists
* ''Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death'' (1968), for baritone, electric guitar, electric double bass, amplified piano/electric harpsichord, and two percussionists
* ''Night of the Four Moons'' (1969), for alto, alto flute/piccolo, banjo, electric cello, and percussion
* ''[[Ancient Voices of Children]]'' (1970), for mezzo-soprano, boy soprano, oboe, mandolin, harp, amplified piano (and toy piano), and percussion (three players)
* ''Lux Aeterna'' (1971) for soprano, bass flute/soprano recorder, sitar, and percussion (two players)
* ''Apparition'' (1979), for soprano and amplified piano
* ''The Sleeper'' (1984), for soprano and piano
* ''Federico's Little Songs for Children'' (1986), for soprano, flute/piccolo/alto flute/bass flute, and harp
* ''Yesteryear'' (2005/13), for mezzo-soprano, amplified piano, and percussion (two players)

==== ''Madrigals'' ====

* ''Madrigals'', Book I (1965), for soprano, vibraphone, and double bass
* ''Madrigals'', Book II (1965), for soprano, flute/alto flute/piccolo, and percussion
* ''Madrigals'', Book III (1969), for soprano, harp, and percussion
* ''Madrigals'', Book IV (1969), for soprano, flute/alto flute/piccolo, harp, double bass, and percussion

==== ''American Songbook'' ====

* ''American Songbook I: The River of Life'' (2003), for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
* ''American Songbook II: A Journey Beyond Time'' (2003), for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
* ''American Songbook III: Unto the Hills'' (2001), for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
* ''American Songbook IV: Winds of Destiny'' (2004), for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
* ''American Songbook V: Voices from a Forgotten World'' (2007), for soprano, baritone, percussion quartet and piano
* ''American Songbook VI: Voices from the Morning of the Earth'' (2008), for soprano, baritone, percussion quartet and piano
* ''American Songbook VII: Voices from the Heartland'' (2010), for soprano, baritone, percussion quartet and piano

==== ''Spanish Songbook'' ====

* ''Spanish Songbook I: The Ghosts of Alhambra'' (2008), for baritone, guitar and percussion
* ''Spanish Songbook II: Sun and Shadow'' (2009), for female voice and amplified piano
* ''Spanish Songbook III: The Yellow Moon of Andalusia'' (2012), for mezzo-soprano and amplified piano

===Choral===
* ''Alleluja'' (1948), for unaccompanied chorus

== Awards and honors ==
Crumb was the recipient of a number of awards, including a 1968 [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]] for his orchestral work ''[[Echoes of Time and the River]]''{{sfn|''Britannica''|2022|loc=§ para. 1}}<ref name="Tsioulcas" /> and a 2001 [[Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition]] for his work ''Star-Child''.<ref name="Tsioulcas" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=&title=&year=2000&genre=All|title=2000 Grammy Award Winners|publisher=Grammy.com|access-date=4 December 2014}}</ref> In 1995, Crumb was awarded the [[Edward MacDowell Medal]].<ref>{{cite web|date=13 April 2011|title=MacDowell Medal winners 1960–2011|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/8447621/MacDowell-Medal-winners-1960-2011.html|website=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]}}</ref>

== Notable students ==
Among Crumb's students are the composers [[Ofer Ben-Amots]],<ref>[https://www.milkenarchive.org/artists/view/ofer-ben-amots Ofer Ben-Amots] [[Milken Archive of Jewish Music]]</ref> [[Margaret Brouwer]],<ref>[http://clevelandartsprize.org/awardees/margaret_brouwer.html Margaret Brouwer, Composer / 1999 Cleveland Arts Prize for Music] clevelandartsprize.org</ref> [[Uri Caine]],<ref>[https://www.ojaifestival.org/uri-caine-pianocomposer/ Uri Caine] ojaifestival.org</ref> [[Robert Carl]],<ref>[http://library.hartford.edu/allenlibrary/composers/composerbio.asp?composer=Carl,%20Robert,%201954- Robert Carl] library.hartford.edu</ref> [[Osvaldo Golijov]], [[Jennifer Higdon]],<ref name="Tsioulcas" /> [[Cynthia Cozette Lee]],<ref>[https://composersforum.org/members/cynthiacozette/ Cynthia Cozette Lee] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209113040/https://composersforum.org/members/cynthiacozette/ |date=9 February 2022 }} composersforum.org</ref> [[Gerald Levinson]],<ref>[https://www.swarthmore.edu/profile/gerald-levinson] [[Swarthmore College]]</ref> [[Christopher Rouse (composer)|Christopher Rouse]], [[Melinda Wagner]]<ref name="Tsioulcas" /> and [[Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon]].<ref>[https://www.esm.rochester.edu/faculty/zohn_muldoon_ricardo/ Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon] [[Eastman School of Music]]</ref>

==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist|group=n}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
;Books
* {{cite book |last=Borroff |first=Edith |author-link=Edith Borroff |year=1986 |title=Three American Composers |publisher=[[University Press of America]] |location=Lanham |isbn=978-0-8191-5371-5 }}
* {{cite book |last=Cohen |first=David |year=2002 |title=George Crumb: A Bio-Bibliography |publisher=[[Greenwood Press]] |location=Westport |isbn=978-0-313-31887-0 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Geoff |last2=Smith |first2=Nicola Walker |year=1995 |title=New Voices: American Composers Talk about Their Music |publisher=Amadeus Press |location=Portland |isbn=978-0-931340-85-7 }}

;Journal and encyclopedia articles
* {{cite journal |last=Bass |first=Richard |date=Spring 1991 |title=Sets, Scales and Symmetrics: The Pitch-Structural Basis of George Crumb's ''Makrokosmos I & II'' |journal=[[Music Theory Spectrum]] |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=1–20 |jstor=745971 |doi=10.2307/745971 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Fowler |first=Charles B. |date=April 1967 |title=American Composer Sketches: George Crumb |journal=[[Music Educators Journal]] |volume=53 |issue=8 |pages=61–63 |jstor=3390985 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Steinitz |first=Richard |date=October 1978 |title=George Crumb |journal=[[The Musical Times]] |volume=119 |issue=1628 |pages=844–845+847 |doi=10.2307/957785 |jstor=957785 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Steinitz |first=Richard |year=2013 |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |title=Crumb, George |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2249252 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002249252 }} {{Grove Music subscription}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |date=7 February 2022 |title=George Crumb &#124; Biography, Composer, Black Angels, Makrokosmos, & Facts |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |location=Chicago |access-date=18 May 2020 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Crumb |ref={{sfnRef|''Britannica''|2022}} }}

==Further reading==
* [[Dufallo, Richard]]. 1989. ''Trackings: Composers Speak with Richard Dufallo.'' New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN| 0-19-505816-X}}
* Gagne, Cole and Tracy Caras. 1982. ''Soundpieces: Interviews with American Composers''. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. {{ISBN| 0-8108-1474-9}}
* Strickland, Edward. 1991. ''American Composers: Dialogues on Contemporary Music.'' Bloomington: Indiana University Press.  {{ISBN| 0-253-35498-6}}
* {{cite news |last=Swed |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Swed |date=8 February 2022 |title=Appreciation: How George Crumb became one of America's most surprisingly consequential composers |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-02-08/george-crumb-composer-appreciation }}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{Archival records|title=George Crumb papers, 1956–2011|location= [[Library of Congress]]|description_URL=https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu012003}}
*[http://www.georgecrumb.net Official home page]
* {{discogs artist|George Crumb}}
* {{IMDb name|1278986}}
* [http://www.naxos.com/composerinfo/George_Crumb_16527/16527.htm George Crumb] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211123555/http://www.naxos.com/composerinfo/George_Crumb_16527/16527.htm |date=11 December 2008 }} [[Naxos Records]] 2022
* [http://www.bruceduffie.com/crumb2.html Composer  George  Crumb / A Conversation with Bruce Duffie] 27 August 1988

{{George Crumb}}
{{West Virginia Music Hall of Fame}}
{{PulitzerPrize Music 1961–1970}}
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