Introduction

Otto Luening was born in Milwaukee in 1900 and died in New York City in 1996. His father was a graduate of the Leipzig Conservatory and later was director of the School of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In childhood he studied piano and flute and was largely self-taught until he went to the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Munich. In Zurich he played the flute professionally, studied with Feruccio Busoni, made his debut as a conductor, and was an actor and stage manager for James Joyce's English Players Company. Luening returned to Chicago in 1920, established himself as a conductor, and held various university posts.

His output as a composer is extremely varied, often involving amateurs or students in the community. He was a pioneer in electronic music—his first works date from 1952, and several were collaborations with Vladimir Ussachevsky. Together they established what became known as the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center at Columbia University. During a remarkably active career Luening either founded or supported many leading American music organizations and received many honors. His pupils included some prominent American composers.

Interview

By permission of the Otto Luening Trust

PD Was Cage a bolt from the blue, or is there a context for him in American music?

OL There is a certain sequence in the avant-garde and the futurist movement represented here. The first man I think of was Leo Ornstein. In 1910 or 1911 he was the enfant terrible with Wild Man's Dance and other pieces that were sensational at the time. Then he calmed down and became a good piano teacher in Philadelphia but continued composing. He was an avant-gardist who didn't carry it out all his life but moved into another area. I came across him when I went over to Europe as a boy.

The next thing was the Dada movement in Zurich with Tristan Tzara. I ran into that when I was at the Academy in Munich, but when America entered the war I was kicked out as an enemy alien and had to get to Switzerland. There were many refugees there, including the Dadaists.