We use cookies on our website to provide you with the best experience. Most of these are essential and already present.
We do require your explicit consent to save your cart and browsing history between visits. Read about cookies we use here.
Your cart and preferences will not be saved if you leave the site.

Soundohm

play

Robert Ashley

Atalanta (Acts of God) (Book)

Label: Lovely Music, Ltd.

Format: Book

Genre: Sound Art

In stock

€35.00
+
-

Rare 1st edition hard cover. The definitive text of Atalanta (Acts of God) is followed by an Afterword by Robert Ashley. An excerpt from the Afterword: "I had already decided who the three characters of Atalanta (Acts of God) would be: Max Ernst, a long-time artistic hero for me; Willard Reynolds, my uncle, a storyteller to whom I had listened for most of my life; and Bud Powell, a legendary jazz pianist. The "successful suitor" in the Atalanta myth now has three forms (reminding us of his successful strategy) and not coincidentally, the genius of these men cam be taken to represent three aspects of opera itself: image, narrative and music."

"Atalanta is the second in a cycle of three operas (Perfect Lives and Now Eleanor's Idea being the first and third) which have defined Ashley as the single most important figure in American experimental music theater. While early work such as the sublime Automatic Writing is strikingly minimal in its structure and layering of elements, the operas- particularly this one- are complex.

 It takes many listenings to explore the levels which Ashley combines effortlessly in his librettos. It has to be said also that he is a fine writer of prose and the depth of these works reflects the quality of a highly developed literary mind as well as that of a first rate composer. Having read the libretto several times now, I can say that the text is as inexhaustibly rich as that of Perfect Lives. (John Cage said of that opera: "What about the Bible? And the Koran? It doesn't matter: we have Perfect Lives."

    — Paul Schultze, The Wire

Details
Cat. number: 978-0-936050-29-4
Year: 1991
Notes:

Edited by Melody Sumner Carnahan. 9 1/4 x 6 1/4inches, 207 pages, clothbound, smythe-sewn. Published by Burning Books, 2011. Available from Lovely Music by special arrangement. The opera is also on CD.

More by Robert Ashley

The Wolfman
The Wolfman
CD | €15.90
Private Parts
Private Parts
CD | €15.50
Automatic Writing (LP)
Automatic Writing (LP)
LP | €27.90
Qicksand (Book)
Qicksand (Book)
Book | €15.00 €18.00
eL/Aficionado (2021)
eL/Aficionado (2021)
CD | €14.50
Foreign Experiences
Foreign Experiences
CD | €19.90
Superior Seven / Tract
Superior Seven / Tract
CD | €13.50
Crash (2CD)
Crash (2CD)
CDx2 | €24.50
Concrete (2CD)
Concrete (2CD)
CDx2 | €28.90
Now Eleanor's Idea (2CD)
Now Eleanor's Idea (2CD)
2CD Box | €28.90
Robert Ashley
Robert Ashley
CD | €15.00
Atalanta (Acts of God)
Atalanta (Acts of God)
2CD Box | €24.00
Celestial Excursions (2CD)
Celestial Excursions (2CD)
2CD Box | €26.00
Dust
Dust
2CD | €28.90
eL/Aficionado
eL/Aficionado
CD | €15.50

More from Lovely Music, Ltd.

Jetsun Mila (2CD)
Jetsun Mila (2CD)
2CD | €28.90
Songs of Milarepa (2CD)
Songs of Milarepa (2CD)
CDx2 | €28.90
Four Compositions
Four Compositions
CD | €15.50
Sign Of The Times
Sign Of The Times
CD | €14.50
Chris Mann And The Use
Chris Mann And The Use
CD | €13.50
Breaking The Surface
Breaking The Surface
CD | €15.50
Two Lines
Two Lines
CD | €14.50
Free Delivery
Free Delivery
CD | €14.50
Crystal
Crystal
CD | €14.50
Crone Music
Crone Music
CD | €14.50
Key
Key
CD | €13.50
Musica Iconologos
Musica Iconologos
CD | €14.50
An Hour For Piano
An Hour For Piano
CD | €16.00
Violin Improvisations
Violin Improvisations
CD | €14.50
Studio Retrospect
Studio Retrospect
CD | €14.50
Neural synthesis n. 6-9 (2CD)
Neural synthesis n. 6-9 (2CD)
2CD Box | €28.90
Leapday Night
Leapday Night
CD | €14.50