Robert Erickson

Robert Erickson (March 7, 1917 in Marquette, Michigan–April 24, 1997 in San Diego, California) was a composer. He suffered from a wasting muscle disease, polymyositis, and was bedridden and pained for fifteen years before his death, though his final work was 1990's Music for Trumpet, Strings, and Tympani. He studied with Ernst Krenek from 1936-1947: "I had already studied--and abandonded--the twelve tone system before most other Americans had taken it up." He influenced notable students Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, and Paul Dresher. He is also the author of The Structure of Music: A Listener's Guide, which he claimed helped him overcome a "contrapuntal obsession", and Sound Structures in Music (1975).

Source

• Robert Erickson: Sierra & Other Works (1991 CRI CD 616). Liner notes by Alan Rich, Music Critic, L.A. Daily News.
• Oliveros, Pauline. "A Former UCSD Professor Speaks Up: An Email Exchange" Fall 1995 - International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM list). http://www.deeplistening.org/pauline/ucsd.html