Subject: Dika Newlin (1923-2006)
From: Elizabeth Hinkle (ehinkle@unt.edu)
Date: Mon Jul 24 2006 - 10:19:24 EDT
Forwarded from IAWMLIST:
>>> Elizabeth Keathley <elizabeth337@EARTHLINK.NET> 7/22/2006 2:28:54 PM >>>
Dika Newlin (1923-2006)
Dika Newlin, composer, pianist, music scholar, teacher,
raconteuse, Schoenberg student, and punk performance artist, passed
away in Richmond, Virginia on the evening of July 21, 2006.
A native of Portland, Oregon, Dika undertook composition
lessons with Schoenberg at the age of 13 (1936), receiving one of the
first Masters degrees from UCLA's Music Department (1941), and the
first Ph.D. in musicology from Columbia Univerity (1945).
Dika's writings and translations*including her own Bruckner,
Mahler, Schoenberg(1947), René Leibowitz'sSchoenberg and his
School(1949), Josef Rufer'sThe Works of Arnold Schoenberg(1962), and
the first edition of Schoenberg'sStyle and Idea(1950)*form the core of
early Schoenberg scholarship in English. Her controversial memoir of
studying with Schoenberg,Schoenberg Remembered(1980), revealed a very
personal side of the composer. Many of Dika's articles and reviews
aimed to make new music accessible to performers and general audiences.
Her academic positions included appointments at Drew
University (1952-65), University of North Texas (1965-73), and Virginia
Commonwealth University (1978-2003). Dika received a Fullbright in
1951, and her composition students have won numerous prizes.
Like Lou Harrison and John Cage, Dika's compositional
approaches departed from those she learned from Schoenberg: her
compositions span the gamut from 12-tones to electronic, to gamelan, to
pop songs, some based on Schoenbergian themes. Her 1957 recital of
Schoenberg's piano compositions inspired electrical engineer Max
Mathews to develop the electronic music studios at Bell Labs, where she
was a resident visitor in acoustic research (1973-76). Most recently,
Dika has collaborated with musician and filmmaker Michael D. Moore,
whose film Dika: Murder City(1994) won several awards on the festival
circuit.
Dika Newlin leaves no heirs. Michael and Colleen Moore have
been her closest friends, caregivers, and allies.
Eliz
abeth L. Keathley
Elizabeth L. Keathley, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Historical Musicology
School of Music
University of North Carolina, Greensboro
P.O. Box 26170
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170
(336) 334-5911 * fax: (336) 334-5497 * elkeathl@uncg.edu
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always
so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."
--Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre
minds." --Albert Einstein
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