{"id":256,"date":"2009-11-10T23:52:37","date_gmt":"2009-11-11T06:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/researchblog.andremount.net\/?p=256"},"modified":"2009-11-15T13:10:48","modified_gmt":"2009-11-15T20:10:48","slug":"the-counsel-of-a-veteran-zappas-letter-to-varese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/researchblog.andremount.net\/?p=256","title":{"rendered":"“The Counsel of a Veteran”; Zappa’s letter to Var\u00c3\u00a8se"},"content":{"rendered":"

In interviews, Zappa frequently recalled his fifteenth birthday when, in lieu of any gifts, he requested permission to make a long distance phone call. Following some lead–he claims it was a hunch, deducing that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a person who looked like a mad scientist could only live in a place called Greenwich Village\u00e2\u20ac\u009d [1<\/a>]–Zappa found Var\u00c3\u00a8se\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s phone number and address by dialing New York information.<\/p>\n

His obsession with The Complete Works of Edgard Var\u00c3\u00a8se, Vol. I<\/em><\/a> had grown to the point of seeking out the composer himself. His timing, however, was less than ideal and the older composer was away. Louise Var\u00c3\u00a8se informed Zappa that Edgard was in Brussels working on a composition–Po\u00c3\u00a8me \u00c3\u00a9lectronique<\/em>–for the World\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Fair, and suggested he call again in a few weeks. [2<\/a>]<\/p>\n

I did. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t remember what I said to him exactly, but it was something like: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I really dig your music.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He told me he was working on a new piece called Deserts<\/em>. This thrilled me quite a bit since I was living in Lancaster, California then. When you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re fifteen and living in the Mojave Desert and find out that the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s greatest composer, somewhere in a secret Greenwich Village laboratory, is working on a song about your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153home town\u00e2\u20ac\u009d you can get pretty excited. It seemed a great tragedy that nobody in Palmdale or Rosamond would care if they ever heard it. I still think Deserts<\/em> is about Lancaster, even if the liner notes on the Columbia LP say it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something more philosophical. [3<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Zappa spent the summer of 1957 with an aunt in Baltimore. Recalling a casual offer from their telephone conversation, Zappa wrote to Var\u00c3\u00a8se letting him know that he was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in the area\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and would like to make a side trip to Greenwich Village. The reply, dated July 12, 1957 (actually August 12, 1957 [4<\/a>]) read:<\/p>\n

Dear Mr. Zappa,<\/p>\n

I am sorry not to be able to grant your request. I am leaving for Europe next week and will be gone until next spring. I am hoping however to see you on my return. With best wishes.<\/p>\n

Sincerely
\nEdgard Var\u00c3\u00a8se [5<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unfortunately, the two composers never did meet in person. Zappa, of course, framed the letter and hung it on his wall–another relic for his collection.<\/p>\n

Var\u00c3\u00a8se’s response has been reprinted in a number of publications including Zappa’s autobiography and a tribute article he wrote for Stereo Review<\/em> entitled “Edgard Var\u00c3\u00a8se: Idol of My Youth.” Zappa’s initial letter to Var\u00c3\u00a8se, on the other hand, is rarely mentioned.<\/p>\n

Recently, I came across a catalog for an exhibition of Var\u00c3\u00a8se-related items housed at the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel Switzerland. One of the items was young Frank’s letter, which Var\u00c3\u00a8se seems to have kept over the years. The letter, sent in early August 1957, consists of two typewritten pages (27.8 x 21.2 cm). I’ve never seen the text of the letter printed anywhere else, so I thought I could put it up here.<\/p>\n

The text of the letter is as follows:<\/p>\n

Mr. Edgard Var\u00c3\u00a8se<\/p>\n

188 Sullivan St.<\/p>\n

New York, New York<\/p>\n

Dear Sir:<\/p>\n

Perhaps you might remember me from my stupid phone call last January, if
\nnot, my name again is Frank Zappa Jr. I am 16 years old… that might explain
\npartly my disturbing you last winter.<\/p>\n

The reason for my letter at this time is that I am visiting relatives in
\nBaltimore and as long as I am on the east Coast I hope I can get to see you.<\/p>\n

It might seem strange but ever since I was 13 I have been interested in your
\nmusic. The whole thing stems from the time when the keeper of this little
\nrecord store sold me your album “The Complete Works of Edgard Var\u00c3\u00a8se, Vol.
\n1.” The only reason I knew it existed was that an article in either LOOK or
\nthe POST mentioned it as being noisy and unmusical and only good for trying
\nout the sound systems in high fidelity units (referring to your
\n“IONISATIONS” [sic<\/em>]). I don’t know how the store I got it from ever
\nobtained it, but, after several hearings, I became curious and bought it for
\n$5.40, which, at the time[,] seemed awfully high and[,] being so young, kept
\nme broke for three weeks. Now I wouldn’t trade it for anything and I am
\nlooking around for another copy as the one I have is very worn and scratchy.<\/p>\n

After I had struggled through Mr. Finklestein’s [recte: Finkelstein’s] notes
\non the back cover (I really did struggle too, for at the time I had had no
\ntraining in music other than practice at drum rudiments) I became more and
\nmore interested in you and your music. I began to go to the library and take
\nout books on modern composers and modern music, to learn all I could about
\nEdgard Var\u00c3\u00a8se. It got to be my best subject (your life) and I began writing
\nmy reports and term papers on you at school. At one time when my history
\nteacher asked us to write on an American that has really done something for
\nthe U.S.A. I wrote on you and the Pan American Composers League [sic<\/em>] and
\nthe New Symphony. I failed. The teacher had never heard of you and said I
\nmade the whole thing up. Silly but true. That was my Sophomore year in high
\nschool.<\/p>\n

Throughout my life all the talents and abilities that God has left me with
\nhave been self developed, and when the time came for Frank to learn how to
\nread and write music, Frank taught himself that too. I picked it all up from
\nthe library.<\/p>\n

I have been composing for two years now, utilizing a strict twelve-tone
\ntechnique, producing effects that are reminiscent of Anton Webern.<\/p>\n

During those two years I have written two short woodwind quartets and a
\nshort symphony for winds, brass and percussion.<\/p>\n

Recently I have been earning my keep at home with my blues band, the
\nBLACKOUTS. We have done quite well and in my association with my fellow
\nmusicians I am learning to play other instruments besides drums.<\/p>\n

I paint in oils and watercolor and last year produced a cartoon film in
\nschool by painting color directly onto a 250 foot reel of cleared 16 mm
\nmoving film. I painted on the color in such a way that I managed to closely,
\nbut not completely, synchronize their movements to your “DENSITY 21.5” and
\nthe second “movement” of “OCTANDRE”. It brought about some amazing results
\nfrom the audience and my counselors in the office allowed me to make a trip
\nI had planned to Walt Disney studios with the film.<\/p>\n

Nothing ever came of my trip, but when I got back to school I was informed I
\nhad a chance to be skipped from the Junior year in high school to the
\nFreshman year at the junior college which adjoined the school as an
\nexperiment..<\/p>\n

I went to the Jaycee and studied harmony and music appreciation and history
\nfor one semester and came out of it with A’s and B’s.<\/p>\n

I plan to go on and be a composer after college and I could really use the
\ncounsel of a veteran such as you. If you would allow me to visit with you
\nfor even a few hours it would be greatly appreciated.<\/p>\n

It may sound strange but I think I have something to offer you in the way of
\nnew ideas. One is an elaboration on the principle of Ruth Seeger’s
\ncontrapuntal dynamics and the other is an extension of the twelve-tone
\ntechnique which I call the inversion square. It enables one to compose
\nharmonically constructed pantonal music in logical patterns and progressions
\nwhile still abandoning tonality.<\/p>\n

Would you please reply as soon as possible because I will not be here much
\nlonger. My address here is 4803 Loch Raven Blvd., Baltimore[,] Maryland.
\nPhone Hopkins 77336. Thank you for your consideration.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Frank Zappa Jr. [6<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a precocious letter, to be sure, and a little cocky to boot. But I think it reveals the depth of Zappa’s reverence for Var\u00c3\u00a8se . The letter has a clarity and vitality that seems to be lacking in Zappa’s later accounts of his admiration for the older composer which, by comparison, seem lackluster and rehearsed.<\/p>\n

References<\/span>:<\/h6>\n
[1<\/a>] Zappa and Occhiogrosso, The Real Frank Zappa Book<\/em>, 33.<\/h6>\n
[2<\/a>] Again, Zappa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s memory of this event is problematic. Zappa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fifteenth birthday would have been in late December, 1955. The events surrounding Po\u00c3\u00a8me \u00c3\u00a9lectronique<\/em> do not align with Zappa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s account of the phone call. The Philips Radio Corporation appointed architect Le Corbusier to design their pavilion for the 1958 Brussels World\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Fair. Much to the chagrin of Philips, Le Corbusier had insisted that Var\u00c3\u00a8se provide the music. However, it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until June of 1956 that Le Corbusier wrote Var\u00c3\u00a8se, inviting his participation in the project and it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until late August of 1957 that Var\u00c3\u00a8se embarked on the eight month trip to Europe to work on the piece. See Fernand Ouellette, Edgard Var\u00c3\u00a8se<\/em> (New York: Orion Press, 1968), 198.<\/h6>\n
[3<\/a>] Zappa, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Edgard Var\u00c3\u00a8se: Idol of my Youth,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 63. (Text here<\/a>.)<\/h6>\n
[4<\/a>] Felix Meyer and Heidy Zimmermann, Edgard Varese: Composer, Sound Sculptor, Visionary (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2006).<\/h6>\n
[5<\/a>] Frank Zappa, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Edgard Var\u00c3\u00a8se: Idol of my Youth,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Stereo Review 26, no. 6 (June 1971): 63. (Text here<\/a>.)<\/h6>\n
[6<\/a>] Felix Meyer and Heidy Zimmermann, Edgard Varese: Composer, Sound Sculptor, Visionary (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2006).<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In interviews, Zappa frequently recalled his fifteenth birthday when, in lieu of any gifts, he requested permission to make a long distance phone call. Following some lead–he claims it was a hunch, deducing that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a person who looked like a mad scientist could only live in a place called Greenwich Village\u00e2\u20ac\u009d [1]–Zappa found Var\u00c3\u00a8se\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s phone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,17,4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/researchblog.andremount.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/researchblog.andremount.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/researchblog.andremount.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/researchblog.andremount.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/researchblog.andremount.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=256"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/researchblog.andremount.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272,"href":"https:\/\/researchblog.andremount.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256\/revisions\/272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/researchblog.andremount.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/researchblog.andremount.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/researchblog.andremount.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}