In the following decade, the classical establishment essentially overlooked Eastman. The first news of Eastman’s death was an obituary published by Kyle Gann in the Village Voice eight months after the composer passed away from cardiac arrest. ![]() The majority of his compositions were lost, presumably destroyed after he was evicted from his Lower East Side apartment, and only recordings of his pieces and partial musical scores remained. Through the ‘80s, Eastman lived in downtown New York City, distanced himself from the classical music establishment and close friends, and in 1990 died alone in Millard Fillmore Hospital in Buffalo at the age of 49. Eastman held a teaching position in the University at Buffalo Music Department in the early ’70s, was a respected performer of modern vocal works and wrote brooding minimalist pieces of music, with titles centering around homosexuality and race. One such product of his time was Julius Eastman, born in 1940, who found himself straddling both academic and reactionary styles in the classical scene. To add another level of complexity, the changing social climate of the ‘60s and ‘70s directly influenced composers and their compositions. Emerging composers found themselves drafted into one camp or the other. ![]() ![]() Atonal compositions (lacking a tonal center, often with pitch material derived from formulas) were the academic norm minimalist compositions (rhythmic, often tonal pieces, derived from simple repeating processes) were the reaction. In the mid-20th century, classical music was in a state of rapid flux.
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