Composition for Four Instruments (1948) is an early serial music composition written by American composer Milton Babbitt. It is Babbitt’s first published ensemble work, following shortly after his Three Compositions for Piano (1947). In both these pieces, Babbitt expands upon the methods of twelve-tone composition developed by Arnold Schoenberg. He is notably innovative for his application of serialism to domains other than pitch, such as rhythm and dynamics. Composition for Four Instruments is considered one of the early examples of this type of “totally serialized” music, and foreshadows the style and complexity of Babbitt’s later work. It is remarkable for a strong sense of integration and concentration on its particular premises—qualities that caused Elliott Carter, upon first hearing it in 1951, to persuade New Music Edition to publish it (Carter 1976, 30).
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