Explore Christopher Lantz
Avant-Garde Compositions
Christopher Lantz was one of the few remaining avant-garde composers who experimented in the early 70's with re-presenting notational musical form which he coined: "art scores." In their birth, these musical scores were not originally intended as "art." The composer was instead seeking freedom from the constraints of traditional notation.
Was it possible to escape the linear bindings? How could he communicate to a musician the virtual improvisational freedom that could be gleaned in the subtleties of space, colors, and forms?
Lantz eventually reached a point in his musical career when he no longer "felt nourished by the music." He determined that Western music was dead.
Then he had a vision. He was to return to New Mexico, where he grew up, buy a piece of land and build an acoustical chamber. So he gave up his life of wealth and fame and moved to New Mexico and began building what would eventually become an extraordinary structure known as "The House of Symphonies" for which his most recent book is named.
Topic of Music +some
As a composer he is known for expanding his compositions into twelve tone theory and experimenting with a new notation called :Art Scores”. As a contemporary artists he is collected world wide. He holds a Ph.D in Acoustical Physics and a Doctor of Musical Arts from Stanford University. As an author Christopher has written a children’s book (especially for grown-ups) “the field manual for the Forty-nine Symphonies” and has finisished an audiobook, 26 yrs of study “The House of Symphonies”.
Documentary Collection: “House of Symphonies” Audiobook Recording, Full BloomPublication (2005) “Journey to Central America” Filmed and Documented C. Lantz (The Continuation of his 26yrs study of “The House of Symphonies” 2007 “The Unplayed String Quartet” Produced,Directed, Filmed,Recorded 2008 LaMusica Festival, C.Lantz “Art Score Exhibition”and Other Small Works, Sarasota, Fl 2004 LaMusica Festival C.Lantz "A Clash of Myths and Epics: An Anasazi Views The Music of The Danube"Presentation, 2004 Christopher Lantz Exhibition, Fandango’s Sarasota Fla 1997,
BIO: 1967-1974 Associate Director, Society for the Performance of Contemporary Music Conducted over one hundred-fifty concerts of contemporary and avant garde music both in Europe and the United States. 1968-1969 Lecturer, Computer composition for music, improvisation and musical aesthetics. Lectured at numerous universities and colleges, including Smith, L.S.U., Kent State, Spellmnan, Morehouse. 1966-1968 Post-doctorate Research, Developing sound systems for computer music PDP-6 Artificial Intelligence Center, Stanford University. 1960-1968 Stanford University M.A., Doctor of Musical Arts, Ph.D. Acoustical Physics. 1955-1960 Bard College B.A. Music. 1960-1966 Leland Smith, Stanford University. 1955-1957 Paul Nordhoff, Bard College. 1954 Roger Sessions, Princeton. 1953 Sods Blocher, Tanglewood. 1950-1954 Milton Babbit (Pulitzer Prize Winner, 1982), New York. 1960-1978 Composer/conductor, International Society for American Composers (S.P.C.M.). 1967 Resident Composer, Marlboro Music Festival, Vermont. 1964 Newberry Scholarship.
Although he is not mentioned in this Wiki article, it is my understanding from Christopher that he, Christopher as painter, was represented by Leo Castelli at the beginning and into the apex of the "pop art" movement in the 1960s. Shoulder-to-shoulder with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Rosenquist, and other majors of the time:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Castelli
Val M Cox
THE LANTZ EFFECT Nothing by coincidence, so does not one wonder why you are reading this before that and be amazed about form and less about fact? The mind makes itself important by rejection. The viewer becomes king because we have been paid to judge. Who can know the dancer from the dance? The Lantz effect is a lesson, the visual lesson of letting go. Releasing the static me and I to become more like water, to just flow in the direction of no attachment. To let go of rational thought and become more like clouds, just be and then be gone. While viewing the art, the effect may happen around image three. Those schooled in journalism start thinking the five “ws”, scholars need knowledge, mechanics reference their tools, technique wizards wonder how and the Magi ride away. The court jester looks on from page to page delighting in the visual dance of impermanence. He does not know who he is and she is not here. By image seven challenge is useless. Why compare or contrast one to another? You can stay in the simple moment and let magic happen. Small art pieces can offer larger intrigue. Try the Lantz effect. “When it becomes pretentious, I tear it up”. Christopher Lantz
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