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118-569: The primary performance venue is the Libbey Bowl, an open-air setting not far from the center of Ojai. Before the music festival itself was established, the Ojai valley itself had attracted artists, musicians and thinkers. In the early 1920s, a trust organized by Annie Besant , the head of the Theosophical Society , bought 40 acres (160,000 m) in the valley. This land was eventually used for

236-464: A "torch-bearer of Truth", an emissary of a hidden Spiritual Hierarchy that, according to theosophists, guides the evolution of mankind. This was repeated by Besant as early as 1896; Besant came to believe in the imminent appearance of the "emissary", who was identified by theosophists as the so-called World Teacher . In 1909, soon after Besant's assumption of the presidency, Leadbeater "discovered" fourteen-year-old Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986),

354-474: A South Indian boy who had been living, with his father and brother, on the grounds of the headquarters of the Theosophical Society at Adyar , and declared him the probable "vehicle" for the expected " World Teacher ". The "discovery" and its objective received widespread publicity and attracted a worldwide following, mainly among theosophists. It also started years of upheaval and contributed to splits in

472-718: A book by the American birth-control campaigner Charles Knowlton . It claimed that working-class families could never be happy until they were able to decide how many children they wanted. It also suggested ways to limit the size of their families. The Knowlton book was highly controversial and was vigorously opposed by the Church. Besant and Bradlaugh proclaimed in the National Reformer : We intend to publish nothing we do not think we can morally defend. All that we publish we shall defend. The pair were arrested and put on trial for publishing

590-415: A book called Occult Chemistry . In 1906 Leadbeater became the centre of controversy when it emerged that he had advised the practice of masturbation to some boys under his care and spiritual instruction. Leadbeater stated he had encouraged the practice to keep the boys celibate, which was considered a prerequisite for advancement on the spiritual path. Because of the controversy, he offered to resign from

708-418: A button to release music exactly as the composer wrote it—exactly like opening up a book." Varèse would not realize these predictions until his tape experiments in the 1950s and 1960s. Some of Edgard Varèse's works, particularly Arcana make use of the idée fixe , a fixed theme, repeated certain times in a work. The idée fixe was most famously used by Hector Berlioz in his Symphonie fantastique ; it

826-577: A cable from the new Board president instructing him to "cancel all contracts", which resulted in the cancellation of intended music director, Nadia Boulanger .] But it quickly swung back to the other extreme. In 1962, when Luciano Berio was the composer in residence, he, Milton Babbitt and Gunther Schuller debated for four days the direction of music and where the 12-tone technique , jazz and tradition all fit in. The great jazz flutist and clarinetist Eric Dolphy played Edgard Varèse 's flute solo, "Density 21.5", that spring. Under Morton's leadership,

944-603: A celebrated translator of French poetry whose versions of the work of Arthur Rimbaud for James Laughlin 's New Directions imprint were particularly influential. Varèse composed many of his pieces for orchestral instruments and voices for performance under the auspices of the ICG during its six-year existence. Specifically, during the first half of the 1920s, he composed Offrandes , Hyperprism , Octandre , and Intégrales . He took American citizenship in October 1927. After arriving in

1062-689: A close friendship. Besant made an abrupt public change in her political views, at the 1885 New Year's Day meeting of the London Dialectical Society, founded by Joseph Hiam Levy to promote individualist views. It followed a noted public debate at St. James's Hall on 17 April 1884, on Will Socialism Benefit the English People? , in which Bradlaugh had put individualist views, against the Marxist line of Henry Hyndman . On that occasion Besant still supported Bradlaugh. While Bradlaugh may have had

1180-698: A compelling idea in general. You find some pieces that fit the theme well, and then you have to find something to round it out, and that can lead to some less good pieces being performed. There should be some rhyme or reason to programming, but it shouldn't be too restricted in its thinking." The Festival has enjoyed collaborations with many highly regarded composers, conductors, directors, and musicians who have served as Music Director; these include: Igor Stravinsky , Aaron Copland , Pierre Boulez , Robert Craft , Michael Tilson Thomas , Lukas Foss , John Adams , Peter Sellars , Esa-Pekka Salonen , Daniel Lewis , Kent Nagano , Simon Rattle , and Rhiannon Giddens to name

1298-582: A conductor was just beginning, and Boulez has been back six more times, most recently in 2003. [In 2005] I asked Boulez, who is 81, if he would ever return to Ojai. He said yes, he hoped so. . . . . . . Like wealthy patrons most places, Ojai's often have traditional tastes, and Morton pushed some donors too far in the '50s. He left for Paris in 1960 on a Guggenheim Fellowship , and the Festival immediately went pop with acts such as Anna Maria Alberghetti and Family. [According to other sources, Morton had received

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1416-515: A conquered race." She encouraged Indian national consciousness, attacked caste and child marriage, and worked effectively for Indian education. Along with her theosophical activities, Besant continued to actively participate in political matters. She had joined the Indian National Congress . As the name suggested, this was originally a debating body, which met each year to consider resolutions on political issues. Mostly it demanded more of

1534-587: A degree course at London University. Then, 1879 to 1882, she was a student of physical sciences at Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution . Embarrassed by her activist reputation, the Institution omitted her name from the published list of graduands, and mailed her certificates to her. When Aveling in a speech in 1884 announced he had become a socialist after five years close study, Besant argued that his politics over that whole period had been aligned with Bradlaugh's and her own. Aveling and Eleanor Marx joined

1652-796: A few. In recent years, instrumentalists such as Emanuel Ax , Mitsuko Uchida , Patricia Kopatchinskaja , Vijay Iyer , Matthias Pintscher , Pierre-Laurent Aimard , and the Emerson String Quartet have also served as Music Director. In addition to the composers who have served as Music Director, many others have been resident artists at the festival, including: Luciano Berio , Milton Babbitt , Peter Maxwell Davies , Elliott Carter , Olivier Messiaen , David Del Tredici , Mauricio Kagel , and György Ligeti . More recently, resident composers have included Steve Reich , Magnus Lindberg , Thomas Ades , Mark-Anthony Turnage , and Osvaldo Golijov . A diverse group of notable musicians have been part of

1770-551: A futuristic drama of world catastrophe and instantaneous communication with the star Sirius . This second form, on which Varèse worked in Paris in 1928–1932, had a libretto by Alejo Carpentier , Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes and Robert Desnos . According to Carpentier, a substantial amount of this work was written but Varèse abandoned it in favour of a new treatment in which he hoped to collaborate with Antonin Artaud . Artaud's libretto Il n'y

1888-566: A generation of young musicians starting in the 1960s and 1970s. This group includes Robert Lamm and Terry Kath from the band Chicago, as well as composer John Zorn . One of Varèse's most devoted fans was the American guitarist and composer Frank Zappa , who, upon hearing a copy of The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse, Vol. 1 (EMS Recordings, 1950) became obsessed with the composer's music. Zappa wrote an article titled Edgard Varèse: The Idol of My Youth , for Stereo Review magazine in June 1971. At

2006-534: A global radiophonic event. Varèse sought input on the text from Henry Miller , who suggests in The Air-Conditioned Nightmare that this grandiose conception—also ultimately unrealized—eventually metamorphosed into Déserts . With both these huge projects Varèse felt ultimately frustrated by the lack of electronic instruments to realize his aural visions. Nevertheless, he used some of the material from Espace in his short Étude pour espace , virtually

2124-483: A legal battle to regain guardianship, against the will of the boys. Early in their relationship, Krishnamurti and Besant had developed a very close bond and he considered her a surrogate mother – a role she happily accepted. (His biological mother had died when he was ten years old.) In 1929, twenty years after his "discovery", Krishnamurti, who had grown disenchanted with the World Teacher Project , repudiated

2242-610: A member of the Theosophical Society and a prominent lecturer on the subject. As part of her theosophy-related work, she travelled to India. In 1898 she helped establish the Central Hindu School , and in 1922 she helped establish the Hyderabad (Sind) National Collegiate Board in Bombay (today's Mumbai ), India. The Theosophical Society Auditorium in Hyderabad, Sindh ( Sindh ) is called Besant Hall in her honor. In 1902, she established

2360-464: A performance of Beethoven 's Seventh Symphony at the Salle Pleyel . As the story goes, during the scherzo movement, perhaps due to the resonance of the hall, Varèse had the experience of the music breaking up and projecting in space. It was an idea that stayed with him for the rest of his life, that he would later describe as consisting of "sound objects, floating in space." From the late 1920s to

2478-492: A plus de firmament was written for Varèse's project and sent to him after he had returned to the U.S., but by this time Varèse had turned to a second huge project. This second project was to be a choral symphony entitled Espace . In its original conception, the text for the chorus was to be written by André Malraux . Later, Varèse settled on a multi-lingual text of hieratic phrases to be sung by choirs situated in Paris, Moscow, Beijing and New York City, synchronized to create

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2596-483: A say for middle-class Indians in British Indian government. It had not yet developed into a permanent mass movement with a local organisation. About this time her co-worker Leadbeater moved to Sydney. In 1914, World War I broke out, and Britain asked for the support of its Empire in the fight against Germany . Echoing an Irish nationalist slogan, Besant declared, "England's need is India's opportunity". As editor of

2714-598: A sense of duty to society, and under the influence of the Tractarians . As a young woman, she was also able to travel in Europe. In summer 1867, Wood and her mother stayed at Pendleton near Manchester with the radical solicitor William Prowting Roberts , who questioned Wood's political assumptions. In December of that year, at age 20, Annie married the cleric Frank Besant (1840–1917), younger brother of Walter Besant , an evangelical, serious Anglican . The Rev. Frank Besant

2832-512: A similar German organisation with Busoni . Varèse contributed a poem to the Dadaist magazine 391 after an evening of drinking with Francis Picabia on the Brooklyn Bridge. The same magazine claimed that he was orchestrating a "Cold Faucet Dance". Later that year, he met Louise Norton, who edited another Dadaist magazine, Rogue , with her then-husband. She was to become Louise Varèse and

2950-578: A small allowance from her husband. In 1878 Frank Besant successfully argued her unfitness, after Annie Besant's public campaigning on contraception , and had custody from then of both children. Later, Annie Besant was reconciled with her son and daughter. Her son Arthur Digby Besant (1869–1960) was President of the Institute of Actuaries, 1924–26, and wrote The Besant Pedigree (1930). Initially in London, Besant attempted to support her daughter, her mother (who died

3068-651: A widespread effort by the Ojai community, the old Libbey Bowl shell and building, originally built in 1957 by local volunteers, was demolished in July 2010. The new Libbey Bowl, opened for the 65th Music Festival in June 2011, features several acoustic, structural, environmental, and aesthetic improvements, while still retaining the familiar, rustic characteristics of the original structure. 34°26′45″N 119°14′44″W  /  34.4457°N 119.2455°W  / 34.4457; -119.2455 Annie Besant Annie Besant ( née Wood ; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933)

3186-595: Is famous in India because Indian monk Swami Vivekananda addressed the same event. In 1895, together with the founder-president of the Theosophical Society, Henry Steel Olcott , as well as Marie Musaeus Higgins and Peter De Abrew , she was instrumental in developing the Buddhist school, Musaeus College , in Colombo on the island of Sri Lanka. Besant saw freemasonry, in particular Co-Freemasonry , as an extension of her interest in

3304-715: Is today based in Chennai , India, and is known as the Theosophical Society Adyar . Following the split, Besant devoted much of her energy not only to the society but also to India's freedom and progress. Besant Nagar , a neighbourhood near the Theosophical Society in Chennai, is named in her honour. In 1893, she was a representative of The Theosophical Society at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. The World Parliament

3422-588: The Grande messe des morts by Berlioz. He spent the first few years in the United States, where he was a Romany Marie 's café regular in Greenwich Village , meeting important contributors to American music, promoting his vision of new electronic art music instruments, conducting orchestras, and founding the short-lived New Symphony Orchestra. In New York, he met Leon Theremin and other composers exploring

3540-457: The New India newspaper, she attacked the colonial government of India and called for clear and decisive moves towards self-rule. As with Ireland, the government refused to discuss any changes while the war lasted. Edgard Var%C3%A8se Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse ( French: [ɛdɡaʁ viktɔʁ aʃil ʃaʁl vaʁɛz] ; also spelled Edgar ; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965)

3658-570: The Bryant & May match factory. She was drawn further into this battle of the "New Unionism" by a young socialist, Herbert Burrows , who had made contact with workers at the factory, in Bow . They were mainly young women, were very poorly paid, and subject to occupational disease, such as Phossy jaw caused by the chemicals used in match manufacture. Louise Raw in Striking a Light (2011) has, however, contested

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3776-483: The Columbia Symphony Orchestra for Columbia Records (Columbia LP catalog Nos.MS6146 and MS6362). These recordings brought Varèse wide attention among musicians and musical aficionados beyond his immediate sphere. Much of the percussion music of George Crumb in particular owes a debt to works such as Ionisation and Intégrales . Varèse's emphasis on timbre , rhythm , and new technologies inspired

3894-761: The Guggenheim Foundation and Bell Laboratories in an attempt to receive a grant to develop an electronic music studio. His next composition, Ecuatorial , was completed in 1934, and contained parts for two fingerboard Theremin cellos, along with winds , percussion, and a bass singer. Anticipating the successful receipt of one of his grants, Varèse eagerly returned to the United States to realize his electronic music. Slonimsky conducted its premiere in New York on April 15, 1934. Varèse soon left New York City for Santa Fe, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In 1936, he wrote his solo flute piece, Density 21.5 . He also promoted

4012-597: The Home Rule League to campaign for democracy in India, and dominion status within the British Empire. This led to her election as president of the Indian National Congress, in late 1917. In the late 1920s, Besant travelled to the United States with her protégé and adopted son Jiddu Krishnamurti , who she claimed was the new Messiah and incarnation of Buddha. Krishnamurti rejected these claims in 1929. After

4130-495: The International Composers' Guild , dedicated to the performances of new compositions of both American and European composers. The ICG's manifesto in July 1921 included the statement, "[t]he present day composers refuse to die. They have realised the necessity of banding together and fighting for the right of each individual to secure a fair and free presentation of his work." In 1922, Varèse visited Berlin where he founded

4248-583: The Irish Home Rulers and supported them in her newspaper columns during what are considered crucial years, when the Irish nationalists were forming an alliance with Liberals and Radicals. Besant met the leaders of the Irish home rule movement. In particular, she got to know Michael Davitt , who wanted to mobilise the Irish peasantry through a Land War, a direct struggle against the landowners. She spoke and wrote in favour of Davitt and his Land League many times over

4366-701: The London matchgirls strike of 1888 . She was a leading speaker for both the Fabian Society and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF). She was also elected to the London School Board for Tower Hamlets , topping the poll, even though few women were qualified to vote at that time. In 1890 Besant met Helena Blavatsky , and over the next few years her interest in theosophy grew, whilst her interest in secular matters waned. She became

4484-643: The Los Angeles Philharmonic has been a frequent participant in the Festival. Other notable resident orchestras have included the Lyon Opera Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra , New World Symphony , Philharmonia Baroque , Atlanta Symphony , and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra . The "Ojai Festival Orchestra", composed of Southern California's most talented, sometimes legendary, studio musicians and freelance orchestral instrumentalists, has been

4602-842: The Royal Swedish Academy of Music , and in 1963 he received the premier Koussevitzky International Recording Award. In 1965, Edgard Varese was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal by the MacDowell Colony. In his formative years, Varèse was greatly impressed by Medieval and Renaissance music – in his career, he founded and conducted several choirs devoted to this repertoire – as well as the music of Alexander Scriabin , Erik Satie , Claude Debussy , Hector Berlioz and Richard Strauss . There are also clear influences or reminiscences of Stravinsky 's early works, specifically Petrushka and The Rite of Spring , on Arcana . He

4720-538: The Social Democratic Federation , followers of Marxism , and then the Socialist League , a small Marxist splinter group which formed around the artist William Morris . In 1883 Besant started her own periodical, Our Corner . It was a literary and in time a socialist monthly, and published George Bernard Shaw 's novel The Irrational Knot in serial form. Meanwhile, Besant built close contacts with

4838-536: The "Father of Electronic Music" whilst Henry Miller described him as "The stratospheric Colossus of Sound". Varèse actively promoted performances of works by other 20th-century composers and founded the International Composers' Guild in 1921 and the Pan-American Association of Composers in 1926. Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse was born in Paris; when he was a few weeks old, he was sent to be raised by his maternal great-uncle and other relations in

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4956-526: The Central Hindu College also agreed to the Government of India's precondition that the college should become a part of the new University. The Banaras Hindu University started functioning from 1 October 1917 with the Central Hindu College as its first constituent college. Blavatsky had stated in 1889 that the main purpose of establishing the society was to prepare humanity for the future reception of

5074-549: The Church were those who despised women the most, "Against the teachings of eternal torture, of the vicarious atonement, of the infallibility of the Bible, I leveled all the strength of my brain and tongue, and I exposed the history of the Christian Church with unsparing hand, its persecutions, its religious wars, its cruelties, its oppressions." In the section named "Its Evidences Unreliable" of her work "Christianity", Besant presents

5192-528: The Church. In 1873 she left him and went to London. She had a temporary place to stay, with Moncure Conway. The Scotts found her a small house in Colby Road, Upper Norwood . The couple were legally separated and Annie Besant took her daughter Mabel with her, the agreement of 25 October 1873 giving her custody. Annie remained Mrs. Besant for the rest of her life. At first, she was able to keep contact with both children and to have Mabel live with her; she also got

5310-526: The Festival's future direction. Already heading up the famously progressive Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles, Morton and his influence were described by Mark Swed: ... what [Morton] wanted was new plus old plus unusual. He was close to Stravinsky . At Ojai, he talked Copland into conducting for the first time. He brought the French composer Pierre Boulez to the Festival in 1967, when Boulez's career as

5428-464: The Festival, including the jazz musician Eric Dolphy , pianist/conductor James Levine , sitar player Ravi Shankar , soprano Dawn Upshaw , and mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson , to name just a few. Sol Babitz , the Festival's first concertmaster , was a confidant of Stravinsky , and Babitz's expertise in Baroque period performance practice and research into early music fascinated and influenced

5546-528: The Knowlton book. They were found guilty but released pending appeal. The trial became a cause célèbre , and ultimately the verdict was overturned on a technical legal point. Besant was then instrumental in founding the Malthusian League , reviving a name coined earlier by Bradlaugh. It would go on to advocate for the abolition of penalties for the promotion of contraception. Besant and Bradlaugh supported

5664-552: The Malthusian League for some 12 years. They were concerned with birth control, but were not neo-Malthusians in the sense of convinced believers in the tradition of Thomas Malthus and his demographic theories. Besant did advocate population control as an antidote to the struggle for survival . She became the secretary of the League, with Charles Robert Drysdale as President. In time the League veered towards eugenics , and it

5782-508: The Marxists. In her Autobiography , Besant follows her chapter on "Socialism" with "Through Storm to Peace", the peace of Theosophy. In 1888, she described herself as "marching toward the Theosophy" that would be the "glory" of her life. Besant had found the economic side of life lacking a spiritual dimension, so she searched for a belief based on "Love". She found this in Theosophy, so she joined

5900-553: The Ojai Festival began the practice of having the artistic director engage a different music director each year, building the scheduling around that person. Nine individuals have served: Whereas Fleischmann tended to organize each year's Festival according to themes, Morris has eschewed this concept. As David Mermelstein reported: "I'm not a big believer in too much dramaturgy ", Morris says. "The idea of building programs or festivals around some kind of specific theme, I find not

6018-484: The Theosophical Society and doctrinal schisms in theosophy. Following the discovery, Jiddu Krishnamurti and his younger brother Nityananda ("Nitya") were placed under the care of theosophists and Krishnamurti was extensively groomed for his future mission as the new vehicle for the "World Teacher". Besant soon became the boys' legal guardian with the consent of their father, who was very poor and could not take care of them. However, his father later changed his mind and began

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6136-427: The Theosophical Society in 1906, which was accepted. The next year Besant became president of the society and in 1908, with her express support, Leadbeater was readmitted to the society. Leadbeater went on to face accusations of improper relations with boys, but none of the accusations were ever proven and Besant never deserted him. Until Besant's presidency, the society had as one of its foci Theravada Buddhism and

6254-573: The Theosophical Society, a move that distanced her from Bradlaugh and other former activist co-workers. When Blavatsky died in 1891, Besant was left as one of the leading figures in theosophy and in 1893 she represented it at the Chicago World Fair . In 1893, soon after becoming a member of the Theosophical Society, she went to India for the first time. After a dispute the American section split away into an independent organisation. The original society, then led by Henry Steel Olcott and Besant,

6372-548: The USA Varèse commonly used the form 'Edgar' for his first name but reverted to 'Edgard', not entirely consistently, from the 1940s. In 1928, Varèse returned to Paris to alter one of the parts in Amériques to include the recently constructed ondes Martenot . Around 1930, he composed Ionisation , the first Classical work to feature solely percussion instruments . Although it was composed with pre-existing instruments, Ionisation

6490-558: The age of 15 Zappa talked to Varèse by phone and received a personal letter, but the two were not able to meet in person. Zappa framed this letter and kept it in his studio for the rest of his life. Zappa's final project was The Rage and the Fury , a recording of the works of Varèse. This album has remained in the Zappa private collection. Henry Threadgill details Varèse's influence in his 2023 autobiography. On several occasions, Varèse speculated on

6608-587: The better of the debate, followers then began to migrate into left-wing politics. George Bernard Shaw was the speaker on 1 January 1885, talking on socialism, but, instead of the expected criticism from Besant, he saw her opposing his opponent. Shaw then sponsored Besant to join the Fabian Society . The Fabians were defining political goals, rejecting anarchism in 1886, and forming the Fabian Parliamentary League, with both Besant and Shaw on its Council which promoted political candidacy. Unemployment

6726-473: The boundaries of electronic music. It was also about this time that Varèse began work on his first composition in the United States, Amériques , which was finished in 1921 but would remain unperformed until 1926, when it was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski (who had already performed Hyperprism in 1924 and would premiere Arcana in 1927). Virtually all

6844-576: The case of why the Gospels are not authentic: "before about A.D. 180 there is no trace of FOUR gospels among the Christians." Besant and Bradlaugh set up the Freethought Publishing Company at the beginning of 1877; it followed the 1876 prosecution of Charles Watts , and they carried on his work. They became household names later that year, when they published Fruits of Philosophy ,

6962-405: The combined orchestral and tape sound composition came as part of an ORTF broadcast concert, between pieces by Mozart and Tchaikovsky and received a hostile reaction. Le Corbusier was commissioned by Philips to present a pavilion at the 1958 World Fair and insisted (against the sponsors' resistance) on working with Varèse, who developed his Poème électronique for the venue, where it

7080-555: The coming decades. Bradlaugh's family circumstances changed in May 1877 with the death of his wife Susannah, an alcoholic who had left him for James Thomson . His two children, Alice then aged 21, and Hypatia then 19, returned to live with him from his in-laws. He had been able to take a house in St John's Wood in February of that year, at 20 Circus Road, near Besant. They continued what had become

7198-620: The composer. During the 1970s and 1980s, jazz was a featured part of every Festival. Musicians and ensembles who appeared included such greats as Oscar Peterson , Bobby Hutcherson Quartet, Milt Jackson , the Heath Brothers , Ray Brown , the Toshiko Akiyoshi - Lew Tabackin Big Band and many others. These concerts were organized by two local board members, syndicated radio show host Fred Hall ("Swing Thing") and Lynford Stewart. Since 1970,

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7316-470: The death of his mother in 1900, until 1903 when Varèse left home for Paris. In 1904, he commenced his studies at the Schola Cantorum (founded by pupils of César Franck ), where his teachers included Albert Roussel . Afterwards, he went to study composition with Charles-Marie Widor at the Paris Conservatoire . In this period, he composed a number of ambitious orchestral works, but these were only performed by Varèse in piano transcriptions . One such work

7434-486: The electors to vote for me, and the non-electors to work for me because women are wanted on the Board and there are too few women candidates." From the early 1880s Besant had also been an important feminist leader in London, with Alice Vickery , Ellen Dana Moncure and Millicent Fawcett . This group, at the South Place Ethical Society , had a national standing. She frequented the home of Richard and Emmeline Pankhurst on Russell Square , and Emmeline had participated in

7552-424: The end of 1888. Besant was further involved in the London dock strike of 1889 . The dockers, casual workers who were employed by the day, were led by Ben Tillett in a struggle for the "Dockers' Tanner". Besant helped Tillett draw up the union's rules and played an important part in the meetings and agitation which built up the organisation. She spoke for the dockers at public meetings and on street corners. Like

7670-461: The end of the 1930s, Varèse's principal creative energies went into two ambitious projects which were never realized, and much of whose material was destroyed, though some elements from them seem to have gone into smaller works. One was a large-scale stage work called by different names at different times, but principally The One-All-Alone or Astronomer ( L'Astronome ). This was originally to be based on North American Indian legends; later it became

7788-512: The festival, including Indian music, mariachi , Balinese music, and West African drum music. In addition to musicians, the Festival has also hosted visual and performing artists of all kinds, most notably the potter Beatrice Wood , French artist Marcel Duchamp , and theater/opera director Peter Sellars . For many years, Ojai Festival posters were designed by renowned modern artists including Robert Rauschenberg , Kenneth Noland , Richard Diebenkorn , David Hockney and Eliot Porter . After

7906-474: The first overseas Lodge of the International Order of Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain . Over the next few years, she established lodges in many parts of the British Empire . In 1907 she became president of the Theosophical Society, whose international headquarters were, by then, located in Adyar , Madras , ( Chennai ). Besant also became involved in politics in India, joining the Indian National Congress . When World War I broke out in 1914, she helped launch

8024-410: The first three degrees and Annie returned to England, bearing a Charter and founded there the first Lodge of International Mixed Masonry, Le Droit Humain." Besant eventually became the Order's Most Puissant Grand Commander and was a major influence in the international growth of the Order. Besant met fellow theosophist Charles Webster Leadbeater in London in April 1894. They became close co-workers in

8142-463: The following year) and herself with needlework . Besant began in 1874 to write for the National Reformer , the organ of the National Secular Society (NSS), run by Charles Bradlaugh . She also continued to write for Thomas Scott's small press. On the account given by W. T. Stead , Besant had encountered the National Reformer on sale in the shop of Edward Truelove . Besant had heard of Bradlaugh from Moncure Conway. She wrote to Bradlaugh and

8260-489: The freethinker and publisher Thomas Scott . Encouraged by Scott, Besant wrote an anonymous pamphlet On the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth , by "the wife of a beneficed clergyman", which appeared in 1872. Ellen Dana Conway, wife of Moncure Conway befriended Annie at this time. The Besants made an effort to repair the marriage. The tension came to a head when Annie Besant refused to attend Communion , which Frank Besant demanded, now fearing for his own reputation and position in

8378-445: The historiography of the strike, stating that "A proper examination of the primary evidence about the strike makes it impossible to continue to believe that Annie Besant led it." William Morris played some part in converting Besant to Marxism, but it was to the Social Democratic Federation of Hyndman, not his Socialist League, that she turned in 1888. She remained a member for a number of years and became one of its leading speakers. She

8496-460: The intelligence that is in sounds.' It was a new and exciting conception and to me the first that started me thinking of music as spatial—as moving bodies of sound in space, a conception I gradually made my own." Varèse began his music studies with Vincent d'Indy (conducting) at the Schola Cantorum de Paris from 1903 to 1905. While he was in Paris, Varèse had another pivotal experience during

8614-520: The island of Sri Lanka , where Henry Olcott did the majority of his useful work. Under Besant's leadership there was more stress on the teachings of "The Aryavarta", as she called central India, as well as on esoteric Christianity. Besant set up a new school for boys, the Central Hindu College (CHC) at Banaras which was formed on underlying theosophical principles, and which counted many prominent theosophists in its staff and faculty. Its aim

8732-511: The jailed workers and support for their families. In its aftermath the Law and Liberty League, defending freedom of expression , was formed by Besant and others, and Besant became editor of The Link , its journal. Besant's involvement in the London matchgirls strike of 1888 came after a Fabian Society talk that year on female labour by Clementina Black . Besant wrote in The Link about conditions at

8850-713: The mainstay of the Ojai Festival over its lifespan. Many chamber groups and other ensembles have also been resident at the festival, including: the Juilliard String Quartet , the Tokyo String Quartet , the Kronos Quartet , the Emerson String Quartet , the Sequoia Quartet, the Pacific Chorale , Chanticleer , and Toimii . In addition, groups representing other musical genres have also been features at

8968-426: The marriage was already under strain. As Besant wrote in her Autobiography , "we were an ill-matched pair". Money was short and Frank Besant was parsimonious. Annie Besant was sure a third child would impose too much on the family finances. She wrote short stories, books for children, and articles, the money she earned being controlled by her husband. Besant began to question her own faith, after her daughter Mabel

9086-562: The match-girls, the dockers won public support for their struggle, and the strike was won. In 1889, Besant was asked to write a review for the Pall Mall Gazette on The Secret Doctrine , a book by H. P. Blavatsky . After reading it, she sought an interview with its author, meeting Blavatsky in Paris. In this way, she was converted to Theosophy. She allowed her membership of the Fabian Society to lapse (1890) and broke her links with

9204-454: The matchgirl organisation. Besant came out on top of the poll in Tower Hamlets , with over 15,000 votes. She wrote in the National Reformer : "Ten years ago, under a cruel law, Christian bigotry robbed me of my little child. Now the care of the 763,680 children of London is placed partly in my hands." Financial constraints meant that Besant closed down both Our Corner and The Link at

9322-533: The natural phenomenon of crystallization . Varèse thought that "to stubbornly conditioned ears, anything new in music has always been called noise ", and he posed the question, "what is music but organized noises?" Although his complete surviving works only last about three hours, he has been recognised as an influence by several major composers of the late 20th century. Varèse saw potential in using electronic media for sound production, and his use of new instruments and electronic resources led to his being known as

9440-563: The oath of loyalty. It took more than six years before the matter was completely resolved, in Bradlaugh's favour, after a series of by-elections and court appearances. He was an individualist and opposed to socialism in any form. While he defended free speech, he was very cautious about encouraging working-class militancy. Edward Aveling , a rising star in the National Secular Society, tutored Besant during 1879, and she went on to

9558-515: The official residence of her young Indian protégé, Jiddu Krishnamurti . Krishnamurti proved to be a respected spiritual thinker in his own right, and Ojai became one of his bases. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, his talks in the valley drew a diverse group of notable Southern Californians, including Igor Stravinsky , Greta Garbo , Christopher Isherwood , Bertolt Brecht , Thomas Mann , Charles Chaplin , Bertrand Russell and Charles Laughton . The composer John Cage wrote to his lover in 1935, "I

9676-506: The only work that had appeared from his pen for over ten years when it was premiered in 1947. According to Chou Wen-chung , Varèse made various contradictory revisions to Étude pour espace which made it impossible to perform again, but the 2009 Holland Festival , which offered a 'complete works' of Varèse over the weekend of 12–14 June 2009, persuaded Chou to make a new performing version (using similar brass and woodwind forces to Déserts and making use of spatialized sound projection). This

9794-691: The part for ondes Martenot . This new version was premiered in 1961. ( Ecuatorial has been performed again with fingerboard theremins in Buffalo, New York, in 2002 and at the Holland Festival, Amsterdam, in 2009.) While living with his father, an engineer, Varèse was pushed to further his scientific understanding at the Institute Technique, a high school in Italy that specialized in teaching mathematics and science. Here, Varèse became particularly interested in

9912-589: The rights of women and the greater brotherhood of man and saw co-freemasonry as a "movement which practised true brotherhood, in which women and men worked side by side for the perfecting of humanity. She immediately wanted to be admitted to this organisation", known now as the International Order of Freemasonry for Men and Women, "Le Droit Humain" . The link was made in 1902 by the theosophist Francesca Arundale, who accompanied Besant to Paris, along with six friends. "They were all initiated, passed, and raised into

10030-692: The role that many theosophists expected him to fulfil. He dissolved the Order of the Star in the East , an organisation founded to assist the World Teacher in his mission, and eventually left the Theosophical Society and theosophy at large. He spent the rest of his life travelling the world as an unaffiliated speaker, becoming in the process widely known as an original, independent thinker on philosophical, psychological, and spiritual subjects. His love for Besant never waned, as also

10148-476: The special status of Christianity and allowed her to act as one of its public speakers. On 6 March 1881 she spoke at the opening of Leicester Secular Society 's new Secular Hall in Humberstone Gate, Leicester. The other speakers were George Jacob Holyoake , Harriet Law and Bradlaugh. Bradlaugh was elected to Parliament in 1881. Because of his atheism, he asked to be allowed to affirm , rather than swear

10266-470: The specific ways in which technology would change music in the future. In 1936, he predicted musical machines that would be able to perform music as soon as a composer inputs his score. These machines would be able to play "any number of frequencies," and therefore the score of the future would need to be "seismographic" in order to illustrate their full potential. In 1939, he expanded on this concept, declaring that with this machine "anyone will be able to press

10384-415: The theosophical movement and would remain so for the rest of their lives. Leadbeater claimed clairvoyance and reputedly helped Besant become clairvoyant herself in the following year. In a letter dated 25 August 1895 to Francisca Arundale, Leadbeater narrates how Besant became clairvoyant. Together they clairvoyantly investigated the universe, matter, thought-forms, and the history of mankind, and co-authored

10502-518: The theremin in his Western travels, and demonstrated one at a lecture at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque on November 12, 1936. (The university has an RCA theremin in its archives which may be the same instrument.) By the time Varèse returned to New York in late 1938, Theremin had returned to Russia. This devastated Varèse, who had hoped to work with him on a refinement of his instrument. He

10620-708: The time. He also gained the friendship and support of Romain Rolland and Hugo von Hofmannsthal , whose Œdipus und die Sphinx he began setting as an opera that was never completed. On 5 January 1911, the first performance of his symphonic poem Bourgogne was held in Berlin. After being invalided out of the French Army during World War I , he moved to the United States in December 1915. In 1918, Varèse made his debut in America conducting

10738-557: The village of Le Villars in the Burgundy region of France. There he developed a very strong attachment to his maternal grandfather, Claude Cortot (also grandfather to the pianist Alfred Cortot , a first cousin of Varèse ). His affection for his grandfather outshone anything he felt for his own parents. After being reclaimed by his parents in the late 1880s, in 1893 young Edgard was forced to relocate with them to Turin , Italy, in part, to live amongst his paternal relatives, since his father

10856-441: The war, she continued to campaign for Indian independence and for the causes of theosophy, until her death in 1933. Annie Wood was born on 1 October 1847 in London , the daughter of William Burton Persse Wood (1816–1852) and his wife Emily Roche Morris (died 1874). Her father was English, attended Trinity College Dublin , and attained a medical degree; her mother was an Irish Catholic . Her paternal grandfather Robert Wright Wood

10974-446: The works he had written in Europe were either lost or destroyed in a Berlin warehouse fire, so in the U.S. he was starting again from scratch. The only surviving work from his early period appears to be the song Un grand sommeil noir , a setting of Paul Verlaine . (He still retained Bourgogne , but destroyed the score in a fit of depression many years later.) At the completion of this work, Varèse, along with Carlos Salzedo , founded

11092-499: The works of Leonardo da Vinci . It was through Varèse's love of science that he began to study sound, as he later recalled: When I was about twenty, I came across a definition of music that seemed suddenly to throw light on my gropings toward music I sensed could exist. Józef Maria Hoene-Wroński , the Polish physicist, chemist, musicologist and philosopher of the first half of the nineteenth century, defined music as 'the corporealization of

11210-466: Was a British socialist , theosophist , freemason , women's rights and Home Rule activist, educationist and campaigner for Indian nationalism. She was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule . She became the first female president of the Indian National Congress in 1917. For fifteen years, Besant was a public proponent in England of atheism and scientific materialism. Besant's goal

11328-448: Was a French composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm ; he coined the term " organized sound " in reference to his own musical aesthetic. Varèse's conception of music reflected his vision of "sound as living matter" and of "musical space as open rather than bounded". He conceived the elements of his music in terms of " sound-masses ", likening their organization to

11446-436: Was a brother of Sir Matthew Wood, 1st Baronet . Wood's father died when she was five years old, leaving a son, Henry Trueman Wood, and one daughter. Her mother supported Henry's education at Harrow School , by running a boarding house there. Annie was fostered by Ellen Marryat, sister of the author Frederick Marryat , who ran a school at Charmouth , until age 16. She returned to her mother at Harrow self-confident, aware of

11564-554: Was a central issue of the time, and in 1887 some of the London unemployed started to hold protests in Trafalgar Square . Besant agreed to appear as a speaker at a meeting on 13 November. The police tried to stop the assembly, fighting broke out, and troops were called. Many were hurt, one man died, and hundreds were arrested; Besant offered herself for arrest, an offer disregarded by the police. The events became known as Bloody Sunday . Besant threw herself into organising legal aid for

11682-632: Was a graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge , ordained priest in 1866, but had no living: in 1866 he was teaching at Stockwell Grammar School as second master, and in 1867 he moved to teach at Cheltenham College as assistant master. In 1872, he became vicar of Sibsey in Lincolnshire, a benefice in the gift of the Lord Chancellor —who was Lord Hatherley , a Wood family connection, son of Sir Matthew Wood, 1st Baronet. The Besant family, with their two children, Arthur and Mabel , moved to Sibsey, but

11800-404: Was a prolific writer and a powerful orator. She addressed causes including freedom of thought , women's rights, secularism , birth control , Fabian socialism and workers' rights . Margaret Cole called her "the finest woman orator and organiser of her day". Besant opined that for centuries the leaders of Christian thought spoke of women as a necessary evil and that the greatest saints of

11918-726: Was accepted as an NSS member. She first heard him speak on 2 August 1874. Through Bradlaugh, Besant met and became a supporter of Joseph Arch , the farmworkers' leader. Her career as a platform speaker began on 25 August 1874, with topic "The Political Status of Women". The lecture was at the Co-operative Hall, Castle Street, Long Acre in Covent Garden. It was followed in September by an invitation from Moncure Conway to speak at his Camden Town church on "The True Basis of Morality". Besant published an essay under this title, in 1882. She

12036-1031: Was also impressed by the ideas of Busoni, who christened him L'illustro futuro in a signed copy of his orchestra work Berceuse élégiaque . Varèse taught many prominent composers including Chou Wen-chung , Lucia Dlugoszewski , André Jolivet , Colin McPhee , James Tenney , and William Grant Still . See: List of music students by teacher: T to Z#Edgard Varèse . Composers who have claimed, or can be demonstrated, to have been influenced by Varèse include Milton Babbitt , Harrison Birtwistle , Pierre Boulez , John Cage , Morton Feldman , Brian Ferneyhough , Roberto Gerhard , Olivier Messiaen , Luigi Nono , John Palmer , Krzysztof Penderecki , Silvestre Revueltas , Wolfgang Rihm , Leon Schidlowsky , Alfred Schnittke , William Grant Still , Karlheinz Stockhausen , Iannis Xenakis , and Frank Zappa . The modern music conductor Robert Craft recorded two LP's of Varèse music in 1958 and 1960 with percussion, brass, and wind sections from

12154-505: Was an exploration of new sounds and methods to create them. In 1928, when he was asked about jazz, he said it was not representative of America but instead was, "a negro product, exploited by the Jews. All of its composers here are Jews," meaning Gruenberg and Boulanger students including Copland and Blitzstein . In 1931, he was the best man at the wedding of his friend Nicolas Slonimsky in Paris. In 1933, while still in Paris, he wrote to

12272-682: Was approached by music producer Jack Skurnick resulting in EMS Recordings #401. The record was the first release on LP of Integrales , Density 21.5 , Ionisation and Octandre and featured René Le Roy , flute, the Juilliard Percussion Orchestra and the New York Wind Ensemble conducted by Frederic Waldman . Ionisation had also been the first work by Varèse to be recorded in the 1930s, conducted by Nicolas Slonimsky and issued on 78rpm Columbia 4095M. Likewise, Octandre

12390-462: Was from the outset an individualist organisation, also for many members supportive of a social conservatism that was not Besant's view. Her pamphlet The Law of Population (1878) sold well. Besant was a leading member of the National Secular Society alongside Charles Bradlaugh. She attacked the status of the Church of England as established church . The NSS argued for a secular state and an end to

12508-406: Was heard by an estimated two million people. Using 400 speakers separated throughout the interior, Varèse created a sound and space installation geared towards experiencing sound as it moves through space. Received with mixed reviews, this piece challenged audience expectations and traditional means of composing, breathing life into electronic synthesis and presentation. In 1962, he was asked to join

12626-565: Was his Rhapsodie romane , from about 1905, which was inspired by the Romanesque architecture of the Church of St. Philibert in Tournus . In 1907, he moved to Berlin, and in the same year, he married the actress Suzanne Bing , with whom he had a daughter. They divorced in 1913. During these years, Varèse became acquainted with Erik Satie and Richard Strauss , as well as with Claude Debussy and Ferruccio Busoni , who particularly influenced him at

12744-704: Was of Italian descent. It was there that he had his first real musical lessons, with the long-time director of the Turin Conservatory , Giovanni Bolzoni . In 1895, he composed his first opera , Martin Pas , which has since been lost. Now a teenager, Varèse, influenced by his father, an engineer, enrolled at the Polytechnic of Turin and started studying engineering, as his father disapproved of his interest in music and demanded an absolute dedication to engineering studies. This conflict grew greater and greater, especially after

12862-530: Was originally intended to be a " Salzburg Festival of the West" with eight weeks of music, opera, dance, and theater; but while those ambitious early plans were never realized, a more modest festival developed. Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times described those early years: Ojai's allure made it easy to attract not only name soloists but the best Hollywood musicians for its ensembles. By 1949, The New York Times

12980-511: Was premiered at the Gashouder concert hall, Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam by Asko/Schönberg Ensemble and Cappella Amsterdam on Sunday 14 June, conducted by Péter Eötvös . By the early 1950s, Varèse was in dialogue with a new generation of composers, such as Pierre Boulez and Luigi Dallapiccola . When he returned to France to finalize the tape sections of Déserts , Pierre Schaeffer helped arrange for suitable facilities. The first performance of

13098-552: Was recorded and issued on 78rpm discs in the later 1930s, complete (New Music Quarterly Recordings 1411) and as an excerpt (3rd movement, Columbia DB1791 in Volume V of their History of Music). Le Roy was the soloist also on a 1948 (78rpm) recording of Density 21.5 (New Music Recordings 1000). When, in the late 1950s, Varèse was approached by a publisher about making Ecuatorial available, there were very few theremins—let alone fingerboard theremins—to be found, so he rewrote/relabelled

13216-535: Was running a composite sketch of participants in that year's festival, illustrating the Juilliard String Quartet rehearsing, the pianist Shura Cherkassky performing and Thor Johnson conducting. Ladies in capes and fancy hats paraded. Bohos in sandals sat under oak trees. In 1954, Lawrence Morton was appointed as the Festival Artistic Director. A man of broad musical tastes, Morton was a visionary whose constant curiosity and unwavering integrity shaped

13334-585: Was seriously ill in 1871. She consulted Edward Bouverie Pusey : by post he gave her advice along orthodox, Bampton Lecture lines, and in person he sharply reprimanded her unorthodox theological tendencies. She attended in London, with her mother, a service at St George's Hall given by the heterodox cleric Charles Voysey , in autumn 1871, and struck up an acquaintance with the Voyseys, reading in "theistic" authors such as Theodore Parker and Francis Newman on Voysey's recommendation. Voysey also introduced Besant to

13452-469: Was still a member of the Fabian Society, the two movements being compatible at the time. Besant was elected to the London School Board in 1888. Women at that time were not able to take part in parliamentary politics but had been brought into the London local electorate in 1881. Besant drove about with a red ribbon in her hair, speaking at meetings. "No more hungry children", her manifesto proclaimed. She combined her socialist principles with feminism: "I ask

13570-520: Was the case with Besant's feelings towards him; concerned for his wellbeing after he declared his independence, she had purchased 6 acres (2.4 ha) of land near the Theosophical Society estate which later became the headquarters of the Krishnamurti Foundation India. As early as 1902 Besant had written that "India is not ruled for the prospering of the people, but rather for the profit of her conquerors, and her sons are being treated as

13688-464: Was to build a new leadership for India. The students spent 90 minutes a day in prayer and studied religious texts, but they also studied modern science. It took 3 years to raise the money for the CHC, most of which came from Indian princes. In April 1911, Besant met Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and they decided to unite their forces and work for a common Hindu University at Banaras. Besant and fellow trustees of

13806-545: Was to provide employment, better living conditions, and proper education for the poor. She became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society (NSS), as well as a writer, and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh . In 1877 they were prosecuted for publishing a book by birth control campaigner Charles Knowlton . Thereafter, she became involved with union actions, including the Bloody Sunday demonstration and

13924-517: Was walking and thinking of you in Ojai, an open space of country, and suddenly I knew what wildness was. I am sure there is something unexplainably and mysteriously sacred about the Valley, something including evil." The idyllic setting even famously served as Shangri-La in the 1937 Frank Capra film, Lost Horizon . There was no festival in 2020. The Ojai Music Festival was founded in 1947 by East Coast music aficionado John Leopold Jergens Bauer. It

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