DIVDIVIn the earliest published diaries of Ned Rorem, the acclaimed American composer recalls a bygone era and its luminaries, celebrates the creative process, and examines the gay culture of Europe and the US during the 1950s/divDIV One of America’s most significant contemporary composers, Ned Rorem is also widely acclaimed as a diarist of unique insight and refreshing candor. Together, his Paris Diary, first published in 1966, and The New York Diary,which followed a year later, paint a colorful landscape of Rorem’s world and its famous inhabitants, as well as a fascinating self-portrait of a footloose young artist unabashedly drinking deeply of life. In this amalgam of forthright personal reflections and cogent social commentary, unprecedented for its time, Rorem’s anecdotal recollections of the decade from 1951 to 1961 represent Gay Liberation in its infancy as the author freely expresses his open sexuality not as a revelation but as a simple fact of life./divDIV /divDIVAt once blisteringly honest and exquisitely entertaining, Rorem’s diaries expound brilliantly on the creative process, following their peripatetic author from Paris to Morocco to Italy and back home to America as he crosses paths with Picasso, Cocteau, Gide, Boulez, and other luminaries of the era. /divDIV /divWith consummate skill and unexpurgated insight, a younger, wilder Rorem reflects on a bygone time and culture and, in doing so, holds a revealing mirror to himself. /div

As a composer and as an author, Ned Rorem occupies a position of considerable influence and importance in American music. His numerous musical works are performed frequently, and his critical writings offer unmatched insights into contemporary music. This bibliography will serve as an important resource for those seeking more information about this distinguished American composer and his works. The book is divided into four sections: a brief biography, a complete list of works and performances, a discography of commercially produced sound recordings, and a bibliography of writings by and about Ned Rorem. The list of works and performances includes Rorem's plays and books, works in preparation, and his musical compositions. The latter are classified by genre and arranged alphabetically within each category. Each entry provides as much information as possible about the date of composition and publication, publisher, duration, medium of performance, literary source, commission, dedication, and dates of the premiere and subsequent performances. A directory of publishers and their addresses is also provided. Citations in the discography are arranged by label and number and include contents, performers, date of issue, and album title. The bibliographical section includes annotations or brief quotations from the cited item. Three appendixes complete the work. The first provides an alphabetical listing of Rorem's compositions, including individual songs in cycles, distinctive subtitles, working titles, and titles of unpublished works. Appendix II is a chronological list of compositions and Appendix III provides a list of the literary sources for Rorem's works. This unique reference tool belongs in all music reference collections.

DIVDIVThe esteemed American composer and unabashed diarist Ned Rorem provides a fascinating, brazenly intimate first-person account of his life and career during one of the most extraordinary decades of the twentieth century /divDIV Ned Rorem is often considered an American treasure, one of the greatest contemporary composers in the US. In 1966, he revealed another side of his remarkable talent when The Paris Diary was published, and a year later, The New York Diary, both to wide critical acclaim. In The Later Diaries,Rorem continues to explore his world and his music in intimate journal form, covering the years 1961 to 1972, one of his most artistically productive decades./divDIV /divDIVThe Ned Rorem revealed in The Later Diaries is somewhat more mature and worldly than the young artist of the earlier works, but no less candid or daring, as he reflects on his astonishing life, loves, friendships, and rivalries during an epoch of staggering, sometimes volatile change. Writing with intelligence, insight, and honesty, he recalls time spent with some of the most famous, and infamous, artists of the era—Philip Roth, Christopher Isherwood, Tallulah Bankhead, and Edward Albee, among others—openly exploring his sexuality and his art while offering fascinating, sometimes blistering, views on the art of his contemporaries./div/div