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Music journalist and new music scholar K. Robert Schwarz died on December 6 in New York City. He was 42. Since 1984, Schwarz had been a frequent contributor to Musical America and the New York Times, for which he wrote nearly 200 articles. A violinist, composer, and specialist in American music, Schwarz wrote numerous liner notes as well as articles for Opera News, Stagebill, Classic CD, Perspectives of New Music, American Music, and Out.
Schwarz's book, Minimalists, was published by Phaidon Press in 1996 and looks at the two best-known minimalist composers, Americans Philip Glass and Steve Reich. But, Schwarz argues, Glass and Reich can only properly be understood in the context of their predecessors, La Monte Young and Terry Riley, and their successors, John Adams, Meredith Monk, and Europeans such as Michael Nyman, Louis Andriessen and Arvo Pärt. The first overview of minimalism aimed at a general public, the book traces the lives of the minimalist composers, discusses their most significant works, and examines the artistic milieu from which they emerged.
In addition to his work as a scholar and journalist, Schwarz taught at Brooklyn College. He left his library and research materials to the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. Contributions in his memory may be made to the Queens College Foundation, Queens College-CUNY, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, NY 11367-1597 for the K. Robert Schwarz Archive of Music.
