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Obituaries from page 53

BETTY J. (HOFFMAN) WOLFE, of Marlton,
N.J., formerly of Southfield, died Feb. 13,
2011.
After earning her master's in education at
Wayne State University, she became a dedi-
cated teacher in the Detroit public schools
for 41 years.
She was the mother of Ann (David)
Levin, Dr. Marci (Dr. Daniel Kramer) Wolfe,
Susan (Garry) Preneta and Jack (Charlene)
Wolfe; sister of Bill (Shirley) Hoffman and
the late Sam Hoffman, Max Hoffman and
Al Hoffman. Her greatest joy was to be
surrounded by her family, especially her
adored grandchildren, Jeffrey Kramer, Jillian
Kramer, Adam Levin, Samantha Levin,
Alexander Preneta, Benjamin Preneta, Arielle
Minden, Jessica Wolfe, Isaac Wolfe, Elijah
Wolfe, Joshua Wolfe and Jeremiah Wolfe. She
is also survived by many nieces and neph-
ews, who will remember her fondly.
Mrs. Wolfe was the wife of the late Bennett.
Interment at Clover Hill Park Cemetery. As
a tribute to the many afternoons she enjoyed
bridge games and fun, contributions may be
made to the Betty Wolfe Fund, Leventhal-
Sidman JCC, 333 Nahanton Street, Newton,
MA 02459 or a charity of one's choice. Local
arrangements by the Ira Kaufman Chapel.

Milton Babbitt

Cutting-Edge
Composer

New York/JTA

M

ilton Babbitt was an avant-
garde composer who gloried
in dense, intellectually chal-
lenging musical complexity and champi-
oned electronic instruments — but who
also loved beer, baseball and jazz. He
died Jan. 29 at age 94.
Babbitt was "one of the most eminent,

and controversial, American composers
of the 20th century:' the London-based
Guardian wrote. The New York Times
said he "referred to himself as a maxi-
malist to stress the musical and philo-
sophical distance between his style and
the simpler, more direct style of younger
contemporaries like Philip Glass, Steve
Reich and other Minimalist composers."
Despite not reaching a wide audience
because of the abstruseness and diffi-
culty of the music he composed, Babbitt
received numerous awards and was held
in high esteem in elite musical circles.
His awards included the Joseph H.
Bearns Prize from Columbia University,
two New York Music Critics Circle cita-
tions, a National Institute of Arts and
Letters award, a Guggenheim Fellowship,
membership in the National Institute
and American Academy of Arts and
Sciences and a Pulitzer Prize special cita-
tion.
Princeton awarded Babbitt a doctorate
in 1992, 46 years after his dissertation on
the 12-tone system of modern compos-
ers was rejected.

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54 February 17 2011

44

Obituaries

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irakaufman.corn

"His dissertation was so far ahead of
its time it couldn't be properly evaluated
at the time," said Theodore Ziolkowski,
dean of Princeton's graduate school and
a close friend of Babbitt.
Much of Babbitt's music was written
for small groups or soloists, including
six-string quartets. His work also includ-
ed synthesizers, tape machines and other
technological innovations.
Among his last works was "Piano
Concerto No. 2," which premiered in
1998 at Carnegie Hall, and his "Concerti
for Orchestra" in 2004, commissioned by
the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Babbitt was influenced by the 12-tone
music of landmark 20th century mod-
ernist Arnold Schoenberg. Babbitt's
extension of Schoenberg's music became
known as "integral serialism."
"Milton has managed to do something
that almost no other composer, except
maybe Bach, has done to such an extent:
The technique is the content of the music
and the content of the music is the tech-
nique, a perfect symbiosis',' composer
and conductor Gunther Schuller said. fl