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conducted by John Clay
via email, August 2007

I first interviewed Robert Ceely ten years ago (see MUSICAL ABDUCTION). He remains as outspoken as ever and sheds new light on what it means to be a composer in America today. Robert Ceely has been composing music and overseeing performances in the Boston community since the 1960s. I studied music composition with Mr. Ceely at New England Conservatory (NEC) from 1987 to 1989.

CLAY: What have you been working on lately?

CEELY: I am finishing a chamber opera entitled The Mortal Immortal, with a libretto by Elisabeth K. Gatineau [the pen name of Robert Ceely's wife, Jonatha] freely adapted from a short story by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. It is forty-five minutes long. My wife wrote the libretto with my opera in mind.

CLAY: What is the special appeal of opera?

CEELY: Opera is an interesting form which combines so much—too much—that interests me: scenery, sound, voices, acting, et cetera.

CLAY: And what ever happened to the Alien Abduction opera you talked about in our previous interview (beyond the obvious explanation that the score was abducted)?

CEELY: The Alien Abduction is still on the docket. The trouble is it will be a long, intricate multimedia event. Jonatha (aka Gatineau) is rewriting..or was, but set it aside to finish her third novel, Thunder Bay. Even the title is due to change. Maybe "Sky Thoughts", maybe "Star Thoughts", but I am not crazy about either.

CLAY: Which new classical composers in the last ten years do you feel show the greatest promise for the future of music? And which rock, jazz, or acoustic bands?

CEELY: Milton Babbitt and Elliott Carter. Charlie Parker, Chet Baker, the Schneider Big Band.

CLAY: No one in classical music more recent than Milton Babbitt and Elliott Carter?

CEELY: I chose Babbitt and Carter because they have endured. Look up the reviews Babbitt received thirty, forty, twenty, ten years ago and compare them with current reviews. Some composers grow out of fame, become less interesting, et cetera, Milhaud for example. There are younger composers whom I find very interesting, but I want to give them the test of time.

CLAY: And in jazz, what do you like about Maria Schneider's music?

CEELY: I spent my youth standing as close as possible to five saxes in the front row lifting me aloft with sound. Maria is trying to update the big band sound. And she seems good to me.

CLAY: You retired from NEC about five years ago. How does life now compare with life then? Is it easier or harder to write music away from the work-a-day academic setting?

CEELY: I now compose almost every day. My wife is busy finishing her third novel, so she is at her desk most mornings by nine...and my guilt compels to be in my studio by ten. I miss some of the students, a few faculty, and no administrators. My wife's published novels are Mina and Bread and Dreams.

CLAY: What do you hear young composers saying these days about their reasons for composing?

CEELY: Student composers as well as young composers write for many reasons. Who was it who said "Anybody can be a poet at fifteen, but what about fifty?" (Rough translation.) Many stop composing as they age. I'm not sure this is what it was like long ago. There were many fewer composers then. And a PhD in composition did not exist.

CLAY: How is the field different now from the days when you yourself were a student?

Today people get PhDs because they don't know what else to do...and they can postpone paying their student loans. I find it strange and a bit disturbing that young composers, at least some, apply to five or six graduate schools. I ask them why, and they say so they can get into one. I applied to Mills College (and only Mills) because I wanted to study with Milhaud. I applied to Princeton (and only Princeton) because I wanted to study with Sessions. One should not study too long or with too many teachers. If the only reason one composes is because they have a lesson on Wednesday, they should give up.

CLAY: What advice would you give to a young composer just starting studies at a college or conservatory?

CEELY: Think hard about options.

CLAY: Some composers become more lyrical and serene in later years, some more extreme and esoteric. How would you describe your own musical evolution?

CEELY: I find that I am writing what I want rather than what is most likely to performed or admired or praised. Of course, I would like to have all three occur when it is performed.

CLAY: After your music, what else is grabbing your attention these days?

CEELY: The dreadful political situation!

CLAY: Is there any party, or anybody, who you feel offers hope for a better future?

CEELY: I would be happy with any of the current Democrats in the running. Some more than others, but we must get the current gang and their partners in crime out! And let's hope Nader does not run.

© 2007 John Clay