George Antheil
Born in the United States, Antheil moved to Paris in 1922 where he became known as the "bad boy of music". He lived in a small flat directly over Sylvia Beach's bookshop and was one of Ezra Pound's special enthusiasms. Joyce attended a private performance of Antheil's Ballet Mechanique, a part of which he said was like Mozart (JJ 557-558), and he was also present at the Ballets Suédois on 4 October 1923 when the composer played his Sonata Sauvage, Airplane Sonata and Mechanisms. Antheil then concocted a magnificent plan for an electric opera which used the "Cyclops" episode of Ulysses as its libretto. The idea fascinated Joyce, but Antheil disappointed him by turning to other work. Dirk Van Hulle and William Brockman
Funding
James Joyces Unpublished Letters: A Digital Edition and Text-Genetic Study.
Belgian Federal Science Policy Office
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