Chronography

Born in Brooklyn NY to Herman and Henrietta (Brody); brother Bernard, sister Thelma (Terry)

Attended PS 197, Cunningham JHS and James Madison HS

Move to Manhattan; graduated James Madison High School

Modern Dance study; New Dance Group, Merce Cunningham

New York University

Queens College, BA

Clarinet study with David Weber

Composition Study with Ben Weber

Pianist/accompanist for Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Jerome Robbins, Daniel Nagrin

Marriage to Barbara Dolgin

Military service; solo clarinet, 7th Army Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart

Passacaglia for chamber orchestra, 7th Army Symphony (Henry Lewis, conductor) Athens/Salonica, Greece; Stuttgart/Freiburg, Germany

Clarinetist, New York; founding member Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Gramercy Chamber Ensemble, Penn Contemporary Players, The Group for Contemporary Music; freelance with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, New York Woodwind Quintet (bass clarinet), Symphony of the Air, Radio City Music Hall, etc.

Open Season, “smart revue” [unproduced]

“Dance Sonata,” “Piano Sonata” commissioned by Daniel Nagrin as dance score

“A Set of Three Ironies,” songs for baritone & piano, premier Richard Frisch, Carnegie Recital Hall

“Overture for Brass Octet” (Robert Nagel, conductor)

Son Matthew born

Faculty, Juilliard School (“Music for Dance”), SUNY Purchase, Sarah Lawrence College, Lincoln Center Institute

Appearance off-Broadway as Judge/Pianist in Brecht’s The Exception & The Rule(Isaiah Sheffer)

Son Joshua born

Sometime, Soon, first musical [unproduced]

Stretti for Eight Players, The Group For Contemporary Music (Arthur Bloom, conductor)

ASCAP Showcase

Untitled ballet with Anna Sokolow for The Manhattan Chamber Ballet

Meeting with Jacques Levy, summer resort theater, Green Mansions

Invited to join The Open Theater; Assassination Workshop (J. Levy), The Serpent (J.C. van Itallie), Mutation Show (Joseph Chaiken)

Love’s Proper Exercise; premiere of song cycle for soprano, woodwind quintet, piano: Jan DeGaetani, The Lark Quintet, Gilbert Kalish

Scuba Duba (Bruce Jay Friedman), The New Theater, NY (J. Levy, director)

Image/SAM, ballet for The Harkness Ballet, (J. C. van Itallie, writer; Tom O’Horgan, director) [unproduced]

Co-found The Open Window, composing/performing trio with Peter Schickele and Robert Dennis; first concerts, commission of Three Views (Walden’s part “Circus”), performed and recorded by The Louisville Orchestra (Jorge Mester); also performed by Cleveland (Louis Lane) and Chicago (Seiji Ozawa) symphonies; LP album for Vanguard Records.

Oh! Calcutta! erotic revue, with The Open Window (Tynan, Levy); longest-playing revue in American theater history, produced worldwide; video, LP

Talk Show (Megan Terry), The Actors Studio

Horseman Pass By,, (musical director) John Duffy

Meeting George Tabori; Pinkville, American Place Theater (Marty Fried, director)

Hot Ginger And Dynamite, Masquerade, unproduced works

Moonwalk, children’s musical with The Open Window, (B.J. Lifton) New York City Center

Pinkville, Dreifaltigkeitskirche, Berlin (first German production with Tabori)

The Kid (Robert Coover), American Place Theater (Jack Gelber, director)

Weewis (Margo Sappington, choreographer), ballet for The Joffrey. Premier Berkely, CA (Walden, conductor); later performed by many international companies.

Love’s Proper Exercise, alternate version with strings; Peggy Clapp, soprano

Coronach, A Kaddish, for mezzo soprano/English horn/cantor; recorded Berlin

Svengali, musical with Tom O’Horgan [unproduced]

The Winter Project, Joe Chaiken, director

Fandangle, theater piece for Bennett College, NY State Arts Council

Sigmunds Freude (after Frederick Perls) Bremer Theater, Bremen, Germany (Tabori, director)

The Crazy American Girl, film by David Newman, (Greenwich Films, Paris)

The Caucasian Chalk Circle, (Brecht), Arena Stage, Washington DC (Marty Fried, director)

Back Country, musical with Jacques Levy; Cohoes, NY, Wilber Theater, Boston

Improvisations Over Shylock, Tabori/Shakespeare, Kammerspiele Munich

Turtlenecks (or One Night Stand), B. J. Friedman/J. Levy Detroit, Philadelphia, jazz score with Paul Desmond

Legno, trio for clarinet, cello, xylophone, Carnegies Recital Hall, Meyer Kupferman

“Movements for Woodwind Trio”

Tod & Co., theater piece after Sylvia Plath; HdK/Berlin (Tabori, director)

Residence in Munich:

Hamlet (E. Wendt, dir.), Kammerspiele

Der Untergang Der Titanic, H. M. Enzensberger (Tabori, director), Kammerspiele

Solo Recital: “3 Fancies,” “Animus 3” (Druckman), songs; Kammerspiele

The Conservatory, radio play, Donald Barthelme, BR (Tabori)

Traurig, Einsam & Entgultig, radio play, O. Suriano SWF

Frohes Fest (Tabori), TV/Film for ZDF (1 prize, Mannheim International FilmWoche )

My Mother’s Courage (Tabori), Kammerspiele

My Mother’s Courage, radio play, RIAS, Berlin

Desperado City, film by Vadim Glowna; winner, Camera d’Or, Cannes

“Entertainments for Tuba and Three Horns”

Der Voyeur (Tabori), Berliner Festwochen; score recorded by RIAS Big Band

Bein’ Here Tonight, theater piece with Barbara Walden, Veronika Nowak, performed New York, Vienna (score/direction)

Jubiläum (Tabori), score and leading role, Bochum, Germany

Three Ladies (J. Levy), for mezzo & piano; for J. DeGaetani/G. Kalish

Dr. Faustus Lights The Lights (G. Stein), Jazz opera for Cologne Theater

Guest composer, Eastman School, Rochester, NY; “Entertainments,” “Double Sonata,” “Madrigal” performed

Peepshow (Tabori), Bochum

Claire, musical with Manfred Karge for Bochum

American Dance Festival, Durham, NC; conductor, co-leader Young Composer/Choreographer Workshop

“Double Sonata” for clarinet and bass clarinet; Presser Music

After Auschwitz, symphony for small orchestra; Musica Viva, Eastman (Sidney Hodkinson, conductor)

Die Bettleroper (Boeser/Bartsch), Renaissance Theater, Berlin (Boeser/Levy directing)

Claire, TV production, WDR Cologne

Claire, production in Flemish; Ghent, Belgium

Invisible Cities, variations for winds, brass, percussion, harps, and keyboards: Constitutional Commission from the Philadelphia Orchestra (Erich Leinsdorf, conductor)

“Two Biblical Songs” for Reri Grist, Ron Roseman, and Morey Ritt on the occasion of Queens College 50th Anniversary

Über Die Städte, Brechtabend, Akedemie Theater, Vienna (Manfred Karge)

Mein Kampf (Tabori), Akademie Theater, Vienna

Der Tod Dankt Ab (Ulmann), Wiener Kammeroper (co-director)

Masada (Tabori/Flavius), Der Kreis, Vienna

Lears Schatten, (Tabori/Shakespeare), Der Kreis, Vienna; Bregenz

Concert, Der Kreis, with Reri Grist, Hanna Schygulla, Manfred Karge, et al

Zum Zweiten Mal (J. C. Carriere), Der Kreis, Vienna (leading role)

Sigmunds Freude (Tabori/Perls), Der Kreis, Vienna

Bahn Frei! musical for the HdK, Berlin (with Matthias Ulbricht; Peter Kock, director)

Miami Lights, musical with J. Levy, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Fla.

Five Similes, miniatures for piano solo, Gilbert Kalish at Aldeburgh Festival (UK); Robert Levin at Spectrum Concerts, Berlin & Kapell Competition

Faust, Part 1 (Goethe), Bad Hersfeld Festspiele, (Peter Lotschak, director)

Endangered Species (Martha Clarke, with Richard Peaslee, co-composer), Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Next Wave Festival

Othello (Shakespeare), Akademie Theater, Vienna

Professor and Chairman, Department of Musical/Show, HdK Berlin; move to Berlin

Babylon Blues (Tabori), Burg Theater, Vienna

Goldberg Variationen (Tabori), Akademie Theater, Vienna

Miami Lights, TheaterWorks, Mountain View, CA

Kasimir Und Karoline (Ödön von Horváth), Schlosspark Theater, Berlin (Lori Stefanek, director)

Der Grossinquisitor (Tabori/Dostoyevsky), Expo 92, Seville

Der Grossinquisitor (Tabori/Dostoyevsky), Residenz Theater, Munich

Jury member, National Competition, Musical/Chanson, Berlin

Abendwind (Offenbach), Schlosspark Theater, Berlin (Lori Stefanek, director)

After Auschwitz, Mittelfest, Cividale, Italy. Budapest Chamber Orchestra (Walden, conductor)

Requiem Für Einen Spion (Tabori), Akademie Theater, Vienna

Brut (M. Zoschke), BAT Theater, Berlin (Angelika Domroeser, director)

Der Grossinquisitor, Hans Otto Theater, Potsdam

Drei Gretschen Liede (Faust), Presser Music

Memini Mortuarum (soprano, mezzo soprano, cello), Eastman School, Rochester

Liebe, Tod & Sonstiges: Memini Mortuarum; After Auschwitz, Brandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Potsdam (Walden, conductor)

“Songs and Dances for Cello and Piano,” for Joel Krosnick, Gilbert Kalish

Die 25te Stunde (Tabori), Akademie Theater, Vienna

Workshop, opening of Lubimovka Arts Center, Moscow

Die Geisel (Behan), Burg Theater, Vienna (musical supervisor) (Kirchner, director)

Maria Magdalena, Theater in der Josefstadt, Vienna (Domroeser)

Recitals with Hanna Schygulla, Hebel Theater, Berlin

Delirium (Enzensberger), Thalia Theater, Hamburg (Tabori, director)

Die Massenmörderin & Ihre Freunde (Tabori), Akademie Theater, Vienna

Ballade Der Wiener Schnitzel (Tabori), Akademie Theater, Vienna

Café Mitte, musical with Volker Ludwig, GRIPS Theater, Berlin

Façade (Walton) (Walden, conductor), Spectrum Concerts, Berlin

On the Town (Bernstein) (Walden, conductor and musical director), HdK, Berlin

Liebster Vater (Kafka), chamber opera for Bremer Theater, Bremen (Neuhold, conductor; Tilmann Knabe, director), recorded and broadcast

Liebster Vater, Berlin Kammeroper (W. Jones, conductor; K. Kunze, director)

Liebster Vater, National Theater, Weimar, (M. Oldag, director)

Some Changes (June Jordan), CD with Jan DeGaetani, Stanley Hasty, Albany Records

L’histoire Du Soldat (Stravinsky) (Walden, conductor), Spectrum Concerts, Berlin

Song Revue (Walden, director), HdK, Berlin

Life Upon The Wicked Stage (book), with Barbara Walden, German language edition, Kallmayrsche Verlag, Seelze, Germany

Café Mitte CD, Sony/Columbia

Café Mitte Songbook, Peer Music

Purgatorium (Tabori), Akademie Theater, Vienna

Into the Woods (Sondheim/Lapine) (Walden, co-director), Kurt Weill Festival, Dessau; HdK, Berlin

Into the Walden, song recital, Kurt Weill Festival, Dessau

Guest composer, Yale School of Music

Die Brecht Akte (Tabori), Berliner Ensemble, Berlin

Letter To My Father (Kafka; English language version of Liebster Vater), Center for Contemporary Opera, New York, (Richard Marshall, conductor; Charles Maryan, director)

Bachs Letzte Oper, opera commissioned by Den Danske Oper, Copenhagen (libretto, Jess Ornsbro) produced 2002 in Erfurt, Germany

Final Callback, director/devisor, HdK, Berlin

“Two Views of Transcendence” for string trio, commissioned by the Eschede Festival

Love Life (Weill/Lerner) (Walden, musical director, conductor), HdK, Berlin

Retirement from Professorship, HdK Berlin; Honorary Chairman for Life

Sonata a Tre (flute/oboe/cello/harpsichord), commissioned by SUNY/Stony Brook

Love Life, Kurt Weill Festival, Bittefeld, Germany

Liebster Kurt…Dein Stanley, song recital with Sabrina Ascacíbar, Eschede; Leipzig, Germany

Juror, Neue Stimmen competition (Bertelsmann), Gütersloh, Germany

Workshops with Barbara Walden, HdK/Berlin; Folkwangschule/Essen and Theater Institute, Munich

“Maquettes for Two Pianos,” commissioned by Robert and Ya Fei Levin

Juror, Lotte Lenya Competition, Eastman School

Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights (Stein) jazz opera, workshop production, Neighborhood Playhouse, New York Center for Contemporary Opera (Walden, conductor; Charles Maryan, director)

Das Erdbeben Concerto (Tabori), Berliner Ensemble

Liebster Kurt…Dein Stanley, Kassel; Zehdinek; Wimar; Erzgebirge; Erfurt

70th Birthday Celebration, UdK/Berlin

Bachs Letzte Oper, world premiere, Erfurt, Germany

“Maquettes” premiered Yale University, Rbt./Ya Fei Levin

Radio interview re Schocken Verein Prize for Tabori, Bremerhaven

“Three Choral Warmups,” soprano, alto, tenor, bass

“Trio for Clarinet,Violin and Piano,” reading at Marlboro Festival, Vermont

“Fantasy Variation” for Gilbert Kalish, Gilmore Piano Festival

Dogs (Tabori), chamber musical for the UdK/Berlin

“Sh’mah: Duo for Violin and Cello” premiere, SUNY New Paltz

Golden Anniversary Celebration in New York

“Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano” premier, Stony Brook Players

“Quintet for Two Violins, Viola and Two Celli” (in response to Schubert “C Major Quintet”)

“Song of Hannah,” choral setting for women’s voices and cello

Winter residence in Claremont/Upland CA

Liebster Kurt (in English), University Club, New York

Master classes at the UdK, Berlin

“One Thing,” sampled hip-hop use of Oh! Calcutta! awarded ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Soundtrack Song of the Year for use in (film) Hitch.

“Totentanz,” last movement of chamber symphony, rewritten

“Madrigal,” rewritten Blake setting from Fandangle

“Quintet for Winds”

Oh! Calcutta! DVD release

Winter residence in Palm Springs, CA

“Scenes de Ballet” for flute and piano

“La Sonata Veronesa,” setting of excerpts from Romeo and Juliet for soprano, tenor, clarinet, horn, piano

“Fantasy Variation” published by C. F. Peters, New York

Spectrum Concerts, Berlin performance and recording of “Maquettes,” “Similes,” and “Horn Trio”

Permanent move to Palm Springs.

Sh’mah recorded in Berlin for release on Naxos CD “American Classics”

“Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano”

“Slow Drag for Two Pianos,” premiered by Robert and Ya Fei Levin, Stuttgart

“Dialogues for Clarinet [Bass Clarinet] and Violin [Viola]”

“String Quintet” premiere, New Paltz, New York

Deadications, six miniature pieces for piano solo

“This, and my heart . . . .” Seven songs to Emily Dickinson texts

“Music for String Quartet”

“Storni Songs” (Alfonsina Storni), soprano, piano, cello [optional]

Butterfly Madam, revue musical (with Bert Peachy), Palm Springs

Death of Barbara Walden

Meets new partner, Rhonda Rockwell

CHUTZPAH! (with Tom Gass), autobiographical film; see www.stanleywalden.com

Performance at Tabori Conference, University of Georgia, Athens

Death of Joshua Walden

New website: stanleywalden.com

Die Goldberg Variationen, musical (after Tabori) premier, Badische Staatstheater, Karlsruhe

“Duo for Clarinet and Bassoon”

“VLN/PNO,” Sonata for violin and piano

“Jacob to His Sons,” for male chorus and piano

“Father William,” for male chorus and double bass

Telling Time, memoir; see www.stanleywalden.com

“Quintet for Brass”

“A Quartet of Sonnets (Shakespeare),” for baritone and piano

“…and by the wind grieved”, setting of the prologue to “Look Homeward, Angel”, for tenor and string quartet

 “Psalm 47,” (in Hebrew) for voice (congregation) and piano

“Psalm 137,” (in English) for baritone and piano

“Psalm 150,” (in Latin) for female voice, clarinet and piano

“PSALMODY,” (In English) for tenor and piano

#1 Canto V

#2. From the Dead Sea Scrolls

#3. Paradise of Lights

“BILLY’S STRAYHORN,” piano solo

“5 NOT SO EASY PIECES,” piano solo

“DECADE-ENCYCLE,” piano solo

Performance at LACMA and BargeMusic by Daniel Schlosberg of piano pieces

“SEXTET,” for piano and wind 5et

“Well. Here we are in 2026, 10 years later than my last entry in TELLING TIME. It’s been a fallow time creatively, certainly compared with the activities listed in the Chronography of the earlier book.

I have had several professional milestones in these years: a concert of some piano and vocal music performed by Gil Kalish, Dan Schlosberg and Jamie Jordan, on The Barge series on the New York East River, marking my 90th year; a concert of my chamber music at UCLA, which was repeated in Ventura and I have been interviewed by Neal Stulberg for the Miliken Archive at UCLA.

Professionally things have slowed measurably, with some minor works for violin and viola, a Fantasy for bass clarinet (with piano) and not much else. I have suffered a series of falls, which have left my hands quite compromised, so that I can neither play the piano nor compose with any degree of surety. The rest of my body is slowly decomposing, so that I am now registered with Hospice, although I don’t feel the imminent sword of Damocles glinting above.

The major personal marker has been my marriage to Rhonda Rockwell, a retired teacher (and, incidentaly, the editor of this book) after 11 years of conjoined living. She had converted to Judaism and we will soon repeat the bloodless action that took place at the town clerk with a kosher Katuba (SP).

The Grandchildren are strewn from London to New York to Minneapolis to L,A,, and are in the process of becoming their own selves, distant from me-as it should be. Matt is living a life of travel and event , along with Dana, Disney’s new President.

I am now 93 years old, and most of the people mentioned in this book are no longer with us. My sole wish is that by inhabiting these pages they have not completely disappeared.

For pictures and musical examples, please refer to the CD CHUTZPAH, which is included in the inside cover of the back of the book.

In the words of Woody Guthrie, “So long, it’s been good t’know ya”.