Born in 1934 in Nice, France, has lived in the U.S. since 1941. Studied piano with Grete Sultan and briefly composition with John Cage. Associated with Cage, Morton Feldman, David Tudor and Earle Brown, then with Frederic Rzewski and Cornelius Cardew. Since 1952 associated with Merce Cunningham and his dance company. Taught Classics at Harvard (1962-70) and Classics, Music and Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College (1971-1999). Published articles on Greek tragedy, in particular, Euripides. Writings on music (to 1998) collected in book Cues (published by MusikTexte) and in Occasional Pieces (Oxford University Press, in preparation). Active as performer, also improviser with, among others, Takehisa Kosugi, Keith Rowe, Steve Lacy, Christian Marclay, Larry Polansky, Kui Dong and AMM. All music published by C.F. Peters, New York. Much of it is recorded (Mode, New World, Neos, Capriccio, Wandelweiser, Wergo, Matchless, Tzadik, HatArt, etc.). Honors include DAAD Berlin fellowship, grants from the Asian Council, Mellon Foundation, Fromm Foundation, Meet the Composer, Foundation for Contemporary Performing Arts (the John Cage award); honorary degrees from California Institute of the Arts and from Huddersfield University (UK); membership in the Akademie der Künste (Berlin), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Széchenyi Academy of Letters and Arts (Budapest); lifetime achievement award from the state of Vermont.
Books about CWChanging the System: the music of Christian Wolff, edited by Steven Chase and Philip Thomas (Ashgate, 2010); Christian Wolff, Michael Hicks and Christian Asplund (University of Illinois Press, 2012).
Books by CWCues: Writings & Conversations (MusikTexte, 1998); Occasional Pieces (Oxford University Press, 2017).
Selected compositions
- For Prepared Piano (1951)
- Trio I, flute, trumpet, cello (1951)
- For Piano I
- Duo for Pianists II (1958)
- Summer, string quartet (1961)
- For 1, 2 or 3 People (1964)
- Prose Collection, includes “Stones”, “Play”, “Looking North”, “Sticks” (1968-1971)
- Burdocks, for 1 or more groups of 5 or more players (1970-1)
- Changing the System, for 8 or more players (1973-4)
- Exercises 1-14, variable number of players (1973-4)
- String Quartet Exercises out of Songs (1974-5)
- Exercises 15-18, variable number of players (1975)
- Wobbly Music, mixed chorus & instruments (1975-6)
- Braverman Music, 4 or more instrumentalists, or 2 pianos (1978)
- Preludes 1-11, piano (1980-1)
- Piano Trio (1985)
- Jasper, violin and contrabass (1991)
- Percussionist Songs, solo percussion (1995)
- Pebbles, violin and piano (1999)
- Ordinary Matter, 3 orchestras (2001)
- Peace March 8, chamber orchestra (2002)
- Orchestra: Pieces, large orchestra (2005)
- Trio V for James Tenney, percussion, piano 4-hands (2006)
- Rhapsody, 3 chamber orchestras (2009)
- Quintet, el. guitar, 2 percussion, piano, doublebass (2009)
- Spring Two, chamber orchestra (2011)
- individuals, collective, orchestra (2012)
- Dijon, 4 – 10 players, open instrumentation (2012)
- Winter Exercise, percussion, piano (2013)
- Concert, percussion solo with clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, percussion, viola, cello, bass (2013-14)
- Pete, flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, percussion, violin (2014)
- Encouragement, string orchestra, percussion solo (2014)
- Brooklyn, 6 or more players, open instrumentation (2015)
- Wade in the Water, violin and piano (2015)
- Five Songs, solo voice with chamber ensemble (2017)
- Resistance, 10 or more players with solo piano (2018)