Dennis Lee Johnson (November 19, 1938 – December 20, 2018) was a mathematician and minimal composer. He is the namesake of the Johnson

homomorphism In algebra, a homomorphism is a structure-preserving map between two algebraic structures of the same type (such as two groups, two rings, or two vector spaces). The word ''homomorphism'' comes from the Ancient Greek language: () meaning "same" ...

in the study of mapping class groups of

surfaces A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. Surface or surfaces may also refer to: Mathematics *Surface (mathematics), a generalization of a plane which needs not be flat *Surf ...

. Johnson’s early talent for mathematics earned him a full scholarship to the

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

, New Hampshire, where he completed high school. He enrolled to study mathematics at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

in 1956. But after a year he became disillusioned, and although he had studied the piano only casually as a child, he decided to transfer to the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(UCLA), to study music. Johnson is credited as having composed one of the first truly minimal compositions, ''November'', which was written for solo piano in 1959 and later revised. The creation of ''November'' was inspired by Johnson's UCLA college friend

La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best kno ...

's ''

Trio for Strings ''Trio for Strings'' is a 1958 composition for violin, viola, and cello by American composer La Monte Young. It consists almost entirely of sustained musical tone, tones and rest (music), rests, and represents Young's first full embrace of "stati ...

'', written in 1958. ''November'' is a pensive piano piece that runs for nearly six hours and predates all other known minimalist works in its use of additive process and diatonic tonality. Part of it was recorded by Johnson in 1962 on

audio cassette The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Otten ...

. ''November'' was in return an inspiration for Young's later 1964 ''

The Well-Tuned Piano ''The Well-Tuned Piano'' is an ongoing, improvisatory, solo piano work by composer La Monte Young. Begun in 1964, Young has never considered the composition or performance "finished", and he has performed incarnations of it several times since i ...

'' work. Young gave, from his archive, a cassette copy of ''November'' to composer,

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

and writer

Kyle Gann Kyle Eugene Gann (born November 21, 1955, in Dallas, Texas) is an American professor of music, critic, analyst, and composer who has worked primarily in the New York City area. As a music critic for ''The Village Voice'' (from 1986 to 2005) and ...

. From it Gann made a new recording of it, as well as producing six pages of the original score. Gann first performed a four-and-a-half-hour version in 2009 with Sarah Cahill and he has produced a new performance score based on the original material that R. Andrew Lee recorded in a five hour version released in 2013 by

Irritable Hedgehog Music Irritable Hedgehog Music is a Kansas City-based record label, focused primarily on minimalist and electroacoustic music. History Irritable Hedgehog Music was original organized as the publishing imprint for David D. McIntire's compositions. The ...

, after receiving good reviews. In 2017 the Dutch pianist and composer Jeroen van Veen released ''November'' as part of his eight- disc ''Minimal Piano Collection'', Vols. XXI–XXVIII."''Minimal Piano Collection'', Vols. XXI–XXVIII"
Van Veen Productions Johnson gave up music around 1962 and moved into mathematics (working for a time at

, the private research university in Pasadena) leaving this one fascinating and influential work that features many of the elements that would later become the basic staples of 1960s and early 1970s Minimalism. Johnson was born in Los Angeles and died aged 80 on December 20, 2018, in

Morgan Hill, California Morgan Hill is a city in Santa Clara County, California, at the southern tip of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Morgan Hill is an affluent residential community, the seat of several high-tech companies, and a dining, entertainmen ...

, from complications of dementia.

References

External links

"Remembering ''November''"

"PostClassic", ''artsjournal'', October 7, 2007
"''Repetitive Music for Piano, I–V'' – ''November''; liner notes by Kyle Gann"
Van Veen Productions {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Dennis Minimalist composers 20th-century classical composers 1938 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American composers 20th-century American mathematicians Phillips Exeter Academy alumni