Babbitt, Milton, 1916-, American composer, b. Philadelphia. Babbitt turned to music after studying mathematics. He was a composition pupil of Roger Sessions at Princeton. Babbitt has attempted to apply twelve-tone principles to all the elements of composition: dynamics, timbre, and rhythm, as well as melody and harmony. He calls this "total serialization" (see serial music). In 1959, Babbitt became one of the directors of the new Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York City. His works include Three Compositions for Piano (1947), three string quartets (1942, 1954, 1969-70), Composition for Synthesizer (1961), Philomel (1964) for soprano, taped soprano, and synthesizer, A Solo Requiem for soprano and piano, and Dual (1980) for cello and piano. In 1982 he received a special Pulitzer citation for the body of his work.

(born May 10, 1916, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.) U.S. composer. At Princeton University he studied with composer Roger Sessions and later joined the faculty. He became one of the first U.S. 12-tone composers, and he was (with his Three Compositions for Piano, 1947) perhaps the first composer to write totally serialized music based on ordered structures not only of pitch but of elements such as rhythm and dynamics. Working with RCA's Mark II synthesizer from 1957 to 1975, he became one of the first Americans to write electronically synthesized music. His music was considered difficult to perform but also good-humoured and playful.

Learn more about Babbitt, Milton (Byron) with a free trial on Britannica.com.