George Antheil (1900-1959) was an American composer, pianist and writer whose early career made him one of the most notorious figures of the musical avant-garde. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, he travelled to Europe in the 1920s and became associated with the modernist circles of Paris and Berlin.

His most famous work, Ballet mécanique, used pounding rhythms, mechanical sonorities and a deliberately provocative modern energy. Antheil also wrote operas, symphonies, chamber music, piano works and later a substantial body of film music after returning to the United States.

Antheil’s style changed markedly over time, moving from machine-age aggression toward a more neoclassical and sometimes Romantic language. What remained constant was his theatrical sense of gesture and his fascination with musical momentum.

His reputation has often rested on his early scandals, but Antheil was more than a professional provocateur. At his best he was a restless, inventive composer whose career caught the turbulence of twentieth-century music in unusually vivid form.