Program note: Fast Talking: The Last Words of Dutch Schultz
- The Song Company
- Source: M for Murder 20, 21 June 1997
The Last Words of Dutch Schultz Andrew Schultz (b. 1960) Andrew Schultz studied composition at the University of Queensland and consequently studied in Philadelphia and London. Since 1986 he has been working at the University of Wollongong where he is currently Associate Dean of the School of Creative Arts. He has been awarded many fellowships, grants and residencies since and will take up the position of Head of Music Studies at the Guildhall School in London's Barbican Centre in September 1997. Leading New Jersey identity, Dutch Schultz (aka Arthur Flegenheimer) was shot in a toilet of the Palace Chop House in Newark on October 24th 1935 by underworld hitman Charley "The Bug". The text for Fast Talking is the last words recorded by the New Jersey Police as Schultz lay dying in a hospital bed. The piece is written for solo voice and has to be performed as fast and continuously as possible. It is not intended that the fast passages will be clearly audible. In many cases they form a background against which the counterpoint of actions and other vocal
styles occurs.
Fast Talking was written for Andrew Ford in December 1988 with assistance from the Music
Board of the Australia Council.
