GEOG 433: Day 19

1. GEOG 433: Day 19 Classical Music (sort of)

2. Housekeeping Items • Any announcements? • Today we’ll hear from Sam (anyone else?) and then start covering the chapter on Vienna • Tomson was supposed to present last Thursday; will he be presenting today?

3. Bohlman chapter • Vienna is an epitome of a music hearth, but it also serves as a magnet: -- much of the music we identify with was created by outsiders, and – many of the people who have flocked there, both as performers (Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, and Mahler) and as tourists, do so because of its reputation for music • Throughout the chapter, the author interweaves a discussion of folk and ‘high’ or so-called ‘classical’ music – usually divided into the baroque (Bach), classical (Mozart), Romantic (Wagner), and modern periods (Schoenberg).

4. Bohlman chapter • Vienna is an epitome of a music hearth, but it also serves as a magnet: -- much of the music we identify with was created by outsiders, and – many of the people who flock there, both as performers and as tourists, do so because of its reputation for music • Throughout the chapter, the author interweaves a discussion of folk and ‘high’ or so-called ‘classical’ music – usually divided into the baroque (Bach), classical (Mozart), Romantic (Wagner), and modern periods (Schoenberg).

5. Bohlman chapter • As he describes, Vienna is a bit of a musical mosh pit. Even in 19th century Vienna, folk often crossed with more urban – proto-pop – sounds. He mentions “Das Wiener Fiakerlied,” but unfortunately all I could find was a parody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyiXg9t6Iw4 • “European” music covers a multitude of sins, as Bohlman points out, ranging from Muslim-influenced Andalusian work-songs to Saami music to Hungarian folk music originally derived from Asia

6. Bohlman chapter • “European” music has gone global. Some of the most accomplished instrumentalists in the genre of classical music hail from China and elsewhere – e.g. Lang Lang • He also talks about the role of essentially stateless people, such as the Saami, the Jews, the Roma (Sinti and Manouche), and even the Celts, and their role in relation to national forms of music. • He cites “Khused”, a wedding dance. I don’t have access to the version he refers to, but here’s one version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M53gAf2X8CE

7. Stateless cultures Plus Galicia

8. Bohlman chapter • Linda and Melissa unearthed the following examples of Eastern European Jewish music: • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkPGI2yIYfQ • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VdoHnidz70 • As with the Roma, Jewish musicians mastered the repertoires of other cultures and performed as professional musicians for other groups • Here’s a taste of Romany music from the Balkans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQn6Qb-9mD8

9. Bohlman chapter • There’s also the distinctive music of the Saami – Scandinavia’s indigenous people: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkE3S5JHIoY&list=PLD8F53633094AA51E • Not all musics are ethnic or national; they can also be regional, as with the Swiss, German, Austrian, and Liechtenstein people in the watershed of Lake Constance

10. Bohlman chapter • Another example of this is polka music, which – according to Wikipedia – is popular in Poland (Clarinet Polka), Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Slovakia. • In contrast with trans-national or distinct regional music is national music, The people of Hungary speak a language which is not Indo-European and their traditional music reflects its original Asian roots: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T5srmELtU8

11. Bohlman chapter • I don’t know if that rendition is true to Bartók’s original transcription, but old Hungarian music is supposed to be largely based on the pentatonic (5-tone) scale • Showing that the polarization between folk and ‘classical’ music was far from absolute, composers like Bartók borrowed from folk traditions as in this dance inspired by Hungarian folk music in Transylvania: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6V1EJD0fig • Other composers who did similar things include Ralph Vaughan Williams, Dvořák and, in the U.S. Gershwin and Copland

12. Bohlman chapter • In many cases, music was used to advance a national(ist) cause on the assumption that there was a distinctive music that reflected the ‘soul’ of the nation and that could help unify the people. In some cases, this proved to be the case, as with the Estonian song festivals, that were a not-too-subtle way of resisting Soviet domination (See the film, “The Singing Revolution”) • In peasant society, music was part of the common life of the people and musicians were not that set apart from the community. Here’s a taste: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpIw0oCYVdM

13. Bohlman chapter • Then, during the Middle Ages, semi-professional musicians – troubadours, minnesingers, and minstrels – began to travel telling stories and relating history and accompanying themselves on the lute In addition, instruments often are closely tied to specific national or ethnic cultures’ music.

14. Other Instruments gusle saz hummel

15. Bohlman chapter • Then, during the Middle Ages, semi-professional musicians – troubadours, minnesingers, and minstrels – began to travel telling stories and relating history and accompanying themselves on the lute • Also, with the rise of mercantilism and the strengthening of cities, “European cities… served as gathering points for people from other places… people singing in different languages and performing on different instruments.” (p. 243) Musical trade became as common as mercantile trade. • Urbanization also led to the manufacture of instruments and of ‘broadsides’ – an early form of sheet music.

16. Bohlman chapter • Bohlman also notes the distinction between sacred and secular music. In the baroque era, much of the music produced was sacred, as with that of Bach • And yet other cultures – sometimes Islamic – saw the use of instruments in religious settings as inappropriate. Even the Puritans in England destroyed organs in churches for the same reason (Gratuitous joke: why were the Puritans – e.g. Pilgrims in the New World – against sex? Because it might lead to dancing).  • In other instances, folk music was largely religious and religious music was used as instrument of resistance

17. Bohlman chapter • A further development of the separation of the individual as a professional from society as a whole was the emergence of concert stars playing music by heroic composers. In such a context, the role of the audience is largely one of being passive – of being transfixed by the virtuousity of the performer and the piece. Friedrich Nietzsche elevated this – though not just in relation to culture – in his notion of Übermensch (or superman) • Though Bohlman points out that some remnants of the old equality still linger on in the string quartet and the sometimes leaderless chamber orchestra

18. Bohlman chapter • The development of mass-produced instruments had an enormous impact. The most popular in Europe became the piano, but it not lend itself that well to non-European scales and also wasn’t very transportable • In addition, modern mass media has had the impact of both promoting homogenization, but also allowing other cultures to get their music out (“glocalization”) • Even today, people try to mine their musical roots for traditions to support particular ideological or political visions (including nationalism)

19. Bohlman chapter • Such music is often seen as arising out of the mentalité of a distinctive group of people. Is this the case with commodified music? His Twerpness Her Twerkness

20. Bohlman chapter • Any comments on anything else in the chapter or that I’ve talked about? Or that I haven’t talked about? • I haven’t covered the Eurovision Song Contest. Any comments on that? It sounds like quite a mash-up, with the musicians chosen to represent their countries being completely arbitary, both in nationality and in style (Celine Dion for Switzerland?!!) • This was a challenging chapter, but I hope that you read it!