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Starting from Scratch

Starting from Scratch. Music in the Aftermath of World War II. Zero Hour: The Impact on the Arts. Cold War Crisis in the arts Divide between “high” and “low” art became greater Stunde Null (Zero Hour): time without a past Serialism

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Starting from Scratch

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  1. Starting from Scratch Music in the Aftermath of World War II

  2. Zero Hour:The Impact on the Arts • Cold War • Crisis in the arts • Divide between “high” and “low” art became greater • Stunde Null (Zero Hour): time without a past • Serialism • Pierre Boulez (b. 1925), “Schoenberg est mort” (Schoenberg Is Dead, 1952)

  3. Total Serialism:Messiaen’sMode de Valeurs et d’Intensites • Mode de Valeurs et d’Intensites (1949) [Anthology 3-49] • “hypostatization” • Influence on “total serialism” • Boulez, Structures for two pianos (1951) [Anthology 3-50]

  4. Darmstadt • InternationaleFerienkursefürNeueMusik(International Summer Courses for New Music) • influence of Anton Webern • Pierre Boulez (b. 1925) • Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007) • Bruno Maderna (1920–1973)

  5. Indeterminacy: John Cageand the “New York School” • American counterpart to the European avant-garde • John Cage (1912–1992) • “The Future of Music: Credo” (1940)

  6. Music for Prepared Piano • Bacchanale (1940) [Anthology 3-51] • Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48) • Influence of Zen Buddhism • Daisetz Suzuki (1869–1966)

  7. Influence of I Ching“Book of Changes” • Music of Changes (1951) • Boulez, Aléa(from the Latin for dice) • aleatoric, chance operations or spontaneous decisions

  8. Silence • 4’33” (1952) • “Tacet for any instrument or combination of instruments”

  9. “Permission”: Cage’s Influence • Robert Rauschenberg: Cage “gave me license to do anything.” • Morton Feldman: Cage gave everybody “permission.” • Earle Brown (1926–2002) • “graphic notation” • “Happenings” • Fluxus

  10. Preserving the Sacrosanct:Morton Feldman • Morton Feldman (1926–1987) • “Free rhythm notation” • Rothko Chapel (1971) [Anthology 3-52]

  11. Conversions • Aaron Copland • “popular” and “difficult” styles • Piano Quartet (1950) • Piano Fantasy (1957) • Connotations (1962) • Igor Stravinsky • assistance of Robert Craft (b. 1923) • Requiem Canticles (1966) [Anthology 3-53]

  12. Academicism, American Style • Milton Babbitt (1916–2011) • Princeton University • trained in mathematic, logic, and music • “set theory” • “pitch class,” “aggregate,” “combinatorial” • Composition for Four Instruments (1948) [Anthology 3-54]

  13. Electronics: An Old Dream Comes True • EdgardVarèse • Cage, “The Future of Music: Credo” • Italian Futurists • Theremin • 1920, Lev SergeyvichTermen (1896–1993) • Ondesmartenot • Maurice Martenot (1898–1980)

  14. MusiqueConcrèteversusElektronische Music • MusiqueConcrète • using real-world sounds • Pierre Schaeffer (1910–1995) • Concert de bruits (Concert of Noises, 1948) • Étude aux chemis de fer(Railroad Study) • Étude aux casseroles (Saucepan Study) • Pierre Henry (b. 1927) • Orphée 53 • LucianoBerio • Thema“Omaggio a Joyce” (1958)

  15. MusiqueConcrèteversusElektronische Music • Elektronische Music • music based exclusively on synthesized sounds • Herbert Eimert (1897–1972) • Stockhausen • Studien(1953,54)

  16. MusiqueConcrèteversusElektronische Music • Use of both • Stockhausen • GesangderJünglinge(1956) • Hymnen(1967)

  17. The New Technology Spreads • “Computer music” • Columbia and Princeton Universities • “transducer” • converts audio signals to digital • RCA Mark II music synthesizer • Varèse • Déserts (1949–54) • Poèmeélectronique(1958)

  18. Electronics and Live Music • Mario Davidovsky (b. 1934) • Synchronisms • for electronic sounds with a live, virtuosic performer on a variety of instruments or voices • GyörgyLigeti • Atmosphères • originally for electronics, rewritten for “large orchestra without percussion” • Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933) • Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (1960) • “sonority piece”

  19. Music in History:Elliot Carter • (b. 1908) • “Philosophic conceptions” in “Music and the Time Screen” (1971) • “Metrical modulation” • First String Quartet (1950–51) [Anthology 3-55] • fixed vs. fluid tempi

  20. Carter’s Later Career • Variations for Orchestra (1953–55) • Second String Quartet (1959) • Pulitzer Prize winner • Third Quartet (1971) • Pulitzer Prize winner • Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano with Two Chamber Orchestras (1961) • What’s Next? (1999) • one-act comic opera

  21. “Who Cares If You Listen?” • Milton Babbit, 1957 article in High Fidelity • “The Composer as Specialist” • “Should the layman be other than bored and puzzled by what he is unable to understand, music or anything else?”

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