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Chapter 23New Currents After 1945

Thursday, February 7, 13

The Quest for Innovation

• one approach: divide large ensembles into individual parts so the sonority could shift from one kind of mass (saturation) to another (unison), (Iannis Xenakis, 1922-2001)

• sound mass texture, and microtones: intervals smaller than a half step in the diatonic scale, (Krzysztof Penderecki, b. 1933)


Sound Mass

• Penderecki Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (1960)

- sound mass composition

- many extended techniques for strings

• snap pizzicato (sometimes called Bartók pizz.)

• striking instrument with fingertips

• highest note possible

• microtones

- uses sonorities, dynamics and texture rather than themes and key areas to structure the piece

- see Bonds p. 583 for the five sections of the piece


Combinatoriality

• 12-tone row is combinatorial if one of its hexachords can be combined with one of the hexachords of an other row without producing duplicate pitches

• composers exploring this were Schoenberg and Milton Babbitt


Combinatoriality

• Milton Babbitt Three Compositions for Piano (1947)

- uses combinatorial row pairs (see Bonds p. 584)

- when Bonds says P-0 we would say P-10 (he does not make C=0 in his 12-tone analyses)

- mm. 1-2: L.H. P-0 and R.H. P-6 (these rows are combinatorial)

- Babbitt serializes rhythm in this piece making it an example of Integral Serialism (see Bonds p. 586)

- P-row forms always use P-rhythm (5 1 4 2) measured in 1/16th notes


Dissonant Counterpoint

• the reverse of tonal counterpoint

- first species was exclusively dissonant and consonances were resolved by skip not step

• composers exploring dissonant counterpoint were Charles Seeger, Ruth Crawford, Henry Cowell, Carl Ruggles


Dissonant Counterpoint

• Ruth Crawford String Quartet (1931)

- married to Charles Seeger and used some of his theoretical ideas like dissonant counterpoint

- at the request of Varèse, she provided and analysis of the 3rd and 4th movements of this string quartet

- IV. Finale mvmt.

• palindrome form (m. 58 is midpoint)

• dialogue between Voice 1 (vln. 1) and Voice 2 (vln. 2, vla, and cello)


Integral Serialism

• extending parameters of serial composition beyond pitch to include such elements as rhythm and dynamics for high degree of structure and control

• composers: Olivier Messiaen and Milton Babbitt


Aleatory Music

• chance playing a leading role

• typically fixes one or more elements of music and leaves others to chance operations or events

• composers: John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley

• Cage: prepared piano - bolts and weather stripping attached to strings: incorporated screws, wool, bamboo, coins


Prepared Piano

• John Cage Our Spring Will Come

- premiered in NYC in 1944

- written for choreographer Pearl Primus

- piano prepared with

• bamboo strips (woven between the strings)

• nuts and bolts place in a variety of ways and locations


John Cage.In this live performance of Cage’s Variations V, Cage is seated at the far left in the foreground manipulating electronic sound equipment


Electronic Music

• in its purest form, requires no performer as sounds are produced by machine and recorded version is the work

• allows composers to manipulate all possible frequencies at all possible amplitudes with all possible durations


Electronic Music

• can be categorized into three major subcategories

1. musique concrète

2. synthesized electronic music

3. computer music

• the three categories may involve the addition of live performers


Electronic Music

• musique concrète (also called “electroacoustic music”)

- sonic material to be manipulated is a recored sounds taken from everyday life

• synthesized electronic music

- sounds generated and manipulated by electronic means through an electronic oscillator or a modifying device like a synthesizer - MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)

• computer music

- music generated, transformed fully composed or performed by computer program


Milton Babbitt at the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer, Columbia-Princeton Studios, NYC, late 1950s.

In its time, it was one of the most advanced machines of its kind, and Babbitt praised the ability of machines to realize rhythms not possible in live performance


Electronic Music

• Hugh Le Caine Dripsody (1955)

- musique conrète

- sound of a single drop of water

- tape machines used to manipulate the recorded sound


Minimalism

• reaction to and rebellion against the idea of a definitive work, fully notated score or a “correct” interpretation

• applied the use of “simple forms” and multiple repetitions of small units

• phase music or process music - elements of a work gradually transform themselves into something new and different

• composers: Earle Brown, John Cage, La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich


Minimalism

• Terry Riley In C (1964)

- minimalism

- also has aleatoric traits

- instrumentation is variable (Riley recommends 35)

- Riley said: “There is no fixed rule as to the number of repetitions a pattern may have...” (Bonds p. 600).

• This makes the length of the piece variable.

• performance time varies from 45 to 90 minutes


Minimalism• Steve Reich Piano Phase (1967)

- for two pianos or two marimbas (both players are live)

- often called phase music or process music (example of non-electronic phase music)

- piece in three sections

• section 1 (mm. 1-16) section 2 (mm. 15-26) section 3 (mm. 26a-end)

- tonality is E-Dorian

- to begin, player 1 solo is joined by player 2 in unison

- player 2 accelerates so that he is one 1/16th note ahead of player 1, they lock together for a predetermined amount of time

- canon at the unison, where tempo has become the primary compositional process


Postmodernism• an aesthetic attitude rather than a particular style

• embraces the past but often in an eclectic manner by synthesizing a variety of approaches in a single work

• all approaches are equally valid

• postmodernist composers felt obligated neither to avoid nor use traditional forms and genres

• composers: Frederick Rzewski, Thea Musgrave, Tania León, Arvo Pärt


Postmodernism

• Theo Musgrave Orfeo II (1976)

- for flute and string ensemble

- she teaches at UC Santa Barbara

- uses tonality and atonality freely

- quotes a part of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (see Bonds p. 606)


Postmodernism

• Tania León A la par (1986)

- mixes rhythm of Cuban popular dance with atonal harmonies (European modernism)

- A la par means “at the same time” or “on par with”

- this references the mix of Cuban and European styles


Postmodernism

• Arvo Pärt “O Weisheit” from Seven Magnificat-Antiphons (1988/revised 1991)

- mix of ancient and modern

- tonal (A major)

- Pärt wrote atonal music early and later changed to a more tonal idiom

- born in Estonia, emigrated to West Berlin in 1981


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