Ch. 23 New Currents after 1945

Chapter 23 New Currents after 1945 A History of Music in Western Culture, 4e 23-1 © 2014 Education, Inc. By Mark Evan Bonds Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 New Sounds from Old Instruments Composers elicited startlingly new and unconventional worlds of sound Considerable freedom granted to performers “Sound mass” texture as well as microtones: intervals smaller than a half step in the diatonic scale, (Krzysztof Penderecki, b. 1933) A History of Music in Western Culture, 4e 23-2 © 2014 Education, Inc. By Mark Evan Bonds Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 Combinatoriality 12-tone row is combinatorial if one of its hexachords (its first six or last six notes, referred to as hexachords A and B) can be combined with one of the hexachords of an inverted, retrograde, or retrograde inverted form of the same row without producing any duplication of pitches Composers: Schoenberg, Milton Babbitt A History of Music in Western Culture, 4e 23-3 © 2014 Education, Inc. By Mark Evan Bonds Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 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 A History of Music in Western Culture, 4e 23-4 © 2014 Education, Inc. By Mark Evan Bonds Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 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 A History of Music in Western Culture, 4e 23-5 © 2014 Education, Inc. By Mark Evan Bonds Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 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 A History of Music in Western Culture, 4e 23-6 © 2014 Education, Inc. By Mark Evan Bonds Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 Electronic Music Can be categorized into three major subcategories, any of which can be combined with live performers: musique concrète synthesized electronic music computer music A History of Music in Western Culture, 4e 23-7 © 2014 Education, Inc. By Mark Evan Bonds Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 Electronic Music Musique concrète – sonic material to be manipulated is a recorded sound 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 A History of Music in Western Culture, 4e 23-8 © 2014 Education, Inc. By Mark Evan Bonds Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 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 A History of Music in Western Culture, 4e 23-9 © 2014 Education, Inc. By Mark Evan Bonds Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 Milton Babbitt at the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer, Columbia-Princeton Studios, New York City, late 1950s. In its time, it was one of the most advanced machines of its kind, and Babbitt praised the ability of machines like this one to realize rhythms to a degree not possible in most “live” performances. A History of Music in Western Culture, 4e 23-10 © 2014 Education, Inc. By Mark Evan Bonds Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 Minimalism Reaction against opulence and complexity 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 A History of Music in Western Culture, 4e 23-11 © 2014 Education, Inc. By Mark Evan Bonds Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 Postmodernism An aesthetic attitude rather than a particular style Embraces the past but often in an eclectic manner, synthesizing a variety of approaches in a single work All approaches are equally valid Postmodernist composers felt obliged neither to avoid nor use traditional forms and genres Composers: Frederick Rzewski, Thea Musgrave, Tania León, Arvo Pärt A History of Music in Western Culture, 4e 23-12 © 2014 Education, Inc. By Mark Evan Bonds Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458