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Unit 10: Music With Logic (John Cage (1912-1992) (born in LA, early…
Unit 10: Music With Logic
Listening Guides
Pierrot Lunaire (1912)
song cycle on 21 poems by Giraud (used German translation)
poems about Pierrot a poet/rascal/clown
bizarre and macabre
mood changes: guilt, depression, atonement, playfulness
set for female vocalist and chamber ensemble
21 poems broken down 3 groups of 7; each is a rondeau (dance)
Sprechstimme: a new vocal style in which the vocal melody is spoken rather than sung
Klangfarbenmelodie: each note of a melody is played by a different instrument
dissonance
pointillistic- effects
fugues, canons in accompaniment
piccolo, clarinet, violin, cello, piano
very fast, free flowing
rondeau (a refrain is repeated three times: at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end)
Sonatas And Interludes (1949)
binary form, each part repeated (A-A-B-B)
A rhythm; upper and lower line
B rhythm faster; more disjunct and accented
end has sustained dissonance
prepared piano, in which various materials (nails, bolts, screws, rubber, wood, leather) are inserted between the piano strings
16 sonatas in 4 groups- separated by interludes
varied timbres (non-pitched, piano is percussion instrument, ethereal sounds)
Caballito Negro (Little Black Horse)
from Madrigals, Book 2
text (Garcia Lorca poem)
images of death
soprano & metallic percussion instruments, flute or piccolo
Ternary (A-B-A)
extended techniques, including glissandos, flutter tonguing, and whispering
highly disjunct and atonal
refrains from poems by Federico Garcîa Lorca
effects: flutter tonguing, glissandos, whispering, horse neigh
Electric Counterpoint III (1987)
last of a series of works he called “counterpoint”
chamber work for guitar and tape
twelve guitars w/ pre-recorded tracks layered within
very different approach to harmony and complexity from goal-directed tonality
through-composed and polyphonic
the “hook” (short repeated musical idea) is less the initial musical idea, but how that idea is gradually combined with itself
diatonic, mostly static with some subtle shifts; predominant chords are C major, B minor, E minor
short melodic ideas repeated as an ostinato
Evolution of Musical Expressionism
”redefine” the new
Next step in music evolution (not revolutionary)
expressionism
break from tradition
dissonance does not have to resolve to consonance
reject tonality (atonality)
Emancipation of Dissonance
rejection of tonality, key
dissonance is standard
dissonance can be the end of the piece
maximum tension (no need for consonance)
twelve tone method developed
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
composer, conductor, teacher in Vienna
students Berg and Webern
rejection of tonality
“method of composing with twelve tones”
USC- Southern California (1933) due to WW I
UCLA later
1940 US Citizen
three compositional periods: post-romantic, atonal-experiment, 12-tone
Mid-20th Century
innovative
new scales & harmonies
various cultures
use of various sound sources
highly virtuosic instrumental or vocal effects
Henry Cowell (1897-1965)
combined Asian instruments with Western ensembles
music from Iran, India, Japan
foreign scales with western chords
pre-cursor to ”prepared piano”
tone clusters for piano
group notes played with fist, forearm, and palm
plucking piano strings directly
Examples: Tiger & The Banshee
Harry Partch (1901–1974)
proponent of microtones
developed a scale with 43 microtones to the
octave
built/adapted instruments to play it
focus melody & timbre (not harmony)
adapted Indian and African instruments to
fit tuning
cloud chamber bowls (made glass)
cone gongs (made metal)
gourd trees
John Cage (1912-1992)
born in LA
early interest in non-Western scales
cowell mentor
in 1938, invented the prepared piano (similar to gamelan music)
indeterminacy, aleatoric, and chance music
explored the role of silence in 4'33"
raised profound questions about the nature of music
eternally questioning artist
George Crumb (B. 1929)
American
taught Colorado, NY, U of PA
avant-garde composer
art/music tradition
folk themes
non-western sounds
won Pulitzer Prize (1968) Echoes of Time and River
Musical Minimalism
the scientific nature of serialism appealed to some
rejection of 12 tone music
anew, also scientific way to approach stable harmonies was found in process music which became minimalism
process music - a few notes repeating over and over and often elaborating
developed through technology into phase music
music recorded on loop
several copies played simultaneously
music speed slowed
phase music later by live musicians
Steve Reich (B. 1936)
born in NYC, studied modernist composition
at Juilliard
wanted to write tonal music, pioneered
minimalist music
studied West African drumming and
Balinese gamelan
Judaic heritage central to many works
Grammy: Different Trains