Post WWII Innovations
20th century composers took many new approaches to compostion
Stravinsky - Rith of Spring, Schoenberg 12 tone method
Later composers continued searching for new ideas in composition
Henry Cowell (1867-1965)
Cowell’s most important work was created before WWII
Included in our discussion because of his influence on following
composers
Especially his student: John Cage
Dance Music
Philosophy: Music should not dominate dance, but the DANCERS
should
How? By letting the dancers choose the order of the segments of
music
opposite of the European ideal that the composers are in total control
Leads to a new freedom of performing where CHOICE is given
By the 1960s/70s, this new freedom created new performances
Performers had a score (music) and could play their part at any time
they pleased - and even creating (improv) for certain periods of time
this randomness created what is called:
aleatory, indeterminacy, or chance music
Cowell: Musical Characteristics
Smaching down a group of notes on the piano
“tone cluster”
used in the work: “Tiger” (1928) Tiger
Instrument Experimentation
New Piano Works - playing the strings
Music for performer and assistant
performer strums and scrapes the piano strings while an assistant
depresses one of the piano’s pedals
The piece: “The Banshee” 1925 imitates the Banshee’s screams
John Cage (1912-1992)
Greatly influenced by non-western music - especially from China
Study began with Arnold Schoenberg
The “cost” of lessons
Cage and Dance Music
hired in 1940 to write for an American Dance Company
Small theater and stage with only room for piano
Cage wanted to provide the percussiveness that was associated with
African Dance music
the result? Prepared Piano
Sonata V from “Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano”
1948 Sonata V
The Music he wrote was so successful that he continued to write for
prepared piano for the rest of his life (among other composition
styles as well)
The Sonata V comes from a set of Sonatas written after Cage studied
Zen Buddhism - leading to Asian, Gamalan, and Indian influences
His Zen Buddhism study included the “Book of Changes” which is
read according to a throw of coins to determine the order of reading
This aspect of “chance” fascinated Cage and he decided to use it in
his music
Cage and the “anechoic”
the “anechoic” or isolation chamber at Harvard University completely
cuts off the individual from the outside world and keeps them in
complete silence
On this experience, Cage said the experience provided him not with
silence, but ... “the unintended operation of my nervous system and
the circulation of my blood.”
4’33”
“happenings” - never repeated the same way twice
Later works: electronics mixed with live sounds
“Atlas Eclipticalis” (1961-62)
86 instrumental parts for any ensemble
the note heads dictated by the map of the universe
A traveller wandering the earth "Atlas"
Electronic Music
Electronic Technology in the 1950s and 60s made possible changes in
the way music could be composed and performed
“muisque conctrete”
the use of any sound - such as street traffic noise, or from traditional
instruments, which then can be manipulated on recorded tape
sped up, slowed down, combinations, human singing and speech, cut
and pasted etc...
the Synthesizer - creator of electronic sounds, makes it possible to
create a huge array of sounds and noises for composition
Edgard Varese (1883-1965)
defined music as “organized sound”
he meat ALL sound
Poeme Electronique (1958)
Combination of electronically produced sounds and muisque
concrete
Recorded and played through 425 speakers at the Brussels World’s
Fair in 1958
A combination of music, lights, pictures, and writing projected ont he
walls of the building
No real beginning or ending of the piece - a continuous loop"Poeme"