HISTORY 204 – LECTURE 1–MODERNISM

(F-11)

 

1.  Musical historicism

Historicism and modernism both emerge in the 2nd half of the 19th century – They are two sides of the same coin – Modernism was a response to domination of artistic life by historical works

In 18th and early 19th century most of the music people heard was new music – Only in church were old works performed – In early 19th century people started reviving old music (JS Bach, D. Scarlatti, Gluck) and keeping “classic” works in repertory (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven)

Transformation of repertory – Analysis of programs of concert societies (e.g. Vienna Phil, London Phil, NY Phil) shows that proportion of works by living composers declined steadily over the course of the 19th century

Musical consequences of historicism

separation of "classic" music from modern music

performers and audiences trained on classics

modern music had to compete with classics (this was the problem Brahms had when he went to write his first symphony)

modern music had to differentiate itself from the classics - premium on novelty and individuality of musical style

 

2.  Modernism

Any definition seems inadequate – It refers to set of beliefs, attitudes and procedures among artists and audiences, beginning in the late 19th century and continuing until today – Not just in music but in all arts

Some features:

tries to be different from historical works

rejects of received forms and genres

premium on novelty, innovation

hostility to prevailing social values (scandalize the bourgeoisie)

emphasis on personal authenticity

 

3.  Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

We don’t tend to consider Strauss a modernist, but before World War I, he was Europe’s leading and most notorious modernist composer

Born in Munich – Father was horn player in Munich opera – Very precocious – First big success was Don Juan (1889) – Lived in Munich, Berlin, Vienna (and Garmisch)

Four phases: 

Tone poems (1885-1898)

          Modernist operas (1898-1910) – e.g. Salome (1905), Elektra (1908)

Postmodernist operas (1911-1933) – e.g. Rosenkavalier (1910), Ariadne (1912/1916)

Late works (1934-1948) – e.g. Metamorphosen (1945), 4 Last Songs (1948)

Tone poems – These established Strauss’s reputation as a modernist - Grout divides into “representational” and “philosophical”

Philosophical – Death and Transfiguration (1889), Thus Spake Zarthustra (1896) – In tradition of Liszt tone poems – organized by vague topics and thematic transformation

Literal/narrative – Don Juan (1889), Till Eulenspiegel (1895), Don Quixote (1897), Ein Heldenleben (1898) – These are in tradition of Wagner operas, where orchestra illustrates everything that happens onstage

Strauss and the 3rd Reich (good account in Wikipedia)

Remained in Germany during Nazi period and through war – Criticized by emigres

Initially sympathetic to regime, held official position (president of Reichsmusikkammer)

But continued to perform banned music and collaborate with Jewish musicians and writers – Also his daughter-in-law was Jewish – At one point he had to use his official connections to rescue her from Theresienstadt

By the end of the war he was a bitter opponent of the regime - but privately, because he had to protect his family

 

4.  Strauss, Don Quixote – Symphonic poem (1897) – NAWM 149 (vol. 2)

Who were Don Quixote and Sancho Panza? - Miguel Cervantes novel (vol. 1 published 1605) – Satire on chivalry – adventures: attacks windmills, attacks flock of sheep, imaginary flying horse, etc.

Organized as series of “variations” - each depicts a different adventure

Solo cello takes role of Quixote – viola is Sancho Panza

PLAY Theme (10/25) - I think bass clarinet and tuba are the donkey, viola is Sancho (NAWM has another interpretation)

Strauss’s harmonic procedures – We usually think we know what key we’re in and where we’re going, but progressions have a way of confounding our expectations – E.g. Don Quixote theme d minor (mm. 1-3) to C major (5) to F major (9) to D major (13) to d minor (14) – Chromaticism sounds like a subversion of diatonic expectations – It’s also representative: the confusion of key reflects Don Quixote’s mental confusion

Battle with the sheep – This was notorious in its day for dissonance – PLAY (29) what is the point of the dissonance? [depict sheep]

Orchestration was also notorious – because it uses so many special effects – fluttertongue, col legno, divisi, odd combinations

What (if anything)  is modernist about Don Quixote?  

how does Strauss try to differentiate this piece from music of the past?  [realism, literalism, satire]

Novelty?  (dissonance)

 

5.  Claude Debussy, Syrinx (1913) –  HANDOUT (Supplementary listening)

Typical of Debussy’s approach to melody, harmony, rhythm, form -- easier to deal with because there's only one melodic line

Flute solo - 1913 (i.e. late) - composed for play called Psyche by Gabriel Mourey, a friend -- "Syrinx" means "panpipes" (story of nymph chased by Pan, etc.) - Not published until 1927

 PLAY - Listen for: 

                    a) melody:  is it a tune? is it melodic?

                    b) harmonies: What key is it in? do you hear functions?

                    c) rhythms: What is meter? can you tap your foot?

  Melody:

  Doesn't sound anything like a tune -- Why not? -- Lacks closure, cadence, periodicity

  What is elaborated? -- B-flat to D-flat descent - It's elaborated over and over, each time differently – It has a bit of a whole-tone flavor, because it emphasizes Bb-Ab-Gb-E (but not D)

Begins with very simple melodic cell, which is repeated, extended and elaborated

Debussy sometimes called this kind of melody an "arabesque" -  i.e. free elaboration of simple melodic structure,  like repeated/varied patterns in Arab decorative art - This approach to melody is very typical of D.  (e.g."Afternoon of a Faun," or "The Little Shepherd")

 Harmonies:

Key signature suggests black key pentatonic – Some passages are in this mode (e.g. mm. 11-12) – But most of the piece uses accidentals freely and is not pentatonic

Bb is emphasized, but do you hear it as tonic? - I hear it as a reciting tone - like in plainchant

Db is "goal," but do you hear it as resolution? - I hear it as relaxation but not release

If there's any tension-release, it has more to do with register than tonality – lower notes seem more relaxed

Ending Whole Tone scale dissolves any trace of harmony

This is neither diatonic nor chromatic harmony

 Rhythm

Can you tap your foot? - Why not?  (because of extremely mixed note values, also written instructions for rubato)

 Yet pulse of melodic cell is clearly heard (and if you play it rubato, you'll mess it up)

 Principle of length accent instead of stress accent - This is principle of French verse (vs. English) - model is speech, not dance - (NB that D. can write a dance when he wants to - e.g. Jeux; or a march, e.g. 2nd Nocturne)

Debussy was a committed modernist – What are some modernist features of Syrinx?

rejects diatonic harmony

rejects received forms

not commercially viable (unpublished)

emphasizes uniqueness and authenticity

 

3.  Debussy Life (1862-1918)

Parisian – lived most of his life in Paris – Trips to Russia in 1881, 1882, to Rome in 1886-87, to Bayreuth 1888, 1889

Relations with Conservatoire and French musical establishment were strained (as you see in Prep 1) - Associated with symbolist poets and impressionist painters – Enthusiastic about non-European music and art – e.g. Mussorgsky, Javanese gamelan at Universal Exposition (Paris World’s Fair) of 1889, Japanese woodblock prints

Love-hate relationship with Wagner – “After some years of pasionate pilgrimages to Bayreuth , I began to have doubts about the Wagnerian formula” (W&T 419) – Understood Wagner better than all of Wagner’s self-proclaimed followers (e.g. Strauss)  – Pushed Wagner’s ideas about drama, melody, harmony etc.  to their logical conclusion

First hit was “Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun” (1894) based on a poem by Mallarmé

Nocturnes (1899) – Set of 3 orchestra pieces, the last with women’s chorus - Not so favorably received (“Nuages” is the first Nocturne)

Became celebrity with Pelléas et Melisande (1902) – Opera based on a play by Maeterlinck – Very different from Italian opera – Singing is very speech-like, anti-melodic – But sounds very different from Wagner (though it still follows Wagnerian principles): no bombast, no leitmotifs, no shouting – Pelleas became focus of French debate over modernism

La Mer (1905) – for orchestra - Widely performed

Never wrote the same piece twice – Every work by Debussy is very different from every other work  (another “modernist” trait – Each piece is re-invented from first principles)

I haven't said anything about "impressionism" - Debussy did not call himself an impressionist and disliked the term - He was deeply opposed to any kind of "ism" - But if you hear something in Nuages that reminds you of Monet (or vice versa), I won’t object

 

4.  Nuages – First of the Nocturnes (1899) – NAWM 156 (vol. 3)

Title comes from James McNeill Whistler’s paintings of night scenes

"Nuages" suggests or alludes to “clouds” – Does it “depict” clouds?

PLAY – listen for

a) melody – is there any in first part? [motifs?] – [melody at 64 is non-periodic - more like a long motif than a tune]

b) rhythms – can you tap your foot?  - strings vs. English horn, time signatures suggest polyrhythm

c) change of harmony on p. 800 – try to describe it – [shift from chromatic (almost octotonic) to pentatonic]

NB – beginning is not an example of “planing” because voices don’t move in parallel – chromatic voice-leading à la Wagner

     NAWM suggestion that melody at 64 is derived from Javanese gamelan has no particular basis in fact