Romantisisme

The Loudspeaker Revolution:New ways of listening

Music after 1945

Music after 1945Technological rather than artistic developmentGreater communication between composers accelerated pace of music change

Music after 1945Altered assumptions about composition, performance & listening Creation of new medium electronic music

The Long-playing Record & tape recorder

The Long-playing Record & tape recorderInventions became commercially available late 1940sTransformed nature of music experienceTodays use of amplification & electric instruments in live performanceGrowth of TV & radio

The Long-playing Record & tape recorderLater development of Compact-disc, videocasette recorder (VCR) & personal stereoRecordings, elect. amplification, & even electronic instruments known before 1940sDate as far back as 1877:Thomas Edison cylinder phonographUnknown potential of recorded sound alter musical experience

The Long-playing Record & tape recorderLP records & tapes simply vehicles for preservation & transmission of concert musicBUT, enormous impact on composers

The Long-playing Record & tape recorderAccelerated development of music:More interaction between composersImproved communications & transportationGreater access to scoresPresence of recordings

The tape recording mediumComposers now with virtually unlimited access to variety of musical stimuliAlso works of fellow artists availableEase of storage & editing tape recorder

The tape recording mediumGlobal sharing of new works within matter of days of 1st performanceStylistic development influential before even accepted by listeners

The tape recording mediumAlso rekindled interest in works of:BachVivaldi (& other Baroque composers)BerliozBruckner Ethnic & folk musicsRenaissance motets & masses20th century classics Satie, Hindermith, Stravinsky, Bartok & more

The tape recording mediumRecording industry:Exposed listeners to greater range of music stylesHistorically, ethnically & geographicallyComposers could take advantage of audiences broad listening experience

Changes in listener perceptionCreative artists realized recordings could be used to compose music in new ways:Methods which had not been possible beforeResembled development in visual arts - photography

Changes in listener perception1930s:Ernst Toch & Paul HindermithExperimented with distorting recorded soundsMixing of sound on variable-speed turntables

Changes in listener perceptionExperimentation with technology:Records played backwardsScratches made into grooves to create sound of repeated fragmentsJohn Cage Imaginary landscape No. 1 Variable Turntables used as performance instruments in chamber ensemble

Changes in listener perceptionAfter WW2:Composers used unique features of recording & playbackElectronic / tape music compositionOriginally neutral perception of recordings impact on music appreciation changed why?

Changes in listener perceptionReconsideration of essentials of music performance: Traditional association with visual stimuliTheatrical gestureAcoustics of performance spaceImmediacy of real time

Changes in listener perceptionCage conceived Landscape No. 1 with radio broadcast in mindRecognized that loudspeaker performance / broadcast of chamber work = new possibilities of listeningRecorded music = music

Changes in listener perceptionNew ideas of performance:Visual stimuliPhysical setting of original, real performance= eliminatedNew audience sound designed for cathedrals / 18th century drawing rooms can be listened to in kitchens & cars

Changes in listener perceptionNew concept of sound:Has sound become sole focus? Sound = unchanged?

Changes in listener perceptionNew concept of sound:New medium has altered sound itselfBalances & timbres can be altered by mic placement / broadcastRecord or tape succession of sounds may be artificial constructionEdited takes

Changes in listener perceptionNew concept of sound:Spontaneity of live performance lostLive performance in concert hall subject to level of focus (e.g. daydreaming)Loudspeaker performance can be controlledSingle performance can be listened to multiple timesFixed in time like visual art

Changes in listener perceptionControl of recorded sound:Order of movements can be changedSections of work can be repeatedListener in unique position of performing record or composing new work from isolated fragments out of existing

Changes in listener perceptionControl of recorded sound:Musical performance indistinguishable from electronic illusionForm, content, duration, direction = alterableLogic of musical continuity in Western concert tradition removed

Changes in listener perceptionControl of recorded sound:Fadeouts of song endingsInstant cuts to other tunesDirectionality of sound determined by loudspeaker placementLook of sounding objects changed electronic instruments

Changes in listener perceptionNew instruments:Theremin (1920): Leon Theremin playing his own instrument

Jason Hou (2010-2012) Alphasphere

Changes in listener perceptionComposers:Shaped music in accordance to changed perception of sound, performance & listeningAttempt to create spontaneous situations cannot be duplicatedImprovisation New means to reassert focus of visual

Changes in listener perceptionMusic created which will benefit from recordable form:Highly complex sound relationshipsRepeated hearing required for comprehensionMusic since 1940s exploits new perception of performance

New aesthetic aims

New concepts & toolsNew musical concepts:Pitch logicTimeSound colourTextureProcessPerformance ritualParody (Historicism)

New concepts & toolsPitch Logic:Western music, by definition, involved 12 notes of chromatic scaleSince Wagner, Debussy & others began to move beyond these principles more radical experimentationJohn Cage, Henry Cowell & Oliver Messiaen unique approaches

New concepts & toolsPitch LogicWhat is meant with pitch logic?Manipulation / design of pitches & intervals

New concepts & toolsPitch Logic:Strict 12-tone procedures used by Anton Webern in Piano Variations, Op. 27Traditional hierarchies of scale & key centre replaced by a row & its permutationsSerialism subject of work = pitch logic

New concepts & toolsPitch Logic:Anton Webern: Piano Variations, Op. 27

New concepts & toolsPitch LogicHenry Cowell innovative use of inner-string piano sonorities & keyboard clusters Pitch not as important

Messiaens Quartet for the end of time Pitches form scalesScales = unusual Non-directional, non-functional cycles & sequences

New concepts & toolsTime:Composers new ways of determining how pitches or sounds located in timeMusic from 1600 1900: rhythmic patterns reliant on unchanging meter

New concepts & toolsTime:Charles Ives: Unanswered QuestionOpening devoid of meterEntire work = timeless, spacious quality

New concepts & toolsTime - Charles Ives: Unanswered Question:Against a background of slow, quiet strings representing "The Silence of the Druids", a solo trumpet poses "The Perennial Question of ExistenceWoodwind quartet of "Fighting Answerers" tries vainly to provide an answer, growing more frustrated and dissonant until they give upThe three groups of instruments perform in independent tempos and are placed separately on the stagethe strings offstage.

New concepts & toolsTime:Messiaen Quartet for the end of timeIsorhythmic relationship between time (rhythm) & pitchBoth aspects = revolving in different orbits (timeless)

New concepts & toolsTime:Webern Piano Variations conveys expression of compressed timeMusic locked in fast forward

New concepts & toolsTime:Complex meters 7/16, 11/32, 6/4+3/8Changing metersIrrational subdivisions of beat(units of 7 or 11)Spontaneity performers encouraged to take decisions about placement of rhythms in time

New concepts & toolsSound Colour:Many composers turned to sound colour as primary field of explorationUnanswered Question extramusical program focuses on timbral contrasts among 3 forcesTimbre articulates form

New concepts & toolsSound Colour:Unique sounds created with trad. InstrumentsWebern Piano VariationsUnfamiliar playing styles extended thechniques

New concepts & toolsSound Colour:Unique playing styles also derived from jazz & rockAmplified instrumentsElectronic modification e.g. VocoderInstruments from other cultures sitar & koto etc.

New concepts & toolsSound Colour:Use of non-musical soundBirdcalls, motors, running water, explosivesAmplified electronicallyAcoustically modifiedSampled & altered digitallyVariety of tape editing techniques

New concepts & toolsTexture:Usually characterised in pictorial / tactile termsHeavy, light, dense, transparent, busy, simpleTexture now given role sometimes more NB than pitch / time

New concepts & toolsTexture: Unanswered Question 3 levels of activity seem to exist in separate worlds = juxtaposition more than polyphonic whole

New concepts & toolsTexture:Factors such as time, sound colour & texture seem independentBut, one exerts effect on other textural possibilities influenced by approach to timeUnlimited degree of rhythmic freedom in individual parts = huge range of contrapuntal texturesJohn Cage 433 no texture

New concepts & toolsProcess:New processes of compositionE.g. Unanswered Question: quasitheatric roles determined processPiano Variations pitch, rhythm, register, articulation, dynamics related to asymmetrical 12-tone rowCages Imaginary Landscape No. 1 rhythmic units to overall form based on no. 16

New concepts & toolsProcess:One particular trend after WW2 to treat composition as problem solving

New concepts & toolsPerformance RitualFor concertgoers music performed on stage (space set apart from audience)Audience members may converse & applaudonly at specific timesArtistic sociological ritual

New concepts & toolsPerformance RitualNB visual aspectPiano Variations breath-taking to see pianists agility with extended technique used

New concepts & toolsPerformance RitualOther composers who wished to escape trad. concert formatNew relationships between composer, performer, audiencePerformers surround audience or vice versaUnanswered Question wide spatial placement of performers

New concepts & toolsPerformance RitualAudience may be asked to participate perform, improvise or even compose part of workMembers of audience may be encouraged to come & go as they please

New concepts & toolsPerformance RitualAudience may converse with performers openly confess approval / disapprovalUnconventional performance spaces streets, public buildings etc.

New concepts & toolsPerformance RitualTime of performance may begin during any time of day or nightAny length (even months or years!)Beginning or ending not neededMultimedia performance interaction between music & other arts

New concepts & toolsParody (Historicism)Parody not only a reference to satireLarger sense refashioning of existent materialRelated to broader concept of historicismWhen entire styles are altered and given a new guise

New concepts & toolsParody & HistoricismComposer historical awareness created in worksReference serve as homage to stylesUnanswered Question:Strings always triadic & constant (serene, language of church music)Flutes = unstable (language of late 19th century dramatic music)

New concepts & toolsParody & HistoricismPiano Variations also use of historicism:19th century recital piece2nd movement = strict binary dance form of Baroque era (concept of terraced dynamics also used)

New concepts & toolsParody & HistoricismMessiaens Quartet for the end of time uses meditative Indian music & connects works to scriptureCage draws upon world of visual art & also Indian mysticismWebern European tradition of abstract art musicIves - philosophy

Questions?