MuL 135 Journal Entry 3 - Indie Is Not Indie Anymore (The Feeling That You Don't Belong)

(reposted from UVLe) 


Space

Stravinsky found his niche (a part of it, to be particular) by collaborating with Diaghilev and the Ballet Russe with his critically-acclaimed works such as Firebird, Petrushka and Rite of Spring. Early influence of Russian folk music was evident on his output, most of them are colorful and of varying complexities. The Parisians enjoyed them, his fellow Russians didn’t.

Bartok further concentrated more on the influence of Hungarian peasant music, along with occasional departures from tonality, on his compositions, as opposed to Gypsy music that was largely urban and largely commercial in terms of distribution. This also had a significant contribution in the field of ethnomusicology.

Time

Rachmaninov had a few influence, if any, of Skryabin and Stravinsky before him. Most of his output anchored firmly with Romanticism and the tonal system, to which he extended the application to some extent. He is basically traditional in terms of his work, he even remarked: “Perhaps I feel that kind of music I care to write is not acceptable today.”

Roslavets’ outputs have similarities with that of Skryabin and the Second Viennese School. However, advanced technical aspects applied in his music eventually resulted to displeasure of those in political power, causing him to be heavily censured.

The Futurists thought of “throwing out all previous conceptions of art in order  to develop a new kind, suitable for an age based upon technology,” as quoted from Marinetti. Russolo, in particular came up with intonarumori  (“noise intoners”), categorized into 6 timbral types such as booms, whistles, whispers, screams, percussive sounds and vocal sounds, both human and animal, in order to came up with his own music. Unfortunately, neither his scores with “graphic” notations nor hisintonarumori survived because the movement has lost its momentum.

Janacek was also influenced folk music. He developed the theory of “speech-melody,” which was employed mainly on his opera work. Unfortunately, his work was overshadowed by Bartok in terms of progressive styles used. At the same time, opera, which is his concentration, is already losing its audience because of shifting interests.

Kodaly introduced Hungarian folk music to Bartok. He also focused on it along with developmental music for children and amateurs (“Kodaly method”) while taking less of contemporary Western Europe styles.

Ravel’s music parallels that of Debussy, adhering closely to traditional tonal system. Most of his work echoes elements from foreign sources (particularly Swiss, Spanish, German and even American).  Although a Romanticist and highly technical, he shifted a bit with simple and clear compositions, in anticipation to neo-classical developments that would occur later on.

MuL135 Journal Entry 2: Breakthru

(Reposted from UVLe)

Schoenberg setting up the stage for a so-called 'atonal revolution,' along with athemacism, poses its own problems as well. There's that dependence of different texts, usually poetry, that keeps the whole composition alive and progressing. The problem with unsustainability challenges this movement in music because of its lack of definite structure, or rather, its deliberate abandonment of tonal structure and the lack of underlying themes. A tent without a frame is simply a sheet of waterproof material.

You could say that probably sudden, or hopefully, intuitive bursts of ideas and feelings, more like stream-of-conciousness would provide a certain direction on a composition's structural progression. With technical aspects of developing variation and musical prose, a piece could be unpredictable (or ambiguous, depending on your perception), free as well as continuous in form. You can add a few dissonant segments here, abuse chromaticism there. There is that freedom to create something new. But what is new could not simply stand by itself just because it is the opposite or an extension of a pre-existing system.

There's this Law of Conservation of Mass, as well as Law of Conservation of Energy. Or simply, you cannot create something out of nothing. Or in the current context, without a definite logic that will define how these atonal compositions are created, I don't think they would stand by themselves (or at least, during the time 'atonal revolution' was just starting). Or maybe it's just me, together with other folks, who wants everything to be justified by a certain logic. You could just make up your own rules and explicitly state assumptions. Maybe that could do.

Luckily, Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire worked pretty well. The use of Sprechtimme, although disturbing to me, made perfect sense thematically. I wonder if watching the actual performance  would prove me wrong.