Compositional LanguagesFall 2012

Instructor: Prof. SIGMANTuesday 13:00-15:00

Lecture XI

End-of-Semester Schedule

• 11/27: 20th century Polyphony: Ives, Varèse, Nancarrow

• 12/04: Musical Timbre• 12/11: Final Project Presentations; Study

Guide distributed• 12/18: FINAL EXAM ( 시험 )

Final Project proposals

• LAST CALL!

New Assignment!

• To be posted to Website later today• Topics: Musical Texture, Counterpoint,

Polyphony, and Elliott Carter

Topics

• I. Ives: Collage, Polytemporality, and Memory • II. Varèse: Planes, Machines, and Futurism• III. Nancarrow: Poly-temporal Super-human

Canons

I. Charles Ives

A. Biography

• (1874-1954, Danbury, CT, USA)• Son of church organist George Ives• Conducted musical experiments in

microtonality and poly-temporality (2 marching bands, different keys and tempi) with his father

• Founded a successful life insurance ( 보헙 ) company (MET Life) in New York

• Not well-known as a composer during his life

B. New England Transcendentalism

• Influenced by literature of the 19th century New England transcendentalists: Ralph Waldo EMERSON, Henry David THOREAU, Louisa May ALCOTT, etc.

• Many of his titles refer to these authors

C. Sense of Time, Place, and History

• Traditional festivals• Nature scenes in New England• Parades • Urban soundscapes • American hymns ( 찬송가 ) and war songs

D. Collage and Quotation: Concord Sonata (1916-1919), Movement III• “The Alcotts”• [Piano Sonata No. 2] • Pitch material: polytonality and tone clusters

1.Quotations

1) American hymns2) Beethoven Symphony No.5 motive3) Bridal March from Lohengrin [Wagner]

2. Collage in Visual Art

3. “The Alcotts”: Score and Recording

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmWAGhC7b5w

E. The Urban Meets the Transcendental: “Two

Contemplations”

• The Unanswered Question• Central Park in the Dark • Both composed in New York in 1906

1. The Unanswered Question

• For 4 flutes, solo trumpet, and off-stage string quartet

• “a kind of collage in three distinct layers, roughly coördinated”

• Trumpet: poses “the eternal question of existence”—never to receive an answer

•

Unanswered Question: Layers

• 1) Strings: slow, distant, and diatonic (G Major)

• 2) Trumpet (or English Horn or Clarinet or Oboe): repeated, close, and atonal

• 3) Flutes: increasingly atonal and aggressive• Polytemporality (3 layers at different speeds,

out of phase with each other) • Cyclical ( 순완하는 ), NOT developmental

Score and Recording

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkaOz48cq2g

2. Central Park in the Dark

• For chamber orchestra• “a contemplation of nothing serious”• Use of collage, quotation, polytonality,

atonality• Depiction of city street scene (in 1906)

Programme Description

The strings represent the night sounds and silent darkness- interrupted by sounds from the Casino over the pond- of street singers coming up from the Circle singing, in spots, the tunes of those days- of some ‘night owls’ from Healy’s whistling the latest of the Freshman March- the “occasional elevated,” a street parade, or a “break-down” in the distance- of newsboys crying “uxtries”- of pianolas having a ragtime war in the apartment house “over the garden wall,” a street car and a street band join in the chorus- a fire engine, a cab horse runs away, lands “over the fence and out,” the wayfarers shout- again the darkness is heard- an echo over the pond- and we walk home.

Popular Music Quotations

• “Hello! Ma Baby” (ragtime)• Washington Post March (marching band)

Recording

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qPZbHNuZzI

II. Edgard Varèse

A. Biography

• (1883, Paris-1965, New York)• Moved to New York in 1915• Associated with Surrealist and Futurist poets• Mentor to Elliott Carter• Composed works for chamber ensembles,

orchestra, and electronics (Poème électronique and Déserts)

B. Ionisation (1929-31)

• For ensemble of 13 percussionists• Title: ionisation ( 이온화 ) of molecules

1. Layers

• 1) sounds of indefinite pitch (woods, skins, metal percussion)

• 2) sounds of definite pitch (chimes, piano)• 3) sounds of continually changing pitch (high

and low siren, lion’s roar)

2. Compositional Techniques

• 1) rhythmic motives: varied, accelerated, decelerated, and superposed

• 2) “planes of sound”: multiple lines fusing into unified, interlocking (and clashing) blocks at different speeds

Depiction of urban environment—very different from Ives!

3. Live Performance

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TStutMsLX2s

III. Conlon Nancarrow

A. Bio

• (1912-1997)• Born in the US; lived most of his life in Mexico• Primarily composed music for player piano• Invented a rhythm machine (later constructed

by Trimpin)

B. Player Piano Study No. 21: Canon X (1950s)

Polytemporality: •Layer I begins slowly in low register;•Layer II begins fast in high register• Layer I accelerates and rises in register•Layer II decelerates and falls in register•The 2 voices meet in the middle•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2gVhBxwRqg