scholarly journals LIGETI'S ‘LE GRAND MACABRE’: HOW HE SOLVED THE PROBLEM OF WRITING A MODERNIST OPERA

Tempo ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 66 (262) ◽  
pp. 29-38
Author(s):  
Michael Searby
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The Past ◽  
Compositional Approach ◽  
Compositional Technique

AbstractLigeti's Le Grand Macabre (1974–77) is one of the most successful operas of the 20th century in terms of the number of performances. Originally, Ligeti had intended to compose an ‘anti-opera’ in the manner of Kagel's Staatstheater, but changed his fundamental compositional approach during the process of composing the work. He realised that a more traditional opera with a clear narrative (unlike Kagel's avant-garde opera) was more suitable, and it therefore became necessary for him to transform his style to one in which the text was audible to an audience. As a result there is very little of his mature micropolyphonic technique in the resulting work, but rather there is an exploration of music from the past, and the use of parody. In composing his opera Ligeti revitalised his approach through a re-engagement with history, but combined with a modernist rigour; thus he was able to create a new and fruitful musical language, and to transform his compositional technique.

scholarly journals Convention as the Source of the Avant-Garde. Remarks on the Inventiveness of Poetics of the Past

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (1 SELECTED PAPERS IN ENGLISH) ◽  
pp. 19-31
Author(s):  
Barbara Niebelska-Rajca
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The Past ◽  
Polish Version ◽  
Dominant Tendency ◽  
Late Renaissance ◽  
Theoretical Reflection ◽  
Present Text

The Polish version of the article was published in “Roczniki Humanistyczne,” vol. 59 (2011), issue 1. Modern theoretical-literary treatises, defined as normative poetics, are usually connected with the dominance of the convention and normativism, with obligatory rules, canonical concepts and restrictive directives hampering originality. The present text tries to revise the conviction that convention is a dominant tendency in the development of the old theoretical thought; it tends to show the avant-garde aspects of modern poetics and to present the relations between what is conventional and what is innovative in the most original theoretical texts of late Renaissance and Baroque. Examples of two avant-garde modern poetics—Francesco Patrizi’s theory of wonder formed at the end of the 16th century and the 17th century Emanuele Tesauro’s conceptistic theory—show that tradition and convention are necessary elements of inventive theories. The avant-garde of poetics of the past, contrary to the avant-garde of the 20th century, is not born from the defiance of the earlier theories but is formed by way of modernizing and transforming them. Old inventive theories—despite all the departures from tradition—are still part of the classical paradigm. Hence, the avant-garde character of late-Renaissance and Baroque theoretical reflection consists in a peculiar synergy of convention and novelty.

scholarly journals Ligeti's ‘third way’: ‘Non–atonal’ elements in the Horn Trio

Tempo ◽  
2001 ◽  
pp. 17-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Searby
Keyword(s):  
Major Elements ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ternary Form ◽  
Harmonic Language ◽  
As If

It is perhaps curious that only a year after this exchange took place in 1981, Ligeti completed his Horn Trio – which uses traditional ternary form, a passacaglia (although a disguised one), a strong melodic focus, and a harmonic language which contains clear triads and dominant sevenths in abundance. In spite of his assertions above, it does seem as if Ligeti, in addition to rejecting the Avant-garde, is looking to the past for major elements of his musical language.

scholarly journals The Subject – A Key Element of the Fugue Form during the 20th Century

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-179
Author(s):  
Gabriela Vlahopol
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
The Past ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Significant Phenomenon ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Tonal System ◽  
Musical Forms

Abstract The great stylistic epochs of the past mostly had syntaxes and specific forms, escaping in the context of the application of polyphonic syntax to the tonal system. The twentieth century, characterized by a continuous mobility and search in the field of the musical language, does not intend to create new musical forms but takes preexisting patterns, which adapt to the creative contexts specific to the composers. Thus, despite the blurring of some of the fundamental elements, other factors of configuration and construction were maintained and amplified, as well as the particular phenomenon, the most significant phenomenon being the development of the thematic principle, which will have its particular manifestations in the fugue form, the diversity of its interpretations bearing the mark of some new directions.

The synthesis of tradition and avant-garde techniques in selected polish violin sonatas from the second half of the 20th century

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (12) ◽  
pp. 199-216
Author(s):  
Maryla Renat
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Sound Production ◽  
Final Conclusion ◽  
Formal Concept ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The Third ◽  
Individual Concept ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Composition Technique

The article presents four chamber violin sonatas for an instrument duo written in the 1970s and 1980s, which in their concept of form and shape combine the elements of the widely understood tradition with innovative means of composition technique. The subject for a closer analysis are the following works: • Witold Rudziński, Sonata pastorale per violino e piano forte, 1978 (PWM, Cracow 1983) • Sławomir Czarnecki, Sonate tragique für Violine und Klavier, 1982 (Tonos, Darmstadt 1988) • Jan Krenz, Sonatina for two violins, 1986 (Brevis, Poznań 1994) • Zbigniew Bargielski, Sonate für Violine und Klavier „The sonata of oblivion”,1987, autograph. Each sonata listed above renders an individual concept for combining paradigms adopted from the tradition (e.g. forms, use of quotation, expression idiom) with selected avant-garde means in sound technique, which mainly derives from the sonoristic trend. What Witold Rudziński’s Sonata pastorale per violino e piano forte draws from music tradition is the thematic character of musical thoughts, and in its sound sphere it introduces the means of mild sonoristic, maintaining a balance between them. Sławomir Czarnecki’s Sonate tragique für Violine und Klavier using the quotation from the sequence of Dies irae refers to the Late-Romantic expression to which it adds unusual methods of sound production and sonoristic middle episode. The function of these innovative means is to contrast it against dramatic expression of the piece’s outermost elements. The third discussed work, Sonatina for two violins by Jan Krenz corresponds with the neoclassical trend from the 20th century and brings out diverse elements of violin technique. It refers to the B-A-C-H sound symbol known from the past and to the variation form and combines them with more recent sound structures. The fourth composition, Sonate für Violine und Klavier by Zbigniew Bargielski, is the most innovative one in terms of its sound layer and formal concept. Its connection to the past is maintained thanks to a quotation from Chopin’s music transformed in an interesting way. The analysis of the sonatas leads to the following final conclusion: the tradition and the avant-garde in the discussed works from the postmodern period are not in opposition one against another in terms of style and aesthetics but they create complementary phenomena, in which the message drawn from tradition is given a new face.

scholarly journals Between autonomy of music and the composer’s autonomy. Notes on modernisms and traditionalisms in Slovenian music of the 20th century

Muzikologija ◽  
2006 ◽  
pp. 117-145
Author(s):  
Leon Stefanija
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Musical Culture ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The Past ◽  
Musical Heritage

The aim of this article is to examine the relations between the old and the new in the context of 20th-century Slovenian music. The question about the old and the new is seen not only as a question of different facets of an age-old opposition, but also as a complex issue of the epistemological contextualization of those different facets. Centered on the main historiographical entries ? the avant-garde, modernity, traditionalism, and post-modernity ?, the outline of the 20th-century Slovenian musical culture endeavors to point out what is a common problem of the Western musical heritage from the past century: the problem of defining constituents of the old and the new within different epistemological contexts.

scholarly journals AVANT-GARDE MEXICAN REVOULTIONARY NATIONALISM: UNIVERSALIZATION OR COSMOPOLITANIZATION ? DAVID ALFARO SIQUEIROS’ “THREE CALLS…” AND MANUEL MAPLES ARCE’S ACTUAL NO. 1 (1921)

ARTis ON ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 57-66
Author(s):  
David Murrieta Flores
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Mexican Revolution ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
International Context ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The Past ◽  
Specific Relationship

This essay compares two foundational manifestos of the Mexican 20th century avant-garde, both from 1921: David Alfaro Siqueiros’ “Three calls…” and Manuel Maples Arce’s Actual No. 1. Resulting from the ideological milieu of the Mexican Revolution, these texts contain distinct proposals to think about the place of the nation within an international context, after the successful entry of Mexico to modernity via revolution. In the muralist Siqueiros’ case, to think the Mexican nation implies a process of what he calls ‘universalization’, and which is driven primarily by a classical understanding of the ‘natural order’ and a specific relationship to the past. In the estridentista Maples Arce’s case, his call for a ‘cosmopolitanization’ derives from the notion that modernity is an implacable process, the access to which necessitates no relationship to the past and which rejects the ‘natural order’ in favor of a conception of the modern as urban.

Towards Modern Music in Romania

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Valentina Sandu-Dediu
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Coming Of Age ◽  
American Music ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
Modern Music ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
School Of Music

AbstractToo little known in the West, modern Romanian scores are being gradually discovered nowadays, beginning with those of George Enescu. For decades underestimated as a creator, Enescu has been re-evaluated and recently recognized as an original and authentic representative of an Eastern European music school, comparable with JanáČek or Szymanowski. The Romanian music of the past fifty years, due to the political and ideological situation of Romania, similar to other countries of the ex-communist Eastern European bloc, has been isolated geographically but not aesthetically. The great diversity of modern or avant-garde trends in Western European and North American music is also present in the output of Romanian composers of the same period, combined in various degrees with autochthonous nuances. Originating primarily in the two major oral traditions, namely peasant folk music and religious Byzantine music, these have compelled Romanian composers to find their own musical language. However, Romanian composers coming of age in the second half of the 20th century took their first steps on a well-established territory, from the standpoint of composition, style, and aesthetics. A solid school of music - built on structural foundations that gave it a distinct language - had already been established in Romania in the first half of the 20th century. Therefore, the following essay is a chronological outline of the historical development of Romanian composition, a process governed primarily by the tension between national elements and global trends.

Le Corbusier (1887–1965)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Sequeira
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
Housing Unit ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The Past ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Bear Witness

Le Corbusier was a Swiss architect and urbanist who acquired French nationality in 1930, having set up his studio ("the atelier for patient research") in that country. Just as he assumed an unconditional continuity in relation to the past, he also clearly confronted the circumstances of his time. Many of his works became icons of Modernism, like the Villa Savoye (1928), the Marseilles Housing Unit (1945), the Ronchamp Chapel (1950), the Convent of Sainte-Marie de la Tourette (1953) and the Chandigarh Capitol Complex (1950–1955), to mention just a few examples. His architecture reflected the development of a modern industrialized economy, a Western avant-garde culture and a vibrant political and social context. He made a mark not only with his constructed work, but also with designs that were never built (and which were progressive in character), his painting (which reflected his experimentalist nature) and with his theoretical texts, which today bear witness to his modernist doctrine. Le Corbusier was above all one of the most prolific thinkers of Modernism, and one of the greatest cultural figures of the 20th century.

Composition trends in polish vocal lyric. Musical language features in polish songs after the mid-20th century based on selected examples

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (12) ◽  
pp. 175-198
Author(s):  
Anna Mikolon
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Electronic Music ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
Witold Lutoslawski ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Poetic Text ◽  
Krzysztof Penderecki ◽  
Voice And Piano ◽  
Stochastic Music ◽  
Musique Concrete

The subject for analysis were works for voice and piano by selected Polish composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, e.g. Grażyna Bacewicz, Tadeusz Baird, Henryk Czyż, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Henryk Hubertus Jabłoński, Wojciech Kilar, Zygmunt Krauze, Szymon Laks, Witold Lutosławski, Juliusz Mieczysław Łuciuk, Wojciech Łukaszewski, Paweł Łukaszewski, Maciej Małecki, Paweł Mykietyn, Edward Pałłasz, Konrad Pałubicki, Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Rudziński, Marian Sawa, Kazimierz Serocki, Tadeusz Szeligowski and Romuald Twardowski. An important matter for the author was to determine whether there are common features for this creative genre. She also attempted to find an answer to the question if the trends from the second half of the 20th century were reflected in songs. The scope of analysis covered the repertoire the author knew from her performance practice from the standpoint of a pianist. To the general characteristics of selected songs she added a review of famous trends, techniques and styles of composition, such as impressionism, neoromanticism, expressionism, dodecaphony, serialism, punctualism, minimalism, sonorism, spectralism, neoclassicism, vitalism, postmodernism, aleatoricism, bruitism, microtonality, electronic music, musique concrète, stochastic music, references to previous periods, to folklore and to popular music. She compared musical notation of the analysed works. She also confronted forms of songs with contemporary composition techniques. Interesting was the approach of composers to chamber relations in a duo and the way they made texts musical. Most composers distanced themselves from the avant-garde in works for voice and piano which had a specific poetic text because of the clarity of narration. Matching composers unequivocally to just one trend turned out impossible. Various techniques and phenomena may co-exist in one piece and in the same way one creator may search for different means of expression.

scholarly journals Pierre Boulez, Latin America, and the European Avant-Garde After 1950

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Losada
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
Pitch Organization ◽  
Latin American Music ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Pierre Boulez ◽  
Compositional Approach

Recognized as a critic, composer, teacher, conductor and impresario, Pierre Boulez left a huge footprint that defined the trajectory of European concert music during the second half of the twentieth century. With the composition of Le Marteau sans maître (1953–1955) and several subsequent works from the mid-1950s and early 1960s, he established himself as one of the most important composers in his artistic circle. His compositional approach changed radically during the course of this time period.  Although many of his pitch organization techniques were only unraveled several decades later, innovations with respect to other parameters of the musical language had a clear and immediate impact. Keeping this in mind, with this intentionally provocative title, I would like to discuss how Latin America played a decisive role in the career of this enormous figure of twentieth-century music.  After presenting a brief summary of his professional trajectory, I will discuss the three tours he made of Latin America at the beginning of the 1950s, which, considered within the frame of his interest in ethnomusicology, were crucial to his career. They gave him the space and inspiration for crucial innovations in his development as a composer. By reference to Boulez’s writings, and based on a critical reading of the works that reflect the influence of Latin American music, I will discuss how some of the most important changes in his musical language, like his emphasis on elements of contrast and resonance, were inspired by his experiences on this tour, as much, or more, than by more recognized influences, like Japanese and African music. This has some considerable implications, given that Boulez’s new musical language had tremendous impact on the development of the European avant-garde in the second half of the twentieth century. Haciendo referencia a los escritos del compositor y tomando como base una lectura crítica de las obras que reflejan la influencia que recibió de la música latinoamericana, discutiré cómo algunos de los cambios más importantes en su lenguaje musical fueron inspirados por las experiencias de Boulez en sus giras en esta región, tanto o más que por influencias más reconocidas, como la música japonesa y la música africana.  Esto tiene implicaciones importantes, dado a que el nuevo lenguaje musical de Boulez tuvo un impacto considerable en el desarrollo de la vanguardia europea después de la segunda guerra mundial.

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