A “League Against Willan”? The Early Years of the Canadian League of Composers, 1951–1960

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-480
Author(s):  
BENITA WOLTERS-FREDLUND
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Concert Programming ◽  
Canadian Music ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Stylistic Influences ◽  
Musical Modernism ◽  
Canadian Composers ◽  
League Of Composers

AbstractThe founders of the Canadian League of Composers were young modernists who resented the conservative musical climate in Canada epitomized by the traditional British style of Canada's most famous composer, Healey Willan. In their first decade (1951–60), during which their membership grew from eight to more than forty and they presented dozens of concerts of new Canadian music, they struggled to find a balance between two competing goals: championing the cause of all Canadian composers, regardless of style, and promoting modern and avant-garde styles, which had been virtually ignored by the older Canadian musical establishment. This article probes how those tensions played out in two of the league's early activities: membership decisions and concert programming. Although the league did admit composers and feature works representing a wide variety of stylistic influences, its membership and concerts were nonetheless dominated by younger composers interested in modern styles, especially the group of composers in John Weinzweig's circle in Toronto. The group earned a reputation as young radicals because of their modernistic programming choices and a controversial policy that limited membership to composers younger than sixty. Although its members may not have been entirely successful in their efforts at inclusivity, the league's ground-breaking activities in the 1950s did help to establish a place for composition generally and musical modernism in particular in the postwar Canadian cultural landscape.

scholarly journals SPLIT ENDS? LITERATURE AND POLITICS AT THEFIN DE SIECLE

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 697-709
Author(s):  
Jock Macleod
Keyword(s):  
Victorian Literature ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Modern Literature ◽  
The Political ◽  
Literature And Politics ◽  
The Real ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Split Ends ◽  
Bourgeois Culture ◽  
Long Course

AS AN UNDERGRADUATE IN THE1970s, my introduction to the 1890s was perfunctory. Squeezed into a couple of weeks in the middle of a year-long course on “Victorian and Modern Literature,” the literature of the decade was reduced to aestheticism and decadence and presented as something of a preliminary to the real business of modernism. Such a focus reflected the scholarship of the time, in which thefin de sièclewas constructed as a moment of transition, one in which the political and socio-ethical dimensions so central to high Victorian literature were evacuated, as arguments for the autonomy of art came to dominate the literary cultural landscape. The organising principle was one of bifurcation: the separating out ofavant gardefrom bourgeois culture, the high from the low and, of particular relevance to this essay, literature from politics.

Kharkiv Scenography School of O. Khvostenko-Khvostov: The Experience of Professionalization

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (02) ◽  
pp. 85-95
Author(s):  
V. Chechyk ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Music And Literature ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Theatrical Design ◽  
Outstanding Teachers ◽  
History Of ◽  
Compulsory Subject ◽  
The City

The article is devoted to the early years of formation of Kharkiv scenography school and to the creative and pedagogical activities of Olexander Khvostenko-Khvostov (1895–1967). It was reported that the bold experiments of this artist, in the field of theatrical design of 1918–1922, made him one of the central figures of Kharkiv avant-garde scene (“Mystery Buff”; “The Army in the City”; “Lilyuli”, etc), strengthening the reputation of an innovator and causing the beginning of pedagogical activity at the Kharkiv Art College in 1921. The theatrical and decorative workshop was opened at the faculty of painting at the Kharkiv Art College in 1922, it was headed by A. Khvostenko-Khvostov. Among the first graduates were such bright alumni as A. Volnenko, P. Suponin, V. Ryftin, A. Bosulaev, B. Chernyshov, and others. Fundamental provisions of the educational program, which A. Khvostenko borrowed from the teaching practice of A. Exter (Kyiv Studio, 1918–1920), reflected the formation idea of future theater artist’s synthetic thinking. It is known that the education program of the Theater and Scenery Workshop of KAC, equally with the Studio of A. Exter, in addition to the subjects common to all students of painting and drawing faculty as special subjects (theatrical scenery, technique and technology of the stage, etc.) included also the history of theater (I. Turkeltaub), material culture, costume, music and literature (A. Beletsky). O. Khvostenko paid special attention to theoretical and practical issues of composition. He introduced the course of fundamentals of directing (V. Vasilko) as a compulsory subject. Much of what the students mastered at the Workshop was tested on the professional stages of Kharkiv theaters. Associated with the Kharkiv Art School for a quarter of a century (1921–1946), O. Khvostenko-Khvostov has not still been included in the pantheon of its outstanding teachers.

S. YAKOVENKO AND HIS SKILLS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE INTERPETATION OF Y. BOUTSKO’S MONO-OPERA "DIARY OF A MADMAN"

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-145
Author(s):  
O. A. Podguzova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
Xxth Century ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Great Demand ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Vocal Art

Sergey Borisovich Yakovenko is the People's Artist of Russia, a famous musician, vocal teacher and Doctor of Art History. He entered a bright page in the history of Russian vocal art of the XXth century. Starting from the 1950s, as a vocalist, he was in great demand for chamber vocal performances, with some of them being composed by modern musicians. Yakovenko was able to operate freely with a whole stock of expressive means, inherent for avant-garde music, allowing him to take part in the most difficult performances of the latest vocal and vocal-instrumental compositions, which manifested his inclination to the theater, to the disclosure of the dramaturgy of works. S. B. Yakovenko’s stage talent declared itself in its fullness during the performance of mono- operas, among them "Diary of a Madman" by Yuriy Butsko (1968), which received a great resonance in the theatrical life of Russia. The general content of this article is the analysis of S. B. Yakovenko’s performing skill, which gave birth to a wide range of character images, generated by the protagonist’s imagination. After the analysis of audio and video recordings of the vocalist’s performances, as well as his numerous scientific works and conversations, the author discovers several important features typical for the performing interpretation by S. B. Yakovenko. These are his vocal-dramaturgical principles and vocal-theatrical direction. In Y. Boutsko’s opera "Diary of a Madman" the unique performance palette of S. B. Yakovenko allows the singer to create eight various, rapidly interchanging images, using exclusively the resources of his voice, while being on an empty stage without props and with little or no gesture or mime.

scholarly journals Anat Helman, Israeli National Ideals and Everyday Life in the 1950s. Waltham: Brandeis University Press, 2014. 312 pp.

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Israeli Society ◽  
Weak Component ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The 1950S

This chapter reviews the book Becoming Israeli: National Ideals and Everyday Life in the 1950s (2014), by Anat Helman. Becoming Israeli deals with those aspects of Israeli society and culture that make Israel distinct from other countries. The book explores how the Israeli society emerged, mainly on its own terms, and tackles the fundamental question of “what it means to be Israeli,” along with the extent to which the characteristics comprising Israeliness emerged in the early years of statehood. Among the book’s strengths is Helman’s choice of foci: the power of her study derives from its locating spheres and behavioral acts that are extremely important but frequently overlooked (kibbutz dining halls, for example). A weak component of the book is its discussion of the subject of humor.

The Epiphany of Language: The Connotation of Zen-Taoism in Charles Bernstein's Echopoetics

boundary 2 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 163-183
Author(s):  
Yi Feng
Keyword(s):  
Early Years ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Language Poetry ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Charles Bernstein ◽  
Taoist Philosophy

Abstract As a prominent representative figure of American Language poetry, Charles Bernstein has incorporated many themes concerning “nothingness” into his poetry. Contrary to the traditional Western philosophy that defines the concept of “nothingness” as meaninglessness and agnosticism, “nothingness” in Bernstein's poetics is endowed with profound poetic and aesthetic implications. Bernstein studied the works of Zen-Taoist philosophy in his early years. Understanding the Zen-Taoist connotations of “nothingness” is an important new dimension in interpreting Bernstein's echopoetics. Bernstein integrates the anti-traditional ideas in Zen-Taoist philosophy and aesthetics with the experiment of American avant-garde poetry. “The transformation between Xu (emptiness) and Shi (Being),” the beauty of “speechlessness,” and the expression of “defamiliarization” show the “epiphany” of language and the “nature” of language. The Chinese traditional Zen-Taoist philosophy is an important part of Bernstein's echopoetics.

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