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Dimensions of allusion : synthesis affecting craft in the works of Huw Belling and in 20th and 21st century compositionBelling, Huw January 2016 (has links)
This examination of my own works (presented largely in chronological order) and of related music by others, broadly concerns itself with appropriation and allusion on the part of twentieth and twenty-first century composers. It considers how the deliberate synthesis of existing works affects the responding composers' own output. To this end, whether surveying my own music or others', I do so within a four-pronged framework: 1. The philosophical premise and aesthetic of pieces which somehow appropriate existing composition (as claimed overtly by the composer, or inferred from available research). 2. The compositional procedure and techniques employed in the process of composing works which allude to or synthesise other pieces. 3. The product resulting from the interaction of the above two factors (naturally the latter is more concrete). 4. Critics' and scholars' responses: the basic phenomenology of the allusive element, synthesis, or stylistic appropriation, and the ethical problems surrounding any appropriation. My analyses address one or more of these connected points. They raise a number of significant questions. Is synthesis and re-composition (the latter taken to be more specifically referential) affective or effective? That is to say, is it aesthetically prescriptive? Can composers manage to quarantine 'Les objets trouvés' from their individual practice? Of interest are composers with individual credibility as innovators, whose craft is its own defence against criticism on dogmatic grounds. I consider what is to be gained, in terms of technique, and in terms of developing an aesthetic, from the process of specifically engaging with other pieces, and explore the effects of differing methods of synthesis as compared across compositional practices.
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(En) Corps Sonore : towards a feminist ethics of the 'idea' of music in recent French thoughtHickmott, Sarah January 2017 (has links)
This thesis explores the way music is characterized, used, or accounted for in recent (post-1968) French thought, focusing in particular on the work of Jean-Luc Nancy, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, and Alain Badiou. In spite of the differences in their philosophical-theoretical positions, all of these writers invoke music - both directly and indirectly - to negotiate their relationship to ontological, political, ethical and aesthetic concerns, particularly in terms of how it relates to the (im)possibility of a subject, the condition of truth, and the role of philosophical thought itself. The thesis situates these texts in a longer genealogy of musico-philosophical interactions and also brings them into dialogue with recent musicological approaches, thus showing how an inherited idea of what music 'is' is often assumed rather than critically re-evaluated. In short, by tracing the musical-transcendental baggage of an inherited metaphysical conception of music - one which often understands music in close relation to the feminine, (sexual) excess, and the beyond of language and/or the symbolic - the thesis shows that though music is instrumentalized by progressive thinkers as a way of shifting theoretical/philosophical paradigms, it nonetheless does so in a way that has a strong sense of continuity with previous thinking on music. Secondly, the thesis highlights the way in which music in its metaphysical-ontological guise is often conceived as synonymous with Western high art classical music (which is itself constructed as absolute and transcendent, and ontologically independent of its means of (re)production or context) whilst non-literate, popular, folk and world musics - on the occasions that they are considered and not simply ignored or denigrated - are notably considered almost exclusively in terms of their social-cultural or technological contexts. Finally, the thesis demonstrates that much of this takes place through a simultaneous instrumentalization of gender as an organisational category for philosophy, and one which all too often has the consequence of sending women - along with music - to the beyond of pre-, inter-, or post-signification.
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The aesthetics of videogame musicSweeney, Mark Richard January 2014 (has links)
The videogame now occupies a unique territory in contemporary culture that offers a new perspective on conceptions of high and low art. While the fear that the majority of videogames 'pacify' their audience in an Adornian "culture industry" is not without justification, its reductionism can be countered by a recognition of the diversity and aesthetic potential of the medium. This has been proposed by sociologist, Graeme Kirkpatrick, although without close attention to the role of music. Videogame music often operates in similar ways to music in other mixed-media scenarios, such as film, or opera. In the same way that film music cannot be completely divorced from film, videogame music is contingent on and a crucial part of the videogame aesthetic. However, the interactive nature of the medium - its différance - has naturally led to the development of nonlinear musical systems that tailor music in real time to the game's dynamically changing dramatic action. Musical non-linearity points beyond both music and videogames (and their respective discourses) toward broader issues pertinent to contemporary musicology and critical thinking, not least to matters concerning high modernism (traditionally conceived of as resistant to mass culture). Such issues include Barthes's "death of the author", the significance of order/disorder as a formal spectrum, and postmodern conceptions and experiences of temporality. I argue that in this sense the videogame medium - and its music - warrants attention as a unique but not sui generis aesthetic experience. Precedent can be found for many of the formal ideas employed in such systems in certain aspects of avant-garde art, and especially in the aleatoric music prevalent in the 1950s and 60s. This thesis explores this paradox by considering videogames as both high and low, and, more significantly, I argue that the aesthetics of videogame music draw attention to the centrality of "play" in all cultural objects.
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Queer Composition. Subversive Strategies in Western Classical MusicHiendl, Martin Alexander January 2021 (has links)
This dissertation engages the question of what a queer aesthetics might look like in the context of contemporary music composition. Starting with a discussion of the problematics of “defining” queer (aesthetic) practices, I look at Pauline Oliveros’ 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, Julius Eastman’s 𝘎𝘢𝘺 𝘎𝘶𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢 and Neo Hülcker’s 𝘈 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘺. 𝘍𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 to uncover particular resistant and subversive strategies present in their works. In addition to a close examination of the original score materials, I look into queer theories and writings from fields other than music, such as dance/performance and the visual arts, in order to identify and apply some of the traits that could be called queer aesthetics (or practices/methodologies) to the field of contemporary music composition. Among the topics discussed will be considerations on time/timing, utopia/futurity, professionalism/failure, queer subject matter and form/format. Avoiding the trap of closing in on a canonization of queer music practices, it is the stated goal of this dissertation to expand the framework and contribute to a new understanding of what queer composition within the context of Western classical music might look like.
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Artistic Expression in Music and PoetryWertz, Charles Bradley 05 1900 (has links)
This paper delineates meaningful relationships of passions, emotions, feelings, affections, nuances and aural perceptions of expressions and utterances, for understanding human artistic possibilities historically and contemporarily in the fraternal arts of music and poetry, with reference to sounds, silences, sequences, rhythms, rhymes, repetitions, retards, accelerations, tempos, harmonies, melodies, forms, etc., in four poetic and three musical compositions uniquely created by its author.
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Rhythm in Some 20th-Century Classical Music Sounds Different Depending on How You MoveFort, Anthony James January 2020 (has links)
I study certain passages of music for which I struggle to perceive a clear rhythm. I attribute this difficulty to an inability to infer or impose a beat. I show how, by listening to these “vague” rhythms repeatedly, I have been able to use movement to impose my own beat onto the auditory surface, and, by doing so, hear the rhythm with more clarity. What’s more, I show how I have been able to impose different beats on different listening occasions, and, as a result, hear different rhythms. I share my experience by presenting videos in which I move to the same music in different ways, priming the listener to have different rhythmic experiences depending on which video is being viewed. I discuss the techniques used to create these effects, as well as the features of the acoustic signal which make this kind of manipulation possible. In light of these discussions, and in dialogue with the work of other theorists, I examine certain issues of music cognition and music aesthetics, including the issue of musical “complexity”. I finish by considering whether the experience of rhythm could be manipulated to an even greater degree, and, to that end, present the “even-note illusion”, which uses a click-track to remove the lilt from a non-periodic stimulus.
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Elusive quartet, Imaginary Songs: understanding and experiencing the music of Morton Feldman and Helge StenMiskey, Nicholas W. 27 August 2020 (has links)
Many commentators experience difficulties describing and analyzing Morton Feldman's String Quartet no. 2 (1983), implying that the quartet eludes stable ascriptions of meaning. Feldman's own philosophy frames these difficulties as symptoms of an antagonism between direct experience and post-hoc understanding of music, a dichotomy tacitly supported in much related discourse. I critique this proposed rift between understanding and experience by analyzing how String Quartet no. 2 prompts listeners to repeatedly reconsider their own experiences. Obfuscated instrumentation, transformations of repeated phrases, and disorienting formal returns challenge one's perception, pattern recognition, and musical memory, leading audiences to return to linguistic interpretation in an effort to comprehend what they hear. Drawing on writing by Lawrence Kramer, I show that the compulsion to voice these uncertainties is not a result of a separation of understanding and experience, but of the blurring of these categories.
Vacillation between close listening and interpretation also typifies experiences of the music of Helge Sten, produced under the pseudonym Deathprod. For the album Imaginary Songs from Tristan da Cunha (1996), Sten transfers recorded violin improvisations to wax phonograph cylinders, clouding attributions of the music's manner of production. Incorporating Brian Kane's theory of acousmatic sound, I demonstrate that the resultant spacing of sound and source provokes listeners to oscillate between attending to the music's material properties and struggling to identify its meaning and cause. Work by Jonathan Sterne indicates that historical techniques of hearing associated with the antiquated medium of the phonograph cylinder prolong and complicate this mode of listening. As with Feldman's quartet, auditors of Imaginary Songs endlessly fluctuate between attempting to understand and striving to listen closely to the music. / Graduate
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Musica poetica in sixteeth-century reformation Germany.January 2010 (has links)
Wong, Helen Kin Hoi. / "December 2009." / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-108). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgements --- p.iii / Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Luther´ةs Ideas about Music: A Historical Precursor to Musica Poetica --- p.7 / Luther´ةs Educational Background --- p.7 / Luther´ةs Aesthetic --- p.11 / The Greek Doctrine of Ethos --- p.12 / Biblical Reference to Music --- p.13 / Luther´ةs Parting with the Church Fathers --- p.15 / The Place of Music within Luther´ةs Theology --- p.16 / The Function of Music within the Lutheran Theology --- p.17 / Chorales --- p.19 / The Use of Polyphonic Music in the Lutheran Liturgy --- p.21 / Luther´ةs Views on the Importance of Music in Education --- p.23 / Chapter 2. --- The Rise of Musica Poetica in Sixteenth-Century Lutheran Germany --- p.25 / Definition of Musica Poetica --- p.33 / "Heinrich Faber: De Musica Poetica, 1548" --- p.38 / "Gallus Dressier: Praecepta Musica Poeticae, 1563" --- p.39 / "Seth Calvisius: Melopoiia Sive Melodiae Condendae Ratio, Quam Vulgo Musicam Poeticam Vocant (Erfurt, 1592)" --- p.41 / "Joachim Burmeister: Hypomnematum Musicae Poeticae, 1599" --- p.42 / Chapter 3. --- Musica Poetica in the Lutheran Latin School: Rhetorically Inspired Compositional Instruction --- p.46 / Teachers of Musica Poetica --- p.46 / Students of Musica Poetica --- p.49 / The Pedagogical Method of Musica Poetica: / Praeceptum-Exemplum-Imitatio --- p.54 / Praceptum --- p.56 / Exemplum --- p.60 / Imitatio --- p.61 / Chapter 4. --- Conclusion - Understanding Musica Poetica in Sixteenth-Century Lutheran Germany --- p.67 / Religious Functions as Expressive Goals --- p.67 / "From Context to Method, or Vice Versa" --- p.68 / Bibliography --- p.70
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Frank Bridge and the English pastoral traditionHopwood, Paul Andrew January 2007 (has links)
This study's thesis is that instances of pastoralism in the works of Frank Bridge from 1914 to 1930 demonstrate a gradual darkening of his pastoral vision, and evince his increasingly complex relationship with the genre of pastoral music that flourished in English music in the early twentieth century (referred to in this study as 'the English pastoral tradition'). The study traces the change from the sensual and romantic idyll of Summer (1914-15), through progressively more ambiguous and darker manifestations of pastoral, and eventually to a bleak anti-pastoral vision in Oration (1930). This trend reflects Bridge's increasingly ambivalent relationship with the English musical establishment, his own radical change of musical language during these years, and significant changes in his personal circumstances. It also reflects the decline of romanticism and the rise of modernism in English music, a paradigm-shift that happened around the time of World War I, considerably later than in the music, literature and visual art of continental Europe. Chapters 1 to 3 examine the English pastoral tradition from three different contexts. Chapter 1 suggests that the English pastoral tradition may be understood as a genre, and describes a number of 'family resemblances' that run through and characterise it. Second, the English pastoral tradition is placed in the context of pastoral art from Classical times to the twentieth century, with a focus on pastoral in English literature. Finally, chapter 3 examines the social and cultural context of the English pastoral tradition and explores resonances between English society in the early twentieth century and the meaningstructures that underpin pastoral. The remaining chapters comprise a series of analytical discussions of six of Frank Bridge's works: Summer (1914-5), the first of the Two Poems (1915), Enter Spring (1926-7), There is a willow grows aslant a brook (1927), Rhapsody-Trio (1928) and Oration (1930). While a variety of analytical techniques are employed, the approach is broadly semiotic and focussed on musical meaning. Each analysis traces the relationships between signifying structures in the works and various musical and non-musical strands of the contextualising cultural discourse. As a result the works become the starting points for relatively wide-ranging discussions in which pastoralism in the music of Frank Bridge is understood as a site at which ideas of English nationalism and international modernism engaged with one another. Frank Bridge's place in this discourse, as revealed in the analyses of his works, becomes increasingly ambivalent and modernist.
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Symbols of transformation : reconceptualizing the boundaries of organicism in the music of Béla BartókMalone, Michael John, 1972- 24 September 2012 (has links)
This dissertation uses Béla Bartók's 1943 Concerto for Orchestra as a focal point for investigating conceptual models of music based on early twentieth-century notions of organicism. In particular, this project brings together two traditions--one structural, one narrative--in an attempt to integrate motivic allusion and programmatic discourse, and places this piece within a metadiscourse of musical 'Fate' stories that continually point back to Beethoven. Based largely on the work of George Lakoff, chapter 1 is an overview of modern category theories that rejects objectivism and establishes a philosophical view of meaning that is shaped by our conceptual models. Chapter 2 is a comparison of the writings of Schoenberg and Bartók that invoke organicist values of musical development and variation. Stemming from Bartók's claim that Schoenberg's Op. 11 showed composers the "new ways and means" of modern composition, this chapter speculates on potential influences and involves a reinvestigation of Schoenberg's Op. 11, No. 1. Chapter 3 examines the difference between strict hierarchical models of music and metonymic reductions. Following a critique of Fred Lerdahl's recent attempts to apply his Chomskian prolongational model to post-tonal and atonal music, this chapter traces the integration of motivic parallelism and key architecture in tonal music as a primary organizing feature of musical form, foreshadowing their use by Bartók as replacements for the structural functions of harmony. Chapter 4 investigates the relationship of musical motives and post-Beethovenian narratives of fate/overcoming and fate/death in music by Bizet, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, and Richard Strauss, providing a context for Bartók's motivic and programmatic allusion to--and transformation of--that very tradition. Chapter 5 draws the material from the previous chapters together in a structural-programmatic reading of the Concerto for Orchestra that situates it as a transformation of the evolving traditions that inform it. / text
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