Modernism

·       Oddness of the term – seems to be vacuous, but can’t just be descriptive

·       Prescriptive – taking a stance on the present

o   Might involved a faith in progress and optimism for the future

o   Involves a preoccupation with ‘newness’

·       Continuous and discontinuous with the past

Musical Modernism in (very) Broad Outline

·       Complex chromatic harmonies

·       Less reliance on tonal centers

·       Experimentation with non-diatonic scales

·       New approaches to meter

Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)

·       Born in Tuscany

·       Child prodigy – piano and composition; trained by parents

·       Studied at Vienna Conservatory – initially pursued a late Romantic (i.e., Brahmsian style

·       1907 –

o   Sea change in compositional approach – atonality, microtonal music

o   Statement of the aesthetic shift in ‘Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music’

‘Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music’ (1907)

·       Outlines various approaches to composition that fetter creative freedom

o   Disciplining via form

o   Disciplining via temperament and diatonicism

o   Disciplining via associations of modes with expressive capacities

·       Rejects the terms of the debate in the War of the Romantics – both sides are wrong!

Modernity and its -isms

·       Multiple approaches to the ‘new’ –

o   Symbolism [new approach to language and meaning]

o   Primitivism [new approach to relationship between ‘new’ and ‘old]

o   Expressionism [new understandings of the self and consciousness]

o   Impressionism [new approach to phenomenology and cognition

o   Futurism [new approach to machine technologies]

Futurism

·       Artistic movement found in 1909 by Filippo Marinetti

·       Quickly spread to literature, film, music, and design

·       Preoccupations –

o   Speed – planes (later), trains, and automobiles (even bicycles)

o   Machines and industrialization

o   Urbanity and the modern cityscape

o   Violence – modern warfare and weaponry; sometimes encouraging violent reactions at exhibitions and concerts

·       Marinetti’s ideas spread to Russia, and they developed a largely distinct Futurist school

Luigi Russolo and Futurism

·       Joined the Futurists in 1910 as a painter

·       1913 – published a radical manifesto setting out a program for making Futurist sound art

o   Creation of new art in which everyday sounds, including noise, would be the building blocks

o   Manifesto – public and polemical statement of belief/principles

·       Began to invent sound/noise machines

·       Composed sound art pieces using his instruments and his own system of notation –

o   Concert caused a riot in Milan in 1913

·       Fled rising tide of fascism in Italy after WWI to Paris –

o   Influential on Darius Milhaud, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, Piet Mondrian

·       All of his instruments and compositions were destroyed during WWII

Why noise?

·       Noise –

o   Offers near infinite variety in terms of timbre, rhythm, dynamism

o   Can expand our perception

o   Connects us to life

o   Still has the ability to surprise

What about this is Modernist?

·       Preoccupation with newness –

o   New technologies

o   New understandings of sound based on acoustics

·       Critique of tradition (boring, dead)

·       Embrace of urbanity and the soundscape of the city (and the modern battlefield)