Music History 3: Test 2, terms
Les Six- young french composers, all showing a strong influence from neoclassicism, drew inspiration from Erik Satie. Supported by writer/artist Jean Cocteau, against the music establishment, rejected the german romantic tradition but also the symbolism/sentimentality of debussy.
Polytonality- (Ives was the first to use), the musical use of more than one key simultaneously
Entartete Kunst- ‘degenerate art’ art show deauting works the nazis deemed to be ‘un-german’ or too modern or progressive
Gebrauchsmusik- “music for use” music for young amateur performers, wanted high quality, modern style, challenging yet rewarding. Aesthetic philosophy: that music was judged by its usefullenss to society, and not by its intrinsic value. Used as a derogatory term for music that lacked seriousness
New Objectivity (New Realism)- phrase first used in art, adopted by musicians, arose as an objection to expressionaism. Opposed complexity, promoted familiar elements. Borrowed from popular music, jazz, classical and baroque procedures. Notion that music should be objective in its expression-not overly sentimental or emotional. (Kurt Weill, Paul Hindemith)
Socialist Realism- official cultural doctrine of the soviet union that mandated an idealized representation of life under socialism in literature and the visual arts. Composers’ organizations founded in 1923. 1934 writer’s congress promulgated socialist realism, doctrine called for ‘realistic’ style.
Tone clusters- chords made with the fist or forearm (Henry Cowell)
Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music- begana in late 40s- ongoing. Webern viewed as father of the new movement, also influenced heavily by the ideas and methods of Messiean. Ideas fostered at Darmstadt inspired composers in many countries.
Union of Soviet Composers- replaced earlier composers’ orginazations and advanced socialist agenda.
Serialism- numbers/nathematical system of compositions beyond the 12-tone method, the spread of serialism to the U.S., influx of composers fleeing Nazi regime. Modernism still active in West-Germany, govt encouraged developemnts
total serialism- never total, only some nonpitch elements treated serially
Indeterminacy- certain aspects of the music left up to the performer
Chance- ‘aleatoric’ music, blurs meaning of composition. A compositional device. Decisions that are normally made by th e composer are left to chance
Fluxus- performance art, action performed in public place. 1960s, spearheaded by the group Fluxus
Modes of limited transposition (Messiean) cataloude d’oiseaux (catalog of birds) for piano. Collection of notes, do not change when transposedc by ceftain intervals. Well suited to suggestcontemplation, negation of desire. First mode: whole tone scale, second: octatonic scale, third: a certain string of notes
metric modulation (Elliott Carter)- shift in time signature/tempo where one durational value from the previous tempo is equivalen to another durational value in the new tempo
prepared piano- (cage) various objects inserted between strings of the piano. Results in delicate, complex percussive sounds, sounds resemble drums, woodblocks, gongs
graphic notation- nothing is specified, vertical, horizontal lines, and rectangles of various sizes, score placed in any orinetation. Performed anh length of time, any number of instruments, sound-makers
Theremin- invented around 1920 by Lev Theremin, controlled by hand gestures near two antennas
Ondes Martenot- one of the earliest electronic instruments, invented by Maurice Martenot
RCA Mark II Synthesizer- columbia-princeton electronic music center, Later 1950s
Moog Synthesizer (Robert Moog), modular analog synths, 1996 commercially available, adopted by studies, composers around the world
Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center- oldest center for electronic and computer music research in america
text scores- a description in prose of the composer’s omstrictopms fpr what is to happen in a performance
Quotation/Collage- precedent set earlier by Ives and Stravinsky, practive of directly quoting another work in a new composition, can be self-referential or from a different composer’s work (appropriation)
Musique concrètep- (French: “concrete music”), experimental technique of musical composition using recorded sounds as raw material. The technique was developed about 1948 by the French composer Pierre Schaeffer and his associates at the Studio d’Essai (“Experimental Studio”) of the French radio system. Assemblage of various natural sounds recorded on tape (or, originally, on disks) to produce a montage of sound.