BC 1

Philip Glass and Minimalism in Opera and Multimedia

• Operatic and Cinematic Output:     * Philip Glass has composed a total of $15$ operas throughout his career.     * He has scored numerous films, resulting in $3$ Academy Award nominations for his work in cinema.

• Einstein on the Beach (1976):     * This was Glass’s definitive breakthrough work, created in collaboration with director Robert Wilson.     * It premiered at the Metropolitan Opera, where it was met with a polarized public response consisting of rapture, condemnation, and confusion.     * A notable review was published in the New York Times on November $23$, $1976$, titled "Einstein on the Beach Transforms Boredom into Memorable Theater."     * A significant section of this work is Act IV, scene 3, "Spaceship."

Technology and Pop Crossover in Minimalism

• Technological Integration:     * Minimalist composers have heavily utilized tape manipulation, electronic instruments, and sampling.     * These tools facilitates the blending of minimalist structures with popular music.

• Pop Music Collaborations:     * The track "Freezing" features lyrics by Suzanne Vega, vocals by Linda Ronstadt, and instrumentation by the Kronos Quartet.     * Glass has composed $3$ symphonies based on the music of David Bowie and Brian Eno:         * Low ($1992$).         * Heroes ($1996$).         * Lodger ($2018$).

• Performance Practices:     * Both Philip Glass and Steve Reich have utilized electronic and amplified acoustic instruments, often performing with their own dedicated ensembles/bands.     * In a $1997$ interview, Steve Reich emphasized the critical importance of a composer performing their own music to maintain artistic integrity.

• Film Influences:     * Glass composed the score for Godfrey Reggio’s film Koyaanisqatsi ($1982$).     * The Simpsons later produced a parody of Koyaanisqatsi.     * Other major film scores by Glass include Kundun ($1997$) and The Hours ($2002$).

John Adams (b. 1947) and Post-Minimalism

• Biographical Background:     * Born in Massachusetts, Adams attended Harvard University.     * His teachers included Leon Kirchner, David Del Tredici, and Roger Sessions.

• Stylistic Evolution:     * Adams explicitly rejected the rigid, systematic approaches of serialism and chance (aleatoric) composition.     * He developed an intuitive minimalist style, exemplified by Phrygian Gates ($1978$).

• Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986):     * This piece showcases his "approachable" post-minimalist style.     * Key components: Romantic instrumentation, pulse-based repetition, and a harmonic language that is quirky but rooted in tradition.

• Nixon in China (1987):     * An opera examining contemporary political history.     * The style blends minimalist techniques with the formal structures of Baroque opera.     * Act 1, Scene 1, ‘Your flight was smooth, I hope’ acts as a form of minimalist recitative.

Individualism in Modernism: György Ligeti and Sophia Gubaidulina

• György Ligeti:     * Ligeti developed interests in process-based minimalist music (influenced by Steve Reich and Terry Riley) and the emotional/sonorous qualities of Romantic composers like Frédéric Chopin.     * Piano Études ($1985–2001$):         * Étude #9 ("Vertige"): Focuses on an ever-descending chromatic scale that never actually moves downward. Lines merge into either chordal sonorities or an undifferentiated texture.         * Étude #13 ("L’escalier du diable"): Utilizes a perpetually ascending pattern.

• Sophia Gubaidulina (1931-2025):     * Born in the Tatar Republic of the Soviet Union.     * Coming from a Jewish family, her music frequently carries deep religious undertones, which contrasted with the official atheism of the Soviet state.     * Her style is highly individualistic, synthesizing various traditions and stylistic influences.     * ‘Listen to the Small Voice Within’ from Rejoice! (1981): A study of cello sonority inspired by an $18^{th}$-century religious text.

Spectralism

• Definition and Methodology:     * Spectralist composers use scientific instruments (such as spectrographs) to analyze the internal physical components of sound.     * Compositions are typically for acoustic instruments, simulating relationships found in frequencies, harmonics, resonances, and overtones.

• Gérard Grisey (1946-1998):     * Partiels (1975): A meditation based on a low $E$ played by the trombone.     * Subsequent chords are derived from the spectrographic analysis of that specific $E$ note.     * Grisey used acoustic instruments to simulate the sounds typically produced by an electronic ring modulator.

• Tristan Murail (b. 1947):     * Applied spectral procedures in Winter Fragments ($2000$) for a chamber ensemble consisting of flute, clarinet, piano, violin, cello, and electronics.

New Complexity, Eclecticism, and Environmentalism

• Brian Ferneyhough (b. 1943):     * Known as the father of the "New Complexity" movement.     * His music makes extreme physical and technical demands on performers.     * Characteristics include microtonal tuning and extremely minute control over rhythmic and metrical relationships.     * Example work: The Fall of Icarus ($1988$) for clarinet and chamber ensemble.

• Louis Andriessen (1939-2021):     * A student of Luciano Berio who rejected the political and musical conservatism of traditional orchestral music.     * He composed for mixed ensembles with influences from jazz, Charles Ives, rock, and Igor Stravinsky.     * Example work: De Stijl from De materie ($1988$).

• R. Murray Schafer (1933-2021):     * A Canadian composer influenced by Inuit music and environmentalist philosophy.     * Example work: ‘Chant to Bring Back the Wolf’ from Magic Songs ($1988$).

Polystylism and Multi-Stylistic Synthesis

• Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998):     * A Soviet composer who benefited from the $1960s$ "cultural opening" under Khrushchev.     * Schnittke's music involves the simultaneous or adjacent use of multiple historical and contemporary styles.     * Concerto Grosso #1 (1976):         * Combines $18^{th}$-century and $20^{th}$-century styles.         * Evokes Antonio Vivaldi, the galant style, $12$-tone music (serialism), and hymns.         * He "defamiliarizes" the Vivaldi concerto style through the use of strict canons at the eighth note.

• John Corigliano (b. 1938):     * Professor at CUNY and Juilliard.     * Ghosts of Versailles (1987):         * Uses quotations from famous operas.         * Ghost characters are associated with serial music.         * $18^{th}$-century styles are used for the play-within-an-opera that the ghosts observe (e.g., ‘There Goes Figaro’).

• Peter Schickele (1935-2024):     * Famous for the alias P.D.Q. Bach (the fictional youngest son of J.S. Bach).     * Prelude to Einstein on the Fritz: A parody work that combines the styles of J.S. Bach and Philip Glass.

The New Accessibility ("Friendly Modernism")

• Objective: To maintain modernist essence while offering audiences clear structures and graspable sounds.

• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (b. 1939):     * Her First Symphony ($1982$) was the first by a woman to win the Pulitzer Prize.     * The first movement of this symphony is heavily saturated with the interval of the minor third.

• Arvo Pärt (b. 1935):     * Estonian composer of sacred music.     * Developed the tintinnabuli style (from the Latin for "bells"), using simple diatonic materials to create bell-like resonances.     * Example work: Seven Magnificat Antiphons ($1988$, revised $1991$).

• Joan Tower (b. 1938):     * Composer of image-based music.     * Silver Ladders (1986): Features rising lines. The "silver" of the title is characterized as solid in dense orchestral textures and fluid in the solo wind passages.

Neo-Romanticism

• Definition: A revival of the tonal language, phrasing, and expressive gestures of the $19^{th}$ Century.

• Krzysztof Penderecki: Abandoned his earlier avant-garde style for Neo-Romanticism in the $1970s$, seen in his First Violin Concerto ($1977$).

• George Rochberg:     * Fifth String Quartet (1978): Explores various period styles.     * $1^{st}$ movement: A sonata form reminiscent of Ludwig van Beethoven.     * $3^{rd}$ movement: A scherzo that recalls Beethoven, with a trio section that points toward Gustav Mahler.

• David Del Tredici (1937-2023):     * Final Alice (1975): A setting of Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories for full orchestra and multiple instrumentations.     * The section ‘She’s All My Fancy Painted Her’ illustrates the melodic and tuneful nature of his work.