Old Guard or Avant-garde - Research Paper Example

?Old Guard or Avant-garde Composers not only produce music for their own interests or the interest of their audience but the entire society. This makes every piece of music to belong to a certain era or generation. Due to distinctive characteristics of music belonging to the same era or period, it is possible to trace down a piece of symphony down to its era. On the other hand, it is possible to classify different types of music in different eras according to their characteristics. The romantic era is an example of such categorization. Music performed during the romantic era had great deviations from norms that characterized the classical music. Romantic era musicians also incorporated issues of lifestyle in their musical composition. Music produced during the twentieth century had great influences from past works and creations. The romantic era music is also reflected in such pieces of works. Due to presence of outstanding characteristics, twentieth century music can be categorized as old guard or avant-grade music. Avant grade music is a term used by musicologists to refer to music that is beyond the era in terms of style, audience and use of technology (Griffiths 63). On the other hand old grade music is music that, values the past way of life. Such kind of music preserves or carries along, certain aspect from past musical eras. This essay will therefore investigate Leningrad by Dmitri Shostakovich and Rapsodie negre by Francis Poulenc. The essay will, therefore, classify the two symphonies according to old guard and avant-grade classification. My first favorite symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich is symphony No 7 which is commonly known as Leningrad. Shostakovich composed this masterpiece in 1941 and it was intended for the extremist Russian government. Shostakovich completed this song at the height of World War I and, therefore, his focus was on the issues happening to the society. Due to the rapidly changing lifestyles, Shostakovich was forced to adopt a musical style that would withstand changes in the society. The symphony can, therefore, be considered as avant-grade music. This consideration is based on the style and the issue addressed by the music. Unlike other music produced in that period, symphony No 7 addressed issues that were not common among musician. Initially, musicians sang about lifestyle issues such as love, happiness, sorrow and prosperity. However, Shostakovich introduced the aspect of musician being critical in the governance of a country. Unlike other musicians, Shostakovich became critical about Russian governance and the oppressive Nazi regime (FIS). All these issues are captured in the lyrics of this piece of music, which Shostakovich created using C sharp major. It was adopted both in the west and in Russia as a symbol for defiance against authoritarian regimes. Shostakovich demonstrated that musicians had a more significant role to play in the society other than been entertainers or philosophers of the society. Through the symphony, the composer demonstrated that artists were essential in influencing the governance of their country. This is the first aspect that makes it to be classified as avant grade music. Other than the social responsibilities of the artist demonstrated through the symphony, the symphony also had additional stylistic and performance aspect that makes it to be considered as an avant grade creation. Before the creation of this piece of music, long performances were not popular. This resulted from the nature of this musical creation and the intended message contained in it. However, Leningrad is considered as a music peace that had the longest performance. It was unusual to have performance that exceeded thirty minutes. The Leningrad was an exceptional case since its first performance took about one and a half hour (Fay 213). Long performances became a popular trend in music produced after symphony No 7. The length of a musical performance was determined by the content of a piece of music. This piece of music introduced the aspect of creating music with rich content. Most artists began creating music with rich content in order to attract audience through lengthy performances. The lengthy performance was also contributed by the use of multiple instruments during performances. The piece of music was also created using conventional instruments such as trumpets, piano, xylophones and brass drums. Other than the nature of his music, Shostakovich demonstrated the true aspect of an avant grade musician. He became famous during the period of major revolutions that signified the collapse of the four major empires of the world. This was followed by the creation of nations and the race towards superiority among major world powers, which had significant influence on the people. Unlike other artists from the past, Shostakovich was governed by rational decision-making (Ho and Feofanov). This made him take strong stands despite the strong influence from the government and the race towards superiority among different nations. His rationality in decision-making is a major aspect that characterized his music and distanced him from other twentieth century artists. His music was critical about the Russian authoritarian government and the ills of socialism. This was different from the reasoning of any other typical Russian citizen or musical artist during the early twentieth century. Finally, through the symphony No 7, Shostakovich is considered to have introduced audience dependent performance. Although this performance style has undergone numerous modifications, it provided a basis for the modern musical shows where the audience plays a significant role in influencing an artist’s performance. During the performance of the symphony, Shostakovich allowed the participation of the audience through interactive sessions where the audience would join him in signing. In some instances, he would let his voice to be drowned by those of the crowd. Francis Poulenc was also a significant musician of the twentieth century. Poulenc composed Rapsodie negre in 1960s. Although the music stage had experienced major changes at this time, Poulenc maintained the traditional French culture making this piece of music be considered as old guard music. Poulenc composed this masterpiece immediately after the famous social disturbances in France; therefore, the country was in the pursuit of a democratically independent French nation. In addition, the country was moving towards a multicultural French society that valued racial integration. However, the message or the theme of this piece of music contradicts the social progress achieved by the French society during its creation. This indicates that Poulenc valued the imperialistic French society and governance. The message implied his defiance to change through his value for imperial France. The conservative aspects of this creation were not only demonstrated by its thematic aspects but also by its use of style and instruments. Although modern instruments were available during the creation of this musical piece, Poulenc chose to use conservative French musical equipments such as the flute, string quartet and the French violin. These instruments are considered as unconventional and unpopular among most European artists in 1960s. During this period, most musicians relied on sophisticated musical equipments such as electronic guitars and pianos to enhance the quality of their production. The composer’s use of unconventional instruments indicates the conservative of this piece of music in favor of imperial French culture. Been born in the Poulenc lineage indicates that Francis had a major interest in French governance and leadership. This common aspect was demonstrated in most of his work. The Poulencs were influential people in the French society indicating that Francis also considered himself as an influential person in the society. Being a member of the Poulenc lineage required him to preserve their prosperities and fame. Francis considered his music as a major tool of influencing the society. In this particular musical piece, Francis was interested in promoting the imperialist French society that recognized and promoted the Poulencs. His value for the traditional French society over the modern French society makes him an old guard musician. Modern or avant grade music was intended for the public. This indicates that artists concentrated on issues that were of public interest. On the other hand, musicians of modern music consider producing music that appeals the public. Unlike avant grade musicians, old guard musicians aimed for royal performances. Their creation was also more oriented for royal performance more than they were aimed for public performances. Rapsodie negre was not originally intended for public listening and performance. This differentiates this piece of music from other works created during the twentieth century. Music intended for the public had a straightforward message that could be easily understood. This was a different with Rapsodie negre since it had complex composition that could not be easily understood by an ordinary person. Public performance of this song was not common, as Poulenc preferred performing it in private shows (Keith 154). This shows that Rapsodie negre held on the conservative values of the French society despite being created during the modern era. Poulenc was born in Paris and his early life contributed to the nature of his music. He spent most of his childhood days with his uncle who was a priest in the local church. The old guard nature of his music has its basis from his first encounter with music. As a young boy, Francis used to follow his uncle to the church from where he learnt to play major instruments such as the piano and the drums. Francis also started to practice his vocals as a young boy through the church choir. Being born and brought up in the Roman Catholic Church also had a major influence on the old guard nature of his music (Schmidt 123). The Roman Catholic Church was facing a lot of opposition from protestant movements that were becoming popular in Europe during the creation of Rapsodie negre. In order to maintain its influence, the Roman Catholic Church valued and maintained its traditions despite the growing influence of protestant movements. Maintaining the traditional Roman practices was evident in songs and other church services practiced by the worshipers. Being part of the roman church community required Poulenc to adopt value for the traditions of his religion. This aspect greatly influenced him through his musical career. Through his practices in his local church choir, the composer seems to have developed value for old guard music that was evident in the piece of music. Conclusion Music has a significant role to play in preserving the identity of a particular historic era. Music produced during the twentieth century can broadly be classified into old guard or avant grade music, depending on their composition of methods of performance. The biographical information about a musician also plays a critical role in differentiating between the two types of music. Old guard music tends to be conservative and value past musical trends. On the other hand, avant grade music tends ton be inventive and against traditional methods of music composition and performance. Symphony No 7 Leningrad by Dmitri Shostakovich can be classified as avant grade music while Rapsodie negre by Francis Poulenc is an old guard piece of music. The two pieces of music can be listened from Shostakovich: Symphony No.7 "Leningrad" (EP) http://www.rhapsody.com/search?query=symphony+No+7+%28+Shostakovich%29 Rapsodie negre: http://www.last.fm/search?q=Francis+Poulenc+&from=ac Work Cited Fay, Laurel. Shostakovich: A Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print. FIS. “Dmitri Shostakovich Biography”. Freeinfosociety. 2010. Web 26, may 2012. < http://www.freeinfosociety.com/site.php?postnum=786> Griffiths, Paul. “Modern Music: The Avant Grade since 1945”. Music Educators Journal, Vol. 68, No. 4, 1981. pp. 63-64. Ho, Allan and Dmitry Feofanov. The Shostakovich Debate: Interpreting the composer's life and music. 2010. Web 26, may 2012. < http://www.siue.edu/~aho/musov/deb/deb.html> Keith, Daniel. Francis Poulenc: His Artistic Development and Musical Style, UMI Research Press, 1982. Print. Schmidt, Carl. Entrancing Muse: A Documented Biography of Francis Poulenc. London: Pendragon Pr, 2001. Print. Read More