Music about Music as Part of Twentieth-Century Discourse - Essay Example

Music about music had always been part of twentieth-century dis Grade (April 17th, Music about music had always been part of twentieth-century discourse The tradition of music about music became popular in the 20th century, with many musicians developing music that commented on other music. This especially influenced the tradition of the classical and the pop music, which also grew to prominence in the 20th century (Taruskin, 2010:77). In this respect, the observation by Alex Ross that “Music about music has always been part of the 20th discourse” is accurate, considering that there is a high percentage of western music that was drawing content from other non-western music or from traditional western music (McCalla, 2007:20). Further, on top of drawing inspiration and commenting on other music, the 20th century music discourse also entailed using musical quotations from either the traditional western music or other classical non-western music. The concept of music about music also involved the dedication of some music to other musicians or to other rhythms, tunes and compositions that were formulated before, which then influenced the musician to develop their own music (McCalla, 2007:22). Thus, through all these influences, the western music in the 20th century generally became associated with the other music in different ways. The most influential music to the western music in the 20th century was the hymnal and folk songs, due to their classical nature that could easily be incorporated into different western music genres (Taruskin, 2010:72). Therefore, this analysis seeks to examine the rise to prominence of the tradition of music about other music, through applying three musicians the case study. The Italian musician and composer, Luciano Berio, is one of the musicians of the 20th century, who better exemplifies the application of the concept of music about other music. Most especially, the Folk Song composition falls directly under this category of music, considering that it is a composition arrangement of music from the folk genre that were drawn from various countries (Cleaver, 1997:12). The folk songs drawn from different countries were also combined with other songs, to form a folk song artistry that was extraordinary in its rich and diverse culture of inclusiveness, which was a tribute dedication to Cathy Berberian, who was a singer and specialist in his music development (Paull, 2007:8). Particularly, two songs in the folk song cycle, that were attributed to Cathy Berberian were "La donna ideale" and "Ballo", which forms the six and the seventh song in the cycle respectively. During the first performance of these songs in 1964, the orchestra was directed by Berio himself, with Cathy singing as a soprano soloist (Cleaver, 1997:17). In this respect, there are two major aspects of the, Luciano Berio’s folk song composition that suits the description of music about other music. First, the formation of this music was drawn from different folk songs that were also drawn from different countries. The first two songs of the folk song cycle; "I Wonder as I Wander" and "Black Is the Color” were written by the famed music composer, John Niles (Cleaver, 1997:35). In turn, the development of the song "I Wonder as I Wander" was also inspired by words that Niles had drawn from the preaching of a revivalist daughter (Cleaver, 1997:36). There are also other songs within the folk song cycle that are drawn from other artists, and which are in a different language. In this respect, this song represents a song that was inspired by another individual, and it was eventually adapted by Berio as one of the components of the folk song. Therefore, the folk song forms a cycle of songs that were inspired by other songs. In addition, the folk song does not only draw from folk music composed in other countries, but it also applies some quotation from other songs. This is most especially in the Berios Sinfonia composition of 1968, which applied quotations and snippets that were drawn from various songs, such as the “Five Pieces For Orchestra”, “The Rite Of Spring” and the “La Mer” (Paull, 2007:13). Secondly, the folk song composition by Luciano Berio presents a cycle of songs that were developed inspired and dedicated towards another musician. The three songs in the folk song cycle was dedicated to the singer and music specialist Cathy, but the third song, "Loosin yelav", was inspired by the traditions of Armenia, which was the country of Cathy’s ancestral country (Paull, 2007:7). The song is a description of the way the moon rises in that country, which is then applied to integrate the theme of love. Thus, the dedication of the songs towards another musician forms a major aspect of music about other music. Charles Ives is another musician of the 20th century who represents the application of the concept of music about music. The “Central Park in the Dark” is a music composition that was developed by Charles Ives in 1906 for the chamber orchestra (Ives, 1978:54). This music composition was developed as a representation of the sounds of nature that could be heard thirty years before the composition was developed. The “Central Park in the Dark” music composition simply wanted to take people back in the early years before the industrialization and urbanization, when there did not exist the radio sounds and the sounds of the combustion engines throughout the air. At this point in history, where people would sit at the Central Park at night, all they could here was the sweet melodious tunes of nature (Sinclair, 1999:102). Therefore, this music composition specifically sought to echo these melodies, by returning people back to the cool and beautiful old days, when the man’s soul would interact with nature, without the artificial hindrances that are characteristic of the post-industrialized world. Thus, the “Central Park in the Dark” music composition suits perfectly in the category of music about other music, considering that it seeks to echo the same melody, tunes and sounds of nature’s music, at night. Further, this music composition is characterized by the aspect of music about other music that has to do with the quotation of other musicians and music content within the music. In this respect, Charles Ives uses quotations in the “Central Park in the Dark” music composition that are drawn from the “Hello! Ma Baby” tunes (Sinclair, 1999:107). This tune is a popular tune in history that creates the essence of the application of ragtime piano within the composition. In addition, this music composition also inspired the development of the Gruppen fur Drei Orchester, which was a German orchestra group that applied the same system of individual players for individual lines of performance, while at the same dividing the orchestra in terms of space (Ives, 1978:61). This music composition also forms music about other music, considering that this composition was developed as a part of music combination titled “Two Contemplations”, where it was combined with another song; The Unanswered Question, as a means of combining two music compositions representing different music philosophies (Ives, 1978:63). “Central Park in the Dark” comprises the formation of music about music, considering that it entails the development of several versions from the original version which had been titled “Contemplation of Nothing Serious” and its consequent improvement into a different version that suit the natural melodic tunes (Sinclair, 1999:103). This piece of music composition had initially been developed under the title “Contemplation of Nothing Serious”, which was then altered later to the current composition title. The other aspect that qualifies the Central Park in the Dark” composition by Charles Ives as music about other music, is the combination of the American popular music culture with the church-music culture, where most of the musicals within this composition are drawn from the church musicals (Ives, 1978:81). Therefore, the church music was yet another inspiration in the creation of this composition, an indication that the “Central Park in the Dark” was a piece of music that was about other music, inspired both by the natural music and the church music. Traditional songs also had an influence in the development of the composition by Charles Ives, most especially due to the fact that he borrowed heavily from sentimental traditional ballads, to convert his music into romantic tunes. The most influential musician from whom Charles Ives borrowed widely was Stephen Foster, from whom Charles borrowed and applied numerous melodies (Sinclair, 1999:112).The music about other music characteristic of Charles Ives composition also draws from the fact that his music played a prophetic role of predicting the political changes that would occur in America. The composition by Ives reflected a large borrowing from the folk music he grew up with, characterizing the inherited influence of his musically innovative father (Ives, 1978:72). Vaughan Williams is another 20th century musician, who has demonstrated the concept of music about music. The “Tallis Fantasia” which Williams wrote in 1910 still remains one of the greatest musical hymnals both in the English and the American churches (Mellers, 1989:49). The Tallis Fantasia was developed as a performance song for the three choirs’ festival, and it rose to become one of the prominent hits of the time. The “Tallis Fantasia” suits the categorization of music about other music, considering that it was not only developed for a single assemble, but went on to be developed for three different ones. In this respect, the musical ensemble of one orchestra was developed to generate the musical for the other ensemble and the same with the third one, meaning that the subsequent musical ensembles were inspired by the first one (Ravel, 2010:n.p.). This way, the second and the third musical ensembles were music that was formed from other music composition. The first performance of the “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis” was in the September of 1910 at Gloucester Cathedral, and the same composition was revised twice both in 1913 and 1919 (Mellers, 1989:49). The second reason, for which the “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis” composition suits the categorization of music about other music, is the fact that it was a further development of the original composition from the composer Thomas Tallis (Schwartz, 1995:n.p.). In addition, the music composition was highly inspired from the English renaissance period, as well as the church hymnals. In this respect, the Fantasia composition had drawn a lot of its tunes from the original composition by Tallis, especially from the composition “Third Mode Melody”. Further tunes were borrowed from the musical works of Joseph Addison, from which the Fantasia composition from borrowed tunes from his hymn “When Rising from the Bed of Death” (Mellers, 1989:50). The spatial arrangement of the three different orchestras formulated under the “Tallis Fantasia” composition is meant to enhance the connection between the different orchestras, which are formulated in such a way that they largely echo each other (Ravel, 2010:n.p.). In this respect, the Tallis Fantasia by Vaughan Williams suits the categorization of music about other music, considering that it comprises the development of one music composition and its improvement to give rise to three different orchestras. References Cleaver, C. (1997). An analysis of Folk songs by Luciano Berio. 1-48. McCalla, J. (2007). Twentieth-Century Chamber Music. Routledge. Mellers, W. (1989). "The Double Man". Vaughan Williams and the Vision of Albion. Barrie & Jenkins Press. 49–50. Ives, Charles. (1978). Central Park in the Dark, ed. John Kirkpatrick Hillsdale, N.Y.: Mobart Music Publications. Paull, J. (2007). Cathy Berberian and musics muses. Vouvry, Switzerland: Amoris Imprint. Ravel, M. (2010) ‘Ralph Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis’, Classic FM. Available from http://www.classicfm.com/composers/vaughan-williams/music/fantasia-theme-thomas-talli/ Schwartz, S. (1995) ‘Ralph Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910)’, Classical Net. Available from http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/works/v-w/tallisfantasia.php Sinclair, B. (1999). A descriptive catalogue of the music of Charles Ives. Boston: Yale University Press. 102-135. Taruskin, R. (2010). Music in the early twentieth century. New York: Oxford University Read More