Category Archives: 20th- and 21st-century music

by | October 31, 2012 · 1:00 am

Frank Zappa and Uncle Meat

The 1969 double album Uncle Meat by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention is a collage of rock, jazz, modernist art music, parodies of 1950s pop songs, and documentary-style spoken passages; two recurring themes and their variations unite it as a single musical statement.

Other unifying factors include the collage approach itself, which is echoed in Cal Schenkel’s cover and booklet art, the alienation aroused by the shocking elements in the musical and spoken episodes and in Schenkel’s art, and the anachronistic contrast provided by the pop song parodies.

Throughout his career Zappa successfully positioned himself as an outsider to both the rock and art music worlds, thus managing to maintain a unique place in both; Uncle Meat stands as his strongest single statement in this regard.

This according to “The Mothers of Invention and Uncle Meat: Alienation, anachronism and a double variation” by James Grier (Acta musicologica LXXIII/1 [2001] pp. 77–95). Above, Schenkel’s front cover art (worthy of today’s Halloween posting!); below, the Uncle Meat theme.

Related article: Zappa and classical music

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by | September 28, 2012 · 1:00 am

The day Herrmann’s score stood still

Bernard Herrmann’s score for Robert Wise’s The day the earth stood still (1950) is widely celebrated among film historians, and its use of theremins and other electronic instruments makes it the first large-scale electronic music composition in history.

Three considerations explain the perceived suspension of motion in the film’s opening title sequence: nullification of harmonic progress through polytonality, nullification of rhythmic pulse through polyrhythms, and  nullification of acoustical interaction through the use of electronic instruments and tape manipulations.

This accordting to “Suspended motion in the title scene from The day the earth stood still” by Stephen Husarik, an essay included in Sounds of the future: Essays on music in science fiction film (Jefferson: McFarland, 2010). Below, a colorized version of the sequence in question.

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by | September 13, 2012 · 1:00 am

Kodály and somatic eruption

There are various basic orientations, persuasions, and biases underlying specific uses of metaphors of somatic eruption. An alternative reading of body fluids as metaphoric sites of festive critique in subversively humorous discourse and art differs from more prevalent psychoanalytic interpretations.

The most appropriate musical example in this context is Kodály’s 1926 Háry János, in particular the opening sneeze.

This according to “Explosions in visual art, literature, and music” by Suzanne De Villiers-Human, an essay included in Critical theories symposium (International review of the aesthetics and sociology of music XXXVI/1 [June 2005] pp. 179–197).

Below, the celebrated sneeze depiction, which introduces both the opera and the suite derived from it.

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by | September 5, 2012 · 1:00 am

John Cage unbound

John Cage unbound: A living archive is an online multimedia project about the American composer and avant-garde music pioneer.

Hosted by the New York Public Library, the project invites musicians and others to submit videos of their own interpretations of Cage’s work for addition to the online archive. Visitors to the site can view submitted videos as well as a portion of the library’s collection of Cage’s original notes and manuscripts.

Today is Cage’s 100th birthday! Below, his classic 1960 appearance on I’ve got a secret.

BONUS: Cage’s own recipe for dogsup.

Related article: Source: Music of the avant-garde

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by | August 18, 2012 · 1:00 am

A Knud Jeppesen resource

Sponsored by  Det Kongelige Bibliotek in Copenhagen, the free online resource Knud Jeppesen (1892–1974) presents lists of the composer’s works, his music editions, his musicological writings, and literature on Jeppesen, along with a discography and portraits.

Jeppesen was one of the 20th century’s foremost musicologists, and as such he gained an international reputation. Professionally, Jeppesen worked as an organist at Sankt Stefans Kirke (1917–32) and Holmens Kirke (1932–46), both in Copenhagen, as a teacher at Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium (1920–47) in Copenhagen, and as the first professor of musicology at Aarhus Universitet (1946–57). Jeppesen, who was a pupil of, among others, Thomas Laub and Carl Nielsen, produced many compositions, most of which were both performed and published.

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by | July 30, 2012 · 1:00 am

DayDay MoeMoe’s boingboxes

David Moore (a.k.a. DayDay MoeMoe, a.k.a. Umburkus) is a musician, artist, furniture maker, and visionary hermit hidden away in a secretive corner of a haunted-looking house in the fading Delta cotton town of Rosedale, Mississippi.

The inquisitive, anarchic child of a family that once held considerable sway there, Moore now lives alone in a house covered in vines and filled with his own artwork alongside untold numbers of sweetly unnerving semicollectibles, a trusty dog, and myriad musical instruments and furniture of his own invention, including his signature schizoid zither, a.k.a. buzzstick,  a.k.a. boingbox. The music that he plays with them is unique and unforgettable.

This according to “SoLost: Discovering a visionary hermit musician-artist” by Dave Anderson (Oxford American, 25 July 2012). Below, Umburkus discusses his oeuvre.

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by | July 18, 2012 · 1:00 am

Routledge studies in music theory

Routledge inaugurated the series Routledge studies in music theory on 3 April 2012 with Music and twentieth-century tonality: Harmonic progression based on modality and the interval cycles by Paolo Susanni and Elliott Antokoletz.

The book explores the web of pitch relations that generates the musical language of non-serialized 12-tone music, and supplies the analytical materials and methods necessary for analyses of a vast proportion of the 20th-century musical repertoire.

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by | June 17, 2012 · 1:00 am

Stravinsky and Les Apaches

Stravinsky’s collaborations with the Ballets Russes were only a part of his life between 1910 and 1914; he was also involved with the Parisian avant-garde group known as Les Apaches (The Apaches), an interdisciplinary society that included Ravel, Falla, and the poet Léon-Paul Fargue.

Les Apaches’ support was vital for Stravinsky’s composition of Le sacre du printemps, and its aesthetic preoccupations helped to motivate his decision to set Trois poésies de la lyrique japonaise.

This according to “Stravinsky and The Apaches” by Jann Pasler (The musical times CXXIII/1672 [June 1982] pp. 403-407).

Today is Stravinsky’s 130th birthday! Above, the composer at work in Paris in 1911; below, Evelyn Lear sings the Trois poésies with members of the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robert Craft.

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by | May 16, 2012 · 1:00 am

Scrabble™ music

Scrabble™-to-MIDI is a computer-emulated two-dimensional board game that generates MIDI music as the game is played.

The plug-in translator and its configuration parameters comprise a composition. Improvisation consists of playing a unique game and of making ongoing adjustments to mapping parameters during play.

Statistical distributions of letters and words provide a basis for mapping structures from word lists to notes, chords, and phrases. While pseudo-random tile selection provides a stochastic aspect to the instrument, players use knowledge of vocabulary to impose structure on this sequence of pseudo-random selections, and a conductor uses mapping parameters to variegate this structure in up to 16 instrument voices.

This according to “Algorithmic musical improvisation from 2D board games” by Dale E. Parson, an essay included in ICMC 2010: Research, education, discovery (San Francisco: International Computer Music Association, 2010). Above, a demonstration of Scrabble™-to-MIDI.

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by | May 9, 2012 · 1:00 am

Dialettica del suono

The first Russian-language electronic journal for contemporary art music, Dialettica del suono, was launched in 2011 as a joint project of the independent creative association Диалектика Звука (Dialectic of Sound) and the Молодежное Отделение Союза Композиторов (МолОт/The Youth Department of the Union of Composers).

The journal, edited by Дионис Афоничев, is published twice a year and is available online in PDF format.  Dialettica del suono provides a publication platform mainly for young professional musicians, musicologists, composers, and critics. A supplement with scores by young Russian composers is appended to each issue.

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