Atonality (4)

We need a system-master, a teacher of the objective and organization, with enough genius to unite the old-established, the archaic, with the revolutionary.

Thomas Mann, Doctor Faustus

Atonality (3)

Schoenberg was himself well aware of the ambiguities and limitations inherent in any analysis of a musical work, especially an atonal composition. In a lecture of 1932 on the Four Orchestral Songs, he cautioned his listeners in a way that the author of this book can only echo: “I would not have you believe, ladies and gentlemen, that with this analysis all aspects of this section have been elucidated.... I state what I see, as far as I am able to express it. Yet in the end, this is still a path on which one must feel one’s way, step by step, with the tip of one’s toes.”

Bryan R. Simms, The Atonal Music of Arnold Schoenberg, 1908-1923, 2000

Atonality (2)

(sobre A. Schoenberg...)

Mahler was one of the last, saying: “I don’t understand his music, but he’s young and perhaps he’s right. I am old and I daresay my ear is not sensitive enough”.

John L. Holmes, Composers on Composers, 1990

Atonality (1)

In a letter addressed in 1909 to Ferruccio Busoni, Schoenberg described his recent compositions as works that demand “belief and conviction.” They were products of pure imagination, he said, not objects to be judged by outward appearance, and they were intended only for those who take “the side of all who seek.” With these generalizations he described a new style of music with which he had been experimenting for about a year.

Bryan R. Simms, The Atonal Music of Arnold Schoenberg, 1908-1923, 2000

2 Comments:
At Domingo, 14 Agosto, 2005, sasfa said...
Também aqui a imaginação, tal como no texto referente a Bartok, embora neste se pareça opôr os dois compositores no que respeita a esta questão! Não será este o denominador comum de toda a composição, tonal, atonal, dodecafónica, electrónica, etc?!

At Domingo, 14 Agosto, 2005, pb said...
São essas mesmas, as oposições que eu vou lançando aqui para o blogue! Tudo completamente intencional.

Aesthetics and Repertoire

The most basic premiss of Gould’s aesthetic was that music is primarily mental and only secondarily physical that sound is a medium for the transmission of music but not a necessary, defining aspect of music itself. For Gould a musical work was an abstract entity that could be fully comprehended in the mind in the absence of performance, without even the recollection of sounds or of physical means of production. A musical work thus existed beyond the sensory experience of it. Such a premiss may at first seem odd: Gould was, after all, first and foremost a performer, not a theorist, and much of his thinking about music took place in the context of performance. His work brought him constantly into contact with physical aspects of music-making; indeed, he took a more active interest than most classical musicians in such practical matters as the mechanics of his body, the action of his piano, and the techniques of recording. And he certainly cared about how his performances sounded. But there is really no contradiction here. To think about music in abstract terms is not necessarily to ignore music as sound; it is merely to make the physical aspect of music subservient to the conceptual. The hands serve the mind, not the reverse. Such a premiss is in fact commonplace: it places Gould within a particular tradition in the history of music aesthetics, a tradition with a long history and a substantial literature, and including performers of many different historical periods and intellectual backgrounds. What set Gould apart is that, unlike most performers, he did not reconcile his abstract view of music with conventional views on matters of performance. Instead, he permitted his view to influence his musical opinions and activities in unusually direct and idiosyncratic ways, and it was this willingness to adjust practice to accommodate theory that was the source for many of his controversial ideas and interpretations. Ultimately, it is to Gould’s abstraction, however commonplace it might at first seem, that we owe much of what is most interesting, characteristic, and provocative about his work.

Kevin Bazzana, Glenn Gould: The Performer in the Work A Study in Performance Practice, 1997

de conhecimento obrigatório (13)

Nina Hagen Band, Nina Hagen Band, 1978

Béla Bartók

Bartók is a composer who is not easily classified and whose style cannot be described either briefly or by means of standard, generally accepted terms or ‘isms’. He propounded no systems as did Schönberg and Hindemith, established no clear-cut direction as did Stravinsky (neo-classicism) and founded no ‘school’. The direct influence of his music on younger composers, compared to that of the three just mentioned, has been correspondingly small. This may be partly due to his retiring nature and mode of life but even more to the fact that his music is in the last analysis incapable of being codified, hence incapable of being directly imitated. It is witness to the enormous creative imagination of its composer, whose natural musicianship may well exceed that of any other twentieth-century composer. Bartók was more concerned with writing music as he felt it than he was with questions of æsthetics and idiom. His lifelong preoccupation with folksong - a distinctly concrete and vital matter - and its relation to the composer constitute his only theoretical concern. That he was thoroughly capable of the most minute systernatisation is apparent from the pains he took in the classification of folk music. In composing, however, he was entirely unsystematic, following only the devices of his own fantasy.

Everett Helm, The Music of Béla Bartók, 1957
(Imagem: Bartók Béla arcképe, 1913, Olaj, vászon, 67 x 46 cm, Magántulajdon, New York)

de conhecimento obrigatório (12)

Luciano Berio, The Complete Works for Solo Piano, New Albion, David Arden, piano, 1997

from my pupils

“This book I have learned from my pupils”.

Arnold Schoenberg, Theory of Harmony, Vienna, July, 1911

3 Comments:
At Quarta-feira, 10 Agosto, 2005, DGP said...
Eu, pelo contrário “roubei” um livro ao Bockman. Uma sebenta original, feita na altura em fotocópia com recortes colados. Tive umas aulas com ele em casa, mas entretanto desapareci e esqueci-me de lhe devolver.

At Segunda-feira, 15 Agosto, 2005, sergio azevedo said...
Bochmann, rapaz, BOCHMANN!!!

At Sexta-feira, 19 Agosto, 2005, DGP said...
ups...só espero não ter pago as aulas em cheque!

Seis Peças, Op. 19

The Six Little Pieces, Op 19 illustrate Schoenberg’s ability to reduce the musical elements to their very limits. Each piece has its own form, miniature though it may be, and the mood of each piece is strongly contrasting in expression. The first five pieces were written in one day, February 19, 1911; the sixth, a piece reminiscing on the death of Gustav Mahler, was composed on June 17, 1911.

Leonard Stein presents Arnold Schoenberg’s Music, Fall 2001

Futurismo italiano (4)

Luigi Russolo, Dynamism of an Automobile, 1912-13
Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris

Futurismo italiano (3)

Futurismo italiano (2)

Futurismo italiano (1)

About their Teacher (2)

Probably there have been very few distinguished composers who spent so much time in their career teaching, and with such passionate dedication to this task, as Schönberg did. One of the principle reasons for this strong passion along the tradition lay in the belief that teaching constituted an indespensable means of passing along the tradition that he believed in so fervently and of which he considered himself to be a part. Schönberg was never reluctant to pay homage to those composers who had influenced him: his primary ‘teachers’ Bach and Mozart, and secondarily Beethoven, Brahms, and Wagner. Schönberg always liked to describe his method of working in class as ‘proceeding systematically.’ In his classes he provided numerous examples illustrating all aspects of counterpoint, from the simplest treatment of the species to chorale prelude and fugue. Some of the examples were prepared specifically in advance of the class meetings, but many more, in accordance with Schönberg’s usual pedagogical custom, were improvised on the spot in the classroom to illustrate special points as they occurred. Schönberg’s procedure did not have as its goal the production of one or two perfect examples according to certain aesthetic or stylistic considerations, but has the more practical aim of encouraging the student to discover for him every possible solution or consideration of a given problem within ever-widening limits. The ultimative result of his method is the acquisition of a discipline which enables the student to analyse thoroughly all problems that might arise, and gain possession of a sure technique which will make it possible for him to find solutions for most of these problems.

Leonard Stein

1 Comments:
At Terça-feira, 09 Agosto, 2005, pb said... Sim, eu sei, já publiquei uma boa parte deste texto num outro post - Arnold Schoenberg (professor e compositor)... Mas aqui está o texto todo de Leonard Stein que se adapta bem à temática do post.

About their Teacher (1)

Schönberg was convinced that the student of composition must master thoroughly thetraditional techniques and organizational methods, and possess a wide and intimate knowledge of musical literature if he wishes to solve the more difficult problems of contemporary music. In his classes there was little reference to music since 1900, though the student was encouraged to make full use of the resources available up to that time. Certain aesthetic essentials, such as clarity of statement, contrast, repetition, balance, variation, elaboration, proportion, connexion, transition - these and many others are applicable regardless of style or idiom.

Gerald Strang

7 Variations sur Lennie Tristano

O tributo - 7 Variations sur Lennie Tristano (2002)

O sexteto dirigido por Stephan Oliva e François Raulin é um dos mais estimulantes, pois que se propõe tocar a música de Lennie Tristano, ou temas a ele ligados, com uma formação instrumental bastante original. Os dois pianistas haviam já prestado a sua homenagem a Lennie Tristano no disco “Tristano”, mas a nova aposta era dar a conhecer as Variações do pianista cego tal como as interpretam sete dos grandes nomes do jazz francês actual. Assim, neste disco ouve-se uma reciclagem do Bop e do Pós-free, uma exploração da World music, onde os dois pianistas, embora não copiando o seu estilo, encontram nas concepções de Lennie Tristano uma autêntica mina de ouro que não cessa de revelar os seus tesouros. Mas esta formação só se completa e ganha forma com os restantes membros: Marc Ducret na guitarra, Bruno Chevillon et Paul Rogers nos contrabaixos, Laurent Dehors nos clarinetes e Christophe Monniot nos saxofones alto e barítono.

2 Comments:
At Terça-feira, 09 Agosto, 2005, IO said... Outro que chegou!, feliz pelo teu regresso!, abraço, IO.

At Terça-feira, 09 Agosto, 2005, pb said... Olá io! Obrigado pelo encorajamento. Eu entretanto, e apesar de não postar, vou sempre ao chuinga! Ao 2, é claro, por falar nisso, tenho que actualizar o link na minha página...

Os números da diferença

(completamente a despropósito neste blogue, mas apeteceu-me...)

Missions et fonctionnement des sapeurs-pompiers

3 612 000 : c’est le nombre d’interventions réalisées chaque année par les sapeurs-pompiers civils, soit 9 900 interventions par jour, une intervention de sapeurs-pompiers toutes les 8,7 secondes. Le nombre d’interventions a été multiplié par 20 au cours des 30 dernières années.
Pompiers de France

2 Comments:
At Terça-feira, 09 Agosto, 2005, DGP said...
E nós por cá?

At Terça-feira, 09 Agosto, 2005, pb said...
Também neste post a questão é mesmo essa...
Tudo a arder, o “normal” neste jardim à beira-mar chamuscado.
É que se pode ter por cá!!!

E nós por cá? (2)

Many people believe that music lessons provide children with important developmental benefits beyond simply the knowledge or skill of playing a musical instrument. Research suggests that musical lessons may enhance intelligence and academic achievement, build self-esteem and improve discipline.

1 Comments:
At Quinta-feira, 11 Agosto, 2005, CV said... Por cá, não tenho a certeza de que inteligência e realização académica, auto-estima e disciplina tenham alguma coisa a ver com os objectivos ou pressupostos das políticas educativas e, muito menos, das artísticas.

E nós por cá? (1)

Many people, including entire cultures, compose, perform, and improvise music with no training and feel no need for training. Other cultures have traditions of rigorous formal training that may take years and serious dedication.

1 Comments:
At Terça-feira, 09 Agosto, 2005, DGP said...
Nós por cá vamos ficando pelo meio onde, neste caso, não está a virtude. Haverá algumas excepções. Ainda não há muitos anos, numa pequena aldeia ao pé de Mértola (onde passei uns dias) os homens encontravam-se ao fim do dia para juntos construirem uma sociedade recreativa e enquanto trabalhavam cantavam, cantavam sempre. Quanto á cultura de ensino rigoroso e formal, acho que ainda não chegámos lá. Falo de uma cultura, ou seja, neste caso falo de uma herança social de um povo, que não me parece rigorosa em coisa nenhuma, muito menos na música.