Roskilde University Music Across Times and Fences Sørensen, Bent Erik Publication date: 2016 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Citation for published version (APA): Sørensen, B. E. (2016). Music Across Times and Fences. Secantus. http://www.secantus.dk/books.htm General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain. • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 08. Oct. 2021 Bent Sørensen MUSIC ACROSS TIMES AND FENCES MUSIC ACROSS TIMES AND FENCES Bent Sørensen Secantus Published 2016 by Secantus Publishing, Østre Alle 43D, 3250 Gilleleje, Denmark [email protected] 2003-2016 Bent Sørensen (1941-): Music across times and fences All rights reserved Care has been taken to provide correct data on composers and their works, often with statement of sources, but no responsibility is assumed for accu- racy of information. The publisher would appreciate to be made aware of possible errors or inaccuracies, and due to the print-on-demand method used will be able to update the text at suitable intervals between editions. The printing date written on the last page allows you to set a limit on the time of the latest update. Printed book: Amazon CreateSpace Distribution: all Amazon web shops, and other outlets For example www.amazom.com, www.amazon.co.uk ISBN: 978-87-93255-16-6 e-book (Kindle format): www.amazon.com ISBN: 978-87-93255-18-0 e-book (pdf-format): www.secantus.dk ISBN: 978-87-93255-17-3 Design: Bent Sørensen, Novator Cover score: Opening of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony PREFACE 3 Preface This book is an account of the history and present state of music, seen through the inquiring eyes of an individual. It spans the sub- ject from scarce archaeological evidence of music more than 30000 years ago, over classical orchestra and chamber music to the latest rock and fusion masterpieces. My intention is not to give you a complete encyclopaedia of the most liked or most played composers and compositions. Others have done that very well. On the contrary, I want to select relatively few, crucial works that in my view constitute important progress in musical expression. The selection of music to be highlighted in this book focuses on works that bring something new to the music and step beyond the rules of convention at the time of composing, thereby breaking the ground for new experiences of sound. As a result there are some perfectly nice compositions made in already established musical styles that you will not find here, including several that by convention are present in most other treatises of music. As compensation, you will find works described, that per- haps you did not know - and which yet may end up filling you with the deepest joy and admiration when you listen to them. Fortu- nately, greatness and innovative spirit often go together. In any case, while you may not always be in agreement with my judge- ments, I hope you will disagree in a way that opens for constructive dialogue, whether with friends or just in your mind. The account attempts to cover music from the oldest to the most recent (“across times”), from all parts of the world, and from all genres, such as folk music, classical art music, jazz, musicals, rock and pop music (“across fences”). Running footers will display melody score excerpts for those read- ing musical notes. When this book project was started more than ten years ago, I considered adding a DVD with full-length re- cordings of some of the music highlighted in the book, from the best recordings available. Purchasing rights would have made the BENT SØRENSEN MUSIC ACROSS TIMES AND FENCES 4 PREFACE bundled DVD/book very expensive, and fortunately, the music scene has changed so that streaming services can now offer most of the music at low cost or freely. How to use such services along with reading the book is explained at the end in Notes to Recordings. The e-book version has direct links in the text to Notes and from Notes to the Internet music, while the print version provides track ID’s to type in on your computer, tablet or phone. However, one can also use the tracklists I have provided on the streaming media for each chapter or section, whether reading the print or the electronic ver- sion. Thus the music is just a click away. I have a background in several scientific disciplines and I am active in a small way in art and music composing. These particular skills are to blame, if this book makes interdisciplinary connections that would not occur to people without such a bag of experiences. That and the focus on musical innovation, whether by large or by small steps forward, is hopefully making the book stand out from the crowd, as well as making it more enjoyable. Bent Sørensen Gilleleje, May 2016 Greensleeves, a song first registered 1581 in England, composer unknown. CONTENTS 5 Contents: Preface 3 List of contents 5 Introduction 7 1. Origins 15 2. Foundations 33 3. Period of formality and a little dissent 47 4. Renaissance 73 5. From baroque to romantic 99 6. Times of enlightenment and charm 123 7. Impressionism 141 8. Artistic folk music for the concert hall 149 9. Artistic folk music for the road 189 Jazz, from precursors to cross-over music 193 Bluegrass and other grassroot songs 207 Pop music and beyond: songs for (some of) the people 209 Protest singing 221 Rock: soft to hard, light to heavy, simple to complex 224 10. Back to basics 265 From minimal music to hybrid art music 266 From electro-pop to hybrid road music 282 End word 293 Background material: Technicalities 295 Notes to recordings (with links to music) 303 Index 401 About the Author 440 BENT SØRENSEN MUSIC ACROSS TIMES AND FENCES 6 CONTENTS Greensleeves, a song first registered 1581 in England, composer unknown. INTRODUCTION 7 Introduction Music is a very basic part of many people's lives. Be it the current generation of walkman/smartphone carriers, web-music listeners, concert-goers, bathroom singers and members of the local rock band, or be it throughout history all those that have enjoyed sing- ing, playing instruments and listening to the beat of village drum- mers. Not to speak of those who themselves improvise, invent tunes or compose scores. The causes for this enthusiasm are the territories that I try to explore in this book. It therefore differs from many music books that focus on only one type of music: if classical then no rock music mentioned, if jazz then not a word on opera, and so on. Even inside each category, there are definite schools dis- cussing how to delimit the sub-fields. Writers following the German-Austrian musical tradition have de- livered books seeing Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Schumann as the basic cornerstones of good music. My treatise, while giving due credit to the marvellous composers from Germany and Austria, is one of the first contemporary writ- ings to accord the proper place in the music hall-of-fame to com- posers from the rest of the world, beyond the European continent. Also inside Europe, the treatise is broadened to include areas often treated as marginal, and to reconsider the relative importance of different composers, when seen in the light of their contribution to innovation. More emphasis is placed on the Italian composers who started cur- rent soloist and symphonic traditions and brought it to the highest level (notably Alessandro Scarlatti and Antonio Vivaldi). I would also like to heighten the international ranking of the French com- poser Saint-Saëns, who brought forward the brilliance and charm that, more directly than previously thought, lead straight to giants like Debussy, Ravel and de Falla, and furthermore, I pay tribute to G. Bizet, toreador song from the opera Carmen (1875). 8 INTRODUCTION many 20th century composers from Russia and from countries not making much headway in earlier music history telling: Japan, Mex- ico, Hungary, Poland, the UK and the USA, to name just a few. Among music encyclopaedias on my bookshelf, the least nationally biased ones are often British1, maybe because domestic English composers largely lacked international recognition at the highest level before Britten and Lennon. Another feature of this book is its attempt to find the roots of music, by going back to the early Stone Age and looking not only at mod- ern humans but also at the other human families, based on archaeo- logical findings. Later, the several thousand-years old cultures of Babylon, Egypt and Greece bloomed with music, and although much has been lost, there is enough evidence to asses some of the kinds of music invented during the periods in question, by using accounts written at the time, by studying instruments found, and in rare cases even sheet music (that is, often carved into stone so that it could survive to our times, or being repeatedly copied, as is the case for many other existing accounts from these cultures, with copying errors as a challenge to scientists trying to decipher the original message).