Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora Brigid Cohen Frontmatter More Information

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora Brigid Cohen Frontmatter More Information Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-00300-2 — Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora Brigid Cohen Frontmatter More Information Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora The German-Jewish émigré composer Stefan Wolpe was a vital figure in the history of modernism, with affiliations ranging from the Bauhaus, Berlin agitprop, and the kibbutz movement to bebop, Abstract Expressionism, and Black Mountain College. This is the first full-length study of this often overlooked composer, launched from the standpoint of the mass migrations that have defined recent times. Drawing on over 2,000 pages of unpublished documents, Cohen explores how avant-garde communities across three continents adapted to situations of extreme cultural and physical dislocation. A conjurer of unexpected cultural connections, Wolpe serves as an entry-point to the utopian art worlds of Weimar-era Germany, pacifist move- ments in 1930s Palestine, and vibrant art and music scenes in early Cold War America. The book takes advantage of Wolpe’s role as a mediator, bringing together perspectives from music scholarship, art history, comparative literature, postcolonial studies, and recent theories of cosmopolitanism and diaspora. Brigid Cohen is Assistant Professor of Music at New York University. Her teaching and research focus on twentieth-century avant-gardes, questions of migration and diaspora, theories of cosmopolitanism, and relationships between music, the visual arts, and literature. Her work has been recognized with awards from the American Musicological Society, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Paul Sacher Foundation, and the J. Paul Getty Research Institute. She is a recipient of the Berlin Prize from the American Academy in Berlin. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-00300-2 — Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora Brigid Cohen Frontmatter More Information New perspectives in music history and criticism General editors: Jeffrey Kallberg, Anthony Newcomb and Ruth Solie This series explores the conceptual frameworks that shape or have shaped the ways in which we understand music and its history, and aims to elaborate structures of explanation, interpretation, commentary, and criticism which make music intelligible and which provide a basis for argument about judgements of value. The intellectual scope of the series is broad. Some investigations will treat, for example, historiographical topics, others will apply cross-disciplinary methods to the criticism of music, and there will also be studies which consider music in its relation to society, culture, and politics. Overall, the series hopes to create a greater presence for music in the ongoing discourse among the human sciences. Published titles Leslie C. Dunn and Nancy A. Jones (eds.), Embodied Voices: Representing Female Vocality in Western Culture Downing A. Thomas, Music and the Origins of Language: Theories from the French Enlightenment Thomas S. Grey, Wagner’s Musical Prose Daniel K. L. Chua, Absolute Music and the Construction of Meaning Adam Krims, Rap Music and the Poetics of Identity Annette Richards, The Free Fantasia and the Musical Picturesque Richard Will, The Characteristic Symphony in the Age of Haydn and Beethoven Christopher Morris, Reading Opera Between the Lines: Orchestral Interludes and Cultural Meaning from Wagner to Berg Emma Dillon, Medieval Music-Making and the ‘Roman de Fauvel’ David Yearsley, Bach and the Meanings of Counterpoint David Metzer, Quotation and Cultural Meaning in the Twentieth Century Alexander Rehding, Hugo Riemann and the Birth of Modern Musical Thought Dana Gooley, The Virtuoso Liszt Bonnie Gordon, Monteverdi’s Unruly Women: The Power of Song in Early Modern Italy Gary Tomlinson, The Singing of the New World: Indigenous Voice in the Era of European Contact © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-00300-2 — Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora Brigid Cohen Frontmatter More Information Matthew Gelbart, The Invention of Folk Music and Art Music: Emerging Categories from Ossian to Wagner Olivia A. Bloechl, Native American Song at the Frontiers of Early Modern Music Giuseppe Gerbino, Music and the Myth of Arcadia in Renaissance Italy Roger Freitas, Portrait of a Castrato: Politics, Patronage, and Music in the Life of Atto Melani Gundula Kreuzer, Verdi and the Germans: From Unification to the Third Reich Holly Watkins, Metaphors of Depth in German Musical Thought: From E. T. A. Hoffmann to Arnold Schoenberg Davinia Caddy, The Ballets Russes and Beyond: Music and Dance in Belle-Époque Paris Brigid Cohen, Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-00300-2 — Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora Brigid Cohen Frontmatter More Information Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora Brigid Cohen © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-00300-2 — Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora Brigid Cohen Frontmatter More Information University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia 314-321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi - 110025, India 79 Anson Road, #06-04/06, Singapore 079906 Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107003002 © Brigid Cohen 2012 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2012 First paperback edition 2016 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Cohen, Brigid Maureen. Stefan Wolpe and the avant-garde diaspora / Brigid Cohen. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-107-00300-2 1. Wolpe, Stefan. 2. Musicians – Biography. 3. Avant-garde (Music) – History – 20th century. I. Title. ML410.W8355S76 2012 780.92–dc23 [B] 2011049749 ISBN 978-1-107-00300-2 Hardback ISBN 978-1-316-64116-3 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-00300-2 — Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora Brigid Cohen Frontmatter More Information Contents List of illustrations and musical examples page ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Toward a historiography of modernism in migration 1 Modernism, migration, and Wolpe 1 Retheorizing musical modernism 8 Beyond national frameworks and studies of exile and assimilation 12 Migrant cosmopolitanism 22 On the interpretation of modernist works 31 1 Wolpe’s Self-Revelatory Poetics and Critical Reflections, Circa 1951 38 “The real clarification and real-true solution of human particularities” 38 “Held In” 40 Form and broken form 47 “The un-losable friendship of human recognition” 55 Wolpe’s self-revelation and self-narration 64 2 Weimar-Era Montage and Avant-Garde Community 76 Part 1: At the Bauhaus 76 “What would we be in a position to do without school?” 76 Montage: the ethics of estrangement, formalization, and reclamation 88 Part 2: After the Bauhaus 104 Zeus und Elida 105 Shock and experimental form 130 3 “Amalgamated” Musics and National Visions in 1930s Palestine 140 “Amalgamated” idioms and Mandate-era politics 140 Wolpe’s political position in Palestine 145 Wolpe’s “full concern” and pedagogical presence 158 “If it be my fate ...” 169 The “dream-panorama” of Jewish music 183 “But only if it existed: the most spiritual community” 193 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-00300-2 — Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora Brigid Cohen Frontmatter More Information viii Contents 4 The Mid-Century Poetics and Politics of Experimental Community 202 The Oboe Quartet: community life and memory 202 Resisting the “holes of oblivion”: Wolpe, Arendt, and human plurality 212 Transforming “things” into “beings”: Wolpe, Blücher, and “organic modes” 222 Wolpe’s mid-century communities in profile 230 Bebop 232 Eighth Street Artists’ Club 245 Black Mountain College 255 Heterotopia 263 Epilogue: The Witnessing Memory 267 No direction home 267 The self-narrator’s belonging 275 Haunted objects 284 The “discontinuum” of testament 295 Interpretive communities and publics 301 Select Bibliography 304 Index 322 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-00300-2 — Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora Brigid Cohen Frontmatter More Information Illustrations and musical examples Figures 2.1 Mordecai Ardon (a.k.a. Max Bronstein), Material Study: Composition Made of Different Materials, Bound by Rhythmic Forms. Permission Ora Ardon. page 91 2.2 Paul Klee, Untitled (“Deutschnationaler”),
Recommended publications
  • Morton Feldman: a Celebration of His 80Th Birthday
    Morton Feldman : A Celebration of His 80th Birthday Curated by John Bewley June 1 – September 15, 2006 Case 1 Morton Feldman was born January 12, 1926 in New York City to Irving and Frances Feldman. He grew up in Woodside, Queens where his father established a company that manufactured children’s coats. His early musical education consisted of piano lessons at the Third Street Settlement School in Manhattan and beginning at age twelve, with Vera Maurina Press, an acquaintance of the Russian composer, Alexander Scriabin, and a student of Ferruccio Busoni, Emil von Sauer, and Ignaz Friedman. Feldman began composing at age nine but did not begin formal studies until age fifteen when he began compositional studies with Wallingford Riegger. Morton Feldman, age 13, at the Perisphere, New York World’s Fair, 1939? Unidentified photographer Rather than pursuing a college education, Feldman chose to study music privately while he continued working for his father until about 1967. After completing his studies in January 1944 at the Music and Arts High School in Manhattan, Feldman studied composition with Stefan Wolpe. It was through Wolpe that Feldman met Edgard Varèse whose music and professional life were major influences on Feldman’s career. Excerpt from “I met Heine on the Rue Furstenburg”, Morton Feldman in conversation with John Dwyer, Buffalo Evening News, Saturday April 21, 1973 Let me tell you about the factory and Lukas Foss (composer and former Buffalo Philharmonic conductor). The plant was near La Guardia airport. Lukas missed his plane one day and he knew I was around there, so he called me up and invited me to lunch.
    [Show full text]
  • The Seventh Season Being Mendelssohn CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL and INSTITUTE July 17–August 8, 2009 David Finckel and Wu Han, Artistic Directors
    The Seventh Season Being Mendelssohn CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL AND INSTITUTE July 17–August 8, 2009 David Finckel and Wu Han, Artistic Directors Music@Menlo Being Mendelssohn the seventh season july 17–august 8, 2009 david finckel and wu han, artistic directors Contents 3 A Message from the Artistic Directors 5 Welcome from the Executive Director 7 Being Mendelssohn: Program Information 8 Essay: “Mendelssohn and Us” by R. Larry Todd 10 Encounters I–IV 12 Concert Programs I–V 29 Mendelssohn String Quartet Cycle I–III 35 Carte Blanche Concerts I–III 46 Chamber Music Institute 48 Prelude Performances 54 Koret Young Performers Concerts 57 Open House 58 Café Conversations 59 Master Classes 60 Visual Arts and the Festival 61 Artist and Faculty Biographies 74 Glossary 76 Join Music@Menlo 80 Acknowledgments 81 Ticket and Performance Information 83 Music@Menlo LIVE 84 Festival Calendar Cover artwork: untitled, 2009, oil on card stock, 40 x 40 cm by Theo Noll. Inside (p. 60): paintings by Theo Noll. Images on pp. 1, 7, 9 (Mendelssohn portrait), 10 (Mendelssohn portrait), 12, 16, 19, 23, and 26 courtesy of Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, NY. Images on pp. 10–11 (landscape) courtesy of Lebrecht Music and Arts; (insects, Mendelssohn on deathbed) courtesy of the Bridgeman Art Library. Photographs on pp. 30–31, Pacifica Quartet, courtesy of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Theo Noll (p. 60): Simone Geissler. Bruce Adolphe (p. 61), Orli Shaham (p. 66), Da-Hong Seetoo (p. 83): Christian Steiner. William Bennett (p. 62): Ralph Granich. Hasse Borup (p. 62): Mary Noble Ours.
    [Show full text]
  • Solo Percussion Is Published Ralph Shapey by Theodore Presser; All Other Soli for Solo Percussion
    Tom Kolor, percussion Acknowledgments Recorded in Slee Hall, University Charles Wuorinen at Buffalo SUNY. Engineered, Marimba Variations edited, and mastered by Christopher Jacobs. Morton Feldman The King of Denmark Ralph Shapey’s Soli for Solo Percussion is published Ralph Shapey by Theodore Presser; all other Soli for Solo Percussion works are published by CF Peters. Christian Wolff Photo of Tom Kolor: Irene Haupt Percussionist Songs Special thanks to my family, Raymond DesRoches, Gordon Gottlieb, and to my colleagues AMERICAN MASTERPIECES FOR at University of Buffalo. SOLO PERCUSSION VOLUME II WWW.ALBANYRECORDS.COM TROY1578 ALBANY RECORDS U.S. 915 BROADWAY, ALBANY, NY 12207 TEL: 518.436.8814 FAX: 518.436.0643 ALBANY RECORDS U.K. BOX 137, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA8 0XD TEL: 01539 824008 © 2015 ALBANY RECORDS MADE IN THE USA DDD WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL. AMERICAN MASTERPIECES FOR AMERICAN MASTERPIECES FOR Ralph Shapey TROY1578 Soli for Solo Percussion SOLO PERCUSSION 3 A [6:14] VOLUME II [6:14] 4 A + B 5 A + B + C [6:19] Tom Kolor, percussion Christian Wolf SOLO PERCUSSION Percussionist Songs Charles Wuorinen 6 Song 1 [3:12] 1 Marimba Variations [11:11] 7 Song 2 [2:58] [2:21] 8 Song 3 Tom Kolor, percussion • Morton Feldman VOLUME II 9 Song 4 [2:15] 2 The King of Denmark [6:51] 10 Song 5 [5:33] [1:38] 11 Song 6 VOLUME II • 12 Song 7 [2:01] Tom Kolor, percussion Total Time = 56:48 SOLO PERCUSSION WWW.ALBANYRECORDS.COM TROY1578 ALBANY RECORDS U.S. TROY1578 915 BROADWAY, ALBANY, NY 12207 TEL: 518.436.8814 FAX: 518.436.0643 ALBANY RECORDS U.K.
    [Show full text]
  • Leon Lishner (1913-1995)
    8l{Gf J University of Washington (1'1'1 _ mE SCHOOL OF MUSIC D~. 12., '15"2... l. -(( (.4-SS 1:2,e;: q 3 presents a/aculty recital: I Z, Cj S"l1 Emilie Berendsen, mezzo-soprano Lisa Bergman, piano .. Iiii In Celebration Leon Lishner (1913-1995) with faculty guest artists Rebecca Henderson. oboe William o. Smith. clarinet and guest speakers Professor Joseph Butwin Dave Larson Professor Emeritus Paul Dietrichson February II, 1991 8:00 PM Meany Theater <t' b.l t.::) \1\ ~.,... ~ t'" \J ,; .1 ~, ~: ! L ,.~. j U ... ; F ' 1t>'I:> from VIER LIEDER, Op. 29 (1938) ;3'Jt-Z- .... ): Rechot (Noach Stem) , 'H,;: C!:) Mazkeret (poet unknown) , )..a A. 1111 fromBEARBEI11JNGEN OSTJUDISCHER 5'3 VI , VOLKSLIEDER (1923-25) ,'\ n.r V\ ! IOndl!r'deln Kinds Wiegele " . ". , Es: Kimt GeJl~en diGilde.rn.tf, Pawe .. f. ~ 0­ Ii • ". ~.; I 'j, ., • ~., ; ': .: I .......re ·jNruMls.siON'~"-:"·" -':;~ i ,.'; ~nil '-W:Jr.i1ei-?'~~;IL<1 Jt [: .. :.;.,.<,; .!~ ,', , }1 .j:':.(:~l!.J c::~_~~ v,. ,,\5·, Son- Co.. "., '1 " .. ., ., ~ ~ . 11'1 " ':.... ·t~.".::\" 'j~~''{ 11V~';' .:1. •. 1',1. ;".~"'i.~'-!J.'; ',!;'.." ',....f ~.,"li. t- It> -<} AsaNDPHANTASIE (1943; Fri~d~cli Hotde~lin):t~.:, .. Vikto~,~lJl"~n \blO ZWEI CHINESISCHE l:IEDER(1943) l-t 'I~ ; JHp ::(1898-1944)' . ,Wanderer erwacht In der Herberge .,,: .... ,..' . Der made SoldDt' .. ' , ',' , , ~ ,/ . f''O' ' ~..:, " Il) \1)1 l-from SOL~-C0ATE n,943i; H. d. Adler 2- (/7 ~ lmmer Inm,tten -VI ; . \ I PI3 SUITE, Op. 17 (1939) .......1f4.............................................. Pavel Haas e; Furioso (1899~ 1944) \J"" Confuoco r\ , Moderato \f) \ ~ SEpM PISNO V l:.IDOvEVM T6NU, Op. 18 IL-t I (1939-40; F.
    [Show full text]
  • Negotiating Cultural Allies: American Music in Darmstadt, 1946-1956 Author(S): Amy C
    American Musicological Society Negotiating Cultural Allies: American Music in Darmstadt, 1946-1956 Author(s): Amy C. Beal Source: Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Spring, 2000), pp. 105- 139 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the American Musicological Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/831871 Accessed: 22/11/2010 15:41 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucal. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. University of California Press and American Musicological Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the American Musicological Society.
    [Show full text]
  • David Tudor in Darmstadt Amy C
    This article was downloaded by: [University of California, Santa Cruz] On: 22 November 2010 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 923037288] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37- 41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Contemporary Music Review Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713455393 David Tudor in Darmstadt Amy C. Beal To cite this Article Beal, Amy C.(2007) 'David Tudor in Darmstadt', Contemporary Music Review, 26: 1, 77 — 88 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/07494460601069242 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07494460601069242 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Contemporary Music Review Vol. 26, No. 1, February 2007, pp. 77 – 88 David Tudor in Darmstadt1 Amy C.
    [Show full text]
  • Martin Brody Education BA, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta
    Martin Brody Department of Music Wellesley College Wellesley, MA 02281 617-283-2085 [email protected] Education B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Amherst College, 1972 M.M. (1975), M.M.A. (1976), D.M.A. (1981), Yale School of Music Additional studies in music theory and analysis with Martin Boykan and Allan Keiler, Brandeis University (1977); Additional studies in electronic music and digital signal processing with Barry Vercoe, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1979) Principal composition teachers: Donald Wheelock, Lewis Spratlan, Yehudi Wyner, Robert Morris, Seymour Shifrin Academic Positions Catherine Mills Davis Professor of Music, Wellesley College (member of faculty since 1979) Visiting Professor of Music at Brandeis University, 1994 Visiting Associate Professor of Music at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1989 Assistant Professor of Music at Bowdoin College, 1978-79 Assistant Professor of Music at Mount Holyoke College, 1977- Other Professional Employment Andrew Heiskell Arts Director, American Academy in Rome, 2007-10 term Executive Director, Thomas J. Watson Foundation, 1987-9 term Honors and Awards Roger Sessions Memorial Fellow in Music, Bogliasco Foundation, 2004 Composer-in-Residence, William Walton Estate, La Mortella, 2004 Fromm Foundation at Harvard, Composer Commission, 2004 Fromm Composer-in-Residence, American Academy in Rome, fall 2001 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, 2000 Pinanski Prize for Excellence in Teaching, Wellesley College, 2000 Commission for Earth Studies from Duncan Theater/MacArthur
    [Show full text]
  • Cri 233 Stefan Wolpe
    CRI 233 STEFAN WOLPE: Trio Trio of the Group for Contemporary Music at Columbia University Harvey Sollberger, Flute; Charles Wuorinen, Piano; Joel Krosnik, Cello GEORGE CRUMB: Eleven Echoes of Autumn, 1965 Aeolian Chamber Players Lewis Kaplan, Violin; David Gilbert, Flute; Lloyd Greenberg, Clarinet; Jacob Maxin, Piano STEFAN WOLPE'S music integrates certain traditional practices with a uniquely contemporary language and strikingly original procedures. Wolpe, born in Berlin in 1902, first learned the tradition there but soon indicated—by his compositions, by being active in many Dada performances, and by his choice of mentors: Scherchen, Busoni, Webern—that a merely accepted heritage was insufficient. Forced to flee Germany in 1933, Wolpe went to Palestine where he continued to compose works which are relatively simple, direct, and motivically tight in a chromatically modified, dissonant diatonicism. Wolpe's “middle period” began when he came to the United States in 1938. The works from this time, e.g., The Man from Midian, the Violin Sonata, are texturally dense, logically developmental, and are primarily concerned with ways through which musical ideas can fulfill themselves. The music is organized contextually rather than systematically, for both the lines and the simultaneities are derived from and controlled by the motivic impulses, and the formal procedures allow the motives their own way. His persistent, concentrated work on variation techniques has given Wolpe an intuitive sensitivity to the inherent possibilities of any musical impulse and a sure hand for developing these impulses into finite, tangible, elegant shapes. Wolpe's works since the Enactments for Three Pianos (1952) have all the traits of a master composer's “late period” and are earning him the recognition he deserves.
    [Show full text]
  • Still SELF-UPDATING
    GE THE ORIGINS OF SYNTHETIC TIMBRE SERIALISM AND THE PARISIAN CONFLUENCE, 1949–52 by John-Philipp Gather October 2003 A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of State University of New York at Buffalo in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Music COPYRIGHT NOTE The first fifty copies were published by the author. Berlin: John-Philipp Gather, 2003. Printed by Blasko Copy, Hilden, Germany. On-demand copies are available from UMI Dissertation Services, U.S.A. Copyright by John-Philipp Gather 2003 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many persons have contributed to the present work. I would like to name first and foremost my major advisor Christopher Howard Gibbs for his unfailing support and trust throughout the five-year writing period, guiding and accompanying me on my pathways from the initial project to the present study. At the State University of New York at Buffalo, my gratitude goes to Michael Burke, Carole June Bradley, Jim Coover, John Clough, David Randall Fuller, Martha Hyde, Cort Lippe, and Jeffrey Stadelman. Among former graduate music student colleagues, I would like to express my deep appreciation for the help from Laurie Ousley, Barry Moon, Erik Oña, Michael Rozendal, and Matthew Sheehy. A special thanks to Eliav Brand for the many discussion and the new ideas we shared. At the Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, I am grateful to Jacquelyn Thomas, Peter Schulz, and Rohan Smith, who helped this project through a critical juncture. I also extend my warm thanks to Karlheinz Stockhausen, who composed the music at the center of my musicological research.
    [Show full text]
  • David Tudor Papers, 1800-1998, Bulk 1940-1996
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf2j49n5h3 Online items available Finding aid for the David Tudor papers, 1800-1998, bulk 1940-1996 Lynda Bunting and Mary K Woods Finding aid for the David Tudor 980039 1 papers, 1800-1998, bulk 1940-1996 Descriptive Summary Title: David Tudor papers Date (inclusive): 1800-1998, bulk 1940-1996 Number: 980039 Creator/Collector: Tudor, David, 1926-1996 Physical Description: 177.5 Linear Feet Repository: The Getty Research Institute Special Collections 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100 Los Angeles 90049-1688 [email protected] URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref (310) 440-7390 Abstract: Papers of the avant-garde pianist and electronic music composer, David Tudor, comprehensively document his participation in post-World War II experimental music. Scores by other composers, notably John Cage, Earle Brown, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff, Sylvano Bussotti, and Karlheinz Stockhausen, Tudor's realizations of their scores, and his own electronic compositional materials form the bulk of the collection. Archive includes correspondence, financial papers, programs and announcements, specifications and documentation for electronic equipment, and audio and video recordings. Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy . Language: Collection material is in English Biographical/Historical Note Born in Philadelphia, Pa. in 1926, David Tudor studied composition and analysis with Stefan Wolpe, organ and theory with H. William Hawke, and piano with Irma Wolpe Rademacher. He began his professional work at 17 as an organist, and in 1950 established himself as a formidable talent in avant-garde music when he gave the American premiere of the Second Piano Sonata by Pierre Boulez.
    [Show full text]
  • Explorations of Dissent in the Music of Czech-Born Composers Marek Kopelent and Petr Kotík
    Notes from the Underground: Explorations of Dissent in the Music of Czech-born Composers Marek Kopelent and Petr Kotík by Victoria Johnson A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts Approved November 2015 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Sabine Feisst, Chair Robert Oldani Jody Rockmaker ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY December 2015 ABSTRACT Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, musicologists have been delving into formerly inaccessible archives and publishing new research on Eastern Bloc composers. Much of the English-language scholarship, however, has focused on already well-known composers from Russia or Poland. In contrast, composers from smaller countries such as the Czech Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia) have been neglected. In this thesis, I shed light on the new music scene in Czechoslovakia from 1948–1989, specifically during the period of “Normalization” (1969–1989). The period of Normalization followed a cultural thaw, and beginning in 1969 the Czechoslovak government attempted to restore control. Many Czech and Slovak citizens kept their opinions private to avoid punishment, but some voiced their opinions and faced repression, while others chose to leave the country. In this thesis, I explore how two Czech composers, Marek Kopelent (b. 1932) and Petr Kotík (b. 1942) came to terms with writing music before and during the period of Normalization. My research draws on the work of Cold War scholars such as Jonathan Bolton, who has written about popular music during Normalization, and Thomas Svatos, who has written about the art music scene during the fifties. For information particular to art music during Normalization, I have relied on primary sources including existing interviews with the composers.
    [Show full text]
  • Front Matter
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-03329-0 - New Music at Darmstadt: Nono, Stockhausen, Cage, and Boulez Martin Iddon Frontmatter More information New Music at Darmstadt New Music at Darmstadt explores the rise and fall of the so-called ‘Darmstadt School’, through a wealth of primary sources and analytical commentary. Martin Iddon’s book examines the creation of the Darmstadt New Music Courses and the slow development and subsequent collapse of the idea of the Darmstadt School, showing how participants in the West German new music scene, including Herbert Eimert and a range of journalistic commentators, created an image of a coherent entity, despite the very diverse range of compositional practices on display at the courses. The book also explores the collapse of the seeming collegiality of the Darmstadt composers, which crystallised around the arrival there in 1958 of the most famous, and notorious, of all post-war composers, John Cage, an event that, Carl Dahlhaus opined, ‘swept across the European avant-garde like a natural disaster’. MARTIN IDDON is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Leeds. He previously lectured at University College Cork and Lancaster University, and studied composition and musicology at the universities of Durham and Cambridge. His musicological research largely focusses on post-war music in Germany and the United States of America, and has been published in numerous leading journals, including Musical Quarterly, twentieth-century music,andContemporary Music Review.His music has been performed in Europe, North America, and Australasia, and has been featured on BBC Radio 3, Radio New Zealand, and the Österreichischer Rundfunk.
    [Show full text]