An Examination of the Cultural Materialisms of Raymond Williams
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Musicology and Mediation: an examination of the cultural materialisms of Raymond Williams and Pierre Bourdieu in relation to the fields of contemporary music and musicology, with a case study of Arvo Pärt and ECM. In memory of Dee Begbie Copyright Statement This copy of the thesishas been suppliedon conditionthat anyonewho consultsit is understoodto recognisethat its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no informationderived from it may be publishedwithout the author'sprior written consent. Signed:... T...... ý.:.. ........ Date: 0.1.....S. k., ' °[. ... eF. : t..... Musicology and Mediation: an examination of the cultural materialisms of Raymond Williams and Pierre Bourdieu in relation to the fields of contemporary music and musicology, with a case study of Arvo Pärt and ECM. Tom Begbie A thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth In partial fulfilment for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY University College Falmouth Incorporating Dartington College of Arts l November 2008 1W'`ý(ýý5ý= =i- '" Z tlýt 7 Abstract This thesis examines the usefulness of the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Raymond Williams for discussions of material mediation in musicology. In part I, I focus on Bourdieu's discussions of cultural production as set out in The Rules of Art and "The Field of Cultural Production", and reconstruct the terms of Williams's late theoretical project. In establishing the terms of these projects, I draw a parallel between their attempts to materialize the categories of Marx's superstructure - noting in Williams's subsequent use of a revised Marxist production paradigm Adorno by a proximity to the work of - before noting the differences imposed the pressures and limits of their respective intellectual cultures. The tensions between these two models are therefore identified as the opportunity for dialogue between theoretical traditions. In part 2, these reflections are tested through a discussion of Arvo Pärt's music and the record label Edition of Contemporary Music (ECM). Using data from musical scores, CDs, reviews, critical essays, magazine articles, interviews, and so on, Part's emergent field position in the late 1970s and early 1980s is reconstructed and ECM's function as both institution and artistic formation is argued. These instances of musical practice remain rhetorically committed to the ideals of autonomy while spanning the opposition of autonomy and heteronomy. This for ambiguity puts strain on Williams's and Bourdieu's readings of cultural production, allowing a critical approach to this range of debate. In this sense, the method becomes part of the subject matter, and the discussions combine both theoretical and musical reflection. 9 10 List of Contents COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 5 ................................................................................................................. ABSTRACT 9 ........................................................................................................................................ LIST CONTENTS II OF ........................................................................................................................ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 15 .................................................................................................................. DECLARATION 17 ................................................................................................................................ 1 PART I: RAYMOND WILLIAMS, PIERRE BOURDIEU, AND QUESTIONS 19 OF MATERIAL MEDIATION .......................................................................................... INTRODUCTION THE PLACE THEORY 19 - OF ................................................................................... Overview ResearchHistory 19 and ........................................................................................................................ Emphasis Theory 22 The on ...................................................................................................................................... I 25 1.1 CHAPTER -CONTEXTS ............................................................................................... Materialism, Development Alternative Musicologies 25 1.1.1 Idealism, and the of ............................... Musicology Mediation Towards Engagement Materialism 31 1.1.2 and - an with ................................. 1.1.3 Conclusion Models Cultural Production 43 -Two of ........................................................................ 1.2 CHAPTER 2- RAYMOND WILLIAMS PIERRE BOURDIEU 45 AND ........................................ Introduction 45 ............................................................................................................................................................. 1.2.1 RaymondWilliams's Mature Project 49 .................................................................................................. Overview 49 .................................................................................................................................................................................... Williams, Marx Marxisms 52 and ..............».................................................................................................................... ........... Williams, Adorno, Mediation 56 and ........................................................................................................................................ The Production Paradigm "Culture Industry Thesis............ 58 and the ........................................................................... Williams Post-Structuralism 61 and ......................................................................................................................................... 1.2.2 Bourdieu's "Structuralist Constructivism" 65 ....................................................................................... Overview...... 65 ............................................................................................................................................................................. Conception Mediation Bourdieu's Model 66 Towards a of in Theoretical .................................................... _............ CULTURE 75 1.3 CHAPTER 3 -TWO MATERIAL APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF ................ 1.3.1 The Grounds for Comparison 75 ............................................................................................................. 1.3.2 The Emphases Objectivity Experience 83 on and ................................................................................ 91 CONCLUSION MATERIALISM AND THE STUDY MUSIC - OF .......................................................... 2 PART 2: ARVO PART AND ECM 93 ........................................................................... 2.4 CHAPTER 4- QUESTIONS AUTONOMY 99 OF .................................................................... 2.4.1 Autonomy, Topos Refusal, Future 99 the of and the Wager on the .............................................. A Distinction between Autonomies 99 ................................................................................................................................... Production 102 Bourdieu: the Strugglefor Autonomy, and its Placein the Laws of the Field of .......................... Notions Autonomy in Williams's Late Project 112 of ........................................................................................................ Goldmann's "Tragic Refusal" "Wager" Williams Bourdieu 119 and in and .................................................................. 125 Consideration of the Avant-Garde in Williams's and Bourdieu's Theory ................................................_.......... The Importance Source Material 129 of ................................................................................................................................. EMERGENT POSITION-TAKING 2.5 CHAPTER 5 -TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF AN 131 Introduction: Tabula Musical Rhetoric 131 rasa -Towards a ...........» .............................................................. Overview 131 .......»... ». ». ».. ». ................................................ The Placeof Tabularosa 133 ............................................................................................................................................... 2.5.1 Section I Musical Production 137 -Tintinnabulation and the Field of ........................................... Preliminaries The Field the Structure Feeling 137 - and of ............................................................................................... The Field 137 ............................................................................................................................................................................. The Structure Feeling 141 of ................................................................................................................................................ Tintinnabulation Moves Triad 146 - within the .................................................................................................................... The 'Emergence' Arvo Part Moves field 156 of - within a ................................................................................................. The Importance Soviet Field 157 of the ............................................................................................................................ An 'Avant-garde' 'Experimental' 165 and opposition?..................................................................................................