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Sociological Probe Into the Expressionist Avant-Gardism

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Sociological Probe Into the Expressionist Avant-Gardism FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Shifting the Role and Meaning of Composition: Sociological Probe into the Expressionist Avant- Gardism Master's Thesis MGR. JAKUB FILIP Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Csaba Szaló, Ph.D. Department of Sociology Programme Sociology Brno 2021 SHIFTING THE ROLE AND MEANING OF COMPOSITION: SOCIOLOGICAL PROBE INTO THE EXPRESSIONIST AVANT-GARDISM Bibliographic record Author: Mgr. Jakub Filip Faculty of Social Studies Masaryk University Department of Sociology Title of Thesis: Shifting the Role and Meaning of Composition: Sociological Probe into the Expressionist Avant-Gardism Degree Programme: Sociology Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Csaba Szaló, Ph.D. Year: 2021 Number of Pages: 90 Keywords: music, social action, ideal-typical conception, agency, phenomenology, Expressionism, Avant-Gardism, The Second Viennese School, Arnold Schoenberg 2 SHIFTING THE ROLE AND MEANING OF COMPOSITION: SOCIOLOGICAL PROBE INTO THE EXPRESSIONIST AVANT-GARDISM Abstract This Master's thesis applies selected methodological approaches related to examin- ing both dynamics of social action and producing subjective meanings in connection with the Avant-Garde Expressionist composers of the Second Viennese School. We- berian ideal-typical conception is a central methodological point of departure which is extended by the concept of agency as well as Schutzian non-historical phenome- nological perspective relating to intersubjective nature of experience. The author offers his own ideal-typical constructs of avant-garde music and examines its func- tional nexus with composers' capabilities to act independently of the sociocultural structures. Furthermore, the thesis offers a unique insight into the very nature of highly ambiguous behavior that shaped the avant-garde endeavors. The reader is thus offered a perspective into the social dynamics of collective intentions shifting the role and meaning of music composition. Number of characters: 160 391 4 SHIFTING THE ROLE AND MEANING OF COMPOSITION: SOCIOLOGICAL PROBE INTO THE EXPRESSIONIST AVANT-GARDISM Signed Declaration I declare that the thesis Shifting the Role and Meaning of Composition: Soci- ological Probe into the Expressionist Avant-Gardism was composed by my- self, that the work contained herein is my own except where explicitly stated oth- erwise in the text, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any other degree or processional qualification. 22. prosince 2020, Nova Dubnica ....................................... Mgr. Jakub Filip 5 SHIFTING THE ROLE AND MEANING OF COMPOSITION: SOCIOLOGICAL PROBE INTO THE EXPRESSIONIST AVANT-GARDISM Acknowledgement I must not ignore support that was patiently offered to me while writing this thesis. It cannot be taken for granted especially because the present thesis is not the first one I wrote. Writing cost a lot of time and energy and affected not only myself, but also my family and closest friends. Hence, I would like to thank to my parents and my brother. Special thanks go to Zuzka for her long-lasting support and love. It is my pleasure to thank to my su- pervisor, Csaba Szaló, who has been extraordinarily helpful. I am thankful also for everything he has taught me during my studies and for all the stimulating discus- sions. 7 CONTENTS Contents 1 Introduction 11 1.1 Methodological Approach .............................................................................................. 14 1.2 Research Questions .......................................................................................................... 15 2 Ideal-typical Conception 16 2.1 Weberian Heuristics ........................................................................................................ 16 3 Case Study: The Twelve-tone Music 24 3.1 Introductory Remarks ..................................................................................................... 24 3.2 Ideal-Typical Construction ............................................................................................ 29 3.3 Analytical Examination ................................................................................................... 33 3.3.1 Rational Means in the Light of the Avant-Garde Expressionist Music .................................................................... 33 3.3.2 Further Selected Sociological Aspects Related to the Social Action ................................................................................ 55 4 Conclusion 82 Bibliography 85 Index 91 9 INTRODUCTION 1 Introduction First, everything of supreme value in art must show heart as well as brain. Second, the real creative genius has no difficulty in controlling his feelings mentally; nor must the brain produce only the dry and unappealing while concentrating on correctness and logic. — Schoenberg, Style and Idea, 1950: 179 Characteristic of analysts in the twentieth century is the ambition to discover a system of relationships hidden behind the acoustic skin of a musical work, behind the facade it presents to a superficial hearer. — Dahlhaus, Analysis and Value Judgement, 1983: 39 The emotion is so violent and so consistently tense that for a great many people Schoenberg is a non- emotional composer. — Rosen, in Frank Scheffer's documentary Five orchestral pieces, 1994 Just imagine the excitement stemming from the possibility that you are a young composer starting a career at the very pinnacle of massive societal and cul- tural shift that happened during the second half of the 19th century. How would you act in such a case? What would your ambitions and endeavors look like and how would you achieve your goals? How would your ideals look like and how would you perceive your position within the European cultural environment? These are the questions provoking interest of many social analysts with pas- sion for musical culture—and I am one of them. The present thesis hence offers an analytical insight into the fascinating story of how the society took part in producing unprecedented modern musical art via several pioneers. And vice versa, how these actors reciprocally partially shaped the society. When the Second Viennese School came into being, the European society had just gone through the extraordinary transformative processes establishing new per- spectives and paradigms. These were influenced by many, but the famous triad of personalities still having huge impact on our culture must not be overlooked. Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud—only few will dispute these pioneers 11 INTRODUCTION have left a legacy in our thinking about the world of art (Schorske, 1980; Doorman, 2003; Ashby, 2004; Cook, 2007; Arens, 2015). What makes Schoenberg and his followers similar to these giants is the mo- tive of novel idea. It tries to change sociocultural conditions, within an intense pur- suit of the constant progress (Poggioli, 1968; Doorman, 2003; Gur, 2009). Further- more, this simply cannot be understood without realizing what role in society did the Western science play since the beginning of the 19th century (e.g., Lakatos, 1970; Kuhn, 1962, 1977; McCain, 2016; Johansson, 2016). Sociologists are well aware of the fact that the 20th century was inherently influenced by scientific progress more than any other period of human history. This century of shifts and turns was oftentimes seen as a human catastrophe (see, e.g., Bauman, 2003). However, except the unprecedented suffering that it brought to en- tire generations it also brought some tremendous cultural phenomena tied with in- teresting social behavior. Hence, I aim to examine specifically delimited period in the history of Euro- pean music in terms of how the individual constituted the collective and vice versa; and how such collective created meanings which held its constitutive role for both particular human lifetime and cultural circles which took part in development of Western music. This thesis is thus about the social existence of the advocates of the Expressionist Avant-Garde music. The matter of interest are specific types of social action. Through related types of novel music, social actors aspired to create mean- ings that could be of help in making sense of their lives and contemporary music art within the world of change. The fathers of the Twelve-tone music thought of their methods and related approaches as a monism (Ashby, 2004: 32). This coincides with the notion of teleo- logical development of music, where Schoenberg and his fellows were supposed to hold a position of ultimate achievers. That undoubtedly makes them rational and goal-oriented actors who never really gave up this identity. However, an intellectual 12 INTRODUCTION idea as an abstract form of visualizing the possible is one thing, while transforming it into the real world is another. As I shall discuss in this thesis, such process con- sisted of highly ambivalent social dynamics. The thesis is designed to be a case study through which I shall discuss se- lected phenomena that are sociologically significant. Methodological approaches and research questions are introduced in the next section. Then I move on to discuss Weber's ideal-typical conception that is a basic point of departure in my own con- struction of ideal types of avant-garde music. Subsequently, I progress to the core section of the thesis where I examine various aspects of the Second Viennese School's life. The section is basically divided in respect to the four aspects: (1) ra- tionality and rational means, (2) ambiguity of documented action, (3) the role of agency in the avant-garde endeavors, and (4)
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