Music Analysis and the Avant-Garde Compositions of Post- World War II: Four Case Studies Author Song, Sun-Ju Published 2011 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School Queensland Conservatorium DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/3234 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367570 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au MUSIC ANALYSIS AND THE AVANT-GARDE COMPOSITIONS OF POST-WORLD WAR II: FOUR CASE STUDIES VOLUME 1 BY SUN-JU SONG, BMus, BA (Mus)(Hons), MMus Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy October, 2008 When analytic thought, the knife, is applied to experience, something is always killed in the process. That is fairly well understood, at least in the arts. – But what is less noticed in the arts – something is always created too. And instead of just dwelling on what is killed it’s important also to see what’s created and to see the process as a kind of death-birth continuity that is neither good nor bad, but just is. (Pirsig, 1974, p. 77) ii Abstract This thesis examines four iconic piano works composed from 1949 to 1952 in relation to the discipline of music analysis: Olivier Messiaen’s Mode de valeurs et d’intensités (1949), Pierre Boulez’s Structures Ia for two pianos (1952), Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Klavierstück III (1952) and John Cage’s Music of Changes (1951). The primary aim is to investigate how music analysis has engaged with these four works over the last fifty years. Investigating the nature and content of earlier analyses reveals various aspects of the discipline: its aims and functions, its governing ideologies and, most importantly, its achievements. This investigation also allows for recent criticism of the discipline of music analysis to be reconsidered. In total, 29 analyses of the four works are closely evaluated. Building on these observations, the author contributes a further perspective on each work by offering her own analytical insights, at times challenging some of the common analytical approaches to them. Rather than applying an analytical system based on a particular theory, concepts from each composer’s own writings and theories are used to provide an appropriate analytical angle. This approach recognises that analysis should be a meaningful dialectic between the conceptual understanding of compositional theory and the perceptual experience of surface musical phenomena. Chapter 1 outlines some of the issues and critical debates surrounding music analysis and avant-garde music, beginning in the mid-twentieth century. Three ideologies (formalism, organicism and positivism) that have underpinned the discipline of music analysis are considered in relation to the four case study works. Chapter 2 discusses how the four composers influenced each other during the years immediately after World War II, and underlines how the significant personal connections between them stimulated the development of their compositional techniques. Chapters 3 to 6 focus in turn on the four works, starting with Messiaen’s Mode de valeurs then moving on to Boulez’s Structures Ia, Stockhausen’s Klavierstück III and Cage’s Music of Changes. Each case study consists of four sub- sections: the historical and biographical context of the work; a review and re- evaluation of selected analytical writings; the author’s own analytical re-examination of the work; and a summary. Although these chapters follow the above sub-sections, each is tailored to accommodate the unique circumstances of each work. For instance, iii the number of analyses selected—and the issues they raise—differs in each case study. As a conclusion, Chapter 7 summarises four aspects: (1) the commonalities between the compositional techniques developed by the four composers across the chosen works; (2) the predominant analytical approaches to the works; (3) further research directions within the discipline of music analysis indicated by this research; and (4) a reassertion that music analysis is essential for an adequate understanding of such music. iv Certification This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. Signed………………………….. (Sun-Ju Song) Date 14 October 2008 v Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my principal supervisor, Dr Stephen Emmerson. He has provided guidance to and support for every step of my research and has been a constant source of inspiration and motivation. I am deeply thankful for his generosity of time, his expertise and his input into this research as well as my educational and musical life. I would also like to thank my two associate supervisors: Robin Maconie for his unparalleled expertise that was such a valuable resource in the preliminary stage of the research, and Dr Philip Truman for making many valuable comments. There are several people whose assistance and support have been tremendously important in this research. In reading various drafts of this thesis, Jocelyn Wolfe not only helped me with proof reading but also encouraged me to improve my writing skills. For translating the German literature used in this research, I am grateful to my friend Christina Young for spending countless hours with me even through her pregnancy. I am also thankful to have received further assistance in translating from Barbara Steinhauser, Armin Terzer and Gabriele Ratzke. For producing all the musical scores for this thesis, I am thankful to my friend Josephine Jin who also inspired me through many conversations about composing music. For the mathematical calculations involved in Chapter 4, I thank my friend Anna Coulson whose knowledge of mathematics and skills with the Excel program greatly helped me. To librarian Olga Lipsky, her help and persistence over many years to locate and obtain many different types of literature has been remarkable. Finally, for the final editing and proof reading process, the generosity and friendship of Dr Jenny Butler, together with her expertise in both editorial work and in music, have been invaluable and I am deeply indebted to her. I would like to thank my parents, Jung-Hee Jee and Se-Won Song for their unfailing support and for financially helping me to study in Australia for many years. I would like to also extend my thanks to my cousin Myung-Shin Kim for encouraging me through many phone calls from Korea and to my neighbours Doreen and Gordon Clarke for looking after me like their own daughter. Portions of Chapter 4 of this thesis appears as conference proceeding in “Rethinking structures: A comparative evaluation of analytical approaches to Boulez’s Structures Ia over the last 50 years” [Electronic versions] In R. Hardie (Ed.), vi Music and Locality: towards a local discourse in music, Music Books New Zealand, 2004. Permission to use the entire score of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Klavierstück III was provided by Universal Edition. vii Table of Contents Volume One Abstract ........................................................................................................................ iii Certification ................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents ....................................................................................................... viii Volume One ............................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................ 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 Aesthetic positions of music analysis ........................................................................ 2 Critiques and debates ............................................................................................... 10 Post-tonal music in the twentieth century and music analysis ................................. 17 Central questions and the research design ............................................................... 21 CHAPTER TWO ......................................................................................................... 25 Four Composers and Four Works ............................................................................ 25 Interactions ............................................................................................................... 25 Tape music ............................................................................................................... 31 Darmstadt summer courses ...................................................................................... 33 Die Reihe ................................................................................................................. 35 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER THREE ..................................................................................................... 37 Introduction