View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Scholarship@Western Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 11-19-2012 12:00 AM Anarchy in the Unity: Compositional and Aesthetic Tensions in Mauricio Kagel's Antithese für einen Darsteller mit elektronischen und öffentlichen Klängen (1962) Makoto Mikawa The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Kevin Mooney The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Music A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Makoto Mikawa 2012 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Music Theory Commons Recommended Citation Mikawa, Makoto, "Anarchy in the Unity: Compositional and Aesthetic Tensions in Mauricio Kagel's Antithese für einen Darsteller mit elektronischen und öffentlichen Klängen (1962)" (2012). 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ANARCHY IN THE UNITY: COMPOSITIONAL AND AESTHETIC TENSIONS IN MAURICIO KAGEL’S ANTITHESE FÜR EINEN DARSTELLER MIT ELEKTRONISCHEN UND ÖFFENTLICHEN KLÄNGEN (1962) (Spine title: Anarchy in the Unity: Mauricio Kagel’s Antithese) (Thesis Format: Monograph) by Makoto Mikawa Graduate Program in Music A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Makoto Mikawa 2012 THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO SCHOOL OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION Supervisor Examiners ______________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Kevin Mooney Dr. Catherine Nolan ______________________________ Supervisory Committee Dr. Richard Semmens ______________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Richard S. Parks Dr. Norma Coates ______________________________ Dr. Lori Burns The thesis by Makoto Mikawa entitled: Anarchy in the Unity: Compositional and Aesthetic Tensions in Mauricio Kagel’s Antithese für einen Darsteller mit elektronischen und öffentlichen Klängen (1962) is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Date__________________________ _______________________________ Chair of the Thesis Examination Board ii ABSTRACT In 1962 the Argentine-German composer Mauricio Kagel (1931-2008) completed an innovative multimedia/interdisciplinary piece, Antithese für einen Darsteller mit elektronischen und öffentlichen Klängen. The unique compositional style and formal structure consisting of heterogeneous compositional components reflected his profound insights into issues inherent in postwar avant-garde music. Kagel remarked strikingly that “anarchy in the piece was omnipresent.” Indeed, his use of the term ‘anarchy’ is a keystone not only of the structural features of Antithese, but also of Kagel’s aesthetic of music in the piece. The present study seeks to reveal Kagel’s idea of anarchy in musical context and how he attempts to epitomize this particular thought in the complex and transliterate formal structure of Antithese. This study first reviews Kagel’s Buenos Aires period in terms of the cultivation and development of his musical composition and notion of anarchy. The review also incorporates problematic aspects of postwar new music in Europe which emerged in the period chronologically parallel to Kagel’s Argentinian era. The next stage deals with Kagel’s engagement in electroacoustic composition in Germany and the development of his own compositional method and style in its realm, where he consciously distanced himself from controversy between Parisian musique concrète and Cologne elektronische Musik. Because Antithese is a unique form of Instrumental Theater – a compositional approach Kagel invented – and a piece he dedicated to John Cage, this study examines distinctive features of Kagel’s theatricalization in the piece in contrast to his other theatrical pieces, as well as to Cage’s musical theater work. This examination clarifies the aesthetic distinction between Kagel and Cage which underlies their theatrical-theoretical differences. Intriguing in terms of compositional aesthetic content is that Antithese encompasses Kagel’s serial thought and an approach of Grenzüberschreitung of art genres which may seem antithetical in compositional-characteristic terms. This feature suggests that a latent part of his aesthetic intention was to create tension as a concealed component derived from the coexistence of heterogeneous ideas and elements on various levels of Antithese’s complex structure. Indeed, tension, as an indispensable element of iii the piece, is a key to deciphering Kagel’s notion of anarchy in music. Keywords: anarchy in music, postwar avant-garde music, electroacoustic music, multimedia/interdisciplinary composition, musical continuity, theatricalization, sectionalization, montage technique, psychologization, Instrumental Theater, serial thought, open form, Verfransung of art genres, Grenzüberschreitung, liberal anarchism. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would have never been completed without the support of my committee members, other professors, my friends and colleagues, and my family. First and foremost, I am sincerely grateful to my advisor, Kevin Mooney, for his guidance, support, patience, critical reading, and providing me valuable advice. His knowledge and intuition inspired me and enriched my research skills and the contents of this study. The wide spectrum of his thought of postwar music-aesthetic and philosophy always motivated my enthusiasm of research for these particular topics. Above all, valuable discussions of certain music-aesthetic issues with him vastly contributed to better thematizing each chapter and deepening its content. I would also like to thank my second reader, Richard S. Parks, for his supervision, enthusiasm, and encouragement. With his countless suggestions for revisions, he provided me significant opportunities to discuss music-theoretical issues in the postwar compositional development. He devoted tirelessly much of his time to the editorial advice through which I have benefited not only to polish my writing but also to expand my intellectual horizon. I wish to thank the Kagel estate for granting permission to cite Kagel’s letters to Cage and David Tudor. My thanks also go to a number of scholars who provided me helpful suggestions and/or resource materials, especially Werner Klüppelholz, Björn Heile, Matthias Kassel, Paul Attinello, Marcus Zagorski, Antje Tumat, Jörg Stelkens, Katharina Olivia Brand, Sherry Föhr, Michèle Noirjean-Linder, Johanna Blask, Dennis Patrick, Juan María Solare, Benjamin Patterson, Lucanne Magill, John Bewley, Jeanette Casey, Sen Uesaki, Masako Isobe, and André Chaudron. I am grateful to the Northwestern University Music Library in Evanston, Illinois; the State University of New York at Buffalo Music Library in Buffalo, New York; the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, Switzerland; the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, California; the Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung der Universität zu Köln in Schloss Wahn, Köln; the Kunst- und Museumsbibliothek im Museum Ludwig, Köln; the Sogetsu Kaikan Archive, Tokyo; the Digital Archive Research Center at the Keio University, v Tokyo; and the Biblioteca Nationale Centrale di Firenze in Florence, Italy, for allowing me to access their collections and rare materials. I am indebted to my colleagues and friends for support and help with this project. Thanks to Paul Sanden, Anna Boyden, Barry Griner, Christine Faist, and Pierre Thomé. I also wish to thank Christine Sobkowiak, Melanie Weber, and Elke Rettberg for helping me to better understand resources in German. A special thanks goes to the graduate program assistant, Shelly Koster, for providing information and arranging many things during my doctoral study. I would also like to thank the thesis examiners, Catherine Nolan, Richard Semmens, Norma Coates, and Lori Burns, for their helpful questions and suggestions. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their support and understanding of my studies. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION ................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ xi LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................1 Background and Context .............................................................................1 Scope and Object of Study ..........................................................................3