Yesterday's
New Music
AM THOUGH he station of mus the end of Word
War Iwas undeniably chao, there were important super
cal renons for optimism, The days which public musa ie
ad been ura or even halted by bombing nd bombardment
were safely pst Musi, with other nds of clare, seemed 62
belong the new word of peaceful construction, In undamaged
sn prosperous America the flo of refugee musians, come
‘posers and performer alike, had changed the domestic mis
Scone, sna parallel strengthening of aniences byte euleted
‘mie public was providing both aesthetic approval and material
Suppl of concert tivity. And in Europe, sole ew gener:
thon of att, denied aces othe world stage fr altot a de
tad by the dications of wa, ws rey to come forward. Pe
haps mos important, pew electronic technology, bated pos
the Germaninvented magnetic pe recorder and (er 298
the American-developed long paving phonograph rear, ere
avalale to provide the possiblity ou hitherto unimagined di
Fanon of the eat work of muse
Temight have been sapped thal hese phenomena, which
were to prove so beneficial to the performance of exstng mse,
‘woud bene new eveition a wel. For wile wascal compos
tio ha need shown hacked signs of autumnal declines the
Interear ped, twas arly denied tat sme mgt works
Yesterday's New Music sos
ud been writen in the 1920s and 1ggs, and Id been widely
accepted as such by scaled widen
‘OF the most important composers who had made their mark in
the preceding to dacades, ony Berg was dea the end ofthe
‘war While Hartsk ws to die shortly thereafter, even the nine
teenth century survivor Richard Stas il alive at the age of
cighty-one, asin 14 nthe mide of writing sonnei most
eau and acting music The two most wey respected
oder masters, Arold Schoenberg and Igoe Stavnely, were
Imus active, Schoenberg wou ontinue composing unt is
eath i 1958, and Stavingy, hi conversion to fwelve-one
writing Sever years in he fate, wa stil noled in the neo
‘lasses which wat calminate in his opera The Rake’ Prop
rest of 1958
‘Among those newer gues whove downplaying of modernity
sssscompensitedforby greater public acceptance, Prokofiev and
Shostalovich were prolific as eve, and only ther diful polit
cal situation i the Soviet Uaion seemed to standin the way of
the highest achievement. In England and Frnce the erstwhile
ft tribes Wiliam Walton ad Darius Milhad the ater
Sn alterate-year resident inthe United Sates) contin to
‘write, and the very American Aton Copland was comsaliating
tnd extending his meputation a5 our most conderable usa
Faw
Tes posible retrospect to ce that al thi sty co
poston, though hardly as central t the wier culture se the
works of earier composers hal been, belonged tothe sain
Stream «kind of writing tational In bth aesthetic nd tech
nique One can even see ths Kind of mide of the-oud at a&
loyal prodct of burgenis socket) nowhere more sy paradox
telly, than in zevolutionary Rusia, whee Stalin and Zhdanoy
were ying to resuscitate the corpse of Victorian esthetics, Bat
Whatever the sca sytem sm which these moderate comers
worked, and whatever ther pst innovations, by Ig4s they
seemed neither toe breaking new ground inthe charter of
{heir muse nor tobe disturbing their esentlyaommodating
relation tothe audience and t sity,106 ‘THE Music
Tis mainatream activity, inthe work sch ney important
figures ax Benjanin Briton in England and Willa Schuman
sad Leonard Bertin in Ameri, ws to conte and remain
‘oll the present day ponblechace fr contemporty com
psiton. Bat the survival pst way ofersting int the present
oes not alter the ft that fr at leat ee pt tity yeare
the word new” in compostion had two es. Rsodinay wae has
Then simply a consey that work heist been writen is ore
Important we hasbeen to convey the Wesogkal message that
‘he workin question posesies qualities of style which lace itn
the avantarde, a movement revolutionary és purpor, bit
cally impaled in techie, eves in reference t the pat
‘al andacius in regard to the present
“The history ofthis advanced se since Workd War Is the
stoy ofthe development, aft separate but ter merge of
two conceptions—fcedot and order. The redo Sought Was
the possi for compotes (and aero performers to se any
resaare they might nd attractive a any poit fom the writing
‘fhe music tot reception bythe stone. The order sgh
Solved the subjection a the musical material by the compose to
the mst rigorous at conscious intellectual control in the wrt
Ing and to silly conscious physical contin perma,
thisconto! was tobe tase bth upon the generation ofthe om
poston from musi clements a careily dented ws possible
and wpon the excson from their treatment of structural 2c
‘ident or sentimentality
The rot of both thew ukimately metaphysical els ay, ax
Iniht be expected, i peor developments ong back tothe cay
typos: To asian extent these gal were both exenoplie
in the Me and mush of the most elects sigiea om
ost ofthe pst century. Amold Schoenberg From his bea
‘ings a Tosh hyperromanticit extending the sole forms of
‘Wagner, Strauss and Mahler, Schoenberg had exhasted the
posites of complexity and sheer size alike; ater the Fist
‘Quartet (903), he ventured increasing int expressionism, into
Yesterday's New Muse v7
ted depo of previously rpresed mations
Ahrough mail means of hitherto uninagned dsonance ad
seeming orlesenens. Though infact ingens constructed,
this musie—Best known ie Parra Luna (aa) ae writen
Stl sgn called fre atonal” and struck teers a
‘madness ad antrhy Tt hase om the word
‘But this kind of sting did nt sata Schoener’ rete
‘raving fr order Soin gat was born hs gest bert com
tribution to muse: "the method of compsion with wel tones
related only teach ober” in this mocentsounding phrase was
‘contained both the destruction of tonaiy—the euphoria
trol of chords and keys whi under what we hea aya
Sea" muse and «new ste rigiro enough atacand
Sat the most cholate inclined of nade compen
Given Sehocsherrspropensty toad theory a dpi,
eas tone hough perhaps Biting the igh a iss ntl
‘nee hat hie mot consequential pupil during his years of Ame.
‘ean ele shuld have een the compo, writer and sometime
Imyelogt Jon Cage. Under Cage's benign exterior lisa streak
‘ot aethetie lin which has wot oly infaenced the Kind of
‘usc tdiy’suptndite composers writ, but lo our very en
af what means tobe an avant gure composer
Indeed inthe words of Schoenberg himsel, Cae was perhaps
nota composer tal but rather "an vento of yeni” Fell
{ng wpom his eal faterest In eres mie in 598 he i
seated the prepared plano, by which the insertion of met
‘wo, and ber abjees between the pan strings produces ex
‘te pitched and unpitched sounds diferent fr each note so
treated. is earch for now suds led hi rer long the
lines explored by Edpw Varese and by Cage's vm teacher
Henry Cowell the inventor othe tone cuter, a which the keys
‘ofthe plano were smacked by palm, 8st, am, ors tat even
more totes might be sounded at once-—by a bord. Whereas
Schoenberg hud med aand inthe eyes a is supporters sc
ceeded inthe emancipation ofthe disonance fom the fy108 THE MUSIC
what was accepted as consonee, Cae nos seal 81907.
sought the liberation of aconstal phenomens themselves frm
Whit he regarded as "s-ciled musical sound
For Cage, the ature of msi ay with the vst by of sounds
in the past alle note. At must Instruments seeted tthe
time iacurbly specialized fr the production of msl sands
notes and harmonies —Cage began by working with clot
sound sources, writing fn 1399 Imaginary Landscape Xe tf
two vaable-sped phonograph taraables plying frequen re
‘cording long wth mated uno and cymbal. Twelve year ter
head vanced to magnary Landscape No.4 fr 12 alos, 4
players, and conductor. The realy revoltionary aspect of this
‘work is detonstated bythe ft that ts ntl lure in pero
‘munce-by the time Cage's pace was gen toon the evening's
program, to fe radio stations were leon thew fo prove the
ecessry sound material—hardly batered the corpner and
‘onfimed fr hi (as fare In revolution always des or is
‘sppoters the conceptual sperionty ofthe enterprise
"Arcane sen fom his seo radios to prove material, Cage
Id become interested in the possi fleeing compowes
From the neces to choose and write down each indivi ote
‘on the basis of 5 relation tothe preceding notes Ths, i the
‘ame year sis pice for radios, he composed Muse of Chon,
2 work for piano solo i whch the notes to be played by the
Pianist were determined ia thei pitches, does, dunton
tempos, and sequences by consttion, through the mediation of
coin tose, with the Chine orale book I Ching
‘One yur later, in 1952, Cage achieved the ltinate chance
composition and perhaps not quite by aden! thie reached 8
level of publi notoriety grate to ew arise creators in oo
time. Deciding thatthe nls whch ineitalysuround we ane
a hasta otereting a anything u composer might write, he
‘onovived the ntorios 433" 4 work in thee movements af
presence for any combination of istraments whatever, with
nly exact durtions and abence of sound specied. This was not
‘se but pure theater, the “performance” by pianist David
“Tudor proved, Tudor simply st at he pan losing fl bord
Yesterday's New Music 109
(the fit which covers the kes) atthe beginning of each of the
works movements in acordance with the compose’ dietions
inthe atherwse empty score
A about the sme time Cage became futher involved in elae-
tronic mas, composing Willams Mis for eightrack tape By
198 he hal ured tape muse to chance in Fontana Mfr, de
tered asa «score fr The production of one or ore tape
trac) ofr any number ofinsrument, orb prerecorded tape
smateral to he performed in any way.” Chance techniques were
Applied to purely instrumental pieces at well, im Variations 1
(G99 for "payer an any kind nd number fetes” the
former) 5 (ae) required to choose nates and ayes with
Yegard only to chats containing schematic nation and weten
instructions. The ltr Variations Vhs no us crea all in
Ateplce the performer sien general deseription of past pr
Jormances,snong them one (acording to an article on Ce by
Is flyer Chetan Wolf containing “dance by Merce Cun
ogham, film material by Stn Vanderbeek seca electronic
fuipment inloding electric eyes 50 thatthe movements of
No dancers would tigger sound soquenses, television sate
sl by Nam June Pa. and lighting and senery by Robert
Rauschenberg
Inthe meantine svant-gade muse Europe had started out
after 1945 by choosing a compostina aesthetic based upon the
‘ther side af Schoenberg, his concer with order: Only nthe
‘ery Bint year afer the war wat the influence of Schoener
Uirough the teaching of his pup René Lebowite, anything Ike
Aiety felt. Soon Schoenberg was being deiivey over
Shadowed as war his mort ditinguised diple Alban Berg —
bythe manic and even more the example of Anton Webern 0
Schocnbergs pupil and with Berg and Schoenberg member of
the Viennese serial ii, Webern's small body af mature work
‘onalsted of short, spuse sounding works of the est complex
‘nd ingenions onntzaton: his ater works were careflly wren
‘ccording to Schoenberg+ method of twelve-tne oganton
‘But whereas both Schoenberg and Berg hd comprsed worksno ‘THE Music
of essentially romantic sensibility, diss in their open emo-
tonality and abated selinulgence, Webern constant
ped down his here, xcesring masive combinations of i
struments infor of tdi razmented mele Bes: We
emis fw notes, writen in say utlzing preci cm
trapuntal devices, seed work! smal, peret, ad totaly
‘ontalled. Weber this hrcae a beavenent model for the
Widely fle masa reaction agaist bith classic and rman
tissm. And nt ony was Webern valid hero forthe new
‘seneraton by the nglet he and his marie had slr
Set an eternal seal on his martyrdom, he ad been killed in
{o45~but ater the war was over—by an overeagey Americ
solder who mistakenly thought the gentle composer wae tack
ng i
These general considerations of Weber 3 an example of the
nisi predicament ride, what ceed well a young Ee
eam composes about his work was what they sw eh atempt
to bud ie compositions out of » very few “preored” ele
‘ments, stat the entre composton seed the inevitable out
‘ame herent ine constituents. In Weber tees constivents
‘were largely melodic and thus based on pitch ut they lo
clued color dynamics, and shyt, Now composers aternpted
to tet all the parameters of musi among them pitch, drt
tion, amplitude, timbre. and articulation as Schoenberg had
required pitch tloge be weated. Thos i = quasimathemtia
sy, each element of muse could be avembled fat own
Series, with each undupisted pitch, duration, ete signed
‘numeral vale based epom the order in which was fist stated
the series ands parts cou be inverted, retrograded, and tan
posed according toa predetermined scheme which grveraed to
{great an extent x powble what occurred and where such ce.
‘utrenoes took ple
“The Girt tempt (hough oly analogical seri at sch pre
formation was mie s 3949 by the French composer Olver
Messiaen, in his etude Mode de eleurs ct dintnsitis. Mes:
siten wae vy more infuenced msl by his French Catho-
Te religiosity and fondness for birdaong thin by any aesthetic
Yesterdays New Music a
sympathy fr Schoenberg and Webern, and so he didnot follow
Up is ist experiment. In any ease, the inflece ofthe exper
tment hardly stemmed fom st ati achievement. Rather
tres theft ofthis short work to be natied by the fo sein
‘rind ofthe poster avantpirde, Pierre Bole and Karlhela?
SocShasee, In thi epurate waya—Baen savagely polemical
ted pasonately intellect and Stockhausen inlined toward
Technolog inmovation and. peronal mysicm-these two
‘en person he erly search for total determin a muse
The rationality with which they worked now seems both a
‘Weiland teeing For example, Houler’s most totaly pre
Formed compostn, Stracres 1 (35-5a)—tbaeed onthe pth
‘order of Mestaens 19g Mode de eaeury—mas writen flowing
the preparation of matric ables consisting ofthe numerical val
esl he orignal series of plone retogrdes and thei iver
Som, and ther transpositions. These tables were then used to
determine all ote durations, dynamics, nd modes of tack,
well sto determine the onder in whic the mote series the
selves wore used
‘Thongh Boer ws tobe infuentil—among many ater re
sons prciely fo his achievement of tal controle ieell
Soon abandoned the rigyousapplietion of his ox former pein
‘pes Stockhausen, by contra, remained fr many year (pe
Tap bess he ws ot intersted, as Boles deeply ws, athe
performance ofthe rns of eters commited tothe role of the
‘omporer a itaor over bath his composition and the mis
‘Gans who ply them, More seduced by the posits of ma
neti tape than Boule ever was StocKhauen a i tape aoe
‘ium which ered total conta to the composer
Fr on tage though working with these early yours was
ineficien and horribly tie-consuming, pitch cold be com
tele both by the signa the tape was electron fed an by
the speed at which the tape as run by the payback head
Fythm and duration werent only mater of tape speed but
‘even ore conveniently of tape length to be determined by
‘measurement sith ale; tire was 2 mater bath af salae
be
tn
na THE MUSIC
generators and Frequency fering and dynam were spl
Aletermined by stings ofthe gun contol In fact the compan
‘ul now be the performer and once it pe war made, scan
(aed sown permanent and uavarying retin
Ie isla to avo the impression tt what aninated Stock
uses and his flowers whether they worked with ape alone
‘or ar Stockhausen often dd, wth conventional intraments sed
Insuch away a erssingly to resemble electronic sources—was
the desire terete a ne sanding msc from srt, Stock
Tuten put well the Gist ine of De he, x prods
devoted to the new muse which peated fam 1955 019
A sound which eso a cern mde frre there n>
‘eevance ote the pata companion fr nih ha be
ede. For ths the ue prepared leet the se sono he
‘Ste stpes” can ever be chad ieee, ed al
Std whch have Ben rested scr othe sacar pater of
‘nc conpontion ve estoy when te empeton competed
Not only does this apply to the did work of one com
poser; the destruction af which Stockhausen wrote could be
‘lied in wider sense to mise memory self and the block
lays presents tothe acceptance of anything ne: This poston
yas hen bilan and sympathetically pu in a ecet history of
avantgarde muse by the English componer and writer Renal
Smith Brindle
nthe ptr er, oa th sot dialtone
ogapin’ was our oun ml menorin: Ost winds eran Get
‘nota what meni spats Tg
‘Zeenble anlar gator To ld thi waders a
[Eee rsonngand the a of hugh proces int wich meee
‘Stat hee Tl wu recy the aro the ng
integral sera, I an theory a leat se af compton
‘thch age comport hk obec nd chant emery, sb
‘Sate nel tage foe pnt be ot nee
‘ma cae
Yesterday's New Music ny
Te needed litle imagination to predict the reaction ofthe msc
public to the demand thats purtcipte in the destrcton of
‘scl memory. But even within the avant gue movement
Sel this ata of ttl conto, a ater how lea impecca
be and psychologically sitting, could bury ast. Upon com
posers it ld the obligation te thinker rather than instinctive
Imusic: fom performers when they wre allowed int the
leture all stdemanded absolutely Gath execution of the
uel detailed notation ofthe extreme completes required by
Seralzton. And upon even the mos favorably disposed kt
‘ners placed the Burden of hearing and dcriminaing sang
sound evens whose very complesty and direntition iad
‘her sem both opal,
Forall of Stackhausen's commitment t intel control—
has daring his career subjected other, non spesflly musical
shenomena to sich manipulation scading compeehensblty
fd confsin, density and complet, at well a symmetry
fad asymmetry—he tao reazed the nature ofthis cl-e-sc,
bythe mi-g5os he was ooking or way to ring ack see
portant role forvartation and magiation in composition ard per
Foemance aie. Iwas clear tht this way at ould motivo 4
return tothe past. How ponuble rch a retin was perceived
to be can be gathered rom a 1g57 comment of Herbert Eimer,
‘dior vith Stockhausen, in ie Rete:
‘There iletacioa between aan expen msc andthe ] 9
stmt burs oto ot tay ether txt
Singard or dosnt eu al Tiss oe ttl aera
het he sng te
(Gu while nas ths nether pole nordesable ge pe >
Ube charetrc nd aay a reed the ene
{sce por toate te ow cermin sage
“hj Cn beth sr ae di of Ween
a6 Staten had en Sve, lect he
‘actos Hoe the perc alone ots
+ae ‘THE Music
oder, determined by wherever hi eye has happened o iho
the musi, in which any of the woes nneten sections ae
layed: when one ofthese section met wth othe hid tine,
the performance i over, More than order islet to the det
‘ofthe perfonner: he is dretd to besa the “frst” sexton a
tempo, loudnes, and attack of his own chica the en ofthis
section he is gen perormanceintuctions applying eval to
‘whichever section he chase o continue wth
‘Though Staciaase's une of chance a described above ws
Jarl epoca the effet af chance nthe extreme ar adopted
by Gage the 19598 and son oe picked up in Europe was to
complete the process begun carer i 49)" of tansoring
‘musiinto form of theater. Thr kind of theater was of corse ar
removed fom tational pefarmance of either the cass oF
the ordinary new well-made play. The thestor in which co
posers were sow involved wat much closer ns emphass on
Improwstion, othe ides of ation piting as proces em
ing from the painter's uncoasios and performed y the ody
‘upon the canvas Indeed, an atsctve model for ms was he
pening,” frst performed by a Cage-oranized group at Blick
Mountain Colege te 195, which ince Charles Olen, M,C
Hichans, David Tudor, Hobere Mauschenberg, Merce Cu
singh, and Cae bial.
‘Stockhausen actaully wrte a kind of happening, described by
himself as“ musta theater” Oripnale (gh) consists fae
nngeof elements, among them peonle ding whit they wally
to in vale Two musician play Kota an eater sore by
Stockusen; ctr acta technician makes recordings street
Singer sings street sony, and a newsvendo comes in t sll
papers. Even in works af Stockhauen where the performer a
"ions do not sem in contest utes bizare, the element ofthe
ser sl eame to occupy an important ple. tm Mus far ein
ws (1), fr imtance, colletive composition by members
of his composition clara the Darstait Vaation Causes for
‘New Muse was conceived to be performed by instrumentalists
assigned to cach of teen compover
Yesterdays New Musi us
‘soma tin an ial to chang hs tenn peepee tn the
Howse tw
Wha the tremens hyped wp by mw
‘wom al yey tty pia ne
‘he far ra le y's dieser wh te
‘yer omy rent oon te bt Sn the ms an
{rom te therm. Klos ay at conte
‘om rey ofthe se ml Sr me er oe eat spe
1. precisely this profsion of vs and ther elements
which makes any evaluation ofavat garde muse emusic di
Felt And yet since thew pieces under the name af msi,
they deal require evaluation in emul terms. So fortenate
that this period sa comprehensively documented on reco
Some ofthe most charsteritic work ofthe ate 990s a he
fulminating decade of the agin have teen preserved by
Deutche Grammophon ova serie of dc ed beeen 19683
tl 1970. Cansieting of 98 ladivideal recor released tn tee
‘posix ech the eres wa simply called the ean Crde
‘The history of these record tuned oat to be «short ove
Though the ere of the English record magazine Gramophone
referred tothe cease af the st group of sian anal event,
‘omething reviewer ea ook Seward fo as winter doses
hin.” no freer records were to fllow in the series and tne
slr sued were soon being discontinued nd (Bat he
United States) emindered. By 1978 mo trace of any of thet
remained in the American Schwann LP Catalog. and only to
‘vere tll ited in Bieler is German equivalent
Sting produced, with each jarket save one bering (nd
ferent colors} handsome cover nthe syle ofthe American
‘olrfeldpaister Kenneth Nolind, the records ave centered
round the mise of Stackhavsen; to him ae devoted thre em
let discs and apart of another. Hardy len space-—t com
let dics and parts of to othert—is vente the Angetine
Mauss Kagel. Single record are alle to the German