A bit more for grad students

Please find, on WebCT under "Materials - Week 05 - Links", a pdf article from 1918 containing Debussy's mocking fictional "interview" with a critic called M. Croche. Read for next class meeting and be prepared to summarize the artistic philosophy that Debussy puts into the mouth of this fictional character. In other words, what can we infer about Debussy's own artistic credo based upon his fictional interview? And what is the significance of the style and mode in which he chooses to present these opinions?

DQ for Watkins, 104-114 (grad students: please add 157-68)

DQ for Watkins, 104-114 (grad students: please add 157-68 and be prepared to describe their contents to the rest of the class in terms of the music of Kandinsky, Schoenberg, and Skriabin)

Please be prepared to respond in either seminar meeting or in "Comments" on the course blog. In all venues, you must be prepared to cite specific passages (by page, paragraph, line, and quotation) in support of your responses—and specific works.

This section seeks to “separate” Ravel from Debussy and to recognize that each of the two most influential “Impressionist” composers in fact occupied their own individual compositional spaces, orbits, and spheres of influence.* It suggests that Ravel, while responding to some of the same stimuli (or, to use the terminology of the Syllabus, some of the same “problems”), took quite different and in ways much more diverse strategies than did Debussy in response. It is also important to recognize that because Debussy died in 1917 and Ravel lived until the mid-30s, it is logical to see later and more contemporary musical issues appear in Ravel’s later music.

(1) Watkins makes several references (first on p104) to “cyclic” structures in Ravel’s music. What does Watkins mean by this? In what musical parameters (e.g., which SHMRG characteristics) does he identify a “cyclic” quality: form, rhythm, scales, melodic shapes, other, all of these? What might be the motivations and the implications of this “cyclic” usage?

(2) Also on p104 Watkins cites the “Neo-classicism” (discussed in future) implicit not only in the Tombeau de Couperin but also much earlier in the Sonatine (1903-05). Specifically, he mentions issues of “formalities” and “texture”. What are the “formalities” associated with these works and/or with neo-classicism? The “textures”? Be prepared to link the textures implied and described in these pieces with other works by composers outside the French orbit, and to articulate a reason for these particular textural concerns at this particular time.

(3) On pp105 & ff, Watkins describes a series of commonalities, shared interests, or even shared texts, between French and German composers of this period. How could we summarize these shared ideas and influences, in, say 25 words or less? (E.g., “Schoenberg, Berg, and Ravel—three composers of differing compositional and national background, shared an interest in this period with the works of [X], the general fin-de-siecle interest in [Y], and the specific texts of the poems [Z, 1 and 2].”

(4) Watkins cites Bertrand (poet) and his disciples as a strong influence upon various French artists and composers. Be prepared to provide a 10-15 word summary of the “nature” or “affect” of Bertrand’s work, and relate it to at least 3 pieces, 1 cited by Watkins and at least two more not cited by Watkins. In other words: identify thhe nature of Bertrand’s artistic vision and demonstrate its influence (direct or indirect) upon at least 3 specific compositions. [Grad students: try reading the French texts aloud: if a crucial element of Symbolist poetry is its sound, you should familiarize yourself with that sound.]

(5) On the bottom of p107, Watkins cites Messiaen’s term “personnage rhythmique” to describe an 8^th-note rhythm group [1+2,1+2+2]. What is/are the immediate impacts of a rhythm like this: upon phrase structure, upon accompaniment patterns, upon motivic organization? What is the relationship between “cyclic” form, personnage rhythmique, palindrome, and other quasi-symmetrical organizations? Why might composers in this period have chosen to prioritize these types of organization? What are the practical and the “affective” (interpretive/subjective) results of such organizations?

(6) p108 top: note the cited interest in bells in this period, as not only symbol (they recur throughout expressionist works) but also as sound-source: the very different composers (among others) Varese and Ives both experimented with bell-sounds or bell-imitations. Why might such sounds have provoked interest: compositionally? Sonically? Programmatically?

(7) Note (pp110 & ff) the discussion and the stylistic implications of the following strategies: new, altered, or synthetic scales; extended techniques, especially for the voice; an interest in composition organized around “shapes” (defined very broadly). Be prepared to articulate a thesis that relates these factors to issues of program and expression.

(8) p112: note the interplay between the following factors: symmetry; modality; harmonic and formal implications of both. Why are composers interested in these strategies at this time? How does they serve program? How does they relate to trends in other art forms? Cite specific passages in specific works, whether mentioned by Watkins or not.

(9) pp113-114: historically/stereotypically expressionism and exoticism have tended to be understood separately and in a not-particularly-related way. Watkins seeks to demonstrate relationships and shared influences and modes of expression between them. Summarize these, cite specific works that exemplify the relationships, and relate to specific stylistic results.

*The term “Impressionist” is placed in double-quotes because, as we shall see in discussion, it is a widely-misunderstood and mis-applied term, and requires “complication” and clear usage.

DQ for Watkins, 64-95

DQ for Watkins, 64-95 (grad students: please continue reading through p103)

Please be prepared to respond in either seminar meeting or in "Comments" on the course blog. In all venues, you must be prepared to cite specific passages (by page, paragraph, line, and quotation) in support of your responses—and specific works.

This section seeks to place Debussy in his time, place, and compositional context, and to address the ways in which Debussy’s resources as a late-19^th century composer both paralleled and also contrasted those of the Viennese composers we have previously looked at. In this particular section, I will suggest some additional ideas, resources, and motives, beyond those Watkins provides—so please read carefully and think hard about the questions I pose.

(1) The first and most obvious question: why does Watkins choose to address Debussy here in the text, having just closed a discussion of the 2^nd Viennese school? To do this requires him to jump back in time, to investigate a composer whose years of active composition began in the 1880s and ended with his death in 1917. It would seem on the surface that Watkins is addressing Debussy in an illogical sequence; please articulate a convincing argument in favor of the sequence Watkins uses. What does this tell us about Watkins’s own model of musical history in the 20^th century?

(2) Throughout this chapter, certain musical characteristics in Debussy are described as being reflective of and dependent upon a certain set of aesthetic models and goals. What are these aesthetic models and goals, from what other sources (particularly what other art forms) does Debussy draw them, and how do they play out in specific SHMRG musical characteristics? NOTE: this is a very broad question demanding both an articulate thesis and detailed discussion of examples. In responding to this (on the blog, in class, or in an examination), do not simply settle for broad, general, unspecific, or vague statements: be specific, articulate a specific thesis, and provide specific concrete examples.

(3) Provide, in your own words, a concrete and specific definition of Symbolist poetry’s goals and techniques. In turn, link your definition to specific characteristics in specific works of composers influenced by Symbolist poetry. Include discussion of at least one work by Debussy and one work by each of two other composers.

(4) A more deductive and inductive question: what are the root causes of the Symbolist movement in literature? In music? Why now, at this time, in this particular geographical part of the world, were Symbolist aesthetics and techniques seen as a “new way forward”? Again, be specific, relate poetry to music, and provide examples from specific pieces.

(5) Similar to (4) above: what is the role of Richard Wagner’s music in all this? Of his artistic philosophy? Of the Wagner “cult” that enveloped European (not just German) arts (not just music) culture by the end of the 19^th century? Cite at least three composers, each of different nationality, and using specific pieces, who were affected by Wagner, and describe ways in which each composer sought to “break free” of this early influence?

(6) Beyond the obvious connection with Symbolist poetry (and the frequent choice by French composers of the period to set this poetry to music), what is the significance of text in these works of Debussy? What compositional factors might drive the choice of texts, or the choice whether to include text at all? Explain and cite examples.

(7) On pp69-70 Watkins cites the influence of Satie upon Debussy, and particularly of Satie’s interest in (a) old French music and (b) popular or “café” music of the period. He also (c) describes Satie’s apparently-intentional naiveté in saying that “nothing could be simpler” than to translate Impressionist painting techniques to music. We will speak about (b) in class, but in understanding (a), you need to understand why old French music might have seemed an attractive source for new compositional ideas. Undergrads: be prepared to articulate the motive behind this borrowing from old French music. Grad students: begin from the indicated section of this Wikipedia article on Rosicrucianism and then quickly “read for musicological content” the JSTOR article “Erik Satie and Vincent Hyspa: Notes on a Collaboration.” Be prepared to share insights from these with the class as a whole.

(8) Be prepared to summarize Watkins’s insights about the Prelude a “L’apres-midi d’un faune, paying particular attention to (a) Debussy’s musical language and the question of whether that language is more concerned with “mood” or with “text”; (b) considerations of formal organization in Debussy’s “post-functional” harmonic world. Articulate and cite passages supporting your summary.

(9) See Watkins’s detailed discussion of this piece and transcription of large chunks of its libretto (pp75 & ff). Why does Watkins choose to function on this work, which is relatively anomalous in Debussy’s catalog (his only completed opera), not widely played in the repertory, and typically not used as an example of Debussy’s “quintessential style”?

DQ for Watkins, 45-61

DQ for Watkins, 45-61

[audio files of selected pieces to be added to WebCT this weekend]

Please be prepared to respond in either seminar meeting or in "Comments" on the course blog. In all venues, you must be prepared to cite specific passages (by page, paragraph, line, and quotation) in support of your responses—and specific works.

The goal of this section in part parallels that previously provided for pre-Expressionist/pre-serial Schoenberg and Webern: to demonstrate that that Berg’s early music is both more directly tied to that of his immediate predecessors (in Berg’s case, Mahler above all, but also the Impressionists) and contains the seeds of his later mature style (especially in Wozzeck and the unfinished Lulu). However, this section also seeks to accomplish rather different from those paralleling the early careers of Schoenberg and Webern: it is a corrective, seeking to “correct” the simplistic presumption that Berg’s music resulted from a mere synthesis of Mahler and Schoenberg. In fact, Watkins suggests that Berg’s influences were much wider than this (as we have seen was the case with Schoenberg and Webern) and that his music “sounds different” from that of his colleagues’ as a result of conscious choices. Berg is typically described as the most “Romantic” of the Viennese serialists; Watkins complicates this effectively. The following questions build upon and exploit this basic, fruitful complication.

(1) In the opening of the discussion on Berg Op. 2, Watkins identifies influences from not only prior composers but also to contemporaneous ideas in aesthetics and philosophy. What are these ideas; from what artists, musicians, authors, and philosophers does Berg derive them; how do these ideas play out in the Op.2? Suggestion: consider linking this to the discussion of Goethe’s influence(s) upon Webern in the pdf article by Perloff, under “Materials –Week 03 – Links”

(2) In the discussion of Op.2’s “Warm die Lufte,” how would you summarize the harmonic language which Watkins identifies? What are the technical specifics of this opus’s harmonic approach? What are Berg’s goals in employing such a harmonic language? What is the impact of these harmonic choices upon formal structure? How does text play a role in formal structure here?

(3) Further to (2) above: on p47ff, Watkins identifies predecessors to “Warm die Lufte’s” harmonic language in a range of outside influences: composers, genres, and specific works. Be prepared to discuss these outside influences, and to articulate a thesis that distinguishes Berg from Schoenberg in his use of, and relationship to, these influences. Also, Watkins uses the phrase “nationalist legacies” (p47) in regards to these harmonic approaches; what is the significance of this phrase? And, do these “nationalist harmonic legacies” link Berg to any other composers, outside those Watkins mentions, who might have been making similar harmonic innovations in the same period? Who are they?

(4) pp48-50, note the parallels between Berg’s style in “Warm die Lufte” and contemporaneous works by Schoenberg. Does Berg’s music in this period, like that of Webern, continue to display such parallelism, or does Berg’s style diverge? If so, in what specific technical ways, and on the basis of what contrasting priorities and/or influences?

(5) Note the text and musical idioms Watkins cites from Ravel’s settings of Symbolist poetry in Gaspard de la nuit. Does this influence from Ravel “point toward” expressive modes and moods in Berg’s later work? Can we draw specific connections between the Symbolist French (e.g., “Impressionist”) and Symbolist German (e.g., “Expressionist”) composers of the period? Does this complicate the traditional musicological boundary drawn between these two allegedly “national styles”?

(5) Note the very felicitous phrase, used in reference to Berg, Mahler, Loos, Webern, and Schoenberg, “precision and reduction” (p51). Does this phrase speak to issues we discussed in most recent seminar meeting? What terminology did we use in that meeting? What is the relationship of that terminology to “precision and reduction”? What is the motivation behind these goals?

(6) pp51-52: Be prepared to describe all the different ways in which Berg drew upon Mahler: technical and philosophical, topical and allusive, and so forth. Suggestion: one very fruitful way to think about the relationship between these two composers is to articulate the role that techniques of quotation, allusion, and parody played in various works. Seek to discover parallels in Mahler’s and Berg’s use of such techniques.

(7) Note the detailed discussion (pp52-55) of the Altenberglieder, both for its content and as a model for a way to do detailed, score-based analysis and interpretation in a musicological context. In other words: read this for what it tells us about the Altenberg songs—but also read it as an approach you might emulate in your own research paper. Note the level of detail, the range of parameters that Watkins discusses, the way he related technical musical details to larger/prior issues (of influence, style, philosophy) in the argument. This is a good model.

(8) At the bottom of p53, Watkins references Der Blaue Reiter. Grad students, please read the linked article. All: please find all other references to this journal in the Index; how can this journal, its contributors, and its perspectives, help us understand artistic context and goals in fin-de-siecle Germany (especially Munich and Vienna)? Further to our 1.27 discussion, how does this help us see certain priorities manifesting across art forms? How do these priorities play out in the future?

(9) p54, item 6 is extremely important. What is the content of this paragraph? How can we expand upon its insights to address similar trends among other composers, in other places, and at later periods in the early 20^th century? (See also p57 top, same issues)

(10) pp57-58 discussion of “symmetries” is likewise extremely important. Why are these composers concerned with formal “symmetries” (on large or small scales)? What priorities does this concern implicate? How does this symmetrical focus play out in specific atonal works? In specific serial works? In later works by other composers?

Distinguishing requirements for undergrad vs grad students in MUHL5336

Folks:

I will shortly be posting the Discussion Questions for Watkins 45-61 (pre-Expressionist, pre-serial Berg); feel free to make a start on that material.

In the meanwhile, I'll offer a clarification about contrasting expectations of undergraduate versus graduate students in MUHL5336. As I said, the principal distinction will be in grading and scope of assignments: that is, I would expect graduate papers, exam essays, and so forth to display their additional effort and expertise. However, I can offer an additional distinction that may be useful in thinking about my expectations for each of you.

Within the general formula of "3 for 1" (that is, 3 hours of outside-class work expected for each 1 hour of in-class work), here things I would expect grad students to accomplish:

(1) I would expect grad students to complete, and display knowledge of, all readings in their entirety (e.g., not only Watkins, but also pdf readings already discussed, and more of the same to come). This would include those readings I describe as "optional": perhaps a better way to describe these would be to say "optional for undergrads, mandatory for grad students."

(2) Contributions and comments: I would expect all grad students to display a regular presence via in-class contributions and/or blog comments. If you prefer not to speak in class but rather to comment on the blog, that is fine--but as a graduate student you must have a regular and visible presence in one or both venues. Undergrads: this doesn't mean you are not expected to do this, of course--but it does mean that grad students must contribute--regularly.

Hope that is a useful clarification. DQ's for Watkins 45-61 follow later today.

Followup to 1.23 class, and, additional pieces to listen to for 1.25

Folks:

A few followup elements:

(1) The "How to read for musicological content" handout is now up under "Resources." Please assimilate this method and use it; it will help you keep up.

(2) On the blog, please read, and be prepared to respond to DQ's for, Watkins 38-44.

(3) On WebCT under "Materials - Week 03 - Audio", please listen to (at least excerpts from) Schoenberg's "Book of the Hanging Gardens," the Second String Quartet, and Five Orchestral Pieces Op. 16 (in addition to the Webern works also located there and discussed in Watkins 38-44. For these 3 Schoenberg pieces, think about these issues:

* "Hanging Gardens": how is dissonance handled? What is the impact of this handling on (a) functional harmony; (b) phrase structure; (c) texture? What other SHMRG elemetns gain in importance?

* Second String Quartet: what is the formal structure? Does tonality play an organizing role? See Watkins's discussion, particularly of the programmatic significance of quotation and allusion in this piece.

* Five Orchestral Pieces op. 16: listen for and be prepared to discuss the formal significance of contrast in this piece. What role does motivic and/or thematic development play in this work? WHY does it play such a role?

See you Thursday.

DQ for Watkins, 38-44

DQ for Watkins, 38-44

Please be prepared to respond in either seminar meeting or in "Comments" on the course blog. In all venues, you must be prepared to cite specific passages (by page, paragraph, line, and quotation) in support of your responses—and specific works.

The goal of this section, parallel to the preceding section dealing with Schoenberg’s “pre-atonal” development, is to demonstrate links between Webern and the music of the past and his contemporaries, and to develop a more nuanced understanding of the early roots of Webern’s “mature” style in earlier works which might sound quite different than the late ones. In other words, as he has already done with Mahler and Schoenberg and as he will seek to do with a number of “radical” composers throughout this book, Watkins is seeking to locate Webern in the artistic, compositional, psychological, and philosophical context of his time; to see in Webern’s music a set of logical and understandable responses to (quoting our syllabus now) “the special problems and cultural issues that … confronted Euro-American composers” at this point in the early 20^th-century.

(1) Note that Webern and Berg were both private composition students working with Schoenberg by 1904; this means, as Watkins points out, that they would have been witness to, and hence intimately aware of, the artistic and contextual factors that drove Schoenberg’s harmonic and formal experiments. How was this witness reflected in Webern’s contemporaneous works? Can we find parallels between Schoenberg’s and Webern’s works in this period? Listen, find out, be prepared to describe.

(2) What is the interaction between “color” (defined in both visual and sonic terms), form, and “nature aesthetics” in Webern’s works to 1915? Reflecting what other, parallel sources does he derive and exploit this interaction? Cite Watkins, describe in your own words, be prepared to link elements in Webern compositions and both musical and visual compositions of contemporaneous artists (hint: look at Perloff’s article on Webern and the visual arts, on WebCT under “Materials – Week 03 – Links”).

(3) Be prepared to articulate an overarching theory (or at least a thesis) that explains the influence of and relationship with texts in modernist compositions of this period. Your thesis should cite Mahler, Strauss, Schoenberg, and Webern among composers, and Goethe, Trakl, and the Symbolist poets at the very least. Citing specific works, specific characteristics, and specific (literary or musical) passages would be important.

(4) Further to (3) above: please feel free to prepare a detailed analysis (not formal, but verbal and interpretive) of the specific relationships between text and music in the two Webern songs presented on pp40-41. I would be glad to have a class discussion about motivic relations and text-setting in “Der Tag ist Vergangen.”

(5) In regards to Watkins’s discussion of Webern’s orchestral works in this period (pp41-43), please read and listen closely. For additional insight and for purposes of better-informed discussion, please read at least the highlighted sections of the Perloff article, cited above, and available on WebCT under “Materials – Week 03 – Links.” It’s my opinion that Perloff’s articulation vastly deepens and enriches our understanding of Webern’s orchestral-compositional procedures even in this early period: how would you summarize Perloff’s insights vis-à-vis Webern and Klee (among other artists).

(6) More interpretive and open-ended “jog discussion” question: how can we relate Klimt and Mahler, Klee and Webern, Kandinsky and Schoenberg—and what useful insights might these analyses across contrasting arts media (especially, again, the visual and sounding arts) help us understand the problems that composers understood themselves to be facing?