Assignment for Tuesday, July 31

I know you're all busy working on your final project, so I've been trying to go easy on reading. But here are a few items you may be interested in, on various topics starting with Morton Feldman:

• Dora Hanninen, "Feldman, Analysis, Experience." (pdf) Twentieth-century music 1/2 (2004), pp. 225-251. An interesting perspective on the difficulties in analyzing Feldman's music, with a detailed look at Coptic Light.
• The video by Kurt Ralske based on Feldman's Triadic Memories, which I showed last week in class.

On Nixon in China, there are many interviews with John Adams and the director Peter Sellars, which you can find easily; one of the more interesting analytical articles is here:

• Matthew Daines, "Nixon's Women: Gender Politics and Cultural Representation in Act 2 of Nixon in China." Musical Quarterly vol. 79 no. 1, pp. 6-34.

On British composer Thomas Adès, again there is lots of publicity material, but fewer in-depth looks (Adès himself rarely gives interviews). Here are some of the most interesting articles -

• Alex Ross, "Roll Over Beethoven: Thomas Adès." New Yorker, Nov. 2, 1998.
• Christopher Fox, "Tempestuous Times: the recent music of Thomas Adès." Musical Times, 145:1888 (Autumn 2004), pp. 41-56.
• An interview from February 2007 in The Telegraph.

On Chinese-American composer Chen Yi -

• A brief interview (transcript) from Minnesota Public Radio, 2001.
• A 2003 dissertation by Xin Guo on Chen Yi's music.

On Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho -

• Damien Pousset, "The Works of Kaija Saariaho, Philippe Hurel and Marc-Andre Dalbavie--Stile Concertato, Stile Concitato, Stile Rappresentativo." Contemporary Music Review; 2000, Vol. 19 Issue n3, p67-110. An examination of "post-spectral" styles.

Listening: Adès, Asyla for orchestra, movements 1 and 3; Chen Yi, Si Ji for orchestra; Saariaho, New Gates for flute, viola and harp.

Assignment for Thursday, July 26

Apologies for the late posting - here is some listening for tomorrow (sorry, no online Adams yet, & for some reason the Andriessen links aren't working on my machine - but apparently they work on Windows).

• Jonathan Harvey, Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco
• Ligeti, Violin Concerto, movements I, III, and IV
• Ligeti, Piano Etudes 1 "Désordre"; 6 "Automne à Varsovie"; 7 "Galam Borong"; 16 "Pour Irina"

Please read the following articles:

• Patricia Lynn Durks, "An analysis of Jonathan Harvey's Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco." Originally published in eContact! 9.2 Canadian Regions: The Prairies. Montréal: Communauté électroacoustique canadienne / Canadian Electroacoustic Community, March 2007. Many interesting computer screenshots in this article.
• (There is also some good material about this work in Joshua Fineberg's Appendix II, "Music Examples," pp. 118-19.)

On Ligeti's later music, see the following:

• Stephen Taylor, Chopin, Pygmies, and Tempo Fugue: Ligeti's "Automne à Varsovie," in Music Theory Online, Volume 3 Number 3 (May 1997).
• Taylor, Passacaglia and Lament in Ligeti's Recent Music, (pdf) in the Dutch Journal of Music Theory, Volume 9 Number 1 (February 2004).

On Nancarrow, there is a terrific book by Kyle Gann, The Music of Conlon Nancarrow, published in 1995 and still the most authoritative source I know of. Here also is a very interesting website describing midi realizations of Study 37, a piece I had not known before - excellent graphic examples here as well:

• Robert Willey, Electronic Realizations of Conlon Nancarrow's Study No. 37 for Player Piano

Assignment for Wednesday, July 25

Please listen to the following spectral compositions:

Tristan Murail, L'esprit des dunes (1994)
Gérard Grisey, Vortex Temporum (1996)

• I.
• II.
• III.

And please read the following articles (update - all the links should work now):

• Tristan Murail, "The revolution of complex sounds." (pdf) Contemporary Music Review; 2005, Vol. 24 Issue 2/3, p121-135.
• Murail, "After-thoughts." (pdf) Contemporary Music Review; 2005, Vol. 24 Issue 2/3, p269-272.
• Joshua Fineberg, Appendix I, "Guide to the basic concepts and techniques of spectral music." Contemporary Music Review; 2000, Vol. 19 Issue 2, p81, 33p.
• Fineberg, Appendix II, "Musical examples." (pdf) Contemporary Music Review; 2000, Vol. 19 Issue 2, p115, 20p.
• Gérard Grisey (trans. Fineberg), "Did you say spectral?" Contemporary Music Review; 2000, Vol. 19 Issue 3, p1, 3p.

Assignment for Tuesday, July 24

Please listen to the following works by Brian Ferneyhough:

• Etudes Transcendentales, Movements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
• Bone Alphabet for percussion solo

And read the following articles:

• Roger Marsh, "Heroic motives." The Musical Times, Vol. 135, No. 1812. (Feb., 1994), pp. 83-86. An entertaining look at the rhythmic notation in Ferneyhough's solo violin piece Intermedio alla ciaccona.
• Steven Schick, "Developing an interpretive context: learning Brian Ferneyhough's Bone Alphabet." Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 32, No. 1. (Winter, 1994), pp. 132-153. An account by a master percussionist.
• Finally, for the musical examples (I don't have a score for this piece): Roger Redgate, "Brian Ferneyhough's Etudes Transcendentales." (pdf download) Contemporary Music Review, 2001, Vol. 20, Part 1, pp. 79-100.
  

Notes on the Final Project

Now that we're at the halfway point of the course, it's time to start thinking about the final project. I had originally included a performance/composition project as part of the course, but I'm going to jettison that, and just have a final paper, 8-10 pages on a topic of your choice, approved by me. You can write on a piece covered in class, or (preferably) a work we haven't discussed. I'd like to meet with each of you individually for about 15 minutes or so, to discuss possible projects during the coming week. Perhaps right after class? I'll bring in a sign-up sheet for appointments.

As part of your paper, I'd like each of you to make a brief (ca. 5 minutes) presentation on your topic on Wednesday, August 1.

A good analysis should help the listener or reader understand something about a piece or composer he or she hadn't realized before; it should be non-trivial; and it should have the ring of truth. In other words, the analysis not only has to guide the listener, it must convince them, as in an argumentative essay.

Some of the most in-depth analyses we've read so far inlude Ligeti's analysis of Structures, and Brenda Ravenscroft's analysis of A Mirror on Which to Dwell. K. Robert Schwartz's long Reich article is also quite good, but since he is covering Reich's entire career up to 1981, he does not go into great detail. His analysis of Drumming (part 2, pp. 230-38) more or less describes what's happening in the piece, with some well-chosen musical examples; but still, when I read it I come away from the analysis feeling like I know the piece better than before.

Charts, graphs, and musical examples

For your analyses, I would like you to include at least one carefully made chart or graph; your charts for Varese and Ligeti are an example. Ravenscroft's charts depicting the piano and vibraphone cross-rhythms, and their relationship to the poem 'Anaphora" (pp. 273-74) are particularly powerful.

Another example: after class yesterday, it occurred to me that one could learn a lot about Laurie Anderson's "O Superman" just by making a formal chart of the piece: how long is each verse? Where do the lyrics change subject, and how often? Is there a climax to the song? Where? Even though I said there were only two chords in the piece, and an incessant middle C vocal sample, there is still much to study.

Finally: musical examples are also enormously helpful, as I'm sure you've figured out. If at all possible, include them in the body of your paper, not as a separate appendix.

We will discuss all this in class on Monday, but I'd like you to think about it over the weekend. Have fun!

Assignment for Monday, July 23

In the audio reserves, please listen to the excerpts from Einstein on the Beach, and Reich's Piano Phase, Clapping Music and Electric Counterpoint. Also, please read the following articles:

A short, seminal essay by Reich, "Music as gradual process."

Kyle Gann, "To repeat or not to repeat, that is the question," from American Mavericks.

Roger Sutherland, "Steve Reich," originally in the journal EST #3.

An entertaining history of looping music, The Birth of Loop by Michael Peters.

One of the first American musicological essays on Reich, K. Robert Schwartz, "Steve Reich: Music as gradual process," part 1; part 2. Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 19, No. 1/2. (Autumn, 1980 - Summer, 1981), pp. 373-392; and Vol. 20, No. 1/2. (Autumn, 1981 - Summer, 1982), pp. 225-286.

And a website with a short bio, video, and some interesting Reich links.

On Glass:

Glass' notes on Einstein, Performing Arts Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3. (Winter, 1978), pp. 63-70.

A retrospective article by Tim Page in the Washington Post, "American Composers: Philip Glass" from 1998.

From the interesting website newmusicbox.com, a 2001 interview with Philip Glass by Frank Oteri. (Also with a link to another article by Kyle Gann.)

On Laurie Anderson:

Her official website is extremely well conceived and executed.

"Can You Say Hello?" Laurie Anderson's "United States" Herman Rapaport. Theatre Journal, Vol. 38, No. 3, Performance of Textual History. (Oct., 1986), pp. 339-354.

Laurie Anderson for Dummies. Jon McKenzie. TDR (1988-), Vol. 41, No. 2. (Summer, 1997), pp. 30-50. A more recent appreciation, covering her CD-ROM works from the 90s.

Finally, to warm up for next week, take a look at the following two articles on "the new complexity," from the early 90s.

On Complexity. Richard Toop, Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 31, No. 1. (Winter, 1993), pp. 42-57.

Il Tempo della Figura. Brian Ferneyhough, Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 31, No. 1. (Winter, 1993), pp. 10-19.

Assignment for Thursday, July 19

Please listen to Ligeti's Atmosphères online, and read two articles by him:

"On Music and Politics," Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 16, No. 2. (Spring - Summer, 1978), pp. 19-24. Especially the opening couple of pages, summing up the compositional situation in the early 70s (and just as applicable now).

"States, Events, Transformations," György Ligeti; translated by Jonathan W. Bernard. Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 31, No. 1. (Winter, 1993), pp. 164-171. (Much of this article discusses his orchestra piece Apparitions, composed before Atmosphères - beyond the scope of this class - but his opening description of a recurrent childhood dream is riveting.)

For Atmosphères, please construct a time-chart for the piece, much as you did for Varèse; this piece is one of the few orchestral works I know where this approach works. After you've completed your chart, speculate as to what the form of the piece might be, using the comments section for this post.

Regarding Martirano's Underworld (sorry, no online listening - but check out his bio), here is a reference to U of I composers in the 1960s, in the midst of a generally bleak survey of contemporary music; see especially page 200.

"Where do we go from here? A European view," Wolf-Eberhard von Lewinski; trans. Paul Helmer. The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 55, No. 2. (Apr., 1969), pp. 193-205.

An interesting review of the first recording of Underworld, along with other U of I electronic pieces:

"Electronic music from the University of Illinois," untitled review. Anuario, Vol. 3. (1967), pp. 129-131.

Finally, on Carter's A Mirror on Which to Dwell, please read the following analysis focusing on the first and third movements:

Brenda Ravenscroft, "Setting the pace: the role of speeds in Elliott Carter's A Mirror on Which to Dwell." (link to pdf download) Music Analysis 22/iii (2003), pp. 253-282.

Listening:
1, Anaphora
2, Argument
3, Sandpiper
4, Insomnia
5, A View of the Capitol from the Library of Congress
6, Breath

Assignment for Wednesday, July 18

Please listen to Berio's Sinfonia, 3rd movement; and read through the following materials on it.

David Osmond-Smith, "From Myth to Music: Lévi-Strauss's Mythologies and Berio's Sinfonia." The Musical Quarterly, vol. 67 no. 2, April 1981, 230-260.

A review of David Osmond-Smith's book-length guide to Sinfonia, in Notes, Sept. 1987, pp. 56-59. (Unfortunately this book is checked out; I wasn't able to get my hands on it in time for class.) And a brief online account of the work.

On Stravinsky's Requiem Canticles: (sorry, no online listening for this piece - but the CD is on reserve in the library, CDISC M1520 S87 A75)

Anthony Payne, "Requiem Canticles." Tempo, No. 81, Stravinsky's 85th Birthday. (Summer, 1967), pp. 10-19. With some useful musical examples and a sketch fragment.

Stravinsky expert Eric Walter-White's review of the first performance at Princeton, in Tempo, No. 79, Winter 1966-67, 14-15.

Claudio Spies, "Some notes on Stravinsky's Requiem settings." Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 5, No. 2. (Spring - Summer, 1967), pp. 98-123; see esp. from p. 107 ff. A rather technical article dealing with Stravinsky's serial technique (copied from his sketches), with some very useful formal diagrams.

On Boulez' Eclat/Multiples:

Michael Chanan, review of first performance. Tempo, New Ser., No. 95 (Winter, 1970-1971), pp. 30-33; with some interesting philosophical thoughts on the failure of music analysis dealing with new music (circa 1970).

Listening for Messiaen's Chronochromie:

Introduction
Antistrophe II
Coda

Finally, please comment on Channan's comment in his review: "I take it as axiomatic that in the past two or three decades at least, musical analysis has failed to relate to what we actually hear. It has merely fumbled around in the face of an increasing multiplicity of musical types. All it has been able to do is provide blueprints for composers, but not for listeners." Try to think of examples and counterexamples to this argument; in your comment, choose a side pro or contra; make a short argument!

Assignment for Tuesday, July 17

Please listen to Crumb's electric string quartet, Black Angels:

1, Departure
2, Absence
3, Return

And read the following articles online:

• "Following a Straight Line" by Dave Smith, in JEMS; an overview of La Monte Young's work with musical examples
• "Downtown Music" by Kyle Gann, a well-known composer, writer and critic
• George Crumb's program notes for Black Angels, from his official website
• An early review of Black Angels, via JSTOR (which compares this work favorably to Crumb's piano piece Makrokosmos III) - sorry, this link isn't working for some people; here's the complete reference, which you can search from JSTOR: Justin Connolly, untitled review. Tempo, New Ser., No. 116 (Mar., 1976), pp. 29-31
• Finally, here is the Stockhausen review (Christopher Fox, "Star-gazing." Musical Times v. 147, Spring 2006, pp. 89-94; pdf) I mentioned in class today, written by a disillusioned former fan; but still quite a sympathetic viewpoint, especially regarding the earlier music.
  

Assignment for Monday, July 16

Please listen to the following pieces online:

Varèse, Poème Electronique
Stockhausen, Gesang der Junglinge
Pierre Schaeffer, Etude aux chemins de fer

Read the brief wikipedia entry on Poème Electronique; it contains a link to the video (which is interesting) and a kind of "score," a chart of events that occur in the piece. For Monday, I would like you to make your own, much more detailed score of the piece, using a stopwatch to time the events. If you like you can edit the wikipedia entry, but keep in mind that your "public" version of the score should not be overly detailed.

Here's some more reading for the piece, with pictures and a good-quality soundfile; another brief article, from Columbia University, is here.

Stockhausen has a brief webpage on Gesang; and John Smalley of Columbia has written a detailed and engaging account of the work's conception and reception.

A brief account (with audio link) of Etude aux chemins de fer.

For Monday, also please listen to these two minimalist works: In C by Terry Riley; and Les Moutons de Panurge by Frederic Rzewski. On Monday, please bring your instrument to class, if it's practical; I'd like us to try playing through at least one of these pieces.

Assignment for Thursday, July 12

Please listen to the following Cage works:

Sonatas and Interludes I-IV for prepared piano
Music of Changes, books 1-4

and on this external link, please listen to Cage's String Quartet in Four Parts.

• I. Quietly Flowing Along
• II. Slowly Rocking
• III. Nearly Stationary
• IV. Quodlibet

Read the following writings by Cage:

The future of music: Credo
Experimental Music: Doctrine
How to Improve the World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse)

If you have time, sample some of the copious Cage offerings on the wonderful website www.ubu.com.

Here is an entertaining YouTube clip that has been popular recently, of John Cage appearing on the 1950s television show "I've Got a Secret," performing his composition Water Walk.

As before, comment on this post with your thoughts and opinions. These comments count as part of class participation - they are not optional!

Assignment for Wednesday, July 11

Please listen to the following pieces online:

Boulez, Le Marteau sans maîtreStockhausen, Kreuzspiel
Babbitt, Three Compositions for Piano

Also read the following articles:
- an entertaining 2002 interview with Milton Babbitt; please see especially near the end of the interview, where he discusses his (in)famous article "Who Cares If You Listen?"
- Milton Babbitt, "The Composer as Specialist" (a/k/a "Who Cares If You Listen?"), 1958

- A 1997 interview with Karlheinz Stockhausen, in which he discusses the large outlines of his life and career; there is also an interesting interview of Stockhausen by Bjork.
- Richard Toop, "Messiaen/Goeyverts, Fano/Stockhausen, Boulez," Perspectives of New Music 13, no. 1 (Fall-Winter): 141–69. (If this link doesn't work directly, try JSTOR.)

- Finally, much of the writing on Le Marteau sans maître is quite technical; if you're so inclined I highly recommend Lev Koblyakov's book Pierre Boulez: A World of Harmony, on reserve (MT115.B7 K62). But I would like all of us to spend a little time with the facsimile edition of this score, in the Music Library, ML96.5 B68M3.

As before, please comment briefly on this post, on at least one of the listenings or readings (I know, this is a lot).

Assignment for Tuesday, July 10

Please read Alex Ross's article, "Ghost Sonata: Adorno and German music." Also read the Introduction to Set Theory, distributed in class.

Listen to Boulez, Structures 1a and Messiaen, Mode de valeurs et d'intensités, in the online listening.

Finally, please comment on this post, introducing yourself to the rest of the class, and sharing any thoughts you have on these two short pieces. In your introduction, please include your specialization, what degree you're pursuing, and what you hope to gain from this course.

Here is the Introduction to Set Theory (pdf) that we discussed in class - sorry I forgot to print it out!

Class Schedule

(this may change, depending on your input)
Week 1: The post-war period, 1949-59
July 9, Monday
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), Mode de valeurs et d'intensités (1949)
Pierre Boulez (1925-), Structures 1a (1951-52)
Introduction to set theory

July 10, Tuesday
Boulez, Le Marteau sans maître (1954, rev. 1957)
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-), Kreuzspiel (1951)
Milton Babbitt (1916-), Three Compositions for Piano (1947)

July 11, Wednesdsay
John Cage (1912-1992), String Quartet in Four Parts (1950)
Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano (1946-48)
Music of Changes (1952)
4'33" (1952)

July 12, Thursday - Electronic Music
Pierre Shaeffer (1910-1995), Etude aux chemins de fer (1948)
Edgard Varèse (1883-1965), Poème Electronique (1957-58)
Stockhausen, Gesang der Junglinge (1955-56)
Studie II (1953; version realized with Max/MSP, 2003)

Week 2, 1960-1979
July 16, Monday - radical aleatoric music, performance art
Terry Riley (1935-), In C (1964)
Lamont Young (1935-), Compositions 1960
Stockhausen, Aus den sieben Tagen (1968)
George Crumb (1929-), Black Angels (1970)

July 17, Tuesday
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), Requiem Canticles (1966)
Messiaen, Chronochromie (1959-60)
Boulez, Eclat/Multiples (1965/70)
Luciano Berio (1925-2003), Sinfonia (1968-69)

July 18, Wednesday
György Ligeti (1923-2006), Atmosphères, Requiem, Le Grand Macabre
Salvatore Martirano (1927-1995), Underworld (1965)
Elliott Carter (1908-), A Mirror on which to Dwell (1976)

July 19, Thursday
Steve Reich, Clapping Music, Tehillim
Philip Glass, Einstein on the Beach
Laurie Anderson (1947-), O Superman (1981), from Big Science (1982)

Week 3, 1980-1995
July 23, Monday - New Complexity
Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001), Herma
Brian Ferneyhough (1943-), Intermedio alla ciaccona for violin; Bone Alphabet for percussion; Etudes transcendentales for chamber ensemble

July 24, Tuesday - Spectralism
Tristan Murail (1947-), Gondwana (1983); L'esprit des dunes (1994)
Gérard Grisey (1946-1998), Vortex Temporum (1996)

July 25, Wednesday - mixing genres
John Adams (1947-), Nixon in China (1987)
Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997), Etudes for Player Piano; Piece no. 2 for chamber orchestra
Frederic Rzewsky (1938-), Les Moutons de Panurge; Antigone-Legende
Louis Andriessen (1935-) De Stijl (1984-85)

July 26, Thursday
Jonathan Harvey (1939), Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco (1980)
Ligeti, Horn Trio (1982); Piano Etudes (1985-2001); Violin Concerto (1992)
Morton Feldman (1926-1987), Triadic Memories; For Samuel Beckett

Week 4, 1996-2005
July 30, Monday
Thomas Adès (1971-), Asyla (1997)
Kaija Saariaho (1952-), Du Cristal (1989), L'amour de loin (2002)
Chen Yi (1953-), Si Ji (2005)

July 31, Tuesday
Helmut Lachenmann (1935-), Gran Torso for string quartet (1971)
special guest Jimmy Bunch on the music of Salvatore Sciarrino
two pieces by Stephen Taylor

August 1, Wednesday
student presentations

August 2, Thursday
final exam

Music 408E syllabus

Analysis of Musical Form Since WW II
Music 408E, summer 2007
Instructor: Stephen Taylor
MTWR, 12 - 1:50 pm, Music Building 1180
School of Music, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Office hours: MW, 2 -3 pm

Course description
Extensive study of the formal structure of representative musical compositions from World War II to the present.

Course objectives
- Learn or review the basics of pitch class set theory
- Learn about some of the major compositional trends and representative works over the last 60 years
- Perform or compose a short piece of new music
- Write a short (10-12 page) analysis paper on a topic of your choice

Required materials
Although there are some interesting written surveys of new music, I've usually found it more valuable to read books and articles about individual composers; for browsing, the ML 410 section is a great place to start. There are no Dover scores available for this music, since nearly all of it is still under copyright; so most course materials will be on reserve or handed out in photocopy. I have also been impressed with nearly every Wikipedia article I've seen on contemporary music and composers.

Online listening reserves are here: http://guava-web.cites.uiuc.edu/musicreserve/408e-taylor-sum07.html

Many of the online articles we'll be reading can be found here:
http://www.library.uiuc.edu/orr/results.php?types=&subject=34

To access both of these, you'll need a UIUC email account and password; if this is a problem please let me know.

Evaluation
20% short assignments and class discussion
30% final exam
20% composition/performance (this may change)
30% final paper

Participation
I hope that this course will be an opportunity for you to study works that speak to you, that you are excited about. If one of your favorite pieces or composers is missing from the schedule, please let me know during the first week and I will try to accommodate all requests.