The Analysis of compositional Techniques by Twentieth
Century Composers
Momilani Ramstrum
INTRODUCTION
Background and Need for Study
In the field of music, many composers analyze music
because of the many inherent benefits. Analysis affords one a way to understanding
how a piece of music works. "The value of an analysis consists in what
it does for the analyst." [1] "What makes an analysis good or
bad . . . is not the conclusions as such but the way in
which musical details are cited in defense of these conclusions, and the
extent to which these conclusions clarify or illuminate the details."
[2] In recent times, composers have looked at their own works using a
variety of approaches to shed light on their style, technique, motivation
and form. Until now, these varied approaches have not been compared, but
have stood alone, as words from a primary source about their art. In this
paper, these approaches will be compiled and then compared to see if there
is any consensus amongst composers in this matter.
Purpose
The purpose for this paper is to research and compare
the published materials of ten composers analyzing their own works in depth.
Additionally, this author will look at analysis as a method for extending
awareness of compositional techniques.
Limitations
This bibliographic research was limited to looking
at ten published, in depth, analyses of twentieth century composers analyzing
their own music. The time period being covered will be the last seventy years.
The composers were selected from a cross-section of styles and media; orchestral,
choral and a capella music were examined.
The composers that were selected and the works that
were analyzed are displayed in Table 1.
Table 1
Composers and their Works
Composer | Title |
D. Bathory-Kitsz (b. 1945) | Untitled
Work ( 1989-92) |
Pierre Boulez (b. 1925) | Third Piano
Sonata (1957) |
John Cage (1912-1992) | Music of Changes
(1951) |
Lucas Foss (b. 1922) | The Prairie(1942),
A Parable of Death(1952), Psalms(1956) |
Jean Françaix (b. 1912) | L'Apocalypse
selon Saint Jean (1939) |
Howard Hanson (1896-1981) | A Lament
for Beowolf (1925) |
Ernst Krenek (1900-91) | Lamentatio
Jeremiae Prophetae (1941-2) |
Vincent Persichetti (1915-87) | Hymnes
and Responses (1955) |
Bernard Rogers (b.1893) | The Passion
(1940) |
Leo Sowerby (1895-1968) | The Throne
of God (1956-7) |
Methodology
A review of literature was undertaken by this author
to investigate the self-analytical techniques used by twentieth century composers
on their own works. Composers were selected from the composers who have written
an in-depth analysis on their own music. To select the composers to be studied,
this author read the analyses of several dozen twentieth century composers.
From this group, articles were selected by the following criteria; the composers
represented at least four countries, spanned the last seventy years, the
articles were at least seven pages in length, and were on a variety of media
(orchestral, choral and chamber music).
A summary of each composer's approach to their analyses
will be presented. Any similarities and differences in approach will be noted
as well as any relationships to style, background and medium. The criteria
to compare the different analyses were derived directly from the bibliographic
research. The analyses will also be compared using tables and bar graphs.
Definition of Terms
There are many terms that are used to describe
analysis and the structural aspects of music. The definitions were compiled
from A Guide to Musical Analysis by Nicholas Cook and this author's
own experience.
Music Analysis: Techniques developed in the last two
hundred years to look at the technical aspects of an individual work.
[3] Lately, music analysis has begun to include socio-
cultural aspects of the work and the composer as well.
[4]
Formal Analysis: "Any kind of analysis that involves
coding music into symbols and deducing the musical structure from the pattern
that these symbols make." [5] "The formal analyst conceives structure statically, in terms
of logical patterns." [6]
Analysis of Form: Observing how a piece fits into an
existing prototype or a structural construct of the composer.
Analysis of Content: The observation of harmony, intervals,
musical line and rhythm by acts of omission [7] (the leaving out of unessential details) or acts of relation
[8] (the relating of disjoint parts of the composition to form a unified
point of view).
Reductive Analysis: Analyzing music by stripping away
superfluous details to reveal unobvious relationships.
Schenkerian Analysis: A method of analysis developed
by Heinrich Schenker that reduces music to its essentials. This is the "triad
and its linear unfolding [or prolongation] through arpegiation, and through
passing and auxiliary notes." [9] Structural harmonic progressions are the result of a series of linear
relationships. Thus, Schenkerian analysis combines musical line with harmonic
progression. A question being answered is, "how are the progressions
directed towards a goal?" [10]
Phenomenological Reductive Analysis: Going a step further
in the reduction from Schenkerian analysis by using more universal assumptions
(not limited to tonal music) as to how the music is experienced. [11]
Psychological Approaches to Music Analysis: Explaining
the "emotions to which music gives rise by analyzing just what it is
that a [competent] listener expects to happen at any point in a piece of
music and compare it to what does in fact happen." [12] This type of analysis was typified by Leonard Meyer, combining pitch
events with rhythmic continuity. He identified five rhythmic groupings and
labeled them with names from Greek prosody. [13]
Competent Listener: One who is familiar with a particular
style of music and so can understand the language. [14]
Process Music: " Music created by overlaying short
motives of different lengths. The "process" is as important as
the resultant variations." [15]
Twelve tone composition(Serial Technique): A system
of composition originated by Arnold Schoenberg as a synthesis of two ideas.
"The first is the continuous use of patterns which contain all of the
twelve pitches; the second is the organization of pitch materials according
to a consistent order principle." [16] Later composers applied this concepts towards aspects of music other
than pitch (e.g. dynamics, timbre, and rhythm).
Indeterminate or Aleatoric Music: "The intentional
utilization of some degree of chance in composition and/or performance."
[17]
Summary
Musical analysis, like composition, can be approached
in many ways. To the composer, self-analysis can be an aid to composition.
In investigating these analyses, this author hopes to discover overlaps and
differences in approach, insights into what makes an analysis most functional,
and an understanding of the different compositional processes and techniques.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Presentation of Musical Analyses
Pierre Boulez, as composer, author and conductor,
has had a large impact on the European avante garde. [18] "Convinced of the historical necessity of atonality, he adopted
a rigorous conception of music as a consciously ordered structure of internal
relationships." [19] In an article entitled "Sonate, que me veux-tu?", Pierre
Boulez discusses the formal structure of his Third Piano Sonata..
Boulez begins by examining the literary models of Joyce and Mallarme which
may have "played a more important part than purely musical considerations"in
the writing of this work. [20] Boulez comments that in Joyce's two great novels (he doesn't indicate
which novels, but, it is assumed that he is referring to Finnegans Wake
and Ulysses), "the novel reflects on itself and is aware
that it is a novel . . . In the same way music is not exclusively concerned
with expression but must also be aware of itself and become the object of
its own reflection . . . This is one of the first essentials of the language
of poetry and has been since Mallarme . . . Words can be used in this way
because they possess a power of reference, a 'meaning.'. . . With music the
problem is different . . . The only play possible is an interplay between
styles and form." [21]
Boulez quotes Mallarme who observes that "a book
neither begins nor ends, at the very most it pretends to do so." (He
does not footnote this quotation, but, earlier in the article Boulez refers
to some quotations by Mallarme that came from a book of notes published posthumously)
Boulez then discusses his Third Piano Sonata.
It is composed of five parts that he calls formants. They are named Antiphonie,
Trope, Constellation (and its pair Constellation-Miroir),
Strophe, and Sequence. Throughout, "some directions are
obligatory, others are optional, but all music must be played."
[22] "Sequence is the furthest removed from predetermined
form, while Antiphonie will approach it most closely."
[23] The middle movement, Constellation, "uses normal music
notation but is set up so that alternate continuations may be chosen at the
end of musical segments . . . These segments are connected by a number of
prescribed alternative paths. Boulez has described his musical labyrinth
a "a map to an unknown city." [24]
Dennis Bathory-Kitsz is a composer, and writer who has
published a large number of articles on the Internet. An Internet search
on Bathory-Kitsz results in 752 return website links. Goddard College (a
progressive liberal arts college in Vermont [25] )lists him as a new music composer with five-hundred compositions (thirty-two
commissions), one-hundred forty-five premiers in North America and Europe,
four-hundred articles and seven books. It can be understood from this information,
that although Bathory-Kitsz does not have an international reputation, he
is an active composer and writer. In the article, Construal of Musical
Process of Architecture, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz's presents his retrospective
self-analysis of a large orchestral work. The piece is untitled and comprised
of four movements entitled "Yçure,""Softening Cries,""Lily
and Lights,"and "Dripworks."
Bathory-Kitsz states that his method for "creating
and composing [his] music" [26] "adopts and adapts process techniques-- phase shifting, isorhythms,
pulse-minimalism, etc. --without submitting to their tyranny."
[27]
Yçure was premiered in 1990 and subsequently revised.
This piece is an "isorhythmic motet in the form of a concertante fanfare
for two chamber ensembles." Bathory-Kitsz continues by describing how
an isorhythmic motet functions (melody and rhythm are progressively and continually
displaced so they go out of synchronization and eventually go back in
[28] ). Yçure is comprised of five melodies with unique rhythms in
the upper voices with the lower voices playing an underlying pulse. Bathory-Kitsz
goes on to describe sonic and structural relationships as the movement progresses.
For each of the four movements, Bathory-Kitsz describes
in detail the processes (and deviations from the processes) that he used
to compose each. Movement Four, he states, is the most dense, complex and
longest [29]
Bathory-Kitsz states that a primary problem with the
work is that the piece is one hundred minutes in length, and is played without
breaks (creating a large demand on the players and audiences) [30] . Bathory-Kitsz questions his methods and his results as he asks "whether
the lack of exactitude or rigorousness in the process execution, their lack
of mathematical sophistication, and [his] willingness to break [his] own
process rules, all conspire to weaken the process architecture on which the
work is predicated, that [the piece] lopes along dilettantishly for 1500
measures?" [31] He concludes however "that we, as a world culture, have begun
to cede control of our humanity to computer controlled process."
[32] For Dennis Bathory-Kitsz, "perfect art will remain imperfect
process." [33]
Robert Stephans Hines has compiled a book entitled The
Composers Point of View. It is comprised of eighteen solicited essays
from composers "in which each composer discusses a large choral work
. . . along with the principles that guided the composition."
[34]
The first article of the book is by Lucas Foss entitled
The Prairie, A Parable of Death, and Psalms. Lucas Foss is a composer,
conductor and pianist whose "music revolves around controlled improvisation
based on historical concepts of live performance-creation combined with intentionally
used 'non-musical' sounds for drama and expression." [35] Foss is a composer whose works Aaron Copland has called, "among
the most original and stimulating compositions in American music."
[36] In his article, Foss discusses his life as a vocal composer and his
criteria for choosing and working with text. Foss states, "it [the
text] must be right for me and right for me at that time in my life. It has
to be something I can live with, day in, day out." [37] Foss also relates that he likes to "play with a text, combining,
omitting dividing into sections, exchanging the order of paragraphs or verses."
[38] He concludes his essay with an account of three choral works, where
he briefly reviews the text, content, form, orchestration, and history of
each work. [39]
In the same book, Howard Hanson (1896-1981) discusses
his musical setting of one episode of an Anglo-Saxon epic Beowolf,
entitled A Lament for Beowolf. Hanson was a composer, conductor and
music educator who won "a Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for his Symphony
No. 4 (The Requiem)." [40] Hanson outlines how he must relate to the text that he chooses. He
states that "The composer should not attempt to set words that do not
sing back to him. . . The composer, to be successful, must come to believe
subconsciously that he has written the words himself-that they are
as much a part of him as the music itself." [41] . Hanson writes that this work has an orchestral introduction followed
by three choral sections. He continues by describing the melodic, harmonic
and rhythmic inter-relationships in these sections. [42]
Jean Françaix's is a composer whose work has been
described as accessible and neo-classical. [43] A composer of great facility and consistent wit, Jean Françaix,
a pupil of Nadia
Boulanger, has written music of charm and elegance, inventive
and attractive in idiom,
with instrumental works that show the characteristic French
handling of woodwind
instruments. [44] Françaix, in Hines's book, considers his oratorio L'Apocalypse
selon Saint Jean. It is "in three parts for four solo voices, choirs
and two orchestras." [45] Françaix studied the Book of Revelations for a year before
he wrote a note of this work. He writes extensively about the meaning of
the text (in the abstract as well as for himself) and how he translated this
symbolically into his structuring of the music. [46] For the remainder of the article, Françaix lists the incidents
that occur in the three parts of the work. He comments very little on the
actual musical content. He states that he "tried especially hard to
make use of music's evocatory power in order to render the more plainly certain
subtleties of dogma. . . [he] set a tonal system for the Orchestra of Heaven
in opposition to an atonal system for the Orchestra of Hell."
[47] He adds that these were "but technical devices,"
[48] and that he believes "in inspiration, preceded by perspiration.
. . that it is impossible to arrange things in advance." [49]
Ernst Krenek is an "internationally honored musician"
[50] who adopted the" twelve-tone system in 1930 and has since continued
to write twelve-tone or serial music." [51] "His music is intellectual and complex with an approach directed
toward individualizing each work in both concept and sound." [52] In Hines's book, Krenek reviews his Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae,
an a capella composition consisting of "many relatively short
sections, set for two to eight voices." [53] In writing this work, Krenek "had in mind to express as purely
as possible certain ideas and ideals of composition . . . without compromise
and concession to so called practical demands." [54] Years before beginning this work, Krenek had studied medieval music
and the relationships of twelve-tone music to Gregorian chant. [55] "The setup of [his] twelve-tone rows was suggested by the system
of the Greek modal scales." [56] Krenek uses a system of rotation of six note groups that produce
six set diatonic groups. [57] "In the Lamentatio, [Krenek] tried to re-create with modern
means the metric and rhythmic concepts of the late fifteenth century. There
was no pre-established alternation of "strong" and "weak"
beats. Accents . . . were created by the melodic lines as they went along,
high and long tones automatically became points of emphasis . . . distributed
freely and irregularly throughout the polyphonic fabric. Hence barlines .
. . had to be omitted. Rhythmic organization[was] equally free and irregular"
[58]
Krenek lists the length (seventy-five minutes), the dodecaphonic
idiom, and the absence of barlines as factors that cause the Lamentatio
to be exceedingly difficult to perform. [59] He adds that he "did not expect to hear it soon, if at all .
. . and put it away as the result of an effort that [he] had to undertake
to satisfy an inner urge, regardless of its usability." [60] The article continues with Krenek describing the history of performance
of first excerpt and finally, a number of times, the work in its entirety.
He states that in the intervening decades between composition and performance,
many of the technical difficulties of intonation have become part of the
standard repertoire for modern music and that "generally, difficulties
of intonation have lost much of the fearfulness they used to hold for choir
singers not so long ago." [61]
Vincent Persichetti was an "American composer
noted for his succinct polyphonic style (based on interwoven melodic lines),
forceful rhythms, and generally diatonic melodies (moving stepwise; not atonal
or highly chromatic)." [62] In his many years as church organist, paying for his music
education, he got to know "the hymns, the anthems, the responses and
most of the music. . . used in churches in this country." [63] In Hines's book, Persichetti writes about Hymns and Responses,
a collection of songs written for use in the church service throughout the
year. Persichetti initially discusses the performance history of the work.
He continues with a listing of each of the twenty-eight Hymns and Responses,
their tonal center, text, characteristic harmonic progression or harmonic
characteristics, general characteristics, sequence, form, and close.
[64] He briefly discusses how the Hymns and Responses are mystically
interrelated and how the work affected later endeavors. [65]
Bernard Rogers is a composer and teacher who studied
to be an architect before commencing with his studies in music. [66] In Rogers's article in the Hines book, Rogers initially discusses
his previous teachers and how he was inspired to write the work entitled
The Passion. The Passion is a continuous dramatic narrative
in six episodes. [67] "Until the last scene, few of the conventional forms are used.
Near the end, however, a fugue on two subjects is heard and two tonalities
are strongly asserted." [68]
"To erect a structure at once simple . . . and organic,
[Rogers] used the familiar device of thematic transformation. For example,
the choral work in scene two . . . reappeared in the final episode . . .
the vigorous march music which opens the work [is used] for the closing mood
of celebration." [69] "The cyclic principle" is used throughout. [70] "In the nature of a mural, breadth is everything; detail arising
treelike from a few powerful root forms." [71] Rogers used a few simple motives for "association, recall and
portraiture . . . One interval, the descending minor third pervades the music
as a whole." [72] Rogers details the episodes concerning the musical and dramatic occurrences.
He concludes the article with a brief mention of the problems associated
with performance. He states that "the technical and psychological problems
offered by this work are indeed severe. But not insuperable. Mainly the difficulties
are metrical (frequent alterations of time signature), rhythmic and modulatory."
[73]
Leo Sowerby is a composer and music educator and organist
who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1945 for his choral work Canticle of the Sun.
He has been called the "the outstanding composer of music for the Anglican
church." [74] "Leo Sowerby holds an unrivaled position among American organists
and composers for the organ, writing a quantity of works for the instrument,
many of which remain an essential part of present repertoire."
[75] In Hines's book, The Composer's Point
of View, Sowerby has reviewed a piece for mixed chorus and orchestra
entitled The Throne of God.
Sowerby begins with a detailed recounting
of the commissioning, [76] sketching, [77] naming, [78] text selection, [79] scoring, orchestration, [80] and premier of the work. [81] Sowerby calls the work "a poem for voices and orchestra"
because the structure, like the symphonic poem, is not divided into sections
and is played without pauses or breaks. "This helps to maintain a feeling
of unity throughout the work. This is assisted by the frequent reappearance
of certain sections or themes or motives." [82] "Before actually beginning to write any of the music, [Sowerby]
prepared a number of pages of sketches of thematic material to be employed
in the course of the work." [83] Sowerby continues for six pages to detail the drama and music(themes,
instrumentation, intervallic relationships, meter, and rhythmic motives)
of the thirty-five minute work. He concludes his essay by stating that "such
a resumé of the work . . . can mean little unless the reader has a
copy of the vocal score in front of him. Even then, a bare recital of what
takes place cannot bring the music to life, unless one hears the music."
[84]
John Cage gave a lecture (that was later transcribed)
to Rutgers University in 1958 in which he discussed how his compositional
technique regarding structure and method had changed. In this lecture, he
reviewed his aleatoric composition Music of Changes (based on the
Chinese Book of Changes) as well as six other works.
[85] Later, in an autobiographical article, Cage stated the following;
In the late forties I found out by experiment (I went
into the anechoic chamber at Harvard University) that silence is not acoustic.
It is a change of mind, a turning around. I devoted my music to it. My work
became an exploration of non-intention. To carry it out faithfully I have
developed a complicated composing means using I Ching chance operations,
making my responsibility that of asking questions instead of making choices.
[86]
"The influence of Cage . . . has been very great
in all the arts in the Americas, in Europe, and even in Asia. This influence
has ranged from the simple use of random noise techniques and chance procedures
to various projects for a neo-realist theater of gesture and objects . .
. Pop art, happenings, multi-media, minimalism, concept art and contemporary
music theater all owe something, or trace their origins, to Cage."
[87]
In discussing Music of Changes, Cage states that
"the note-to-note procedure, the method, is the function of chance operations.
And the structure, though planned precisely . . . and thoroughly . . . was
only a series of numbers . . . which became, on one hand, the number of units
within each section, and, on the other, number of measures of four-four within
each unit. At structural divisions . . . chance operations determined stability
or change of tempo." [88] Cage continues by stating that the structure that he had set up was
also used to determine density, "that is, of how many of the potentially
present eight lines, each composed of sounds and silences, were actually
to be present within a given small structural part." [89] In the Music of Changes, twenty four charts (eight for sounds
and silences, eight for amplitude and eight for duration) were used to determine
which of these factors would be potentially active. [90] Later in the article, Cage continues by stating that "these
charts were subjected to rational control: of the sixty-four elements in
a square chart eight times eight (made in this way in order to interpret
as sounds the coin oracle of the Chinese Book of Changes) thirty-two
were sounds, thirty-two were silences . . . All twelve tones were present.
Once this dodecaphonic requirement was satisfied, noises and repetitions
of tones were used with freedom." [91]
Cage concludes the article with four stories. The first
story is about a lecture given by Dr. Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki who has come
all the way from Japan to explain "that which is not to be explained."
[92] The second story tells about when Cage was "studying with Arnold
Schoenberg [and] someone asked him to explain his twelve-tone technique.
His reply was immediate: "That is none of your business."
[93] The third story was about three men trying to hypothesize the reason
a man was standing alone on a hill. After making their own guesses why he
stood there, the three men finally went up the hill to ask the man why he
stood there all alone. His reply was, "I just stand." [94] The last story was also concerning Cage's studies with Schoenberg.
One day, Schoenberg used an eraser to write some counterpoint. While he was
doing it he said, "This end of the pencil is just as important as the
other end." [95]
Comparison of Analyses
To compare the musical analyses, general data about
each composer, piece and compositional stylewill first be examined as displayed
in Table 2. With the exception of Cage with Boulez,and Rogers with Sowerby
there is little overlap in compositional medium, instrumentation or process.
The two pairs of analyses are the most similar in approach to each other.
In Table 3 and Table 4, the presence of the following
criteria will be noted: formal analysis, analysis of form, reductive analysis,
analysis of content, presentation of unifying elements, dramatic analysis,
presentation of the composer's motivation, inspiration or process in doing
the work, psychological analysis and presentation of pre-compositional elements.
Analysis of content will be further subdivided into the following additional
categories: analysis of rhythm, analysis of melodic line, analysis of intervalic
content, analysis of harmony, presentation of orchestration and instrumentation,
and analysis of timbre or tone color. For the above criteria, this author
will assign each composer a number between zero and five. Zero signifies
that the author did not include a particular criteria at all, and five implies
that a large proportion of the article was dedicated to describing that criteria.
When assigning a number for pre-compositional elements, it should be noted
that in the cases where there were none mentioned, it should not be assumed
that none existed. As in all of the above, a composer with a limited amount
of space, will choose to talk of a limited number of elements. This does
not mean that he did not consider other elements, it only means that he did
not choose to discuss it in his article.
In Figures 1 and 2 the table results are graphed using
an area graph. The area graphs can be interpreted as the criteria that had
the most response, got the greatest area.
Table 2
Comparing Composers and their Works
Composer | Title | Date Analyzed | Description/
Instrumentation | Compositional Process/
Materials |
D. Bathory-Kitsz
(b. 1945) | Untitled Work
( 1989-92) | 1992 |
Orchestral, large | Process composition; phase shifting, isorhythms,
pulse-minimalism |
Pierre Boulez
(b. 1925) | Third Piano Sonata
(1957) | 1960 | Piano | Aleatoric
|
John Cage
(1912-1992) | Music of Changes
(1951) | 1958 | Piano | Aleatoric
|
Lucas Foss
(b. 1922) | The Prairie(1942), A Parable
of Death(1952)
Psalms(1956) | 1963 | Chorus, soloists, narrator and orchestra
A capella choir | Musical form suggested
by text structure and meaning |
Jean Françaix
(b. 1912) | L'Apocalypse selon Saint Jean
(1939) | 1963 |
Oratorio for solo voices, choirs and two orchestras | Tonal system
for one orchestra opposing an atonal system for the other |
Howard Hanson
(1896-1981) | A Lament for Beowolf (1925) | 1963 | Chorus and orchestra | Eight-tone scale, harmonic,
melodic and rhythmic repetition |
Ernst Krenek
(1900-91) | Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae
(1941-2) | 1963 | A capella
for two to eight voices | Tone-row rotation |
Vincent Persichetti
(1915-87) | Hymnes and Responses
(1955) | 1963 | Twenty-eight
a cappella or accompanied hymns for the church service | Harmonic
and modal, modulation with frequent word painting |
Bernard Rogers
(b.1893) | The Passion (1940) | 1963 | Continuous dramatic narrative for chorus, soloists, and
orchestra | Thematic transformation |
Leo Sowerby
(1895-1968) | The Throne of God
(1956-7) | 1963 |
"A poem for voices and orchestra" [96] | Thematic repetition and transformation |
In analyzing these results the following observations
can be noted. Boulez and Krenek are the only composers in the group to do
formal analysis (translation of the music into symbols for interpretation).
Boulez is also the only one that did no analysis of content. All composers
extensively discussed their motivation, inspiration or process.
The analyses of Boulez and Cage were abstract with giving
no sense of sound. It is possible, to Cage, it does not matter. Cage's
article would have been clearer with a formal analysis. It would also have
helped to see some of the charts that he mentioned. Boulez's analysis was
least clear due to his lack of content analysis. His abstract conceptual
symbols were ambiguous and difficult to follow without a clear frame of reference.
Bathory-Kitsz wrote little of the sound and more about his process so we
have little idea what is occurring aurally from his analysis. Foss wrote
only briefly about structure, with too little about the music to be of use.
Françaix preferred to write only about the drama.
The rest of the composers, to varying degrees, wrote
in enough detail, with examples, for us to gain a fairly clear understanding
of their music. These writers wrote in the language of traditional music
theory making it easy to follow for the trained musician.
CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY
Summary
The purpose of this paper was to compare self analysis
of twentieth century composers. In the review of literature, the analysis
of ten composers was presented. In comparing these analysis, it can be seen
that one-hundred percent of the group presented material about their motivation
and process while only fifty percent presented material precompositional
elements. In Tables 5 and 6, a summary of these comparisons can be seen.
Conclusions and Future Study
If we evaluate these analysis, we see that information
about the compositional process and motivation of the composer is interesting
in a study about compositional technique. But, to learn more about a piece
of music we must have the musical events sufficiently detailed as to become
understandable. It is also helpful to include unifying features which eighty
percent of the composers included. It was these insights, along with analysis
of content, that most assisted in a better understanding of the works.
Of all the analyses, Rogers and Sowerby's analyses
were the best. They were the most comprehensive, connecting the music with
the drama and text, covered content, psychology and form, in enough detail
to be understandable.
It can be observed, in reading through the ten analyses,
that the personality and musical orientation of each composer comes across
as strongly in the analyses as it does in their music. Boulez's music is
dense, often inaccessible and intellectual. His analyses are of a similar
character. Cage is playful, enigmatic and obscure both in his writing and
composing.This writer concludes that , in analysis, we should not evaluate
a composer's style or approach. These are reflections of the unique personality
of the individual. But, we can catalogue the methods and evaluate whether
these methods assisted us in illuminating the details of the composition.
Although music analysis can never recreate the sound
of the music, it can enhance its understanding .But, some analyses seem to
give us a clearer picture of musical events than others. Musical events are
readily fathomed when Leo Sowerby writes that "Following the fermata
and the resolution into the open fifth a new section, marked 'Fast,' is inaugurated
by a trombone with a chromatic motive which is immediately imitated in diminution
by the other brass." [97] The situation is not as clear when Pierre Boulez in referring to the
third formant in
his aleatoric Third Piano Sonata, states that
"Blocs are structures based on perpetually shifting blocks of
sound, and these may be struck vertically or may disintegrate horizontally
in very rapid succession, so that the listener's ear retains the identity
of the block." [98]
In this paper, self-analysis by contemporary composers
was surveyed. The various styles of music and writing made comparisons complicated.
There was no simple way to compare the disparate strategies with which the
composers approached their own music. This author chose to use an profiling
approach, to avoid comparing details, but to focus on general procedures
instead. Additionally, many composers prefer not to explain their work, preferring
instead to let the music speak for itself. John Cage recounts how Schoenberg
told a student it was none of his business how he (Schoenberg) composed.
[99] John Cage, in his article, tells us that some things are not to be
explained or are none of our business. Elliot Carter has said the following:
"If I myself ever found a way of teaching what
I do in my music, I'm not sure I wouldn't stop writing that way. I feel
strongly enough about this so that I've been hesitant even to describe how
I write my pieces, and it's only been recently, often many years after they
were written, that I've begun to do this." [100]
Most composers don't look at formal analytical models
when analyzing their own music. None of the composers reviewed mentioned
Schenkerian analysis in any context. In an interview, Elliot Carter discussed
Leonard Meyer's theory of psychological reductive analysis (in which the
competent listener, who understands the musical language, has expectations
that can be met or challenged). Carter states that "as a serious composer,
one has to write for a kind of intelligent and knowledgeable listener one
seldom comes across in any number . . . The composer himself, if
he is to achieve his desired communication, must in every case be his own
first ideal listener." [101]
There is also no standard way of teaching, learning,
or writing about contemporary music. Carter states that "another problem
of pedagogical methods based on recent techniques is that these techniques
seem so much involved with the specific pieces in which they turn up."
[102]
This study is necessarily only a preliminary one. To
investigate in great detail even ten composers, is beyond the scope of this
paper. Also, to have a statistical significance, if would
be necessary to have a much larger sample. This paper
has attempted to provide a methodology for comparing analyses. The criteria
for comparing the analyses could also be the basis of a survey study of contemporary
composers. The composers could be asked to rate the relative importance
and incidence of these criteria ( analysis of form, reductive analysis, analysis
of content etc.) in their writing about their own music. Additionally, many
of the variables could be further narrowed and investigated. In this study,
the analyses selected to be included were not limited by audience, compositional
style, function of article, medium, or type of composition. It would be interesting
to investigate, for example, if composers consistently use similar criteria
in other articles about their own works (if they have published other articles).
Do composers with similar stylistic elements (e.g. serialists or neoclassicists)
write about their own music employing similar criteria.
This author gained two valuable insights from this study.
The first was an understanding of the different compositional techniques
of the various composers. The second was a first hand knowledge of what
makes an analysis good. It is interesting to understand motivation but is
illuminating to examine unifying factors and analysis of content.
A piece of music functions on many levels. The purpose
of analysis is to make us more aware, as we listen to the music, of these
various levels. Perhaps, we hear the music differently than the composer
intended. What we get from the music is uniquely our own. But, studying the
analyses of composers allows us a different, inside-perspective on their
music. Analysis can never reconstruct the sound, or replace the act of listening,
but it can enhance our enjoyment of a work by expanding our awareness.
Table 3
Percent Comparison of
Musical Analyses
Formal Analysis |
Analysis of Form | Reduc-tive Analysis | Psycho-logical
Analysis | Analysis of Content | Unifying Features | Dramatic
Analysis | Motivation/ Inspiration/ Process | Precom-positional
Elements |
20% | 80% | 40% | 60% | 90% | 80% | 70/100% |
100% | 50%
|
Table 4
Analysis of Content
Rhythm |
Melodic Line/ Pitch Content | Interval Content | Harmonic/
Rhythm, Material, Progression | Orchestration/Instrumen-tation | Timbre/
Tone Color | Tonality/ Scale Material | Thematic/ Motivic Material
|
70% | 70% | 60% | 60% | 60/75% | 30% | 60% | 30%
|
Notes
[Note 1]
Nicholas Cook, A
Guide to Musical Analysis (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1987), 233.
[Note 2]
Ibid., 229.
[Note 3]
Ibid, 7.
[Note 4]
Kofi Agawu, "Analyzing music under
the new musicological regime."
Music Theory
Online 2.4 (Santa Barbara: The Society for Music
Theory, 1996), accessed September 22, 1997. Available from http://www.boethius.music.ucsb.edu/mto/issues/mto.96.2.4/mto.96.2.4.agawu.
html; Internet.
[Note 5]
Ibid., 116.
[Note 6]
Ibid., 122.
[Note 7]
Ibid., 16.
[Note 8]
Ibid.
[Note 9]
Ibid., 28.
[Note 10]
Ibid., 29.
[Note 11]
Ibid., 67.
[Note 12]
Ibid., 70.
[Note 13]
Ibid., 76.
[Note 14]
Ibid., 70.
[Note 15]
David Cope, New Directions in Music,
sixth edition (Madison: Brown and Benchmark Publishers, 1993), 373.
[Note 16]
Eric Salzman, Twentieth
Century Music. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall
Inc., 1971), 110.
[Note 17]
Robert P. Morgan, Twentieth Century Music.
(New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1991), 359.
[Note 18]
Cope, 375.
[Note 19]
Robert P. Morgan, Twentieth Century Music (New York: W.
W. Norton and Company, 1991), 341.
[Note 20]
Pierre Boulez, Jean-Jacque
Nattiez, ed. Orientations, Collected Writings,
Pierre Boulez, Translated by Martin Cooper (London:
Faber and Faber, 1986), 143.
[Note 21]
Ibid., 144.
[Note 22]
Ibid., 151.
[Note 23]
Ibid., 153.
[Note 24]
Morgan, 373.
[Note 25]
Goddard College,
(Vermont: Goddard College, 1997), accessed November 10, 1997. Available from
http://www.goddard.edu; Internet.
[Note 26]
Dennis Bathory-Kitsz,
Construal of Musical Process of Architecture.
(Amsterdam: MaltedMedia, 1992), accessed September 22, 1997. Available from
http://www.maltedmedia.com/books/papers/s7-headb.html;
Internet, 2.
[Note 27]
Ibid., 2.
[Note 28]
Ibid., 3.
[Note 29]
Ibid., 5.
[Note 30]
Ibid., 6.
[Note 31]
Ibid., 6.
[Note 32]
Ibid., 7.
[Note 33]
Ibid., 7.
[Note 34]
Hines, vii.
[Note 35]
David Cope,
New Directions in Music, sixth edition. (Madison:
Brown and Benchmark Publishers, 1993), 376.
[Note 36]
Susan Thompson, "Lucas
Foss, Diversity and Plurality." (Soundout, 1996), Accessed December
7, 1997, Available from http://www.soundout.com/composers/foss.html;
Internet
[Note 37]
Hines, 4.
[Note 38]
Ibid., 4.
[Note 39]
Ibid., 6.
[Note 40]
Ibid., 14.
[Note 41]
Ibid., 18.
[Note 42]
Ibid., 19.
[Note 43]
Salzman,
66.
[Note 44]
Keith Anderson, Composers
Biographies and Their Works. (Hong Kong: HNH International
LTD., 1996), from http://www.hnh.com/qc_f3.htm#Fref;
Internet.
[Note 45]
Ibid., 178.
[Note 46]
Ibid., 181.
[Note 47]
Ibid., 184.
[Note 48]
Ibid., 184.
[Note 49]
Ibid., 185.
[Note 50]
Ernst Krenek, Horizons
Circled. (Berkley: University of California Press, 1974), 2.
[Note 51]
Robert P. Morgan, Twentieth Century Music. (New York:
W. W. Norton and Company, 1991), 262.
[Note 52]
Cope, 377.
[Note 53]
Hines, 28
[Note 54]
Hines, 24.
[Note 55]
Ibid., 26.
[Note 56]
Ibid.
[Note 57]
Ibid.
[Note 58]
Ibid., 28.
[Note 59]
Ibid., 29.
[Note 60]
Ibid.
[Note 61]
Ibid., 32.
[Note 62]
"Vincent Persichetti,"
Britannica Online, (Encyclopedia
Britannica, 1997) Accessed December 6, 1997. Available from http://www.eb.com/cgi-bin/g?keywords=Persichetti+AND+composer&DBase=Articles&hits=40;
Internet
[Note 63]
Ibid., 41.
[Note 64]
Ibid., 44.
[Note 65]
Ibid., 54.
[Note 66]
Ibid.,
56.
[Note 67]
Ibid.,
59.
[Note 68]
Ibid., 59.
[Note 69]
Ibid., 60.
[Note 70]
Ibid., 60.
[Note 71]
Ibid.
[Note 72]
Ibid.
[Note 73]
Ibid.,
64.
[Note 74]
Ibid., 77.
[Note 75]
Anderson, http://www.hnh.com/qc_f3.htm#Fref.
[Note 76]
Ibid., 65.
[Note 77]
Ibid., 66.
[Note 78]
Ibid.
[Note 79]
Ibid.
[Note 80]
Ibid.,
68.
[Note 81]
Ibid., 67.
[Note 82]
Ibid., 68.
[Note 83]
Ibid., 69.
[Note 84]
Ibid., 75.
[Note 85]
John
Cage, "Composition as Process." Silence.
(Middletown: Wesleyan University Press. 1961), 18.
[Note 86]
John
Cage, "An Autobiographical Statement" (New Albion Records, 1990)
Accessed December 7, 1997. Available from http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/autobiog.html;
Internet.
[Note 87]
Salzman, 164.
[Note 88]
Cage, "Composition
as Process." Silence,
20.
[Note 89]
Ibid., 21.
[Note 90]
Ibid.
[Note 91]
Ibid., 26.
[Note 92]
Ibid., 32.
[Note 93]
John Cage, Silence. (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.
1961), 33.
[Note 94]
Ibid., 34.
[Note 95]
Ibid., 34.
[Note 96]
Robert Stephans Hines, ed.
The Composers Point of View.
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 1963), 68.
[Note 97]
Hines, 72.
[Note 98]
Boulez, Orientations,
151.
[Note 99]
Ibid., 33.
[Note 100]
Allen Edwards, Flawed Words and Stubborn Sounds, A Conversation
with Elliot Carter. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1991), 115.
[Note 101]
Ibid., 89.
[Note 102]
Ibid., 116.
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