Contemporary music in evolution #7: 1913
[00:05 - 00:09]
Last week on this series contemporary music and evolution we had reached the year in
[00:09 - 00:14]
1913 and continuing with the same year we hear two
[00:14 - 00:19]
works which bear a curious relationship to each other. I refer to
[00:19 - 00:23]
starvin skis to up boys either like Japanese and
[00:23 - 00:28]
rivals to up on me. And you may recall that I
[00:28 - 00:33]
mentioned at the time I played Schoenberg's. That too works but I veil and
[00:33 - 00:38]
Stravinsky showed traces of the momentary influence of the tonal
[00:38 - 00:43]
masterpiece. Late in 1912 starvin Skee had heard
[00:43 - 00:48]
Sternberg's people in Berlin. And while working on the Rite of Spring in
[00:48 - 00:52]
Cologne Switzerland the next spring Stravinsky decided to write
[00:52 - 00:57]
three songs based on Japanese hai chi in which he experimented briefly
[00:57 - 01:02]
with some of the Harmonic and instrumental innovations of people in India.
[01:02 - 01:07]
Shortly after he had finished them visited Stravinsky and the
[01:07 - 01:12]
latter showed him and played for him the new songs. However I was
[01:12 - 01:17]
fascinated and decided to contribute three similarly inspired songs.
[01:17 - 01:22]
Both sets of songs were composed for Soprano. Incidentally rejecting the
[01:22 - 01:27]
aspect of people and an instrumental ensemble of piano two
[01:27 - 01:32]
flutes two clarinets and a string quartet. And in both sets
[01:32 - 01:38]
it is the third song which seems to be most indebted to Schoenberg.
[01:38 - 01:43]
The three Japanese lyrics by Steven ski have always seemed to me to have a strong
[01:43 - 01:48]
generic relationship to Japanese watercolors as well as to the Schoenberg
[01:48 - 01:53]
influence. They have the same lyrical use of lines and a similar
[01:53 - 01:58]
delicate transparent and airy quality. The first song is
[01:58 - 02:02]
based upon a haiku by Akai hito and is perhaps
[02:02 - 02:07]
closer to the Rite of Spring than people in the second
[02:07 - 02:12]
song based on a poem by Matt Sumi describing the rushing of a
[02:12 - 02:17]
brook in spring. And it moves closer to the sonorities and
[02:17 - 02:21]
non-tonal aspects of Schoenberg's world. The third song
[02:21 - 02:26]
bites you. He goes still further actually using typically
[02:26 - 02:31]
Schoenberg and major sevenths as motivic material. Throughout
[02:31 - 02:36]
Needless to say Stravinsky retains the basic characteristics of his own language
[02:36 - 02:42]
and the similarities to P.O. remain superficial and experimental ones.
[02:42 - 02:46]
The three Japanese lyrics will be sung by Mani Nixon was an ensemble
[02:46 - 02:48]
conducted by the composer.
[02:48 - 05:21]
Ooh good.
[05:21 - 05:51]
All that I have said regarding the stove in ski songs could be applied to the rebel
[05:51 - 05:56]
songs. The first one dedicated to Stevens he is perhaps the most
[05:56 - 06:01]
conventional of the three. The second song inscribed two songs
[06:01 - 06:06]
Schmidt begins to disclose a Schoenberg influence primarily in the
[06:06 - 06:11]
piano part. There is a particularly beautiful passage when the piano makes a
[06:11 - 06:16]
gently splashing entry after the first vocal phrase.
[06:16 - 06:21]
In the third song with its enigmatic text and perhaps it was for that reason
[06:21 - 06:24]
dedicated to the even more enigma attic exacty
[06:24 - 06:30]
sought to combine his instrumental skill and refined touch with a less
[06:30 - 06:35]
tonally oriented mellows and harmony. It seems to me he was strikingly
[06:35 - 06:40]
successful. The glistening iridescent quality of this song stands
[06:40 - 06:45]
quite unique in the Vales output. If you think you know you of though and have
[06:45 - 06:50]
never heard this last song I think you'll be quite surprised and amazed.
[06:50 - 06:53]
As twat poem I mean.
[06:53 - 12:31]
Little.
[12:31 - 12:32]
Was.
[12:32 - 13:44]
Noon-Air.
[13:44 - 13:44]
Was.
[13:44 - 17:06]
Trois poem the mommy was sung by Susan Darko was an
[17:06 - 17:10]
instrumental ensemble conducted by honest me.
[17:10 - 17:16]
We turn now to a work which though largely Anacreon mystic I was speaking of
[17:16 - 17:21]
Max Lego's Brooklyn suite belongs on this program for a number of reasons.
[17:21 - 17:26]
First it will by contrast show us how far apart works composed the
[17:26 - 17:31]
same year can be. Secondly the work in question was composed by a man who
[17:31 - 17:36]
was in 1913 very much in the forefront of the musical life of his
[17:36 - 17:41]
country both as a composer and a teacher. And thirdly the work
[17:41 - 17:46]
represents a tradition basically opposed to the other German tradition I have so far
[17:46 - 17:50]
delineated on this series namely the Wagner Mahler Schoenberg line.
[17:50 - 17:56]
Regular as you can hear in this work belongs definitely to the solid
[17:56 - 18:01]
German tradition of skillful harmonic progressions and ingenious contrapuntal
[18:01 - 18:06]
manipulation. There is hardly a piece by radio in fact that does not at some
[18:06 - 18:10]
time go into elaborate fugal techniques. His language in the
[18:10 - 18:15]
Brooklyn suite is that of a kind of modal Brahms with references here
[18:15 - 18:20]
and there too. And curiously put cine. Rader's
[18:20 - 18:25]
importance in contemporary music so limited to a national level. Was
[18:25 - 18:29]
that in his last works. Like the remarkable piano concerto
[18:29 - 18:34]
he evolved a language so compounded of contrapuntal linearity
[18:34 - 18:39]
and constantly shifting harmonies that the outer boundaries of tonality
[18:39 - 18:44]
were reached. Since rager died prematurely it is interesting to
[18:44 - 18:49]
speculate on how far he would have gone had he lived. In any case
[18:49 - 18:53]
Gregor though coming by a circuitous route eventually also moved
[18:53 - 18:58]
towards at tonality. In this respect he can be thought of as the German
[18:58 - 19:00]
counterpart to Russia's Scriven.
[19:00 - 19:08]
As I mentioned when playing the Rachmaninov Isle of the dead was a second rate
[19:08 - 19:12]
painter who achieved tremendous popularity in Europe around this time.
[19:12 - 19:17]
Butlins paintings were to Europe what Whistler's Mother was to America. There
[19:17 - 19:22]
are four movements in this work. The first entitled The fiddling hermit.
[19:22 - 19:27]
A somber piece for solo violin and a very subtly divided
[19:27 - 19:32]
orchestration reminiscent of early Renaissance choral works for 16 voices or
[19:32 - 19:37]
more. The second piece is called Play of the waves. It is a
[19:37 - 19:41]
kind of German whose main inspiration seems to have been the
[19:41 - 19:47]
Bruckner scatters. The third movement is perhaps the best. It is the Isle of
[19:47 - 19:51]
the dead with some interesting coloristic harmonic and orchestration
[19:51 - 19:56]
contrasts. A rhythmically weak and somewhat trite backhand
[19:56 - 19:58]
closes the work.
[19:58 - 21:21]
Why.
[21:21 - 21:22]
Why.
[21:22 - 22:13]
Why.
[22:13 - 23:20]
Who were. Working.
[23:20 - 23:30]
Whoa.
[23:30 - 23:56]
You're.
[23:56 - 24:03]
A.
[24:03 - 24:04]
Pervert.
[24:04 - 27:26]
You would.
[27:26 - 27:59]
Know.
[27:59 - 28:01]
Why.
[28:01 - 28:17]
And when the only.
[28:17 - 28:19]
Thing.
[28:19 - 28:51]
What.
[28:51 - 28:55]
Why.
[28:55 - 29:37]
Anything.
[29:37 - 29:38]
With. You.
[29:38 - 36:16]
Oh.
[36:16 - 38:41]
You.
[38:41 - 38:42]
Know what.
[38:42 - 40:16]
Will.
[40:16 - 40:17]
You.
[40:17 - 41:33]
Thank you.
[41:33 - 43:07]
Where.
[43:07 - 43:15]
Will it.
[43:15 - 43:15]
Go.
[43:15 - 44:26]
Max ragers Brooklyn suite was played by the Prague Philharmonic
[44:26 - 44:31]
conducted by years of that. To
[44:31 - 44:36]
round out this program we will hear two of Abrams most perfected early
[44:36 - 44:41]
priest serial technique works his six bagatelles for a string quartet
[44:41 - 44:46]
and the five pieces for Chamber Orchestra Opus 10. Both works
[44:46 - 44:51]
belong in the period of extreme brevity and distillation of musical materials
[44:51 - 44:57]
and these works. Rayburn had brought this process to the radical point of even
[44:57 - 45:01]
eliminating the theme. Now before some of you turn off the radio and discussed
[45:01 - 45:06]
let me assure you that this step was not a negative one of just annihilating
[45:06 - 45:11]
thematic material. On the contrary it was the result as my
[45:11 - 45:15]
chronological survey of a woman's work in the series has shown of a constant
[45:15 - 45:21]
honing down of musical sounds to its smallest and most expressive nucleus.
[45:21 - 45:26]
It is a process very much akin to the gradual discovery of the atom and in this respect
[45:26 - 45:31]
alone I think a valid artistic discovery of the atom
[45:31 - 45:36]
age. We have seen how they've been starting with the Opus One passage which
[45:36 - 45:41]
still had themes repetitions and thematic variations. Gradually prunes
[45:41 - 45:46]
his motives and themes to the shortest possible form. The natural end
[45:46 - 45:51]
result of this process was of course that a single note would take the place of the
[45:51 - 45:55]
erstwhile theme. From this extreme point Raven's music developed
[45:55 - 46:00]
in two related directions one of pointillism And as part of
[46:00 - 46:05]
that they clung to the melody concept of Schoenberg where each tone
[46:05 - 46:11]
in a chain of notes appears in a different instrumental color thus creating a
[46:11 - 46:16]
radical new concept of melodic horizontal relationships.
[46:16 - 46:21]
For those of you who are not convinced into whom all this is somewhat mysterious Anyhow
[46:21 - 46:26]
let me conduct a little aural analysis for you of one of the pieces in question.
[46:26 - 46:31]
It may not convince you of the musical message. I hope Of course that it will
[46:31 - 46:36]
but at least it should convince you that this music is not a haphazard throwing together of
[46:36 - 46:41]
dissonances or a chaotic vision of a madman. It is in fact a
[46:41 - 46:45]
remarkably organized structure in which each note has a particular
[46:45 - 46:50]
emotional and intellectual function. A little like a tiny wrist watch
[46:50 - 46:55]
where each tiny part has its duty to perform. Let us
[46:55 - 47:00]
take the first of the five pieces Opus 10. It consists of only
[47:00 - 47:05]
12 bars in a slow temple and is scored for ten instruments
[47:05 - 47:09]
flute clarinet trumpet trombone. Cellist and
[47:09 - 47:14]
glockenspiel violin viola and cello. This short piece
[47:14 - 47:19]
consists of an introduction transition to the main body of the movement.
[47:19 - 47:24]
A two part phrase and a transition back to a coda.
[47:24 - 47:29]
The introduction consists of three pitches may be rising to a C
[47:29 - 47:35]
and back to the B.
[47:35 - 47:40]
Now did you notice that each of the three notes had a different sound. The first
[47:40 - 47:45]
was scored for muted trumpet and harp the second for harp
[47:45 - 47:50]
and viola. And the third for flute and harp. The
[47:50 - 47:55]
Rise and Fall of the three pitches is complemented by the rise and fall of color
[47:55 - 47:59]
intensity. The warmer sound of trumpet and harp gives way to the
[47:59 - 48:04]
glassy sound less the viola and harp and harmonics.
[48:04 - 48:07]
Returning them to the more human sound of the flute.
[48:07 - 48:18]
The next three notes in the impersonal color of the glockenspiel.
[48:18 - 48:38]
Form a transition to the main body of the movement measures 3 to 8.
[48:38 - 48:43]
Perhaps you noticed the entire passage is founded on a trill in the chill Lester
[48:43 - 48:47]
as a binding pedal point. But these six measures divide
[48:47 - 48:52]
themselves into two distinct phrases. The first is dominated by an
[48:52 - 48:57]
expressive melody in the clarinet which itself consists of a three bar phrase and the
[48:57 - 49:02]
kind of echo for the fourth by the interval of the third or its
[49:02 - 49:14]
inversion the sixth predominate.
[49:14 - 49:19]
Below this clarinet melody appeared to counter motives each
[49:19 - 49:23]
consisting of two notes the first as in the flute and the second in the high
[49:23 - 49:25]
cello.
[49:25 - 49:30]
And below these counter melodies the harmonies in thirds in the
[49:30 - 49:31]
violin and viola.
[49:31 - 49:52]
The second phrase of the main body of the movement which is only two bars long.
[49:52 - 49:57]
Forms a kind of symmetrical counterpart to the first phrase. It is of course
[49:57 - 50:02]
bound to the first by the continuing she left a trail and also by the fact that
[50:02 - 50:06]
while the main melody goes to the high violin the counter melody
[50:06 - 50:11]
remains and continues in the high cello. As a contrast to the
[50:11 - 50:16]
clarinet phrase the violin melody now moves in larger skips constituting a
[50:16 - 50:21]
sort of minuscule climax and uses besides the thirds and sixths
[50:21 - 50:24]
of the clarinet phrase. The major seventh.
[50:24 - 50:32]
A more intense and active interval.
[50:32 - 50:37]
In the second bar. The flute takes over from the chill Lester and going in
[50:37 - 50:42]
contrary motion to the intervals of the violin forms another counter melody.
[50:42 - 50:53]
The ninth measure again a kind of echo phrase is a pendant or
[50:53 - 50:58]
companion piece to the echo phrase heard earlier in the clarinet. The Echo
[50:58 - 51:03]
pertains not only to the high violin but to the two notes below which are
[51:03 - 51:08]
nothing more than the two notes of the chalice that will spread apart and the long
[51:08 - 51:13]
gaited.
[51:13 - 51:18]
That concludes the main body of the movement. The following harp
[51:18 - 51:23]
passage is a transitional phrase and the counterpart of the earlier
[51:23 - 51:30]
glockenspiel transitional phrase.
[51:30 - 51:34]
The coda a counterpart to the introduction subjects one pitch
[51:34 - 51:39]
to three color gradations from flute to trumpet to Celestina
[51:39 - 51:46]
and dying away in the process.
[51:46 - 51:51]
Now that we've taken the watch apart let's put it together again. We'll hear the
[51:51 - 51:56]
entire first piece in continuity you know and then go right on to the other four movements of
[51:56 - 52:00]
the work. Maybe five orchestral pieces Opus 10.
[52:00 - 56:31]
You're.
[56:31 - 56:54]
You're.
[56:54 - 56:59]
The final work will be the six bagatelles played now by the pro arty
[56:59 - 57:06]
quartet on an old dial LP.
[57:06 - 57:12]
You're.
[57:12 - 57:12]
Right.
[57:12 - 59:57]
You're.
[59:57 - 59:57]
Right.
[59:57 - 61:48]
You just heard the six pack that tells Opus 9 by Anton of a been
[61:48 - 61:54]
played by the quartet with Rudolf coalition as leader on an old dial
[61:54 - 61:58]
LP that concludes this program. And I
[61:58 - 62:03]
invite you here by to join me again next week for another sequel in
[62:03 - 62:08]
the series contemporary music and evolution dealing. Also next week
[62:08 - 62:13]
with other compositions of the year in 1913 this has
[62:13 - 62:14]
been on the shoulder.
🔍
This program has been transcribed using automated software tools, made possible through a collaboration between the American Archive of Public Broadcasting and Pop Up Archive. Please note that no automated transcription is perfect nor is it intended to replace human transcription labor. If you would like to contribute corrections to this transcript, please contact MITH at mith@umd.edu.