Music 731: Twentieth-Century Theories (Spring 2006) - Timbre Composition

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Mondays 4:30-7:10 pm, Music 230

Instructor: Christopher Burns

email: cburns at uwm dot edu

office: Music 367

office hours: Monday afternoons, 2-4 pm or by appointment

Course description: An examination of the various ways in which composers and musicmakers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have made timbre and texture a primary focus of their compositions. The course will consider the specific tech niques and constructive principles used by composers, as well as the aesthetic positions and formal types allied with these methods.

Prerequisites: Open to Music Department graduate students who have completed entrance requirements for music theory; others admitted by consent of the instructor.

Grading policy: Semester grades will be determined in accordance with the following priorities.

Participation 20%

In-class analysis presentations 40%

Final paper and presentation 40%

Attendance is required; students who miss three or more class meetings will receive reduced grades.

Course materials: Listening assignments (scores and recordings) for the course will be on reserve in the Music Library; readings are available via electronic reserve.

Course schedule:

January 23: Course introduction

topics:

segmentation, description, and relation

close reading and goals for analysis

set theory as pitch/interval representation

listening (in class):

Edgard Varèse, Olivier Messaien, Iannis Xenakis

January 30: Acoustics and perception

topics:

timbre and Fourier theory

gestalt theory, auditory scene analysis, and streaming

multidimensional timbre spaces

introduction to Klangfarbenmelodie: Webern's Bach orchestration

reading:

Stephen Handel, "The Production of Sound," "Sound Generation by Musical Instruments," and "Breaking the Acoustic Wave into Events: Stream Segregation," in Listening, pp. 7-72, 113-132, and 185-218.

listening:

Charles Ives Symphony no. 4 movement 2

Conlon Nancarrow Studies #24 and #25 for Player Piano

February 6: Klangfarbenmelodie

topics:

timbre and the aesthetics of the second Viennese composers

Gubaidulina and Klangfarbenmelodie as a historical object

introduction to Ligeti: Atmospheres

reading:

Carl Dahlhaus, "Schoenberg's Orchestral Piece Op. 16, No. 3 and the concept of Klangfarbenmelodie" and "Analytical instrumentation: Bach's six-part ricercar as orchestrated by Anton Webern", in Schoenberg and the New Music, pp. 141-143 a nd 181-191.

Alfred Schnittke, "Klangfarbenmelodie - 'Melody of Timbres'," and "The Principle of Uninterrupted Timbral Affinities in Webern's Orchestration of Bach's Fuga (Ricercata) a 6 voci", In A Schnittke Reader, Indiana University Press, 113-119 and 211-215.

listening:

Berg Wozzeck act III scene 3

Schoenberg Five Orchestral Pieces op. 16 no. 3

Sofia Gubaidulina Offertorium

February 13: Ligeti

topics:

micropolyphony as a textural technique

meccanico textures

introduction to Crumb: Zeitgeist III: Monochord

reading:

Miguel A. Roig-Francolí, "Harmonic and Formal Processes in Ligeti's Net-Structure Compositions," Music Theory Spectrum 17/2 (Fall 1995) 242-267.

György Ligeti, "States, Events, Transformations," Perspectives of New Music 31/1 (Winter 1993), 164-171.

Alfred Schnittke, "Ligeti's Orchestral Micropolyphony," in A Schnittke Reader, Indiana University Press, 225-228.

listening:

György Ligeti Aventures

György Ligeti Requiem

György Ligeti Chamber Concerto

February 20: Crumb

topics:

amplification and timbral resources

timbre and signfication

introduction to Scelsi: Pfhat

listening:

George Crumb Ancient Voices of Children

George Crumb Black Angels

February 27: Scelsi

topics:

microtonality and timbral construction

introduction to Nono: La Lontananza Nostalgica Utopica Futura

listening:

Giacinto Scelsi String Quartet no. 4

Giacinto Scelsi String Quartet no. 5

March 6: Nono

topics:

process, discontinuity, and timbre

timbre and space

introduction to Lachenmann: Mouvement (-- vor der Erstarrung)

reading:

Stephen Davismoon, "Marking Time," in Contemporary Music Review 18/1, pp. 81-98.

listening:

Luigi Nono Con Luigi Dallapiccola

Luigi Nono Omaggio a György Kurtág

March 13: Lachenmann

topics:

performance beyond extended technique

timbre and structure as critique

introduction to Ferneyhough: Adagissimo, String Quartet no. 2

reading:

Helmut Lachenmann, "Composing In the Shadow of Darmstadt," Contemporary Music Review 23/3-4, pp. 43-53

Helmut Lachenmann, "Four Questions Regarding New Music," Contemporary Music Review 23/3-4, pp. 55-57

Richard Toop, "Concept and Context: A Historiographic Consideration of Lachenmann's Orchestral Works," Contemporary Music Review 23/3-4, pp. 125-143.

listening:

Helmut Lachenmann Pression

Helmut Lachenmann Allegro Sostenuto

March 20: Spring break

March 27: Ferneyhough

topics:

the aesthetics of complexity

independence of parameters: timbre as an independent strand of musical shaping

introduction to percussion music: Ionisation, Pleiades, Imaginary Landscape no. 3

reading:

Brian Ferneyhough, "Il Tempo Della Figura (1984)," Time and Motion Study II (1977)," and "The Time and Motion Study Cycle (1987)," in Collected Writings, Harwood Academic Publishers, pp. 33-41, 107-111, and 112-116.

listening:

Brian Ferneyhough Time and Motion Study II

Brian Ferneyhough Terrain

April 3: Percussion music

topics:

rhythmic organization of texture

introduction to spectral music: Modulations

reading:

John Cage, "Experimental Music: Credo," in Silence, Wesleyan University Press, pp. 3-6.

listening:

John Cage The Perilous Night

James Dillon East 11th St NY 10003

April 10: Spectral music

topics:

spectral technique: the conflation of timbre and harmony

reading:

Julian Anderson, "A Provisional History of Spectral Music," Contemporary Music Review 19/2, pp. 7-22.

Joshua Fineberg, "Guide to the Basic Concepts and Techniques of Spectral Music," Contemporary Music Review 19/2, pp. 81-113.

Gerard Grisey, "Did You Say Spectral?" Contemporary Music Review 19/3, pp. 1-3.

Damien Pousset, "The Works of Kaija Saariaho, Philippe Hurel, and Marc-Andre Dalbavie - Stile Concertato, Stile Concitato, Stile Rappresentativo," Contemporary Music Review 19/3, pp. 67-110.

listening:

Gerard Grisey Vortex Temporum

Kaija Saariaho Pres

April 17: Electroacoustic music

topics:

musique concrete, Elektronische Musik, and their conflation

listening:

John Chowning Phoné (quadraphonic playback in class)

Bill Schottstaedt Wait for Me!

April 24: Improvisation

topics:

improvised approaches to timbre - instrumental, harmonic

reading:

Pauline Oliveros, "On Sonic Meditation," in Software for People, Smith Publications, pp.138-157.

Derek Bailey, "Part Five," in Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice in Music, Da Capo Press, pp. 83-112.

listening:

Anthony Braxton 19 [Solo] Compositions selections

Kyle Bruckmann Gasps and Fissures selections

Pauline Oliveros Sound Fishes

May 1: Project presentations I

May 8: Project presentations II