Lawrence Kramer
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520267053
- eISBN:
- 9780520947368
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520267053.003.0015
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
Performance has generated a great deal of interest lately, often coupled with a demotion of the musical work as both fact and value. The critiques come in two broad forms. The first concentrates on ...
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Performance has generated a great deal of interest lately, often coupled with a demotion of the musical work as both fact and value. The critiques come in two broad forms. The first concentrates on the occasion of musical experience, while the second involves a reversal of the traditional, quasi-metaphysical hierarchy of work over performance. This chapter focuses on musical meaning and musical performance. It tropes lightly on the title of a classic little book by Edward T. Cone, Musical Form and Musical Performance. The trope, literally the turn, a turning away or turning aside, lies in the substitution of meaning for form. This change epitomizes much of the recent history of musicology, and reorients musical understanding. It turns from an implicit statement of hierarchy (form over performance) to an implicit statement of reciprocity (meaning with performance). Cone's question was how musical performance, meaning the performance of classical scores, could realize the immanent structures of musical works.Less
Performance has generated a great deal of interest lately, often coupled with a demotion of the musical work as both fact and value. The critiques come in two broad forms. The first concentrates on the occasion of musical experience, while the second involves a reversal of the traditional, quasi-metaphysical hierarchy of work over performance. This chapter focuses on musical meaning and musical performance. It tropes lightly on the title of a classic little book by Edward T. Cone, Musical Form and Musical Performance. The trope, literally the turn, a turning away or turning aside, lies in the substitution of meaning for form. This change epitomizes much of the recent history of musicology, and reorients musical understanding. It turns from an implicit statement of hierarchy (form over performance) to an implicit statement of reciprocity (meaning with performance). Cone's question was how musical performance, meaning the performance of classical scores, could realize the immanent structures of musical works.
Rebecca M. Bodenheimer
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781628462395
- eISBN:
- 9781626746886
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628462395.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
Derived from the nationalist writings of José Martí, the concept of Cubanidad (Cubanness) has always imagined a unified hybrid nation where racial difference is nonexistent and nationality trumps all ...
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Derived from the nationalist writings of José Martí, the concept of Cubanidad (Cubanness) has always imagined a unified hybrid nation where racial difference is nonexistent and nationality trumps all other axes of identity. Scholars have critiqued this celebration of racial mixture, highlighting a gap between the claim of racial harmony and the realities of inequality faced by Afro-Cubans since Independence in 1898. This book argues that it is not only the recognition of racial difference that threatens to divide the nation, but that popular regional sentiment further contests the hegemonic nationalist discourse. Given that music is a prominent symbol of Cubanidad, musical practices play an important role in constructing regional and local, as well as national, identities, and the book thus suggests that regional identity exerts a significant influence on the aesthetic choices Cuban musicians make. Through the examination of several genres, the book explores the various ways that race and the politics of place are entangled in contemporary Cuban music-making. It argues that racialized discourses that circulate about different cities affect both the formation of local identity and musical performance. Thus, the musical practices discussed—including rumba, timba, eastern Cuban folklore, and son—are examples of the intersections between regional identity formation, racialized notions of place, and music-making.Less
Derived from the nationalist writings of José Martí, the concept of Cubanidad (Cubanness) has always imagined a unified hybrid nation where racial difference is nonexistent and nationality trumps all other axes of identity. Scholars have critiqued this celebration of racial mixture, highlighting a gap between the claim of racial harmony and the realities of inequality faced by Afro-Cubans since Independence in 1898. This book argues that it is not only the recognition of racial difference that threatens to divide the nation, but that popular regional sentiment further contests the hegemonic nationalist discourse. Given that music is a prominent symbol of Cubanidad, musical practices play an important role in constructing regional and local, as well as national, identities, and the book thus suggests that regional identity exerts a significant influence on the aesthetic choices Cuban musicians make. Through the examination of several genres, the book explores the various ways that race and the politics of place are entangled in contemporary Cuban music-making. It argues that racialized discourses that circulate about different cities affect both the formation of local identity and musical performance. Thus, the musical practices discussed—including rumba, timba, eastern Cuban folklore, and son—are examples of the intersections between regional identity formation, racialized notions of place, and music-making.
Simms Bryan
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- March 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780190931445
- eISBN:
- 9780190931476
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190931445.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
In this chapter Berg’s service in the Austrian military is outlined. He began as an officer trainee in the infantry, but a health crisis led to his reassignment in guard duty and later in office work ...
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In this chapter Berg’s service in the Austrian military is outlined. He began as an officer trainee in the infantry, but a health crisis led to his reassignment in guard duty and later in office work at the War Ministry in Vienna. He had a lifelong belief in predestination, which he increasingly perceived in circular patterns and occurrences. His superstitious interest in numbers focused on the number twenty-three, which he saw as his fateful number. His belief in fate and numerology had a growing influence on his music. Berg’s progress on the opera Wozzeck was delayed by his military service and also by major confrontations with those in his family, especially over the sale of family property. Around 1920 Berg even considered making his main profession that of a writer on musical topics, and he wrote polemics attacking the ideas of Hans Pfitzner and Viennese music critics at this time. Eventually he put aside his activity as a writer and returned to composing, to complete his opera Wozzeck.Less
In this chapter Berg’s service in the Austrian military is outlined. He began as an officer trainee in the infantry, but a health crisis led to his reassignment in guard duty and later in office work at the War Ministry in Vienna. He had a lifelong belief in predestination, which he increasingly perceived in circular patterns and occurrences. His superstitious interest in numbers focused on the number twenty-three, which he saw as his fateful number. His belief in fate and numerology had a growing influence on his music. Berg’s progress on the opera Wozzeck was delayed by his military service and also by major confrontations with those in his family, especially over the sale of family property. Around 1920 Berg even considered making his main profession that of a writer on musical topics, and he wrote polemics attacking the ideas of Hans Pfitzner and Viennese music critics at this time. Eventually he put aside his activity as a writer and returned to composing, to complete his opera Wozzeck.
