Rebecca Mitchell
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300208894
- eISBN:
- 9780300216493
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300208894.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Russian and Former Soviet Union History
This chapter examines the philosophical sources and evolution of musical metaphysics in late imperial Russia. Derived from a combination of the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer ...
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This chapter examines the philosophical sources and evolution of musical metaphysics in late imperial Russia. Derived from a combination of the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer and Vladimir Solov’ev, this was an eclectic clash of ideas that evinced two fundamental components: music was seen as the ultimate form of unity; and it was believed to possess a theurgic power that could alter contemporary society. These assumptions gave rise to three basic beliefs that defined musical metaphysics: music could create social, cultural or political unity in response to the divisions of modernity; the experience of music offered a means of transcending linear temporality (musical time) through the experience of a “mystery”; and these powers of music were to be embodied in the music of a contemporary Russian “Orpheus”. The chapter concludes with an assessment of musical metaphysics’ shortcomings, embodied in the failure of Nietzsche’s orphans to bridge the social chasm between themselves and the common people (narod).Less
This chapter examines the philosophical sources and evolution of musical metaphysics in late imperial Russia. Derived from a combination of the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer and Vladimir Solov’ev, this was an eclectic clash of ideas that evinced two fundamental components: music was seen as the ultimate form of unity; and it was believed to possess a theurgic power that could alter contemporary society. These assumptions gave rise to three basic beliefs that defined musical metaphysics: music could create social, cultural or political unity in response to the divisions of modernity; the experience of music offered a means of transcending linear temporality (musical time) through the experience of a “mystery”; and these powers of music were to be embodied in the music of a contemporary Russian “Orpheus”. The chapter concludes with an assessment of musical metaphysics’ shortcomings, embodied in the failure of Nietzsche’s orphans to bridge the social chasm between themselves and the common people (narod).
Aniruddh D. Patel
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195123753
- eISBN:
- 9780199848034
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195123753.003.0004
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience
While conventional dictionary definitions would commonly set the concept of melody in the context of musical time, such definitions fall short because melody cannot be confined to music—the term is ...
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While conventional dictionary definitions would commonly set the concept of melody in the context of musical time, such definitions fall short because melody cannot be confined to music—the term is also used by linguists to refer to organized patterns of pitch within speech. Melody, if defined as “an organized sequence of pitches that conveys a rich variety of information to a listener” may be able to cover both speech and music for two different reasons. For one, melodies are sequences of tone that contain a wide variety of information. Also, such tone sequences stimulate rich mental patterns for the listener. To address how music and speech compare in terms of cognitive processing and structure, this chapter concentrates on intonation—organized sequences of pitch at the postlexical level. Also, the chapter studies how music is linked with linguistic intonation that suggests structural information.Less
While conventional dictionary definitions would commonly set the concept of melody in the context of musical time, such definitions fall short because melody cannot be confined to music—the term is also used by linguists to refer to organized patterns of pitch within speech. Melody, if defined as “an organized sequence of pitches that conveys a rich variety of information to a listener” may be able to cover both speech and music for two different reasons. For one, melodies are sequences of tone that contain a wide variety of information. Also, such tone sequences stimulate rich mental patterns for the listener. To address how music and speech compare in terms of cognitive processing and structure, this chapter concentrates on intonation—organized sequences of pitch at the postlexical level. Also, the chapter studies how music is linked with linguistic intonation that suggests structural information.
Michael Tenzer
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195177893
- eISBN:
- 9780199864843
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177893.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
This chapter is an introduction to and analysis of modern Balinese gamelan music, including: Time and Culture in Music; Balinese Gamelan; Basics of Balinese Gamelan via Oleg; Oleg's Architecture I: ...
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This chapter is an introduction to and analysis of modern Balinese gamelan music, including: Time and Culture in Music; Balinese Gamelan; Basics of Balinese Gamelan via Oleg; Oleg's Architecture I: Tempo and Dynamics; Oleg's Architecture II: Melody and Figuration; and An Experience of Oleg, and the Uses it May Have.Less
This chapter is an introduction to and analysis of modern Balinese gamelan music, including: Time and Culture in Music; Balinese Gamelan; Basics of Balinese Gamelan via Oleg; Oleg's Architecture I: Tempo and Dynamics; Oleg's Architecture II: Melody and Figuration; and An Experience of Oleg, and the Uses it May Have.
Steve Reich
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195151152
- eISBN:
- 9780199850044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195151152.003.0054
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter presents Reich's response to a question about the next 150 years posed by The Musical Times as part of its 150th anniversary issue in February 1994. He says that while it is obviously ...
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This chapter presents Reich's response to a question about the next 150 years posed by The Musical Times as part of its 150th anniversary issue in February 1994. He says that while it is obviously impossible to say what will be the case 150 years from now in terms of classical music, clearly present tendencies and problems will lead to a very different situation than the one we find today. He is particularly interested in how digital sampling will be developed by composers, since that allows the use of literally any sound played by keyboard, percussion pad, or other instrument within a musical ensemble.Less
This chapter presents Reich's response to a question about the next 150 years posed by The Musical Times as part of its 150th anniversary issue in February 1994. He says that while it is obviously impossible to say what will be the case 150 years from now in terms of classical music, clearly present tendencies and problems will lead to a very different situation than the one we find today. He is particularly interested in how digital sampling will be developed by composers, since that allows the use of literally any sound played by keyboard, percussion pad, or other instrument within a musical ensemble.
Karol Berger
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520250918
- eISBN:
- 9780520933699
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520250918.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter introduces the main themes and arguments of the book, claiming that, in the later eighteenth century, European art music began to take seriously the flow of time from past to future. ...
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This chapter introduces the main themes and arguments of the book, claiming that, in the later eighteenth century, European art music began to take seriously the flow of time from past to future. Until then, music was simply “in time”; “earlier” and “later” mattered little to the way it was experienced and understood. From that point on, music added the experience of linear time, of time's arrow, to its essential subject matter. It could no longer be experienced with understanding unless one recognized the temporal ordering of events. The chapter also argues that this change in the shape of musical time was not a development internal to music alone, but rather, with the onset of modernity, part of a larger transformation in the way educated Europeans began to conceive of time.Less
This chapter introduces the main themes and arguments of the book, claiming that, in the later eighteenth century, European art music began to take seriously the flow of time from past to future. Until then, music was simply “in time”; “earlier” and “later” mattered little to the way it was experienced and understood. From that point on, music added the experience of linear time, of time's arrow, to its essential subject matter. It could no longer be experienced with understanding unless one recognized the temporal ordering of events. The chapter also argues that this change in the shape of musical time was not a development internal to music alone, but rather, with the onset of modernity, part of a larger transformation in the way educated Europeans began to conceive of time.
Amy C. Beal
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520247550
- eISBN:
- 9780520932814
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520247550.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter outlines the extent of John Cage's influence in Darmstadt and elsewhere and documents how German composers, musicians, critics, and patrons reacted to American experimentalism. It ...
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This chapter outlines the extent of John Cage's influence in Darmstadt and elsewhere and documents how German composers, musicians, critics, and patrons reacted to American experimentalism. It suggests that Cage's ideas had helped introduce greater freedom in the use of musical material, new ways of working with musical time, and works based on process and conceptual compositions. Several articles published in the late 1950s and Cage's own articles also helped enhance West German conceptions of an American experimental tradition.Less
This chapter outlines the extent of John Cage's influence in Darmstadt and elsewhere and documents how German composers, musicians, critics, and patrons reacted to American experimentalism. It suggests that Cage's ideas had helped introduce greater freedom in the use of musical material, new ways of working with musical time, and works based on process and conceptual compositions. Several articles published in the late 1950s and Cage's own articles also helped enhance West German conceptions of an American experimental tradition.
Karol Berger
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520250918
- eISBN:
- 9780520933699
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520250918.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This book examines works by Monteverdi, Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven to support two claims: first, that it was only in the later eighteenth century that music began to take the flow of time from the ...
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This book examines works by Monteverdi, Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven to support two claims: first, that it was only in the later eighteenth century that music began to take the flow of time from the past to the future seriously; second, that this change in the structure of musical time was an aspect of a larger transformation in the way educated Europeans began to imagine and think about time with the onset of modernity, a part of a shift from the premodern Christian outlook to the modern post-Christian worldview. Until this historical moment, as the author illustrates in his analysis of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, music was simply “in time.” Its successive events unfolded one after another, but the distinction between past and future, earlier and later, was not central to the way the music was experienced and understood. However, after the shift, as the author finds in looking at Mozart's Don Giovanni, the experience of linear time is transformed into music's essential subject matter; the cycle of time unbends and becomes an arrow. The book complements these musical case studies with a survey of the philosophical, theological, and literary trends influencing artists during this period.Less
This book examines works by Monteverdi, Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven to support two claims: first, that it was only in the later eighteenth century that music began to take the flow of time from the past to the future seriously; second, that this change in the structure of musical time was an aspect of a larger transformation in the way educated Europeans began to imagine and think about time with the onset of modernity, a part of a shift from the premodern Christian outlook to the modern post-Christian worldview. Until this historical moment, as the author illustrates in his analysis of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, music was simply “in time.” Its successive events unfolded one after another, but the distinction between past and future, earlier and later, was not central to the way the music was experienced and understood. However, after the shift, as the author finds in looking at Mozart's Don Giovanni, the experience of linear time is transformed into music's essential subject matter; the cycle of time unbends and becomes an arrow. The book complements these musical case studies with a survey of the philosophical, theological, and literary trends influencing artists during this period.
