The Wind Works Of Louis Andriessen: A History And Comparative Analysis

Louis Andriessen is the most important composer from the Dutch school of the late twentieth century, if not arguably the most important western art music composer from the Netherlands itself. He took a pioneering role in European minimalism, while also shunning the traditional orchestra and string based ensembles. Given his small catalogue of works for traditional orchestra, many of his major works have had limited performances. This is disappointing, especially since pieces such as De Staat are considered cornerstone works in the post-modernist period. Andriessen wrote many of his wind pieces for Orkest de Volharding, an ensemble whose instrumentation can be most easily described as a modified jazz band. Given that musicologists consider many major composers’ catalogue of wind music ancillary, this document aims to show Andriessen’s Orkest de Volharding works are representative of his oeuvre. To demonstrate this, I will trace the major compositional traits of the composer within these pieces, namely: the influence of Bach and Stravinsky, minimalism, jazz, quotations, and classicism. The opening chapters outline the historical developments leading to the founding of Orkest de Volharding and discuss each of the aforementioned compositional traits of Andriessen. A comparative analysis of five of Andriessen’s works for Orkest de Volharding follows this introduction: On Jimmy Yancey (1973), De Stijl (1984–5), M is for Man, Music, Mozart (1991), Passeggiata in Tram in America e Ritorno (1998), and RUTTMANN Opus II, III, IV (2003). For each work, a formal analysis will illuminate the characteristic compositional style of Andriessen. I hope this document will lead to further interest and increased performances of these pieces

Freezing the Music and Fetishising the Subject: The Audiovisual Dramaturgy of Michel van der Aa

When, with our eyes shut we run our hands along a surface, the rubbing of our fingers against the surface, and especially the varied play of our joints, provide a series of sensations, which differ only by their qualities and which exhibit a certain order in time. In this paper, I will explore the sonic relationship of sound to the development of new imaging technologies through Atomic Force Microscopes (AFM). In 2003, UCLA scientist, James Gimzewski, positioned a sensitive instrument called an atomic force microscope over a cell to try to detect its motion and the microscope picked up regular vibrations. These vibrations can be translated to sound files so one can listen to variations on various material structures at an atomic level. Anne Niemetz, a sound artist who worked on the 2004 Nano exhibition, suggests that, “the AFM can be regarded as a new type of musical instrument.” The issues of the relationship of nanotechnology to sound will be clarified through a discussion of my current research on the molecular particles that exist at the point of transition between the skin and gold. The data gathered at an atomic level is investigated to present sonically what is transferred at the point where the materials of skin and gold make contact. The idea of contact is related to the way that the AFM scan the surface of objects not by optics but by touch. The small stylus, ten nanometres at its tip, is analogous to the old record player stylus as it touches the grooves. Working at a molecular level, nano technologies offer new ways of exploring the infinitely small sonically by defying ocular-centrism and constructing sonic maps of new post-perspectival spatialities

The minimal kaleidoscope: exploring minimal music through the lens of postmodernity

Both minimal(ism) and postmodern(ism/ity) are terms that occupy a peculiar space in contemporary discourse: in academic circles their characterisation is contested and debated in everyday life they have become so ubiquitous that everyone associates them with something, but not necessarily with any degree of consensus. Both become widely recognised terms during the latter half of the twentieth century: decades characterised by unprecedented globalisation of culture and communication. This thesis seeks to explore the emergence of these terms, and the events they sought to describe, but it does not attempt to impose a 'correct' definition on either term. Instead, the thesis investigates the discourse that surrounds each concept, assembling a network of ideas that characterise those terms. I will demonstrate that each label acts as a signpost to a flexible collection of theories and characteristics, and argue that minimalism can be seen as a significant cultural response to an emerging postmodernity. The structure of this thesis has been informed by the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari, particularly their writings on rhizomatic thought. Their thinking is not the subject of this research, but is the inspiration for a particular attitude to ideas that has been used as a structuring device for the text: that is, a structure that hopes to demonstrate the interconnectedness of contemporary experience. The image of the kaleidoscope is used as a metaphor for this rhizomatic approach. While the physical object represents the 'totality that many regard postmodernity to be, the experience of viewing a kaleidoscope the constantly shifting parts and the resultant patterns that we recognise is imagined as an illustration of the way that postmodernity and minimalism can be understood. Three parts magnify these terms in increasing detail. The first explores postmodern discourse and its relationship to culture. The second examines the development of, and critical response to, minimalism. The third takes a single composer, Louis Andriessen, and attempts to show how the postmodern condition frames his creativity, and his particular response to minimalism. All of these parts contain connections within and between, each part. While these connections will often be alluded to, I have tried to avoid solidifying these relationships in a way that might appear too 'linear' so as to invite the reader to participate in the interpretive process, and to retain the openness so characteristic of Deleuzian thought

Whose voices? The fate of Luigi Nono’s 'Voci destroying muros'

Luigi Nono's Voci destroying muros for female voices and small orchestra was performed for the first and only time at the Holland Festival in 1970. A setting of texts by female prisoners and factory workers, it marks a sharp stylistic departure from Nono's political music of the 1960s by virtue of its audible quotations of revolutionary songs, its readily intelligible text setting, and especially its retention of the diatonic structure of the song on which the piece is based, the communist “Internationale.” Nono's decision, following the premiere, to withdraw the work from his catalogue suggests that he came to regard it as transgressing an important boundary in his engagement with “current reality.” I examine the work and its withdrawal in the context of discourses within the Italian left in the 1960s that accused the intellectuals of the Partito Comunista Italiano of unhelpfully mediating the class struggle. Nono's contentious reading of Antonio Gramsci, offered as justification for his avant-garde compositional style, certainly provided fuel for this critique. But Voci destroying muros suggests receptivity on the part of the composer—albeit only momentary—to achieving a more direct representation of the voices of the dispossessed

Capital: A Contemporary Opera in Two Acts

Capital is a two act opera which incorporates a range of different stylistic elements as a means of communicating with a broad audience and promoting discourse about the future of the city of Canberra. This dissertation encompasses a detailed exegesis of my research as well as the final score of the opera. Together they are designed to support the proposition that opera can retain a socially relevant role today. Such a proposition sits in stark contrast to statistics that demonstrate a serious decline in interest in all classical music genres in the last few decades. Opera has been reinvigorated at different historical points by embracing heterogeneous elements, engaging interactively with audiences, and addressing socially relevant concerns. Many commentators, particularly Theodor Adorno, have looked to Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute as the ideal model for an opera that both entertains and edifies the audience. This thesis examines the strategies Mozart employed in his iconic opera. It also explores different compositional approaches taken by composers such as Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein, Larry Sitsky, John Adams, and Louis Andriessen, designed to achieve similar ends. The defining feature of such works is a willingness to incorporate culturally meaningful musical allusions that represent different perspectives and, through a process of recontextualisation, invite a reappraisal, revealing previously hidden facets of the original material. This approach is consistent with the practice of parody, as described by literary scholar, Linda Hutcheon. Parody was a common feature of the traditional opera buffa genre. It harks back to an earlier era, when music was valued for its functional utility rather than its structural unity or commercial success. Such operas have historically come to be overshadowed by a Wagnerian quest for an organically unified form of art, which, in accord with nineteenth-century aesthetic standards, should ideally eliminate all extraneous material and aspire to express a transcendent spiritual aura. In response to this, many twentieth- and twenty-first-century composers have been seeking to find an alternate role for opera by reclaiming it as an essentially heterogeneous art form that excels at parody. Capital is an opera that sits firmly within the parodic tradition. Like other works examined in this thesis, it embraces opera as a heterogeneous mix of art forms ultimately grounded in the hopes and aspirations of contemporary life. It is a work that favours diversity and debate rather than conformity and unity. It challenges the long- standing paradigm that separates classical and popular music on a hierarchical basis, accepting that both might be legitimate sources for music which seeks to play a functional role in contemporary discourses. By engaging with local issues, and incorporating a unique mix of heterogeneous elements, Capital makes an original contribution to opera in Australia

The Choral Hierarchy Examined: The Presence of Repertoire for Women\u27s Choirs in Monographs on Choral Literature and Choral History

Women\u27s choirs have been perceived as less prestigious than and inferior to mixed choirs. There is a well-documented choral hierarchy in academia that favors mixed choirs above other choir types. Most frequently, the delineation of the choral hierarchy places women\u27s choirs at the bottom. Books about choral literature and choral history are influential media for those selecting repertoire for choirs. In this study, the monographs recommended as resources on choral literature and choral history by the American Choral Directors Association were surveyed to ascertain the quantity and kind of repertoire included for women\u27s choirs as compared to the quantity and kind of repertoire included for other types of choirs in order to determine if the monographs reflected the choral hierarchy. Mixed choirs were found to have the highest percentage of works for each of the three monographs surveyed, followed by men\u27s, treble, women\u27s and children\u27s, and other type choirs. Arrangements for women\u27s choirs and compositions for women\u27s choir and at least one other choir type comprised very little of the women\u27s choir repertoire included. Commentary in the monographs regarding choir make-up was inconsistent across texts, and all failed to mention institutions significant in the development of the modern women\u27s choir, such as the Venetianospedali, GermanFrauenchor, and school and club choirs in the twentieth century. The research demonstrates a preference for mixed choirs in the monographs surveyed, both with regard to the percentage of repertoire mentioned and the history of choral music relayed. The research parallels the choral hierarchy in terms of the percent of repertoire included. The author, in agreement with previous scholarly suggestion, concludes that the choral hierarchy is detrimental to the choral art, and that a dual model consisting of supplementing with additional resources when studying choral literature and history and assimilating such information into new editions of standard literature would ameliorate the negative effects

Andriessen

Monografia che omaggia la figura di Louis Andriessen, compositore olandese voce significativa della vita musicale internazionale. L'antico, il moderno, l'esotico, il jazz, il rock e tutte le numerose ramificazioni del genere pop si sommano e si incrociano nei suoi lavori in una prospettiva capace di distinguere gli stili più disparati

Red Note New Music Festival Program, 2013

The RED NOTE New Music Festival at Illinois State University is a week-long event which features outstanding performances of contemporary concert music. (it will be someone new this coming spring)https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/rnf/1004/thumbnail.jp

Rediscovering the forgotten music of the Holocaust: the life and music of the Dutch-Jewish composer Sim Gokkes

The Dutch-Jewish composer Sim Gokkes was born in Amsterdam in 1897, later to be murdered, along with many other Dutch-Jewish composers, in Auschwitz in 1943. A victim of Nazi persecution, relatively little is known about his music as most of his compositions were lost or destroyed by the Nazis during World War II. This thesis includes an exploration of the contemporary political background in Germany and the Netherlands, an account of Gokkes’s life, musical background and how this, in turn, influenced his compositional work, with a particular reference to Gokkes’s juxtaposition of traditional, Jewish liturgical music and new compositional techniques in European art music of that time. Thus, the thesis serves to re-discover Gokkes’s largely forgotten works and contribute towards the development of a greater understanding of Dutch modern music in the first decades of the twentieth century. This is currently an understudied area. The first section of this thesis provides a historical background with details of the effects on Dutch music of the Nazi policy of condemning any music that was ‘degenerate’ and considered to manifest symptoms of national decline (Levi, 2001: 35-36). This included all works by Jewish composers in Germany, and later in the Netherlands. The second section is biographical, providing a detailed and chronological account of the composer’s life, his work as a composer and conductor and how this influenced his mature composing style and output, and finally his persecution at the hands of the Nazis. This section also touches upon how several Dutch composers, including Gokkes, were influenced by a rise in Jewish nationalism in music which started in Russia and spread across Europe in the early part of the twentieth century. It illustrates how Gokkes was arguably regarded as the most Jewish sounding of the Dutch-Jewish composers of the early twentieth century, due to his efforts to bring aspects of specifically Jewish musical thought into Dutch art-music practice. The third section is an overview and cultural analysis of Gokkes’s music, exploring Gokkes in the context of his Jewish faith and how his writing of both secular music and music for the synagogue was innovative while investigating the argument that he juxtaposed ancient Jewish techniques with modern Western art-music methods