Questions of Music in the Twentieth Century

Linda Kiekel

Northern State University

MUS 735: American Music Survey

Dr. Marla Fogderud

May 1, 2023
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QUESTIONS OF MUSIC
The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have brought changes to the nature of music

that were previously unimaginable. As composers of the last one hundred and twenty years

have challenged the boundaries of music, and as technology has advanced the spread of

music across the globe, musicians have been forced to ask many questions to understand

what they are hearing. These questions are opportunities for classical music to expand and

adapt to the ever-changing pace of life.

Question 1: Serialism and Chance Music

The Role of the Performer in Serial Music

The first part of this question asks us to consider, how much of a role does the

performer play in the performance of serial music? The question assumes that since serial

music is written with measured detail, little is left for the performer to interpret. However,

before addressing this question, we must also ask: how much creative license do performers

of classical music (the genre) actually have? The question seems to assume that performers of

earlier classical music have more interpretive license than those who perform serial music.

However, broad consideration of the scores of music written in the classical period and after

leaves very little for the performer to decide. Tempo, pitch, duration, dynamics and tone are

all prescribed by modern musical notation. The performer is left to interpret the minute

details of realization, but a faithful performance by one performer will sound very similar to a

faithful performance by another.

In her 2009 dissertation, Sheri Lee described five interpretive decisions that a

performer can make when playing serial music. How literal are the dynamic markings? What

exact tempo should be taken (when not strictly given)? How to interpret the phrases? Should

the notes be exact or expressive? What instrumental techniques should be used (for example,

using string crossings or shifting positions)? All of these decisions, although minute, are what

separate one performance of serial music apart from another.

interpretive license (2009). Schoenberg’s Phantasy for Violin with Piano Accompaniment,

Op. 47, is one such example. An early recording by Robert Gross (1965) contrasts a more

contemporary recording by Jennifer Koh (2000). The length of the recording along shows

artistic difference. Gross’s recording is seven minutes, twenty-eight seconds, while Koh’s

recording is nine minutes in length. Koh’s performance feels more reflective, making

extensive use of dynamic differences, while Gross’s is measured and strong throughout.

The Role of the Composer in Chance Music

While western traditional music notation leaves very little for interpretation by the

performer, chance (or indeterminate) music does precisely the opposite. Chance music is that

in which the composer gives a set of parameters, but leaves large parts of the performance up

to chance or the discretion of the performer. John Cage is the recognized leader of chance

music, and his most well-known works in the genre include Fontana Mix, Cartridge Music,

and Variations I, II, and III (Lochhead, 1994). Cage chose to compose chance music in part

because it gave freedom to the performer, although he remarked that a performer of chance

music should start from silence with no likes or dislikes.

How much credit should a composer be given in the creation of a piece of chance

music? This may perhaps depend on the parameters set by the individual piece. Certainly, the

composer is the inspiration, and without his or her dictation the piece would not exist.

However, many pieces of chance music contain no direction as to the instrument(s) used or

how the performer should represent the notation as sound. Performances of Variations II by

Cage demonstrate just how varied the representation should be. David Tudor (1961)

performed the work on prepared piano, while Christopher Howard (2018) recorded it using a

microphone and folio-like sound effects. Neither rendition resembles the other in any way.
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Chance music does present a unique opportunity for the music classroom, as it is a

stepping stone for creativity and composition in a traditional ensemble. I have used Nicole

Puinno’s You Decide with my middle school concert band, and I think this piece could be

classified as chance music because Puinno allows the performers to choose which variation

of the score they will use at any given point. 13 Moons by Jodie Blackshaw is another piece

of chance music that is accessible for middle and high school musicians while involving the

students heavily in the composition process.

Question 2: Smaller vs. Larger Music Forms

In June 2022, Classic FM posted an article titled “10 pieces of classical music that

will 100% change your life.” The shortest piece on the list is a single-movement string

quartet by Beethoven, at approximately 16 minutes in length. No other work on the list is

shorter than thirty minutes, and most require an hour or more to hear the whole work. But

how much reach do these works have to those who are not in the habit of attending classical

music concerts?

Most pieces of classical music that are considered significant are large works and

represent the masterpiece of a composer’s career. Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Ninth

Symphony, and Dvorak’s New World Symphony all fall in this category, and moments from

these works are recognized around the world even by those who do not actively listen to

classical music. Large works of music have the space to express musical ideas, develop

complex themes, and explore various timbres, harmonies, and emotions.

But what about pieces that are smaller, either by instrumentation or by length? How

can these pieces leave a lasting impression? The answer becomes clearer when recalling that

most famous works are only recognized by their iconic themes. The average person would

not recognize the opening measures of Beethoven’s ninth symphony, only the ending. The

Habanera from Carmen is having a moment in meme culture, but how many influencers
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would know the Act 1 Introduction from the same score? And many non-musicians recognize

“The Swan” from Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, but how many of the same people

could identify the less-graceful Elephant theme?

This tendency to know only short portions of larger songs may be an effect of

shortened attention spans. Research has shown that people’s attention spans have shortened

in tandem with the elevated importance of technology and social media (Mills, 2023). While

many blame the internet for this problem, in actuality the attention span for music listening

has been shortening since the dawn of recorded music (Taffel, 2014). Before records made

music available in every home, consumers of music had to attend live concerts where they

were required to focus their attention on the music for several hours. The length-limitation of

records meant that people were now listening to music in shorter segments, and in later

decades the significance of the album faded as people could purchase digital copies of a

single song. Today, streaming services and smart phones make it possible to take music

anywhere, and rarely do I sit down to listen to music without also doing something else. The

effect of the shortened attention span is not limited to classical music. According to a

Samsung report released in 2020, the average popular music hit is now well below four

minutes long (Shotwell, 2021). These songs also have to be attention-grabbing from the very

beginning in order to keep the listener from skipping to the next track.

But it is not only long pieces of ensemble music that have declined in the last century.

Chamber music, (including solo music) both long and short is also less known by the general

public. There are many exceptions, for example Fur Elise and Bach’s cello suites, but even

then, most well-known chamber works are written for piano, violin, or cello. Why is this? For

whatever reason, I think that the general public, if inclined to listen to live classical music, is

more likely to attend an orchestra concert than an oboe recital. Music for tends to be less

nuanced and more impressive than chamber music, which might make it more accessible to
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the average individual. The entry Chamber Music in the Britannica Encyclopedia describes

the genre’s original support by English nobility, and its current status of existence mostly

within academia. In earlier centuries chamber music was played extensively in the home and

at small gatherings, but it has been replaced in culture by popular music styles.

There are many works which I consider to be powerful even though they are short and

unassuming in their production. Perhaps the best example of this is Barber’s Adagio for

Strings. Although Barber first wrote this music as the second movement of a string quartet,

the movement has become a complete work in its own right, especially because Barber later

orchestrated only the Adagio for string orchestra. This work is recognized in the broader

culture as a lament and is often performed in concerts that commemorate serious events (for

example, the annual Martin Luther King Day performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra).

Performances of the Adagio are usually between 8-9 minutes in length.

Another small-scale work that has made a powerful impact on my own life is

Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, written for a church choir with accompaniment by a small

string ensemble and organ. The motet is only forty-six measures long but in those short bars

Mozart expresses great reverence and awe for the Savior and his redemptive death on the

cross. The words have great spiritual significance to me, but even without them the restraint

of the performance is haunting. Although this motet is not well-known outside of classical

music, I think it deserves to be, and I show it to my students every year.

Schubert’s Erlkönig for male voice and piano is just over 4 minutes long, making it

comparable to the average pop song. The song requires the singer to develop separate voices

for three characters and the narrator, all while accompanied by the frantic beats of horse

hooves on the piano. The gothic quality of the lyrics, which were originally a poem by

Goethe, give this song a haunting appeal. This is another work of classical music that I think
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should be as well-known as the big hits, and I also show this one to my choir students each

year.

In conclusion, shortened attention spans have certainly affected the appeal of classical

music, and this trend began well before the internet and social media took over our lives.

However, I think that the most significant result of this phenomenon is that we only recognize

and engage with the most iconic moments of large works, leaving very little space for short

or less showy works in the same genre. However, there are many pieces of classical music

that, though unimpressive at first glance, deserve their own moment in the spotlight.

Question 3: Accessibility and Value

The prompt for this third question reminded me of the quote by Charles Ives “that

music must be heard is not essential” (Hitchcock & Gaines, 2000). Ives did not depend on the

general public hearing his music, and his work only became well-known late in his life, after

he had finished most of his compositions. Ives was one of the first to completely remove the

barriers of music composition, and since his time each generation of composers have gone

over and beyond the conventional, trying to set themselves apart.

As the list of what has been done before becomes longer and longer, composers

reached more into the ridiculous and unattainable. Sometimes composers write music that

others claim is impossible to perform, but later on someone proves them wrong. Other times,

the technical or instrumental demands are so unrealistic that the works are only performed

obscurely, if at all. I hope that composers of this music realize what they are doing and have

other ideals than the popularity of their works.

Wagner’s Ring Cycle is an example of a work (or actually four works) that seems

impossible to perform (Schwarm, 2023). The cycle consists of four full-scale operas that are

meant to be performed on back-to-back nights, and cumulatively total fifteen hours of music.

It took Wagner twenty-six years to finish the cycle, and the Festspielhaus in Germany was
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QUESTIONS OF MUSIC
built specifically for performances of this work. Although the length and set challenges make

this work still seem impossible to stage, it is still performed yearly at the Bayreuth Festival

and around the world.

Havergal Brian’s Gothic Symphony is another work that is to unrealistic to be often

performed (Weilerstein, 2021). Aside from its length of over two hours, the score also

requires over 800 musicians. Brian wrote the work as a response to the horrors he

experienced as a soldier in World War I, and it took him eight years to complete it. The piece

has been fully performed only six times since its completion.

Perhaps the most outrageous requirements for a single work are in Scriabin’s

Mysterium (Wikipedia, 2023). The work was only an idea in Scriabin’s head, which he

started to write down but never finished. Alexander Nemtin used Scriabin’s notes to faithfully

scribe them into a three-hour work in three parts. Although the work has been attempted, no

performance has fully met Scriabin’s intentions, because he instructed that the work be

performed in a large cathedral built for the purpose in the Indian Himalayas. A large choir,

orchestra, and troupe of dancers are only part of the performers who would take part. Scriabin

predicted that after this performance, the end of humanity would come.

What is the value of music like this that is impossible to actually perform (or nearly

so)? To answer this question, we must first ask, what determines the value of a piece of

music? Economics teaches us that a thing only has value because we deem it so. There are

many reasons why we might consider a piece of music valuable. The piece might be popular

and enjoyable. We might appreciate a piece of music because speaks to the human

experience, connecting with our emotions. Or, a piece of music might be innovative or even

ground breaking for its place in music history. Any of the pieces listed above might fit one or

all three of these categories, even if it is rarely performed.

can access digital media from all around the world, does a musical work need to be easily

reproducible in a concert in order to reach a large audience? YouTube quickly shows us that

no, it does not. Eric Whitacre’s virtual choir piece Sing Gently is one example of this

(Whitacre, 2020). The piece was written to be performed with by virtual choir and was

released to YouTube in the summer of 2020. Though the piece can be performed by any live

choir, the original intent of the piece lives on through its recording, which at the time of this

writing has been viewed 2.1 million times.

When a composer chooses to do something that has never been tried before, or

something that is extremely difficult to do, they ought to recognize that their work may not be

performed very often or reach a large audience. However, the work may still be worth writing

if it will contribute to the growth of musical ideas or it speaks to the human experience.

Advances in technology today make it possible to reach a wide audience with a video of only

one performance, and so we can still appreciate music that is not easily reproducible

according to the composer’s intentions.

Classic FM. (2022, June 21). 10 pieces of classical music that will 100% change your life.

Classic FM. https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/best-classical-music-works/

Gross, R. (Robert Gross – Topic). (2022 December 17). Phantasy for violin with piano

accompaniment, 0p. 47 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=fJV1z8WHGF4

Hitchcock, H. W. & Gann, K. (2020). Music in the United States: A historical introduction.

(4th ed.). Prentice Hall.

Howard, C. (Christopher Howard – Percussion). (2018, November 7). John Cage –

Variations II [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/owrQJADlqd4

Koh, J. (Jennifer Koh – Topic). (2018, August 11). Phantasy, 0p. 47 [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kquQnbsuLmw

Lochhead, J. I. (1994). Performance practice in the indeterminate works of John Cage.

Performance Practice Review, 7(2), 233-241. DOI: 10.5642/perfpr.199407.02.11

Mills, K. (host). (2023, February 8). Why our attention spans are shrinking, with Gloria

Mark, PhD, No 225. [Audio podcast episode]. In Speaking of psychology. American

Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-

psychology/attention-spans

Mysterium (Scriabin). (2023, April 19). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?

title=Mysterium_(Scriabin)&oldid=1150726429

Schwarm, B. (2023, February 1). Der Ring des Nibelungen. Encyclopedia Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Der-Ring-des-Nibelungen

Shotwell, J. (MusicBiz). (2021, January 6). Why short songs are big hits, according to

science! [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJsnlvqGmf4

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/the-attention-span-gap/

Tudor, D. (David Tudor – Topic). (2014, November 8). Variations II [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh84CsVCsX8

Weilerstein, J. (2021, July 22). Havergal Brian, "Gothic Symphony". [Audio podcast

episode]. In Sticky notes: The classical music podcast. Liberated Synidcation, Inc.

https://stickynotespodcast.libsyn.com/havergal-brian-gothic-symphony

Whitacre, E. (Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir). (2020, July 20). Eric Whitacre's virtual choir 6:

Sing gently [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InULYfJHKI0