Cage and contemporaries ' ' '

1
Cage and contemporaries . . .

• Indeterminacy
• Aleatoric (comes from alea, Latin for dice)
• Chance music

2
The New Virtuosity of the Modern Age

• Postwar Era

3
Techniques . . .

• Pianists
• Col pugno (with the fist)
• Pluck strings of the inside of a piano
• Violinists
• Tap, stroke or slap the instrument
• Vocalists
• Whisper, shout, hiss, etc.
• Instrumentalist
• Creative techniques to produce different sounds

4
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)mystic and
visionary

• Studied in Paris
• Feels that art is the ideal expression of
  religious faith
• Love of nature (hear bird calls in his music)
• Was drawn to older music (Gregorian)
• Wrote organ, piano, vocal, orchestral music

5
Prisoner years

• Wrote Quartet for the End of Time
• p. 632-633

6
Pierre Boulez (France) b. 1925I think that
music should be magic and collective hysteria

• Most important modern French composer
• Studied under Messiaen
• Fell under the spell of Debussy, then Stravinsky
  . . . then Webern
• Serial composer
• gentle lyricism to furious Expressionism

7
Boulez The Hammer Without a Master

• A suite of 9 movements based on poems (by Rene
  Char)
• Scored for alto voice and 6 instruments
• Alto flute, guitar and viola (prominent)
• Also percussion instruments
• Doesnt try to make the words clear
• Nos. 1, 3, 7 (p. 637-638)

8
George Crumb (b. 1929)

• Received the 1968 Pulitzer Prize in Music
• Musical America Composer of the Year 2004
• 6 honorary degrees
• Grammy for Best Contemporary Composition 2001
• Emotional music within contemporary framework

9
Crumbs Ancient Voices of Children

• 1970
• Song cycle (5 songs and 2 instrumental
  interludes)
• Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca
• Set for soprano, boy soprano, oboe, mandolin,
  harp, electric piano and percussion
• Description of techniques, top of p. 641

10
433

• p. 645