Crumb Musical Time

s s ii

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AN ANALYSIS OF MUSICAL TIME IN SELECTED WORKS BY GEORGE CRUMB

A th e s is subm it ted to the G raduat e Fac ult y of Mc Gi ll U n ive rsity

in p a rtia l fulfil lm en t of the re qui rement s

for the degree of Master of Arts

by JOHN Mac KAY 't

Thesis su p e rv iso r: Paul V. Pedersen

f

Fac ulty o f Mu bic >

McGi ll U n iv e rs ity _ Augus t 1979

M on treal, Q ueb ec

'{C) John MacKay August 1979 4

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The author gratefully acknowledges the co-operation

o f C.F. P ete rs C orporation a nd Bel win M ill s P ub lishing -.

Corporat ion f o r th e ir permissi on to re prod uce the various

excer pts referre d to i n t h is st udy. A spe cial not e of

■thanks is owed to George C rumb fo r h is p e rs o n a l commun ication offering both the encouragement of his interest

in th is th e sis as w el l a s val uabl e advice in t he selection

of co mpos itions for de tai led a n a ly sis ..

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ABSTRACT

The approach taken in th is study of m usical time ,

is based on the differences between various contemporary

con ceptions o f m usical f orm a nd the d is tin c tio n made in*

cu rrent th e o re tic a l w rit ings bet we en ob jective an d

sub jective m usi cal experience. A discu ssion of t he

b a s i c e le m e n ts o f Ge orge Cru m b's m u s ic a l la n g u ag e e x p lo re s

h is inte g ratio n of tonal an d t imbral m ateria ls a nd discusses

a n umber of im po rtan t influe nc es on h is music fr om both

f ' ■ b

tra d itio n a l and av an t"gard e-styles. As fou nd in the an alysis

o f se lec ted wor ks ("No pi en sa m en la ll u v ia .. ." , Madri gal s

( Bk. I , Echoes o f Time and th e R ive r, Dream Seq uen ce/ lux

' ' >•

A et em a , and Music f o r a summer Ev enin g) mu ch o,f th e u nique

e ff e c t of Cru mb' s mus ic can .be understood in te rms of his

control of t he c la rity of fo rma l pa tt ern ing and his struc turing

o f long r ange rhythmic devel opment. ' The conclud ing d isc u ssio n

com par es and c o n tra st s Crumb 's musi c w ith th a t o f tw o o the r

con tem po rary Am erican com posers. • „"r'

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ABREGE

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f C ette §tu de de temps m usical pre nd comme p o in t

t _{de pa rt pr emid re ment , la differen ce c on sidera ble q ui ex iste}

r

en tre les d iv er se a' conc eptions contemporaines de la forme

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m usical e, e t en de ux iem e temps , la d is tin c tio n en tre les

^ I *

experiences su b jec tive s e t ob jec tive s de j :a mu siqu e qui

e s t observSe gener, el ement chez le s th e o ric le n s du vi ngt ifcme ,

sife cl e. Un ap erg u des 6l 6m$nt s fonda roe ntavi x de la lang ue

m usical e d e G eo rge Crumb p o rte sur 1 'in te g ra tio n de div ers

f

m at eri aux de to n a lite e t d e ti mbre ej t met an re li e f un nofnbre d'influences sur sa musique <qui viennent des styles

{ e t tra d itio n e ls e t av ant-gard es. .Comme i l e st de mon tre da ns

les a nalyse s des ouevres c h a ra c te ris tiq u e s ("Mo pi ens am en

la ll u v i a .. ." , M adri gals Bk. 1, Ech oe s of T ime an d the

•A r%J - K

R iv er , Dream*Seq uence , Lux A ete rn a, e t Music fo r a Summer

y Eveni ng) un eN gr an de p a rtie d4 l 'e f f e t es the tiqu e de la mus iqu e

1 de George Crumb p e u t s 'e xp l i qu e r p a r s a mani&re de c on t r ol e r

i

-la c -la rite du de ssein forme 1 e t par sa fa con d e stru c tu re r 1*

r - ■ ■ '

succession des l ongues du ree s. En tem nina nt, la mu siq ue

de Geo rge Crumb e s t m ^se eh pa ra ll& le avec c e lle de de ux

^ a u tre s com positeur s Araer ic ai ns a c tu e ls.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page ^ ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... _{i i J} ABSTRACT... i i i ABREGE ...‘... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS... VV LIST OF EXAMPLES... . . v i LIST OF TABLES... v i i

CHAPTER I : In tro d u c tio n and P re lim in ar y

C onsiderat ions in t he A nalysi s

of Musical Time ... 1

Int roducti on .. .. 1

Preliminary Considera/tions

in the A nalysis o f M usical ^

Time ... 3

CHAPTER I I : Cru m b's M us ica l Language . . 14

CHAPTER I I I : A n a ly sis of S e le c te d Wo^k s, 63

CHAPTER IV: S ummary and P e rs p e c tiv e . . . . 121

BIBLIOGRAPHY... 137

ISCOGRAPHY... 140

LIST OF SCORES... 141

LIST OF EXAMPLES'"

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EXAMPLE I : "No’ p ie n sa n en l a l l u v i a , y se han

dormido.* (They do n o t t h in k o f th e

ra in , and they' ve fallen a sle e p ).. 33

EXAMPLE I I : C lo sin g Episod e o f 'Fro ze n T im e '.. 77

EXAMPLE I I I : F lu te C irc le M usic'and C los ing

E pis od e o f 'Remembrance o f <T ime'.. 78

EXAMPLE IV: The C la ri n e t and F lu te P ro c es s

io n a l of ’Remembrance of T im e ' 83

EXAMPLE V: Ope ni ng Echo Complex fro m 'L a s t

Echoes of Time* ...v 86

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TABLE 1: Formal O u tlin e of 'C an cio n

de Jin e te '... 22

* TABLE I I : O utli ne of P rin cip al Passages of ' Echo es of T ime and the

River1 ; ... 69

, TABLE I I I : Lux A e te rn a - Long Range

Patterning of Phrasing and

Duration ... 105

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TABLE IV: S tr u c tu ra l O ut line o f Mus ic

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for a Summer Evening ... I l l

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TABLE V: S ch em ati c Diagram o f th e

Durational Patterning in the Introduction to 'Music for a

Starry Night' ... 111}.

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CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION AND PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS

j ^ IN THE ANALYSIS OF MUS'lCAL TIME

INTRODUCTION

In disc us sing re ce n t deve lopment s in cont empora ry a r t musi c, m any th e o ris ts and co mpo se rs ha ve focu ssed a tten tio n

on t he in flu en ce o f Nnew and changing co nc ep tion s of m usical

ti m e. The un prec ede nted v olume**f>f w ritin g on th is su b je c t

ove r the las t t went y five o r th irty ye ars is ind icative

of both the considerable preoccupation with musical time

dem onstrat ed by many c ompo se rs and t he g en era l sig n ifica n c e of this perspective in the understanding of contemporary

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*-music. A number o f th e o ris ts (Gi s&l e B re le t, Suz an ne K.

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La nge r, L eonard Meyer, Euge ne Narmour , a nd Jon ath on Krame r

to name a few) in ^studying music in term s o f form an d

te mporal experi ence hav e offered imp ortant i n sig h ts

in-s ty liin-s tic an d e in-sth etic an alysis. S im il arl y, c omp os er s, i n

adapti ng d iffe re n t concepti ons and fo rmal treatm ents of musi cal

ti m e, hav e arrived a t new and in te re stin g experiences fo r

/ contemporary audiences.

The^ musi c o f Georg e Cr umb, f o r a number o f rea so ns - i,ts

un i%i e e sth e tic e ffe c t, it s notable publ ic success a nd also

t he relat ively ^ little theo reti cal consi der at i on i t h as

re cei ved to t h is p o int, pr ovi des a ve ry f itti n g sub ject f or

'm

m

_ (_J H an an alysis of m usi cal ti m e. The p rinc ipa l o b jec t of th is

* st udy w ill the refo re be to prese nt a geh eral discussion

of Cr umb' s sty le an d to look in d e ta il a t a f ew wor ks in

wh itih c e rta in conce pti ons an d t reatm ents o f m usical t ime *

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' were of ^articular concern to the composer.

As a ba ck gr ou nd for th is study, t&is intro du cto ry c hap ter

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w ill be give n to a r evie w o f ce rta in fund amenta l concept s

concerning musi gal ex pe rienc e. The se w ill be discu ssed i n

re la tio n to the b asic element s of for mal ana lysis as a n

appr oach to the de scrip tion of rece nt cont empor ar y mus ic.

* Th e s ec ond chapter w ill c o n sis t of a n account of Cr umb 's

* m usi cal l anguage an d s ome o f'th e maj or influ en ce s on h is

s ty le , w it h an e mph as is on those features wh ich re fle c t his

g en era l concepti on an d treatm en t of m usical ti m e. This

is fo llowed in chap ter three b y a rela tiv e ly d eta iled

a n a ly si s o f Cr umb' s Echo es of T ime and the R ive r, an d more g en er al o b se rv atio ns on some oth er wor ks re comme nded by the

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com po ser wh ich illu s tr a te inte res ting fea tures o f fo rmal (

org an ization an d te mporal experi ence in h is music . In the | ;

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fin a l ch ap ter, a ge nera l summary an d con clusions w ill be ^

I made regarding Cru mb' s st y le an d these w ill be re la te d to

1 r e c e n t developm ents i n t h e m usic o f some ot he r co n tem p o rary

f

Amer ican compos er s. In a d d itio n , some co n sid era tion w ill

| be gi ven here to the role wh ich the an aly sis of m usi cal

j O ^td m e can p la y i n t h e t h e o r e t i c a l d e s c r i p t i o n o f m u sic .

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PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS IN THE ANALYSIS OF MUSICAL TIME

aIn the st udy of m usica^ ti me,- i t is possi ble- , to p o stu late two very general and apparently fundamental aspects of

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musical awar ene ss - the ob jec tive , unq uesti oning accept ance

of eve nts as they occur in ti m e, and the su bjec tive an

tic-ipa tion o f fu ture e v en ts. » Ah, important formu lat ion o f th is

d u ality o f m usi cal exp erience ha s be en expressed by Igor

Stravinsky in his Poetics of Music and'is largely based on the philosophy of Pierre Souvtchinsky.

"Mr. Souvtchinsky thus presents us with

two kin ds of m usic: one whi ch ev olve s

p a r a l l e l to th e p r o c e s s o f o n t o l o g ic a l ti me, embr ac ing and p en etra ting i t , inducing in the mind of the listener a feeling of

eu ph oria and, so. to spea k, of dyn ami c cal m.

' The second kind run s ahead o f, or co un ter

to th is pr oces s. I t is no t. self-con tained

in eac h momentary .t onal u n it. I t dis lo ca tes

the centers o f attra c tio n an d grav it y and

sets i ts e lf up in the unstable, an d t his

fac t makes i t p artic u larly adaptable t o

the translation of the composer's emotive

impulses. A ll mus ic in w hich the w ill to

expression is.dominant belongs to the second type."

A fu rth e r elabo ration o f th is vi ew of m usical t ime ha s b ee n 1

made by G eorge Rochberg in h is a rt ic le " T h e New Iniage o f

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■ Music" w he re he dis cusses th e differen ce in the e sth etic

na ture o f wha t he t erms the 't em poral i mage1 o f mu sic

(musical experience based upon the subjective anticipation,

of events) and the 's p a ti a i image ’ of musi c (musical expe rience

§> based larg ely upon a more p as siv e, ob jectiv e acceptance of events )

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-1. Ig o r S trav insk y, Poeticsy of'M usic ( Cambridge M ass.,

Harv ar d U niv ersity Pre ss, 1947) p .31.

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i f "Mus ic dom inated by the tem po ral ima ge

an d m usi c' dom inat ed b y t he sp a tia l ima ge re  flect completely opposite attitudes and

st anc es towa rd re a lity . . .t he for mer te nds toward the subjective utterance of the in

dividua l w hil e the la tte r leans to war d a n

o bjec ti ve p ro jec tion in wh ich the com poser 's

* en erg ies are focu ssed be yo nd him self an d

th§ ly rica l flow of.his inner personal

sta te s. Su bjecti ve m an. .. vi ew s ex ist enc e

as c hange , him self a nd h isto ry a t the cen tr e of a pro ce ss of be co mi ng ., , For h im l if e

r is an exp erience no m atter what the n atu te

of i ts co nten t, in wh ich nothing st an ds

s t i l l , not hi ng las ts a nd the f uture bec tons.

Howe ver , wh en man se iz e s on th e p re se n t mo ment of his experience as the only real time,

he sp a tialize s h is exist enc e, tha t is h e

f i ll s his percep ti on wit h ob jects w hi ch take

on solidity and completeness - a state of

p e rm a n e n c e.. H is w o rld i s no lo n g e r one o f ti me an d pha nge alone ; i t is a worl d of spa ce in w hi ch ti m e an d ch an ge >ar e mod es of m otion. In the new m usic, ti m e as d u ra tio n beco mes a

dimensi on o f m usical spa ce. The new s p a tia l

( ima ge of musi c seeks to p ro je c t the per mane nce

' of the worl d as co smos , as the e te rn a l p res en t.

I t is an imag ej Of musi c whi ch as p ire s to Being,

^ not Becom ing."

- Jh e ^ e ^ se n tia l diffete n.e e bet ween the sense of "b ec omi jig" in

R oc hb erg's■ 't em poral i mage' an d th a t of "bei ng" a sso ciated •wit^i t he s p a tia l image can be rel a te d in m o p re c ise the o

re-tic a l ter ms to the ex ten t t o w hich pe rceiva ble an d p red ictab le

p a t t e r n i n g i s in v o lv e d i n th e m u s ic a l fo rm . P u t v e ry s im p ly ,

the subjecti ve inte rp reta tion and anticipa ti o n of eve nt s i 3

c h a ra c te ristic of t he experience of mus ic in whi ch there is

p e r c e p t i b l e fo rm o f p a t t e r n i n g b e in g m a n ip u la te d by th e

co mpo ser . Jn these sty le s, the musi cal future is of in ter e st

— ---:---X --- --

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2. George Rochberg, "The New Image of Music," Perspectives Of Ue w, Music-, I l l (F a ll, 1963) >P. 9 - 1 0 .

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p l e t e p a t t e r n s o f th e p r e s e n t moment, and i s t h e r e f o r e p a r t i a l l y p r e d i c t a b l e . An u n q u e s tio n in g , o b j e c t i v e a c c e p ta n c e , o r as

Strav insky has de scribe d i t , a sense of 'dyn ami c calm' can be

observed in music which presents a minimum of apparent inten

tion al organ ization. In su ch musi c, i t i s t he e ndur in g q u ality

of th e pre sen t moment whi ch is th e c en tre of m usical in te re s t.

The musical future in this case is either too highly predictable

or too highly un pred ictable to en ga ge the l is te n e r in an y s ense

of subjective anticipation.

This general perspective on musical experience and musical form is particularly useful in the description of much of the

s ty li s ti c dev el opme nt whi ch ha s taken place in western a rt mu sic

duri ng this cen tur y. *In the tra d ition a l tonal style s o f t he

eig h tee nth and nin etee nth c en tu rie s whi ch wou ld be the p ri me ex amp le of t he 't em poral i mage ' o f musi c, the li s te n e r's recog nition, either conscious or unconscious, of an abundance of

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for m al p atte rn in g in m el ody , ha rmo ny , rhyt hm, te x tu re , dyna mic s

e tc. is a princ ipal aspect of the es the tic experi ence. Any

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3. The h is to ric a l o rig in of the f unda menta l idi oms and

p a t t e r n s i n t r a d i t i o n a l s t y l e s i s o f t e n v ery com ple x, b u t u ltim ate ly to b e f ou nd in m usic's a sso cia tion Wit h e le ments of

re a l lif e experi ence, i .e ., the da nc e, ritu a l ce remoni es ,

ly ri c a l, dramat ic euid n arra tive forms an d eve n lite ra ry

p ro g ra m s. The v e ry g e n e r a l c o n c e p ti o n o f m u sic a l e x p e rie n c e

as a t yp e of ima ge or' m etaphor' o f rea l l if e e ^ e rie n c e is

fo und in Ba sil de S ^linco urt,' s a rt ic le 'Musi c and D urati on' an d

is fu rth e r developed by Sus ann e Langer in F ee ling and Form.

As w ill b e see n sh o rtly , m uch of the d iv e rs ity of twe ntieth

century music can be related to the emergance and acceptance

of d iffe re n t conc eptual mode ls fo r m usi cal f or m, b u t since

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^ ; sens e of 'bec oming ' or 'go al d ire c tio n 1 in th is mus ic de pe nd s upon the lis te n e r's in te re s t i n the compl et ion of

! the se el ements o f for mal p a tter n in g . Wi th the ev en tual

d isinteg ration o f t he fo rmal p red icta b ilit y wh ich cha racter

ized the tona l la nguage of the nin etee nth cen tury, the gen eral

ch arac ter of musi cal time be cam e less in trin sic a lly

goal o rien ted . Vari ous fo rms of obse rvab le co n tinu ity wer e

nevertheless'derived in the non-tonal style!*through reference

an d asso cia tion with d iff e re n t ex tra-m usica l fo rms . Such

would be the case in Schoenberg's atonal music dramas as it has

b een t r a d i t i o n a l l y w ith so ng and o p e r a t i c fo rm s. S i m i la r ly ,

the n e o -c la ss ic ist relia n ce on academ ical ly d efi ned ^fcyjms

an d the em er ge an ce of a sp a tia l, a rc h itec tu ra l concepti on of

^ for m in th e music o f Webern and Varese can be reg ard ed as

imp ortant com posit ional fr ame wor ks for the ex plo ration of

new ton al resourced. In ter ms of m usical ti m e, the re fo re ,

much of t he mus ica l in te re st in trad ition a l tonal s tyle s

can be understood as the creation of plausible discontinuities

w ithin es tab lish ed idi oms and p a tte rn s, a v iew held by many

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th e o rists wi th an aly tical pers pspect ives as diffe re n t as t hose

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o f Schenker an d Leonar d Mey er. Co nve rsely, much of the in te r e s t

th is re la te s to Lan ge r an d de S e linc o u rt's no ti on s (wh ich deal

[ * p r i ma r il y w ith t r adi t i onal form s) i n o n ly t h6 m ost g e n e r a l

wa y, th e ir work w ill not be br ought d ire c tly into th is discussion.

> 4. W ithout going i n t o any de t ai l on th e d if f e r e n c e s ^ a n d

I r "j sim ila ritie s be twee n these two pe rspe ctives, th eilig e n er a l

; ' vi ew of m usical ti me as a m anipulated co n tinu ity is exp ressed

, in th e ir sele ction of ter minol ogy suc h as Schen ker' s 'prolon ga tion'

I

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in twentieth century styles would appear to be in the creation

of a convinci ng co ntin uity using musi cal m ate rial fo r whi ch no

p r e v io u s ly w e ll e s t a b l i s h e d m u s ic a l p a t t e r n i n g h as e x i s t e d .

Of the extra-musical models or constructs previously

ment ione d, the sp a tial-a rc h itec tu ra l c oncept ion of form 'intro duced in the music of Webern and Varese has received widespread

« at t ent i on and el ab or a t i on among modern t heor i st s a nd com posers.

Wi th t he e li m inati on of an y observable reference to tra d itio n a l

har monic dire c tio n in th e ir m usi c, both Webern an d Vares e

cu lti v ate d d iffer e n t el emen ts of 'sp a tia l' pa tt ern ing; Webern

with his predilection for geometric symmetries in pitch and

ti m e, an d Var es e with his rep rese nta ti on of sh iftin g sonic mas ses

of harmo ny an d tim bre .^ This more ' v is u a lly ' in sp ire d

con ception of for m was fu rth e r develope d in the musi c of

Ian n is Xena ki s (M eta sta sis) whe re .-the re is a high ly so p h isti c a te d tran sla tion of t he s ta tic sp a tial di me ns i'on s of phy si cal

o b jec ts (height, leng th a nd dept h) into the sonic dimens io ns

of p itch a nd time. S im il arly, a type of grap hic, sp a tia l

or 'in ter ru p tio n ' or Meyer ' succ essive dev iati on ' or 'the law

i of g.oo d c on tinu atio n 1(t he l a tt e r ter m bo rr owe d f rom G es talt psycholo gy) .

5. Al tho ug h i t is necess ary in th is discussi on t o pass

b r i e f l y o v er th e p r i n c i p a l f e a t u r e o f i n d i v i d u a l s t y l e s ,

a p a rticu larly valuabl e r eference fo r this aspect of Varese' s

music can be found in his own description of the way in which he conceived Integrales in"Le Poeme Electronique Le Corbusier," Les Ca h ie rs F o rc es Vj yr e s , p g . 1 92.

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Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

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model of musical form emerged in the music of both Ligetti** (Atmospheres, Volumina)and Stockhausen (Gruppen)where

se ria lize d ti m bral a nd tex tura l c harac ters (ea ch hav ing

a more or less s ta tic , d irec tion les s for mal organization)

are ju x tap o se d m uch like the colou rs a nd surfaces of

abstract painting. — ^

The se la te r wo rks of Xenakis, Stock haus en an d L ig e tti,

in whi ch there i s a consci ous tra n sla tio n o f sp a tia l im ag es into musical form, are characterized by an absence of any

suggestion of movement or direction, basic elements of

exp erience whi ch we re s t i l l p res en t to a degree in tf ee rhy th mic

g e st u re s of We bern an d Va rese , and which were among the p r i n c i p a l f e a t u r e s o f th e more t r a d i t i o n a l s t y l e s .

As Roc hb erg has po inted ou t concerning th e 's p a ti a l'

image of musi c, the ce n tral in te re s t in the musi cal ^

experi ence is not i n the fu lfillm en t of long rang e goa ls,

b u t i n t h e more i n s ta n ta n e o u s p e rc e p tio n o f i s o l a t e d fo rm s betw een w hic h t h e r e may be a g r e a t e r o r l e s s e r d e gre e o f

co ntinu ity. The difference in degr ees of inte rn al pa tterning

betw een s t y l e s w hich a r e e s s e n t i a l l y 's p a t i a l ' in t h e i r co nc ep tion cam be observ ed in compari ng th e abo ve wor ks i?of

6. Again , a valua ble ac co un t' of thi s ca n be fou nd in the

com pose r's own words. See L ig e tt i' s "Met amor pho ses of

^ j Mv^sical Form" in d ie R eih e, volu me VII pg . 15.

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^ ! X enakis and Lige t t i wi th w orks of Boulez ( St r uct ur es I e t I I )

i an d Cage (4 '22 "). L ig e tti an d Xenakis p res en t is o la te d

*— p a s s a g e s w hic h hav e an o b s e rv a b le y ^ e H n a l c o h e re n c e e i t h e r in

tex ture , ti m bre, gesture or a rtic u la tio n , bu t no observable

log ic i n t he succession o f/the se passages. The more a n tite le

-o l-o g ica l w-or ks -of B-ou lez lan d Cag e, e ith e r by the im po sit ion

of .very coittgTejc^a nd^ a r ti tr a r y de term inan ts o f for m (a s i n Boul ez) < /r 'by the con scious ne ga tion of in te n tio n a l coherence

(as iiy th e case of m uch of C ag e's mus ic) no pe rce iv ab le cohere nce or pa ttern in g emer ge s in the mu sic a t a ll . Form in

SC the se \l a tt e r style s has onl y the mos t su p erf icia l lon g ran ge ,

unity which is understood as a duration

oi

oi

fo rtu iti o u sly related events . I t is inte res ting t o not#*

Le on ar d M eye r's observati on o n t he se ns e of s ta tic , d irec tion 

less time of this music.

"If only unique particulars, not the causal connections between them are real, then no event

p re sum es o r im p lie s th e e x i s te n c e o f any o t h e r

event. If ev en ts.ar e w ithout im pli cati on , it

makes no difference in whaf temporal arrangement

they are expe ri enced or de scrib ed . The world

is to a ll in ten ts a nd pur pose s w it hout d irected

time . More ove r, eve n though the ex isten ce of

ca u sa tion b e ad m itt ed , h uman ti me is w ithou t

d irec tion w hen a tten tion is foc uss e^ ex clusively

on t he ,uni quenes s of p a rtic u la rs ."

# r

The general situ a tio n in cont empor ar y mus ic is th a t

the re e x ists a wi de d iv er sity in co ncepti ons of musical f orm

/ % 7. Leon ard Mey er, Music, the A rts and Id e a s, (Chicago:

‘ ' * U n iv e rs ity of Chicago P re ss , 196*)), p. 164.

J J

10 10

and in the way in which continuity and discontinuity can be

exper ience in today's mu sic often re fle c t sig n ifican t so cial and

c u ltura l a ttitu d e s . ■yr

"I hav e w ritten els ew here about th e cor

re la tion be twe en di sconti nuous lif e sty les and

co nt emp or ar y a rt . .Si nc e w ri ti ng th at a rti c le ,

I ha ve found i t increasingly d iff ic u lt to exper 

ience musi cal co ntin uity com fort ably. The re is

so met hi ng a r ti f ic ia l, so met hi ng otherw orldl y, about the idea that one musical event can actually

p r o g r e s s t o a n o th e r . Even l i s t e n i n g t o th e m ost

innocently linear tonal music involves some sense

of co ntrad iction . The c o n flict is no t in the

music; the conflict is between how the music

uses ti me an d how a cont emporar y lis te n e r un derstand s

tim e. Rece nt musi c th a t d ea ls w ith ti m e in new

ways ha s s ought t o solve th is c o n flic t an d i n so

doing i t has St ru ck^ £- "n er ve ce ntre in our c u ltur e. I re fe r to a n titeleo lo g u ca l mu sic! (e .g ., some wo rks of John Cage) , whi ch p res en t s ta ti c , en dless No ws: to pro ce ss p iece s (e .g /, some wor ks of Steve Re ich ) that move inexorably^xhrough wellAdefined gradual

cha nge s (Is th is a de sperate att em pt to recap ture

c o n tin u ity ? ) and to moment fo rm p iec es (e .g ., some works of Karlheinz Stockhausen) in which the music

co nsists of a success ion of se lf cont ai ned section s that

do no t re la te to ea ch othe r in a ny fun ction ally

im p lic a tiv e mann er. Howeve r, c ompose rs o f moment

form pieces have not given up continuity entirely; th a t w ould be a fic tio n , beca use i m plicati on is s t i l l possibl e and- the dis com for t of co ntinuity

Can be used p o sit iv e ly . But im p licatio n is now

localized because it has become but one possibility

w it hin a largd.un iverse; co ntinu it y is no longer

p a r t o f m u sic a l s y n ta x , b u t r a t h e r i t i s an o p t i o n a l

p ro c e d u re .' I t m ust b e c r e a t e d o r d e n ie d anew in

each p iec e, and thus i t is the m ate rial a nd no t t *

e l anguage of the m usic." 8

8 . ^ Jo na tho n Kra mer, "Moment Form in T w en tieth Ce ntury M usic," M usical Q ^ k fte rly , (LXIV) (1 97 8), p . 178-179.

und erstood b y to d ay 's au die nc es. As Jonathon Kram er has observe d

in a recent article, the different conceptions of time and

((

/

11 11

Kra mer 's r ema rks ar e a n in tere stin g re fle ctio n o f t he

influenc e wh ich the 's p a ti a l' ima ge of mus ic has ha d in the

gend ral liste n in g ha b its of cont empora ry audiences. At the

same time, however, Kramer points to the interesting possix^

b i l i t y w hic h e x i s t s in conte m pora ry m u sic , o f c r e a t i n g i s o l a t e d

* “

c o n tinu ities w it hin wh at he vi ew s as the globa ll y s ta tic

trea tm en t of m usical ti m e whi ch has pervaded contemporar y

musi c. This la tte r observation w ill be of fu rthe r rel evan ce

in t he study of Cr umb 's p a rtic u la r treatm en t of m usi cal t ime . Gi ve n th e sty lis tic d iv e rs ity . wh ich has em erge d in the rec en t

Vavani garde , the an aly sis of m usical t ime an d e sth e tic

experience within indiviflual styles has an important place in the discussion of contemporary music, as it has generally among the various perspectives in contemporary music the.ary

Like mos t c u rre n t pe rsp ec tive s in musi c theory , howeve r, the analysis of musical time must be pursued within well defined

lim ita tio n s. U lt im ately, an y ty pe of observable for mal

p a t t e r n i n g o r i m p li c a tio n o f p a t t e r n i n g many be r e l e v a n t to a n ind iv id u a l' s exper ie nce of a wo rk si nce th is w ill pr ovide

a ba sis for t he sub jecti ve an ticipa tion of even ts . Ca ref ul

co nside ration m us t be giv en to lim it t he discussion of p atte rn 

ing t o f ir s tly , thos e el ements wh ich are perce ptua ll y within

the gras p of a liste n e r in a no rmal listen in g s itu a tio n , an d secondl y, those el ements w hi ch are rele v an t to th e, ge n era lly

acc ept ed s ty lis tic under st andi ng of the mus ic.

( )

c .

o o

12 12

„ k Th is c an b e c ar r i ed out wit hi n a t radit i on al hier arch

ic a l a ppr oa ch to an alysis, focus si ng atten tion on d iffere n t

'le v e ls ' of me an ing and stru ctu re fr om the sh o rtest sig n i

fic a n t ges ture to t he el ements of long range u n ity. An

account of the basic aspects of formal organization or

'm usical language' w ill b e t| iken as a b as is for the an aly sis

of music al t ime since th is is the sour ce of p atterning and

p r e d i c t a b i l i t y in a s t y l e . A lt hough i t i s i n t e r e s t i n g to uncover various hidden structural devices which reflect the

^cletail of a composer' s conce pti on of for m, th e ce n tra l o b jec t

of th is st udy w ill b e the n ature of the co mmu ni cat ed e ffe c t

o f a‘st y le as i t re su lts from the elements of m usi cal l anguage

an d ba sic facto rs of musi cal exp eri ence . The tra d itio n a l

fea tures of st rueturalyde^ign w ill there fore b e discuss ed,

wher ever po ssible in te rms of the ir percei ved ef fe c t a nd the

natur e of th e ir signifi can ce w it hin the h ierarc hic al form a nd

w it hin the p a rticu lar logic of co ntinuity of a wo rk.

To these end s, th is study w ill dra w up on the approaches to s ty li s ti c an d fo rmal an aly sis deve loped i n the w ork of Leo nard Me yer (Emot ion and Me aning in M usic, Music, t h e A rts

. ^ an d Idea s) , Jan L a Rue (G uideli nes fo r Sty le A nalysis) an d

Eugene Nar mou r (Beyond Sch enkerism ) . La R ue's wor k d e lin e a te s

fundamenta l param eters o f perceiv ed form in m usi c, as w ell as

b a s i c common Id io m s w hic h a re fo und i n r e s p e c t t o th e s e

p a ra m e te rs i n a w id e v a r i e t y o f s t y l e s and p e r i o d s . A lt h o u gh

l it tl e sp ec ific ref erence w ill be made to L a Rue' s 'G uide li ne s'

13 13

V V

h is g eneral app roac h to d eta iled an alysis w ill be st rong ly

reflected in t h is st udy. In addit ion to t he s ty lis tic and

structural elements of the more detailed analysis, certain

find ing s in the p ercep tion of rhy thm and du ration (more spe ci

fi c a lly some o f those wh ich Paul F ra iss e has presen ted in Th e Psyc hol ogy of Time) w ill be re fe rre d to in o rde r to o bjec 

ti f y c e rta in clai m s made in the cou rs e of the study r egarding

p a t t e r n p r e d i c t a b i l i t y , L eonard M e y e r's w r i tin g s (an im p o rta n t

ex tensio n of whi ch is fo und in Eu gene Na rmour 's Im plica

tion-R ealization m qd el for an alysis) w ill receiv e m ore sp ec ific

reference since they relate directly to the description of

esthetic experience derived from the recognition and expectation

of for mal pa tt ernin g in bot h tra d ition a l a nd avant-gar de sty le s.

C C

14 14

CHAPTER I I : CRUMB'S MUSICAL LANGUAGE

Much of the response which Crumb's music has enjoyed

over the la s t fifte e n years ca n be a ttrib u ted to his uni qu e and convincing combination of typical elements of the

avant-gar de with very f unda ment al a nd tra d itio n a l element s of

m usica l. pa tterning a nd e ffe c t. In gen eral te rms, Cr um b' s

style integ rates ver y co lo ristic and often rich ly connot at ive

sonic (ton al an d ti m bral) imager y with a for mal el egance

which is readily apparent in the use Of various terms of

re p e tition an d ly ric a l dramat ic gestu re. As w ill be se en in

the following discussion, the unique quality of musical time

^ in Cr um b' s sty le ca n be rela ted to bot h the iso late d eff ec ts

<**

of these basic elements and their role in the'type of larger meaning which Crumb creates over a whole composition.

11 I t is intere sting to rela te the in iti a l dev elop me nt of

Crumb' s s ty le to an o fte n c ite d r emar k whi ch Schoenbe rg made

concer ning his own i^ irs t attem pts to e sta b lish fo rmal c oher ence

in h is mu sic in the abs en ce of any tra d itio n a l func ti ona l

harmonic organization.

"A l i t t l e whil e la te r, I dis covered how to

construct longer forms by following a text or

< poem. The d i f f e r e n c e i n s i z e and sh ape o f i t s

; p a rts and the chan ge in c h a ra c te r and mood wer e

m irrored in the sha pe an d siz e of the co mpo si 

tio n , in i ts dy na mi cs an d temp o figu ratio n and accen tuati on , inst rum entat ioh an d orc he strati on .

\ Thus the pa rts we re d iffere n tiate d as cle arly

\ as they ha d for m erl y bee n by the ton al an d str u c tu ra l

(. ( fu n ctio n s o f har mony."

i

i_{? *}

t *

tt,,

%

% %

r>

{ ■ In hi s di s cu s s i on o f Sc h o e n b e rg 's .mu s ic , C h a rle s Rosen n o te s

a very essential connection between the formation of

Schoen-i

b e r g 's a to n a l s t y l e and th e p r e v a l e n t e s t h e t ic - i d e a l s e x p re s s e d

• , 4 r j _

in the po etry of $ral£le, H eym, and to an e x ten t m S tefan

10

Geo rge . An an alysis of Cr um b's sty le po ints t o 'a ,sim il ar

development and growth’of mdsical language from Crumb's associ ation of his music with the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca.

The f ormative influen ce o f Lo rca^i s p la in ly evide nt in the

■»

) )

stru c tu ra l se nse th at in the sev eral Lor ca se tting s th at C rumb

^ has ma de , the te x t serves as a pri mary ele ment of lin e ar

11

o rg an iza tion . On a mo re funda mental c re a tiv e le v e l, howe ve r.

Crumb has also re fle c te d in h is mus ic im po rtant asp ects of the

/ form, an d st y le o f Lor ca , 's p o etry .

Lo rca' s qene ral ap pr oa ch was decidedly a n ti-in te lle c tu a l.

Ref us inq t o^ be re str ic te d to symb oli st , u ltr a is t or su rre a list

do gm as, he partook fr e e ly 1of a ll of these influen ces in a

-•v

p o e tr y which i s o p e n ly l y r i c a l and, in i t s fo r m a l s i m p l i c i t y

often sugges ti ve of trad ition a l popul ar sty les.

9 Arnold Schoenberg, S tyle and Ide a , (Ne w,Yo rk, Ph iloso ph ica l

Library) 106

10 C h arle s Rosen, A rnold Schoen berg (New York, V ikin g, 1975) p . 14 11 In more or le ss ch ron olog ical ord er, Crumb' s Lorc a se ttin g s

incl ude the f ollowing ; Night Mu sic I , M adri gal s Bk. I, I I , I I I

IV, SOng s, Drones and R efra ins of D ea th, N ight~of the Four

Moons, ana An cient Voices of C hildren!

:/

16 16

( The p rinciple con tent of Lorca' s poetr y re fle c ts his sp iritu a l

^ communion w it h his imme di at e n atu ral an d soc ial env ironme nt

(p re -fa sc ist S pain, es p ec ially Andalusi a an d Gr an ada ) > It's

widely ranging emotional intensity is focussed on fundamental

p s y c h ic e le m e n ts o f l i f e u s u a lly i n a p r i m i t i v e r u s t i c s e t t i n g . Perhaps the best description of Lorca's influence on Crumb's

musi c can be found in Crumb's own wor ds i n h is no tes fo r th e

recording of Ancient Voices of Children.

"Ift Ancient Voice s of Ch ildren, as in m y-e arlier

Lo rca s e ttin g s, I h ave soug ht m usical i mag es th a t enhance and reinforce the powerful, yet strangely

haunti ng i mage ry of L orca's po etry . I fee l tha t the

es se n tial me an ing of th is poetry is conc er ned wit h the

mo st pri mary thing s: li f e , death, love , the s mel l of

, the e a rth , the so unds of the e ar th an d sea .. Th ese

' "ur-g on cep ts" are em bedded in a langua ge whic h is

p r i m i t i v e an d s tj^ rk , b u t which i s c a p a b le o f i n f i n i t e l y subtle nuance."

) ' Much of the g en era l atmospher e of L o rca 's po etry is immed iat ely

com patibl e w ith th e m ate ria l with whi ch C rumb was work ing in

the f ir s t pieces of his n ew sty le (Fi ve Pieces fo r P iano ,

Elev en Echoes of Aut umn , Fo ur N octurn es and Nig ht Mu sic I . Th e rich an d e the rea l rso n o ritie s, the su dd en expr ess’ ion istic, . s

out br eak of dra m at ic t ension , the isola ted ly ric a l figure s, and

12 George Crumb,vVoxce s o f C h ild re n , (New York, Nons uch Records , 197 1, H- 71 25 5) ” no tes on reco rd cov er.

;

; ('('

17 17

( j si m pli sti c rep etit ion s a ll have sign if ican t p ara ll els in Lorca 's

p o e tr y . In a d d i t i o n , much o f t h e L orc an gypsy w o rld i s evoked

(espec ial ly i n the l y ric a l setti ng s) in purel y m usi cal ,

. conn otat ive ter m s: for ex amp le, t he sugg esti on of tra d itio n a l

folk ins tr um ents (guitar , or g u itar imm it at iOns, flu te an d

drumming) the imm it ati on of tr a d itio n a l Spanis h m usi cal sty ld s

^ (the bo lero " Dance ofo the Earth" of A ncient Voices of C hild ren ,

* i•>

the fl am en go lik e 'cadenza ap pa ssion ate* of Son gs , Dr one s

and Refrains of Death) and the immitation of the Andal-usian

*" 'can to jondo' (a w il dly emotional v o ca liza tion an d lament whi ch is very common in the r u sti c Spani sh fo lk tr a d itio n )in a number of vocal works .

Of the very general features of Crumb's style mentioned

^ a t t h e o p en in g o f t hi s c h a p te r , b o th t h e h i g h ly e v o c a tiv e s o n ic

image ry , land the use of tr a d itio n a l elements of for mal

• ’ > '

p a t t e r n i n g c a n be r e l a t e d e x p l i c i t l y t o key e le m e n ts o f L o r c a 's

. p oe tic st y le . L orc a's ric h y e t mo ving image ry has received. »

; * * .

; much, a tt .enti on from c ri tic s for its refere nc e to a v arie ty of

sym bolic ar ch ety p e s. Howard T. Y dung has give n a v alu ab le

I

de scription o f th is aspec t o f L orca's verse wh ich is str on

g-reflected in Crumb's music.

1 <4 ' . ' "One need thi nk Only of t he roll of drum s,

| . the blare of tr um pets , or the w ail of a sir en - ,

| to re a liz e th a t the response to su ch sou nd s is j

I u n iv ers al. Lorca, in fa c t, seems to hav e ad umbr at ed

| the Jungian idea of the archetype, - th a t hid den ]

| - ■ ■ '

i ■(-). : ' ;

18 18

form or image sleeping in the blood,that

is quickl y release d b y ce rtain ob jects, So un ds ,

or wor ks o f - a r t. L orca, of coureg knew no thing

of Jung, bu t he was w ell aware, as h is d e sc rip 

ti on of the w ail ing d og s r ev ea ls, th at th ere are te rr o rs whic h da te be yo nd the bod y, an d th a t the re a re su b jec tiv e ly known f or ms whi ch a rt ,

since it s o rig in s, has c om mu ni cat ed by in tu itio n ,

or as h e pu t i t mo re p o e tic a lly , by me ans of the

'm ir ror of the s ta r s '. In his poetry, He trie d

to evoke such images as much as possible. His

lec ture o n the du'ende li s ts a series o f ob jects

th a t'to him u ltim ate ly suggest ed dea th, and whether or n ot ea ch on e connote s a sim ilar fe elin g for

eve ry reader, the im plication is , as Jung de clared,

th a t these fo rms c a ll fo rth from the^unc onscious a rea ctio n th a t is shared b y man ki nd .

Prominent arch etyp al i mage s in L orc a's poe tr y includ e "water"

(am bivalentl y sign ifying a fe ar of death from dr owni ng or

the li f e 'givin g force of the oc ean ), the w ind (s ymbol ic of

$ s p ir itu a l pre sence ) the moon (tra d itio n a lly a godde ss of

lu s t a nd d ea th), the v ague impres si ons of ce rtain colours

lik e green an d or an ge (plan t lif e , decay, and fire ) as w ell

as the n a tur a l p o lariz a tion of lig h t a nd darkn ess. Cr umb ’s4*

vocabulary of sonic archetypes includes an equally great variety

o f spunds , so me of wh ich are e a sily id e n tifia b le as sugg esti ng

th e wi nd or a ny of the ext re me ly ric a l g estures (s cr eami ng

or whispering? and others which have more vague associations

« <

b u t w hic h a re n e o n th e le s s f o r c e f u l i n t h e i r e f f e c t , l i k e , a c u te

hi gh reg ister att acks (s t ruck of plucked) , siren li k e g li ssan di

in the s trin g s, the muffl ed roar of the low re g iste r pi ano

13 . Howard T. Young, The V ic to rio u s Ex press io n . (Madi son,

( ") U n ive rsity of W is conil ]t rTre ss7™l964r7-F ^—

r r

19 19

str in g s (ac tivate d b y the p al m of th e hand), a ny o f the delicate bell or gong sounds or instances of timbres sustained

as dron es. The e sth etic e ff e c t of Cr umb 's us e of th is

m a te ria l is such as H oward T . Yo ung has d escribe d o f th e

t

symboli c arche type s in L o rca 's po etry . Th ese sounds an d

gestures create a d irec t an d in tu itiv e re sp ons e in the li ste n e r

by v i r t u e o f v e ry s tro n g and more o r l e s s u n i v e r s a l a s s o c i 

a tio n s. As iso late d ev en ts, they ha ve sub jective mean ings

in a nd of b f them selves which a re imm ediatel y memor abl e and

distinctive.

j

In addition to the strong archetypal elements of

Cr ui pb 's image ry , much of the e ff e c t of his m ateria l is f e lt

in its ver y d istinc tive connotat ive si gnifi cance for west er n

au dien ces. This would include the rich varie ty of ti m bral

* and tonal colorations such as the various evocations of

ru stic Spa ni sh sty les men tion ed ea rlie r, other ex otic ■

ev oc atio ns lik e the use of gong so unds ', Chine se ^(temple blo ck s,

the '.mbi ra, lujon, s ita r, jew 's harp, banjo, w histli ng as

\\

w ell as t he use of qu otation fr om ton al a nd mo dal st y le s.

11

1 -s *

‘The se el ements w hich i nvolve m ore s ty lis tic a lly an d c u ltu ra lly

lear ned assoc iat ions c on tr ibute to the s en se of the a tric

an d sy mbol ic interac ti on 'w hich is often im plicit in Cr um b's

integ ration of dis parate m aterials.

( 1

2 2 00

A fu rthe r import ant s ty li s ti c p a ra lle l b et we en Grumb

and Lor ca ca rrbe ^e en in th e ir in teg ration of the archetyp al

and co nn otative e ffe c ts of th e ir imag es in to a lar g e r -form

and m eaning. The po etic framewo rk w ithin whi ch Lorca pres en ted

h is imager y v aried in the course of h is wor k fr om the-sim ple

re p e titiv e , song -l ike style s to the mo re va gu e and t enuous

p a t t e r n i n g s 'f t f h i s u l t r a i s t o r s u r r e a l i s t in f lu e n c e d p o e tr y .

Even in h is tr eatm ent of the mo re a b str a c t an d s pontaneou sl y

organi zed sty les , there re mai ns a con si st ency of po etic an d

the m atic lo g ic which was o fte n aba ndo ned b y the m ore dogm ati c

a rti s ts of this time. /

"Lorca certainly utilized the surrealist

man ne r^ f ir s t in h is odes ar ound 1 926, and c e rta in o f the G ypsy B alla d s, such as th e "Somnam buli st ic

B alla d ". We mus t no te th a t Lor ca dec lared th a t

he never quite surrendered to the unconscious

* an d ev en his su rr e a lis t p oems ha ve a 'po e tic

log ic In ac tua l fa c t,.wsj .nce by d e fin itio n

the unconscious remains ^inac cessible to the

con scious mi nd , no cfne can u ti li z e the uncon sci ous d e libe ra tely , but t he poe ts ha ve bee n able to work with the symbols of the unconscious. What Lorca means by 'p o e tic lo g ic ' seems to be th a t whe rea s some s u rr e a lis ts tende d t o u tte r mass ive incoherenceg en era lly ha ve a them atic devel opment. , h is s u rr e a lis t poemsThe

outstanding featu re of h is s u rre a list p oems

i s th a t th ey se em t o have c ome fr om a dr eam state."

One of the central features in much of Lorca's poetry

is th e co mbi na tiof T of a c lea r and elega n t fo rmal pa ttern in g o

with the symbolic depiction of a spontaneous psychic awareness.

14. C a rl Cob b, F ed eric o G arc ia Lo rca (New Yor k, Twa yne ,

( 1967) , p. 43.

J J

f

As w ill be discussed la te r in mo re d e ta il, Cr um b's mu sic

dem onstr ates a compa ra bl e va rie ty of p attern ing from si mple quasi traditional repetitive forms to the more dream-like

st rea m o f con sciou sne ss’ passages w he re,desp ite the gen eral

rhy th mic free do m and s pontane it y* there is s t i l l a p erc ep tible

the mati c and g es tura l o rgan ization. / In t er ms of the ir o rga ni zation of esthetic effect, both Lorca’s poetry and Crumb's

music present a balancing of the subtle spontaneous insight with a sense of long range form and patterning.

Th is gen eral para lleli sm in sty le ca n be fou nd in

v irtu a lly any of Cr um b's se ttin g s of Lo rca tex ts, but t he \

"Canci on de J rfnete" (Song of th e R ide r) from Songs, D rones

and R efrains of De ath is p a rtic u la rly wor th taking as an

exam ple, (see the sche m atic summary ta b le 1 , page 22-2 3 an d tra n la tio n o«f the t e x t, page- 24)-. W it hout goi ng in to any g re a t

d e ta il, i t can be seen th at the Lor ca poem co n sists of a

very s imple ju x ta p o sit io n and sequenci ng o f i ma ges and“

exp ressi ons. A ce rtain 'st ream of cons ci c( usn es s1 e ffe c t is

created in the disc on ti nu ity in the successi on of i deas

(sh ifting from the questi ons to the li t t l e hors e t o spont aneous

visions of the violence associated with the death of the rider)

an d a lso in the ima ge ry i ts e l t in the mi xi ng of t he fea ture s

of the horse an d rid e r wit h t ho se of the n ight ("I n the black

moon b led the m ountai nside" , "The nig h t spurs i ts blac k flan ks p i e r c i n g w it h s t a r s . " ) Crumb's s e t t i n g c a p tu r e s much o f th e

1

TA

TABLBLE IE I: : FOFORMRMAL AL OUTLINE OF OUTLINE OF 'CANC'CANCION DE JIION DE JINETNETE*E*

drumming pattern drumming pattern (tambourine, lujon) (tambourine, lujon) drumming pattern drumming pattern (crotales

(crotales j tatarn rn tatainins,s,

pn

pno. o. ll^^eebbs s ss trtr inin gg ss ,, c.b.)

c.b.)

"En la luna negra "En la luna negra de los bandoleros, de los bandoleros, cantan las espeulas

cantan las espeulas . 1

stacatto chords stacatto chords (electric (electric harpsi-chord) chord) arpeggiation arpeggiation (hpschd.) (hpschd.)

"... las duras espuelas "... las duras espuelas del bandido inmovil del bandido inmovil q

quue e perdito la perdito la riendriend as."as." stacatto chords stacatto chords (hpschd.) (hpschd.) arpeggiation arpeggiation (hpschd.) (hpschd.) drumming pattern drumming pattern (timbales) (timbales) Inc

Inc isive isive hihigh gh rere gigi steste r r arpeggiat ion arpeggiat ion glissandoglissando

guitar

guitar figure figure (hpsc(hpsc hdl) hdl) (gu(gu itaritar

hpschd.) hpschd.)

"La noche espolea "La noche espolea sus negros ijares sus negros ijares clavandose estrellas." clavandose estrellas." d

drruummmmiinng g pp atat terter ns ns inin cici sisi vv e e gugu itaita rr (c

(c roro tata lele s, s, ttoom m totoms ms figurfigur ee

tambourine, cb. lujon) tambourine, cb. lujon)

"y

"y ee l l cuernocuerno""

C

Cbb. . tremolo tremolo glgl ississ anan dd o o jj

glissando glissando (guitar, hpschd.) (guitar, hpschd.) "largo" "largo" "i

"iDoDondnde e .lle.lle vv as as tu tu jiji nn ee te muete mue rtrto?o?""

Abbreviations: hpschd. Abbreviations: hpschd. ch. ch. pno. pno. 

 harpsharps ichich ordord 

 contcont rabaraba ssss   pipianoano glsp.  glockenspiel glsp.  glockenspiel vbph vbph.  .  vibraphonevibraphone guit.  guitar guit.  guitar

"Caballito negro "Caballito negro

i D

i Doonndde lleve llev aa s s tu tu jinjin ee tete muerto?"

muerto?" gli

gli ssassa ndo ndo reprep etitive etitive inteinte nn vava lllclllc

(hspc (hspc hd. hd. vbphvbph .) .) papa tternttern ss (hpschd., cb., guitar) (hpschd., cb., guitar) // „ glissando „ glissando (guitar glsp.) (guitar glsp.) "

"EEn la n la lunlun a negra a negra sangrabasangraba el costado de Sierra Morena." el costado de Sierra Morena." (

( drdrumummmining, g, gg uu itaita r r gligli ssss anan dodo

figu

figu resres , , hpschd. hpschd. (hpschd.,(hpschd.,

chords chords

"Caballito frio "Caballito frio

|Q

|Quue pee perfurfume de flme de fl oo r r dede cuchillo!" cuchillo!" repetitive intervallic repetitive intervallic patterns (hpschd., cb., guitar) patterns (hpschd., cb., guitar) "Caballito negro. ’‘Sonde "Caballito negro. ’‘Sonde illevas tu jinete muerto?" illevas tu jinete muerto?" repetitive intervallic repetitive intervallic g g lsls pp .) .) patterns patterns (cb. (cb. hpshps chdchd .. guit.) guit.) "Caballito frio "Caballito frio |

| QQuue e perfume perfume de de ff lolo r r de de cucu chch illill oo !" !" , , "",,‘u‘un n gg riri toto !"!"

|

| EEn n la la lunlun a a negneg ra,ra,

[

[ rere pp etet itiiti vv e e 'C'Cadadenenza za apap passpass ionataionata ' ' climclim acac tic tic chchorordd

\ II nn tete rr vv aa llll ic ic „ „ ' ' (two (two drdrumummmeerrs)s)

' patterns

' patterns

i

r

!

! ahort ahort "de "de la la hoguera." hoguera." ^ ^ "c"c abab allitallit o o negro."negro."

| repetitive | repetitive [ pattern [ pattern

O

Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduct ion prohibit ed without permission.

SONG OF THE RIDER, 1860 In th e b la c k moori,

of the highwaymen the spurs sing.

L ittle bl ack hor se.

Whither with your dead rider? ... The hard spurs

of the m oti onless ban dit

who lo s t his re in s. L ittl e col d hors e. What a scent of the flower of a kniffe!

In the black moon

b le d th e m o u n ta in sid e of S ie rra Mo rena.

L ittl e bl ack hors e.

W hit her w ith your de ad rid e r?

/ ' ' „

The night spurs

its black fl anks *

p i e r c i n g w ith s t a r s . L ittl e col d hors e. What a scent of the flower of a knife*. .

* In th e b lac k mooft,

a sh riek ! an d th e lo ng

^ hor n of the bonfir e..

L ittle bla ck hors e.

Whither with your dead rider?

\

\\

Translation by

^Stepljan Spender and J. L . G il i

t ' ■

( ( ))

,

25 25

^ my stery and s ub j ac en t v io le n c e of the poem, i n a v e ry st r ai ght

forward word painting which can be heard in a driving rhythmic

p u l s a t i o n ( t h e drumming p a t t e r n s im m ita tiv e o f th e h o r s e 's

<r

gallop) developing through a wide spectrum of percussive

tim b res . S im ilarly obvi ous im m it ations are m ade by the

b a r i t o n e o f t h e h o r s e s n e ig h in g an d t h e 's c r e a m ' ( l i n e 122 o f

the te x t). One p articu larly striking e ffe ct i n t h is pi ec e

which can be directly related to the imagery of the text is

a recu rrent high and incisive attack in the g uitar s uggest ive

of the 'pierc ing k n ife' i ma ge. The 'p ier c in g ' fi gu re a rises

sim ilarly in th e subsequent son g, ta s s id a of the B oy Woun de db y

the^ Water* in a ss o c iatio n w ith "his h e a rt pie rce d thr ough by

the da rk th ru st of w ater ." Ag ain, in th is p iece, the re flec tion

^ of L orca's imager y 4-s f e lt q u ite d ire c tly in bot h a type o f\

m usi cal ' w ate r' im age (a sl owly o sc illa tin g legato fi gure) w ii ch

p e rv a d e s th e o p e n in g t e x t u r e , and iq. th e e v o c a tio n o f th e

'wind' and 'n o c tu rn a l mu rmu rs' of t h e te x t in whisper ed spe ech

and whispered melody.

i '.

q

In addition to the ionic elaboration of Lorca's imagery,

there is a no ti ce ab le refle ctio n o f the cy clic fo rm o f"Ca nc ion

de Jin e te "in th e ac co mpan yi ng and in c id e n ta l musi c. The long

*

| ran ge periods defined in the tex t by the re p e tition of ke y .

| phrases and imag es is also se en in Crum b' s,re -ite ra tio n of

s *

i m usic al m ate ria ls. The sense of a rep ea ting m ed it ative rh yt hm

( T j whi ch seems to co n trol the appear ance of the va ri ou s p oe tic

A

i

(( ))

26 26

and music al i mages , also crea tes an othe r i mp ort ant eff e c t in

th is pas sa ge in the i mme di at e p re d ic ta b ility wh ich arise s

w ithin the r epe ated m aterial .. Sub tl e c hange s in the te x t

(t a ttl e bl ack hors e' be com ing 'L itt le cold h o rse .1' and de via tion s in Cr umb' s musical i ma ges (ap pa ren t m ostl y i n

ch an ge s o f i nstrum entation or i n the inc lusio n of add iti on al

effects ) crea te in tere st i n de tail of the materi al as the l arg er

rhy thm un fold s. One fu rth er asp ect of the de via tion i n the

recu rren t m ateria ls of t h is pass age is the gradua l dr amati c

and d ynami c development whi ch r eac hes a climax in th e 'cade nz a

ap pa sion ata' and the chor d a t ",'un g rit o !" an d whi ch dies away •

in a series of iso late d pi aniss imo phrases and ge stures.

Thi s p a rtic u la r el ement of Cru mb' s mus ic w ill be discu ssed la te r in more d e ta il.

In addition to the influence of Lorca's poetry, an

impo rt ant musi cal pr ecedent for the 'stream of con sciousness'

element o f Cr umb' s sty le can be s een i n the mus ic o f Charles

Iv e s. R os alie P erry , in C harles Iv es and the Ame rican Mind^5

relates the stream of consciousness style in Ives to the

infl uence of the Am erican tr an sce nd en t#list lit e ra ry trad ition

(Thoreejtr; Eme rson and Whitman) and the a n a ly tic in te r e s t in the subc onsciou s and memory whi ch g rew o u t of th e w ritin g s

.49

of Fr eud, W illiam Jame s and Carl J ung. Sh e q ite s th e follow ing

15. See pages 4 0 - 55 in p a rti c u la r.

2 7

xas,' the to p ica l 'str ea m of con scious ness' id ioms of Ives:

th e use of tun es or e ffe c ts fo r wh ich lis te n e rs would, have

specific associations or memories, the contrast between

m etr ic a nd non-m etr ic r hyt hmi c orga niza tion, rh eto rica l

devi ces signifying diffe ren t psychologi cal sta te s, the

simultaneous representation of diverse elements in a continu

ou s co mp lex of sound, as the u se of t h e a tr ic or pr ogr ammat ic suggestions as part of the general conception and form of

a work.

i

V irtu ally a ll of these general feat u^te s are t o be fou nd

in Cru mb' s m usic. As alre ad y men ti oned, £he use of qu o tatio n

\ „

and m ateria ls whi ch ha ve c lea rly u nderstood co nn otatic^s

is an important part of the sense of symbolic psychological

rep rese ntation in Cr um b's musi c. S im ilarl y the co ntra st of

metric and nonmetric rhythmic organizations and superpositions

of a d iv e rs ity of m aterial in a ty pe of 'monta ge' can be

interpreted in Crumb's music as in Ives' as representations

of d iffer en t ps ychologi cal state s of a ware nes s. Thi s i s agai n

qu ite stra igh tfo rw ard . In Cr um b's m usic, f o r \jexamp le,

d iffe re n t em oti onal ch arac ters (like 'm echani co' or 'with a

sense of destiny') which can only be represented in metric

no tati on a re o ften juxt apposed wit h ty p ic a lly nonmet ri c

ch ara cters . ( i.e . spo nt ane ous outpouri ngs of frenzied

emotion or the slow and floating dream like evocations

whe re on e ev en t se ems t o fl ow fr e e ly one in to the ne xt) .

28 28

The' c o n tra st in Crumb's mu sic of passage s of a si mple succession of events with those which consist of a complex

of super imposed ev en ts may also have a ' stream of c on scio us

ne ss' sign ifican ce as rep rese nta tions of si mple line ar a nd

expa nded, complex sense s of awareness . A d d ition ally , in

much of Cr umb 's m usic, the re is an un de rlying d ram atizatio n \ in the interaction of the performers and the succession of

various psycho logical a nd emotional s ta te s . This eme rge s

ov ertly in spo ke n fragm ents, a nd in the in te g ra tio n of si mple

th e a tric ge stures into the w o rk .^ Ni gh t of Four Moons (fo r

a lto , a lto flu te , banjo, 'ce llo an d percussion) and Anci ent

Voi ces of Ch ildren are tw o good exa mpl es of th is la tt e r

fea ture. In ea ch case, a mo de st th e a tric ge sture oc curs at

the end of the work, but acquires interesting symbolic meaning from previously, implied musical dramatic relationship between

p la y e rs o f th e e n sem b le . In A n c ie n t V o ic es o f C h ild re n , th e

sopr ano o n stage is join ed by th e boy soprano w ho fi n a lly eme rges from his p o sitio n ba ckstag e, su g ge stive o f a moth er

bein g jo in e d by h e r c h i l d . In N ig h t o f Four Moons a l l p la y e r s

except the 'cello exit one by one, striking as they leave, an antique cymbal which is identical in pitch to a high note

16. The example of an underlying theatricization in Ives'

musi c t o whi ch Perry dr aws pa rtic u la r atte n tio n is th e

Second Stri ng Q ua rtet, but a n i n ter es ting con ti nua ti on o f this

s ty li s ti c element of Am erican compositi on whi ch bridg es the

gap between Ive s and Crumb and h is c on tem po rarie s can be

( see n in the mus ic of E llio t C arter and in p a rticu lar his

Second String Q ua rtet.

( **

su staine d by the 'c e llo . The dep arted pla y ers then play

a type o f M ahleri an lu llab y e (' M usica Humana1) whi ch a lte rn a te s w it h the 'c e ll o 's e e rie modal glissan do me lody- ( 'Musica

y y

Mu ndana') . Crumbs own d e sc rip tio n of th e ending of N ight ,

of Four Moons is worth noting.

"The epilogue of the song (Through the sky goes the moon/ holding a child by the

ha nd ") wa s concei ved as a sim u ltan eity of

two m u sic s: "Musica Mundana" '("Music o f the

Sp he res") and "Musi ca Huma naV- f*Musi c of

Mankind") per for med o ffsta g e by the sin g er ,

alto fl u te , vi brap hone an d ban jo. The o ff

stage music is to emerge and fade like a

d ista n t radio sign al. The F# to n a lity of‘

the "Musi ca Humana" and the th e a tr ic ge stu re

of the preceeding proc essionals re c a lls the

concluding^ages of Haydn's "Farewell"

Symphony? v

A

( I t sh oul d be stre sse d , ho we ve r, th a t\th e 'str eam of

consciou sness' id iom d oe s not domi na te the sign ifican ce of

Cr umb 's musi c. I t is ra re th a t anything m ore\t han an

is o la te d programmatic mean ing is to b e found in Cr umb' s

mu sic in re latio n to e ith e r t he th e a tric g esture s or tT

succ ession of d if fe re n t episodes within a wor k. As w ill b e''

se en la te r in more d e ta il, one o f t he ce n tral fea tures o f Crumb's style is his combination of these elements of 'stream

of consci ousness' wit h the imp li cati on o f ab stra c t,

formal organization.

The integ ration of a great div ers ity of m ateri al wit hin

/ \ 17 . Geo rge Qrumb, ffiig ht o f Fo ur Moons (New, Y ork , Colum bia

' 1974 , M -3 273 9) , no tes on record co ve r.

••

30

c

on e f orm can also be unders tood as a ge nera l s ty li s ti c

tendency in the devel opment of western a rt music. In

commenting on a remark made to him by Grpsvenor Cooper, Leonard Meyer notes the significance of the communication' o f a type of a b stra c t/'all-e m b ra cin g or 1monu men tal ’ s ty lis ti c image i n w est ern mu sic.

" As my co lle ag u e Grosveno r Cooper h as 4

p o in te d o u t , on e o f th e s a l i e n t id eas, of

West ern cu ltu re and a hallm ark of , '

"grea tness" in Wes ter n a rt a t leasts since

the Renaissance, has been that of monumentality. To capture and communicate a sense of fhe scope and magnitude of creation - the variety

an d ft u lti p lic ity of things', co mpo se rs as well as

■a rti sts and w riters ha ve fo un d i t app ropriat e

to bri ng toge ther a weal th o f diverse m aterials,

often plac ing these in sud de n and v io len t s ,

ju x ta p o s itio n ’. (One nee d o n ly th in k o f a ’

Bach Pa ssio n , a Beethoven symph ony ,, o r a

p la y by S h a k e sp e a re .) One w ay-o f com bin in g

an d u niting con trasting i deas into a coherent

whole, reconciling seemingly incompatible

e v en ts, i s to sub sume them on some h ig h er ord er - to embody them w ithin a h ier ar ch ica l structure."

v

The type of musical 'monumentality' which Meyer describes and which elsewhere Joan Kunselman-Cordejs has shown to be a very prominent feature in contemporary American

avant-19

gar de mu sic is c le a rly re fle c te d in Cr umb 's no tes fo r* .t he

cording of Ancient Voipes of Children.

18. Leonard Meyer , "Mugi c, the Arts, and Id ea s (Chicago,

U niversit y of C h ic a ^ P re s s, 19.67) , p. 312 -3 13.

19. Joari Kunse lman -Cor des in h e t- 4 is s e rt a ti o n "A New

Developme nt in Amer ican Mus ic i^rSpme c h a ra c te ri s tic '

fea ture s extend ing from the legacy of Charles Ive s, in” '

this th e sis , the aut hor dis cusses in _{"monunient ali ty" found i n Iv e 's musi c ’and how th is is}d e ta il the e leme nt of

3 1

"In composing Ancient Voices of Children, I was conscious of an urge to fuse various

unrelat ed s ty lis tic el em ent s. I was i ntrigued with the idea of juxtaposing the seemingly_{inco ngru ou s: a su gg estio n of Fl amen co w ith ’a} , Ba roq ue q u o ta tio n .... or a remini scence of

Mah ler with a brea th of the O ri ent. I t la te r

oc cu rred to me th a t bo th Ba ch a nd Mahler

■drew upon many d isp a ra te ' so ur ce s in t h e i r own 2q

mu sic wit hout sac rif icing " sty listic p u rit y ".

Turning now to some of the more detailed features_of ' Cr umb' s m usical'l an gu age , i t is, conven ient t o discu ss

for mal pa tt erning in h is sty le in ter ms of three tra d ition a l

leve ls of ana lysis : 'd e ta il' (t he sh orte st percei vable

elem ents of mea ni ng) , in term ed iate s y n ta c tic fo rms (of wh ich there may be many, depending on the length and complexity of

the mu sic) and lon g rcp ge pa tterns or form s'(t he ge ne ral

unity-* 1 ' »

over a wh ole com po siti on ). The se three ^leve ls w ill serve here

>

as.a general basis for a description of Crumb's music, and

the p rin cip les of orga niza tion wh ich ' wou ld appe ar to c o n stitu te

a type o f 'm usical lan gu ag e'. ' The. an aly sis of a m usi cal time '

* * _

in th is st udy w ill al g'o be conc er ned w it h the in tera ctio n and

e ffe c t of these lev els o f pa tterning , an d how they contri bu te

along wi th the ex tra-m us ical ele ments wh ich hav e j u s t be en

. - discussed , in the gen eral m usic al i mag e.

1 ' t The organ izati on of d e ta il in Cr um b' s mus ic is gen erall y

assim ilated in the sty le s o f severa l pr ominent con tempor ar y

lUnerican composers' including Crumb.

20 . George 6ruimb, A n cie n t Voices" of C h ild re n , (New York,

( ': Nonsu ch R ecord s, . 19 71, 312S5) . n o te s on r e c o rd c o v e r.

’ ■ . ' " ■

\

’ ■-“

•