Suchergebnisse

W. Benjamin's concept of the authenticity of art ("The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," Zeitschrift fur Sozialforschung, 1936, 5), involving as it does the presence of the original, seems inapplicable to traditional music, since this depends on performance or recreation of the composer's intent. However, T. Adorno has suggested that contemporary music is heading in a direction in which the score itself is the absolute realization of the artistic endeavor. Thus, electronic music may allow the merging of true spirit & sensual realization. This has occurred since the modern composer has near absolute control over both material & technique. In electronic music composition, the notation is bypassed, thus merging production & reproduction, & eliminating interpretation. A work is created that has only one realization. Electronic music is, through this merging, able to evade the question of live vs recorded performance, thus liberating itself from the trappings of ritual & cult, & therefore disallowing manipulation. Some possible social functions of electronic music are discussed in relation to politics. M. Migalski.

First presented as a lecture (entitled "Musik und neue Musik") on TV in May 1960. The meaning & validity of the concept "new music," referring to abrupt change undergone by music in the early twentieth century, are examined. While current composition of music essentially derives from this new approach, its reproduction & consumption are based on the traditional tonal approach, to which new music can be contrasted. The practice of new music rests on systematic rejection of even the remotest derivatives of the tonal tradition, & of the desire to ingratiate or appeal to the emotions, which has been recognized as implicitly ideological in significance. Electronic music in particular creates a sense of alienation in many hearers, by refusing to produce a music consonant with the existing world, & can be expected to become a major part of the development of new music. Ultimately, the category of new music is useless, because the "distinction between new music & music per se has become the distinction between good & bad music." W. H. Stoddard.

Technique in music involves the totality of all aspects of music. Content & technique are identical, since the only things valuable in a composition are those that achieve realization, & nonidentical, since the force of a piece of art results from a dynamic tension between its interior & exterior. Today the act of musical reproduction is an integral part of the act of composition. However, if art becomes its own reproduction, then reproductions may become art, & this tension will be reduced. Several theoretical deductions related to praxis are proposed: (1) consideration of the relationship between result & expenditure, (2) control of the extent to which construction extends to the phenomena, (3) live performance as the test of the relation between construction & phenomena, (4) the mastery of profusion, (5) functional instrumentation as a parameter of composition, & (6) the illusion of complete predetermination in composition. M. Migalski.