What is a ‘musical work’? Reflections on the origins of the ‘work concept’ in western art music

Butt, John

doi:10.4337/9781783478194.00006

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Now, traditional and contemporary approaches have recently come into balance: source studies have been enhanced by new theoretical applications and modes of inquiry have been enhanced by new theoretical applications and modes of inquiry and newer ideologies have incorporated documentary evidence. (Marvin, 2004, p. 2; see also Fabian, 2016;Butt, 2015) In the present context, I do not intend to distance myself from that worldview. In fact, I doubt whether I am able to do so because of my upbringing both as a musician and a scholar, and the theoretical foundation upon which the present argument rests.…”

Section: Rhetorical Ecologymentioning

confidence: 92%

Hearing Early Modern Music Through the Contemporary

Øvrebø¹

2022

Views on Early Music as Representation

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This chapter focuses on how contemporary music practice interacts with early modern1 aesthetics. Two projects, in which Georg Philip Telemann’s solo fantasias are interspersed with contemporary techniques and repertoire, serve as case studies. Firstly, the flutist Felix Renggli commissioned new pieces from 11 contemporary Swiss composers, to be inserted in between Telemann’s 12 Fantasias for Solo Flute. Secondly, violinist Aisha Orazbayeva performed a set of Telemann’s Solo Fantasias for Violin using extended techniques pioneered by Salvatore Sciarrino in his 6 caprices. In this text I use these two different approaches as case studies for how early modern music, exemplified by Telemann, can be communicated to a modern audience without relying upon the concept of historically informed performance, but instead communicates through the operation of semiotics in performance.

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Section: Rhetorical Ecologymentioning

confidence: 92%

Hearing Early Modern Music Through the Contemporary

Øvrebø¹

2022

Views on Early Music as Representation

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“…This view of HIP relates to a modern concept of musical work and implies a hierarchic power relationship between composers and performers. Since the 19th century there has been a tendency to understand music as an independent object created by the composer, whose ideas would be faithfully portrayed in the score (Butt, 2015). Whereas the performer, whose function was to materialize the music for an audience unable to read scores, had to be in service of the composer's will (Cook, 2001) and at times even expected to actively suppress any form for individual interpretation (Elliott, 2006).…”

Section: Historical Informed Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, Rivers & Weber (2011) point out how rhetorical texts exist within a specific context and propose a rhetorical ecology that "emphasizes the symbiotic nature of texts, including the way texts, events and feelings [emphasis added] influence or 'contaminate' one another " (p. 193). I would argue that the same applies to musical works, especially considering how in the modern understanding they share much with verbal texts (a well identifiable author, being preserved through a written document (Butt, 2015)). In the case of Satie, I find this concept particularly fitting: his mélodies might not always result convincing on their own, but they reveal to be incredibly interesting when placed within their rhetorical ecology.…”

Section: Historical Informed Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

HIP as a Creative Tool for Performance Design: Investigating the Performance Practice of Satie’s Mélodies to Challenge the Stereotypes of the Classical Recital

Baldelli

2023

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In the 20th century a wave of experimentation and discussion hit most artistic disciplines. As pianist-researcher Mine Dogantan-Dack points out, classical music has been slow to join in. Although composers have been experimenting with the musical language, classical music performance as an artistic practice has relatively stayed untouched. In the area of vocal music, the traditional recital format with the singer standing by the piano is THE standard. In my doctoral research project, I aim to challenge and explore alternatives to this traditional format. I start by investigating the original performance practice of Satie’s mélodies to then design three different performances of this repertoire using various artistic methods and theoretic concepts. The first one is based on the approach known as historical informed performance (HIP). Satie’s mélodies are little known and seldom performed. They are also difficult to appreciate at a first hearing: incredibly short, condensed in their simplicity, lacking catchy melodies and with obscure texts. My hypothesis is that the standard way of performing them, as a static vocal chamber music recital, doesn’t suit them and makes it in fact harder for the public to appreciate them. Investigating the original performance practice then became a way to rediscover other aspects of the music, beyond the dogmas of the score, and to find inspiration for creating alternative modes of presenting classical vocal chamber music. In this paper I retrace my use of HIP as a creative tool for designing performances of classical music.

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“…We speak of how to perform the "work" in a historically informed manner, preferably assigning "right" and "wrong" to its execution. We gladly discuss how we perceive the work, and how our perception correlates to what the author of the work originally intended (see, e.g., Butt, 2015). To me, this is to embrace aesthetics, particularly from a romanticised worldview in which the audience buy their entry to a concert venue in order to sit obediently as subjects for the reenactment of the objectified, aural, "early modern work".…”

Section: Rhetoric As Pre-aestheticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rhetorically Performative Early Music: YouTube Videos as Statements

Rolfhamre¹,

Øvrebø²

2022

Views on Early Music as Representation

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Increasing history consumption in today’s society creates, in different social formations, a common expectation of what historical music is, can and should be. In this chapter, we draw on music education and Baradian agential realism perspectives to offer what we perceive as a promising procedure for studying early music performance from a less anthropocentric stand. We ask: How does early music performance intra-act with YouTube as medium, and how does this intra-action enable informal learning? We first address the significance and prevailing interpretation of rhetoric in this context, and what a move from a single-case rhetoric to an ecological one offers. Subsequently, we introduce agential realism as an approach to studying early music performance, particularly through the lense of Barad (2007). Here, we offer a discursive practice that can contribute to future studies, which we follow up with an exemplary case study. The case is later discussed and analysed, and in conclusion we draw attention to the online media’s role both in sustaining historical culture for new generations, and in cumulatively reinventing itself as a pedagogical process both within and outside educational settings.

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What is a ‘musical work’? Reflections on the origins of the ‘work concept’ in western art music

Cited by 9 publications

References 3 publications

Hearing Early Modern Music Through the Contemporary

Hearing Early Modern Music Through the Contemporary

HIP as a Creative Tool for Performance Design: Investigating the Performance Practice of Satie’s Mélodies to Challenge the Stereotypes of the Classical Recital

Rhetorically Performative Early Music: YouTube Videos as Statements

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