In preparing for today's class I was enthralled by yet another composer with which I was not at all acquainted, Harry Partch. As you so eloquently wrote Cheryl, i too am constantly reminded, in this class especially, how very little I actually know. I am comforted only by the idea that Dr. Brunner is right when he said that one learns more efficiently when outside of your comfort zone.
So before Jeffrey enlightens us with his knowledge of this fascinating musician today in class, I thought I better have my P's and Q's in order. Gann summarizes Partch's life quite well but I found that Dr. Brunners suggestion of consulting Youtube as a valuable source for experiencing this composers work (visit harry Partch-Music studio- Part 1 and 2 on Youtube) most helpful. I use the word 'experiencing' deliberately because that does truly seem like the most appropriate way to hear his music. Partch himself says that his music should be seen and heard which, for me means that audio recordings alone do not suffice.
One of the first things that came to mind when reading of Partch's extreme creativity and musical innovation was gesamtkunswerk. I realize this term is associated with Wagner, his operas and the synthesis of every element of the performance art including stage, costume, and musical design. But perhaps this term could be applied to Partch's innovation in terms of his instrument creations, dance, music and costume designs for his compositions. I realize this could be a far stretch.
If I summarize Partch for my own reference, I would say he was an:
- instrument creator (adapted viola, Chromelodeon, Kithara, Diamond Marimba)
- music theory innovator (Genesis of a Music, 43-pitch scale)
- composer
- teacher
- performer/experimentalist
What a conglomerate of titles and a truly fascinating character. I look forward to learning more about this American Innovator...take it away Jeffrey!
Good point, Nicola, about Partch and the concept of gesamtkunswerk. The thought had struck me as well about a year ago, as to how Partch, in his larger, staged works, had brought about a union of music, theatre, dance and so many components of these three that can be related. On JSTOR is a scholarly article about the influence of Noh plays on "Delusion of the Fury", to which my response is "do they pay you well to render as scholarly exegesis the patently obvious?"
ReplyDeleteAs an admitted newbie to Partch, for your insight into his creative ambition, you have my compliments.
Nicola touches on a thought tangent to my own as I was thinking on Partch this week. My thoughts, no matter who we discuss, continually returns to this question: "How does this person's music relate to tradition and to newly-breaking developments in musical direction. This question has intrigued me since my sophomore year of college when I wrote a music history paper on blended elements of French Impressionism and sixteenth-century English church music on the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, I asked myself this question again while listening to Partch. It may seem surprising to say, but I think Partch is/was remarkably traditional. His ideas on tuning systems and X-number of pitches per octave are mostly, if not entirely, derived from ancient Greek notions of pitch and scale. The task of accommodating different keys or temperaments or scales has been a difficulty music scholars have dealt with for most of recorded history.
Nicola draws another connection between Partch and what has gone before by mentioning Wagner's Gesamtkunswerk. Again, Partch is reusing an older idea.
So where is Partch innovative? Well, to be honest, I'm not sure. Certainly his music does not sound particularly ancient or even old. But I don't hear his music as particularly innovative. I'm not talking about the instruments he invented, which are most assuredly innovative, but the music itself is, I think, not necessarily so. His music is very rhythmic and even interesting to listen to, but not innovative the way Varese's rhythmic music was. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I do not hear much of anything anything groundbreaking, that had great impact on the direction music took after that.
I know that at least one person in the class agrees with me on this, but I would be interested to know if there are others. Of course, I realize that every composer stands on the shoulders of those who came before, none are entirely independent of the influence of the past. And I don't think that this in any way diminishes Partch as a composer of interesting music, but I question his placement among some of these other composers we have discussed as "great innovators."
No doubt some will shake their heads and remember this when I present on Erik Whitacre.