Musik & Ästhetik, 1998, Jg. 2, Ausgabe 6

»Umhergetrieben aufgewirbelt«. On Setting Nietzsche to Music

Nietzsche did not just send out impulses that are philosophical and a critique of culture he also changed the way composers of the following generations saw themselves artistically. One work dominates which itself is musical in a subtle way or challenges musicality: Zarathustra the cult book of the turn of the century. Richard Strauss composes Also sprach Zarathustra in 1895/96 at a time in which the doors to success stand open to him – with much affected behaviour of triumph and domination with a kind of musical show of strength in the spirit of the Wilhelmenian Age. What is missing in comparison with Nietzsche is the suffering and the sensibility of the decadent soul which is supposed to be overcome by the martial power gesture in Nietzsche´s work; in Strauss only ›the positive‹ remains. Gustav Mahler on the other hand in order to depict his suffering from the present quotes not the idea of the superman (Übermensch) but Christological metaphors of sacrifice. In accordance with this his explicit reference to Nietzsche in the fourth movement of his 3rd Symphony is determined by a Christian revision of the merry science. Zarathustra´s dionysian hymn collides with the peal of bells of a religious children´s song. Arnold Schönberg´s image of Nietzsche remains fixated on the image of the solitary wanderer und artist to whom Schönberg pays tribute in his setting of Nietzsche´s poems. But even more so than is the case with Mahler Schönberg´s understanding of Nietzsche is »second-hand«. And Schönberg´s desire for rational transparency stands in the way of the dionysian emphasis. Wolfgang Rihm presents his own kind of identification with Nietzsche. With help from Nietzsche it is just possible to decipher what Rihm´s music is trying to say: it is the creative moment that the composer uses as a theme – the state of searching the wrenching open of this tense open emotionality.

Construction of expression at the limits – Hector Berlioz and Théophile Gautier – Nuits d´été

With an analysis of the fifth piece (Au Cimetière) from the cycle Nuits d´été an investigation is made into the importance which the clash of moments of expression and construction in Gautier´s poems had for Berlioz. The texts with their mixture of imagination and formal stringency make it possible for the composer to venture into advanced areas of expression while at the same time setting free the amazing potential of his own creative constructivity.

The imaginary and the symbolic in the discourse of music. Lacan and the other expressivity (Sprachlichkeit)

The text applies Lacan´s basic psychoanalytic categories to music. The imaginary is brought together with the melody. Within the discourse of music it plays a part comparable to the narcissistic image. It is in the melody that the subject finds the way to an ideal form (Gestalt) of itself but by making a fetish of this unity it loses its connection to the symbolic. The symbolic is unterstood as the required basic motif structure or as the motif functioning of a work. The topology of music is also interesting in this respect. If the narcissistic situation is determined by two und the Oedipal situation by three objects or topoi then the subject of the music sees itself as being immediately subjugated to the other without differentiating itself from it. The reflexive recognition is based on the simultaneous differentiation of subject and object thus from two topoi and the discourse of music dissolves this order. Music is not a discourse of reflexive recognition but rather it attains an enjoyment of the individual historical truth of a work through the consumation of its articulation.

Immer Weiter. On ›Formal Polyphony‹ and Robert HP Platz´s Donaueschingen Cycle

Since the early 1980s a central idea in the work of German composer Robert HP Platz has been ›formal polyphony‹. Initially it referred to several distinct musics existing concurrently in a single piece; subsequently it came to imply a piece consisting of several autonomous but overlapping subpieces. From 1990 onwards Platz started to evolve the idea of a potentially infinite chain of works both chamber and orchestral each of which stands on its own yet is ideally intended to overlap with the end of the previous piece in the chain and the beginnung of the next. The first major public presentation of this concept comprised a sequence of five works performed at the Donaueschinger Musiktage in 1996. Various levels of relationship between the works are investigated here and one of them – nerv II – is analysed in more technical terms with some reference to the composer´s sketches.

The American New Music Scene. The Subjective Overview of One Composer

This article is intended primarily for the German-speaking new music enthusiast who wishes to gain an understanding of the structure of the new music scene in the United States and also wants to know about certain current compositional trends. The ideas presented here are the highly subjective opinions of the author and thus may be at odds with readers with a different stylistic bias. Still it is hoped that the comments concerning the structural aspects of the American new music scene may be found helpful. Included are observations concerning the larger institutions such as symphony orchestras and opera companies an overview of the university system as pertains to composition training and some remarks on the independent scene. Some composers particularly from the younger generation are mentioned as well.

Redispersion – On the Circulation of Material in Contemporary Music. Or: How much Realityoriented Bustle Can Enter the Ivory Tower?

The music of contemporary composers today by far more present than ever before has diversified in exchange for their own existence. Main actors in this plot are the technique attempting to evolve rather than remaining within a traditional point of view; the public funds which instead of giving three times as much have limited themselves to spending only twice as much; the publishers where everything began to change to quiet discomfort due to the mild breeze of their own inability to mutate technically and efficiently; the society actually preferring nothing more than their own peace of mind regarding the whole story; and last but not least the creators themselves having regrettably forgotten about the audience members who might actually go to the concert hall for reasons beyond their audiopsychological education. By the way lubricant number one sometimes seems a bit exhausted: money and its limited yet well-deserved distribution. (For a complete English version of his article please point your browser to http://www.doublebass.de/MAE/article.html.)