Other European Currents

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Other European Currents

• MUSC 315

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France Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

• Study piano at the Paris Conservatory and later
  turned his interests to composition.
  
• He was stimulated by the music and wit of Erik
  Satie and enjoyed contacts with prominent artist
  of the time
  
• He visited the USA in 1928. Presentations in NY
  City and San Francisco. Met George Gershwin and
  became aquaintenced with Jazz music.
  
• A degenerative nervous disorder provoked a slow
  down in the production of works after 1933, and
  caused his death in 1937.

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Musical Style

• Clarity, simplicity, and technical refinement.
• In general, Ravels music is characterized by the
  use of regular rhythmic patterns, clear formal
  articulations, and delineated phrase divisions
  within a traditional tonal frame work.
• Eclecticism adopting several trends and styles
• Ability to create works upon diverse and exotic
  elements.
  
• Ravel was highly influenced by music from around
  the world, including American jazz, Asian music,
  and traditional folk songs from across Europe.

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• Listening examples
• Rapsodie Espagnole (1908)Spanish music.
• La Valse (1920)popular dance music.
• Violin Sonata (1972) -American Jazz.
• Daphnis et Chloe (1912) ballet written for
  Diaghilevs Ballet Russes -Debussy.
  
• Bolero (1928).

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Bolero (1928)

• One-movement orchestral piece originally composed
  as a ballet.
  
• The piece was premiered in 1928 and is Ravel's
  most famous musical composition.
  
• The music is built over a rhythmic ostinato that
  continues throughout the piece
  
• A single melody is repeated by different
  instruments and instrumental combinations.
  

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Bolero (1928)

• Interest is maintained by constant
  reorchestration of the theme rather than musical
  development of themes.
  
• The melody is passed among different instruments,
  clarinet, bassoon, E-flat clarinet, etc.
  
• The multiple presentations of the theme lead to a
  steady orchestral crescendo.
  
• The piece is a real exploration of the coloristic
  and timbral possibilities of the orchestra.
  

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• Ravel music offers an anticipation of
  neo-classicism, a trend that was to dominate
  musical composition in the postwar years.
  
• Later in his career, Ravel continued to polish
  this economical style and occasionally he would
  experiment with modern harmonic techniques such
  as bitonality.

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Italy Futurism

• Futurism was a 20th century art movement that
  explored every medium of art, including painting,
  sculpture, poetry, theatre, music, and
  architecture.
• The essay Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music
  (1907) by the Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni
  is believed to have laid the foundations of
  Futurism.
• Manifest of Futurism (1909) by the Italian poet
  Filippo Marinetti

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• Aesthetic of Futurism
• Used modern life as a theme for their works
• They rebeled against the workship of the past
• And thrived on the impressions of speed, noise,
  and machines
  
• The car, the plane, the industrial town were
  praised by the Futurists because they represented
  the technological triumph of man over nature.

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Luigi Russolo (1885-1947)

• The Italian painter, Luigi Russolo, developed the
  ultimate goals of musical Futurism.
  
• In his manifesto Art of Noises (1913), he wrote
  
  
• In antiquity, life was nothing but silence.
  Noise was really not born before the 19th century
  with the invention of the machine. Today, noise
  reigns supreme over human sensibility.
• Russolo believed that noise was the sound of
  music for the new century.
  
• He concluded that because music had reached such
  a great complexity, the incorporation of noise in
  musical composition was the next logical step.
  

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• This revolution of music was paralleled by the
  increasing proliferation of machinery.
  
• Russolo invented a series of new instruments he
  called intonarumori ("intoners" or "noise
  machines").
  
• Russolos compositions for ensembles of
  intonarumori had titles such as
  
• The Wakening of a Great City
• A Meeting of Motorcars and Aeroplanes
• Unfortunately, none of his original intonarumori
  or compositions survived World War II.

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• Luigi Russolo with his assistant Ugo Piatti and
  their Intonarumori

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•  Although none of the works by the Futurists are
  considered to be great examples of 20th century
  music, the redefinition of sound in music by the
  Futurists was an influence on the thinking of
  many later composers such as Varese and
  Schaeffer.
• Futurism is the first clear manifestation of
  artistic interest in conquering the noise-world.
  An interest that is still a major concern in
  current musical approaches.