Historical Studies IIIA Essay Assignment

Question 6: Trace 3 musical trends that have evolved in the United States in the second half of the 20th
Century, focusing on at least 3 composers, their styles and output.

The United States in the 20th Century was perceived as a cultural hub for the evolution of
modern music, where there was a rapid development of musical styles, eventually emerging as
disparate musical trends which composers have then associated themselves with. The migration of well-
esteemed composers such as Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) and Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) to escape
the ravages of World War II, had facilitated the spread of their musical ideas which were subsequently
taken on and expanded by American composers. Three of the more prominent musical trends that arose
include total serialism, aleatoric music and minimalism, championed by the composers Milton Babbitt
(1916-2011), John Cage (1912-1992) and Steve Reich (1936- ) respectively. Recurring characteristics that
may be observed in the music of these three composers, as well as other composers belonging in the
20th century period, include the extensive use of percussion, where rhythmic sophistication was given
higher priority over melodic lines. Composers had begun to utilise recordings in conjunction with live
performance, as many of the sounds they require may not be easily obtainable through a live performer.
Also, composers were beginning to experiment with different genres. This essay will outline the stylistic
development of the three aforementioned composers, and draw focus on significant works by them.

Schoenberg was regarded as the pioneer of twelve-tone music, where his compositions were
less reliant on revolving around a tonal centre, but rather to ensure equal representation of each of the
12 pitch-classes of the chromatic scale in his music. Along with his contemporaries Anton Webern and
Alban Berg of the Second Viennese School, his ideas on on dodecaphonic music were then adapted for
use by European composers such as Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen, as well as the American
composers Roger Sessions (who was Babbitt’s composition professor at Princeton University) and Milton
Babbitt. Babbitt’s form of serialism was termed total serialism, where the other elements of musical
composition (apart from solely pitch-classes; rhythm, dynamics and timbre were also considered) were
also given serial treatment. Babbitt created the concept of combinatoriality, where the complete tone
row utilised could be organised both vertically and horizontally. In his Three Compositions for Piano, No.
1 (1948), where he utilised the prime row [t 3 5 2 0 1 7 e 6 9 8 4], it is presented horizontally in the left-
hand part in the first two measures, split into 6-note aggregates for each bar. At the same time, the
right-hand part runs a separate tone row based a tritone apart (P6), such that the two 6-note aggregates
within each bar in both parts represent the twelve-tone in its entirety. Babbitt assigns specific dynamics
to each type of tone row with its transformations (eg. mp for prime forms, f for inversions, mf for
retrogrades and p for retrograde-inversions). As for rhythms, Babbitt chose the sixteenth note as a unit
of measurement, so a rhythmic tone row used that starts with 5 will have a group of five semiquaver
notes in quick succession, the last note which may be sustained or interrupted with a rest before the
next group of notes corresponding to the second number in the tone row.

Philomel (1964) for soprano with synthesiser (both with electronic sounds and the taped
soprano’s voice), was one of Babbitt’s compositions described as a fusion of serialism with electronic
music. Other compositions such as Composition for Synthesizer (1961), and Vision and Prayer (1961) had
preceded this major work. A brief sypnosis of the narrative, inspired by Ovid’s book on the Greek myth,
includes three main characters: the protagonist Philomel, her sister Procne and her husband King Tereus.
The king, who set eyes on Philomel, had sexually assaulted her when tasked to retrieve her from the
woods, then cut off her tongue to prevent her from exposing their tryst. Philomel proceeds to weave a
tapestry retelling her experience, which Procne immediately understood, and in revenge, Procne
murdered the king’s son. The whole situation was de-escalated when the gods had the three parties
transformed into birds. The opening bars of Philomel has the taped vocalist sing ‘Eee’ (as per text) while
pitching the note E, and the tape completes the remainder of the tone row through its harmony. The
vocal line seems to revolves around E, although gradually picking up additional pitches from each
subsequent tone row used (all in transposed form). In the middle section, Babbitt presents an ‘Echo
Song’ which serves as a dialogue between the live and taped voice, essentially Philomel speaking to
herself. There is a marked distinction in timbre between the two voices, where the live voice is sustained
and lyrical while the recorded voice has a more distant, ethereal quality. Babbitt focuses on two rows: P4
and RI11, and divides them into three ordered pitch-class sets: [1 6 9 2], [3 8 7 0] and [4 5 t e]. He
overlaps the three sets into each of the three parts, where the pitches are no longer systematically
presented according to the progression of the tone row, yet maintains their integrity within the four-
note pitch-class sets. As Philomel gradually loses her human consciousness in her transformation, this is
reflected by the fragmentation of the melodic line into highly articulated two-note dyads. The music
progresses at a hurried pace, moving through a number of transformations of the prime row. Ultimately,
the structure of Philomel is derived largely from the developments in the poetry, with serialism as the
musical language that Babbitt utilises to convey the associated emotions.

Fig. 1: 12-tone matrix of Philomel Fig. 2: Bars 1-7, with type of tone row indicated

Fig. 3: Use of 3 pitch-class sets in bars 132-144 (Echo Song) Fig. 4: Fragments of tone-rows in bars 308-320
 Fig. 5: Mutual Partition of P4 and RI11

John Cage was another major influence in setting the direction for the development of American
20th century music. Although already known for his various innovations in musical composition such as
the use of the prepared piano in earlier works such as Sonatas and Interludes (1946-48), it was his
discovery of indeterminate music which marked a turning point in his musical style. Cage, together with
Morton Feldman, Earle Brown, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, formed the informal ‘New York school’, and
in early 1951 Wolff gave Cage a copy of the I Ching (Chinese Book of Changes). Originally meant for
divination purposes, the I Ching is used in modern context by throwing a set of 3 coins six times, then
translating the result into one of 64 possible hexagrams, which are then put into context for the
question being asked. In Cage’s aleatoric music, he often consulted the I Ching in order to arrive at
musical decisions in his compositions. Questions that he would ask the I Ching were related to the use of
five parameters: pitch, dynamics, timbre, note length and register. Imaginary Landscape No. 4 (1951),
written for 12 radios and 24 performers, was a prime example of how chance operations were set into
play in Cage’s music. The notated score with its note durations, pitches and dynamics, were first
determined by the I Ching, which corresponds to how the performers should adjust the frequency and
amplitude of each radio during the performance. Any sound that is produced by the radios is dependent
on the time of day, geographical location and the radio stations they are tuned to, and as such, no two
performances of the work will be exactly the same. This illustrates how there are two levels of
indeterminacy present in Imaginary Landscape No. 4, one in the thought process behind the
composition and the other in the execution of the performance. The avant-garde nature of Cage’s work
had inspired the Fluxus movement, an assembly of artists, musicians and writers who pushed the
boundaries of what constituted as ‘art’ through their experimental innovations.

Fig. 6: 64 possible hexagrams combinations of the I Ching Fig. 7: Score part of Imaginary Landscape No. 4, 12th Radio

Cage revolutionised the notion of silence, by pointing out that absolute silence was an
impossible concept. From his writings in Silence, he recalled an experience of staying within an anechoic
chamber, which while supposedly able to absorb all possible noises, Cage could still hear two sounds:
the high of his nervous system and the low of his blood circulation. From this encounter, he was led to
compose the famous 4’33”, where the performer does not create any sound for the duration of the
performance, but forces the listener to be attentive of the ambient sounds within the concert hall. This
composition is another example of indeterminacy, as the aural experience will differ from each
‘performance’, depending on how the audience reacts in the performance (such as coughing, shuffling
of feet at different time points).

In Cartridge Music (1960), another example of indeterminacy in performance, the performer is

given the liberty to make musical decisions as he sees fit. Presented in graphic notation score, the
material provided includes 20 numbered sheets containing 1 to 20 amorphous shapes, as well as 4
transparent sheets with points, circles, a winding trace of dotted line and stop-watch diagrams. The
number of performers will correspond to the numbered sheet selected for performance, and for each
cartridge being used, random objects (such as wire coils, wood, pipe cleaners) are inserted to substitute
for the playing needle. The following rules are observed in performance: The speed of movement along
the dotted line is in free time unless intersecting any of the stop-watch faces, where time is strictly
measured according to the entrance and exit points on the watch. When the dotted line intersects with
any of the shapes, a sound is produced on the object in the cartridge. Intersection with points outside
the shapes indicate the production of an auxiliary sound (sounds created without the use of cartridge),
while intersection with circles within the shape causes a change in amplitude. Intersection with circles
outside the shape indicates an alteration in tone control, while repetition is observed when the dotted
line crosses its own path in a loop. All possible sounds created during performance will be accepted,
regardless of desirability, and should be amplified through use of microphones and speakers. There are
also options for Cartridge Music to be performed in different ensemble settings, such as in duet for
cymbal or piano trio. Additional instructions are provided by Cage for the use of such instrumentation,
for example the need for the preparation of piano.

Fig. 8: 5 Amorphous shapes in Cartridge Music (Sheet 5) Fig. 9: Sample performance score, after all sheets applied

The third musical trend, minimalism, was developed as a reaction towards the serialistic
tendencies and indeterminacy in music of other American composers. Arising in the 1960s, minimalism,
specifically in music, is defined as the repetition of musical material across extended durations while
introducing gradual movements in musical direction, such as changes to harmony or rhythm. It is seen
as the diametrical opposite to modernism in music, being “tonal or modal where modernism is atonal,
rhythmically regular and continuous where Modernism is aperiodic and fragmented, structurally and
texturally simple where modernism is complex”. Composers who created music in the minimalist style
include Philip Glass, La Monte Young, John Adams and Steve Reich. Reich’s oeuvre of repertoire showed
a gradual expansion of form from his smaller-scale earlier works to lengthier, more comprehensive
compositions such as Drumming (1971), Music for 18 Musicians (1976) and Tehillim (1981).

Reich was well-known for his use of ‘phasing’, where two or more parts repeating the same
melodic/rhythmic motif together gradually shifts out of unison (by slightly slowing down or speeding up
the second part). This produces an ‘acoustic echo’ which eventually becomes out of sync with the
original, and at moments create a sense of counterpoint that finally returns full circle back to unison.
This is observed in Reich’s first mature work It’s Gonna Rain (1965), a composition stripped of melodic
content, where a recorded segment of black preacher Brother Walter prophesying the second Flood
(the “It’s Gonna Rain” speech-melody motif was isolated, along with another longer segment in Part II)
was looped on two tape recorders. As the recording progresses, the aural experience for the listener
devolves from clearly hearing the motif in unison, to a mix of rhythms which each repetition is
interrupted by another. In Piano Phase (1967), the challenges of listening with concentration is brought
upon the performers to ensure that one has phased the music as smoothly without the help of
machinery.

Another later work by Reich, Different Trains (1988) for string quartet and tape, continues his
use of recorded speech with an added layer of instrumental music. Based on themes of war and conflict,
just as It’s Gonna Rain which addressed the tense political climate in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile
Crisis, Different Trains juxtaposes the vast improvements in railway technology in America with the
bleak wartime situation during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany, where prisoners of war were often
deported in trains to concentration camps. Set in three movements, the composition combines taped
segments (male and female): one set describing the advanced features of modern trains, the other set
recounting war experiences, with the addition of train sounds, sirens and whistles to directly evoke the
sounds associated with trains. The tape is also supplemented with the recorded sounds of up to three
other string quartets playing, which the performing quartet has to coordinate with. Reich identifies the
melodic contour of each of the 45 speech samples and ascribes pitches to the segments, which are first
introduced in motif form by the recorded quartet, then echoed with the live instrument and
subsequently played together with the speech recording. The harmony and tempo fluctuates according
to the changes in speech recordings, following minimalist elements, and the speech samples are
sometimes modified through repetition or interruption in phase. For example, the speech sample “from
Chicago to New York” could be truncated into “from Chicago”, or extended to “from Chicago to New
York, to New York”. A continuous paradiddle rhythm is observed in the first movement, although it
disappears in the transition to the next movement. Harmony is largely based on extended chords (7ths,
9ths etc.) which allow for flexible movement to remote harmonies, although there is a marked
darkening of harmonies, with increased chromaticism, in the second movement, coupled with a distinct
drop in tempo. Reich explains that although the second movement contains the most text fragments, “it
seemed appropriate not to repeat what was said”, thus the music progresses more rapidly within a
shorter period of time. Contrapuntal elements are observed at the beginning of the third movement,
and the paradiddle rhythm only returns together with a repetition of the phrase “from New York to Los
Angeles”, which had appeared first in Movement I.
Fig. 10: Layout of performance setting of Different Trains, with integration of electronics with live music
Fig. 11: Bars 77-88 of 1st mvt., featuring paradiddle rhythm (R L R R/ L R L L), with speech-matching melodic motif in viola part
 nd
Fig. 12: Bars 34-39 of 2 mvt., featuring text fragments that are only heard once
Fig. 13: Beginning of 3rd mvt., where texture thins out and musical dialogue occurs between cello and viola parts
 To conclude, there is evidence to show that American composers had assimilated a variety of
styles and influences originating from different regions around the world and had applied them to great
effect in their own compositions. Although serialism, aleatoric music and minimalism are not the only
three musical trends prevalent in America, they represent the three broadest categories that were
groundbreaking and influential among numerous composer at that time. Other musical trends that have
not been discussed in this essay, but are still pertinent to America’s progress in musical development,
include the neo-classicist movement led by Stravinsky and utilised by Elliott Carter and Leonard
Bernstein, as well as the jazz movement by African-American musicians Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis.

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Dean Fu Ruzheng