978-0393602517 Chapter 51

Unlock access to all the studying documents.

View Full Document

CHAPTER 51

Also American: Revueltas and Mexican Musical Modernism

OVERVIEW

This chapter focuses on Mexican musical modernism in the early twentieth century and the

traditional national music that inspired it. It explores this subject through the music of Silvestre

Revueltas, whose Homage to Federico García Lorca evokes the style and instrumentation of the

Mexican mariachi tradition.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. To understand Revueltas as part of a larger group of Mexican and American modernist

composers interested in celebrating Mexican nationalism and identity through music

2. To understand the style and character of the Mexican mariachi tradition and its influence on

Revueltas, as illustrated in the composer’s Homage to Federico García Lorca

LECTURE SUGGESTIONS

1. Review with your students the traditional elements of mariachi music (rhythm, meter, and

instrumentation) and play for them some examples of the classic sones of the mariachi

bands from Revueltas’s time (1930s and 1940s).

2. After introducing the classic sound of mariachi to your students, have them form small

groups to identify the mariachi elements in the last movement of Revueltas’s Homage to

Federico García Lorca. Encourage students to think about both the literal elements of the

tradition (pairs of trumpets and violins in thirds) as well as the more suggestive gestures

(piano evoking the sound of strummed guitars).

ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS

1. Carlos Chávez is another twentieth-century Mexican composer whose music reflects the

history and culture of Mexico. Do some background research on and listen to Chávez’s

Symphony No. 2, Sinfonía India. What kinds of Mexican nationalist elements does Chávez

incorporate in his symphony? Can you detect any musical gestures and devices evoking

Mexican identity that are similarly present in Revueltas’s Homage to Federico García

Lorca?

2. Revueltas was one of many twentieth-century artists disturbed and saddened by the 1936

execution of the poet Federico García Lorca. A year after composing the Homage for

chamber orchestra, Revueltas set seven of Lorca’s poems to music in a collection titled Siete

Canciones. After reading these poems and drawing on your impressions of Revueltas’s

music, what do you think attracted the composer to these particular texts? Do they resonate

with the themes of Mexican identity in Revueltas’s music?

TEACHING CHALLENGES

1. This chapter challenges both students and instructors to come to terms, on some level, with

Mexico’s colonial history. The textbook makes the interesting point that postrevolutionary

Mexican composers of the 1920s and 1930s confronted the legacy of colonialism in their

attempts to evoke, rather than recapture, the music of pre-Columbian cultures (see pp. 286–

287). This chapter presents an opportunity to discuss with your class the impact and

reception of music in colonial and postcolonial contexts.

SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY

Chávez: Los cuatro soles

Revueltas: Sensemayá

SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Henriques, Donald Andrew. “Performing Nationalism: Mariachi, Media, and Transformation

of a Tradition.” PhD diss., University of Texas at Austin, 2006. One of the few scholarly

works in English on the mariachi tradition and its role in defining Mexican identity in the

nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Pedelty, Mark. Musical Ritual in Mexico City: From the Aztec to NAFTA. Austin: University of

Texas Press, 2004. A wide-ranging discussion of music in Mexico from pre-Columbian

times to the present day. Chapter 12 (“Classical Nationalism during the Postrevolutionary

Era”) places the music of both Revueltas and Chávez within the context of Mexican

nationalist politics of the 1920s and 1930s.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Also American: Revueltas and Mexican Musical Modernism (Chapter 51)

I. Musical Traditions of Mexico

A. Embrace indigenous Amerindian and Hispanic cultures

1. late 19th century, goal to create distinct national style

2. mestizos: people of mixed Spanish and Amerindian ancestry

3. 1910 Mexican Revolution stirred patriotism

4. “Aztec Renaissance” post-revolutionary period

a. composers evoke native music for modern age

b. influential composers: Carlos Chávez (1899–1978), Silvestre Revueltas

B. Mestizo realism: nationalist modernist movement

1. elements of Mexico’s traditional culture

II. Silvestre Revueltas: “Mestizo Realist”

A. Silvestre Revueltas (1899–1940)

1. Mexican composer, conductor, violin prodigy

2. studied composition in Mexico City and United States

3. assistant conductor, Orquesta Sinfónica de Mexico

4. representative of “mestizo realism”

5. late 1930s, Spanish Civil War, went to Spain, worked for Loyalist government

6. composed anti-Fascist works

7. style: Mexican folk elements, Romantic in inspiration, lyrical, dissonance and

chromaticism, polyrhythms and ostinatos

8. works: orchestral music, film scores, chamber music, ballets, songs

B. Homage to Federico García Lorca

1. three-movement suite for chamber orchestra

a. balanced toward winds, includes piano

2. blends Mexican-vernacular and European–modernist music

3. honors Federico García Lorca: poet executed during 1936 Spanish Civil War

4. 1937 premiere during Fascist bombing in Madrid

5. Day of the Dead celebrated joyfully in Mexico

6. Son, 3rd mvt.: refers to traditional Mexican song/dance

a. draws from indigenous, African, and Spanish traditions

b. shifting meters 3/4 to 6/8

c. performed by mariachi ensemble: several trumpets, violins, guitar

C. Listening Guide 40: Revueltas, Homage to Federico García Lorca, Third Movement, Son

(1937)

1. sectional form; three themes

2. unusual instrumentation, evokes mariachi ensemble

3. A section: seven-note melodic turns, highly syncopated

4. B section: piano and string ostinato, chromatic trumpet melody

5. C section: dissonant, Mexican dance theme (son), muted trumpets

6. Coda: cluster chord in piano; fast, loud, frenetic

Part 6: Classroom-Ready Activity 1

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

In this activity, students reflect on a selection of quotes from composers featured in Part 6. This

exercise allows students to consider why twentieth-century composers are driven to compose and

why they are motivated to compose the kind of music they write.

INSTRUCTIONS

Have the class form small groups and pass out the worksheet associated with this assignment,

which contains six composer quotes from Part 6. Ask students to adopt a short slogan that

encapsulates the quote; they should be prepared to discuss how the slogan illustrates the

composer’s worldview, motivations, and artistic convictions. Students should also comment on

how the music of each composer, as excerpted in the Listening Guides, reflects this slogan. Allow

each group to share and explain their slogan to the class. As an optional follow-up exercise, have

students search the Internet for photos and images on which to meme the slogan (or have them

create their own images) and then allow them to showcase and explain their meme choices for the

class. For classrooms that incorporate Twitter, have students tweet their memes with a short

clarification for their choices, and have them hashtag their slogan choices.

Student Worksheet

Name:

“I no longer feel the need of seeking out conscious Americanism. Because we live here and work

here, we can be certain that when our music is mature it will also be American in quality.” —

Aaron Copland (p. 281)

Slogan:

Worldview/motivation/artistic convictions:

Listening Guide excerpt:

“From an early age I learned to love [the music of] Bach and Beethoven. . . . I can tolerate some

of the classics and even some of my own works, but I prefer the music of my people that is heard

in the provinces.” —Silvestre Revueltas (p. 286)

Slogan:

Worldview/motivation/artistic convictions:

Listening Guide excerpt:

“I hold that it was a mistake to consider me a revolutionary. If one only need break habit in order

to be labeled a revolutionary, then every artist who has something to say and who in order to say

it steps outside the bounds of established convention could be considered revolutionary.” —Igor

Stravinsky (p. 261)

Slogan:

Worldview/motivation/artistic convictions:

Listening Guide excerpt:

Part 6: Classroom-Ready Activity 2

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

This activity explores the many “–isms” that emerge from modernist works of the early

twentieth-century (defined in the Prelude to Part 6). From their work, students will learn that the

musical landscape of the early twentieth century was one characterized by many threads of

modernism, driven by the increasing desire of composers to assert their musical language as

individual and progressive.

INSTRUCTIONS

Review with your class the various “–isms” explored in Part 6 (Expressionism, neo-Classicism,

serialism, nationalism, realism, Impressionism, post-Impressionism). Break the students into

groups and assign each group an “–isms”. Have students together fill out the worksheet below,

selecting pieces from the Part 6 Listening Guides that best match their assigned “–ism”. Have

groups take turns introducing their “–ism”and explaining why they selected their particular piece to

represent their modernist category.

Student Worksheet

Name:

EXPRESSIONISM

Defining features:

Listening Guide #:

Composer:

Title:

Genre:

Date:

Why this “–ism”?

NEOCLASSICISM

Defining features:

Listening Guide #:

Composer:

Title:

Genre:

Date:

Why this “–ism”?

SERIALISM

Defining features:

Listening Guide #:

Composer:

Title:

Genre:

Date:

Why this “–ism”?

NATIONALISM

Defining features:

Listening Guide #:

Composer:

Title:

Genre:

Date:

Why this “–ism”?

REALISM

Defining features:

Listening Guide #:

Composer:

Title:

Genre:

Date:

Why this “–ism”?

IMPRESSIONISM

Defining features:

Listening Guide #:

Composer:

Title:

Genre:

Date:

Why this “–ism”?

POST-IMPRESSIONISM

Defining features:

Listening Guide #:

Composer:

Title:

Genre:

Date:

Why this “–ism”?

Part 6: Listening Quiz:

Name:

1. Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring, Dance of the Youths and Maidens (0:30–1:10)

How does the rhythm of this excerpt display a modernist aesthetic?

a. It is regular and unaccented.

b. It is simple and graceful.

c. It makes reference to the dances of the Baroque period.

d. It is irregular and unpredictable.

2. Billie Holiday: Billie’s Blues (0:56–2:11)

What are the jazz components featured in this excerpt?

a. Improvisation and instrumental solos

b. Strict rhythm and clean instrumental tones

c. Slow tempo and lack of instrumental virtuosity

d. Polyphony and modality

3. Gershwin: Summertime, from Porgy and Bess (0:00–1:21)

In composing this song, from what traditions does the composer borrow?

a. Ragtime

b. Anglo-American hymnody

c. Spirituals and blues

d. Russian folk songs

4. Still: Suite for Piano and Violin, III (0:05–1:26)

This excerpt takes part of its musical inspiration from

a. Ragtime and blues

b. Mariachi music

c. Bob Dylan

d. Indonesian gamelan

5. Copland: Appalachian Spring, Section 7 (0:00–2:10)

What kind of traditional form is employed in this excerpt?

a. Sonata-allegro

b. Minuet and trio

c. Rondo

d. Theme and variations

6. Revueltas: Homage to Federico García Lorca, III, Son (0:35–0:50)

In what way does this excerpt incorporate music of vernacular traditions?

a. It borrows the style and texture of Gregorian chant.

b. It evokes the instrumentation and style of traditional mariachi music.

c. It includes quotations from Russian folk melodies.

d. It sets the text of a Bob Dylan song to new music.

CHAPTER 52

New Sound Palettes: A Mid-Twentieth-Century American Experimentalist

OVERVIEW

This chapter covers the experimental approaches to American musical composition after World

War II. It introduces the music of John Cage to illustrate the ways in which contemporary

composers push the envelope in order to reach new levels of creativity and innovation.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. To understand the ways in which twentieth-century composers began to experiment with

pioneering approaches to musical composition

2. To understand John Cage’s contributions to experimental music, especially his works for

prepared piano and the music of the Javanese gamelan that inspired them

LECTURE SUGGESTIONS

1. Before introducing Cage’s Sonata V for prepared piano, play the piece and ask students if

they can detect what kinds of instruments or family of instruments the piece is written for.

Unless they know the piece already, students should invariably respond with “instruments in

the percussion family.” Next show students Cage’s instructions for preparing the piano and

introduce the piece as an example of the composer’s ability to transform the traditional

sound of this instrument by inventing new ways to play it.

2. Introduce to students the instrumentation and sound of the Javanese gamelan. Play Cage’s

Sonata V for prepared piano and ask students how the composer manages to recreate the

sound of the gamelan orchestra on the piano. How does Cage approximate on the piano the

multiple and distinct timbres that emerge from the gamelan?

ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS

The music of John Cage challenges our assumptions about music and how it is defined. The most

famous of his works is a piece titled 4´33˝, which—as the textbook notes—requires the

performer to walk on stage and sit through four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence while

the audience watches. Do you understand this type of performance as constituting a musical

event? Why or why not? If not, what would you call such a performance? Provide a definition of

music. Would Cage’s 4´33˝ qualify as music under this definition? If not, how do you respond to

the claim that this piece does indeed constitute music and conveys some kind of musical

meaning?

TEACHING CHALLENGES

If they haven’t already done so in this class, (some) students are likely to react negatively to the

abstract sounds of Cage. Additionally, mention of 4´33˝ in class will likely prompt an important

question: What is music? This chapter provides a great opportunity to revisit the elements of

music introduced in Part 1. Discuss with your class the boundaries between noise and music.

SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY

Cage: Music of Changes

SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cage, John. Silence: Lectures and Writings. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1961.

A collection of lectures, program notes to his own works, and philosophical essays that

provides insight into the imagination of this composer at mid-century.

Nichols, David, ed. The Cambridge History of American Music. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1998. Chapter 19 (“Avant–garde and Experimental Music”) places Cage

within the history of experimental music in the twentieth century since Ives.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

New Sound Palettes: A Mid-Twentieth-Century American Experimentalist (Chapter 52)

I. Early Experiments

A. Mid-20th century, fertile musical expansion

1. Henry Cowell (1897–1965)

a. drawn to non-Western sources for music

b. Asian instruments with traditional Western ensembles

c. foreign scales harmonized with Western chords

d. piano techniques: tone clusters, plucking of piano strings

2. Harry Partch (1901–1974)

a. microtonal technique: scale of 43 microtones

b. original instruments: adapted Indian and African instruments

c. focus on melody and timbre

II. The Music of John Cage

A. John Cage (1912–1992)

1. Los Angeles-born composer

2. experimental compositions and writings, leader in postwar avant-garde

3. student of Henry Cowell, early interest in non-Western scales

4. 1938 invented the “prepared piano”

5. interests: rhythm, opposition between music and noise, indeterminacy (chance or

aleatoric), the role of silence (4´33”, 1952)

6. works: orchestral music, works for percussion, prepared piano works, electronic

music, indeterminate works

B. Sonatas and Interludes

1. written for prepared piano

a. simulates sounds of Javanese gamelan (metallic percussion instruments)

b. various materials inserted between the strings: nails, bolts, nuts, screws, bits of

rubber, wood or leather

c. varied effects: nonpitched thump, pitch and timbre altered

d. ethereal, otherworldly sounds

2. focus on timbral effects, rhythmic groupings of sound

3. four groups of four Sonatas, separated by Interludes

C. Listening Guide 41: Cage, Sonata V, from Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48)

1. binary structure (A-A-B-B)

2. irregular phrase groupings; two-voice texture

3. A section

a. regular rhythmic movement

b. upper line sustained, moving lower line

4. B section

a. quicker tempo, more disjunct and accented

b. rests break music into sections

5. ending: sustained dissonance