Collective Difference: The Pan-American Association of Composers

More documents

Recommendations

Info

This project grew out of my observations about certain stylistic similarities between Carlos Chávez’s Sinfonía India (1935-6) and Aaron Copland’s Billy the Kid (1938). Both composers responded to modern life and urbanization by attempting to revive, recreate, or imagine dying or mythic cultures by using folk melodies. The orchestration and development of the melodies in both pieces sound strikingly similar, and many musicologists have used both composers’ respective influence from French and Eastern European modernism to explain the correspondences in their musical styles. In truth, if Chávez or Copland absorbed certain French or Russian models, it was in both cases a conscious action to free their art from a widely acknowledged Teutonic musical hegemony. Both composers, as well as many others on the American continent, saw the 1920s and 1930s as an opportunity to break free from European, particularly German, leadership. Thus, they shared conceptions of their artistic worth with some of their French and Eastern European counterparts, and also certain values: modern objectivity, conciseness, and fresh authenticity. In an essay about Chávez, Copland called for artistic autonomy shared among non-hegemonic musical cultures of the Western world and perhaps revealed a hint of envy: “We in the United States who have long desired musical autonomy can best appreciate the full measure of [Chávez’s] achievement. We cannot . . . borrow from a rich melodic source, or lose ourselves in an ancient civilization, but we can be stimulated and instructed by his example. His work presents itself as one of the first signs of a new world with its own new music.” 2 With these words Copland acknowledged a burgeoning musical community that embraced both North and South. Only through their collective difference could composers of the Americas distance themselves from European art. At the heart of Pan-American concert activity was the Pan-American Association of Composers (PAAC). This organization has not yet received the scholarly attention it deserves. Truly international in both spirit and practice, it included composers from Cuba, Mexico, and the United States. By conscientiously presenting concerts of new music from the Americas between 1928 and 1934 the PAAC fulfilled its stated purpose, which was to “promote wider mutual appreciation of the music of the different republics 2 Aaron Copland, “Chávez, Mexican Composer,” In American Composers on American Music edited by Henry Cowell (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1933; reprint New York: F. Ungar, 1962) 323. 2
of America, and [to] stimulate composers to make still greater effort toward creating a distinctive music of the Western Hemisphere.” In a broad sense, I examine why, in light of the aggressive military and economic interventionist policies of the United States before and after this brief period, individuals behind cultural forces in the Western hemisphere found it in their best interest to create alliances. The cultivation of empathy across cultural, political and ideological boundaries represented by the PAAC and similar organizations was at the time an urgent necessity that also profoundly resonates in the current political climate of increasingly divisive factions and blurring borders. Through this project I seek to illuminate the various reasons the PAAC considered inter-American musical collaboration important and expedient and how it sought to achieve such a goal. Purposeful diversity, or “collective difference,” was a strategy for approaching European audiences by collaborative force. As used in the context of the PAAC, the principle of collective difference describes both the stylistic diversity present on PAAC concerts and also the ultimate goal of that diversity, which was to reverse the flow of musical culture from west to east. The Pan-American Project, 1826-1945 The PAAC carried in its name a political buzzword of the day, “Pan-American,” aligning itself with a political ideology. James Monroe proclaimed on December 2, 1823 that the United States would not tolerate European interference in the affairs of American republics, viewing such action as hostile. Theodore Roosevelt created an amendment in 1904 that asserted the right of the U.S. to intervene to stabilize the economic affairs of smaller nations that were unable to pay their international debt. The term “Pan- American” both evokes solidarity and establishes difference between the American republics. Its first recorded use dates to 1826, when the celebrated South American revolutionary and statesman Simón Bolívar (1783-1830) called the first Pan-American Conference to be held in Panama. 3 The U.S. government later appropriated the term “Pan-American” in the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine in 1904. Several U.S. 3 Though the United States did not attend this meeting, it hosted and attended later Pan-American Conferences, the first one being held in Washington, D.C. in 1889. The conferences eventually led to the formation of the Pan American Union and, more recently, the Organization of American States (OAS). 3
Page 1 and 2: FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF
Page 3 and 4: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to exp
Page 5 and 6: TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures .
Page 7 and 8: LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE I.1. Pan-Ame
Page 9 and 10: LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES EXAMPLE 1.
Page 11 and 12: EXAMPLE 4.5. Amadeo Roldán, “Sig
Page 13: INTRODUCTION Friendly cultural and
Page 17 and 18: United States, because of its wonde
Page 19 and 20: Figure I.1. Pan-American Exposition
Page 21 and 22: the New Music Quarterly Recordings
Page 23 and 24: CHAPTER 1 1930s PAN-AMERICAN PERCUS
Page 25 and 26: publication composed for percussion
Page 27 and 28: of scientific and technological adv
Page 29 and 30: In his Tecumseh, or the Battle of t
Page 31 and 32: percussion ensemble, eight pianos a
Page 33 and 34: in those popular dance genres. The
Page 35 and 36: concertmaster of the New York Philh
Page 37 and 38: Example 1.1. William Russell, Percu
Page 39 and 40: instruments that contributed to the
Page 41 and 42: Example 1.4. Amadeo Roldán, Rítmi
Page 43 and 44: Rítmica No. 5 separates rhythmic e
Page 45 and 46: Paris, “there is nothing more con
Page 47 and 48: of decadence and collapse.” 44 Ne
Page 49 and 50: Example 1.7. Ionisation, mm. 9-12 S
Page 51 and 52: Example 1.8b. Edgard Varèse, Ionis
Page 53 and 54: Example 1.9b. Amadeo Roldán, Rítm
Page 55 and 56: coquettes neither with academies no
Page 57 and 58: Rhythms and general direction of pi
Page 59 and 60: No. 1 conducted by Fritz Reiner wit
Page 61 and 62: against-three cross-rhythm (Example
Page 63 and 64: knowledge of it. Certainly, the sam
Page 65 and 66:
with both Roldán and Caturla in th
Page 67:
fortissimo 83 and are immediately f
Page 70 and 71:
wrote in 1932, “I am convinced th
Page 72 and 73:
subject of his early percussion wor
Page 74 and 75:
societies, the PAAC presented at le
Page 76 and 77:
their own PAAC concerts in Havana a
Page 78 and 79:
in Berlin was unsuccessful in Cowel
Page 80 and 81:
This music congress never took plac
Page 82 and 83:
most likely in the hope that he wou
Page 84 and 85:
from Fabini - and Cotapos did not e
Page 86 and 87:
sponsored by the League of Composer
Page 88 and 89:
neither Cuban nor American, nor eve
Page 90 and 91:
Figure 2.1. Concert program, Carneg
Page 92 and 93:
Figure 2.3. Concert program, Slonim
Page 94 and 95:
and somewhat soporific.” 39 With
Page 96 and 97:
Figure 2.4. Concert program, New Sc
Page 98 and 99:
composers of the Pan American, amon
Page 100 and 101:
voz, who stated unequivocally of Ge
Page 102 and 103:
Caturla’s insightful description
Page 104 and 105:
modern American music to these citi
Page 106 and 107:
organizer and financier, and Slonim
Page 108 and 109:
Paris, June 6 and 11, 1931 Paris in
Page 110 and 111:
Example 3.1. Adolph Weiss, American
Page 112 and 113:
elated to Cowell, “the final gong
Page 114 and 115:
however, attributed to the work a m
Page 116 and 117:
of American popular culture in the
Page 118 and 119:
Example 3.4. Wallingford Riegger, T
Page 120 and 121:
musicians seem to turn their invent
Page 122 and 123:
July,” with its quotations from t
Page 124 and 125:
as a medium. Slonimsky described To
Page 126 and 127:
a generation of older composers inc
Page 128 and 129:
the twelve-tone system. Roldán’s
Page 130 and 131:
sponsored many concerts of new Fren
Page 132 and 133:
Figure 3.2. Concert program. Madrid
Page 134 and 135:
in collaboration with Cowell’s Ne
Page 136 and 137:
which I gave the names of Ives, Rug
Page 138 and 139:
Figure 3.5. Concert program. Budape
Page 140 and 141:
talent.” 81 In January 1933 Varè
Page 142 and 143:
The evening consisted of Ruggles’
Page 144 and 145:
on four Latin American PAAC members
Page 146 and 147:
having been governed by Spain (1764
Page 148 and 149:
God’s America, Spanish America.
Page 150 and 151:
Blues and Son: Pan-American Literar
Page 152 and 153:
example is “I, Too, Sing America,
Page 154 and 155:
cultural expressions that defined a
Page 156 and 157:
the repeated lines “tú no sabe i
Page 158 and 159:
Example 4.2. Alejandro García Catu
Page 160 and 161:
Example 4.3. Amadeo Roldán, “Neg
Page 162 and 163:
Example 4.6. Amadeo Roldán, “Sig
Page 164 and 165:
in Havana. Mexican composers Cháve
Page 166 and 167:
Revueltas . . . asked me if I had o
Page 168 and 169:
Example 4.11. Silvestre Revueltas,
Page 170 and 171:
applying Marxist social theory to t
Page 172 and 173:
present in the preceding stanza, le
Page 174 and 175:
Figure 4.1. Carlos Chávez, “Nort
Page 176 and 177:
A slave—under the whip, Beaten an
Page 178 and 179:
may be mistaken for Blacks). Each s
Page 180 and 181:
however, the logo was changed to re
Page 182 and 183:
as well as other musical heritages.
Page 184 and 185:
Henry Brant, Two Sarabandes Adolph
Page 186 and 187:
Charles Weidman assisted by José L
Page 188 and 189:
JUNE 6, 1932 Hause des Rundfunks, B
Page 190 and 191:
Claude Debussy, La fille aux cheveu
Page 192 and 193:
Alejandro García Caturla, La Rumba
Page 194 and 195:
Paul Dambly, A Paris June 26, 1931.
Page 196 and 197:
Oscar Bie, Stuttgarter Neues Tagebl
Page 198 and 199:
BIBLIOGRAPHY Aharonián, Coriún.
Page 200 and 201:
___, ed. Yearbook for Inter-America
Page 202 and 203:
García Canclini, Nestor. Hybrid Cu
Page 204 and 205:
Kuss, Malena. "Leitmotive de Charle
Page 206 and 207:
“Nuts! to Europe: Swell Stuff by
Page 208 and 209:
___. “The Newest American Compose
Page 210 and 211:
Unruh, Vicky. Latin American Vangua
show all

Collective Difference: The Pan-American Association of Composers

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?