Collective Difference: The Pan-American Association of Composers

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York performance of Nos. 1-4 in 1931. 32 Furthermore, the manuscript of Rítmica No. 6 in the Fleisher Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia contains the inscription: “First performance Seattle, Cornish School,” one of John Cage’s famous percussion concerts of 1939. This is an important issue to clarify, because if the last two Rítmicas had been performed in 1931, they would mark the first performance of percussion ensemble music in the Americas other than George Antheil’s Ballet mécanique. As it is, this is not the case. Russell’s “Percussion Studies in Cuban Rhythms” shows a young composer experimenting with an exotic set of rhythms and instruments. Roldán’s folk rhythms and ensemble also signify Cuban music, but he altered those rhythms and enlarged their capacity for participation in international modernism. Rather than merely exploiting the exotic qualities of Afro-Cuban music, Roldán modernized it. Conversely, Edgard Varèse (1883-1965) added exotic musical elements, including Afro-Caribbean instruments and rhythms, to ultramodernism in his percussion ensemble work, Ionisation. It may seem strange to label Varèse’s Ionisation a Pan-American work, since Varèse composed it entirely in France between 1929 and 1931. The essence of Ionisation is firmly rooted in a cosmopolitan urban atmosphere in all its cultural diversity. The piece represents a mixture of cultures, evident from the short repeating cells of traditional Latin music and the Chinese cymbals and gongs that mark important structural moments, the European and American marching traditions in the snare drums, and the sirens of the urban soundscape. Paris, with its influx in the 1920s of Pan-American artists, was an ideal place to compose this music. Varèse returned to France as a U.S. citizen and as President of the PAAC. 33 He intended to present music of the Americas as an antidote to the reigning neo- classicism in French music. But music from the Americas had preceded him. When Varèse arrived in France, Joséphine Baker was taking Europe by storm and Cuban singer Rita Montaner’s version of “El manisero” (The Peanut Vendor) was surging through Parisian popular society. As early as 1922 Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier reported from 32 Antonieta Henríquez and José Piñero Díaz, Amadeo Roldán: Testimonios, 219. 33 Varèse became a U.S. citizen in October 1927. 32
Paris, “there is nothing more contemporary, nothing more now these days than the abrupt and unexpected triumph of Cuban music.” 34 Varèse sought to convince his fellow Frenchmen that there was more to music in the Americas than that borrowed from their African roots. He believed, as he later famously wrote, that composers “must draw a line between entertainment and art. Art is from the shoulders up. The other is from the hips down.” 35 While Cuban musicians and composers typically did not accept rigid boundaries between low/popular and high/art music, 36 Varèse would have easily dismissed the prospect of using the Cuban son and rumba as sources for art music on the basis of their association with popular dance and negritude. It is not surprising, therefore, that another Varèse biographer, Odile Vivier, claimed that Varèse remarked to her in reference to Roldán’s Rítmicas, “I know I am really the first to have written compositions for solo percussion.” 37 Ionisation is likely the most analyzed piece in the percussion ensemble literature. Henry Cowell wrote that it “sprang from the composer’s association with futurist esthetics.” 38 Nicolas Slonimsky offered a different approach to the work, describing it as a kind of sonata form. 39 Varèse himself described his work rather cryptically: “There is an idea, the basis of an internal structure, expanded and split into different shapes or groups of sound constantly changing is shape, direction, and speed, attracted and repulsed by various forces. The form is the consequence of this interaction.” 40 In a letter to Carlos Salzedo in which Varèse described Ionisation, he included an enclosure from 34 Timothy Brennan, “Preface,” in Alejo Carpentier, Music in Cuba, 3. 35 Edgard Varèse and Chou Wen-Chung, “The Liberation of Sound,” Perspectives of New Music 5/1 (Autumn-Winter 1966), 16. 36 A Cuban composer who was equally accepted as a composer of popular and concert music was Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963), whose most popular songs include “Siboney” and “Malagueña.” 37 Odile Vivier, Varèse. (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1973): 93. Quoted in Paraskevaídis (2004): 11. Since Varèse never composed for any one solo percussion instrument, we can safely assume he (or Vivier) meant percussion ensemble. 38 Henry Cowell, “Drums along the Pacific.” Modern Music 18/1 (1940-1): 46. 39 Nicolas Slonimsky, Music Since 1900, (New York: Schirmer, 1937; sixth ed. 2001), 340-341. 40 Varèse and Chou, “The Liberation of Sound,” 16. 33
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 and 14: INTRODUCTION Friendly cultural and
Page 15 and 16: of America, and [to] stimulate comp
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: Rítmica No. 5 separates rhythmic e
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
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talent.” 81 In January 1933 Varè
Page 142 and 143:
The evening consisted of Ruggles’
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on four Latin American PAAC members
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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
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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
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as well as other musical heritages.
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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
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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
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