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Perspectives of New Music Perspectives of New Music
Perspectives of New Music Perspectives of New Music
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Perspectives of New Music
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PIERRE BOULEZ TODAY
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PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC
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COLLOQUY AND REVIEW
a 155 .
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PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC
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COLLOQUY AND REVIEW
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PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC
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COLLOQUY AND REVIEW
ing the various aspects of its activity.growth (as happens in all evolution),
In passing, it might be observed rather
how than by a degeneracy. The
strange it is that this jargon, tolerated
terms appear to us as impoverished or
by every writer and for every audience artificially complicated to the degree
in nonmusical professions, should be have been overtaken by the
that they
considered incongruous and esoteri- proliferating ideas which they are
cally "technical" by a number forced of per- into expressing.
sons who profess to be "music critics." What we have just stated is by way
Although it is their uncontestable of answer to the accusations of ob-
privilege to demonstrate their literary scurity which certain insufficiently
virtuosity in the area of music in readers have leveled against
prepared
preference to actually talkingBoulez. aboutIt is, nevertheless, true that
music, we may still be surprised at often-and sometimes pain-
the author
the repugnance they manifest fully toward(not for himself, but for his
the most tangible aspects ofreaders) an art-runs up against this prob-
that they are supposed to understand lem of adapting a thought to an
(such as the preferences they proclaim appropriate terminology. To resolve
for "inspiration," unhappily opposed such problems, Boulez-like the ma-
to "technique"; what would the first jority of
of present writers dealing with
these be, if the second did not music permit(and not only on the subject of
its expression?). It must be admitted, music) -frequently has recourse to
however, that to talk about music the vocabulary habitually employed by
using such terms as "false relation" or mathematicians. In this matter, I sup-
"diminished seventh" should be as port him completely. In fact, mathe-
natural as to comment on architecture matical logic may be considered as the
using terms like "capital" or "canti-activity of the human spirit that, in
lever." If a writer is not reluctant to the course of the last decades, has
use terms proper to the material he ismade the most important, if not the
discussing, he should not experiencemost spectacular, advances. As a re-
any difficulty in making himself un- sult, its concepts, as well as its images,
derstood, in giving a verbal image asare the most precise and the best de-
coherent as the system that he de- fined, of such variety and richness
scribes or constructs. There have al- that they may be applied, without
ways been periods when the terminol- great effort of adaptation, to numer-
ogy of an art becomes insufficient for ous forms of thought, to which they
reporting its practice. The gloomy can bring a clarity otherwise difficult
critics willingly interpret this phenom-
to achieve. There are, however, some
enon as a symptom of the decadence dangers, which it is advisable to avoid.
of the art itself, which tries to conceal These dangers result from just this
potency of the mathematical vocabu-
its senility behind a curtain of esoteri-
cism, expressed through an artificiallary, which, because of its abstrac-
renewal of the vocabulary. This point tions, is clothed in an aura of mystery.
of view seems to me erroneous. With-
Thus, the temptation is very great to
out mistaking the fact that an enrich-
make a poetic (or pedantic) use of it,
ment of the vocabulary, or eventoa succumb to the attraction of the
deformation of the traditional termi-analogy whose foundations are more
nology, is the outward sign of a crisis
literary than logical. For this reason,
affecting the theory of an art, I be-one must scorn all artistic, literary, or
lieve that this crisis is generallypoetic pretensions when intending to
brought about by a violent upsurge ofdo the work of a theoretician. There
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PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC
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