Conditions of Music
LANGUAGE, DISCOURSE, SOCIE1Y Editors: Stephen Heath and Colin MacCabe Published VISION AND PAINTING: The Logic of the Gaze Norman Bryson ALICE DOESN'T: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema Theresa de Lauretis CONDITIONS OF MUSIC Alan Durant FEMINISM AND PSYCHOANALYSIS: The Daughter's Seduction Jane Gallop ON LAW AND IDEOLOGY Paul Hirst JAMES JOYCE AND THE REVOLUTION OF THE WORD Colin MacCabe THE TALKING CURE: Essays in Psychoanalysis and Language Colin MacCabe (editor) PSYCHOANALYSIS AND CINEMA: The Imaginary Signifier Christian Metz LANGUAGE, SEMANTICS AND IDEOLOGY Michel Pecheux LANGUAGE, SEXUALI1Y AND IDEOLOGY IN EZRA POUND'S CANTOS Jean-Michel Rabate THE CASE OF PETER PAN OR THE IMPOSSIBILI1Y OF CHILDREN'S FICTION Jacqueline Rose THE MAKING OF THE READER: Language and Subjectivity in Modern American, Englbh and Irish Poetry David Trotter Forthcoming STATE OF NATURE: Ethnography and Origins Beverley Brown and Judith Ennew TO REPRESENT WOMAN? The Representation ofsexual Differences in the Visual Media Elizabeth Cowie UNDERSTANDING BECKETT Peter Gidal THREE ESSAYS ON SUBJECTIVI1Y Stephen Heath EPOS: Word, Narrative and the Iliad Michael Lynn-George THE GENEALOGY OF MORAL FORMS: Foucault, Nietzsche, Donzelot Jeffrey Minson FEMINISMS: A Conceptual History Denise Riley POLITICAL CRITICISM Michael Ryan
CONDITIONS OF MUSIC Alan Durant M MACMILLAN
Alan Durant 1984 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. First published 1984 by THE MACMILlAN PRESS LID London and Basingstoke Companies and representatives throughout the world British Ubrary Cataloguing in Publication Data Durant, Alan Conditions of music-( Language, discourse, society) 1. Musical forms I. Title II. Series 781.5 MT58 ISBN 978-0-333-37277-7 ISBN 978-1-349-17591-8 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-17591-8
Rebec, fifteenth century, an early model. Photo hy kind permission of the Horniman Museum, London. v
Contents Acknowledgements ix 1 MUSIC AND ITS LANGUAGE Part I: Four Areas in Question The unanswered question of music as a language-musical 'languages' and musical change-the non-referentiality of music-'all art constantly aspires towards the condition of music'-deryk Cooke's The Language of Music-Music and language: comparison or theory?-historical change and musical terminology-mousike-continuity, change and purpose-the importance of transitions-revaluations 2 CLASSICAL MUSIC 29 The 'classical' in 'classical music'-canon of works or relations of address?-beginnings of the concert-balance and vision The orchestra, format and history-orchestra and orchestration-composer and conductor: specialisation-forms and their origins-forms, listening and formal analysis: the symphony-'classical' music and modernism-serialism Recording and the 'classical' composer-collaborative music and listening 3 TUNING AND DISSONANCE 58 Music, dissonance and noise-music, sounds and acoustics Formalism or musak-historical reference I: The Greeks Historical reference II: The Middle Ages-The Middle Ages: sounds and symbols-the Middle Ages: polyphony-historical reference III: tonality-the contemporary argument: three views-the contemporary argument: directions-dissonance and today's ear 4 PERFORMANCE: SOUND AND VISION 86 Musical performance and spectacle-locating sounds-the vii 3
viii Contents significance of sound and vision-barthes and the body: 'The Grain of the Voice'-Three points of position in sound and vision-performance in transition-musical reproduction and its technology-reproduction and performance-forms in transition-'musica Practica' or musical image? Part II: Two Case Studies 5 FALSE RELATIONS AND THE MADRIGAL: AN ALCHEMY OF ENGLAND'S GOLDEN AGE IN MUSIC 119 Golden Age or period of transition-madrigal and madrigalist: employment and publication-the madrigal and religious controversy-music by metaphor and rhetoric-imitation and ornament-madrigal, hallett and ayre-the ayre and the singing voice-the period and its prospect-performance and contemporary cultural argument 6 ROCK TODAY: FACING THE MUSIC 167 Diversity of forms and its implications-regional comparison: disco music in Jamaica, India and the USA-Meanings and options in one place-identification and revolt-the Who, 'My Generation', and David Bowie, 'Fashion'-Groups-'Real' experience or conventional genre?-the rock song I: radio The rock song II: 'shifters' and the term of address-the rock song III: position, polysemy and innovation-albums 1: Sergeant Pepper and Dark Side of the Moon-Albums II: new form or sell-out?-albums III: implications for the contemporary scene-the current prospect: synthesisers and video Notes and References 234 Select Bibliography and Record List 239 Index 249
Acknowledgements A number of people have talked through with me many of the arguments laid out in this book, and some have worked over stages of the manuscript. I would like to thank them, especially: Rebecca Thomas, Andrew Blake, Simon Adams, Derek Attridge, Simon Emmerson, Graham Huntingdon, Eddie Prevost. All photographs by (and with permission from): Jill Furmanovsky, unless otherwise credited. Jill Furmanovsky is a studio photographer who contributes regularly to rock music papers and magazines in Britain and elsewhere. The author and publishers wish to thank the following, who have kindly given permission for the use of copyright material: Cambridge University Library, for photograph of 1617 edition of Thomas Campion's 'Fire! Fire!'. Chappell Music Ltd, London, for lyrics from 'Breathe' and 'Time', by Pink Floyd. Copyright 1973 Pink Floyd Music Publishers Ltd. Dwarf Music, New York, for lyrics from 'Rainy Day Women # 12 and 35', by Bob Dylan. Copyright 1966 Dwarf Music. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Faber and Faber Ltd, for words and music of Thomas Campion's 'Fire! Fire!', reprinted from The Works ofthomas Campion: Complete Songs, Masques and Treatises, edited by Walter R. Davis. Fabulous Music Ltd, for lyrics from 'My Generatioh', words and music by Pete Townshend ( 1966). Horniman Museum, London, for photographs of rebec and African kora. Island Music, for photograph of Bob Marley. Keith Rowe, for photograph of Keith Rowe. Northern Songs Ltd, for lyrics from 'A Day in the Life' ( 1967), words and music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney; ix
X Acknowledgements 'Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da' ( 1968), words and music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney; 'Glass Onion' ( 1968 ), words and music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney; 'Maybe I'm Amazed' ( 1970 ), words and music by Paul McCartney. Oxford University Press, for words and music of Thomas Tomkins's 'Music Divine', reprinted from The Oxford Book of English Madrigals, edited by Philip Ledger. ].Walter Thompson Co, Ltd, and Elida Gibbs, for photographic still from 'Vivas' television advertisement. All rights reserved. Warner Bros Music Ltd, for lyrics from 'You're So Vain', by Carly Simon ( 1972 ); 'Pretty Vacant', by the Sex Pistols ( 1977); 'We are Family', by Sister Sledge ( 1979). Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity.