{"id":1285,"date":"2019-04-02T12:25:35","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T12:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?p=1285"},"modified":"2019-04-04T01:28:14","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T01:28:14","slug":"the-moral-qualities-inherent-in-time-luigi-nonos-al-gran-sole-carico-damore-1972-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/assignments\/music-power-politics\/the-moral-qualities-inherent-in-time-luigi-nonos-al-gran-sole-carico-damore-1972-4\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Moral Qualities Inherent in Time\u201d: Luigi Nono\u2019s Al gran sole carico d&#8217;amore (1972-4)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">      <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>What does \u201cpassed\u201d mean for a person when for each of us the past is the bearer of all that is constant in the reality of the present, of each current moment?<\/p><cite><strong>Andrei Tarkovsky, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/monoskop.org\/images\/d\/dd\/Tarkovsky_Andrey_Sculpting_in_Time_Reflections_on_the_Cinema.pdf\">Sculpting in Time<\/a>\ufeff<\/em><\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">      <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Luigi Nono (1924-1990), one of the foremost pioneers of avant-garde music in post-war Europe, is also recognized for his fervent, left-wing political engagement. Following the stage works <em><strong>Intolleranza 1960<\/strong><\/em> (1961) and <em><strong>A floresta e\u0301 jovem e cheja de vida<\/strong><\/em> (1966), his electronic composition and explicitly political statement <em><strong>Musica-Manifesto n. 1<\/strong><\/em> (1969), and<em> <strong>Como una ola de fuerza y luz<\/strong><\/em> (1972) for soprano, piano and orchestra, his political activism culminated in <em><strong>Al gran sole carico d&#8217;amore<\/strong><\/em> (1972-4), an \u2018<em>azione scenica<\/em>\u2019 (scenic action) which was premiered at La Scala on 4 April 1975.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Al gran sole carico d&#039;amore - Luigi Nono\" width=\"525\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/videoseries?list=PL7Tgr5_sx0EuuWhdRSFk23GpuoMZV63j-\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nono expressly reminded Ricordi, his publisher, to avoid the traditional classification of a staged musical work as an opera. Certainly the eluded genre has been long bound with bourgeois connotations; the opera, besides the ample potential for commercial success and the institutionalization of vocal training, is also bound with a specifically linear style of storytelling. This convention had not been broken for almost 200 years since the solidification of the opera culture during the eighteenth century. Nono\u2019s <em>Al gran sole carico d&#8217;amore<\/em>, however, does not unfold in accordance to the linear convention. Hybrid historical events and social incentives intertwined, their coherent interrelationship to each other very much effectively accomplished at the first place by an equally hybrid literary input. Nono adapted an anti-symbolism, affective and highly logical method to present collective will; since communist writers are a conduit through which the people illustrate their wills and utopian images, there lies a moral obligation to obliterate the boundary between the individual activist and a group of activists. Therefore, what originally is represented by a singular character in the literary source may be assigned for multiple voices or dispersed choruses in Nono\u2019s work \u2013 a collective search for truth and communist utopia. The ordering of historical events, poetry references, and dramatizations is not confined to a temporal way of thinking, but is choreographed upon a plane of historicity which seamlessly morphs from one stage to another, from the present to the past. Time is will; the dolcissimo singing is the gravity which creates tremendous character in the human agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another major characteristic of <em>Al gran sole carico d\u2019amore<\/em>, and indeed many of his politically engaged compositions, is the utilization of protest songs and communist anthems, which, in spite of the fact that these songs all conform to tonal practices, still maintains a prospective, forward-looking character. In the liner notes of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.luiginono.it\/en\/discography\/8573-81059-2\/\">Lothar Zagrosek and Staatsorchester Stuttgart\u2019s 1999 recording of the opera<\/a>, Klaus Zehelein writes that \u201ca crucial element of [<em>Al gran sole carico d\u2019amore<\/em>] is that meaning is created, and that it is not, as in neo-Romanticism, a case of using expressivity as something which already exists. Rather, it is a matter of redefining it through syntax (trans. Alfred Clayton).\u201d Indeed, quotations of tonal melodies, in an \u2018atonal\u2019 and teleological context, are often intended to invoke some kind of nostalgia or distance, usually characterized by inertia and the stark contrast with dissonant, actively fantastical and expositional passages; examples include the Alban Berg\u2019s Violin Concerto, who contextualized a Carinthian folk song as the revelation of origin behind the cradle-grave analogy, and George Crumb\u2019s <em>Black Angels<\/em>, who included the theme of Schubert\u2019s Death and the Maiden and utilized it as an interlocutor of micro-density realms. On the contrary, Nono directly intruded into the interval content of the songs in a way that the songs cease to operate in a tonal logic; intervals, liberated from tonal contracts, enter the terrain of spatial considerations and negotiations. Jonathan Impett <a href=\"https:\/\/www.routledge.com\/Routledge-Handbook-to-Luigi-Nono-and-Musical-Thought-1st-Edition\/Impett\/p\/book\/9781409455974\">notes that<\/a>, in Nono\u2019s 1969 work <em><strong>Per Bastiana \u2013 Tai-Yang Cheng<\/strong><\/em>, \u201chaving analysed the limited interval content of <em>The East is Red<\/em>, Nono puts it at the centre of a wider pan-chromatic, all-interval interval matrix. The fragments thus produced explore the expanded pitch space step by step, until the pitches and intervals of the melody itself gradually emerge from their chromatic negative through the eight passages of the third section. (278)\u201d Intervals denote space; the reality of expression lies in the peculiarity of individual spatial components and the composer\u2019s \u2018hegemonic\u2019 organization. The shades of tonality are, once and for all, extirpated along with the relics of nineteenth-century romanticism which characterized the European bourgeois. Allying himself with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/history\/erol\/periodicals\/theoretical-review\/1982301.htm\">Gramsci\u2019s analysis of political hegemony<\/a>, one of the main tenets of communism, Nono erased the difference between space, progress and history; intervals are like the resonating body of vociferous persons, articulating their demands and inviting adversaries \u2013 other intervals \u2013 to enter a socialist dialect, an perpetual process of compromise. His radical inventions were also a means to denounce a then-prevailing antithesis of his approach: that the use of revolutionary songs without a radical reworking on their musical profiles is, in other words the lack of radical participation in the musical\/teleological prospects, is lethargic and, ultimately, bourgeois and authoritarian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-5 wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"652\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-1-1-1-652x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1456\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1456\" class=\"wp-image-1456\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-1-1-1-652x1024.png 652w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-1-1-1-191x300.png 191w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-1-1-1-768x1206.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-1-1-1.png 976w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 652px) 100vw, 652px\" \/><figcaption>I\/1<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"737\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-1-2-737x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1457\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1457\" class=\"wp-image-1457\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-1-2-737x1024.png 737w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-1-2-216x300.png 216w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-1-2-768x1067.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-1-2.png 1140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 737px) 100vw, 737px\" \/><figcaption>I\/1<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"753\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-1-753x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1458\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1458\" class=\"wp-image-1458\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-1-753x1024.png 753w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-1-221x300.png 221w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-1-768x1044.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-1.png 1174w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><figcaption>I\/2<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"775\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-2-775x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1459\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1459\" class=\"wp-image-1459\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-2-775x1024.png 775w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-2-227x300.png 227w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-2-768x1014.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-2.png 1042w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><figcaption>I\/2<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"731\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-3-731x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1460\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1460\" class=\"wp-image-1460\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-3-731x1024.png 731w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-3-214x300.png 214w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-3-768x1076.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-3.png 1018w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 731px) 100vw, 731px\" \/><figcaption>I\/3<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"674\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-4-674x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1461\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1461\" class=\"wp-image-1461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-4-674x1024.png 674w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-4-198x300.png 198w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-4-768x1166.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-2-4.png 1014w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 674px) 100vw, 674px\" \/><figcaption>I\/2<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"701\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-4-1-701x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1462\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1462\" class=\"wp-image-1462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-4-1-701x1024.png 701w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-4-1-205x300.png 205w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-4-1-768x1121.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-4-1.png 948w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 701px) 100vw, 701px\" \/><figcaption>I\/4<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"726\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-4-2-726x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1463\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1463\" class=\"wp-image-1463\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-4-2-726x1024.png 726w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-4-2-213x300.png 213w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-4-2-768x1083.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-4-2.png 980w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 726px) 100vw, 726px\" \/><figcaption>I\/4<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"485\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-5-485x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1464\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1464\" class=\"wp-image-1464\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-5-485x1024.png 485w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-5-142x300.png 142w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-5.png 760w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 485px) 100vw, 485px\" \/><figcaption>I\/5<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"586\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-6-1-586x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1465\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1465\" class=\"wp-image-1465\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-6-1-586x1024.png 586w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-6-1-172x300.png 172w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-6-1-768x1342.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-6-1.png 928w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 586px) 100vw, 586px\" \/><figcaption>I\/6<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"725\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-6-2-725x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1466\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1466\" class=\"wp-image-1466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-6-2-725x1024.png 725w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-6-2-212x300.png 212w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-6-2-768x1085.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1-6-2.png 980w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 725px) 100vw, 725px\" \/><figcaption>I\/6<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"761\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-1-1-761x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1467\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1467\" class=\"wp-image-1467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-1-1-761x1024.png 761w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-1-1-223x300.png 223w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-1-1-768x1034.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-1-1.png 1028w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><figcaption>II\/1<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"764\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-1-2-764x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1468\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1468\" class=\"wp-image-1468\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-1-2-764x1024.png 764w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-1-2-224x300.png 224w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-1-2-768x1029.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-1-2.png 1218w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><figcaption>II\/1<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"456\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-3-456x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1469\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1469\" class=\"wp-image-1469\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-3-456x1024.png 456w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-3-134x300.png 134w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-3.png 744w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 456px) 100vw, 456px\" \/><figcaption>II\/3<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"733\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-4-1-733x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1470\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1470\" class=\"wp-image-1470\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-4-1-733x1024.png 733w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-4-1-215x300.png 215w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-4-1-768x1073.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-4-1.png 1034w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 733px) 100vw, 733px\" \/><figcaption>II\/4<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-4-2-720x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1471\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1471\" class=\"wp-image-1471\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-4-2-720x1024.png 720w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-4-2-211x300.png 211w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-4-2-768x1092.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2-4-2.png 1010w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><figcaption>II\/4<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"709\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Finale-1-709x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1472\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1472\" class=\"wp-image-1472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Finale-1-709x1024.png 709w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Finale-1-208x300.png 208w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Finale-1-768x1108.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Finale-1.png 952w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px\" \/><figcaption>II\/Finale<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"744\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Finale-2-744x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1473\" data-link=\"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/?attachment_id=1473\" class=\"wp-image-1473\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Finale-2-744x1024.png 744w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Finale-2-218x300.png 218w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Finale-2-768x1057.png 768w, https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Finale-2.png 1134w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><figcaption>II\/Finale<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But in what ways does Nono\u2019s scrupulously radical process of intervallic recontexualization reprimand a chronological time? In what ways does Nono\u2019s compositional method correspond to the moral objective of <strong><em>azione scenica<\/em><\/strong>, the \u201cexpression of history (Zehelein)\u201d? And how are deviations from this practice rendered \u2018immoral\u2019 or \u2018irresponsible\u2019? Perhaps we can take a departure to appraise neo-romanticism to clarify this issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Intending to revive conventional idioms and musical (especially tonal) practices, neo-romanticism is, needless to say, a polar opposite of Nono\u2019s Gramscian approach of music; it is music \u201cusing expressivity as something which already exists.\u201d In the remainder of this post I intend to argue how time and material are essentially the same, and how the mediocrity of material selection and utilization of neo-romantic music would imply not only a false representation of time but also, at worst, moral defects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dark Interlude and Scene 13  from Mark Campbell and Mason Bates&#039; &#039;The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs&#039;\" width=\"525\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-1ACdwLvJ9I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2017, Mason Bates\u2019s opera, <strong><em>The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs<\/em><\/strong>, received its premiere. Although it has won a positive public appeal, critics have <a href=\"http:\/\/musicologynow.ams-net.org\/2017\/08\/the-revolution-of-steve-jobs.html\">expressed discontent<\/a> about the incoherence of musical ideas \u2013 largely due to Bate\u2019s heavy dependence upon \u2018pastiche\u2019 \u2013 and have found it one of the detriments that made the opera unconvincing, along with the opera\u2019s \u2018moral vacuity\u2019 and its \u2018clich\u00e9d, fraudulent narrative arc.\u2019 Having assessed Nono\u2019s <em>azione scenica<\/em>, I would add that the fourth detriment to this opera is the banal understanding of time typical to neo-romantic composers. Andrei Tarkovsky, arguably one of the greatest film directors of all time, considered morality and human conscience contingent with time, which \u201cin its moral implication is in fact turned back. (<em>Sculpting in Time<\/em>, 58)\u201d Why does the adherence to morality require a different understanding of time? How does Bates\u2019s opera subscribe to the ostensibly factual conception of an \u2018irreversible time,\u2019 despite the seemingly unconventional, non-chronological plot of Jobs\u2019 life? How does Bates\u2019s toying around with pastiche relate to this issue at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unfolding the argument from the last question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote style=\"text-align:left\" class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-default is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201c[\u2026] the first essential in any plastic composition, its necessary and final criterion, is whether it is true to life, specific and factual; that is what makes it unique. By contrast, symbols are born, and readily pass into general use to become clich\u00e9s, when an author hits upon a particular plastic composition, ties it in with some mysterious turn of thought of his composition, loads it with extraneous meaning.\u201d<\/p><cite>Andrei Tarkovsky, <em>Sculpting in Time<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">     <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The lack of specificity and factuality is manifest in the ubiquitous troping of pastiche in the opera; religious themes are represented by \u2018orientalist clich\u00e9s: breathy pentatonic flute, gongs, and prayer bowls,\u2019 the musical-mathematical analogy by a literal quotation of J. S. Bach\u2019s music, calamity by \u2018self-consciously \u201cmodernist\u201d idioms,\u2019 etc. The maker of a polyscreen film is forced to \u201c[reduce] simultaneity to sequence, in other words of thinking up for each instance an elaborate system of conventions (Tarkovsky, <em>Sculpting in Time<\/em>\ufeff, 71).\u201d Bates\u2019s approach to semantic articulation also necessitates a similar solution: to reconcile irreconcilable musical\/referential material by means of sequence and clich\u00e9s. As a result the opera is neither specific nor factual; but how does this lack cause the opera to succumb to linear time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The concept of linear time, according to Tarkovsky, stems from a semantic reading of cause and effect \u2013 it itself not more than a failure to see the \u201cmutual dependence\u201d of cause and effect of \u201cinexorably ordained necessity\u201d; \u201cThe link of cause and effect, in other words the transition from one state to another, is also the form in which time exists, the means whereby it is materialised, in day to day practice. (58)\u201d A progressive reading of cause and effect would reveal the reversibility of causality and its primary agent \u2013 conscience \u2013 and it is the same progressive spirit that makes a plastic composition \u2018specific and factual.\u2019 In short, a materialised means automatically leaves the expressive terrain and is bound with troping, therefore is utilized in the same semantic realm where materialised, linear \u2018time\u2019 belongs to; by contrast, an idea or a statement charged with specificity and factuality is able to register itself unto the dialectic of truth and the conscience \u201cinherent in time itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Therefore, the use of techno signifiers and many other instances of pastiche in Bates\u2019s opera in fact signifies an absence of moral bearings. The opera, by assorting and situating these symbols in their representational, \u2018literal\u2019 forms, countermands the provocative responsibility of an artwork and becomes a temple of archaic semantics; it is therefore devoid of truth, of individuality, and of expressive potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gramsci considers the popular song as a prism of intentions and empirical dimensions: \u201cWhat distinguishes the popular song of a nation or a culture is not its artistic origin or historical origins, but its way of conceiving of the world and life, in contrast with official society (Gramsci, <em>Letteratura e vita nazionale<\/em>, 1950),\u201d Nono\u2019s Al gran sole carico d&#8217;amore extended \u2013 perhaps extrapolated \u2013 Gramsci\u2019s thesis into the exigent circumstances of post-war Europe and demonstrated the means of social unity through an unrelenting procedure of demarcating and demolishing dialogical spaces which finds momentary utopia within both internal and external manifestations of the world. As a composer, he internalized this historicity as well; the labyrinth of communist activities has formulated a self-sufficient dialectical terrain which, along with his impeccable erudition, caused him to gradually consider historicity in a different way. May I conclude this blogpost with Nono\u2019s illuminating contemplation of himself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote style=\"text-align:left\" class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>I don\u2019t aim to liberate myself from the shadows of the past.<br> I don\u2019t repudiate my work, thought and acts of the past.<br> I have neither need nor motive to liberate myself from them.<br> I am just seeking to broaden and deepen my thought in my work, in my life.<br> I am also seeking to understand various dismemberments that have taken place within me (lacerations of various types leading to other discoveries of diverse quality and with various consequences) [\u2026]<br> I am simply discovering other possibilities [\u2026]<br> What I am studying literally upsets me because it opens me up to other thoughts, it doesn\u2019t just make me question myself but makes me surpass the limits of the preceding thoughts and sentiments (why repudiate them if I come from here, why refute them if they are continuing in other ways in me?????) and at times in the joy of such <em>intra-listening<\/em> [intraascolto] I find myself alone.<\/p><cite>Nono, letter to Pestalozza, September\/October 1981<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8211; I-Hsiang Chao<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What does \u201cpassed\u201d mean for a person when for each of us the past is the bearer of all that is constant in the reality of the present, of each current moment? Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time\ufeff Luigi Nono (1924-1990), one of the foremost pioneers of avant-garde music in post-war Europe, is also recognized for &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/assignments\/music-power-politics\/the-moral-qualities-inherent-in-time-luigi-nonos-al-gran-sole-carico-damore-1972-4\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;\u201cThe Moral Qualities Inherent in Time\u201d: Luigi Nono\u2019s Al gran sole carico d&#8217;amore (1972-4)&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[75,523,460,459,461],"class_list":["post-1285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-power-politics","tag-avant-garde","tag-communism","tag-gramsci","tag-nono","tag-opera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1285"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1791,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1285\/revisions\/1791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/mhs123_spring2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}