The Poetics and Politics of Ambiguity

IF 0.4 2区 艺术学 0 MUSIC
A. Stephenson
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The use of the harmonic series as a pitch-generating resource is a significant trend in twentieth- and twenty-first-century composition. While the principle of equal temperament prioritizes an additive understanding of intervals, the harmonic series implies a ratio-based approach to pitch relationships. Despite these philosophical differences and the sometimes polemical debates that have attended to them, the works of Julian Anderson (1967–) and Rand Steiger (1957–) draw simultaneously on overtone-based and equal-tempered harmonic thinking. These two composers are part of a group of musicians who have proposed various hybrid approaches to harmonic construction, and their works are also notable for playing out interactions between these influences in ways that reflect the composers’ political concerns. In this paper, I combine examinations of Anderson’s and Steiger’s characteristic harmonic strategies with close analyses of two quartertone-based works: Anderson’s Eden (2005) and Steiger’s Post-truth Lament (2017). I use these discussions to consider the pieces’ diverse political resonances. Ultimately, I argue that their hybrid harmonic approaches serve to highlight the multifaceted implications of ambiguity—not only its musically generative potential, but also its capacity to transform contemporary political life in ways both corrosive and constructive.
歧义的诗学与政治学
谐波级数作为音高生成资源的使用是二十世纪和二十一世纪作曲的一个重要趋势。虽然相等气质的原则优先考虑对音程的加法理解,但谐波级数暗示了一种基于比率的音高关系方法。尽管存在这些哲学差异,有时也会引发争论,但朱利安·安德森(1967–)和兰德·斯泰格(1957–)的作品同时借鉴了基于泛音的和谐思维。这两位作曲家是一群音乐家中的一员,他们提出了各种混合的和声构建方法,他们的作品也以反映作曲家政治关切的方式展现了这些影响之间的互动而闻名。在本文中,我结合对Anderson和Steiger的特色和声策略的考察,并仔细分析了两部基于四分之一音调的作品:Anderson的《伊甸园》(2005)和Steiger's《后真相的哀歌》(2017)。我利用这些讨论来考虑这些作品的不同政治共鸣。最终,我认为,他们的混合和声方法有助于突出歧义的多方面含义——不仅是它在音乐上的生成潜力,还有它以腐蚀性和建设性的方式改变当代政治生活的能力。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
1.70
自引率
25.00%
发文量
26
审稿时长
42 weeks
期刊介绍: Music Theory Online is a journal of criticism, commentary, research and scholarship in music theory, music analysis, and related disciplines. The refereed open-access electronic journal of the Society for Music Theory, MTO has been in continuous publication since 1993. New issues are published four times per year and include articles, reviews, commentaries, and analytical essays. In addition, MTO publishes a list of job opportunities and abstracts of recently completed dissertations.
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