The Self-Conscious Ensemble in Selected Twentieth-Century Vocal Works
The pieces discussed include Time and Motion Study III by Brian Ferneyhough, Hallelujah and Anagrama by Mauricio Kagel, Maledetto by Kenneth Gaburo, Mots by Betsy Jolas, Stimmung by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Untitled by William Brooks, Aventures by Gyorgy Ligeti, and Coro and Passaggio by Luciano Berio. Most of these experimental pieces emerged out of the period of social, political, and cultural upheaval that lasted from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies. Vocal ensemble music engaged with its own social discourse--self-conscious ensemble music--was peculiarly suited to this period's intense interest in issues of human connection, such as overcoming entrenched systems of power by building on the common brotherhood of man. By exploring new avenues of language, sound, and gesture, the ensemble enacts the exploration that composers--and others--believed to be essential to the remaking of the world.
Sociology, Social Structure and Development
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign