Review

Reviewed Work(s):
Vers une musique expérimentale
by Pierre Schaeffer
Review by: D. D.
Source: Music & Letters, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Jan., 1958), pp. 84-86
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/730377
Accessed: 19-04-2019 14:06 UTC

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84 MUSIC AND LETTERS

attaching
attaching to
to great
greatoccasions
occasionsofofpublic
publicand
and
private
private
rejoicing
rejoicing
in Europe
in Europe
during
during the
the sixteenth
sixteenthcentury,
century,the
the
arts
arts
and
and
persons
persons
employed
employed
therein
therein
and and
the
the philosophic
philosophicimplications
implicationsthereof.
thereof.The
Theaccepted
accepted
contributions
contributions
achieved
achieved
this
this somewhat
somewhatunevenly,
unevenly,there
therebeing
beinga general
a general tendency
tendency
to concentrate
to concentrate
upon
upon France,
France, England
Englandand
andItaly,
Italy,and
and
toto
spill
spill
overover
rather
rather
farfar
intointo
the the
seventeenth
seventeenth century
centuryatatthe
theexpense
expense ofof
the
thefirst
firsthalf
half
of of
thethe
sixteenth.
sixteenth.
A further
further congress
congressfor
forthe
thebetter
better consideration
consideration
of of
this
this
earlier
earlier
period
period
was was
therefore
therefore arranged
arrangedfor
for1957
1957and
andis is
presumably
presumably
nownowan an
accomplished
accomplished
factfact
which
which will
will bring
bringforth
forthinindue
duecourse
course
a companion-volume
a companion-volume
to the
to the
present
present one.
one.
The
The thirty-one
thirty-onepapers
paperscover
covera awide
widevariety
variety
of of
subjects,
subjects,
from
from
the the
use use
of of
fireworks
fireworks in in French
Frenchentertainments
entertainments totothetheappearance
appearance of oftriumphal
triumphal
arches
arches onon the
thetitles
titlesofofearly
earlybooks.
books. Amid
Amid royal
royalentries,
entries,noblenoblemarriages,
marriages,
carousals
carousals and
and carnivals,
carnivals,musicology
musicology hashasitsits
own
own discreetly
discreetly disciplined
disciplined
but but
far
far from
from unimportant
unimportantsay. say.Federico
Federico Ghisi
Ghisi publishes
publishesa very
a veryearlyearly
example
example
of Italian
Italian monody
monodyfrom fromCaccini's
Caccini'smusic
music forfor
thethewedding
wedding ceremonies
ceremonies of of
Ferdinand
Ferdinand II andandChristina
ChristinaofofLorraine
Lorraine at at
Florence
Florence in in
I589.
I589.Emanuel
Emanuel
Winternitz
Winternitz discusses
discussesthethestrange
strangeandandoften
often bizarre
bizarre musical
musical instruments
instruments
depicted
depicted inin certain
certainItalian
Italianpaintings,
paintings, concluding
concluding thatthatmanymany of these
of these
are are
merely
merely fanciful
fancifultheatre
theatreproperties
properties andandthat
thatthethescenes
scenesthemselves
themselves are are
drawn
drawn from
from theatrical
theatricalrepresentations
representations rather
ratherthanthan thethe
imagination
imagination of of
the
the artists.
artists. Seven
Sevenpapers
papersare arethe
thecontributions
contributions of ofBritish
British scholars
scholars
on on
British
British subjects,
subjects,andandititisisamong
amongthese
these writers
writers thatthatthethetemptation
temptation to to
jump
jump the
the forward
forwarddate-line
date-lineisismost
most marked;
marked; possibly
possiblybecause
because
in the
in the
rather
rather
indefinite
indefinite nebula
nebulaofoflesfetes
lesfetesthethegravitational
gravitational pull
pull
of ofsuchsuch
resonant
resonantnames
names
as Shakespeare,
Shakespeare,Jonson
Jonsonand andDekker,
Dekker, toto saysay
nothing
nothing of of
theirtheirmusical
musical
contemporaries,
contemporaries,isistoo toostrong
strongtotobebe resisted.
resisted. Also,
Also, of of
course,
course, thethe
docu-
docu-
mentation
mentation of ofLondon
Londonentertainments
entertainments is is
particularly
particularly well-preserved
well-preserved for for
this
this period
period and
andintroduces
introducesananelement
element ofofcorroborative
corroborative detail,
detail,
notnot
to to
mention artistic verisimilitude, into narratives that are otherwise far
from bald and unconvincing. John P. Cutts, whose work of identifying
the music of several masques is well known, here discusses the music to
Jonson's 'Oberon' and prints four pieces by Robert Johnson and Alfonso
Ferrabosco written for that occasion.
The papers are printed in French; but there is a somewhat irritating
lack of uniformity in the treatment of foreign and particularly English
quotations. E. H.

Vers une musique expe

'La Revue musicale', No. 236. pp. I4I. (Richard-Masse, Paris,
I957, Fr. 1,200.)
The history of the most recent special issue of 'La Revue musicale' is,
perhaps, the most interesting thing about it. The issue was planned in
connection with the Premiere Decade Internationale de Musique Experi-
mentale held in Paris in June I953, under the praiseworthy and dis-
interested sponsorship of'La Revue musicale' itself. The editor, M. Albert
Richard, entrusted the management of the special commemorative issue
to M. Pierre Schaeffer, the director of the Groupe de Recherches de la
Musique Concrete de la Radiodiffusion-Television Frangaise. ByJuly 1953

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REVIEWS OF BOOKS 85

the symposium had already passed the proof stage. But at that point
M. Richard was visited with doubts. Was the moment propitious for a
publication of this kind? Might it not prove an unwholesome influence
upon certain young musicians who set too much store by novelty for its
own sake? Although one would have thought that such people were
hardly worth bothering about-unless their interest was in itself an
indication of some essential flaw in the idea-M. Richard decided to
postpone publication. Now, after four years, the young are apparent
out of danger, and we are offered M. Schaeffer's symposium, exactly
it stood in the original, but with the addition of a preliminary explanati
by M. Richard, and a further rumination by M. Schaeffer (dated M
1957). The result is somewhat depressing.
In his new foreword M. Schaeffer observes that during the past fo
years musique concrete has not made great progress and has not produce
masterpiece. During this time supporters of traditionalisme defunt (as one
M. Schaeffer's disciples puts it) have been rewarded with, among oth
things, a 'Canticum Sacrum' and 'Agon', a 'Turn of the Screw', a 'Can
di Liberazione'; so they can, perhaps, afford a few sous' worth of co
miseration for M. Schaeffer and his fellow-travellers vers tine musiq
experimentale. But M. Schaeffer does not ask for pity. Indeed, he consid
that the premisses of musique concrete have become more valuable than ev
this in the face of the now much more fashionable work of the German-
Italian studios of "electronic" music. Certainly he has the courage of his
convictions; and there is something in the quality of his opposition to the
hyper-mathematical school of "electronic" composers which many will
find sympathetic. Having confessed, with admirable frankness, a certain
distaste for "atonal" music, and having proclaimed that his "musical
instinct" has never been greatly attracted by electronically-produced
sound, he stresses, both in his new introduction and in the four-year-old
article whose title has been given to the whole symposium, that he finds
the empirical more interesting, creatively, than the pre-determined. It is
ironic that M. Schaeffer, the prophet of the "subjective" musique concrete,
and Dr. Eimert, the prophet of the "objective" electronische Musik, have
taken the same quotation as the text for their articles in this symposium.
It is worth quoting in full (the words are Van Gogh's): "Je crois qu'on
pense bien plus sainement lorsque les idees surgissent du contact direct
avec des choses, que lorsque l'on se met a regarder les choses avec le but
d'y trouver telle ou telle idee".
If musique concrete has succeeded in discovering for itself any meaningful
and individual content, this has been largely due to its insistence on the
creator's unremitting contact with the stuff of sound: the ear and the
imagination are given their rightful place (which of course is not, in
itself, a guarantee of excellence). It is, I suspect, the lack of such a contact
that results in the predominantly academic quality of much "electronic"
work. One is tempted to think that some malevolent spirit was responsible
for placing those words of Van Gogh's at the head of Dr. Eimert's
article. But on the whole, it must be confessed, 'Vers une musique
experimentale' is unlikely to provoke any controversies. Apart from
M. Schaeffer's two articles, which at least have the merit of liveliness,
and Dr. Eimert's, which has the merit of brevity (though the more

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86 MUSIC AND LETTERS

recently
recentlywritten
writtenpublications
publicationsin in
'Die'Die
Reihe'
Reihe'
makemake
it quite
it quite
redundant),
redundant),
the the
symposium
symposiumisiscuriously
curiously lacking
lacking
in any
in any
sense
sense
of direction,
of direction,
let alone
let alone
militancy.
militancy.Purely
Purelyjournalistic
journalisticcontributions
contributions
by M.byAntoine
M. Antoine
Golea Golea
and and
M.
M. Pierre
PierreBoulez
Boulezindulge
indulgein in
some
some
small-talk
small-talk
about
about
advanced
advanced
tendencies,
tendencies,
while
while M.
M.Robert
RobertBarras
Barrasis is
responsible
responsible
for for
somesome
jottings
jottings
aboutabout
exoticexotic
music.
music. For
Forthe
therest
restthere
there
areare
transcripts
transcripts
of some
of some
of the
of addresses
the addresses
given given
at at
the
the I953
I953conference
conference (including
(includingsuch
such
brilliantly
brilliantly
useless
useless
information
information
as as
"I
"I will
will now
nowpresent
presenttotoyou
you
oneone
of of
mymyownownworks,
works,
entitled
entitled
'Sonic'Sonic
Con- Con-
tours'
tours' "),
"),and
andananarticle
article
bybyEnrico
Enrico
Fulchignoni
Fulchignonicalled
called
'Son et
'Sonimage',
et image',
graced
graced with
witha along
longbut
butsadly
sadly
outout
of date
of date
bibliography
bibliography
of filmof film
music.music.
There
There are
arealso
alsomiscellaneous
miscellaneous notes
notes
andand
documents,
documents,whichwhich
may bemayof be of
interest to specialists. D. D.

Corpus di musiche popolari siciliane. By

2 vols. pp. 172 & 582. (Accademia d
I957.)
The visitor to the Palermo Festival of the I.S.C.M. in I949 was
presented with a handsome volume of Sicilian folksongs published by
Ricordi. They were a small selection from the large collection of Alberto
Favara, who was the Sicilian equivalent of Cecil Sharp, though his work
is compared in this handsome new publication of his corpus with that of
Bart6k and Kodaly. Like Sharp he provided piano accompaniments to
the tunes, as well as key and time signatures, in order to attract the
attention of professional musicians. His accompaniments are more
elaborate than Sharp's and drew down on his head the criticism that their
manner was troppo moderna, troppo dotta, troppo rara. How familiar it sounds!
The present fashion with us is that it is wrong to accompany a folksong
on the piano though not on a guitar. But if Favara erred in the fashion of
his day-he began collecting in 1898, eight years before Bartok and three
before Sharp-honourable amends have been made by the publication
of these two volumes, in which the strictest scientific canons of editing
have been preserved.
Vol. I consists of a series of essays by Ottavio Tiby, which deal in
scholarly fashion with all the questions posed by any collection of folk
music-its modality, its rhythmic peculiarities, its instrumental and
sociological attachments. One of his chapters goes farther afield into the
origin of siciliana as a term in general musical nomenclature. Vol. II
contains I,o90 tunes of various degrees of elaboration with their Sicilian
texts (which Ricordi thought it advisable in their publication to translate
into Italian). Here the tunes have no time signatures and few key signa-
tures. The place of origin is given, the singer's name and the date of
collection.
The books are beautifully printed on good paper and are an invitation
with the help of the notes to probe the history of Sicily, where culture
lies upon culture, for it is now accepted by anthropologists that folk music
is a stable and persistent element in a people's history. Here is a splendid
new instrument to the hand of the ethno-musicologist. F. H.

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