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European Music After 1945 as a Restricted Space of Enunciation:

European Music After 1945 as a Restricted Space of Enunciation: In this article, starting from the contributions of Pierre-Michel Menger and some sociological concepts of Boaventura de Sousa Santos and other postcolonial authors, the author proposes an analysis of the new musical structures created after 1945 in the new music field in Europe as a construction regulated and dominated by the core countries, critically seen from the vantage point of observation of a peripheral and subaltern country of Europe. Keywords geoculture, geopolitics, new music after 1945, power, location of culture At the very beginning, I would like to clarify the theme of relocation. One of the most resonant topics is the title of an my address, because its title may not be self-explanatory. article by Spivak: “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (Ashcroft, The theme is to affirm the fact that there is a place where Griffiths, & Tiffin, 2006, pp. 28-37). contemporary music, composed from 1945 to the present, is Undeniably, Portuguese music is, and always has been, a produced, divulged, and disseminated to other places and subaltern musical expression in the European context that is, countries in Europe and outside. The group of agents and to quote two Portuguese composers who have written on this institutions that is active in this particular field of music cre- matter, “ignored, neglected, invisible, despised and dis- ation represents a power device capable of pronouncing carded” (Delgado, 2001; Lopes-Graça, 1989); this makes the inclusions and exclusions in a way close to the concept of problem of the location of culture a crucial issue. power theorized by Foucault (1998), especially in respect of From an analysis of the location in which contemporary not having a subject: There is no one individual responsible music can exist—in the true sense of the word—it is probably for the exercise of such power. There is not only a vast net- much easier to notice the musical expressions from periph- work of agents, teaching institutions, and systems that is eral countries of Europe, such as Portugal, than those from important in putting in place the acts of power but also a type the core European countries where the absence of such musi- of internalized functioning grounded in types of discourse cal expressions usually goes unnoticed as if they were truly that mold, produce, and reproduce the reality they describe. nonexistent. The topic of my article reads thus. Others The Space of Enunciation In my opinion, this is one aspect that makes this process of of New Music subalternity invisible to almost everybody, including the My central claim is that since 1945, a new subfield of cul- scholars who write about otherness, alterity, and so on. From tural production of restricted circulation has been coming the viewpoint of a Western scholar of the core countries, the into being and that its space of enunciation is as reduced, or “Other” is the African, the Asian, and the Arab. These con- even more reduced, in geographical terms than ever before. cerns of the musicologists for Western music and its others The concept of space of enunciation has been proposed by have mainly two reasons. First, musicology has recently postcolonial theories, mainly by scholars of non-European found out that “classical music,” in spite of its traditional origin, such as Gayiatri Spivak, Homi K. Bhabha, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Arjun Appadurai, and the Portuguese sociolo- University of Coimbra, Portugal Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, Portugal gist Boaventura de Sousa Santos, among others. Reputed to be intellectuals in their areas of third-world countries and Corresponding Author: relocated as teachers at American universities, that is, having António Pinho Vargas, Rua Ribeiro Sanches, 21, r/c 1200-786 Lisbon, their space of enunciation in the core countries of the world Portugal system, made them question the consequences of their own Email: apinhovargas@sapo.pt 2 SAGE Open claims to universality, is the product of musicians mainly of Germany, Italy, and France. Therefore, it is a specific cul- In continental Europe, however, this role is assumed tural tradition and a specific musical tradition. That is why mainly by the state. Menger continues to state, “It has its the titles of traditional “Histories of Music” have been institutional chronology, that of specialized ensembles, festi- replaced more recently by the new title, “History of Western vals, research and production centers.” Finally, he writes, Music” (Grout, 1983; Taruskin, 2001). The second reason is more important. Many articles and that, progressively, music creation coming from the journals are now dedicated to musical expressions other than postwar avant-garde currents has produced the first classical music. Music such as jazz, pop, rock, and world and most successful of the models of a market widely music have recently entered the curricula of academia, espe- supported, controlled and administered by profession- cially in the English-speaking countries. This is largely an als of creation, fed by public organizations or musical outcome of the many changes that swept the musical world institutions in public or private partnerships. (Menger, and, to some extent, of the presence of the Other on the hori- 2003, 1176-1177; italics added) zon nearby. After the massive displacement of millions of people coming from outside Europe, the space of enuncia- These are the main features of what I call the subfield of tion of many kinds of so-called ethnic musical expressions contemporary music. Menger considers that has become the European metropolis. Suddenly, the music of those very distant Others has become quite visible to the character of the “population” of small organiza- European musicologists on their local horizon in London, tions promoting contemporary music is very heteroge- Paris, and Berlin. neous; specialized associations of musicians and Earlier, it was not like this. Only those who traveled long composers—also subsidized—ensembles working distances could carry descriptions of the musical expres- within universities or conservatories—which happen sions. Now, they are there wherever the Other is present. frequently in the United States—but also more infor- Although present, the Other is still Black, Muslim, Hindu, or mal initiatives related to other avant-garde artistic Buddhist, and all the theories of multiculturalism are an milieux, as is the case in Downtown New York. attempt to deal with this new situation and new presence. That said, I think the most conspicuous Other by being Considering the specific demand that exists in the new absent in the contemporary music field is the composer from music field, Menger contends that within “the traditional the European peripheral countries. market, demand comes from ordinary consumers, while in the specialized sphere of new music, there is an intermediate demand”; this demand, according to Menger, “is formed by The New Music Space: Menger composers, critics, cultural administrators, editors, musi- I shall now present my main argument, which is broadly simi- cians, teachers, animateurs culturels, students, etc.” Menger lar to that in the article by Menger (2003) published in Jean- advances the hypothesis of a possible synchronization Jacques Nattiez’s encyclopedia Musiques titled “Le Public de between the specialization of these circles of diffusion and la Musique Contemporaine.” Menger begins his argument the conditions of creative work, “that is, the specialized char- pointing to the separation between classical music and what he acter of these circles has direct implications for the way calls the “creation field.” His separation refers to the one “in composers compose.” (Willson, 2001, pp. 45-46). concert life, between concerts with a body of works from the For Menger, “the pieces are written according to the historical repertoire and concerts of creation of new works.” norms of permanent aesthetic research, which is the priority, He argues that “this historic evolution is that of a progressive in their value judgment, for the public not in the main com- dissociation, during the course of the 20th century, between the prising informed or traditional consumers, but professionals function of interpretation of historical works and the creation and experts of the art,” who are finally referred to by Bourdieu of new works, including their respective public spheres” as “other producers” (Bourdieu, 1993). (Menger, 2003, p. 1168). For him, this separation has I would like to cite here the example of Emmanuel Nunes, the only Portuguese composer who can claim a presence in a substance—that of the schism that opposed multiple the subfield. In an interview in 2000, regarding his living in languages of high contemporary music to the language Paris, he reacted, “to do what I want to do, I have to live in which classical repertoire was written, that is, tonal- where I live.” ity in its various aspects and stages. It has its actors, its When I read his statement, I thought that it could very audience, but also its cultural administration function- well be the other way around; that is, the fact of living in Paris, aries and a network of public radios, which support as an active member of the field, recognized by his peers, and commission the production and the diffusion of could, in a certain way, force him or lead him (consciously or works that do not have a direct or immediate market. unconsciously) to compose the way he composes. At least, it It has its patrons, more active and present in the indeed creates objective conditions, concerning expectations, Anglo-American world. (Menger, 2003, p. 1169) ideas of style, and aesthetic assumptions that are commonly Vargas 3 shared by most agents of that Parisian field, which create cer- the Finnish Magnus Lindberg and Kaija Saariaho (1982 in tain social constraints that would be quite different had he Paris), the South Korean Unsuk Chin (in Germany since lived somewhere else, say, England, China, or Portugal. 1985), the Portuguese Emmanuel Nunes (in Paris since 1964 and at IRCAM in the 1990s), the Argentinian Martin Matalon, the Italian Marco Stroppa, and many others. Even when con- Emigrants After 1945 sidering composers from countries, which would otherwise be Where is the place of enunciation of contemporary music viewed as central, such as the United Kingdom, it is important between 1945 and now? From that time on, a new figure, the to note that the following composers spent repeated and emigrant composer, has emerged with the passage of time to important spells of time at IRCAM: Jonathan Harvey, Brian achieve great visibility in the countries of the European cen- Ferneyhough, Harrison Birswistle, George Benjamin, and the ter, and this allows us to identify the location of that space. American Tod Machover. This trend underscores the fact that Confining to the most relevant cases, I cite the following tenure at IRCAM became almost compulsory to legitimize a examples: Maurício Kagel, an Argentinian who emigrated to position of distinction in the contemporary subfield. Germany in 1957, where he died this year; Iannis Xenakis, a Emigration to the center amounted, from a musical point Greek (Romanian-born) who emigrated to France in 1947, of view, to adopting the underlying principles of dominant and later died there; György Ligeti, who left Hungary for currents, with particular emphasis on postserialism, a process Germany in 1956 (through Austria), having died in Vienna in that was considered very important in the field even in our 2006; Isang Yun, who arrived in Germany from South Korea time. Bhabha’s postcolonial theory designates this process as in 1955, where he died in 1995; the Hungarian Peter Eotvos, “mimicry” (see Bhabha, 1994); the fascination that the a resident of Germany since 1966; the Romanian Horaţiu metropolis exerts on the emigrant plays out on the desire to be Rădulescu, residing in France since 1969; the Bulgarian the same, and thus, in this musical field, there is barely a André Boucourechliev, residing in France since 1949; and glimpse of otherness. This process, ongoing among artists many others (Sadie, 2001). and intellectuals, has, as its literal opposite, the mass process All these composers definitively put down roots in the of emigration from former colonies to the West. Unlike the central countries, which in fact possessed the structures asso- individual, cultured emigrant, motivated by the aesthetic and ciated with the new music: the music editors with whom they experiential attraction exerted by the space of enunciation of signed contracts, the radio stations that lent support and pub- the musical center, the waves of population heading from for- licized their music, the cultural institutions that are in a posi- mer colonies of the European powers, bring with them their tion to commission new works, the orchestras, the festivals, language and culture, which, rooted as they almost always are the publications, and so on. in oral traditions, allow the processes of miscegenation and This wave of composers’ emigration from peripheral hybridism with Anglo-American pop-rock, endowed with areas to the countries of the center can no doubt be explained overwhelming global hegemony. Differently, multicultural as due to the concentration of resources in those countries, issues are barely voiced in the contemporary subfield. the very specialized nature of the musical currents dominat- The concern of the “travelling composer”—to use Edward ing the period, and the political-cultural context of the Cold Said’s expression (Said, 2002)—is not to affirm difference, War, which, in the West, gave large-scale support to artists of but rather to maximize the possibility of his or her being the avant-garde against Soviet art in its “socialist realism” inserted in the field, absorbing its techniques, cultivating its and antiformalist modes. Another reason could be that, as ways, and becoming part of the preexisting mode of expres- George Steiner told us, remaining on the periphery means sion. Despite the major political mutations between 1945 being doomed to the fatality of “minor languages,” that is, to and 2000, the travelling composer’s destination remained a certain form of nonexistence. Two other aspects are worth circumscribed, in Europe, almost exclusively, to two of the noting here (Steiner, 1996). central countries, France and Germany. First, the end of Cold War made this process even more Based on empirical analysis of these facts, it is possible to acute with the emigration of composers, such as Arvo Pärt describe the subfield of contemporary music as a given space (1980), Victor Suslin (1981), Alfred Schnittke (1990), Sofia of enunciation, outside which any artistic expression appears Gubaidulina (1991), Giya Kancheli (1992), and György doomed to its local character and, consequently, to silence Kurtág (1993), originally from the former Soviet Union and and then to absence in transnational space. its satellite countries, to Germany, and Elena Firsova (1991) The importance of identifying this specific space of enun- and Dimitri Smirnov (1991) to the United Kingdom. ciation in contemporary music and its subfield can be Second, the centrality attained by Institut de Recherche viewed in other aspects. Between 1950 and 2000, inclusion Acoustique Musique (IRCAM), the institution founded and in a European festival of a work by a travelling composer was directed by Pierre Boulez in 1978, deemed as “the most over- never meant to be of any interest to music, coming as it did whelming rescue operation of a contemporary art which a from an “external” place; instead, it was considered simply as State has ever placed at the disposal of a composer,” (Nattiez, the inclusion of an active agent, proximate and integrated in 1984, pp. 353-354) promoted a regular, and at times definitive, the field, delocalized with regard to his origin, and relocalized flow of composers from other countries to Paris, for example, in the center. More specifically, from the viewpoint of the 4 SAGE Open center’s institutions and specialist programmers, presenting a language for ideological and aesthetic reasons. In this sense, work by Xenakis, Kagel, Ysang Yun, or Nunes did not mean the reception of Kurtág’s piece says more about the field any programmatic interest on the part of the organizers of than about the piece. Greek, Argentinian, South Korean, or Portuguese music. What But 13 years later, in 1981, another piece was presented in it did mean was that the field, in setting itself up as universal, the West. According to Willson, considering the works as works-in-themselves and the compos- ers as individual authors, with no links to any particular con- [“Messages of the Late R. V. Troussova”] op.17 was his text—thus, universal—included in the subfield’s hard core the most substantial work since op.7, and its success trig- works by these authors as authors who were proximate to them, gered the wider dissemination of Kurtág’s music out- and who inhabited and shared the same space of enunciation, side Hungary. It was commissioned by the French state and the prevailing ideology preventing the works from being and the Ensemble InterContemporain. The latter, with considered as anything but “universal.” Adrianne Csengery, gave the première in Paris in 1981, It is with regard to the space thus constituted, its working conducted by Sylvain Cambreling. (Willson, n.d.) criteria, and its capacity to irradiate that we must analyze the absence of Portuguese music, as much as music from other My claim is that this new piece by Kurtág was presented peripheral European countries. under three new conditions not at all related to a global pre- sentation of Hungarian music: First, it was performed by a prestigious Western ensemble; second, it was commissioned Kurtág’s Example by the French State; third, it therefore had the powerful bless- By way of an example, I would like to add that in 1968, a piece ing of Boulez because of which, even before the concert, it by György Kurtág—“The Sayings of Peter Bornemisza” was legitimized, accepted, and recognized by the structural (1963-1968)—was premiered in Darmstadt. According to functioning of the field. Rachel Beckles Willson, that year “an unprecedented num- ber of ensembles from eastern Europe were in residence.” My Criticism And, she adds that “the vocabulary of almost all nine reviewers reveals the difficulty they had with responding to premières What are the most negative consequences of this centralized .. from those peripheral regions of Europe.” Neue Zurcher subfield, with its extreme concentration of structures, insti- Zeitung, the Hungarian concert, was interesting from the view- tutions, experts, and instruments (ensembles and musicians) point of “cultural history,” and the Eastern bloc orchestral and having a particular ideology? works from the viewpoint of “information” (Willson, 2001). Kurtág’s piece, in spite of “a good word or two” for it, pro- 1. Once you are not accepted, or recognized by these duced “major reservations.” Rachel W. Willson quotes, thus, agents (who are, in any case, few in number), you “the material exhausted itself,” “the Spring (one section of the are excluded from the space of enunciation and piece) was unconvincing,” and “the piano part sounded like a from that specific public sphere. As a secondary bad imitation of Stockhausen.” Another critic writes that “the consequence, local composers are also neglected piece could not disguise its roots in the nineteenth century.” For and subalternized in their own local space of enun- Rachel Willson, Kurtág evidently drew on the 19th century the ciation and in their own countries because in each wrong way, and for the students of the course, “‘The Sayings’ country, outside the center, there are many who, was too nineteenth century” (Willson, 2004, pp. 131-132). acting as local agents of the power of the center, Let’s see what Willson writes in the New Grove 2000 edi- share the same values that organize and regulate tion entry: “The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza (1963-1968) the subfield. op.7, a 40-min song cycle for soprano and piano which was 2. The recognized restricted area, the restricted num- Kurtág’s first vocal work since before 1956, crowned this ber of agents, and the restricted number of ensem- first mature compositional phase.” And she adds, bles, festivals, and so on can function as a closed world divorced from the rest of the world. But the The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza made no impact on institutions, being heavily subsidized or supported Darmstadt at its world premiere there in 1968, and for the by the State, cannot see their own insulation. next five years Kurtág was unable to make significant They are blind to the smallness of their world, blind to the progress, despite a year of study in West Berlin irrelevance of the social impact of their music, and blind (1971) supported by the Deutscher Akademischer even to their own blindness. Austauschdienst. (Willson, n.d.) In 1999, a new European institution—The Résaux Varèse— was created by programmers of cultural institutions and direc- It can be said that, during this period, the pieces com- tors of new music festivals in several European countries. This posed outside the core countries of Europe found it very dif- includes four institutions from French-speaking countries, one ficult to convince the members of the field (critics, students, of which is IRCAM, and another four from German-speaking and so on) who were unable to understand their musical countries, which together impart a position of dominance to Vargas 5 the French–German axis. It has the objective of coordinating the war. However, the subtitle of Celèstin Deliege’s book in resources among the members and enabling them to articulate 2000 de Damstadt à l’IRCAM attests the real importance of the the circulation of projects. In a way, this new institution insti- two locations but, more, draws the symbolic geocultural line tutionalizes the previously described functioning. that defines the borders of the subfield. 8. In newspaper, Público, Lisbon, December 1, 2009. Conclusion References It seems certain that the way the contemporary subfield Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (Ed.). (2006). The post- functions, it would ultimately lead to wasting artistic and colonial studies reader. London, England: Routledge. aesthetic experiences. The restriction that presides over its Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. London, England: inclusion criteria, both at aesthetic and geographical levels, Routledge. implies forcefully a wide range of exclusions. Bourdieu, P. (1993). The field of cultural production: Essays on art Not long ago, António Jorge Pacheco, the artistic director and literature. Cambridge, UK: Polity. of Porto Concert Hall, Casa da Música, and also a new mem- Delgado, A. (2001). A Sinfonia em Portugal [The symphony in ber of the Réseaux Varèse, announced that his programming Portugal]. Lisboa: Ipae Rdp. criterion was based on relevance, which incidentally was Foucault, M. (1998). The will to knowledge: The history of sexual- repeated by the majority of those responsible for cultural ity (Vol. 1). London, England: Penguin. institutions. The issue to be addressed is that of knowing the Grout, D. J. (1983). A history of western music. New York, NY: Norton. procedures, which, within the subfield, produce the authority Lopes-Graça, F. (1989). A música portuguesa e os seus problemas I that permits the exercise of declaring who is relevant. It is [Portuguese music and its problems]. Lisboa, Portugal: Caminho. precisely on some of these procedures that this text has Menger, P.-M. (2003). Le public de la musique contemporaine [The sought to cast light on. contemporary music public]. In J.-J. Nattiez (Ed.), Musiques, une encyclopédie pour le XXIº Siècle: Actes du Sud/Cité de la Author’s Note Musique [Music(s): An encyclopedia for the 21st century] (Vol. 1, This article was originally presented at the “Congress Sociology of pp. 1169-1188). Paris, France: Actes du Sud/Cité de la Musique. Music: Tendencies, Issues, Perspectives” held in Lisbon in July Nattiez, J.-J. (1984). Tonal/atonal. In R. Romano & F. Gil (Eds.), 23-25, 2009, and revised to this publication. Enciclopedia Einaudi (pp. 331-356). Lisboa, Portugal: Imp- rensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda. Declaration of Conflicting Interests Sadie, S. (Ed.). (2000). The New Grove dictionary of music and The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect musicians. London, England: Macmillan. to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Said, E. W. (2002). Reflections on exile and other essays. Cam- bridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Funding Steiner, G. (1996). An exact art. In No passion spent: Essays 1978- The author(s) received no financial support for the research and/or 1996 (pp. 190-206). London: Faber and Faber. authorship of this article. Taruskin, R. (2001). Nationalism. In S. Sadie (Ed.), New Grove dic- tionary of music and musicians (2nd ed., Vol. 17, pp. 689-706). Notes London, England: Macmillan. 1. This paper was read in the International Conference of Music Willson, R. B. (2001). Kurtág, György, §2: 1957–72, Grove Music Sociology held in Lisbon in 2008, and it partially derives from Online. Retrieved from http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/ a PhD research investigation, now concluded, on the absence of views/article.html?section=music.15695.2 Portuguese music in the European context. There are of course Willson, R. B. (2004). The sayings of Peter Bornemisza, Op.7: A “con- other peripheral countries where the same issues certainly apply. certo” for soprano and piano. Aldershot, Hampshire: Aschgate. 2. It is obvious that, especially since the 18th century, the Euro- Willson, R. B. (n.d.). Kurtág, György, §3: 1973–84, Grove Music pean musical life has been very much centralized around the Online. Retrieved from http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/ most important cities of the central countries. views/article.html?section=music.15695.3 3. In Espresso, 2000, Catarina Carvalho e Luciana Leiderfarb, Bio Lisbon, December 16. 4. I stress here that this process is quite different from what hap- António Pinho Vargas is a composer, musician, and teacher at pened before and during the Second World War, when many Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa and a researcher at Social artists, intellectuals, and composers went to the United States Studies Centre (CES) at the University of Coimbra. He is an escaping first from the Nazi regime and later from the war. author of 5 operas, 10 works for Symphony orchestra, and more 5. These elements are spread through the several entries referring than 25 chamber music and solo pieces, and has also edited 10 to these composers. records as a pianist/composer. He was awarded with several 6. These dates are collected in Sadie (2001). prizes, including the prestigious prize of the University of 7. Of course there were other centers that had identical symbolic Coimbra in 2012 and was decorated by the President of the importance, especially Darmstadt during the first decades after Portuguese Republic in 1995. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png SAGE Open SAGE

European Music After 1945 as a Restricted Space of Enunciation:

SAGE Open , Volume 2 (2): 1 – May 16, 2012

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Abstract

In this article, starting from the contributions of Pierre-Michel Menger and some sociological concepts of Boaventura de Sousa Santos and other postcolonial authors, the author proposes an analysis of the new musical structures created after 1945 in the new music field in Europe as a construction regulated and dominated by the core countries, critically seen from the vantage point of observation of a peripheral and subaltern country of Europe. Keywords geoculture, geopolitics, new music after 1945, power, location of culture At the very beginning, I would like to clarify the theme of relocation. One of the most resonant topics is the title of an my address, because its title may not be self-explanatory. article by Spivak: “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (Ashcroft, The theme is to affirm the fact that there is a place where Griffiths, & Tiffin, 2006, pp. 28-37). contemporary music, composed from 1945 to the present, is Undeniably, Portuguese music is, and always has been, a produced, divulged, and disseminated to other places and subaltern musical expression in the European context that is, countries in Europe and outside. The group of agents and to quote two Portuguese composers who have written on this institutions that is active in this particular field of music cre- matter, “ignored, neglected, invisible, despised and dis- ation represents a power device capable of pronouncing carded” (Delgado, 2001; Lopes-Graça, 1989); this makes the inclusions and exclusions in a way close to the concept of problem of the location of culture a crucial issue. power theorized by Foucault (1998), especially in respect of From an analysis of the location in which contemporary not having a subject: There is no one individual responsible music can exist—in the true sense of the word—it is probably for the exercise of such power. There is not only a vast net- much easier to notice the musical expressions from periph- work of agents, teaching institutions, and systems that is eral countries of Europe, such as Portugal, than those from important in putting in place the acts of power but also a type the core European countries where the absence of such musi- of internalized functioning grounded in types of discourse cal expressions usually goes unnoticed as if they were truly that mold, produce, and reproduce the reality they describe. nonexistent. The topic of my article reads thus. Others The Space of Enunciation In my opinion, this is one aspect that makes this process of of New Music subalternity invisible to almost everybody, including the My central claim is that since 1945, a new subfield of cul- scholars who write about otherness, alterity, and so on. From tural production of restricted circulation has been coming the viewpoint of a Western scholar of the core countries, the into being and that its space of enunciation is as reduced, or “Other” is the African, the Asian, and the Arab. These con- even more reduced, in geographical terms than ever before. cerns of the musicologists for Western music and its others The concept of space of enunciation has been proposed by have mainly two reasons. First, musicology has recently postcolonial theories, mainly by scholars of non-European found out that “classical music,” in spite of its traditional origin, such as Gayiatri Spivak, Homi K. Bhabha, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Arjun Appadurai, and the Portuguese sociolo- University of Coimbra, Portugal Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, Portugal gist Boaventura de Sousa Santos, among others. Reputed to be intellectuals in their areas of third-world countries and Corresponding Author: relocated as teachers at American universities, that is, having António Pinho Vargas, Rua Ribeiro Sanches, 21, r/c 1200-786 Lisbon, their space of enunciation in the core countries of the world Portugal system, made them question the consequences of their own Email: apinhovargas@sapo.pt 2 SAGE Open claims to universality, is the product of musicians mainly of Germany, Italy, and France. Therefore, it is a specific cul- In continental Europe, however, this role is assumed tural tradition and a specific musical tradition. That is why mainly by the state. Menger continues to state, “It has its the titles of traditional “Histories of Music” have been institutional chronology, that of specialized ensembles, festi- replaced more recently by the new title, “History of Western vals, research and production centers.” Finally, he writes, Music” (Grout, 1983; Taruskin, 2001). The second reason is more important. Many articles and that, progressively, music creation coming from the journals are now dedicated to musical expressions other than postwar avant-garde currents has produced the first classical music. Music such as jazz, pop, rock, and world and most successful of the models of a market widely music have recently entered the curricula of academia, espe- supported, controlled and administered by profession- cially in the English-speaking countries. This is largely an als of creation, fed by public organizations or musical outcome of the many changes that swept the musical world institutions in public or private partnerships. (Menger, and, to some extent, of the presence of the Other on the hori- 2003, 1176-1177; italics added) zon nearby. After the massive displacement of millions of people coming from outside Europe, the space of enuncia- These are the main features of what I call the subfield of tion of many kinds of so-called ethnic musical expressions contemporary music. Menger considers that has become the European metropolis. Suddenly, the music of those very distant Others has become quite visible to the character of the “population” of small organiza- European musicologists on their local horizon in London, tions promoting contemporary music is very heteroge- Paris, and Berlin. neous; specialized associations of musicians and Earlier, it was not like this. Only those who traveled long composers—also subsidized—ensembles working distances could carry descriptions of the musical expres- within universities or conservatories—which happen sions. Now, they are there wherever the Other is present. frequently in the United States—but also more infor- Although present, the Other is still Black, Muslim, Hindu, or mal initiatives related to other avant-garde artistic Buddhist, and all the theories of multiculturalism are an milieux, as is the case in Downtown New York. attempt to deal with this new situation and new presence. That said, I think the most conspicuous Other by being Considering the specific demand that exists in the new absent in the contemporary music field is the composer from music field, Menger contends that within “the traditional the European peripheral countries. market, demand comes from ordinary consumers, while in the specialized sphere of new music, there is an intermediate demand”; this demand, according to Menger, “is formed by The New Music Space: Menger composers, critics, cultural administrators, editors, musi- I shall now present my main argument, which is broadly simi- cians, teachers, animateurs culturels, students, etc.” Menger lar to that in the article by Menger (2003) published in Jean- advances the hypothesis of a possible synchronization Jacques Nattiez’s encyclopedia Musiques titled “Le Public de between the specialization of these circles of diffusion and la Musique Contemporaine.” Menger begins his argument the conditions of creative work, “that is, the specialized char- pointing to the separation between classical music and what he acter of these circles has direct implications for the way calls the “creation field.” His separation refers to the one “in composers compose.” (Willson, 2001, pp. 45-46). concert life, between concerts with a body of works from the For Menger, “the pieces are written according to the historical repertoire and concerts of creation of new works.” norms of permanent aesthetic research, which is the priority, He argues that “this historic evolution is that of a progressive in their value judgment, for the public not in the main com- dissociation, during the course of the 20th century, between the prising informed or traditional consumers, but professionals function of interpretation of historical works and the creation and experts of the art,” who are finally referred to by Bourdieu of new works, including their respective public spheres” as “other producers” (Bourdieu, 1993). (Menger, 2003, p. 1168). For him, this separation has I would like to cite here the example of Emmanuel Nunes, the only Portuguese composer who can claim a presence in a substance—that of the schism that opposed multiple the subfield. In an interview in 2000, regarding his living in languages of high contemporary music to the language Paris, he reacted, “to do what I want to do, I have to live in which classical repertoire was written, that is, tonal- where I live.” ity in its various aspects and stages. It has its actors, its When I read his statement, I thought that it could very audience, but also its cultural administration function- well be the other way around; that is, the fact of living in Paris, aries and a network of public radios, which support as an active member of the field, recognized by his peers, and commission the production and the diffusion of could, in a certain way, force him or lead him (consciously or works that do not have a direct or immediate market. unconsciously) to compose the way he composes. At least, it It has its patrons, more active and present in the indeed creates objective conditions, concerning expectations, Anglo-American world. (Menger, 2003, p. 1169) ideas of style, and aesthetic assumptions that are commonly Vargas 3 shared by most agents of that Parisian field, which create cer- the Finnish Magnus Lindberg and Kaija Saariaho (1982 in tain social constraints that would be quite different had he Paris), the South Korean Unsuk Chin (in Germany since lived somewhere else, say, England, China, or Portugal. 1985), the Portuguese Emmanuel Nunes (in Paris since 1964 and at IRCAM in the 1990s), the Argentinian Martin Matalon, the Italian Marco Stroppa, and many others. Even when con- Emigrants After 1945 sidering composers from countries, which would otherwise be Where is the place of enunciation of contemporary music viewed as central, such as the United Kingdom, it is important between 1945 and now? From that time on, a new figure, the to note that the following composers spent repeated and emigrant composer, has emerged with the passage of time to important spells of time at IRCAM: Jonathan Harvey, Brian achieve great visibility in the countries of the European cen- Ferneyhough, Harrison Birswistle, George Benjamin, and the ter, and this allows us to identify the location of that space. American Tod Machover. This trend underscores the fact that Confining to the most relevant cases, I cite the following tenure at IRCAM became almost compulsory to legitimize a examples: Maurício Kagel, an Argentinian who emigrated to position of distinction in the contemporary subfield. Germany in 1957, where he died this year; Iannis Xenakis, a Emigration to the center amounted, from a musical point Greek (Romanian-born) who emigrated to France in 1947, of view, to adopting the underlying principles of dominant and later died there; György Ligeti, who left Hungary for currents, with particular emphasis on postserialism, a process Germany in 1956 (through Austria), having died in Vienna in that was considered very important in the field even in our 2006; Isang Yun, who arrived in Germany from South Korea time. Bhabha’s postcolonial theory designates this process as in 1955, where he died in 1995; the Hungarian Peter Eotvos, “mimicry” (see Bhabha, 1994); the fascination that the a resident of Germany since 1966; the Romanian Horaţiu metropolis exerts on the emigrant plays out on the desire to be Rădulescu, residing in France since 1969; the Bulgarian the same, and thus, in this musical field, there is barely a André Boucourechliev, residing in France since 1949; and glimpse of otherness. This process, ongoing among artists many others (Sadie, 2001). and intellectuals, has, as its literal opposite, the mass process All these composers definitively put down roots in the of emigration from former colonies to the West. Unlike the central countries, which in fact possessed the structures asso- individual, cultured emigrant, motivated by the aesthetic and ciated with the new music: the music editors with whom they experiential attraction exerted by the space of enunciation of signed contracts, the radio stations that lent support and pub- the musical center, the waves of population heading from for- licized their music, the cultural institutions that are in a posi- mer colonies of the European powers, bring with them their tion to commission new works, the orchestras, the festivals, language and culture, which, rooted as they almost always are the publications, and so on. in oral traditions, allow the processes of miscegenation and This wave of composers’ emigration from peripheral hybridism with Anglo-American pop-rock, endowed with areas to the countries of the center can no doubt be explained overwhelming global hegemony. Differently, multicultural as due to the concentration of resources in those countries, issues are barely voiced in the contemporary subfield. the very specialized nature of the musical currents dominat- The concern of the “travelling composer”—to use Edward ing the period, and the political-cultural context of the Cold Said’s expression (Said, 2002)—is not to affirm difference, War, which, in the West, gave large-scale support to artists of but rather to maximize the possibility of his or her being the avant-garde against Soviet art in its “socialist realism” inserted in the field, absorbing its techniques, cultivating its and antiformalist modes. Another reason could be that, as ways, and becoming part of the preexisting mode of expres- George Steiner told us, remaining on the periphery means sion. Despite the major political mutations between 1945 being doomed to the fatality of “minor languages,” that is, to and 2000, the travelling composer’s destination remained a certain form of nonexistence. Two other aspects are worth circumscribed, in Europe, almost exclusively, to two of the noting here (Steiner, 1996). central countries, France and Germany. First, the end of Cold War made this process even more Based on empirical analysis of these facts, it is possible to acute with the emigration of composers, such as Arvo Pärt describe the subfield of contemporary music as a given space (1980), Victor Suslin (1981), Alfred Schnittke (1990), Sofia of enunciation, outside which any artistic expression appears Gubaidulina (1991), Giya Kancheli (1992), and György doomed to its local character and, consequently, to silence Kurtág (1993), originally from the former Soviet Union and and then to absence in transnational space. its satellite countries, to Germany, and Elena Firsova (1991) The importance of identifying this specific space of enun- and Dimitri Smirnov (1991) to the United Kingdom. ciation in contemporary music and its subfield can be Second, the centrality attained by Institut de Recherche viewed in other aspects. Between 1950 and 2000, inclusion Acoustique Musique (IRCAM), the institution founded and in a European festival of a work by a travelling composer was directed by Pierre Boulez in 1978, deemed as “the most over- never meant to be of any interest to music, coming as it did whelming rescue operation of a contemporary art which a from an “external” place; instead, it was considered simply as State has ever placed at the disposal of a composer,” (Nattiez, the inclusion of an active agent, proximate and integrated in 1984, pp. 353-354) promoted a regular, and at times definitive, the field, delocalized with regard to his origin, and relocalized flow of composers from other countries to Paris, for example, in the center. More specifically, from the viewpoint of the 4 SAGE Open center’s institutions and specialist programmers, presenting a language for ideological and aesthetic reasons. In this sense, work by Xenakis, Kagel, Ysang Yun, or Nunes did not mean the reception of Kurtág’s piece says more about the field any programmatic interest on the part of the organizers of than about the piece. Greek, Argentinian, South Korean, or Portuguese music. What But 13 years later, in 1981, another piece was presented in it did mean was that the field, in setting itself up as universal, the West. According to Willson, considering the works as works-in-themselves and the compos- ers as individual authors, with no links to any particular con- [“Messages of the Late R. V. Troussova”] op.17 was his text—thus, universal—included in the subfield’s hard core the most substantial work since op.7, and its success trig- works by these authors as authors who were proximate to them, gered the wider dissemination of Kurtág’s music out- and who inhabited and shared the same space of enunciation, side Hungary. It was commissioned by the French state and the prevailing ideology preventing the works from being and the Ensemble InterContemporain. The latter, with considered as anything but “universal.” Adrianne Csengery, gave the première in Paris in 1981, It is with regard to the space thus constituted, its working conducted by Sylvain Cambreling. (Willson, n.d.) criteria, and its capacity to irradiate that we must analyze the absence of Portuguese music, as much as music from other My claim is that this new piece by Kurtág was presented peripheral European countries. under three new conditions not at all related to a global pre- sentation of Hungarian music: First, it was performed by a prestigious Western ensemble; second, it was commissioned Kurtág’s Example by the French State; third, it therefore had the powerful bless- By way of an example, I would like to add that in 1968, a piece ing of Boulez because of which, even before the concert, it by György Kurtág—“The Sayings of Peter Bornemisza” was legitimized, accepted, and recognized by the structural (1963-1968)—was premiered in Darmstadt. According to functioning of the field. Rachel Beckles Willson, that year “an unprecedented num- ber of ensembles from eastern Europe were in residence.” My Criticism And, she adds that “the vocabulary of almost all nine reviewers reveals the difficulty they had with responding to premières What are the most negative consequences of this centralized .. from those peripheral regions of Europe.” Neue Zurcher subfield, with its extreme concentration of structures, insti- Zeitung, the Hungarian concert, was interesting from the view- tutions, experts, and instruments (ensembles and musicians) point of “cultural history,” and the Eastern bloc orchestral and having a particular ideology? works from the viewpoint of “information” (Willson, 2001). Kurtág’s piece, in spite of “a good word or two” for it, pro- 1. Once you are not accepted, or recognized by these duced “major reservations.” Rachel W. Willson quotes, thus, agents (who are, in any case, few in number), you “the material exhausted itself,” “the Spring (one section of the are excluded from the space of enunciation and piece) was unconvincing,” and “the piano part sounded like a from that specific public sphere. As a secondary bad imitation of Stockhausen.” Another critic writes that “the consequence, local composers are also neglected piece could not disguise its roots in the nineteenth century.” For and subalternized in their own local space of enun- Rachel Willson, Kurtág evidently drew on the 19th century the ciation and in their own countries because in each wrong way, and for the students of the course, “‘The Sayings’ country, outside the center, there are many who, was too nineteenth century” (Willson, 2004, pp. 131-132). acting as local agents of the power of the center, Let’s see what Willson writes in the New Grove 2000 edi- share the same values that organize and regulate tion entry: “The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza (1963-1968) the subfield. op.7, a 40-min song cycle for soprano and piano which was 2. The recognized restricted area, the restricted num- Kurtág’s first vocal work since before 1956, crowned this ber of agents, and the restricted number of ensem- first mature compositional phase.” And she adds, bles, festivals, and so on can function as a closed world divorced from the rest of the world. But the The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza made no impact on institutions, being heavily subsidized or supported Darmstadt at its world premiere there in 1968, and for the by the State, cannot see their own insulation. next five years Kurtág was unable to make significant They are blind to the smallness of their world, blind to the progress, despite a year of study in West Berlin irrelevance of the social impact of their music, and blind (1971) supported by the Deutscher Akademischer even to their own blindness. Austauschdienst. (Willson, n.d.) In 1999, a new European institution—The Résaux Varèse— was created by programmers of cultural institutions and direc- It can be said that, during this period, the pieces com- tors of new music festivals in several European countries. This posed outside the core countries of Europe found it very dif- includes four institutions from French-speaking countries, one ficult to convince the members of the field (critics, students, of which is IRCAM, and another four from German-speaking and so on) who were unable to understand their musical countries, which together impart a position of dominance to Vargas 5 the French–German axis. It has the objective of coordinating the war. However, the subtitle of Celèstin Deliege’s book in resources among the members and enabling them to articulate 2000 de Damstadt à l’IRCAM attests the real importance of the the circulation of projects. In a way, this new institution insti- two locations but, more, draws the symbolic geocultural line tutionalizes the previously described functioning. that defines the borders of the subfield. 8. In newspaper, Público, Lisbon, December 1, 2009. Conclusion References It seems certain that the way the contemporary subfield Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (Ed.). (2006). The post- functions, it would ultimately lead to wasting artistic and colonial studies reader. London, England: Routledge. aesthetic experiences. The restriction that presides over its Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. London, England: inclusion criteria, both at aesthetic and geographical levels, Routledge. implies forcefully a wide range of exclusions. Bourdieu, P. (1993). The field of cultural production: Essays on art Not long ago, António Jorge Pacheco, the artistic director and literature. Cambridge, UK: Polity. of Porto Concert Hall, Casa da Música, and also a new mem- Delgado, A. (2001). A Sinfonia em Portugal [The symphony in ber of the Réseaux Varèse, announced that his programming Portugal]. Lisboa: Ipae Rdp. criterion was based on relevance, which incidentally was Foucault, M. (1998). The will to knowledge: The history of sexual- repeated by the majority of those responsible for cultural ity (Vol. 1). London, England: Penguin. institutions. The issue to be addressed is that of knowing the Grout, D. J. (1983). A history of western music. New York, NY: Norton. procedures, which, within the subfield, produce the authority Lopes-Graça, F. (1989). A música portuguesa e os seus problemas I that permits the exercise of declaring who is relevant. It is [Portuguese music and its problems]. Lisboa, Portugal: Caminho. precisely on some of these procedures that this text has Menger, P.-M. (2003). Le public de la musique contemporaine [The sought to cast light on. contemporary music public]. In J.-J. Nattiez (Ed.), Musiques, une encyclopédie pour le XXIº Siècle: Actes du Sud/Cité de la Author’s Note Musique [Music(s): An encyclopedia for the 21st century] (Vol. 1, This article was originally presented at the “Congress Sociology of pp. 1169-1188). Paris, France: Actes du Sud/Cité de la Musique. Music: Tendencies, Issues, Perspectives” held in Lisbon in July Nattiez, J.-J. (1984). Tonal/atonal. In R. Romano & F. Gil (Eds.), 23-25, 2009, and revised to this publication. Enciclopedia Einaudi (pp. 331-356). Lisboa, Portugal: Imp- rensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda. Declaration of Conflicting Interests Sadie, S. (Ed.). (2000). The New Grove dictionary of music and The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect musicians. London, England: Macmillan. to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Said, E. W. (2002). Reflections on exile and other essays. Cam- bridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Funding Steiner, G. (1996). An exact art. In No passion spent: Essays 1978- The author(s) received no financial support for the research and/or 1996 (pp. 190-206). London: Faber and Faber. authorship of this article. Taruskin, R. (2001). Nationalism. In S. Sadie (Ed.), New Grove dic- tionary of music and musicians (2nd ed., Vol. 17, pp. 689-706). Notes London, England: Macmillan. 1. This paper was read in the International Conference of Music Willson, R. B. (2001). Kurtág, György, §2: 1957–72, Grove Music Sociology held in Lisbon in 2008, and it partially derives from Online. Retrieved from http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/ a PhD research investigation, now concluded, on the absence of views/article.html?section=music.15695.2 Portuguese music in the European context. There are of course Willson, R. B. (2004). The sayings of Peter Bornemisza, Op.7: A “con- other peripheral countries where the same issues certainly apply. certo” for soprano and piano. Aldershot, Hampshire: Aschgate. 2. It is obvious that, especially since the 18th century, the Euro- Willson, R. B. (n.d.). Kurtág, György, §3: 1973–84, Grove Music pean musical life has been very much centralized around the Online. Retrieved from http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/ most important cities of the central countries. views/article.html?section=music.15695.3 3. In Espresso, 2000, Catarina Carvalho e Luciana Leiderfarb, Bio Lisbon, December 16. 4. I stress here that this process is quite different from what hap- António Pinho Vargas is a composer, musician, and teacher at pened before and during the Second World War, when many Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa and a researcher at Social artists, intellectuals, and composers went to the United States Studies Centre (CES) at the University of Coimbra. He is an escaping first from the Nazi regime and later from the war. author of 5 operas, 10 works for Symphony orchestra, and more 5. These elements are spread through the several entries referring than 25 chamber music and solo pieces, and has also edited 10 to these composers. records as a pianist/composer. He was awarded with several 6. These dates are collected in Sadie (2001). prizes, including the prestigious prize of the University of 7. Of course there were other centers that had identical symbolic Coimbra in 2012 and was decorated by the President of the importance, especially Darmstadt during the first decades after Portuguese Republic in 1995.

Journal

SAGE OpenSAGE

Published: May 16, 2012

Keywords: geoculture; geopolitics; new music after 1945; power; location of culture

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