Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The job facing the cultural intellectual is . . . not to accept the politics of identity
as given, but to show how all representations are constructed, for what purpose,
by whom, and with what components. (Edward Said)1
I am glad to have been born in Argentina, since I was not confronted with the
notion of cultural hegemony, which in Europe has been used to justify fatal
inhibitions and aggressions. . . . As regards the concept of `cultural identity':
sure I've got one, my identity, yet I would prefer to speak of `fragmentary
identities'. The aggressive identification with a single culture has often led to
catastrophes. (Mauricio Kagel)2
Cross-cultural musical representation has been a hotly debated topic over the
past decade. Whereas traditional research tended to focus on the expansion of
the material of Western concert music, more recent approaches have empha-
sised the ideological aspect of references to non-Western music, ranging from
acceptance as a fruitful synthesis in the sense of multiculturalism to suspicion
of its being a manifestation of Western hegemony.3 While the critique of
Western appropriations, notably in postcolonial theory, undoubtedly enabled a
more informed debate, certain ideological assessments are founded less on
analytical insight than judged a priori, thereby effectively by-passing the
question of how representation is constituted musically. For example, in their
introduction to Western Music and Its Others, Georgina Born and David
Hesmondhalgh state that:
Postcolonial analysis . . . sets a fruitful example for music studies in that it pays
meticulous attention to textual detail, but always sees such analysis as
subsidiary to the larger project of thinking through the implications of cultural
expression for understanding asymmetrical power relations and concomitant
processes of marginalization and denigration.4
instance, when Richard Middleton states that Gershwin in Porgy and Bess `has
situated himself where he is inevitably heir to the nineteenth-century strategy
of imposing monologic authorial control on disparate materials, and where the
only method available to him of representing ``low-life'' is through the code of
the picturesque'.5 The problem here is not the conclusion itself, which repre-
sents one of many plausible ways of understanding the work, but that it seems
so inevitable from the very outset, and that all there is in the way of musical
analysis appears solely to serve the purpose of supporting it, without examining
in detail exactly how the music references its sources and what constitutes the
`code of the picturesque'.
But if the representation of non-Western music by Western composers is
little more than neo-imperialist usurpation ± a conclusion that could be drawn
from Born and Hesmondhalgh's introduction as well as other articles in the
volume ± would it not be best to eschew it altogether? Apparently not: `postwar
musical modernism's attempts to create musical autarchy and self-enclosure,
through the negation or denial of reference to other musics or cultures . . . is
historically aberrant', comment the editors.6 We have obviously reached an
impasse. Is there really no way of mediating between those poles, one that
avoids the slightly patronising aestheticism of the `artist as sympathetic
commentator [on the East]', expressing a `profound Western appreciation of
the artistic and aesthetic legacy of the East',7 as well as equally generalising
notions of the celebration of difference or hybridity? The volume is silent on
this issue. Along with many similar publications, it tends to chart an almost
undifferentiated musical terrain with little scope for alternatives. (The
sweeping generalisation about modernism above is a case in point.)8
One purpose of this article, then, is to attempt to redress the balance by
demonstrating that there are ways in which Western concert music, even ± or
perhaps particularly ± of a broadly modernist tradition, can engage with dif-
ferent cultures in ways that go beyond simple appropriations. One such way is
to render the Western representation of otherness itself into an object of
representation, thereby introducing an element of historically informed self-
critique. This is the strategy taken by Mauricio Kagel (b. 1931) in Die StuÈcke
der Windrose fuÈr Salonorchester9 (1989±95). Kagel is an interesting case as he
combines insider and outsider perspectives on Western culture. Growing up in
Buenos Aires as the son of Jewish immigrants fleeing anti-Semitic persecution
in post-revolutionary Russia, he eschewed the cultural nationalism predomi-
nant in Argentina at the time (musically represented, for instance, by Alberto
Ginastera) in favour of the ardent cosmopolitanism of the writer Jorge Luis
Borges ± one of Kagel's university teachers ± and the charismatic father figure
of the South American musical avant-garde, Juan Carlos Paz. After emigrating
to Cologne in 1957, Kagel became one of the leading composers of the post-war
European avant-garde associated with the Darmstadt summer courses.
However, he kept himself at a critical distance from the various factions of the
avant-garde and their respective ideologies, a sceptical attitude that he also
reserves for Eurocentric attitudes more generally, as the quotation at the
beginning demonstrates. As will be seen, while Die StuÈcke der Windrose are an
example of this kind of questioning of Western perspectives and of monistic
notions of cultural identity, they also incorporate elements from Kagel's
Argentine and Jewish heritage.
An investigation of this work may further the study of cross-cultural musical
representation by reintroducing a greater element of analytical reasoning and
historical perspective without relinquishing the increased ideological aware-
ness and methodological reflexivity that recent approaches such as post-
colonialism have undeniably brought. The method I propose in order to
achieve this linkage between musical analysis and ideological critique is based
on Bakhtinian dialogics. This leads to a typology of representations, such as
was putatively proposed by Born and Hesmondhalgh,10 and which could
enable a more informed differentiation between different kinds of musical
representations. Although this typology is based on Die StuÈcke der Windrose, it
is intended to be more widely applicable.
Nordwesten 23/7/91 Andean Mountains Argentina South American Indian Salonorchester Cöln
(huayuo of the Aymará) Cologne (18/1/92)
with many children make their appearance, who, in the conviction that they are
authentically representing a certain region, also declare their acoustic solidarity
with other examples of adulterated music. (As so often, the fate of folklore to act
at the same time as mouthpiece and entertainment of the ethnic community is
deplorable.)19
The combination of nonsense texts (actually taken in part from world litera-
ture, such as the Poema del Cid, Boccaccio and Heine) and a stereotyped
mixture of third-based harmony, bouncy rhythms and catchy tunes, played by
a somewhat imbalanced `folkloristic' ensemble is a specimen case of musical
synthetics and the interchangeability of marketed folklore. The ironic edge of
the piece results not least from Kagel's idiosyncratic use of serial technique,
which he calls `serial tonality'.20 This technique, developed by Kagel during
the early 1970s and used by him ever since, consists of treating `tonal' material
such as triads and pulse rhythms according to serial principles. For example,
numbers are assigned to triads and their sequence is derived from numerical
rows; similar methods are used for other parameters. In this way, there is a
deliberate incongruity between the musical materials and their treatment,
resulting in a music that is rich in historical and cultural associations, but that
always thwarts the expectations they raise. By the same token, the mismatch
between techniques and materials from different historical periods eschews any
appearance of `naturalness' or `organicism'; on the contrary, it appears
ostentatiously artificial. Hence, in Kantrimiusik accents seem to fall in the
`wrong' place, harmonic sequences are erratic and melodies merely meander in
chromatic motion. Kagel's own characterisation is particularly revealing in this
context: `The hypothesis of the piece is that the apocryphal has become the
authentic. We are so dependent on apocryphal music performances that they
have become part of our instinct, just like plastics or nylon.'21
Shortly afterwards, Kagel produced the `epic radio play' Die Umkehrung
Amerikas (`The Reversal of America') (1976).22 Taking up the topic of the
conquista again, Die Umkehrung is in many ways a sequel to Mare Nostrum, but
now replacing the cynical humour of the earlier piece with a very real sense of
terror. Despite Kagel's claim that the piece was a representation of real events,
historical and present, Die Umkehrung Amerikas is a personal treatment of the
facts, shaped by his outrage at the treatment of the South American Indians.
The work is chiefly built from a collage of texts, including fragments from
original documents concerning the events, as well as other material such as
enumerations of different ways of killing (apparently also concocted from the
documents). As Kagel explained in his introduction, he tried to `compose with
words in a musical way'. The most notable technique in this context is the tape
reversal, which is used, for instance, to illustrate the forced teaching of the
oppressors' language. For this, Kagel wrote the text in reverse, which was then
read and recorded, but played backwards so that the result is a distorted
version of the original. The Amerindians in the piece speak mostly in this
disembodied, ghostly way, the loss of their language signifying their loss of
cultural identity. Since Kagel wanted to avoid illustrating the words with
music in the way of traditional radio play or film practice, music in a conven-
tional sense is used only sparingly as in strange percussion sounds and surreal
chant. The result is not so much a narrative but a conglomeration of night-
marish images, characterised by violence and religiously motivated hatred,
exposing the perverse accumulation of greed, religion and sheer blood lust that
lay behind the genocide.
What is apparent in all these cases is that Kagel reflects on the repre-
sentations and depictions of non-Western cultures within Western culture
rather than using indigenous music as raw material for his own compositions.
It seems as if Kagel, in accordance with Shklovsky's theory of `defamiliarisa-
tion',23 exhibits the mirror-image of `ethnic' music as it is reflected in Western
culture and then meditates on what the original might have been. The idea of
the `apocryphal', which Kagel mentions in his preface to Kantrimiusik, and
which plays an important role in his aesthetics in general, is crucial here, as it
offers a critique of the notion of `authenticity'.24 In a similar way to
Baudrillard's concept of simulacre, the apocryphal ± i.e. the deliberately `fake'
and artificial ± supersedes the supposedly `original'.25 Somewhat paradoxically,
this analysis of the replacement of the original by its simulacra appears as
possibly the only way to reclaim this original which can neither be recaptured
nor be represented directly without falsifying it.
Die StuÈcke der Windrose continue Kagel's exploration of Western repre-
sentations of otherness, while presenting a more positive, if sceptical, view of
cross-cultural interaction. This may have something to do with the shift in the
general discourse on cross-cultural interaction, from the sometimes simplistic
Marxism of the political activism of the 1970s, with its stereotypical ascription
of passivity and stasis to the other, to more recent postcolonial theories.26 In
ethnomusicology, too, the essentialisation and attempted conservation of the
`authentic' has given way to a new appraisal of change, which is not necessarily
regarded as a sign of standardisation or annihilation by the West, but rather as
a strategy of resistance or subversion and the sign of dynamic cultures, which
for their part appropriate foreign influences.27
From his statements it is evident that Kagel was aware of these develop-
ments and wanted to capture the dynamic interplay between musical cultures
in Die StuÈcke der Windrose. For instance, in his programme note to `Nord-
westen' he states that `fusion and reciprocal influence have become key
concepts in looking at musical languages and cultures', and in my interview
with him he also confirmed emphatically that Die StuÈcke der Windrose are
intended as a model of cultural interchange. These are all clear examples of the
ways in which Kagel reacts compositionally to social debates.
, ma dolce ed espressivo
Piano,
Harm.,
Vln 1
con sord.
St. Vln
5
, ma dolce
pizz.
Vla,
Vlc.,
Cb.
with the conventions of their respective idioms. Although the clarinet line,
with its recurring augmented seconds, suggests modal usage, it actually runs
through eleven pitch-classes in one-and-a-half bars. The oompah, meanwhile,
stays obstinately in A minor, even though this has no connection with the
melody line it is supposed to accompany, except for the very first few notes
(which is subsequently uncovered as a red herring). The harmonic sequence of
the accompaniment is A±E[±A±G±A, which an investigation of the sketch
materials reveals to be the beginning of a twelve-note row with the first note
returning after each series step. As can also be inferred from the sketches, the
sequence of notes and rests in the oompah is likewise serially derived, this time
from a numerical row which is unrelated to the twelve-note series employed for
the harmonic sequence (as can be seen in Ex. 1, the values are 2±4±3±1±5±6 for
number of consecutive notes, always followed by one quaver rest). It is
therefore no wonder that the phrase structure of the lower strings only
occasionally coincides with that of the melody line in the clarinet
Thus, what first appears to be a klezmer line with an oompah accompani-
ment is revealed as a collage of incompatible elements, to which the addition of
two extra layers complicates matters further. That is not to say that there are
no structural relationships between the layers ± the clarinet and violin lines and
the faster moving minor chords share the semitone/augmented-second motif,
while the clarinet line and the chords in parallel motion are melodically
identical at first ± but this sort of connection is more akin to a collage of
different elements assimilated to one another than to the kind of melody-plus-
accompaniment texture which is being mimicked. Both the klezmer and the
salon orchestra elements are defamiliarised to an extent that makes their
identification as simply klezmer or salon orchestra music implausible. Salon
orchestras do not typically play harmonic sequences based on twelve-note rows
and serially derived rhythms, and `genuine' klezmer is not atonal. Conversely,
both elements are sufficiently marked to set them apart from what we may
assume to be Kagel's music, judged from the perspective of the overall atonal
context against which the klezmer line and minor chords are placed. Thus,
while the topics represented by the klezmer line in the clarinet and the oompah
chords in the lower strings can be described as represented discourses, the
atonal harmonic framework, dodecaphony and serially derived rhythms are a
result of Kagel's authorial intervention. The represented discourses thus refer
to putative sources outside the music itself ± some generative form of klezmer
or salon orchestra music respectively, not unlike Platonic ideas. What we hear
is an apocryphal version of an original which must itself remain a fictional
construction, in other words a simulacrum.
What is crucial in this context is that the authorial discourse does not assert
itself as a personal voice, since there is no single musical element in the
example which can unmistakably be described as `Kagel's music' ± and this
can, with some qualification, be said of all of Die StuÈcke der Windrose, as well as
of the composer's more recent work in general. In this way, represented
discourses and authorial discourse cannot be isolated from one another: there is
no `pure state' of uninflected musical discourse. Instead, all discourses are in
dialogical interaction with one another. It is this emphasis on interaction rather
than a supposed original and `authentic' monologic state that makes dialogics
such a useful tool for the study of cross-cultural musical representation.
On the whole, then, `Osten' can in Bakhtinian terms be described as a
polyphony of represented discourses, an intentional hybrid reflecting the
heteroglossia of cultural interchange in real life, which, as was noted earlier,
was Kagel's stated intention. As a consequence, authorship mostly manifests
itself by the selection, combination and inflection of pre-existing musical
idioms, not by the assumption of a `personal voice'. This obviously represents a
challenge to romantic-modernist concepts of authorship, characterised by
notions of originality, organicism and unity, which are still widely prevalent in
musicology. However, the inadequacy of these models in dealing with music in
a postmodern context need hardly be elaborated. In addition, a dialogical
perspective reveals that any composition ± or artistic creation more generally ±
involves a dialogue with pre-existing forms, idioms and conventions.33
This does not mean that dialogics sound the death knell for the notion of
authorship altogether. On the contrary, it can be viewed as rescuing it from a
rather simplistic declaration of death by complementing a monological model
of authorship (the `personal style' defined as an absolute difference from other
styles) with a dialogical one. As we have seen, the represented idioms in the
example are transformed by the authorial discourse, which clearly leaves its
mark. Modifying Bakhtin's own terminology, where the term describes a
particular kind of objectified discourse rather than a general principle, I call
this transformation `stylisation'. Hence, stylisation is the difference between
the reference to an idiom and its putative source, and thus acts as the clearest
marker of authorial intervention. In its aesthetic effect it can best be compared
with Shklovsky's defamiliarisation.34
Since it describes the very mechanism of dialogical interaction between
discourses, stylisation is a very useful tool for the analysis of musical
representations, cross-cultural or otherwise. In Ex. 1, for instance, the atonal
inflection of the klezmer idiom in the clarinet, and the twelve-note row and
serial rhythmic structure in the salon orchestra's oompah, can be attributed to
the stylisation of the authorial discourse. In accordance with the principles of
dialogics, this process arguably works both ways: just as the authorial discourse
stylises the represented idioms, so it is shaped by them inasmuch as the `new
music' element (for want of a better term) is defamiliarised because klezmer and
salon orchestras are considered alien to it. Since the piece does not contain any
`frame' unmistakably establishing Kagel's personal voice to which the repre-
Authorial Discourse
Authorial Discourse
Salon Orchestra
Klezmer
Vln, Vln,
Vlc., Harm.
Ex. 3 Beregovsky's transcription of a Yiddish folk tune, from Slobin (ed.), Old
Jewish Music, p. 339 (first line)
26. Aj, du forst avek
motif that recurs in other parts of the piece). This is one of five tunes which are
quoted in direct succession and which constitute the middle section of the piece
(bars 16±56 from a total of 92 bars). The source of the tunes is mentioned in the
sketch to the passage where all the quoted material is copied, also specifying
the titles and page numbers from Slobin's book. But as can be seen in Ex. 2,
Kagel makes no attempt to compose an `authentic' complement to his tunes;
neither does he adhere to the rather stale shock aesthetics of greatest possible
contrast which is often associated with collage techniques. Instead, he subtly
undermines the harmonic implications of the tunes, while at the same time
keeping their general character and rhythmic properties intact.
The intimacy of this dialogic interaction and the sense of identification of
the authorial discourse with the represented idiom subverts any dichotomy
between self and other, or foreign and own, to a far greater extent than any
`authentic' quotation or a straightforward `arrangement' could have done. The
effect is slightly paradoxical: whereas the quoted passages with their mildly
sentimental melodies on harmonically amorphous complements sound like
typical Kagelian inventions, the actual inventions ± such as Ex. 1 with its
stereotypical klezmerisms ± actually sound more other to Western ears.37 This
reversal of self and other is one of Kagel's typical rhetorical strategies, as
witnessed in Exotica and Mare Nostrum, and can be seen to result from his own
biography: Kagel regards klezmer as an important part of his own Ashkenazi
heritage.38
The second type is what I call representation of genre. The most prominent
example of this type of representation is a tarantella at the beginning of `SuÈden'
which is meant to depict the Mediterranean. As Ex. 4 shows, this genre is very
closely adhered to by means of the distinctive 6/8 rhythm and the contour and
minor key of the melody. Nevertheless, there are distinct elements of stylisa-
tion which mark the tarantella as a represented discourse. The most obvious, as
so often, is the harmony: the melody is accompanied by heterophonic variants
of itself in parallel thirds which, although emulating tonal harmony, have
nothing to do with the harmony suggested by the melody. Cello and double
bass, meanwhile, are playing chords consisting of stacked fifths, whose roots
follow a twelve-note row (only the first three notes of which can be seen in the
example) and whose rhythmic structure is also serially derived. Less apparent
8'
Harm.
8'
pizz.
St. Vln,
Vln, Vla
pizz.
Vcl., Cb.
is the modular structuring of the tune: in the sketches to the passage, Kagel
first set up different melodic modules of a dotted crotchet in length, which are
repeated different numbers of times according to a numerical series.
Thus, this passage is constituted by the rhythmic and melodic charac-
teristics of an Italian folk dance, heterophony in atonal harmonies, a twelve-
note row and numerical ordering techniques. As in the case of Ex. 2, the
dialogic interaction between the authorial and represented idioms does not
arise simply from the re-contextualisation of the tarantella element, in the
sense that one cannot just equate the represented discourse with the tarantella
idiom and the authorial discourse with the context. Instead, the melody itself
shows marks of the authorial discourse, and conversely the tarantella rhythm is
present in the complement, and takes hold in the entire piece.
Representation of genre is frequent in Die StuÈcke der Windrose, and can
involve a variety of idioms and different degrees of stylisation. The tarantella
in `SuÈden' is a familiar dance form in Western concert music; the ragtime in
`Westen' is a similar example. However, there is also a danzoÂn (the Cuban
national dance) in `Nordosten', and a huayno (a dance of the Aymara in the
Andes of Peru and Bolivia) in `Nordwesten'. Whereas in the earlier cases there
is the possibility of coincidence between production and perception, the later
instances tend more towards covert allusions which can only be uncovered by
examining the sketch materials. The huayno illustrates how close representa-
tions of genre can be to their source: Ex. 5 presents an excerpt from `Nord-
westen' and Ex. 6 an ethnomusicological transcription contained in the sketch
materials.39 Were it not for the harmonic context, this would be a re-
St. Vln
, robust
Ex. 6 Helfritz's transcription of a huayuo of the AymaraÂ, played by the quena (see
Helfritz, `Zu Besuch', p. 360)
Quena
, dolce
Ex. 8 Kubik's illustration of the tonal system of the Wagogo (see Kubik, Ostafrika,
p. 116)
(-)
Izeze
Vocal
(-)
be represented discourse due to their being clearly set-off from the rest of the
piece by means of both musical techniques (notably pentatonicism and intri-
cate rhythmic layering ± possibly a covert allusion to gamelan) and techno-
logical means (some of the music is played from tape to create aesthetic
distance and a sense of objectification). However, it remains unclear what this
discourse represents, or rather, it is clearly exposed as an illusion, particularly
through the use of the tape which, as Kagel specifies in the score, has to be
connected to an old-fashioned radio with poor sound quality ± an object that
has to be clearly visible on stage. Again, the elusive quality of the representa-
tion is not a result of a lack of knowledge ± on the contrary, `SuÈdwesten' is one
of the most meticulously researched pieces46 ± but a deliberately apocryphal
fantasy calling attention to the constructedness of representation.
The fictive representation in both these pieces ± `Norden' and `SuÈdwesten' ±
is aided by illustrative representation, the sixth type. This concerns the musical
depiction of scenery, climate and culture rather than the intertextual reference
to music. Tone-painting is the most obvious technique in point, and Kagel
makes abundant use of it in these pieces: in `Norden' one can hear the crackling
and scratching of ice flows; and in `SuÈdwesten' there is what I hear as the
graphic depiction of a storm. Illustrative representation is a special case in my
typology, as it does not involve any reference to music (even imaginary music)
or differentiation between authorial and represented discourses. Nevertheless,
it is one of the means by which Kagel evokes a particular region and, by
implication, its culture.
Another special case is abstract symbolism, the seventh type. Comparable
with tone-painting, it is not concerned with imitating or referring to particular
musics and does not involve represented discourses. What is referred to by
abstract musical symbols is not directly apparent from their sonic features: there
is no quasi-iconic resemblance as discussed above. For instance, Kagel has used
Neapolitan sixths throughout `SuÈden' to point to Naples as one of the
geographic centres of the piece, which most listeners are unlikely to recognise.
This sort of symbolism, often of a theatrical nature, plays an important role in
Kagel's engagement with the regions and cultures he represents in Die StuÈcke
der Windrose. For example, in `SuÈdwesten' the percussionist's playing on
cushions functions as an imitation of the Tuvaluan practice of playing on mats
and thus symbolises poverty; the chopping of wood in `Westen' stands for
slavery; and many theatrical elements of `Norden' can be traced to Eliade's
Shamanism. Again, as a listener one cannot know this; these are private and
esoteric designations by Kagel only recoverable from the sketches, and one can
be quite sure that the composer is well aware that the passages discussed have
their own aesthetic effect independent of the meaning invested in them. Never-
theless, this symbolism is important supplementary information, evincing
Kagel's profound and multifarious engagement with the cultures he represents.
Notes
This article is a revised version of material that first appeared in my PhD
dissertation ` ``Transcending Quotation'': Cross-Cultural Musical Representa-
tion in Mauricio Kagel's Die StuÈcke der Windrose fuÈr Salonorchester' (PhD
diss., University of Southampton, 2001). I should like to thank Richard Toop
for his valuable suggestions for improving the article.
9. In this article I shall use the original German title of the work, normally
abbreviated as Die StuÈcke der Windrose. The main reason for this is that the
composer specifically wanted to retain the German title even in English texts, as
his replacing the translator's suggestion `Pieces of the Compass Card' with the
German title in the preface to the score of `Osten', the first of the pieces, makes
clear. This can be seen in a draft of the preface kept at the Mauricio Kagel
Collection of the Paul Sacher Foundation, Basle, where all sketch and manuscript
materials of finished compositions are housed. (There are various translations in
use, such as `Compass Pieces' in the CD booklet Mauricio Kagel 5. StuÈcke der
Windrose: Osten, Nordosten, Nordwesten, SuÈdosten. PhantasiestuÈck. Auvidis
Montaigne: (MO 782017), and `Pieces of the Compass Rose' by the publisher
at concerts.) For reasons of consistency, I shall also use the original German titles
for the individual pieces. Although the pieces are published separately, I refer to
them in single quotation marks, reserving italics for the title of the complete set.
10. See `Introduction', pp. 39 ff.
11. In an interview with me Kagel drew another connection by suggesting an analogy
between the external other and the tabooed internal `low-other' as Middleton
calls it (see `Musical Belongings'), stating that `one cannot divide music into
``noble'' and ``ignoble'' material. If you condemn the salon orchestra, you also
reject a great amount of folk music'. The interview was held in German, and the
translation is mine. A complete transcription as authorised by the composer can
be found in my `Transcending Quotation', pp. A24±A35. An abridged version of
the original is also published as BjoÈrn Heile, `Musik an der Grenze der
Empfindsamkeit', Neue Zeitschrift fuÈr Musik, 162/vi (2001), pp. 16±20.
12. Kagel's programme notes are used for all performances of the work and for the
liner notes of the commercial recording Mauricio Kagel 5: StuÈcke der Windrose
which contains the five pieces completed at the time of the production. They can
therefore be regarded as part of the work itself. I am using Richard Toop's
translation of the original German texts from the programme note to the concert
by the London Sinfonietta in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, on 2 November
1999.
13. In the original version Kagel explicitly stated that he `sensed that [compass points
have] something to do with our conception of culture, [and] how we group
together and perceive foreign cultures'. The section was later revised, but the
composer gave permission to quote the original wording (telephone conversation
of 9 February 2001).
14. See Werner KluÈppelholz, Mauricio Kagel 1970±1980 (Cologne: DuMont, 1982),
p. 299.
15. In a typically postmodern twist, a recent recording with the Ensemble Modern
directed by Kagel (Koch Schwann Aulos, Ko 31 391±2) features Asian musicians
imitating Asian music, rather like blacks performing in blackface.
For Exotica see KluÈppelholz, Mauricio Kagel, pp. 69±72; Claus Raab, `Zum
Problem authentischer Musik: eine Interpretation von Mauricio Kagels Exotica',
in Wilfried Gruhn (ed.), Reflexionen uÈber Musik heute: Texte und Analysen
(Mainz: Schott, 1981), pp. 290±316; Peter W. Schatt, Exotik in der Musik; and
Peter Niklas Wilson, `Das andere als Fremdes und Eigenes: Die Neue Musik und
ihr Zugriff auf die Musiken der Welt', MusikTexte, 26 (1988), pp. 3±6.
16. The idea of Weltmusik is a fascinating example of cross-cultural transaction in
music, which unfortunately has been all but overlooked in the burgeoning
literature on the subject. For different approaches to Weltmusik see Karlheinz
Stockhausen, `Telemusik', in Stockhausen, Texte zur Musik 1963±1970: Ein-
fuÈhrungen und Projekte, Kurse, Sendungen, Standpunkte, Nebennoten, Vol. 3
(Cologne: DuMont, 1971), pp. 75±8; `Weltmusik', in Stockhausen, Texte zur
Musik 1970±1977: Werk-EinfuÈ hrungen, Elektronische Musik, Weltmusik,
Vorschlage und Standpunkte, zum Werk Anderer, Vol. 4 (Cologne: DuMont,
1978), pp. 468±76; `Hymnen ± Nationalhymnen (zur elektronischen Musik 1967)',
CD booklet Stockhausen 10. Hymnen, pp. 31±45, reprinted in Rudolf Frisius,
Karlheinz Stockhausen: EinfuÈhrung in das Gesamtwerk, Vol. 1 (Mainz: Schott,
1996), pp. 273 ff; Henri Pousseur, Composer (avec) des identiteÂs culturelles (Paris:
Institut de peÂdagogie musicale et choreÂographique, 1989); and Pousseur, `A Brief
Appraisal of an Investigation as Obstinate as it is Meandering', in Michel Butor et
al., Inter Disciplinas Ars (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1998), pp. 41±78. For
a critical introduction to the concept, see Peter AuslaÈnder and Johannes Fritsch
(eds.), Weltmusik (Cologne: Feedback Papers Studio Verlag, 1981).
17. Quoted in KluÈppelholz, Mauricio Kagel, p. 110.
18. For Kantrimiusik, see KluÈppelholz, Mauricio Kagel, pp. 121±9 and GeÂrard
CondeÂ, `La Charrue avant les boeufs: essai sur Kantrimiusik', Musique en jeu, 27
(1977), pp. 58±71, an appropriately funny `analysis' of the piece.
19. Quoted in KluÈppelholz, Mauricio Kagel, p. 123 (my translation, italics in the
original).
20. On Kagel's serial tonality, see Werner KluÈppelholz and Mauricio Kagel, `. . ./1991:
ein GespraÈch zwischen Mauricio Kagel und Werner KluÈppelholz', in Werner
KluÈppelholz (ed.), Kagel . . . /1991 (Cologne: DuMont, 1991), pp. 26±36 and
Wieland Reich, Mauricio Kagel: Sankt-Bach-Passion. Kompositionstechnik und
didaktische Perspektiven (SaarbruÈcken: Pfau, 1995). An early account of some of the
techniques involved is presented by Rudolf Frisius, `Komposition als Kritik an
Konventionen: Tendenzen in neueren StuÈcken von Mauricio Kagel und ihre
Bedeutung fuÈr den Rudolf Musikunterricht', Musik und Bildung, 11 (1977),
pp. 600±606. For a discussion of the aesthetic consequences of serial tonality, see
my `Collage vs. Compositional Control: the Interdependency of Modernist and
Postmodernist Approaches in the Work of Mauricio Kagel', in Joseph Auner and
Judy Lochhead (ed.), Postmodern Music/Postmodern Thought (New York:
Routledge, 2002), pp. 287±99 and ``Kopien ohne Vorbild: Kagel und die AÈsthetik
des Apokryphen'', Neue Zeitschrift fuÈr Musik, 162/vi (2001), pp. 10±15.
21. Quoted in KluÈppelholz, Mauricio Kagel, p. 129 (my translation).
22. See KluÈppelholz, Mauricio Kagel, pp. 133±8 and Kagel, Das Buch der HoÈrspiele,
ed. Klaus SchoÈning (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1982).
23. See Viktor Shklovsky, `Art as Technique', in Russian Formalist Criticism: Four
Essays, trans. and ed. Lee T. Lemon and Marion J. Reis (Lincoln, NE:
University of Nebraska Press, 1965), pp. 5±24.
24. For discussion of Kagel's aesthetics of the apocryphal, see my `Kopien ohne
Vorbild'.
25. See Jean Baudrillard, Simulacres et simulation (Paris: GalileÂe, 1981).
26. Many influential texts by Fanon and Said had appeared before this, but they were
yet to have a major impact on the general debate in Germany.
27. See particularly Bruno Nettl, The Western Impact on World Music: Change,
Adaptation, and Survival (New York: Schirmer, 1985) and Mark Slobin,
Subcultural Sounds: Micromusics of the West (Hanover, NH: University Press
of New England, 1993).
28. A prominent model for employing sketch studies for the analysis of cross-cultural
interaction can be seen in Richard Taruskin's discoveries of the sources to
Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring; see `Russian Folk Melodies in The Rite of
Spring', Journal of the American Musicological Society, 33 (1980), pp. 501±43 and
`The Rite Revisited: the Idea and Sources of the Scenario', in Maria Rika
Maniates and Edmond Strainchamps (eds.), Music and Civilization: Essays in
Honor of Paul Henry Lang (New York: Norton, 1984), pp. 183±202. It is all the
more surprising, then, that the value of such studies is not more generally
recognised.
29. Bakhtin first developed his theory of dialogics in Mikhail Bakhtin, Problems of
Dostoevsky's Poetics, ed. and transl. Caryl Emerson, introduction by Wayne C.
Booth (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984); the most condensed
and most widely read version of it is his `Discourse in the Novel', in The
Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays, ed. Michael Holquist, trans. Caryl Emerson
and Michael Holquist (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992). In recent
decades, Bakhtinian dialogics has been among the most influential methods in
the humanities, as evidenced by a flood of publications. A concise introduction
to both Bakhtin's own theory of dialogics and later developments of it can be
found in Lynne Pearce, Reading Dialogics (London: Arnold, 1994). Among the
most far-reaching attempts to employ dialogics in musicology are Robert
Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness, Correlation, and
Interpretation (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994); Ken Hirschkop,
`The Classical and the Popular: Musical Form and Social Context', in
Christopher Norris (ed.), Music and the Politics of Culture (London: Lawrence
& Wishart, 1989), pp. 283±304; and Kevin Korsyn, `Beyond Privileged
Contexts: Intertextuality, Influence, and Dialogue', in Nicholas Cook and
Mark Everist (eds.), Rethinking Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999),
pp. 55±72.
30. See Edward Said, Orientalism, 2nd reprint with a new afterword (New York:
Penguin, 1995); `Orientalism Reconsidered', Cultural Critique, 1 (1985), pp. 89±107;
and Culture and Imperialism.
31. Bakhtin did not distinguish between author and narrator, which is an innovation
in later literary theory. Bakhtin's `author' would in most cases be called `narrator'
nowadays.
32. Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics, p. 195. `Double-voicedness' is elsewhere defined
as `discourse with an orientation toward someone else's discourse' (Problems,
p. 199).
33. This is clearly shown by Hatten's and Korsyn's applications of dialogics to
Beethoven and Brahms respectively: see Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven
and Korsyn, `Beyond Privileged Contexts'. Furthermore, Leonard G. Ratner's
and Kofi Agawu's `topics' can be described as represented discourses, thus con-
firming the applicability of Bakhtinian thought to earlier repertoire; see Ratner,
Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style (New York: Schirmer, 1980) and
Agawu, Playing with Signs: a Semiotic Interpretation of Classic Music (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1991). Representations of street music in Stravinsky,
Mahler and Ives are another field where a dialogical investigation may prove
fruitful.
34. See Shklovsky, `Art as Technique'. The reason for my preferring Bakhtin's term
over Shklovsky's has simply to do with consistency. There are grounds to believe
that Bakhtin was profoundly influenced by Shklovsky's concept.
35. This appears to be common knowledge but is also supported by the literature on
the subject, in particular by Karl Kogler, `Das Salonorchester: Entstehung,
Besetzung und Repertoire', in Paul v. FuÈrst (ed.), Zur Situation der Musiker in
OÈsterreich. Referate der Musik-Symposien im Schloû Schloûhof (1989±92) (Vienna:
Institut fuÈr Wiener Klangstil, 1994), pp. 393±6. See also Andreas Ballstaedt,
`Salonmusik', in Ludwig Finscher (ed.), Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart:
Allgemeine EnzyklopaÈdie der Musik, 2nd edn., Vol. 8 (Kassel: BaÈrenreiter/Metzler,
1998), pp. 854±67; Andreas Ballstaedt and Tobias Widmaier, Salonmusik: zur
Geschichte und Funktion einer buÈrgerlichen Musikpraxis (Wiesbaden: Archiv fuÈr
Musikwissenschaft, 1989); and Tobias Widmaier, `Salonmusik', in Hans Heinrich
Eggebrecht (ed.), HandwoÈrterbuch der musikalischen Terminologie, Vol. 5 (1989),
pp. 1±16.
36. Mark Slobin (ed.), Old Jewish Folk Music: the Collections and Writings of Moshe
Beregovsky (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982).
37. Is it therefore tongue-in-cheek when Kagel annotates his klezmer representation
of Ex. 1 with `inventado por mi' (sic) (`invented by me') in the sketch to the
passage ± the same sketch that contains the quotations?
38. See Max Nyffeler, `Fragen wird es immer genug geben', n. p.
39. The transcription is from Hans Helfritz, `Besuch bei den Hochland-Indianern:
Musik und TaÈnze der Aimara und Quechuas'. The photocopy contained in the
sketch material does not indicate where the article appeared.
40. The transcription is from Gerhard Kubik, Ostafrika (Leipzig: Deutscher Verlag
fuÈr Musik, 1982), p. 116.