Paper Proposal for the 13th International Conference in the Series

IBERIAN AND SLAVONIC CULTURES IN CONTACT AND COMPARISON

FALLEN WALLS, RISING BARRIERS:

30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall

2-4 May, 2019

Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon
University of Évora

I. Participant
First name(s): Laurentiu
Surname(s): Beldean
Title/University degree: PhD
Organisation/Affiliation: Transilvania University in Braşov (Romania)
Address for correspondence: Str. Popa Tatu 78, Ap. 4E, Bucuresti sect. 1, Romania
Tel.: 0040 726 845 495
E-mail: laurentiubeldeanu@yahoo.com

II. Paper
Title: Transgressing the Wall. Mauricio Kagel and Decanonization of the Musical
Performance

III. Abstract (up to 250 words with 5 keywords)

The paper will discuss selected pieces by Maurcio Kagel (1931–2008), one of the most
significant Argentinian composer. Attached to Agrupacion Nueva Musica, and co-founder of
the Cinémathèque Argentine, he moved to Germany in 1957.
The analysis will concern two issues related to Kagel’s work.
First of all, the composer’s approach to musical theatre as an artistic tool for demolishing a
wall put in cultural tradition between a performer and a musical work – just like Berlin Wall
which turned the politics paradigm in order to melt two political positions into one. Kagel’s
negation of the structure’s coherence in traditional musical canon became the basis of his
conceptualization which implies a collapse within the wall between the musical instrument
and the performer. Aforementioned performer doesn’t remain in the passive role, but is
engaged in the art with his whole body as authentic, vivid instrument.
Secondly, the paper will concern the actual threads of Kagel’s music, as he was interested in
enclosing in his work contemporary social and political issues. In the first version of his
‘Opus 1.991’ he referred directly to the events of the fall of Berlin Wall. In …den 24.xii.1931
one can find references to repression of prison revolt in Argentina, Japanese army staying in
China or the presence of German immigrants in Argentina.
Both these perspectives aim to present Kagel as multifaceted composer who through his
avantgarde approach abolishes canons (walls) in contemporary music and at the same time
points out the barriers and limitations of the global reality. Moreover, Kagel’s pieces built
bridges between the South American and European musical paradigms.

Key words: Kagel, instrumental theatre, Berlin Wall, avantgarde music, decanonization

Selected literature:

Beldean, Laurentiu. 2015. Heterophony in The Instrumental Show of Mauricio Kagel. Sur
scene (1960). Revista Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov 1:8. 49–66.
 Paper Proposal for the 13th International Conference in the Series
IBERIAN AND SLAVONIC CULTURES IN CONTACT AND COMPARISON

Heile, Björn. 2017. The Music of Mauricio Kagel. London – New York. Routledge.
Vaes, Luk. 2014. On Kagel’s Experimental Sound Producers. In: Artistic Experimentation in
music, D. Crispin, B. Gilmore (eds.). Leuven. Leuven University Press.
IV. Brief CV (up to 100 words, including main research areas and up to 3 publications.
Example. Boulogne, Pieter. 2009. “The French influence in the early Dutch reception of F. M.
Dostoevsky’s Brat’ja Karamazovy: A case study”. Babel 55:3. 264-284.)

Composer, music theoretician, violinist and conductor, studied in Bucharest and Salzburg
(scholarships in Berlin and Munich). He received his PhD in the field of musical performance
at the University of Bucharest. Affiliated at the Transylvanian University in Braşov. Author of
articles, mostly in the field of avant-garde music, performative and interdisciplinary aspects
of music. Participant of conferences in Romania, Austria, Germany, Slovakia and Hungary.
Composer of pieces for differ ensembles. Member of the Union of Composers in Vienna,
Union of Composers and Musicologists in Bucharest, and Music Theory Society in Chicago-
Illinois. Awarded by International Music Consortium NYU and UCMR Romania.

Selected publications:

2017. ‘The Role of the Trans-Spectator in De(s)figuration, Participatory Art and the Politics of
Spectatorship’. ‘4th International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference on Social Sciences &
Arts SGEM 2017’. 6:1. Vienna. 491–509.

2017. ‘Die Darmstädter Internationalen Ferienkurse für Neue Musik: ein weiter Durchbruch
in die Moderne für die rumänische Komponistenschule (I)’. Revista Bulletin of the
Transilvania University of Brașov 2. 7–16

2018.’Peter Abliger and Negative Heterophony as the Approach to White-Noise Music’. ‘5 th

International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference on Social Sciences & Arts SGEM 2017’.
6:1. Vienna. 405–414.

V. Submission
After filling in the form, please send it attached to ibs.annualconference@gmail.com until 15
February, 2019. The e-mail subject should correspond to the attachment title, i.e. to
“paperproposal_IBS13_authorsurname_EN”, where “authorsurname” has been substituted by
your own surname.