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It looks like the dormant pianist in me has awakened. In late April, at a local concert, I will debut a piano solo called Madison Sketchbook by John Bilotta, an award-winning Bay Area composer. There will also be other works performed by area composers, but my performance will be the premiere of this spirited work. Madison Sketchbook is a twelve tone composition, and since many of you may hear the elusive term “twelve tone” at parties or events but its meaning still escapes you, I explain below. Contrasting to some of my recitals in grade school and high school, this will be my first formal performance, showcasing the composer’s work for the first time (hence the word “debut”). This is a concert to promote composers- not a recital, in which case the focus would be on the performer.
Twelve tone music, sometimes called “serialism” or even “dodecaphony,” is just one of countless types of 20th century classical music, and its defining characteristic is its “atonal” sound. Twelve tone composers use of all twelve notes of the chromatic scale (C, C#, D, D#, etc.) repeatedly in a particular order while denying the audience a specific base key. As a result, this music is very calculated and sophisticated, which proves difficult to capture an audience with its performance. And voilà, I couldn’t ask for a sweeter challenge!
Hooked on Dodecaphonics
Arnold Schoenberg is generally credited with the invention of this type of music, although several 19th century composers before him began using tonal ambiguity and whole tone style, such as Liszt, Scriabin, and even the love 'em, hate 'em Wagner in Tristan und Isolde. Many followed Schoenberg’s lead, and the list of twelve tone composers is impressive and continues to grow with time: Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Paul Hindemith, and Ernst Krenek. Twelve tone socities sprang up in almost every cultural center of the world, including the United States! American twelve tone composers reinterpreted Schoenberg’s methods, including Milton Babbitt, Roger Sessions, Leon Kirchner, George Perle, and even Aaron Copland in his later years. And this list now includes John Bilotta. From what I research so far, Bilotta’s works attempt to preserve 19th century romantics while still adhering strictly to twelve tone rows and interesting 20th century brutality.
Twelve Tone Days of Christmas
Unfortuately, twelve tone classical music isn’t very marketable, since the masses just can’t understand or absorb this music. That’s why most performers steer clear of serialism. Could you imagine Celine Dion producing a twelve tone album for the holidays? Fortunately, there are a few endowments and even corporations that recognize the genius of this school of music and occasionally offer grants to composers to produce music. The most notable is the Ford Foundation’s grant to Milton Babbitt to produce Philomel, which was one of the first compositions for analog synthesizer in the 1960s. You can read my review of Philomel and listen to excerpts here on Amazon. Remember, it takes a very open mind to listen to this! And no, there are no hidden satanic messages or hypno-communist crap in Philomel. It is meant to sound absolutely ghastly for the art of it all. But because of the unapproachable quality of neoclassical works, most foundations and associations don’t go near the newest classical music anymore, which is only a small setback for modern composers. Most of them, including the ones I know, have a second career, which they use to stabilize themselves and their passion for the arts.
Hopefully my April performance will be the start of a burgeoning engagement in music for me. It will never replace my interests in computers or aviation, but it’s a great way to tame the engineering side of my life. The musicians and composers I have met so far have already enriched my being, and I plan to make our local music scene a daily indulgence for the artist me.
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Re: San Francisco Gains a New Pianist
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by anonymous |
posted January 8th, 2005 around 08:26 PM
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When? Where? Open to the public? Do I need to join a special inner circle to hear this? Do well, and I hope to hear this new piece sometime soon
-hank p. aka muffin
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Re: San Francisco Gains a New Pianist
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by anonymous |
posted January 7th, 2005 around 03:42 PM
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Daniel,
You've done an excellent job of summarizing twelve-tone and serial techniques and their historical origins. Your lists of representative composers are excellent highlighting the most significant contributors both in Europe and the US.
Thank you for offering to take on the task of premiering the "Madison Sketchbook" this April. It's not an easy work and I'm delighted to have found in you a sensitive but athletic pianist able to take on the challenge.
You're quite right: stylistically, the sketchbook consists of pieces conceived in the romantic tradition but built on an intensely chromatic foundation. Your incredible ability to correctly identify the retrograde inversion of the original tone-row while listening to the piece for the first time floored me. I know you'll do a wonderful job at the performance.
Best wishes,
John
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