The Exhaustion of Western Art Music

Author(s): Michael Kowalski

Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 21, No. 1/2 (Autumn, 1982 - Summer, 1983), pp. 1-14
Published by: Perspectives of New Music
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/832865
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THE EXHAUSTIONOF WESTERNARTMUSIC

MICHAEL KOWALSKI

"AllAmerican composers, at some relativelyearly point in their profes-

sional careers, come to the realizationthat they have committed their
lives and aspirationsto a mdtierwhich offers absolutely no chance of
appropriatefinancial rewards,little chance of public recognition and the
"
high probabilityof some form of abuse or rejection..
LesterTrimble,"The Unsung American Composer,"
New YorkTimes Magazine, Nov. 29, 1981

"Anyonewho lived through the long decades of downright ornery com-

plexity when composers outdid one another in inventing new ways to
confuse performersand confound listeners, may feel now like the diner
who asks for a bit of dessert and has an entire pie slapped in his face.
You wanted simple? You got simple."
-Donal Henahan, "The Going-Nowhere Music-
And Where It Came From,"New YorkTimes
Arts and Leisuresection, Dec. 6, 1981

I. The Final Irony

Exactly one week after Lester Trimble publishes an eloquent lamen-

tation on the state of the unloved, unplayed, unpaid, and misunder-
stood American composer, Times chief music critic Donal Henahan
comes up with one of his very choicest pieces of vitriol, directed at...
guess who? The irony is so pointed that I'm loath to dismiss it as an
accident. I'd rather think that the editors of the Times aren't above
indulging in a little mischief now and then.
 2

The Trimblearticleappearsto be well documented.Statisticscom-

piled by the AmericanSymphonyOrchestraLeague,ASCAP,and BMI
are cited in supportof the assertionthat Americancomposersare
ignoredby their countrymento an extent unsurpassedby any other
groupof artistsin any Westernsociety.The statisticsare certainlyclear
on one point:Americansymphonyorchestrasvery seldom playAmeri-
can music.AlthoughTrimblesuppliesno hardfigureson chamber
music, he impliesthat Americanchambermusic suffersa similarfate at
the handsof our best touringand recordingartists.All right.I grant
him both points.In fact, as a composer,I'mtemptedto ask, "Thisis
news?"To whom is this clamorfor attentionbeing addressed?Trimble
failsto show that the situationfor the other performingarts,here or
abroad,isn'tcomparablybad, and this has me confused. If he were
addressingthose of his countrymenwho fail to appreciatehow hardit
is to be a composerin America,as opposed to being a composerin
Germany,or a choreographeranywhere,then I would at leastexpect
him to trot out a few devastatingstatisticsfrom Europe.Isn'tthe whole
point to convince provincialAmericanskeptics,who probablyassume
that thingsare tough all over,that Americancomposersare a special
hardshipcase?
But it's not my intentionto poke holes in Trimble's argument.I
haven'teven grantedhim the courtesyof an extendedquote. I may
even agree with his presumptionthat the lot of the Americancom-
poser is a peculiarlyhardone. Why,then, has the articleso infuriated
me? Is it only because the line of argumentneeds to be bolsteredwith
a few corroborating statisticsfromthe Europeancounterpartof ASCAP?
Thatcertainlydoesn'texplainwhy the articlestrikesme as pathetic.
Pathetic?Am I indulgingin professionalself-hate?If only in the cause
of self-therapy,I presson: The sketchinessof the argumentleads me to
suspect that the articlewas aimed at individualsalreadyin possession
of the basic facts of life concerninghigh culturein the U.S.-those
who, moreover,while not themselvescomposersor musicians,are in a
positionto help composers,i.e., orchestramanagers,agents,critics,
recordproducers,advertisingand media executives,etc. Butthese are
the very people who have consignedseriousAmericanmusicto the
peripheryof our culturefor going on one hundredyears.They have
done it with certainknowledgethat that was preciselywhat they were
doing, and they have done it with the cooperationof the listening
public. How does Trimbleproposeto change anyone'smind?In our
media-shrunken world, is culturalnationalismin need of no freshjusti-
 3

ficationor defense other than "Everybody

else takescare of their own,
so why shouldn'twe?"

The articleis gracedby flatteringpicturesof composersRalphShapey,

Otto Luening,and ElliottCarter.The point is made repeatedlythat there
are dozens, if not hundreds,of brilliantmen and women who have
devotedtheirlivesto the compositionof new symphonicand chamber
music.The assumptionunderlyingTrimble's argumentbecomes clear as
one frustratingcase historyfollowsupon anotherin endlessprocession:
It'snot fairthat so many brilliantmen and women who workso hard
in what was originallya publicartformshould be so ignored.The
argumentis not so much an incitementto culturaljingoismas it is an
appealto the good old Americansense of fairplay.But I wonder,are
we so surethat these hardworking, skilledAmericancomposersare so
differentfromthe hardworking artisansof the earlynineteenthcentury,
whose professionswere"renderedobsolete by the applicationof steam
powerto manufacturing? Is the situationof my father,who triedto
open a cornerdrugstorein the face of impossiblecompetitionfrom
huge chain stores,any less poignantthan that of a composerwho
spendsthree yearsworkingon an uncommissionedorchestrapiece
which in all likelihoodwill go unplayed?It'snot only Westerntechno-
logicalsociety,but Natureitself,which deals harshlywith those who
refuseto or are incapableof adaptingto changingcircumstances. Thisis
not to say that a pharmacistwho wantsto offerpersonal,humaneser-
vice shouldor will perish.He won't, because humanemedicalservice
is a universalneed, which any civilizedsocietywill striveto satisfy.But
the formatsuch servicetakesis specificto a time and place. Norman
Rockwelldoesn'tapplyto suburbanAmericain 1983. Fortunately, my
fatheradaptedto life in hospitalpharmaciesand suburbanmega-stores
-not withoutdifficulty,but withoutsacrificinghis ideals.Butwho would
have subsidizedhim if he had persistedin his dreamof owninga
mom-and-popstore?I'llrefrainfrom belaboringthe obvious.

The need to sing, to dance, to think,to laugh,to cry,to play act-

these are universaland constant.The need to sit in a largeroom and
listento someone play on the violin,or on the Synclavier, a sonic con-
structionwhich can only be understoodwith referenceto the entire
 4

historyof Westernart music-this is culture-specific.The evidencecited

by Trimbleleads me to ask whether this latteractivitygrowsout of late
twentieth-centuryAmericanculture,or whetherit is imposedupon it.
Further,Trimble'sarticleleads me to ask whethermy firstquestionhasn't
been answeredalready,in spades.Our composer-apologist begs these
questions,but steersclear of to
them, preferring rely on the sentimental
lureof the fairnessdoctrine.

At this point I should reiteratemy disclaimer:I reallyhaven'tsingled

out Trimble'sarticlebecause its argumentsare speciousor half-formed.
On the contrary,it captureseloquentlya sentimentwhich I shareduntil
recentlyand which I believethe majorityof Americancomposersstill
do share.The only reasonwe don't hearthis lamentmore often in
publicis that most composersare (justifiably)waryof soundinglikecry-
babies.And I, in turn,am sensitiveto the chargeof slappingarounda
cry-babyin orderto shut him up. We all know how bad that looks in
the supermarket. Hence, the repeateddisclaimers.I suspectthat it'sat
leastas easy for the readerto poke holes in my critiqueas it is for me
to take exceptionto Trimble's lament.But luckily,beforeI had a chance
to revise my original letter to the Times,...

Donal Henahan'sbroadsideagainstminimalmusic,in particular, and

the professionof composing,in general,stoppedme dead in my critical
tracks.Herewe had a destructive,know-nothing attackon new music
which, consideringthe influentialreadershipof the Times,could only
serveto make it even more difficultfor beleagueredcomposersto find
an audience.Ratherthan pick bones with a distinguished fellowcom-
poser,it seemed that I should be manningthe barricades.(I am, after
all, a child of the 60's.)But,once again(dumbluck),procrastination got
the betterof valor.I ended up rereadingHenahan'snastylittlepiece
over a beer and filingit for futurereference.It was only severalweeks
and severalrereadingslaterthat I beganto wonderwhy Henahan's
epistlesgive me such a pleasantkick.It'snot as if there are any sur-
prisesto be had. Do I derivesome perversepleasurefromseeing my
colleaguesfloggedin this "newspaperof record"?Or is it ratherthat I
enjoy seeing my competitorsdismissedas irrelevancies? No, no-no on
both counts.PerhapsI justenjoyfeelingsuperiorto this latterdayEduard
 5

Hanslick.No, it'snot even that. I'mafraidit'stime to admitthat I enjoy

Henahanfor the same reasonI enjoy syndicatedfilmcriticRexReed:
It'sbecausethere'sa moralfervorabout his writing,a veritablepassion
which informseven his stupidestopinionswith a faintglimmerof truth.
It'sa fervorI'velatelycome to associatewith tabloidheadlines,Moral
Majorityads, and MadisonAvenuesermons,but not with publicdis-
cussionsof music.Mostcriticswho aren'tapologistsfor new music (i.e.,
composersthemselves)seem to have given up on the stuff,beingcon-
tent nowadaysmerelyto describepremieresin fairlyneutrallanguage,
with only an occasionalbarbhalf-buried in the reportageto indicate
theirtrue feelings.Henahan,in starkand occasionallyembarrassing con-
trast,has remainedlividand indignantfor well over a decade. Assume
for the sake of argumentthat he is neitherdementednor a fool. I
wonder how he's managedto keep his hacklesup over this subjectfor
so long. It'snot as if there are no alternatives.We all know thatthe ulti-
mate affrontin contemporary Americais to be ignored.He could have
ignoredus, exactlythe way the conductorsof the Big Fiveorchestras
do. Thereare plentyof stringersto handlethe new music.Moreover,
just how long can one remainangrywith an incompetentfor failingto
live up to expectations?Eventually one recognizesincompetencefor
what it is and expendsone's emotionaland intellectualenergyon more
rewarding subjects.But, in fact, I don't rememberHenahanever ranting
about incompetentcomposers.... So we'restillin searchof a motive.
.. Caramba!Can it be? Is it possiblethat Henahan'sfeelingsare hurt?
Thatjust mightexplainover ten yearsof poison penmanship.He must
believethat composerscould, if they wished,writemusic-trulynew
music,not warmed-upleftovers-whichwould delighthim. Butthey
haven't.The questionis why, oh why, do composerscollectivelytorture
this man?If I were Henahan,and I saw that obviouslytalentedcom-
poserswere workinghardto producemusicwhich they knew I would
hate,when I believedthatthey could, if they wished,write music I
would love,then I would be hoppingmad, too. We Americanscherish
the notionof our fundamental,individualinnocence.What, ladiesand
gentlemenof the jury,did Henahando to deservedecades of unremit-
ting aesthetictorment?EvenEduardHanslickhad his Brahms.

Foronce, procrastination
has workedto my advantage.I'vefinally
the
glimpsed real, more ironyimplicitin the Times'
flabbergasting
 6

curiousjuxtaposition of Trimbleand Henahan:Bothmen are motivated

by a similar concern for fairplay,and both base theirargumentson the
same critical,unexaminedpremise.Theyassumethat competentmusi-
cians could, if they so willed (andTrimblewould add, do), produce
musicwhich can be understoodand enjoyedsolely on its own terms,
i.e., withoutreferenceto alliedactivitiessuch as tellinga story,dancing,
celebratinga riteof passage,etc., but only with referenceto its own
structureand its place in the historyof Westernart music.My feelings
concerningthe sacredcow of fairnessare probablyclear by now,
thoughsomewhat"beyondthe rangeof this article,"as they say.As for
the questionof whetherabsolutemusiccan or oughtto be writtenin
late twentieth-century America,I shall begin by assertingthat it's
manifestlyirresponsible, consideringthe numberof composerswho are
literallyignoredto aestheticdeath,to duck this issueor to dismissit as
too basic,too personal,or a moot point.My own observationand
analysislead me to concludethat, if one thinksof musicas a social
activity,it is not possibleto createnew absolutemusic in Americaat
this time. I hastento add thatthis does not mean we shouldall
become computersalesmen.

By characterizing musicas a socialart, I mean nothingless than the

following: Until willfullystructuredsoundsare playedby someone and
enjoyed-as a structure-bysomeone else, there is no music.Thereis
only mathematics, assemblage,cryptography, tooting,scratching,and
banging, however elegant. The lattercan all be stepstowardmusic,but
aren'tin themselvesmusic.Equatingan unplayedscore with music is
nothingotherthan the composer'speculiarvariationof intellectualand
aestheticonanism.As usefulas masturbation may be for releasingten-
sion, it'snot generallythe eroticactivityof choice for matureadults
when more pleasantalternatives exist. If music is ever againto live up
to its potentialas a socialart,then it is none otherthan the listenerto
whom we mustturnfor a usefulperspective.Itdoesn'tnecessarily follow
that composersshouldspend theirtime second-guessing a hypothetical
audience.In fact,there'sno need to second-guess.One need only
observethatthe same people who read DonaldBarthelmeand watch
Jean-LucGodardtend to considerone or anotherwave of rock'n'roll to
be the musicalavant-garde. for
It'sdelusory composers to assume that
the audienceof educatedlaymenand nonmusicalartistsis any more
 7

the dupe of mediaand merchandising mogulsin its musicaltastethan

it is in its preferencefor certainfilmmakers, novelists,and painters.The
admirersof Fellini,Saul Bellow,and FrankStellahave,with theirgeneral
disinterestin new concertmusic,rendereda verdictwhich I shalltake
the libertyof interpreting as follows:"We do not have the perceptual
skillsto understandor enjoythe complexitiesyou formerlyproffered,
nor the innocenceto toleratethe simplicitieswhich you currentlypro-
pose, nor the perspectiveto comprehendthe significanceof your appar-
ent inabilityto charmus with any of the techniquesat your disposal....
So don't be surprisedif we turnour attentionelsewhere."I differwith
both Trimbleand Henahanin that I don't insistupon blaminganyone
for this stateof affairs.I don't believethatthe nationis populatedby
philistineswho refuseto give hardworking geniusestheirdue. Neither
do I believethat an entireprofessionhas willfullytormentedthe listen-
ing publicwith musiccontrivedto baffleand frustrate. As an alternative,
I proposethat our situationbe understoodhistorically, as the culmina-
tion of trillionsof minuteevents in the livesof millionsof people
who'velistenedto and made musicover a periodof centuries.No one
is to blamefor the fact that no individual,howeverbrilliantor dedi-
cated, is equal to the task of reinventingmusic in each new piece. It's
time to smashthe icon of composer-as-culture-hero. Caesarcould lead
an army,or Szell an orchestra,but neithercould conjureup a body of
skilled,willingcollaborators fromthin air.In a similarsense, composers
are incapableof generatingtheiraudiences.It'smuch more usefulto
thinkof audiencesgeneratingcomposers.The "nextBeethoven,"were
he to appearin New Yorkthis year,could no more lead the way to a
new stylisticconsensusthan the firstBeethovencould have single-
handedlyinventedthe piano sonatahad he been borna serf in the
MiddleAges.We have a tendencyto give excessivelygenerouscreditto
a relativefew, often to the detrimentof the poor shlumpswho labor
anonymouslyto createthe necessarycontextfor heroism.It'seasy to
forgetwho comes first,and who will continueto exist in the absenceof
the other.An audiencewithoutcomposers?It'seasy enough to
picture-justlook around!Buta composerwithoutan audience?
Althoughsome would liketo thinkit'spossible(who cares if you
listen?-Ivesdidn't!),I can'tagree.Thisperversionof ruggedindividual-
ism strikesme as the lastword in neuroticdefensivenessand social
irresponsibility,a veritableconfessionof aestheticbankruptcy.
 8

II. Our Placein History

We are neitherthe slavesof historynor its masters.The truthlies

somewherein between.Mostof my composercolleaguesare subtle
enoughto understandhow this maximappliesto politicaland eco-
nomic history,but they fail or refuseto admitits applicability
to the arts.
I suspect,in fact, that manyindividualsbecome artistspreciselybecause,
havingperhapstoo acute a sensitivityto the intractability
of our eco-
nomic and politicalproblems,they believethe artsto be the only field
of endeavorwhich offersa would-behero even the slimmestchance of
becomingan undisputedmaster(benevolent,of course),a rule-maker in
an unearthlyworldof no-compromise-necessary.

As if the susceptibility
of individualsto moralpowertripsweren't
bad enough, universitycompositiondepartmentsnurturethis neo-
Platonic,philosopher-king-of-the-artsfantasyas a professionalideal. How
does one reconcileJ.S.Bach'sradicallyutilitarian view of musicwith the
hermeticgamesmanship of our new concertmusic?Is our visionso nar-
rowthat we assume,likedogmaticreligionists of everystripe,that our
currentlyheld view of the faithis the closestapproximation to the truth
ever achieved,and that all priorversionsof the creed have merelybeen
rungson the ladderof ideologicalevolution?In short,what arrogance
allowsus to assumethat musiccan be understoodsolely on its own
terms,except undervery specific,rarefiedcircumstances? Veryfew of
our illustriouspredecessorsmade that assumption,not Bach,the Beatles,
Duke Ellington, the FlorentineCamerata,nor the earliestpractitioners of
Gregorian chant. am
I, personally, no longerwilling to assume that Bach
would have preferred,if only his contemporaries would have let him, to
thinkof himselfand his workwithoutreferenceto the Lutheran church
service,to the entertainment of aristocrats,
or to the trainingof keyboard
players.

Absolute,nonprogrammatic musicwas deliveredto Americafrom

Europeas a ready-made.Perhapsthat explainsthe ease with which we
forgetjust how recentand limitedan ideal it is. The artsflourishedquite
nicelywithoutit. Itsemergenceroughlycoincidedwith the emergence,
between 1750 and 1825,of concertsas a popularbourgeois(i.e., specifi-
 9

cally urban)formof entertainment. A rapidlyexpandingmiddleclass,of

course,is directlytraceableto the beginningsof industrial capitalism....
Now, this is not a Marxistcritique,so all you rabid neoconservatives out
there can stop formulating your rebuttalfor the time An
being. expand-
ing middle-classaudiencewas not, in and of itself,sufficientto explain
why concerts,and the type of music playedat concerts,flourishedin
CentralEuropefromthe late eighteenthcenturyuntilthe outbreakof
WorldWar I. It was, however,one necessarycomponentin a complex,
uncontrollable convergenceof massculturaland economic forces:
Instruments had developedtechnically-firststrings,duringthe Renais-
sance, and then winds and keyboards,duringthe earliestdays of the
IndustrialRevolution-tothe pointwhere purelyinstrumental music not
only equalled but surpassedthe human voice in agility,pitch projection,
and overallusefulnessin ensembles.Thishad the effectof freeingmusic
fromits interdependentrelationship with text. The tonal and rhythmic
idiomof Europeanmusicdevelopedto the pointwhere it was capable
of articulatingtensionand releaseover spansof five,ten, or even
twenty minutes. Thisoccurredjustwhen the aforementioned expanding
middle-classaudiencewas demandingever more spectacularevening-
lengthentertainments. The craftof musicwas, metaphorically, in the
rightplace at the righttime, with its recentlymaturedarticulative power
readyto satisfyan expandingsocial need.

The key undefinedconcept in my littlehistoricalsketchis "tonaland

rhythmicidiomof Europeanmusic."Indeed,a realisticunderstanding of
the natureof culturalidiomsis the key to understanding not only why
absolutemusicflourishedfor a time, but also why it has failedto
become an importantcomponentof the creativeartsin America.
Idiomsare efficientcommunicativeprocesseswhich arise in a language
by consensus,by the unforeseeable,unwittingagreementof the usersof
that language.Idiomsare, in fact,those meaningful"real-time" processes
whose comprehensiondefineslinguisticcompetence.No one ever
became fluentin a foreignlanguagemerelyby masteringthose clumsy
attemptsto rationalizeidiomswhich we call "grammars." Mozart'saudi-
ence, and Mozarthimself,weren'tin a positionto understandthe
potentialinherentin that singulararrangement of idiomsknowncollec-
tivelyas the sonataprocess because of any rationalefforton their parts.
 10

Theyfoundthemselvesin thatenviablepositionbecausefor approxi-

matelyone thousandyearspriorto 1750, Europeanshad been making
music in orderto worshipa deity,recounttales of love and war,cele-
brateweddings,and lulltheirbabiesto sleep. The musicalidiomswhich
satisfiedthese non-musicalneeds had evolvedslowly,in fitsand starts,
in diversemannersfrom regionto region,but eventuallythey worked
theirway into the collective"ear"of an entirecontinent.

Absolutemusicby its very naturecontainsthe seeds of its own de-

struction.Priorto 1750,the stylisticevolutionof music had been fairly
slow. Duringthe roughlyten generationsfromMachautto Palestrina,
Europeanchoralpolyphonyand instrumental dance musicchanged
gradually,in minute increments.
stylistic Of course,the impracticality
of
long-distance travel and communication priorto the of
industrialization
Europeis a majorreasonwhy change had to be measuredin genera-
tions ratherthan in monthsor years.Butthere is anotherexplanation,
at leastas important,for relativestabilityin musicalpractice:Musical
stylecan be constrainedby the extramusical functionwhich music
serves.Gravityand the fact that we have two legs limitsthe useful
formsof dance music.The physicallimitations of the voice and the
desireto communicatea text have been the primaryconstraintsfaced
by songwriters fromthe trouveresthroughLennonand McCartney.
Conservative institutionssuch as the Churchhave forcedmusiciansto
reiteratethe familiarratherthan experimentwith new procedures.In
contrast,when music beganto be appreciatedby largeaudiencesas an
entertainment in its own right,the pace of stylisticevolutionaccelerated
precipitously.Barelysix generationsseparate"TheMagicFlute"from
"TheRiteof Spring."Up to aboutthe FirstWorldWar,the concert-
going audienceof bourgeoisphilistinesprovedto be amazinglyflexible.
The concerthall in Europefrom 1800to 1913was a veritableexperi-
mentallaboratory, a hothousewhere musicwas allowedto developfree
fromany constraintssave its own internallogic.The result,it seems trite
to reiterate,was an explosivegrowthin tonal complexity,accompanied
by formaland orchestrational giantism,leadingultimatelyto the collapse
of the system.That'shardlynews.What is generallyoverlooked,
however,is the crucialcoincidenceof the collapseof the tonal system
with the emergenceof the recordingand broadcastindustries.
 11

The audiencefor which nineteenth-century symphonicand

chambermusicwas writtenwas stillprimarily an audienceof musical
doers,of amateurplayersand singers.If one wantedto hear music in
1850,one generallyhad to make music.The concert hall,for all its
wonders,was merelythe rarefiedtip of the music-making iceberg.
Anyonewho has learnedto ridea bicycleknowsthatthe knowledge
gainedby doing is radicallydifferentfrom,and, in some sense, deeper
than, knowledgeacquiredthroughobservation.Someonewho'snever
laid handson a brushcannot see a paintingin the same way as one
who has attempted,howeverclumsily,to do a landscapeor self-portrait.
The importanceof the evolutionin both Europeand Americafroman
audienceof music-starved amateursto an audienceof super-satiated,
ear-gluttedrecordcollectorsand radiolistenerscannot be overempha-
sized. The contemporary Americanconcertaudiencehas an incredibly
broadbut shallowunderstanding of musicalprocesses.The audiencefor
which our standardrepertoireof absolutemusicwas writtenpossesseda
fardeeper, but more narrowlyfocused, knowledge.The tragicironyof
art music in the lastseventy-five yearsis that,justas the audience's
perceptual skillshave deteriorated,the demandsplaced upon them by
composers have increased Mostcomposersare justifiably
dramatically.
enthralledby the musicalachievementsof the nineteenth-and early
twentieth-centuries-and by the glorywhich accruedto its creators.
ComposersfromSchoenbergon have stoppedat nothing,not even the
supremeexertionof reinventingmusicfromscratch,to keep the delicate
blossomof absolutemusicalive.Butan idiomcannot be inventedby
an individualor clique.The listenernow has the incredibleburdenof
understanding every new piece as a law unto itself.The only way to do
this is to combinean intimatefamiliarity with all of the proceduresof
all of the art musicsof the worldwith a devil-may-care willingnessto
throwall or partof that knowledgeoverboardwhen the piece at hand
makesknownthe contextin which it wishesto be understood.Does
anyonedoubt that this is an extremelyraretalent?Does anyoneassume
that this is what Beethovenexpectedof his audience?In the face of
honestanswersto these questions,how can an Americancomposerof
concertmusic in 1983 pretendto be carryingon in the spiritof the
eighteenth-,nineteenth-,and earlytwentieth-century "masters"?The
contextfor creatinga masterpieceof absolutemusicdoes not exist.
 12

III.The FutureIs Bright

The presentation of new concertpieces will continueas a minor

sideshowwithina much larger,more vital,and excitingcuratorialpro-
gramdevotedto preserving the best of the tonal repertoire.(The
curatorialprogramof preserving the nineteenth-century conceptionof a
composer's function is the one which should be dropped.)A handfulof
exceptionally talented individuals will continue to reinventmusic
singlehandedly, but they will be ignored,both here and increasingly so
in Europe,which will catch up with the U.S. in this regardas surelyas
it has in the manufacture and sale of bluejeansand the buildingof
superhighways. In the meantime,sound will be producedin unprece-
dented quantitiesfor use in film,televisionand radiobroadcasts,video,
livetheatreand dance, for psycho-and physical-therapy, for meditation,
for the advancementof politicalcauses,for the sellingof products,for
the inducementof hypnoticand hallucinatory states,for the purposesof
increasingproductivity in the office,speedingup trafficflow in the
and
cafeteria, soothingyour nerves in the elevator.To some this will
representa step down. The new "music"will be highlyconstrainedby
the extramusical tasksto which it has been "prostituted." It will often
be inseparablefromassociatedvisualimageryor text. Itscontentand
significancemay be inextricably confusedwith the technologyused to
produce it. But since it will usuallybe unrecognizable as that music
about whose integrityand survivalwe've become so very defensive,it
will continueto growfreelyand unpredictably, likea weed in a vacant
lot. Someday,when its common practicesare verywell establishedin
the collective"ear"of a media-hipsociety,an astuteobserverof the
culturalscene will notice,probablywith a generationor two of hind-
sight,that soundsare once againbeingarrangedinto patternswithout
referenceto anythingbut themselves,and thatthis activityis prizedby
both listenersand composersalikeas one of the crowninggloriesand
supremedelightsof civilization.And then, I suspect,aftera brilliant
periodof rapidlyacceleratinginnovationand elaboration,this new sonic
art-for-art's-sakewill collapseof its own weight,as surelyas did its
predecessor.
 13

The burden of keeping the ideal of music-for-music's-sake alive

through culturalthick and thin has proven to be an insuperable
albatrossfor contemporaryAmerican composers. It'sa shame to see
many of the best musical minds in the land mesmerized by this phan-
tom, while the mundane business of reconstitutingsonic art by consen-
sus-by putting music back to work, so to speak-is carried on by lesser
talents. If writing music has become so hard that our most gifted, hard-
working musicians can only manage to turn out a few dozen rather
short pieces in a lifetime,then something is seriously amiss. It'sas if we
can't let go of the image of a lost love-the love of ourselves as culture
heroes. We can't reconcile ourselves to the fact that the arts are just as
temporal and finite as the societies which spawn them. I can't help but
think that our problem is really one of collective immaturity,of a refusal
to trust that which we can't explicitlycontrol. We don't seem to be
able to face the fact that music will reinvent itself in its own way, in its
own time, and that there is nothing an individualcan consciously do to
hasten the dawn of this millennium. Those of us who can't deal with
the spectre of our individualmortalitywill have to find a different
crutch.

IV. Rebuttaland The LastWord

"Butwhen those firstimpressionshave receded,there remainsfor our

enjoymentsome passagewhose structure,too new and strangeto offer
anythingbut confusionto our mind, had made it indistinguishable and
so preservedit intact;and this, which we had passedeveryday without
knowingit, which had held itselfin reservefor us, which by the sheer
powerof its beautyhad become invisibleand remainedunknown,this
comes to us lastof all. And we shall love it longerthan the restbecause
we have taken longerto get to love it. The time, moreover,that a per-
son requires-asI requiredin the case of this sonata-to penetratea
workof any depth is merelyan epitome,a symbol,one mightsay, of
the years,the centurieseven, that mustelapse beforethe publiccan
beginto cherisha masterpiecethat is reallynew....
No doubt it is easy to imagine,by an illusionsimilarto that which
makeseverythingon the horizonappearequidistant,that all the revolu-
tions which have hithertooccurredin paintingor in musicdid at least
 14

respectcertainrules,whereasthat which immediatelyconfrontsus, be it

impressionism,the pursuitof dissonance,an exclusiveuse of the Chinese
scale, cubism,futurism,or what you will, differsoutrageouslyfromall
that has occurredbefore.Thisis becauseeverythingthat went beforewe
are apt to regardas a whole, forgettingthat a long processof assimila-
tion has convertedit into a substancethat is variedof course but, taken
as a whole, homogeneous,in which Hugo is juxtaposedwith Moliere."
Marcel Proust,A Iombre des jeunes fillles en fleurs'

A worthy opponent, Proust. But the truth is to be found neither in

Proustalone, nor only in the principaltheses of this essay. Nor in this
case is it to be found "Somewhere in between." One ought instead to
savor the undiluted strengthof each perspective separately,to better
treat the constantly changing symptoms of a fevered imagination.
Remember,though, to always have the opposing view close at hand, as
an antidote. An overdose of Proustcan be fatal. Keep this essay in your
medicine cabinet.

Oct. 28, 1982

New York

'Marcel Proust,Remembrance of Things Past, Vol 1, translatedby C.K. Scott

Moncrieffand Terence Kilmartin(New York:Random House, 1981),
pp. 571-573.