Engagement with the past Alexander Goehr

1 engagement past

1.1 walter goehr
1.2 twentieth-century modernist composers
1.3 music of baroque , classical tradition

engagement past

goehr s interest in musical past far empty mannerism or sign of musical conservatism, rather earnest, , renewed exploration of own musical roots. music of past not hinder, in goehr s view, search innovative musical language:

in composer s mind, vague memories fuse , grow new, conscious, creative idea. artist realated tradition comes, , bond has little time or progress.

this attitude concisely expressed goehr s striking assertion art new , art conservative . understood in way, musical imagination of past can traced 3 fundamental sources:

walter goehr

although goehr s personal relationship father not unproblematic, walter goehr had determining influence on son via work conductor: composers work walter championed—arnold schoenberg, claudio monteverdi, modest mussorgsky, olivier messiaen—feature red-thread throughout alexander s output. instance, goehr s arianna uses libretto of lost opera monteverdi, arianna abbandonata, , conjures sonorities reminiscent of italian renaissance. quintet 5 objects darkly (whose title borrowed work painter giorgio morandi set of variations based on musical fragment mussorgsky, , earlier little symphony uses chordal structure of mussorgsky s catacombs pictures @ exhibition harmonic backbone.

early twentieth-century modernist composers

walter goehr had studied schoenberg , surrounded high calibre composers such seiber, tippett, , others. goehr s strong sense of indebtment generation, particularly schoenberg, had lot ambivalent reaction darmstadt school avant-garde of fifties (in friend , mentor pierre boulez heavily involved).

music of baroque , classical tradition

goehr s interest in these musics surely part of schoenbergian heritage. schoenberg, goehr refuses view current composition practice independent of musical tradition, rather, seeks in tradition elements innovation of musical language. alexander s search means of controlling structure , harmony in music led him in late seventies innovating interpretation of late baroque practice of figured bass in conjunction personal blend of modality , serialism. exemplified in setting of psalm iv , ensuing correlated works: fugue , romanza on notes of fourth psalm (1976 , 1977, respectively). goehr committed reinvention of classical forms such symphony, classical concerto, , baroque suite (from suite op. 11 of 1961 right symmeteries disorder reach of 2007). further sources of inspiration treatises on musical ornamentation carl philip emanuel bach, , monteverdi, synthesis of renaissance polyphony baroque move towards homophony , control of harmony mirrors goehr s own commitment harmonically expressive serialist practice.