Re: [microsound] pun in music

[benoit deuxant <plochingen@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

hi there,

i'm not sure you'd call it a "pun" but you
could check alfred schnittke's music, which is
full of quotes, parodies and decontextualisation of
bach, beethoven, di lasso, shostakovitch etc...

(found this on http://www.greatwar.org.nz/schnittke.htm :
"He began writing music in the Serialist style which was the done thing for 
any Russian composer of that time who wished to be disassociated from state 
sanctioned "tunes you can whistle" (Thank you Joe Stalin). Around about 1968 
he decided to "alight from an already overcrowded train" and began writing 
in the style that eventually became known as polystylism. He was influenced 
at this point by Webern and Ives.

His first composition in this style was the 2nd Violin Sonata Quasi una 
Sonata (spot the knowing Beethoven reference) which he described as "a 
report of the impossibility of the sonata, made in the form of a sonata". 
This was followed four years later by the 1st Symphony which eviscerates the 
traditional form of the symphony. He juxtaposes quotations from the "Great 
Masters" against blasts of free form orchestral noise, incorporates a jazz 
band, produces moments of stark terror neatly undercut by gross banality and 
generally destroys the whole notion of the symphony as a form and a cultural 
practice - the musicians process on to the stage while playing and are 
followed by the conductor.

He has written many works which use Baroque forms and idioms (the concerti 
grossi for example) but not in any neo-classical sense. These can range from 
"joke" pieces such as a version of the old Christmas favourite Stille Nacht 
(Silent Night) which perfectly skewers the Hell that is the season of 
goodwill through to the Concerto Grosso no. 6 which has qualities of "the 
wind blowing through the graveyard". "

tschuss,
benoit



> From: vze26m98 <vze26m98@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Reply-To: microsound <microsound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: microsound <microsound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [microsound] pun in music
> Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 10:53:19 -0400
>
> On 6/29/04 at 7:18 AM, Kim Cascone <kim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > > How do you make a pun in music?
> > Sr Coconut might be a good example...albeit sorta obvious
>
> You might want to check out Peter Kivy's book, _Sound and Semblance_
> which takes up the issue of musical puns in Bach and Handel...
>
>
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