Music and History: Joan Towers' Music - Essay Example

Composers are a product of their environment and times. Even those who are described as `ahead of their times’ are a product of their environment and their music a reaction against, or a commentary upon, it. As such, musical compositions are influenced by a wide array of exogenous and internal, authorial factors, from the characteristics of the time to the composer’s own reaction to them, including his/her perception of, and stand towards their musical heritage. Joan Towers is no different. Her music is made up of the materials of traditional music. As Scholes (1979) points out, the listener to Towers music can hear octatonic scales which Stravinsky, Bartok and Messiaen used, melodic lines rising in fourths reminiscent of Schonberg, intricate rhythms which also recall Stravinsky, free-associative harmony like that employed by Debussy -- all combined into works which have their own individuality, their own character and their own context, performed in traditional concert halls by chamber or symphonic ensembles. Towers works, moreover, evoke an energy, a use of color and texture which are uniquely her own, and which make them not only exciting to listen to, but continue the traditional lineage of Western art music (Scholes, 1979). Conductor Leonard Slatkin states that Towers works come from the "roots" of the "traditional playing repertory. “He describes her work as being “a continuation of historical musical line, but … late twentieth century work” (Slatkin, 1984, p. D3). As will be illustrated through reference to her works, with particular focus on Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, although Towers music has strong ties to much of the music which came before her, through her use of orchestration, form and musical materials, her final product which combines these elements is not simply a repetition or imitation of what has been written, but an intertwining of these characteristics into the context of her own new musical work. Towers practical process of dealing with music as these raw materials from the "traditional playing repertory" actually began at Bennington College where she attended college and first began writing music. While there she worked on music twelve hours a day – playing music, practicing music, performing music and composing music. Her hands-on compositional process continued as she worked at the Greenwich Music School after she had graduated from Bennington, and with the Da Capo Chamber Players, a group which she co-founded, performed with and composed for from 1969 to 1984 (O’Brian, 1982; Tower, 1984; Humphrey, 1988). The sounds she heard were an ever present sound source for her own works. As she experienced music with the Da Capo players through study and performance of numerous pieces, these sounds came to be present in her own works, several of which were written especially for members of the ensemble whose performances and the sounds she heard them making in these performances were inspirational. Andre Emelianoff, a cellist from the Da Capo players for whom she wrote Music for Cello and Orchestra (1984), worked in close collaboration with Tower, allowing her to hear and work with the sounds of the instrument and the player making these sounds. She states, “We spent six months together meeting, working on bowing, on register. We really created this piece together” (Tower, 1984, n.p.). Wings is an excellent example of how the sounds to which Tower was listening affected her composition. As Humphrey (1982) explains, there is nothing new or revolutionary in her writing a solo clarinet piece. Rather, this work clearly shows the influence of Messiaens well known piece for solo clarinet, “Abime des Oiseaux,” the third movement of the Quatuor Pour La Fin Bu Temps. Although Wings was written many years after Messiaens work, Tower acknowledges her debt to Messiaen stating that “his use of slow time is astounding in that piece. It is really quite a brilliant piece, and its [a] very risky piece because of its slow terrain” (Humphrey, 1988) As well as drawing some of her musical materials from already existing works, Tower perceives her own art as the manipulation of raw materials, an image more often applied to other art forms. She refers to dance and dance-like moving of her materials, for example, as if she were the choreographer. In an interview with Robin Epstein of the Louisville Courier Journal, she states, “I consider myself a choreographer of sound, a dancer of sound. I am interested in what direction it goes” (Epstein, 1990, p. 1). Not only does Tower discuss her compositional process in terms of dance, but she also uses non-musical images, clearly pictorial in nature, as beginning ideas, titles and subsequent explanations of her works. In an interview with Jeanyne Bezoler Slettom, Tower discussed the use of an image as a starting point for a composition. "What I like about composing is that it starts with an image or idea," she said. "Then it is the composers task to discover the identities and feelings of things and to give them musical shape and form" (Tower, cited in Slettom, 1984, n.p.) The search for, and discovery of, identity is also reflected in the titles she chooses for her works and the images and imagery they evoke. Among such works, one may mention Silver Ladders, Sequoia and, of course, Fanfares for the Uncommon Woman. Should one reflect upon these titles one would realise that they evoke images of height (ladder, tall tree, fanfare) and success. Indeed, taken together, they are suggestive of the struggle associated with the climb to success and the fanfare which accompanies the attainment of one’s goals. In commentary upon the titles she selects for her works, Towers once explained that they reflect the basic idea which led to the composition itself (Wierzbicki, 1987). As she informed Wierzbicki (1987) in an interview, she begin with a rough idea and then begins to shape music out of that idea. The guidelines for each of her creations are her titles. Therefore, understanding Towers’ work is dependant on understanding and appreciating her titles. Tied up with her concept of shaping music out of a basic idea contained in a working title, is her idea that the work comes from its own past into the present toward the future. As Humphrey (1988) explains, Towers’ works are rooted in her own past as an individual, as a female composer and in the tradition of Western music. Humphreys goes on to argue that the aforementioned is reflected in Towers’ color, texture and rhythm, insofar as the string contrasts contained within them express the division between the past and the present and between femininity and masculinity, among others. Indeed, if the images of her works are examined, one can see that she sets the stage for contrasts in all these parameters. In Sequoia there are the contrasts of the huge, stately trees and the very small pine needles which make up so much of their whole. In Amazon there is the seamless flowing action with the many changes that occur along its course -- changes of pace, cascades, ripples, among others (Humphreys, 1988). In Fanfares, the contrast is between the past and the present, what is and what was, between the masculine and the feminine, and between the common and the uncommon woman. Proceeding from the above stated, a close listening of Fanfares not only evidences the contrasts outlines in the above but indicates the many ways that Tower manipulates the musical materials of her predecessors and uses them in combination with her own original ideas to create unique, energetic and colorful music. There is, however, a greater underlying difference between her work and that of her male influences which is perhaps easiest seen if, as McClary (1991) writes, we look at the common semiotic codes of European classical music from which their music, and her music, stem. Although many of the qualities of Towers works are based on the works of her predecessors, when her symphonic works, such as Fanfares, are examined with regard to these codes, interesting differences occur (McClary, 1991). McClary (1991, p. 68) defines these codes as “the gestures that stereotypically signify masculine or feminine, placidity or violence, the military or the domestic realm, and also the standard narrative schemata that underlie most nineteenth-century instrumental movements.” McClary (1991, p. 68) explains how classical music connects the erotic to feminine evil and the pure to masculine high culture. In classical music, the erotic continues so often to be framed as a manifestation of feminine evil while masculine high culture is regarded as transcendent. And the pervasive cultural anxiety over women as obstacles to transcendence justifies over and over again narratives of the victimized male and the necessary purging or containment of the female. McClary (1991) sets the opening movements of the nineteenth-century symphony, the sonata-allegro form, as the supreme example of such a narrative. The first theme, the "masculine" theme, presented in an opening movement is "usually somewhat aggressive," and is frequently described as having "thrust." It is first presented in the tonic key, establishes it as such, and sets the "affective tone" of the movement. Midway through the exposition of the movement, the first theme (which can be considered the protagonist of the narrative) encounters the second theme, the "feminine" theme, more lyrical and in a different key from the first. “As the tonal, sonata-based movement is concerned with matters of maintaining identity, both thematic and tonal, the second area poses a threat to the opening materials” (McClary, 1991, p. 68). The development section presents the various thematic materials of the exposition in several combinations and keys. Finally, in the recapitulation, the materials of the exposition are repeated, but the secondary theme is overcome and “must now conform to the protagonists tonic key area. It is absorbed, its threat to the opening keys identity neutralized” (McClary, 1991, p. 68). Each work elaborates this basic plot in various ways. Some composers intensify the triumph of the masculine theme over the feminine one, as does Towers in Fanfares. Indeed, in examining Towers symphonic works, we encounter several other issues, the first being that her works are not written in the traditional symphonic form of a multi-movement work. Rather, each of her three fanfares may be described as extended one movement pieces with several themes and changes of tonal centers. They also have, however, contrasting themes and moods reminiscent of the those described in the traditional forms. Furthermore, although they do not follow the traditional sonata-allegro narrative, they most certainly have a linear direction which outlines a narrative with connections to the traditional sonata-allegro. Fanfares clearly illustrate many of the qualities of the traditional sonata-allegro narrative. While there are not distinct first and second themes, there are passages which contain the qualities of a first or "masculine" theme which alternate with passages maintaining qualities of a second or "feminine" theme. These qualities have to do with the strong presence or absence of rhythm, heavy use of percussion as opposed to fluid wind and string textures, large ensemble playing versus concertino passages (duets or solos), and a strong tonal center as opposed to a freer tonality. The piece begins with a strong, rhythmic, and heavily percussive section with the full orchestra playing. Then, the strong, rhythmic, masculine first section ends with an intense rhythmic flourish, followed by a section which begins with one long tone, played by a single trumpet swelling from piano to mezzoforte and returning to piano. Another trumpet is soon added so that the passage becomes a trumpet duet. This second more feminine mood is immediately juxtaposed with short softer segments reminiscent of the opening section. The rhythmic element of these segments continues to be added, by other instruments as well as the trumpets themselves. Slowly the orchestra builds back up to the tutti. Horns play long extended tones which are then taken over by a rhythmically freer duet than the "masculine" passages which are dominated by rhythm. The "feminine" theme continues to appear throughout the piece, interspaced between the "masculine" sections, but never completely escapes the rhythmic identity of the "masculine" theme until the very end of the piece. At that point a violin is heard with only a selected number of the gentler instruments, all playing long arrhythmic tones. Finally, only on this last chord does the "feminine" theme escape all of the qualities of the dominant masculine theme: aggressive rhythm and movement, heavy percussion, intense dynamic level, strong tonal center, and full orchestration. Proceeding from the above stated and as evidenced through the foregoing analysis of Joan Tower’s compositions, with particular focus on Fanfares, it is amply evident that her music arises from within her environment and is an affirmation of her identity, profession, musical inclinations and gender. While original, her compositions pay tribute to those who have influenced her; while cross-gender, her music expresses the interplay between the feminine and the masculine; while thoroughly subjective and personal, her music speaks to her times and to the triumph of the female sex. The implication here is simple: Joan Towers’ compositions may be unique but they are undoubtedly the product of a specific musical heritage, a particular environment and a unique set of psychological forces. The greater meaning, or the lesson which one may derive from the aforementioned, is that to understand and fully appreciate any musical piece is contingent upon an awareness of its source, as in where it came from. This does not mean knowledge of its composer but what produced that composer, the time within which the piece was written and, importantly, that which the composer is trying to say. Once one understands the aforementioned, one will understand a composer and his/her music. Bibliography Humphrey, M.L. (1988) Joan Tower. New York: G. Schimer. McClary, S. (1991) Feminine endings: Music, gender and sexuality. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. O’Brian, V. (1982) Joan Tower. Musical America. Scholes R. (1979) Fabulation and metafiction. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Slatkin, L. (1984, Sept. 14) The composer lends a hand to the baton. St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Slettom, J.B. (1984, Oct. 25) Success amazes composer. St. Paul Dispatch. Tower, J. (1984, Nov. 9) Tower rising in music world. Time Union. Wierzbicki, J. (1987, Jan. 4) Every instance of music has a past, present and future. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Read More