Varese

Here are some quotes on and by Varese from Joan Peyser's excellent
book _The New Music: the Sense behind the Sound_ [1971, Delta/Dell]
which will be of interest to subscribers on this List:

(BTW, the first 'e' in his name has an accent grave which I
thought it better not to reproduce because of possible email
corruption.)

[p 141: Peyser]
> In 1917 the composer described the quest that was to pervade
> his entire life:
[Varese]
>> I dream of instruments obedient to my thought and which,
>> with their contribution to a whole new world of unsuspected
>> sounds, will lend themselves to the exigencies of my inner
>> rhythm.
[Peyser]
> Varese began his career by questioning the principles that
> underlay Western music. He did not accept the fact of twelve
> equal semitones; he regarded it as an arbitrary division of
> the octave. Nor did he accept the tempered fifth. He
> repudiated the physical principles on which his art was based,
> and thus made a clean break with the past. Varese pointed the
> way to a pitchless music, with and emphasis on pure sound and
> rhythm, and thus led the move toward the current preoccupation
> of serious composers with electronic music.

[p 146: Varese]
>> When I was around 20 [1903], I became interested in a book
>> by Wronsky, a disciple of Kant. Wronsky had written his own
>> theories of philosophy, and while reading the book, I was struck
>> by a phrase he coined to describe music. It was this; "the
>> corporealization of the intelligence in sounds". I liked that
>> phrase, and later it set me to wondering what, if anything,
>> existed between sounds; or in other words, was there a sound
>> between the C key and C#, or a difference between C# and Db?
>>
>> The question led me to Helmholtz's _Physiology of Sounds_
>> [i.e., _On the Sensations of Tone_]; I then began to think
>> of the opposite of sound, of silence, and of how it can be
>> used . . . Now, to me, the climax of a crescendo can be a
>> space of absolute silence.

Very interesting to me how he was attracted by that word
'corporealization' (compare with Partch).

Also, he obviously had a great desire for new instruments,
but never took the step that Partch took, to build them
himself.

[p 147: Peyser]
> When Varese moved to Berlin [1907], Ferrucio Busoni's
> _Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music_ [in which he describes
> 36-ET] had just created considerable attention in musical
> circles.
> <snip>
[Varese]
>> I had read his remarkable little book, _A New Aesthetic of
>> Music_ (another milestone in my development), and when I
>> came across his dictum: "Music was born free and to win
>> freedom is its destiny", I was amazed and very much excited
>> to find that there was someone besides myself - and a musician
>> at that - who believed this. It gave me courage to go on
>> with my ideas and my scores.
[Peyser]
> There were, of course, differences between the two men. Varese
> explains:
[Varese]
>> It was Busoni who coined the expression 'The New Classicism'
>> and classicism new or old was what I was bent on avoiding.

After living in America, Varese and his wife moved to Paris for
a few years, where he composed _Ionisation_ in 1931. Peyser has this to
say about that piece:

[p 159: Peyser]
> ...The title refers to atomic fission; scientists report that a
> recording of _Ionisation_ was frequently played at Oak Ridge
> while they were at work on the atom bomb.
>
> As the bomb symbolized a revolution in technology, so
> _Ionisation_ symbolized a revolution in music.

In 1933 the Vareses returned to New York, and he wrote
a piece for a group including two Theremins, which was
'very badly received'.

[p 160: Peyser]
> Receiving increasingly few performances, Varese turned again to
> electronics, and applied to the Guggenheim Foundation for help.
> <snip>
> Although Varese applied several times...the Guggenheim
> characteristically denied his requests. Desperate for a
> laboratory, Varese even tried to get into the Hollywood sound
> studios but could not interest anyone there in his ideas. The
> advance in musical thoiught that had begun in the early years
> of the century had come to a paralyzing halt.
> ...Nationalism, the Depression, socialist realism and the WPA
> forced American music to become conservative if it was to be
> accepted and supported.

It's very interesting to consider how tenaciously Partch clung
to his developing theories and style during this time of
regression in American music. He *received* a Guggenheim grant
at this time, which enabled him to travel to Europe, research
first-hand the English microtonal experiments and Kathleen
Schlesinger's reconstructions of ancient Greek kitharas, and meet
the poet Yeats (whose _Oedipus_ eventually formed the basis of
what may be Partch's greatest masterpiece). But Partch's grant
renewal was denied the following year by an incomprensible
committee who were totally lost trying to make sense of his
report.

And though Peyser does not describe an _auto-da-fe_ for Varese,
as someone here suggested, and as Partch actually did, she does
say that:

[p161: Peyser]
> At this time he was profoundly depressed.
[p 162]
> Between the middle 1930s and the late 1940s, when Varese was
> destroying his scores as he wrote them...

At this point in Peyser's story, she breaks away from Varese
and discusses the trends in American music in the 1930s,
including Cowell, Copland, and the German emigrants like
Schoenberg and Hindemith; Soviet music of Prokofiev and
Shostakovich; and then the post-war developments of the
avant-garde in Paris and New York, spearheaded by Boulez in
the one, and Babbitt and Cage in the other.

Then picking up the thread:

[p 180: Peyser]
> After a silence of over a decade, Varese began to respond to
> the awakening of interests in advanced music in 1947...

Then of course much later in life [1958] he wrote the superb
_Poeme Electronique_.

[p 182: Peyser]
> The Pavilion brought multi-media work, electronic music,
> and Varese's name to the public's attention.

And in 1960 he began to receive recordings, concerts, and
recognition. After five short years of renown,

[Peyser]
> On November 6, 1965, Varese died after surgery for the
> removal of an intestinal obstruction. + RIP

This was the composer idolized by Frank Zappa.

[The following is taken from Frank Zappa,
_The Real Frank Zappa Book_.]

As a youth, Zappa was initially attracted by an album-cover
photo of Varese in a record store that Zappa thought looked
like a mad scientist. His vivid teenage imagination pondered:
'I wonder what music composed by a mad scientists must sound
like?'. But he didn't have the money to buy it.

Years later, after Zappa had stopped spending all of his time
creating amateur explosive devices and had settled on an interest
in music, a shop clerk put on a demo record to illustrate
the quality of a hi-fi system to Zappa, and Zappa immediately
fell in love with the piece and wanted to know what it was.

Sure enough, it was the very same _Ionisation_ record that
he had seen as a kid. He was astounded at the coincidence,
and became a staunch champion of Varese from that day onward
for the rest of his life.

I distinctly remember Zappa sponsoring and hosting a Varese
memorial concert in New York in early 1981. If I'm not
mistaken, it was the 20th anniversary of the first all-Varese
concert in New York which Peyser cites in 1961.

It was well-attended, which one would think is a good sign.
But apparently the Varese fans in the audience were vastly
outnumbered by the Zappa fans (I don't think many people then
were fans of both - I was, and I knew of only one other person
in those days who liked both).

Unfortunately, they yelled out names of Zappa songs and in
general misbehaved as they would have done at a Zappa show,
expecting to hear some of his music too, rather than all Varese.

I remember Zappa in an interview afterwards being quite
disillusioned and shaken by the whole experience, having
expected his fans to revere Varese in the same way he did.

If I recall correctly, that was the end of his *actively*
trying to turn the public on to his favorite composer's great
work. The cause he took up in the 1980s was the fight against
laws which would require profanity warning labels on records.

-monz

Joseph L. Monzo monz@juno.com
http://www.ixpres.com/interval/monzo/homepage.html
|"...I had broken thru the lattice barrier..."|
| - Erv Wilson |
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monz@juno.com wrote:

> If I recall correctly, that was the end of his *actively*
> trying to turn the public on to his favorite composer's great
> work. The cause he took up in the 1980s was the fight against
> laws which would require profanity warning labels on records.

It didn't stop him from recording the complete Varese, conducted by
FZ. This remains unreleased by the Zappa family trust for who knows
what reason. Imagine that: his own family doesn't release FZ's
conducting his favorite composer! Maybe there's a technical
problem with the recordings?

--
* D a v i d B e a r d s l e y
* xouoxno@virtulink.com
*
* J u x t a p o s i t i o n E z i n e
* M E L A v i r t u a l d r e a m house monitor
*
* http://www.virtulink.com/immp/lookhere.htm

I don't think so if it was recorded by FZ and Spence Chrislu and cast the
thing probably like fine crystal. The thing with the FZ
family trust is that Gail is not Frank and the Kids -ahmet and Dweez are
basically spoiled LA foons. ryko has the rights to the stuff and is now
releaseing record after record of "greatest hits" which blows no "new" Zappa
stuff has come out Since civilization
Phase Three which is the final living piece but we know he had tons of stuff
in the can--where is it??
They also promised the videos which still 4 years later they won't even
address anymore. Anyone who has or has access to FZ:Uncle meat the movie
email me and I will gratefully trade--now that is a movie about
Untrained/trained musicians!!
Pat

David Beardsley wrote:

> From: David Beardsley <xouoxno@home.com>
>
> monz@juno.com wrote:
>
> > If I recall correctly, that was the end of his *actively*
> > trying to turn the public on to his favorite composer's great
> > work. The cause he took up in the 1980s was the fight against
> > laws which would require profanity warning labels on records.
>
> It didn't stop him from recording the complete Varese, conducted by
> FZ. This remains unreleased by the Zappa family trust for who knows
> what reason. Imagine that: his own family doesn't release FZ's
> conducting his favorite composer! Maybe there's a technical
> problem with the recordings?
>
> --
> * D a v i d B e a r d s l e y
> * xouoxno@virtulink.com
> *
> * J u x t a p o s i t i o n E z i n e
> * M E L A v i r t u a l d r e a m house monitor
> *
> * http://www.virtulink.com/immp/lookhere.htm
>
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Jon Southwood wrote:
> Also, if you can find a recording of
> Deserts that includes the tape-part, snatch it up. The only CD I know of
> that has Deserts on it (conducted by Boulez) doesn't include the tape
> parts.

A few months ago the complete works of Varese has come out performed by
the Concertgebouw Orchestra and ASKO Ensemble under Riccardo Chailly on
a Decca double CD. This recording has received very favourable reviews in
the press. I haven't heard it yet and whether the tape parts of De'serts
are included I can't verify at the moment. But I expect so since I've been
at a concert many years ago by the ASKO Ensemble and the tapes were used
there.

Manuel Op de Coul coul@ezh.nl

-----Original Message-----
From: manuel.op.de.coul@ezh.nl <manuel.op.de.coul@ezh.nl>
To: tuning@onelist.com <tuning@onelist.com>
Date: Tuesday, May 11, 1999 7:30 AM
Subject: Re: [tuning] Varese

>A few months ago the complete works of Varese has come out performed by
>the Concertgebouw Orchestra and ASKO Ensemble under Riccardo Chailly on
>a Decca double CD. This recording has received very favourable reviews in
>the press. I haven't heard it yet and whether the tape parts of De'serts
>are included I can't verify at the moment.

According to the listing at Amazon they are:

Disc: 2

12. Deserts: 1st Episode
13. Deserts: 1st Interpolation Of Organised Sound
14. Deserts: 2nd Episode
15. Deserts: 2nd Interpolation
16. Deserts: 3rd Episode
17. Deserts: 3rd Interpolation
18. Deserts: 4th Episode

Apparantly this recording also includes Poeme Electronique.

------------------------------------------
Kees van Prooijen
email: kees@dnai.com
web: http://www.dnai.com/~kees

Ah, there is yet another work of Edgard Varese, titled "Graphs and Time" by
Teo Macero, for whom it is dedicated. It is a 16 bar chart in 4/4 for 8
musicians and is self-described by Varese as an "experiment."

I've arranged it for performance 4 times, the last in Paris (which received a
good mention in Le Monde). Of the 8 parts, only one (#5) is listed
specfically, and only as percussion. The graphics fit within 3 lines that
delineate an instrument's lowest, middle, and highest rage.

Varese had become disappointed with conventional musicians and stopped
writing. This piece was aimed at Charlie Mingus' big band. After having
performed the work twice I got to hear a private tape of Varese conducting
jazz musicians in his "experiment" but the players didn't really want to try
very hard. After an hour they are where my AFMMers begin. And the
complaining!?!

On May 30th, I am schedule to perform a new piece based on these graphics in
Moscow. "Varese Variation" for Theremin and Electric Bassoon arranged from
Edgard Varese by Johnny Reinhard. Actually it's _all_ Varese. I even have a
taste of percussion. Oh, and my thereminist is none other than Lydia Kavina
(#1). Still making parts.

Johnny Reinhard
AFMM