Introductory Remarks at the Concert at the School of Design,
Chicago, Illinois, February 19, 1944
by
Ernst Krenek
I happily agree with Mr. Moholy-Nagy's calling me an old friend of
the School of Design and I am glad to reaffirm my sympathy for this
institution by appearing here today. I am equally happy to under-
stand that the present concert is meant to be the first in a series
of similar occasions in which those interested in the adventures of
contemporary music shall be made acquainted with the various phases
of that music.
Today's program seems to be a very appropriate one to open such a
project inasmuch as it presents examples of two of the most signi-
ficant trends in modern music, though rather unevenly distributed as
far as quantity goes, but even that reflects rather tellingly the
situation prevailing in contemporary music.
Five of the items on our program represent various shadings of a
style that frequently has been associated with the concept of neo-
classicism. The most significant piece in this group is Strawinsky's
Piano Sonata, not only because it is one of the earliest examples
of that trend, but it also has remained one of the most accomplished
ones. It is easy to see after what model the ideal of that style
has been fashioned. The opening of the second movement is an almost
literal quotation of the beginning of Bach's well-known French Suite
in Gmajor. It is a mooted question whether the prevailingly percussive
treatment of the piano, the matter-of-fact presentation of the
thematic material and the dryness of the whole are characteristics
derived from a historically authentic interpretation of the Bach
style, or whether these are rather features that appeared desirable
to Strawinsky and his followers as attributes of their own new style,
and perhaps they only wanted to project them onto a historical back-
ground. At any rate, the sonata is a highly original work precisely
in that it constantly conjures up recollections of past styles, twist-
ing them into new contexts. In this respect connaisseurs of modern
art will easily be reminded of the procedures of surrealism.
The Fantasy by the young American composer, Ross Lee Finney, is
similarly reminiscent of structural and textural characteristics of
Bach's toccatas. Finney, however, does not go as far as Strawinsky
in forcing the old features into new and unexpected contexts. His
musical discourse is rather flavored by elements of 19th century
romanticism and allows for more espressivo in the traditional sense
than Strawinsky does.
The three piano pieces by the Mexican, Carlos Chavez, sound more
modern, in the sense of current parlance, inasmuch as they present
a more jagged outline and aggressive dynamic details and dissonant
tone-combinations. It is rather their lack of espressivo that asso-
ciates them with neo-classical tenets. The second piece is instructive
in demonstrating the limitations of the recipe.
Little need to be said about the pieces by Milhaud and Martinu, which
show the applications of modern traditionalism in the lighter vein.
Milhaud has added a few more to the comprehensive series of his
compositions exploiting Latin-American idioms. Martinu, the contem-
porary Czeck composer, has done the same with Czech folklore material,
at least so we assume since we are informed of his nationality. I
personally must admit that if some one would point out to me that those
pieces are paraphrasing harvest dances of the Hopi Indians I would be
equally convinced. It seems quite paradoxical that the modern em-
phasis on indigenous musical materials has produced a rather uniform
international style in which the personal characteristics of individual
composers are likely to be blotted out.
It is my own sonata that alone on this program represents a different
concept of music, that is the one that at times has been associated
with the idea of expressionism. In parenthesis, I wish to correct a
printer's error in the program. My sonata was completed in 1943, not
in 1934, so that it really is the most recent work on our program.
From my previous remarks it may be gathered that I feel that expressive
intensity and emotional content are the main characteristics of that
style, as distinguished from the propensity of the neo-classicists
toward what they call objectivity. For reasons which to explain
would require a full-length lecture, expressionistic music has become
known as intellectual and artificially computed. Suffice it here to
say that the fact that a composer has applied certain contrapuntal
devices or has even used a special arrangement of the twelve tones as
a technical point of departure has not the slightest bearing upon
the emotional and expressive qualities of his work, and consequently
incidental information about such facts should not influence the
listener's reaction upon hearing such music.
For those interested in such matters I offer the remark that my
sonata is based only slightly on such technical procedures as have
been used in the original Twelve-Tone Technique. The first movement
is a Sonata allego with two themes, built up of four similar sections,
all of which include developmental processes. This procedure can be
found in several of Beethoven's late sonatas and quartets. The second
movement consists of variations that alternate with brief canons,
the latter easily identifiable by a characteristic trill motive that
opens each cannon. The third movement, a very brief concentrated
scherzo, with a more quiet middle section, and the concluding Adagio
are hardly in need of further comment.
In conclusion I may say that the expressionistic style, as which we
may designate it lacking a better term, keeps alive the romantic
tendency toward expressive intensity, in the belief that music without
that is not very significant, and tries to integrate this tendency
with the complexity and logic of construction inherited from the
classicists, especially Beethoven.
Of course, the present program gives only a very limited cross-section
through the large and variegated matters of modern music, but as
such it may prove interesting and stimulating, and I hope you will
find it so.
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