'n Stilistiese en politieke perspektief op Rzewski se The people united will never be defeated aan die hand van twee voorloper-variasiestelle

Abstract

The people united will never be defeated is sekerlik Frederic Rzewski ‒ self een van die mees gerekende, eietydse Amerikaanse komponiste ‒ se bekendste komposisie, asook dié Amerikaanse klaviervariasiestel van die twintigste eeu. Ofskoon heelwat navorsing al oor die komposisie gedoen is, voer die navorser dié verder deur die direkte oorsprong daarvan in die twee voorloper-variasiestelle No place to go but around en die Thälmann-variasies ‒ laasgenoemde deur Cornelius Cardew gekomponeer ‒ na te spoor. Die navorser bemoei homself met beide die stilistiese inhoud en politieke milieu waarbinne die komposisies hul ontstaan vind deur die eklektiese en populêre inhoud bloot te lê, asook die politieke verband en motivering oorsigtelik te behandel. Die styl-analitiese prosedure wat gevolg is, is ontleen aan Jan LaRue se metodologie. Die individuele elemente ‒ konstruksie, klank, vertikale dimensie, horisontale dimensie asook ritmiek ‒ word ondersoek om te poog om krities belangrike observasies oor die kompositoriese styl te maak. Vervolgens word ʼn groot dimensionele samevatting van iedere komposisie uitgelê. Die groot aantal tegnieke wat in die komposisie gebruik word, sluit in: interpolasies van protesliedere as musikale intertekste; die gebruik van ʼn verskeidenheid van moderne tegnieke waaronder pointillisme, glissando’s, toontrosse, die buitemusikale, jazzidiomatiek en opsionele improvisasies; asook jukstaponering van die reeds genoemde tegnieke met periodisiteit en eenvoudige harmoniese progressies. Dié verskynsels word deur veelvuldige notevoorbeelde toegelig. Tydens die politieke perspektief is daar die meeste aandag aan The people united will never be defeated se agtergrond geskenk, alhoewel die voorloper-variasiestelle ook ondersoek is. Ten spyte van die spesifieke gebeure wat tot die individuele komposisies aanleiding gegee het, is die wesenlike politieke konteks van die variasiestelle gemeenskaplik; die groter kwessie wat aangepak word, behels die onderdrukking van die laer sosio-ekonomiese klasse as gevolg van die sosiopolitieke bestel. Die komposisies poog gevolglik om as spreekbuis vir dié deel van die bevolking op te tree.

The people united will never be defeated is Frederic Rzewski’s ‒ one of America’s foremost living composers ‒ most well-known composition, and probably the magnum opus of twentieth century American piano variations. Even though the composition has been the topic of dissertations and theses before, the current study is furthering the research by directing the focus towards two variation sets that preceded its composition, i.e. No place to go but around, as well as the Thälmann variations ‒ composed by Cornelius Cardew. Both the stylistic content and political milieu from which these compositions stem are scrutinised whilst special attention is being paid to the eclectic and popular compositional approaches and the motivation behind these compositions. The style-analytical procedure being followed is derived from the methodology of Jan LaRue. The individual elements ‒ construction, sound, vertical dimension, horizontal dimension and rhythm ‒ under scrutiny are analysed to make significant observations concerning the style content. These observations are followed by a large-dimensional summary of each composition. A plethora of compositional techniques are found being utilised, including: interpolations of musical intertexts; a variety of modern compositional techniques such as pointillism, glissandi, tone clusters, extra-musical content, usage of a jazz idiom and the inclusion of optional improvisations; as well as the juxtaposition of these techniques with periodicity and simple harmonic progressions. Music examples are employed to illustrate the techniques. Most of the discussion surrounding the political perspective focusses on The people united will never be defeated, even though the other variation sets are also explored. A shared political context can easily be observed ‒ notwithstanding the individual impulses that served as inspiration to the compositions ‒ where these compositions’ ideological content concerns the suffering of the lower socio-economic classes as a result of the socio-political systems at play, and serve to provide a voice to the people.