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Fri, 20 Oct 2000 17:19:11 -0700 |
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James Tobin replies to me ...
>> Bill Pirkle asks:
>>
>>Is it true to say that all music was avant-garde at one time?
>
>Not exactly. It is true that styles have succeeded styles, with excitement
>and resistance along the way, for a very long time. But the avant-garde,
>as a conscious, deliberate movement in the arts, had a history of about
>a hundred years, from about 1870-1970, give or take a few years. ...
Thanks for that technical correction. I suppose that I was using the
name "avant-garde music" in a more general sense, perhaps incorrectly,
to refer to music that departs somewhat radically from the style that is
currently in fashion, regardless of the age. In that sense, to me, it
refers to new music is typically not embraced readily by the high priests
of music, but comes to be accepted in spite of them rather than because of
their willingness to explore new ideas. I just checked my dictionary for
avant-garde which says "an intelligentsia that develop new or experimental
concepts, esp. in the arts." and intelligentsia is "intellectuals who form
an artistic ... vangard or elite.". In that sense, the music of Beethoven
was avant-garde compared to Mozart and Haydn.
But all of this depends on what the meaning of the word IS is. (We've
simply got to get a handle on that word.:-)
FWIW
Bill Pirkle
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