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WRITING MUSIC (AND MUSIC HISTORY): REFERENTIAL RAMIFICATIONS IN CLAUS-STEFFEN MAHNKOPF'S KURTÁG-ZYKLUS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 December 2016
Abstract
One of the most striking aspects of Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf's Kurtág-Cycle (2001), is the abundant use of intertextual references: Mahnkopf includes references to compositions of his own, as well as to works of other composers (e.g. Mark Andre). He also refers to literary sources, such as texts by Borges and Nietzsche. In first instance, this article provides a detailed inventory of these many musical and extra-musical references. Second, we highlight some of these interconnections by zooming in on the relationships between the different compositions within the Kurtág-Zyklus. A music analytical approach reveals the compositional strategies adopted by Mahnkopf in this work. Third, we examine the motivations behind Mahnkopf's specific choices: Why does Mahnkopf include references to certain composers such as Mark Andre and György Kurtág? And which underlying aesthetic, ideological or personal points of view guided the composer when establishing these specific connections? This paper presents a critical assessment of the interrelations between the two aspects of Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf's work: his theoretical writings and his musical compositions.
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References
1 Mahnkopf, Claus-Steffen, ‘Theory of Polyphony’, in Polyphony & Complexity, ed. Mahnkopf, Claus-Steffen, Cox, Frank and Schurig, Wolfram (Hofheim: Wolke Verlag, 2002), pp. 38–53 Google Scholar.
2 Wieland Hoban discusses Berio's Chemins and other types of formal polyphony and over-writing in: Hoban, Wieland, ‘On the Methodology and Aesthetics of Form-Polyphony’, in The Foundations of Contemporary Composing, ed. by Mahnkopf, Claus-Steffen (Hofheim: Wolke Verlag, 2004), pp. 85–117 Google Scholar.
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19 Mahnkopf, ‘Second Modernity – An Attempted Assessment’. On page 10 he states: ‘The composers of the second modernity are aesthetically enlightened in their thinking and aware in their compositional technique. The former means that they work on the unsolved aporiae of post-modernism (but also classical modernism and the avant-garde) as problems …’.
20 Mahnkopf, Claus-Steffen, Kritik der neuen Musik. Entwurf einer Musik des 21. Jahrhunderts (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1998), p. 14Google Scholar (our translation).
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24 The other types of music are called ‘nothingness’, the ‘death rhythm’, messianic lines, sudden outbursts and cymbal/tam tam sounds. (Mahnkopf, ‘Analysis of My Kurtág Cycle’, pp. 160–61.)
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27 Kurtág, Andre and Mahnkopf come easily to mind, but many other composers, including Peter Eötvös, Klaus Huber, Luca Francesconi, Harrison Birtwistle, Jonathan Harvey and Pierre Boulez, have also used the instrument.
28 For a discussion of the harmonic material of the Kurtág-Zyklus, see Mahnkopf, ‘Analysis of My Kurtág Cycle’.
29 Mahnkopf, Claus-Steffen, ‘Vermag Musik die Zeit vergessen zu machen? Überlegungen zur Künstlichkeit musikalischer Zeit’, in Aisthesis: Zur Erfahrung von Zeit, Raum, Text und Kunst, ed. Müller-Schöll, N. and Reither, S. (Schliengen: Edition Argus, 2005), pp. 163–71 (p. 166)Google Scholar (our translation).
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31 The theoretical total duration here would be 45 minutes, but Mahnkopf sketched this on a sheet of millimetre paper using a total length of 30 centimetres. For a detailed account of the translation from sketch to score, see Klaas Coulembier, ‘Multi-Temporality. Analyzing Simultaneous Time Layers in Selected Compositions by Elliott Carter and Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf’ (PhD. dissertation, University of Leuven, 2013), pp. 230–39.
32 Reviews of his book Kritik der neuen Musik are mostly rather critical. Armin Köhler even wrote an open letter to the Bärenreiter-Verlag in Kassel to explain why he could not write a review of the book: Köhler, Armin, ‘Zu Mahnkopfs “Streitschrift”. Offener Brief an Den Bärenreiter-Verlag in Kassel’, MusikTexte (Conlon Nancarrow), 73/74 (1998), p. 123Google Scholar. Additionally, and more recently, Mahnkopf was engaged in a discussion with Johannes Kreidler and Harry Lehman, leading to the publication of Mahnkopf, Claus-Steffen, Kreidler, Johannes and Lehmann, Harry, Musik, Ästhetik, Digitalisierung. Eine Kontroverse (Hofheim: Wolke Verlag, 2010)Google Scholar.
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49 Mahnkopf seconds Schoenberg's famous conviction as expressed in the famous quotation: ‘Kunst kommt nicht vom Können, sondern vom Müssen’ (art is not a matter of what one can do, but rather of what one must do). Adorno, Theodor W., Philosophie der neuen Musik (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1978), p. 46Google Scholar.