At the turn of the century, musicians were overwhelmed with what music historian Joseph Auner called a “sense of possibility”1, or motivation in rejection of the idea that everything must stay the same. Composers explored various musical traditions and art movements in their widespread search for a new, rejuvenating sound but failed to unite in dedication to one artistic style. The diverse range of resulting musical styles is commonly organized by a “contemporary taxonomy”2 that includes the categories, art music and popular music.
While art music denotes the structured and the elite, popular music denotes the modern, in step with popular culture. Notably, popular music is considered the antithesis of art music, as it is commonly described “to be of lower value and complexity” while “readily accessible” to listeners without musical education.3
In the twentieth century, however, labels like these became much less exclusive as the simultaneous prominence of so many different styles allowed others to blend and influence each other. In particular, it is interesting to observe the interactions of art music and a specific popular music genre: jazz. The relationship between art music and jazz music is based on the role of jazz, as a new and lively popular tradition, in rejuvenating art music. In effect, combinations of musical styles like jazz and art music added dimension to the greater character of twentieth century music.
Before exploring how the relationship between jazz and art music was beneficial, it is interesting to examine why some felt threatened by a “hybrid intruder”4. Opposed to the idea of combining musical styles, some cherished the maintenance of musical traditions as separate and sacred in their own right. As an example, in the process of rebuilding music traditions “from the ground up” post-World War II, American composer John Cage rejected engagement with jazz and popular music. As exemplified by his abstract, objective composition style, Cage preferred to minimize the role of the composer’s individuality and personal emotion and expression that is brought out by jazz and popular music.5
Those who did appreciate the combination of jazz and art music saw the positive inspiration that could be drawn from each. While political conflict provoked widespread distress in the 1920-30’s, jazz music was necessary in reinvigorating a music scene that had grown dry and inaccessible via classical music. According to Auner, jazz music “solved many challenges composers faced” in that it “[spoke] to a broader public” and “provided a rich repertory of up-to-date rhythms, melodies, harmonies, and timbres” all of which could be applied to other musical genres in need of variety.6
As an example, with the rise of sound film as a form of entertainment, opera seemed “particularly in need of resuscitation through jazz.”7 This successful incorporation of jazz into opera scores is evident in the works of Austrian-American composer Ernst Krenek. Although Krenek began his career with a neoclassical, romantic style, his career took a positive turn under the influence of relationships with some jazz and serialist composers. Standing as a physical representation of his fusion of these two genres, the largely successful opera Jonny spielt auf (Jonny Strikes Up), composed by Krenek in 1925, follows the story of a Modernist composer who finds inspiration in his relationship with an African-American jazz musician.The score of this opera is unique in its “illusions to jazz and popular dance forms such as shimmy, blues, and tango,”8 which inspired many other composers to follow in Krenek’s lead and add modern sound to opera. In accordance with the development of modern music, Krenek was very influential in his demonstration of how “disparate ideas of the new music, the New Objectivity, machine art, jazz, race, Primitivism, and the modern world could be jumbled together.”9 Evidently, this opera is quite self-aware, blatantly encouraging artists to draw inspiration from other musical traditions, and this message is even physically manifested in the plot and the multifaceted score.
In accordance with this idea that jazz and art music enrich each other, the compatibility of these two styles is defended by the fact that jazz played with technical elements also seen in art music. Most notably, throughout the campaign to revitalize twentieth century music, atonality was a strong trademark of the era. Jazz is well suited to this trend of unconventional harmony, given the prominence of new, innovative scales, such as blues scales or scales in uncommonly-seen modes. As specific examples, art music genres like serialism and expressionism are similar to jazz in their goals to liberate the composer through chance and randomness. In teaching jazz improvisation, some even believe that exposure to diverse, atypical styles of music such as those can “stretch” the ear. It seems that, regardless of the capacity in which jazz and art music interacted, the two styles were well-suited to each other.
The ideas that stem from Gunther Schuller’s third stream concept also validate the combination of jazz and art music, or the combination of any genres at all. Third stream exemplifies the inherent compatibility of jazz and contemporary “classical” musical techniques through the formation of a new genre that completely blended the two. Unlike composers who simply used jazz as inspiration, Schuller aimed to preserve as much of the authenticity of both jazz and classical music as possible.10 According to Schuller, such a combination of styles is “not only interesting but inevitable”11 for musical synthesis and innovation, especially since the performance of classical music was lacking in energy which jazz could provide.
Perfectly summarized by Schuller’s statement that he “[does not] care what category music belongs to”12 as long as it sounds good, the third stream represents a progressive philosophy. At this point in time, there was significant diversity of prominent musical style to the point that composers could not remain isolated in their studies; therefore, as Schuller argues, music should not be judged and restricted by the standard of solely one genre; there are so many to draw influence from, instead. Music should be judged by its pure profoundness and enjoyability, on its own terms.
In the end, the combination of jazz and art music perfectly represents the trend of widespread experimentation among composers in the twentieth century in an effort to establish a fresh, new sound. Not only did their “sense of possibility” inspire the creation of many new genres but, in combining these genres, musicians added even more depth to the complex character of the twentieth century music scene. Boundaries were broken with permanence as, to this day, composers combine many different styles into one musical project.
Notes
- Auner, Joseph. Music in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. (W.W. Norton & Company, 2013): 5.
- “Art Music.” Grove Music Online, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002227279.
- “Popular Music.” Grove Music Online, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000043179?rskey=glGlf5&result=1.
- Schuller, Gunther. Musings: The Musical Worlds of Gunther Schuller. (Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1989): 141.
- Auner. Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries: 191.
- Ibid., 100.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Schuller. Musings: 116.
- Ibid., 118.
- Ibid., 115.
Sources
“Art Music.” Grove Music Online, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002227279. Accessed 6 Nov. 2020.
Auner, Joseph. Music in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2013. Print.
“Popular Music.” Grove Music Online, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000043179?rskey=glGlf5&result=1. Accessed 6 Nov. 2020.
Schuller, Gunther, and Milton Babbitt. Musings: The Musical Worlds of Gunther Schuller. Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1989. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/haverford/detail.action?docID=241240.
