The Darmstadt School refers most commonly to the composers who attended the summer courses in new music in Darmstadt, Germany, in the early 1950s, and who wrote music in the style known as serialism. Some of the principal composers associated with the school are BOULEZ, STOCKHAUSEN, and NONO.
In 1945, at the end of World War II and amid the warravaged ruins of Darmstadt, the critic Wolfgang Steinecke (1910–61), asked the city authorities for housing in order to hold courses on new international music. The city agreed, and as early as 1948 Steinecke had persuaded Rene Leibowitz (1913–72) to lecture on the 12-tone method of Arnold SCHOENBERG, and the next year had persuaded Olivier MESSIAEN to premiere his experimental work Mode de valeurs et d’intensités, which established the foundation for serialism.
Serialism refers to music structured on pre-compositional serial arrangements of pitch, and other parameters of music (rhythm, articulation, dynamics, etc.). The later music of Anton WEBERN, such as his Piano Variations (1937), is a forerunner of this technique.
As a student in 1951, Stockhausen attended the courses at Darmstadt and was attracted by the music of Messiaen—music made of individual notes independent of each other, existing for themselves in athematic isolation. Stockhausen referred to Messiaen’s work as “fantastic music of the stars.”
Steinecke began the Darmstadt courses with music by composers of his own generation (HINDEMITH, Schoenberg, Leibowitz, and Messiaen). But, by 1952, a pivotal summer for the school, a new generation of avant-garde composers had signalled a turn in aesthetic direction. Steinecke enthusiastically supported the innovative ideas of Boulez, Stockhausen, and others, and in 1952 the Darmstadt courses witnessed the premieres of Stockhausen’s Kreuzspiel, Nono’s Espana en el corazon, and a performance of Boulez’s Sonata No. 2. Bruno Maderna’s Musica su due dimensioni (for flute, cymbals, and tape recording) was also presented that summer, and is considered among the first works to combine live performance and tape.
In 1952, Boulez also introduced his essay of protest entitled “Schoenberg Is Dead.” In it he opposed Schoenberg’s use of relatively traditional melodic and accompanying styles, textures, and forms. Boulez, along with other composers, favoured total serialism and a more pointillistic style following that of Webern.
Musical styles other than serialism have been presented at Darmstadt, which has continued to maintain summer courses since its inception. These styles have included 12-tone works by Schoenberg, electronic music by Edgard VARESE, aleatorie music by John CAGE, as well as world music, computer music, etc.
But the school’s summit belongs to the group of composers in the 1950s who initiated the precepts of integral serialism and its resulting fragmented, athematic, pointillistic style. Some composers associated with the school have chosen not to follow these procedures strictly, but have modified them to allow for greater musical freedom. Such expansion is testament to the success of the international school, which continues to promote the examination of new music.
Chris Lengefeld
SEE ALSO:
ALEATORY MUSIC; FESTIVALS AND EVENTS; SERIALISM.
FURTHER READING
Antokoletz, Elliott. Twentieth-Century Music (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1992);
Simms, Bryan R. Music of the Twentieth Century: Style and Structure (New York: Schirmer Books, 1986).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Boulez: Trois sonates pour piano;
Maderna: Musica su due dimensioni;
Messiaen: Des canyons aux étoiles;
Quatre études de rythme;Turangalîla-symphonie;
Nono: Das atmende Klarsein;
Canti di Vita e d’amore; Omaggio a vedova; Sofferte onde serene;
Stockhausen: Donnerstag aus Licht; Klavierstücke.