Violence, An Unlikely Chamber Music Trope: ¿Quién es más macho?

I   was very frightened till the guns started firing. Then you felt a bit better, for some unknown reason. It was the sitting there that was the worst part ... Naked is the way to describe it ... Just waiting for the end … waiting for it.”
  —  Michael Jackson, quoting rear-gunner Jack Marshall, in The Politics of Storytelling, p. 47.

T   he definition of psychological violence as the sudden, uncontrollable disruption of affiliative bonds ... recognizes the importance of attachment relationships and their social, emotional, and cognitive manifestations. To deny the impact of trauma over human life is to deny that we matter to one another; it is a way of dissociating ourselves from human pain.”
  —  Felicity de Zulueta, From Pain to Violence, p. 185.

The previous CMT post triggered a prompt, unexpected flurry of messages about ‘violence’ as a theme in the chamber music canon. Some emailers suggested that Fauré’s ‘Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 120’ (“The last movement … the Allegro vivo!”) is emblematic of chamber music as encompassing the gamut of human emotion and expression, including uncontrollably violent feelings and expressions.

Others mentioned Edgard Varèse and André Jolivet—the ‘Density 21.5’ and ‘Cinq Incantations,’ respectively.

Another friend emailed to say, no, that Henri Dutilleux and Pierre Boulez wrote works that were more violent by far than those.

Yet another CMT reader opined that Olivier Messiaën was, if you really understood him, more profoundly and insidiously violent. (“Oh, you can play it so that the violent intentions are covered up. But if you really understand what he was up to, why then! There is no question! Hands down!”)

Maybe we need a ‘Hamilton-Browne’ taxonomy of violence in chamber music, a classification scheme to properly categorize and compare different species of this emotion when they arise.

Two-dimensional Taxonomy of Victimization

• Single victimization (single incident, single perpetrator)
  
• Multiple victimization (single incident, multiple perpetrators)
  
• Repeated victimization (multiple incidents, single perpetrator)
  
• Re-victimization (multiple incidents, multiple perpetrators)

W ell, entonces, ¿quién es lo último? Here is my own nomination for the most explicit examination of violence: a piece composed by Gordon Fitzell, performed by eighth blackbird (three MP3 clips below). Gordon is a 40 year-old Canadian born in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, with a Bachelor of Music degree from Brandon University, a masters from the University of Alberta, and a doctorate in composition and theory from the University of British Columbia, with Keith Hamel and John Roeder. He has contributed works to a number of festivals and workshops including Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Music, June in Buffalo, the Yale Summer School, the Arraymusic Young Composers Workshop, and held a residency several years ago at the Banff Centre for the Arts. He is currently a professor at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg where he teaches composition, electroacoustic music, conducts the New Music Ensemble and directs XIE (eXperimental Improv Ensemble).


    [50-sec clip, eighth blackbird, Gordon Fitzell, ‘Violence’, 1.2MB MP3]

    [50-sec clip, eighth blackbird, Gordon Fitzell, ‘Violence’, 1.2MB MP3]

    [50-sec clip, eighth blackbird, Gordon Fitzell, ‘Violence’, 1.2MB MP3]


I rest my case.

Seriously, do you have other ‘nominations’ you’d care to make, in this exotic category? What composers and which pieces? Under what circumstances would your ensemble undertake a thematic program, explicitly comprised of works that examine this ‘end of the spectrum’ of human emotions and deeds?

Do you think that the ‘intimacy’ of chamber music and currently-available chamber music programming such as it is today is too restrictive—that is to say, that the repertoire being performed today dwells more than it should on ‘pleasing’ sounds and ideas and emotions, and veers too far away from matters of political topicality and controversy? Do you feel that it is, marketingwise, suicidal to pursue these things? Yes, compose them, if you must; if you have them ‘in you’. Yes, record them, if you’re passionate about it and can convince a brave label to support it. But don’t even think of performing them live, not if you expect to ‘get away with it’?

Does edgier repertoire sell well and, if so, to what audience market segments in what venues and at what times of year? Is this sort of material only practical (i.e., ‘wise’, ‘safe’) for presenters to program as bonus ‘fringe’ material at festivals in the summertime—riskier even than mere ‘new music’? Is this sort of thing suitable for ACF and CMA and other organizations to commission more of?

If enough of you wish to offer comments on this, maybe I’ll gather them together into a proper ‘post’ on the subject. To those of you who emailed me, thank you very much for your comments!

• DSM. Just War according to Dialogos. CMT blog, 09-NOV-2008.
  
• eighth blackbird. strange imaginary animals. (Cedille, 2006.)
  
• Browne K, Hanks H, Stratton P, Hamilton-Giachritsis C, eds. Early Prediction and Prevention of Child Abuse: A Handbook. Wiley, 2002.
  
• Hamel J, ed. Gender Inclusive Treatment of Intimate Partner Abuse. Springer, 2005.
  
• Hamilton C, Browne K. The repeat victimisation of children: Should the concept be revised? Aggression and Violent Behaviour 1997; 3:47-60.
  
• Jackson M. The Politics of Storytelling: Violence, Transgression, and Intersubjectivity. Museum Tusculanum, 2002.
  
• McCluskey U, Hooper C-A, eds. Psychodynamic Perspectives on Abuse: The Cost of Fear. Kingsley, 2000.
  
• de Zulueta F. From Pain to Violence: The Traumatic Roots of Destructiveness. 2e. Wiley, 2007.