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Art of Imitation

The Art of Imitation

This case features examples of poets who elevate the sound of words (nonsense syllables even) above the sense of the word or phrase, along with composers who use the musical setting to evoke action.  In these selections, the effort expended to imitate one art has enhanced and enriched the possibilities of the other.

Schwitters' Ursonate – for one performer – and Mac Low's "Is that Wool Hat My Hat?," written to be performed by four people, are designed entirely to create a sonic, "musical" experience.  The static text written on the page is of little or no importance except to provide a performing score (copious instructions are also given).  The Ursonate is densely notated and prescriptive; each sound is scored. Schwitters provides detailed instruction on how to pronounce the syllables.  In contrast, the aleatory nature of "Is this Wool Hat My Hat?" reflects the aesthetic of its time and a desire to allow chance to play its role.

Similarly, the running lines of the madrigal reflect the motion described in the text, adding depth to the poetic line and emphasis to the poem. The rapid and rhythmic movement in the music fit the poetical description of the spinning wheel and Gretchen's whirling thoughts.

Thomas Weelkes. "As Vesta was", The Triumphes of Oriana, London: Thomas Este, 1601. (facsimile Ed)
[listen(Naxos)]

For the first time in music history, Renaissance composers of vocal polyphony gave a high priority to the expression of the poetic text. Not only did they aim to recreate the overall spirit of the text, but also to "imitate" single words. In this English madrigal by Weelkes, the word ascending is set to music with an ascending melody, and the line come running down "amaine" with short descending notes. Such clever and witty imitations are called "madrigalisms" because of their frequency in the genre of the madrigal, a polyphonic composition usually on an Italian secular text.

Franz Schubert. "Gretchen am Spinnrade," Lieder. In Sämtliche Werke. Band 1, Teil a. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1970
[listen(Naxos)]

In Schubert's Songs the piano part interacts with the voice in different and subtle ways. "Gretchen am Spinnrade" ("Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel"), on a text from Goethe’s Faust, describes the emotions of the young and innocent girl unsettled by Faust's promises. The continuous repetition of the rapid melodic figures in the right hand represents both the spinning of the wheel and the obsessiveness of Gretchen's thoughts.

Eugene Delacroix, "Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel." Johan Wolfgang von Goethe. Faust. New York: The Heritage Club, 1921

The French artist Eugene Delacroix created a series of lithographs for a 1828 edition of Goethe's Faust, reprinted in this 20th century English translation of the tragedy.

Kurt Schwitters. "Ursonate: Rondo" In Modernism and Music. Ed Daniel Albright. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2004.

Kurt Schwitters. "Ursonate." Mainz: Wergo, 1993.

Schwitters' (1887-1948) "Ursonate" ("Ur Sonata"), written during 1921-32, is based on the word "fmsbwtözäu," from a poem by Raoul Hausmann. This poem of pure sounds, not words per se, is meant to be performed. The four movements: Rondo; Largo; Scherzo-Trio-Scherzo; Presto-Kadenz-Schluss. A single recording was made of the poet performing his work; the total duration is 42 Minutes.

Jackson Mac Low. Is that wool hat my hat? Milwaukee: Membrane Press, c1982.

Jackson Mac Low (1922-2004) – an influential experimental poet and performer – graduated from the College of the University of Chicago in 1943. In this piece, composed in 1980, four performers ("where possible, by two men and two women") read the numbered parts aloud simultaneously. Mac Low pioneered the use of chance in composing his work, and for this poem he threw a die to determine "how many of the six words were to be repeated each time."