{"id":49,"date":"2020-02-25T03:16:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T09:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/?p=49"},"modified":"2020-02-25T03:16:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T09:16:00","slug":"how-far-should-we-take-national-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/2020\/02\/25\/how-far-should-we-take-national-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"How far should we take national identity?"},"content":{"rendered":"

To me, the most relatable aspect of the material we\u2019ve studied has been the idea that nationality is always at the core of the art anyone produces. Milhuad writes in his article \u201cThe Evolution of Modern Music in Paris and Vienna\u201d that tradition \u201cdepends not only upon the taste, personal tendencies, or fancy of the musician, upon the influences or preferences in his life, but above all it depends upon his race.\u201d It\u2019s true that this is definitely a dated idea, in that it assumes some sort of inherent quality to everyone of the same race. However, I think it is true that we are all products of the structures and pasts that formed us, and that we are more susceptible to being influenced by things that we feel some connection toward (especially attributes attached to a racial or national identity- real or imagined). Ravel\u2019s Le Tombeau de Couperin<\/a> is a very active reference to a specific older style of French music. Here, it is clear that Ravel wants to be associated with his French roots. In this way he consciously constructing part of the national lineage Milhaud believes him to be a part of. Still, this music sounds like it also belongs in the 20th century French repertoire. In a lecture in 1928 at a musicology conference in Houston, Ravel asserts that because of this national component, \u201ccompositions may have numerous external analogies, but we can feel the difference in individuality\u201d between composers of one tradition to another. Milhaud\u2019s chamber symphonies<\/a> have a number of non French influences on them (particularly Brazilian), but still somehow feel distinctly French. Again, even though much of this distinct \u201cFrenchness\u201d is constructed by critics and musicians of the time, the effects of whatever \u201cFrenchness\u201d is created to be has a very real impact on French musicians and their music that cannot be denied.
\nWhile I do support the idea that composers have at least some heritage distinct to their national background, I have trouble feeling connected to the adamacy with which French composers of this time saw their music as being diametrically opposed to German music. Ravel describes the musician trained in a tradition other than their own will \u201chave a tendency to fail in understanding the musical works of others\u2026 because of the loss of its own individuality.\u201d I can understand feeling like two national traditions are different, but the way that the opposition between these two styles is argued indicates something different. French composers\u2019 eagerness to show the opposition between them shows that they are actively constructing their national identity for political reasons as much as anything artistic. One good example of this active formation\/opposition is found in Satie\u2019s Gymnopedies<\/a>, which are purposefully \u201cdeeply opposed to the Wagnerian principles of composition\u201d (Milhaud).
\nI subscribe to the idea that musicians are affected by the contexts they are trained and raised in, but am suspicious of the validity of these oppositional claims based on some element of constructed nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To me, the most relatable aspect of the material we\u2019ve studied has been the idea that nationality is always at the core of the art anyone produces. Milhuad writes in his article \u201cThe Evolution of Modern Music in Paris and Vienna\u201d that tradition \u201cdepends not only upon the taste, personal tendencies, or fancy of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3604,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3604"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions\/207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}