This interdisciplinary project overcomes both the prejudices of music theoretical positions on dance and ballet music as a purely functional music genre, and increasingly understands the collaboration of the arts of movement as the opportunity for a "dialogue without domination" (Adorno). Furthermore, attention is focused on music as a neglected aspect of dance studies today.
The "Margins of movement. The relationship of music and dance in the ballet music works of the second half of the twentieth century in Germany" project by Dr Steffen A. Schmidt forms part of the lead project on "Art relationships", which explores the relationships between music, visual (and audiovisual) arts, literature and dance:
The ballet music of the twentieth century made music history headlines. The transformation of the function of music, as described by Danuser, as definitively manifested in the ballets of Stravinsky, was reflected in many and varied ways during the twentieth century: it was in connection with dance that John Cage developed the "prepared piano" and the concept of "indeterminacy"; the ballet music of Pierre Henry and Pierre Schaeffer for Béjart's Symphonie pour un homme seul became seen as a milestone in the history of electronic music (musique concrète); and Bernd Alois Zimmermann's "ballet noir" entitled Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu was the first significant collage of quotations in the history of music. In spite of this key development and the core works involved, the relationship between music and dance has never become the object of serious aesthetics debate. This has created a gap in the research, which is not closed with this research project, but at least identified as an issue and more clearly demarcated. The project is confined to a detailed examination of the historical developments and works in Germany after the Second World War, while also referring to further historical dimensions dating back to the start of the twentieth century. The main emphasis is placed on the ballet music of Bernd Alois Zimmermann. Ballet played a crucial role in B.A. Zimmermann's career as a composer, a role that has never been properly acknowledged. Not only were central works in his creative periods associated with ballet (from Kontrasten to Ubu-Musik), but, as seen in his extensive correspondence, his thinking repeatedly focused on the ballet, at many different levels. The fact that Zimmermann is now regarded as one of the leading opera composers of the twentieth century, but not as a significant ballet composer (such as Hans Werner Henze, for example), is a matter that needs to be corrected. The precise documentation of his collaborations with John Cranko in this context is seen as particularly important.
This interdisciplinary project therefore overcomes both the prejudices of music theoretical positions on dance and ballet music as a purely functional music genre, and increasingly understands the collaboration of the arts of movement as the opportunity for a "dialogue without domination" (Adorno). Furthermore, attention is focused on music as a neglected aspect of dance studies today.
A lecturer's qualification thesis (Habilitation) project, submitted at the private University of Witten-Herdecke.
Publikation:
Schmidt, Steffen A., Musik der Schwerkraft, Komposition und Choreographie im 20. Jahrhundert, Kulturverlag Kadmos, Berlin 2013