Nobilette, for orchestra, Rouge, for chamber ensemble and electronics, and "On Simplicity in Music"

Abstract

The dissertation consists of an original musical composition, Nobilette, for orchestra, an original musical composition, Rouge, for chamber ensemble and electronics, and an essay, “On Simplicity in Music.” The essay examines three composers, Erik Satie (1866-1925), John Cage (1912-1992), and Alvin Lucier (1931-2021), and their relationship to musical simplicity. These composers use unconventional constraints, and in doing so, offer a unique foundation from which to appreciate musical simplicity. I use these cases as a three-part frame to structure the essay. The three parts focus on (1) the simplicity of the perceptible attributes of Satie's music; (2) the simplicity of Cage's articulatable concepts; and (3) the simplicity of both perceptible attributes and articulatable concepts in Lucier's work. Satie’s Trois Gymnopédies, Quatre Ogives, Vexations, and Musique d’ameublement, exhibit simplicity primarily through perceptible constraints, chiefly in their audible forms, prevalent use of repetition, and specific musical attributes related to melody, harmony, rhythm, and texture. Cage’s Music of Changes exhibits a simplification of his pre-compositional process, yet the perceptible qualities of Music of Changes are complex. To the contrary, Cage’s 4’33’’, exhibits simpler perceptible qualities, but the underlying rationale for Cage’s “silence” is complicated. Simplicity in Music of Changes and 4’33’’ is found in either the conceptual framework or the perceptible qualities, but not in both. Lucier’s compositions I am Sitting in a Room and Music for Solo Performer, however, exhibit simplicity in both the perceptible qualities and their underlying conceptual frame. In examining these cases, a definition of simplicity begins to emerge: a unity of concept, or constraints concerning the perceptible attributes of the composition that come from a limited selection of materials and their transformation through stasis, repetition, or other audible procedures.