New Simplicity
Encyclopedia
New Simplicity was a stylistic tendency amongst some of the younger generation of German composers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, reacting against not only the European avant garde of the 1950s and 1960s, but also against the broader tendency toward objectivity found from the beginning of the twentieth century. Alternative terms sometimes used for this movement are "inclusive composition", “new subjectivity” (neue Subjektivität), “new inwardness” (Neue Innigkeit), “New Romanticism”, “New Sensuality”, “New Expressivity”, “New Classicism”, and “New Tonality”.
, who named seven composers, not previously associated as a group, who had each come to similar positions "in an entirely personal fashion" (Reimann 1979, 25). These seven composers were: Hans-Jürgen von Bose
, Hans-Christian von Dadelsen, Detlev Müller-Siemens, Wolfgang Rihm
, Wolfgang von Schweinitz
, Ulrich Stranz, and Manfred Trojahn. In general, these composers strove for an immediacy between the creative impulse and the musical result (in contrast to the elaborate precompositional planning characteristic of the avant garde), with the intention also of communicating more readily with audiences. In some cases this meant a return to the tonal language of the 19th century as well as to the traditional forms (symphony, sonata) and instrumental combinations (string quartet, piano trio) which had been avoided for the most part by the avant garde. For others it meant working with simpler textures or the employment of triadic harmonies in non-tonal contexts. Of the composers most closely identified with this movement, only Wolfgang Rihm
has established a significant reputation outside of Germany. At least two writers have gone so far as to argue that one of the Darmstadt
avant-garde composers against whom the New Simplicity was ostensibly rebelling, Karlheinz Stockhausen
, had anticipated their position in the radical simplification of his style between 1966 and 1974 (Faltin 1979, 192; Andraschke 1981). Another writer finds Rihm's inclusive aesthetic better viewed as "an expansion of constructivist concerns . . . than as a negation of them" (Williams 2006, 384).
, Johannes Fritsch
, Clarence Barlow
, as well as others from different countries such as Christopher Fox, Gerald Barry, and Kevin Volans
. Most of these composers tend to use quite sparse, pared-down musical material (sometimes showing the influence of the early 'naive' period of work from John Cage
, and that of Morton Feldman
, especially in the case of Zimmermann) to which are applied more intricate musical processes; in the latter respect, the influence of Karlheinz Stockhausen
and Mauricio Kagel
is clear, though some of the figures concerned believed their aesthetic to constitute a break with the avant-garde
as represented in particular at Darmstadt.
In Denmark some fifteen years earlier than the German movement, a less widely known group also called "The New Simplicity" (Den Ny Enkelhed) arose, including composers Hans Abrahamsen
, Henning Christiansen
, and Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen
. This was seen as a specifically Danish response to the complexity of music of the Darmstadt School, but differed from the later German group in that these composers sought to increase rather than decrease objectivity by using the simplest, impersonal musical material in order to liberate it from the composer’s attitudes and feelings (Beyer 2001; Jakobsen 2001).
Some other composers, older and/or of other nationalities, such as Alfred Janson, Aaron Jay Kernis
, Wilhelm Killmayer
, Ladislav Kupkovic
, György Kurtág
, Roland Moser, Arvo Pärt
, Alfred Schnittke
, Kurt Schwertsik
, and Howard Skempton
have also occasionally been mentioned in connection with the “New Simplicitists”. This term has also been used essentially synonymously with the related but distinct style of composers referred to as "Holy Minimalists
", such as Arvo Pärt
and John Tavener
.
Goals
At the end of the 1970s, the German movement was first recognized by Aribert ReimannAribert Reimann
Aribert Reimann is a German opera composer, pianist and accompanist, known especially for his literary operas. His version of King Lear was written at the suggestion of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau who sang the title role....
, who named seven composers, not previously associated as a group, who had each come to similar positions "in an entirely personal fashion" (Reimann 1979, 25). These seven composers were: Hans-Jürgen von Bose
Hans-Jürgen von Bose
Hans-Jürgen von Bose is a German Composer.-Life:After an unsettled adolescence, Bose entered the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt in 1969, where he received instruction in piano and music theory...
, Hans-Christian von Dadelsen, Detlev Müller-Siemens, Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm is a German composer.Rihm is Head of the Institute of Modern Music at the Karlsruhe Conservatory of Music and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival...
, Wolfgang von Schweinitz
Wolfgang von Schweinitz
Wolfgang von Schweinitz is a German composer of classical music.Schweinitz studied composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, from 1971 to 1973 with Gernot Klussmann and from 1973 to 1975 with György Ligeti. He continued his studies at the Stanford University with John Chowning...
, Ulrich Stranz, and Manfred Trojahn. In general, these composers strove for an immediacy between the creative impulse and the musical result (in contrast to the elaborate precompositional planning characteristic of the avant garde), with the intention also of communicating more readily with audiences. In some cases this meant a return to the tonal language of the 19th century as well as to the traditional forms (symphony, sonata) and instrumental combinations (string quartet, piano trio) which had been avoided for the most part by the avant garde. For others it meant working with simpler textures or the employment of triadic harmonies in non-tonal contexts. Of the composers most closely identified with this movement, only Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm is a German composer.Rihm is Head of the Institute of Modern Music at the Karlsruhe Conservatory of Music and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival...
has established a significant reputation outside of Germany. At least two writers have gone so far as to argue that one of the Darmstadt
Darmstadt School
Darmstadt School refers to a loose group of compositional styles created by composers who attended the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music from the early 1950s to the early 1960s.-History:...
avant-garde composers against whom the New Simplicity was ostensibly rebelling, Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
, had anticipated their position in the radical simplification of his style between 1966 and 1974 (Faltin 1979, 192; Andraschke 1981). Another writer finds Rihm's inclusive aesthetic better viewed as "an expansion of constructivist concerns . . . than as a negation of them" (Williams 2006, 384).
Other groups
There is a quite distinct group of composers also active in Germany and elsewhere, to whom the term 'New Simplicity' is occasionally applied. These are particularly associated with the Cologne School and include such figures as Walter ZimmermannWalter Zimmermann
Walter Zimmermann is a German composer.Zimmermann studied composition in Germany with Werner Heider and Mauricio Kagel, the theory of musical intelligence at the Institute of Sonology in Utrecht , and computer music at Colgate University in New York.Zimmerman's works are infused by a personal...
, Johannes Fritsch
Johannes Fritsch
Johannes G. Fritsch was a German composer.At the age of seven, Fritsch found a violin in the attic of his uncle's house in Bensheim-Auerbach, Germany, and began lessons with a village music teacher named Knapp...
, Clarence Barlow
Clarence Barlow
Clarence Barlow is a composer of classical and electroacoustic works.-Biography:Barlow was born in Calcutta, a member of the anglophone minority, of British and Portuguese descent...
, as well as others from different countries such as Christopher Fox, Gerald Barry, and Kevin Volans
Kevin Volans
Kevin Volans is a composer associated with the post-minimalist movement in contemporary composition. He was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa on July 6, 1949, and even though he has spent most of his life outside his native country, is the best known South African composer active today.In...
. Most of these composers tend to use quite sparse, pared-down musical material (sometimes showing the influence of the early 'naive' period of work from John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, and that of Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown...
, especially in the case of Zimmermann) to which are applied more intricate musical processes; in the latter respect, the influence of Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
and Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Kagel was a German-Argentine composer. He was notable for his interest in developing the theatrical side of musical performance .-Biography:...
is clear, though some of the figures concerned believed their aesthetic to constitute a break with the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
as represented in particular at Darmstadt.
In Denmark some fifteen years earlier than the German movement, a less widely known group also called "The New Simplicity" (Den Ny Enkelhed) arose, including composers Hans Abrahamsen
Hans Abrahamsen
Hans Abrahamsen is a Danish composer.Born in Copenhagen, Abrahamsen first got to know music through playing the French horn at school. He went on to study music theory at the Royal Danish Academy of Music...
, Henning Christiansen
Henning Christiansen
Henning Christiansen was a Danish composer and an active member of the Fluxus-movement. He worked with artists such as Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik, as well as with his wife Ursula Reuter Christiansen...
, and Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen
Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen
-Biography:Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and is the son of the sculptor Jørgen Gudmundsen-Holmgreen. He studied at the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen, with Høffding, Westergaard, and Hjelmborg, graduating in 1958 .He won the Nordic Council Music Prize in 1980...
. This was seen as a specifically Danish response to the complexity of music of the Darmstadt School, but differed from the later German group in that these composers sought to increase rather than decrease objectivity by using the simplest, impersonal musical material in order to liberate it from the composer’s attitudes and feelings (Beyer 2001; Jakobsen 2001).
Some other composers, older and/or of other nationalities, such as Alfred Janson, Aaron Jay Kernis
Aaron Jay Kernis
Aaron Jay Kernis is an American composer and professor at the Yale School of Music.-Biography:Aaron Jay Kernis is Jewish, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory, and Yale University .,Notable works include the...
, Wilhelm Killmayer
Wilhelm Killmayer
Wilhelm Killmayer is a German composer of classical music and an academic.-Professional career:Wilhelm Killmayer studied conducting and composition from 1945 to 1951 in Munich at Hermann Wolfgang von Waltershausen’s Musikseminar...
, Ladislav Kupkovic
Ladislav Kupkovic
Ladislav Karol Kupkovič is a Slovak composer and conductor.-Life:Kupkovič was born in Bratislava, and studied violin and conducting there, first at the conservatory, then at the Academy of Performing Arts. He played violin in the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra from 1960 to 1965, and then began to...
, György Kurtág
György Kurtág
György Kurtág is a Hungarian composer of contemporary music.- Biography :György Kurtág was born in Lugoj in the Banat region, Romania.In 1946, he began his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he met his wife, Márta, and also György Ligeti, who became a close friend...
, Roland Moser, Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...
, Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Schnittke ; November 24, 1934 – August 3, 1998) was a Russian and Soviet composer. Schnittke's early music shows the strong influence of Dmitri Shostakovich. He developed a polystylistic technique in works such as the epic First Symphony and First Concerto Grosso...
, Kurt Schwertsik
Kurt Schwertsik
Kurt Schwertsik is an Austrian contemporary composer. He is famous for creating the “Third Viennese School” and spreading contemporary classical music....
, and Howard Skempton
Howard Skempton
Howard Skempton is a British composer and accordionist. Since the late 1960s, when he helped organize the Scratch Orchestra, he has been associated with the English school of experimental music...
have also occasionally been mentioned in connection with the “New Simplicitists”. This term has also been used essentially synonymously with the related but distinct style of composers referred to as "Holy Minimalists
Holy minimalism
Holy minimalism, mystic minimalism, spiritual minimalism, or sacred minimalism are terms used to refer to a number of late-twentieth-century composers of Western classical music, whose works are distinguished by a minimalist compositional aesthetic and a distinctly religious or mystical subject...
", such as Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...
and John Tavener
John Tavener
Sir John Tavener is a British composer, best known for such religious, minimal works as "The Whale", and "Funeral Ikos"...
.
Reception
By the 1990s a new radical approach to composition began to emerge in Germany, reacting against the New Simplicity's pluralism, which tended to acquire arbitrary features in composers lacking solid technical ability. Reference to earlier styles provoked unfavourable comparisons: the aim of comprehensibility and accessibility was seen to have been better achieved by music of the past and in more authentic forms (Schubert 2001).Other New Simplicity composers
- Helmut Cromm
- Jury Everhartz
- Peter Michael HamelPeter Michael HamelPeter Michael Hamel is a German composer. His works have been associated with the Minimalist style of composition, and in the late 1970s with the New Simplicity movement....
- Jens-Peter Ostendorf
- Peter RuzickaPeter RuzickaPeter Ruzicka is a German composer and conductor of classical music.Peter Ruzicka was born in Düsseldorf on July 3, 1948. He received his early musical training at the Hamburg Conservatory. He studied composition with Hans Werner Henze and Hans Otte...
- Manfred StahnkeManfred StahnkeManfred Stahnke is a German composer and musicologist from Kiel. He writes chamber music, orchestral music and stage music. His music is notably known for his use of microtonality.- Life:...
Sources
- Andraschke, Peter. 1981. “Kompositorische Tendenzen bei Karlheinz Stockhausen seit 1965”. In Kolleritsch 1981, 126–43.
- Beyer, Anders. 2001. "Abrahamsen, Hans." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley SadieStanley SadieStanley Sadie CBE was a leading British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , which was published as the first edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.Sadie was educated at St Paul's School,...
and John TyrrellJohn Tyrrell (professor of music)John Tyrrell was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia in 1942. He studied at the universities of Cape Town, Oxford and Brno. In 2000 he was appointed Research Professor at Cardiff University....
. London: Macmillan Publishers. - Blumröder, Christoph von. 1982. "Formel-Komposition—Minimal Music—Neue Einfachheit: Musikalische Konzeptionen der siebziger Jahre". In Neuland Jahrbuch 2 (1981/82), edited by Herbert Henck, 183–205. Bergisch Gladbach: Neuland Verlag.
- Burde, Wolfgang. 1984. "Junge Komponisten in der Bundesrepublik—auf der Suche nach einer neuen Identität". Universitas 39, no. 5 (May): 559–67.
- Dibelius, Ulrich. 1995. "Positions—Reactions—Confusions: The Second Wave of German Music After 1945." Contemporary Music Review 12:1, 13–24.
- Faltin, Peter. 1979. “Über den Verlust des Subjekts in der neuen Musik: Anmerkungen zum komponieren am Ausgang der 70er Jahre.” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 10, no. 2. (December): 181–98.
- Hentschel, Frank. 2006. "Wie neu war die 'Neue Einfachheit'?". Acta Musicologica 78, no. 1:111–31.
- Jakobsen, Erik H. A. 2001. "Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Pelle". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley SadieStanley SadieStanley Sadie CBE was a leading British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , which was published as the first edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.Sadie was educated at St Paul's School,...
and John TyrrellJohn Tyrrell (professor of music)John Tyrrell was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia in 1942. He studied at the universities of Cape Town, Oxford and Brno. In 2000 he was appointed Research Professor at Cardiff University....
. London: Macmillan Publishers. - Kolleritsch, Otto (ed.). 1981. Zur Neuen Einfachheit in der Musik. Studien zur Wertungsforschung 14. Vienna and Graz: Universal Edition (for the Institut für Wertungsforschung an der Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz). ISBN 3-7024-0153-9.
- Reimann, Aribert. 1979. "Salut für die junge Avantgarde." Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 140, no. 1:25.
- Reynolds, William H., and Thomas Michelsen. 2001. "Christiansen, Henning". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley SadieStanley SadieStanley Sadie CBE was a leading British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , which was published as the first edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.Sadie was educated at St Paul's School,...
and John TyrrellJohn Tyrrell (professor of music)John Tyrrell was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia in 1942. He studied at the universities of Cape Town, Oxford and Brno. In 2000 he was appointed Research Professor at Cardiff University....
. London: Macmillan Publishers. - Schubert, Giselher. 2001. "Germany, Federal Republic of I: Art Music, §5: Since 1918". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley SadieStanley SadieStanley Sadie CBE was a leading British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , which was published as the first edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.Sadie was educated at St Paul's School,...
and John TyrrellJohn Tyrrell (professor of music)John Tyrrell was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia in 1942. He studied at the universities of Cape Town, Oxford and Brno. In 2000 he was appointed Research Professor at Cardiff University....
. London: Macmillan Publishers. - Schweinitz, Wolfgang vonWolfgang von SchweinitzWolfgang von Schweinitz is a German composer of classical music.Schweinitz studied composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, from 1971 to 1973 with Gernot Klussmann and from 1973 to 1975 with György Ligeti. He continued his studies at the Stanford University with John Chowning...
. 1980. “Points of View” trans. Harriett Watts. Tempo new series, no. 132 (March): 12-14. - Volans, Kevin. 1984. Summer Gardens: Conversations with Composers. Newer Music Edition. ISBN 0-620-08530-5. Includes interviews with various composers associated with the 'Cologne School'.
- Williams, Alastair. 2006. "Swaying with Schumann: Subjectivity and Tradition in Wolfgang Rihm's Fremde Szenen I–III and Related Scores". Music and Letters 87, no. 3:379–97.