Testing, testing...: New York experimentalism 1964.

摘要

This dissertation presents four case studies in New York City during 1964 in order to examine conflicts and debates in the musical tradition known as "American experimentalism." Known exclusively through John Cage's retelling, the New York premiere of his Atlas Eclipticalis by the New York Philharmonic in February was a complete disaster. Chapter 1 uses a series of interviews with the musicians who played in these concerts to de-center Cage's position as sole narrator and to argue against a common claim that works such as Atlas offer a utopian model of anarchic egalitarianism.;In chapter 2, I discuss the ways in which composer/activist Henry Flynt's commitment to the black liberation movement and Marxist anti-imperialism led him to denounce European high culture and subsequently reformulate his compositional practice in the styles of jazz and black popular music. His critique of downtown experimentalism was memorably delivered in a pair of 1964 demonstrations against Karlheinz Stockhausen.;Uniting in October 1964 under the leadership of Bill Dixon, the members of the Jazz Composers Guild withdrew their labor from the exploitative jazz market and produced their own concerts at alternative venues across the city. In chapter 3, I trace the roots, problems, and ramifications of this important collective to demonstrate the narrow range of choices available to black experimentalists in this period.;In chapter 4, I discuss cellist Charlotte Moorman's catalytic role in the downtown avant-garde. In particular, the chapter examines her position in three overlapping relationships: to John Cage's 26' 1.1499" for a String Player; to the free jazz avant-garde; and to composer Nam June Paik.;Although each of these chapters pursues an argument dictated by its particular circumstances, they are all examples of individuals, events, or organizations located at the edges of canonical experimentalism; by marking a limit or boundary, they each test this network and help to define it historically. Through a consideration of such "marginal moments," we can better ascertain the enacted realities of an experimental formation as it was tested at its edges in a specific time and place. The year 1964 and these four case studies thus provide the routes through which I explore questions of ontology and historiography in the study of American experimentalism.