Centre and Periphery, Roots and Exile: Interpreting the Music of István Anhalt, György Kurtág, and Sándor Veress

482 Pages·2011·9.476 MB·English

by  Friedemann Sallis, Robin Elliott, Kenneth DeLong

Centre and Periphery,
Roots and Exile

Centre and Periphery,
Roots and Exile
Interpreting the Music of István Anhalt,
György Kurtág, and Sándor Veress
Friedemann Sallis, Robin Elliott,
and Kenneth DeLong, editors
with assistance from Aaron Dalton
WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY PRESS
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program.
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book
Fund for our publishing activities.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Centre and periphery, roots and exile : interpreting the music of István Anhalt, György
Kurtág, and Sándor Veress / Friedemann Sallis, Robin Elliott, and Kenneth DeLong, editors.
Majority of essays initially presented at the symposium Centre and periphery, roots and exile,
at the University of Calgary, 22–25January, 2008. Cf. Introd.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Also available in electronic format.
Most essays in English; includes 3essays in French
isbn978-1-55458-148-1
1. Anhalt, István, 1919–. 2. Kurtág, György. 3. Veress, Sándor, 1907–1992. 4. Composers—
Hungary—Biography. 5. Immigrants—History—20th century. 6. Music—History and criticism.
I. Sallis, Friedemann II. Elliott, Robin, 1956– III. DeLong, Kenneth, 1944–
ml390.c3972011 780.92'2 c2011-902745-3
Electronic monograph.
Also available in print format.
Most essays in English; includes 3essays in French.
isbn978-1-55458-172-6 (PDF)
1. Anhalt, István, 1919–. 2. Kurtág, György. 3. Veress, Sándor, 1907–1992. 4. Composers—
Hungary—Biography. 5. Immigrants—History—20th century. 6. Music—History and criticism.
I. Sallis, Friedemann II. Elliott, Robin, 1956– III. DeLong, Kenneth, 1944–
ml390.c3972011b 780.92'2 c2011-902746-1
Cover design by Sandra Friesen. Cover photo of István Anhalt by Walter Curtin, reproduced
with the permission of the Walter Curtin Estate. Cover photo of György Kurtág by Sibylle
Ehrismann, reproduced with the permission of the photographer. Cover photo of Sándor
Veress reproduced with the permission of Claudio Veress.Text design by C. Bonas-Taylor.
© 2011Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
www.wlupress.wlu.ca
This book is printed on FSC recycled paper and is certified Ecologo. It is made from 100%
post-consumer fibre, processed chlorine free, and manufactured using biogas energy.
Printed in Canada
Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material used in
this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and omissions
called to the publisher’s attention will be corrected in future printings.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transm itted,
in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence
from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright
licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
To István Anhalt
on the occasion of his ninety-second birthday

c o n t e n t s
List of Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
List of Plates and Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
,
Introduction friedemann sallis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
First Word
,
1 István Anhalt: A Character Sketch john beckwith . . . . . . . 29
,
2 Kurtág, as I Know Him gergely szokolay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3 “A Kind of Musical Autobiography”: Reading Traces in Sándor
,
Veress’s Orbis tonorum claudio veress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Place and Displacement
,
4 Of the Centre, Periphery; Exile, Liberation; Home and the Self
istván anhalt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
,
5 István Anhalt’s Kingston Triptych robin elliott . . . . . . . . 73
6 István Anhalt’s The Tents of Abraham: Where Music Cannot Heal,
,
Let It Be Restored william benjamin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
7 Which Displacement? Tracing Exile in the Postwar Compositions
,
of István Anhalt and Mátyás Seiber florian scheding . . . . 111
,
8 Letters to America rachel beckles willson . . . . . . . . . . . 129
9 Roots and Routes: Travel and Translation in István Anhalt’s
,
Operas gordon e. smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
10 Le fonds István Anhalt (mus164) à Bibliothèque et Archives
Canada : auto-construction du compositeur et rôle du lieu
,
dans son œuvre rachelle chiasson-taylor . . . . . . . . . . . 199
vii
viii contents
Perspectives on Reception, Analysis,
and Interpretation
11 Sewing Earth to Sky: István Anhalt and the Pedagogy of
,
Transformation austin clarkson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
12 György Kurtág’s Játékok: A “Voyage” into the Child’s Musical
,
Mind stefano melis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
13 Arracher la figure au figuratif : la musique vocale de György
,
Kurtág alvaro oviedo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
14 Dirges and Ditties: György Kurtág’s Latest Settings of Poetry
,
by Anna Akhmatova julia galieva-szokolay . . . . . . . . . . . 279
15 Interpreting György Kurtág and George Crumb: Through the
,
Looking Glass dina lentsner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
The presence of the Past and Memory
in Contemporary Music
16 György Kurtág et Walter Benjamin: considérations sur l’aura
,
dans la musique jean-paul olive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
17 What Presence of the Past? Artistic Autobiography in György
,
Kurtág’s Music ulrich mosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
18 “Listening to inner voices”: István Anhalt’s Sonance(cid:129)Resonance
,
(Welche Töne?) alan gillmor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
,
19 Music Written from Memory in the Late Work of István Anhalt
friedemann sallis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Final Word
20 On Doubleness and Life in Canada: An Interview with István
Anhalt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
The Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439