Composition in crisis: case studies in South African art music, 1980 - 2006
Date
2009-09-01T09:43:19Z
Authors
Pooley, Thomas, Mathew
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Abstract
This dissertation explores a crisis in South African composition through an analysis of
the field of art music in the period 1980-2006. Drawing on the work of Pierre
Bourdieu (1993) and Thomas Kuhn (1970), I argue that the field of composition
shifted from an autonomous to a more heteronomous mode of production during this
period, and that this shift was embodied in a change of artistic paradigm. In chapter
one I show how an ‘autonomous’ paradigm during the 1980s upheld the Eurocentric
outlook and value system of apartheid, and how it was replaced in the early 1990s by
a more ‘heteronomous’ or ‘cross-cultural’ paradigm. The composer case studies
(chapters two to four) show how Kevin Volans, Peter Klatzow, and Hendrik Hofmeyr
contributed to aesthetic and social change in the field, especially with regard to the
inclusion of African elements. Chapter five is a critique of the Johannesburg
Philharmonic Orchestra as a ‘Proudly South African’ post-apartheid institution,
showing how its programming policy is detrimental to the interests of composers. The
Conclusion reflects on the dominated position of the field of composition relative to
economic and political imperatives in the field of power, and considers how a
prolonged and continued crisis has challenged the very notions of what constitutes
artistic value in the field.
Description
M.Mus. Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2008
Keywords
music, south africa