Composition in crisis: case studies in South African art music, 1980 - 2006

Pooley, Thomas, Mathew

Composition in crisis: case studies in South African art music, 1980 - 2006

dc.contributor.author	Pooley, Thomas, Mathew
dc.date.accessioned	2009-09-01T09:43:19Z
dc.date.available	2009-09-01T09:43:19Z
dc.date.issued	2009-09-01T09:43:19Z
dc.description	M.Mus. Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2008	en_US
dc.description.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.	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10539/7164
dc.language.iso	en	en_US
dc.subject	music	en_US
dc.subject	south africa	en_US
dc.title	Composition in crisis: case studies in South African art music, 1980 - 2006	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US