Surrealist music is music which uses unexpected juxtapositions and other surrealist techniques. Anne LeBaron (2002) cites automatism, including improvisation, and collage as the primary techniques of musical surrealism. Discussing Adorno, Max Paddison (1993, p.90) defines surrealist music as that which "juxtaposes its historically devalued fragments in a montage-like manner which enables them to yield up new meanings within a new aesthetic unity," though Lloyd Whitesell calls this a gloss. According to Theodor Adorno (1930), "Insofar as surrealist composing makes use of devalued means, it uses these as devalued means, and wins its form from the 'scandal' produced when the dead suddenly spring up among the living." (Whitesell 2004, p.107 and 118n18). Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Music Look up Music in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikisource, as part of the 1911 Encyclopedia Wikiproject, has original text related to this article: Music Wikicities has a wiki about Music: Music free mp3 downloads. ... Juxtaposition is an act or instance of placing two things close together or side by side. ... Surrealism in art, poetry, and literature utilizes numerous unique techniques and games to provide inspiration. ... Anne LeBaron (b. ... Automatism is the practice or theory of the spontaneous production of words (speech or writing), drawing, painting or other creative production, or behavior in general, without conscious self-control or self-censorship. ... Improvisation is the act of making something up as it is performed. ... Collage is the assemblage of different forms creating a new whole. ... Surrealism is a philosophy, a cultural and artistic movement, and a term used to describe unexpected juxtapositions. ... Max Horkheimer (front left), Theodor Adorno (front right), and Jürgen Habermas in the background, right, in 1965 at Heidelberg Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno (September 11, 1903 – August 6, 1969) was a German sociologist, philosopher, musicologist and composer. ...

Early surrealist music

In the 1920s several composers were influenced by Surrealism, or by individuals in the Surrealist movement. Among these were Bohuslav Martinů, Andre Souris, and Edgar Varese, who stated that his work Arcana was drawn from a dream sequence. Souris in particular was associated with the movement: he had a long, if sometimes spotty, relationship with Magritte, and worked on Paul Nouge's publication Adieu Marie. The two composers most associated with surrealism during this period where Erik Satie, who wrote the score for the ballet Parade which caused Guillaume Apollinaire to coin the term surrealism, and George Anthiel who wrote that "The Surrealist movement had, from the very beginning, been my friend. In one of its manifestos it had been declared that all music was unbearable--excepting, possibly, mine--a beautiful and appreciated condescension" (LeBaron 2002, p.30-31). Later French composer Pierre Boulez wrote a piece called explosante-fixe (1972), inspired by Breton's collection of poems mad love. Sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or primarily in North America as the Roaring Twenties. // Events and trends Technology John T. Thompson invents Thompson submachine gun, also known as Tommy gun John Logie Baird invents the first working television system (1925) Charles Lindbergh becomes the first person to fly... Bohuslav Martinů  listen? (born in Polička, December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer. ... Edgar (or Edgard) Varèse (December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French-born composer, who moved to the United States in 1915, and took American citizenship in 1926. ... The Betrayal Of Images (La trahison des images) (1928-1929) Die natürlichen Gnaden (1967) René François Ghislain Magritte (November 21, 1898 – August 15, 1967) was a surrealist artist, born in Lessines, Belgium. ... Paul Nougé (1895 - 1967) was a Belgian poet and philosopher. ... Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (Honfleur, 17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French composer and pianist. ... Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire (August 26, 1880 – November 9, 1918) was a poet, writer, and art critic. ... Pierre Boulez (IPA: /pjɛʁ. ...

Surrealism and music

Early surrealists shared an negative opinion of music. Giorgio de Chirico claimed in his 1913 article "No Music" that a painting has a "music of its own", implying that music is unecessary. In 1928's "Le Surréalisme et la peinture" Breton dismisses music, "the most deeply confusing of all art forms", as providing a lesser degree of sensation and "spiritual realizations" than the plastic arts, saying that "auditive images, in fact, are inferior to visual images not only in clarity but also in strictness, and with all due respect to a few megolomaniacs, they are not destined to strengthen the idea of human greatness. So may night continue to descend upon the orchestra, and may I, who am still searching for something in this world, be left with open eyes, or with closed eyes in broad daylight, to my silent contemplation." In 1944's essay on music "Silence is Golden" Breton confesses his ignorance of music and even suggests the fusing of music and poetry: "for the first audible diamond to be obtained, it is evident that the fusion of the two elements--music and poetry--into one, could only be accomplished at a very high emotional temperature. And it seems to me that it is in the expression of the passion of love that both music and poetry are most likely to reach this supreme point of incandescence." (ibid, p.29-30) Love Song 1914 Giorgio de Chirico (July 10, 1888 - November 20, 1978) was an Italian painter born in Greece, and with Carlo Carra founded the scuola metafisica art movement. ... The Plastic arts may refer to: Sculpture Dance The use of Plastics within the arts or as an artform itself. ... 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Despite all this, later Surrealists have been interested in, and found parallels to Surrealism in, the improvisation of jazz (as alluded to above), and the blues (Surrealists such as Paul Garon have written articles and full-length books on the subject). Jazz and blues musicians have occasionally reciprocated this interest; for example, the 1976 World Surrealist Exhibition included such performances by Honeyboy Edwards. Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ... For the emotional state, see Depression (mood). ... Paul Garon is an author, writer, and editor, noted for his meditations on surrealist works, and also a noted scholar on blues as a musical and cultural movement. ... The World Surrealist Exhibition was held at Gallery Black Swan in Chicago in 1976. ...

Later surrealist music

Readers of the Surrealists have also analysed reggae and, later, rap, and some rock bands such as The Psychedelic Furs. In addition to musicians who have been influenced by Surrealism (including some influence in rock — the title of the 1967 psychedelic Jefferson Airplane album Surrealistic Pillow was obviously inspired by the movement), such as the experimental group Nurse With Wound (whose album title Chance meeting on a dissecting table of a sewing machine and umbrella is taken from a line in Lautreamont's Maldoror), Surrealist music has included such explorations as those of Hal Rammel. Reggae is a style of music developed in Jamaica and is closely linked to the Rastafari movement, though not universally popular among Rastafarians. ... Rap may refer to one of the following: Rapping is one of the elements of hip hop culture, as well as the distinguishing feature of hip hop music; a form of rhyming lyrics delivered rhythmically over a musical backdrop of sampling, scratching and mixing by DJs. ... The Psychedelic Furs are an influential British post-punk band founded in the 1970s. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Psychedelic music is a musical genre which is not rigorously defined, and is sometimes interpreted to include everything from Flower Power music to Hard Rock and Acid Rock. ... Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band from San Francisco, a pioneer of the LSD-influenced psychedelic rock movement. ... Surrealistic Pillow is an album by American psychedelic band Jefferson Airplane, released in February of 1967 (see 1967 in music). ... Nurse With Wound (NWW) is a British music band, formed in 1978 by Steven Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heeman Pathak. ... Comte de Lautréamont is a pseudonym for Isidore Lucien Ducasse (Montevideo, Uruguay, April 4, 1846 - Paris, November 24, 1870), a French poet and writer. ... Les Chants de Maldoror (The Songs of Maldoror) is a poetic novel written in 1868 by the Comte de Lautreamont (Isidore Ducasse). ...

Source

• Ashby, Arved, ed. (2004). "Twentieth-Century Tonality, or, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" by Lloyd Whitesell, The Pleasure of Modernist Music. ISBN 1580461433.
• Lochhead, Judy and Auner, Joseph (2002). "Reflections of Surrealism in Postmodern Musics" by Anne Lebaron, Postmodern Music/Postmodern Thought. ISBN 0815338201.

Anne LeBaron (b. ...

See also

List of surrealistic pieces George Antheil Piano preludes (1933) for Max Ernsts collage-novel La femme 100 têtes (Albright, 2004) Bohuslva Martinů Julietta, based on a play by Georges Neveux Ariane, based on a play by Georges Neveux The Revolt (1925), ballet (Albright, 2004) Darius Milhaud Le boeuf sur le toit (1920), libretto...