Creativity and aging.
In this blog I want to make reference to the first movement of Ralph Vaughan William’s 9th symphony, his last symphony, but before considering some features of the music I would like to reflect on how age plays a part in the creative process, and how it may help us understand RVW’s symphony and other 9ths.
Most of us associate one’s later years with decline. Our newspapers are filled with the notion that the growing numbers of over 60’s, over 80’s and over 100’s are an increasing burden on our financial resources and services. Younger members of society are encouraged to take out pensions to guarantee their well-being into extreme old age.
It may surprise some readers to know that this view of decline is not universally held and there are challenges to the notion that the reduction of ability and physical well-being is an inevitable result of age, rather they are a result of treatable disorders. In the simplest terms the difficulties we associate with age can be regarded as a challenge to physicians to find remedies. In terms of creativity we have the potential to keep developing our ideas into extreme old age.
We recognize that many musicians retain their powers of expression and interpretation into late life, many conductors continue their careers well past their 80th year, (Karl Boehm, 86; Adrian Boult, 100; Arturo Toscanini, 90; Leopold Stokowski, 96, Boulez 90) and a glance at the works produced by Elliott Carter after his hundredth birthday shows that artistic enquiry remained a significant factor to the end of his life.
We must move away from the belief that such people as mentioned above are the exceptions to the rule, many artistic fields have similar examples, and I understand that for folk-art the larger proportion of craftsmen/women are in the later stages of life.
Psychologists have identified an inner compulsion towards creative work throughout our life,
but also recognize that this compulsion changes in the way it manifests itself.
There are recognizable periods or phases in the approaches we take to creativity in our“second-half” of life. Psychologists have also stated that people have a greater sensitivity to their inner-world and creative imagination in later life.
A link may help those who wish to look at greater detail into the phases of creativity in ageing,
it is not an overlong PDF:
http://www.peopleandstories.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/RESEARCH-ON-CREATIVITY-AND-AGING.pdf
Cohen (the author of the above PDF) identifies the following stages:
“Midlife Revaluation”: confronting one’s own mortality.
“Liberation” phase: freedom from paid work and the time available to follow own interests.
“Summing-up” phase. Looking at the events of one’s past and creating a narrative from these
events.
“Encore” phase: reaffirming beliefs and opinions and exploring variations on those opinions.
Earlier reference was made to 9th symphonies, there are of course late symphonies which are 10ths, Maxwell Davies’s is a recent example. Written during his treatment for leukaemia (approaching his 80th birthday) it revisits interests developed in his time as a student in Rome and his awareness of the architect Borromini. The architecture of music is a key consideration for Davies, this short quote gives a flavor of his thinking:
One has to try as a composer, I feel, to improve the quality of listening by putting pointers in one's work to help people to hear in a way, not so much as they did, but which will make clear to them the new architecture which is crystallising out of the music of the early part of this century.
I mention these points as they show aspects of the phases referred to earlier. Whether 9th, 10th or 32nd (as in the case of Brian), it is the maturity reached through working a set of large scale composition that interests me here.
RVW’s 9th symphony (in E minor) was composed during the period 1956 to 1957. Vaughan Williams died on the 26 August, the day on which the symphony was due to be recorded by Sir Adrian Boult, (there is a 30" recording of Boult sharing the news with the orchestra on the day).
Vaughan Williams's original idea was to create a programmatic symphony based on Thomas Hardy’s book Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Knowledge of the intention may help illustrate the thinking e.g. behind the contrast of the “Stonehenge” melody for saxophone and the “drummer boy” theme in the second movement. It is known that Holst and Williams held Hardy in high regard, our blogs have touched on Holst’s “Egdon Heath” and its contrasts of harmonic language.
Once again we are in the area of the “Encore” phase, there are reference to earlier, indeed very early works, while the opening chords of the 9th show a striking resemblance to the close of the final movement of his 6th. We may also consider that RVW is revisiting discussions with his friend Holst (who by this time had been dead for over 20 years), compare the similarities between the harmonic language of the opening of “Egdon Heath” and the opening melody of RVW’s 9th symphony.
The first movement, originally titled “Wessex Prelude” has a beautiful curve as its opening 4 bar phrase, rising from E to D flat. If we examine this as a set we have a 0,1,3,4,7,8 collection. If we compare the flute figure at rehearsal mark 3 we have a closely related theme in outline (the essential difference being the F natural to A flat upper notes, this interval is to become significant later in the movement) yet both set structures are identical, while the following violin melody shown forms a subset of 01368.
The saxophone parallel chord texture restates the collection 0,1,3,4,7,8. The remaining material is always traceable to the first set, even with the rhythmically distinct figure at 5, preceded by the cantabile clarinet figure at 4, one of the most beautiful transitions in RVW’s works.
The manuscript gives an overview of the two outer movements (the first in black ink, the fourth movement in blue). Placed in the center is what I consider to be the source of the material for both movements. If we consider these as a single joint movement we have a close relation to Sibelius 7, and for this reason I considered it worth joining the two movements as a single unit in a 2 piano arrangement, available on You Tube:
https://youtu.be/DHYfCUVmVJM
All of this only touches on the mastery of developing thematic characters from the original “curve”, but it does show RVW’s firm grasp on the technique of musical development at the end of his life, while revisiting ideas from his past, an endorsement of the “encore” and other phases of life.
It is certainly encouraging to note that a number of composers as well as other artists have produced excellent works of art. To the list Ken provided above, If we don't add Havergal Brian to this list we would be amiss. Born in 1876, He wrote his monstrously large 1st symphony (The Gothic) 1919 - 1927, his 6th symphony was completed when he was 72 and 13th when he was 82. His 32nd symphony was completed when he was 92. We have to note that there is an enormous gain in life expectancy at birth in the past 50 years. Providing a considerable additional productive time for the artists. One worrisome aspect of the additional years of life was the late onset senile dementia; which raises the question of quality of life among the aging population. Fortunately, recent data suggests that the senile dementia rates are stable and not age dependent beyond 5th or 6th decade of life. Other way of saying it would be after say the age of 70 the risk of senility does not increase. So the musicians, painters, sculptors and all other artists can look ahead to a bright future of a creatuive life. Arts progress through experimentation, from that point of view, an aged artist experiments armed with an accumulated knowledge, which can only help in the journey we have devoted a life-time.
ReplyDeleteThe bell like shape of the first movement has been playing on my mind over the last few days. The way that it plays over a firm tonal foundation, sometimes repeating the "set" and sometimes changing the shape by very small degrees raises questions. Are we in a tonal world, a modal world or in the world of contour outlines where there are few constraints.
ReplyDeleteIf we are in the world of modes, these are constantly changing, and to be honest it is no more illuminating to say mode c, follows b and a than it is to say a 0,1,3,4,5,7,9 set follows a 0,1,3,4,6,8,10 or whatever unless there is a design or purposeful contrast between the elements.
Look at the last movement, the musical curve plays a significant part in the construction, it is obviously related to the first movement but it isn't an exact repeat. The first movement has the suggestion of symmetry in the melodic construction, and in the firm harmonic base of the opening and closing bars. That last part is so obvious that we forget how far symphonies had progressed with tonality, and the last movement of the sixth with its particular harmonic construction (covered in a previous blog) shows radically different thinking. Yes, it is the last movement and for this reason we think a fade out is more acceptable. The sense of symmetry is extended to the final movement, which gives a strength to the construction of the work as a whole.
The construction of these two movements with the scales and the minor third playing such an important part in giving an identity to offshoots from it brings Sibelius to mind.
It seems to me that during the period where the fixed qualities of serial thinking dominated that fluidity was still highly valued, and capable of producing great art.
Now the question is does RVW have a system of progressive, organised change or is he in his late age more like an artist who with blurred brush strokes evokes a personal view of Hardy's Wessex?
In response to Nurtan's comment:
ReplyDeleteI think that the encore period encourages the process of reviewing early ideas, and this in modern times brings about an
interesting question. As the styles of music evolve ever more quickly does this suggest that experimentation with new
ideas gives way to the modification/development of first encounters? To give an idea some shape, will Part return to some
of the serial ideas and modify them in light of a later period of development, the more static, reflective music?
He may be doing this already. We have this idea of the enfant terrible who evolves into the establishment figure,
perhaps that needs reviewing, especially as you say the expectancy is for longer life.
As also stated in the blog old age is not the cause of decrepit conditions, so we have every hope that dementia and
similar problems can be treated or delayed, we can but hope.
After reading your blog item, I went and listened to VW's 9th symphony which I had not heard for twenty years or more. My first reaction was that here was an old man anxious to produce something but without much to say, and thus producing a piece full of cliches and processes from his earlier works. Yes, there are many places in it where you can say "this is straight out of Symph. 4", or again from Lark ascending, the London symphony, and many more. I suspect this is the main reason that the symphony got a bad write-up when it was first produced. But since then, I have listened to it twice more and tried to forget all the snippets from the past, and listen to it as if I had never heard of any RV before, and I am more and more impressed. It is the work of an old man, but then so am I, so we can understand one another.
ReplyDeleteAddendum. The third movement is Dukas, the Sorcerer's Apprentice. and Disney's "Fantasia" film. Is he having a joke with us?
ReplyDeleteI listened to RVW 9th symphony several times performed by couple of different orchestras and conductors. The different conductors was to see if I could pick up interpretation differences. I could not, but somehow. for no reason I can state, I liked the YouTube Belgian premier version better.Also, surprisingly, my over-all view of the symphony was rather good and much more positive than it must have been on the first hearing (EMI Vernon Handley with Royal Liverpool). In my first hearing, I must not have been terribly impressed, as the cellophane cover was partially on the CD box and I remembered very few details of the symphony until an exchange of emails with Ken. This evening, after listening to the first few minutes of the depressing news, I listened to it again. It was refreshing, and I found it much more hopeful in a melancholic way than I remembered. I thought about Shostakovitch 15 and Mahler 9. Mahler 9 is different in many ways, but also the same in the sense that it is autobiographical and so is Shostakovitch 15. In this light RVW 9 makes perfect sense. I conjecture that in an autobiographical work, it might be compelling to recall your own work to express your one last goodbye. The work does not have to be the last but surely it would be a late work, For example, the tortured, anxiety filled 13th symphony of Allan Petterson is not a likely early work. I might be wrong, but if one has a sense of an impending departure how else it can be better expressed.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuUVO31RqpA
I had put this symphony to one side for many years, and as I shared with Nurtan, I took it with me on a long drive to Anglesey and played it several times. Like you I had the feeling of deja-vu and almost dismissed the experience as wasted time.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read about the programmatic intentions regarding Hardy I came back to the work, then the pairing with Holst's Egdon Heath started to make connections. The sense that the first movement was too short, and the argument not fully explored, took me to considering the links between the first and fourth movement. I am going to play these one after the other to get a better understanding of the connections.
The inner movements also have their puzzling features, as well as their remarkable moments.
It isn't the easiest or should I say the most comfortable work to enjoy, but I am willing to give it time.
I have the intention of considering Malcolm Arnold's 9th symphony in the light of "encore", it is a strange work and many would say very different to all the others. The bare writing, sparse harmony seems unlike Arnold, but the brass has a significant part, though I understand that the trumpet part is understated. There is for me a different approach to the orchestration, one that may tell a story all of its own. I need to access a score.
In view of Nurtan's comment on Shostakovitch, and Anthony's on Dukas one cannot help but think that quotation and parody (as well as self-quotation) are significant features of the encore period.
I can hear connections of a sort between Mahler 9 and Arnold, but this may be a matter of outlook (late age outlook).
There is much to consider in this topic.
After some email correspondence and Ken's comment above, I decided to listen repeatedly to about last 1 minute of the first movement and the beginning 20-30 seconds of the 4th movement. This exercise was very instructive in suggesting that by a very simple bridge of a few bars the two movements can be joined seamlessly.There are many solutions the example solution is by no means the best or the simplest. First we ct the end of the 1st movement (M1) by exactly 2 bars. next we transpose down the minim E minor chord by a perfect Vth and transpose the big E minor block down by a perfect IIIrd. Now, if the beginning of the M4 is joined with truncated M1; we can observe the following:
ReplyDelete1. The melodic line of Violin 1 of M4 follows the WWs now at the end of M1 very naturally,
2. The changes are very small.
3. The transposed chords drive the music forward
4. Small adjustment necessary too match the tempi can be made 2 1/2 bars before the joint or over 4 bars after the joint
This is a thought exercise; I doubt that any conductor would consider this drastic surgery seriously. However the exercise is not without merit. First , it raises the question we have not explored. if A is to be added to B, what are the properties of A and B to afford a simple bridge? What are the properties of a bridge if A is a contrast for B(A x B)? What is the advantage or disadvantage of a bridge over a caesura for A x B ?
These and similar questions raised are good exercises for a composer early in his/her career, and relaxation not that different from a crossword puzzle for the old hands.
Just to make the point clear to any readers (as so much has been written) we are discussing the idea of linking the first and fourth movements of the RVW 9th symphony.
ReplyDeleteIt would appear to be drastic surgery if the inner movements were to be discarded, but that isn't what I am suggesting.
Looking at the evidence we have gathered the material for the opening (and because of the symmetry of design) the close of the first movement is remarkably similar in content and treatment to the fourth. With the middle movements in place this is less noticeable, but there on one level or another for most careful listeners.
What I am suggesting is that the pair make a more powerful statement if heard in succession. This of course would make a very different sort of symphony, far closer in design to a Sibelius symphony, also much closer in style. Here comes the rub, I actually prefer the "single movement" design, and possibly others may feel the same. There would be one way to find that out, if I were to construct a two piano version and record the two movements paying attention to your ideas for a bridge that might draw some interest in the idea. We know that a particular 2 piano version works well (and was approved by the composer), so it isn't a wild fantasy. Finding time might be a problem, but the idea appeals to me.