The Names of Minimalism: Authorship, Art Music, and Historiography in Dispute

Nickleson, Patrick

doi:doi:10.3998/mpub.10207791

The Names of Minimalism: Authorship, Art Music, and Historiography in Dispute

Patrick Nickleson

Open Access

Overview
Contents

Minimalism stands as the key representative of 1960s radicalism in art music histories—but always as a failed project. In The Names of Minimalism, Patrick Nickleson holds in tension collaborative composers in the period of their collaboration, as well as the musicological policing of authorship in the wake of their eventual disputes. Through examinations of the droning of the Theatre of Eternal Music, Reich's Pendulum Music, Glass's work for multiple organs, the austere performances of punk and no wave bands, and Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca's works for massed electric guitars, Nickleson argues for authorship as always impure, buzzing, and indistinct.

Expanding the place of Jacques Rancière's philosophy within musicology, Nickleson draws attention to disciplinary practices of guarding compositional authority against artists who set out to undermine it. The book reimagines the canonic artists and works of minimalism as "(early) minimalism," to show that art music histories refuse to take seriously challenges to conventional authorship as a means of defending the very category "art music." Ultimately, Nickleson asks where we end up if we imagine the early minimalist project—artists forming bands to perform their own music, rejecting the score in favor of recording, making extensive use of magnetic type as compositional and archival medium, hosting performances in lofts and art galleries rather than concert halls—not as a utopian moment within a 1960s counterculture doomed to fail, but as the beginning of a process with a long and influential afterlife.

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Published: 2023

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

License:

ISBN(s)

978-0-472-90300-9 (open access)
978-0-472-03909-8 (paper)
978-0-472-13328-4 (hardcover)

Subject

Music:Musicology

Resources

Tony Conrad, holding a tall protest placard, hands La Monte Young a paper pamphlet outside the Buffalo Arts Council building.

Tony Conrad pickets La Monte Young's concert in Buffalo, New York (April 1990)

From Introduction

Figure 1. Tony Conrad pickets La Monte Young’s concert in Buffalo, New York (April 1990) . Photo by Chris Hill, courtesy of Jeff Hunt and Tyler Hubby.

Newspaper clipping, in black and white, announcing a series of performances by Young, Cale, Zazeela, and Conrad at the Pocket Theatre, 100 Third Avenue, 20–22 November 1964.

Concert announcement in the Village Voice (19 November 1964)

From Chapter 2

Figure 2. Theatre of Eternal Music concert announcement in the Village Voice, 19 November 1964

Newspaper clipping, in black and white, announcing a series of performances by the Theatre of Eternal Music at the Pocket Theatre, 100 Third Avenue, 12–13 December 1964.

Concert announcement in the Village Voice (10 December 1964)

From Chapter 2

Figure 3. Theatre of Eternal Music concert announcement in the Village Voice, 10 December 1964).

A sheet of white paper headed “The Theatre of Eternal Music” lists the four performers and their instruments above a small, floral line drawing.

Internal page of East End Theatre Program

From Chapter 2

Figure 4. Internal page of East End Theatre Program, American Poets Theatre

Black calligraphy on white paper announces a series of performances by Young, Cale, Zazeela, and Conrad at the Pocket Theatre, 12–13 December 1964.

Printed invitation to Theatre of Eternal Music performance, 12 – 13 December 1964

From Chapter 2

Figure 5. Detail of invitation to Theatre of Eternal Music performances, 12–13 December 1964. Calligraphy by Marian Zazeela.

A folded, yellowing card with black calligraphy reads “Henry Geldzahler invites you to an evening of . . . Dream Music” on 7 March 1965 at 112 West Eighty-First “during the hours 8 PM through 2 AM.” The title, “Dream Music,” is surrounded by the performers’ names.

Printed invitation to Theatre of Eternal Music performanceat Henry

Geldzahler’s loft, 7 March 1965

From Chapter 2

Figure 6. Detail of invitation to Theatre of Eternal Music performance at Henry Geldzahler’s loft, 7 March 1965. Calligraphy by Marian Zazeela.

Black calligraphy on white background reads “Larry Poons and Henry Geldzahler invite you to Four Evenings of 7 . . . at The Four Heavens, 295 Church Street NYC” on 24–27 February 1966. The names La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Marian Zazeela, and Tony Conrad surround the title.

Printed invitation to Theatre of Eternal Music performance at “The Four Heavens,” 24 – 27 February 1966

From Chapter 2

Figure 7. Detail of invitation to Theatre of Eternal Music performances at “The Four Heavens” (loft artist Larry Poons), 24–27 February 1966. Calligraphy by Marian Zazeela.

Black calligraphy on white background reads, “On the Occasion of the Opening of Midsummer ’66 you are invited to Two Evenings of . . . The Celebration of the Tortoise . . . in Amagansett, Long Island, New York in the field at the corner of Town Lane and Windmill Lane, 29 and 30 July from sunset to midnight.” Young’s, Riley’s, Zazeela’s, and Conrad’s names surround the title.

Printed invitation to Theatre of Eternal Music performance in Amagansett, Long Island, 29–30 July 1966

From Chapter 2

Figure 8. Detail of invitation to Theatre of Eternal Music performance in Amagansett, Long Island, 29–30 July 1966. Calligraphy by Marian Zazeela.

Excerpted from the journal Film Culture, black text appears on a white background. Bold, in all capitals, the title “Inside the Dream Syndicate” appears above Tony Conrad’s name, also bolded. In italics, the long title “The Obsidian Ocelot, the Sawmill, and the Blue Sawtooth High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer [etc.] . . .” follows. The names Young, Cale, Zazeela, and Conrad appear in diamond formation below the long title.

Detail of Film Culture 41 (1966), 5. Printed header for Tony Conrad's essay "Inside the Dream Syndicate."

From Chapter 2

Figure 9. Detail of Film Culture 41 (1966): 5. Printed header for Tony Conrad’s essay “Inside the Dream Syndicate.”

A concert program, with black text printed on a white background, for “An Evening of Music by Steve Reich” at the Guggenheim Museum on 7 and 8 May 1970 at 8:30 p.m. The program lists four pieces and their performers: a “warm up performance” at 8:10 p.m. of Phase Patterns, followed by Piano Phase, Four Organs, and a reprise of Phase Patterns.” Young’s, Riley’s, Zazeela’s, and Conrad’s names surround the title.

Concert program from "An Evening of Music by Steve Reich" at the Guggenheim Museum, May 1970

From Chapter 3

Figure 10. Concert program from “An Evening of Music by Steve Reich” at the Guggenheim Museum, May 1970. Paul Sacher Stiftung, Steve Reich Collection.

A single sheet of white paper headed “Electronic Music Concerts Monday nights at the Kitchen” lists the programs of five concerts from 4 October to 1 November 1971. Most of the pieces are by Rhys Chatham, Laurie Spiegel, and Emmanuel Ghent.

Concert program from "Electronic Music Concerts Monday Night at the Kitchen," October 1971

From Chapter 4

Page 146 →Figure 11. Concert program from “Electronic Music Concerts Monday Night at the Kitchen.” Featuring music by Rhys Chatham, Laurie Spiegel, and others. October 1971. Courtesy of the Kitchen Archives.

A square, stylized, graphic concert announcement for a concert by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela on Monday, 13 December 1971. The title of the concert is “The Kitchen Presents: Preview of the New LP Recording.”

Poster for "The Kitchen Presents: Preview of the New LP Recording [by] La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela," 13 December 1971

From Chapter 4

Figure 12. Poster for “The Kitchen Presents: Preview of the New LP Recording [by] La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela,” 13 December 1971. Courtesy of the Kitchen Archives.

University of Michigan Press
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The Names of Minimalism: Authorship, Art Music, and Historiography in Dispute

Overview

Contents

Resources

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Tony Conrad pickets La Monte Young's concert in Buffalo, New York (April 1990)

Concert announcement in the Village Voice (19 November 1964)

Concert announcement in the Village Voice (10 December 1964)

Internal page of East End Theatre Program

Printed invitation to Theatre of Eternal Music performance, 12 – 13 December 1964

Printed invitation to Theatre of Eternal Music performanceat Henry

Geldzahler’s loft, 7 March 1965

Printed invitation to Theatre of Eternal Music performance at “The Four Heavens,” 24 – 27 February 1966

Printed invitation to Theatre of Eternal Music performance in Amagansett, Long Island, 29–30 July 1966

Detail of Film Culture 41 (1966), 5. Printed header for Tony Conrad's essay "Inside the Dream Syndicate."

Concert program from "An Evening of Music by Steve Reich" at the Guggenheim Museum, May 1970

Concert program from "Electronic Music Concerts Monday Night at the Kitchen," October 1971

Poster for "The Kitchen Presents: Preview of the New LP Recording [by] La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela," 13 December 1971

Poster for "Dr. Drone in Concert" at the Kitchen, 25 May 1972

Poster for Glenn Branca, "Loud Guitars," at the Kitchen, 16 January 1980

Photo of Rhys Chatmam (l) and Glenn Branca (r) in front of a graffiti-covered wall.

The Names of Minimalism: Authorship, Art Music, and Historiography in Dispute

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