Polystylism/Eclectisism by D. Parsons

Introduction

Polystylism/eclectisism is the use of multiple styles/techniques of music in one peice- "Where music of various different styles past and present are juxtaposed in proximity." (wikipedia, 2004). Polystylism is also seen as a characteristic of Postmodernism.

Background/Alfred Schnittke

Polystylism first came to full fruition through the musical explorations of one, Alfred Schnittke- a Russian composer (born Nov 24 1934, died- Aug 3 1998) who graduated from his musical education in 1941 at the Moscow Consevatory and taught there from 62 through to 1972. During his eductaion he was influenced greatly by one of his compostion teachers, Evgeny Golubev. He claims to have still been influenced by Golubev up until his final years. In his post graduate time, he supported his lifestyle by composing scores for films. Schnittke's early music portrays the influence of Dmitri Shostakovich, a Russian composer also, who started off in a more Avant-Garde area but moved into Romantisicm later in his career; and Luigi Nono- an Italian composer who was instrumental in the early development of electronic music (he also married Schoenberg's daughter- bit of trivia there ha!). After hearing the latter, Schnittke became introduced, and briefly was invloved with the style of Serialism. The reason for his short-lived and unfulfilled involvement with serialism was because of his growing dissatisfaction of the "puberty rites of serial self-denial" (wikipedia, 2004) feelings he would gather from the style- as he would put it himself.

He solved this certain irritation by evolving himself and his music into a new form that was later labelled "Polystylism"- Where music of various different styles past and present are juxtaposed in proximity. (wikipedia, 2004) The very first concert portraying Polystylistic techniques was 'The Second Violin Sonata" in 1967. He continued to futher develop the polystylistic technique in works such as the epic First Symphony (1969-1972) and First Concerto Grosso (1977). Schnittke's work along with the idea of Polystylism/eclectisism became better known and accepted in the 1980's, partly due to Russian violinists Gidon Kremer and Mark Lubotsky who were better known for their twist on polystylism which seemed to be understood better by the public. Scnittke composed a huge amount of music in his final years such as the Second (1980) and Third (1983) and String Quartets and the String Trio (1985), despite contant illness.

The Technique/Approach

The approach used to create a compostiton in the style of Polystylism is basically to choose two or more different/contrasting styles of music from any era and connect them into a single peice. For instance you could have a modern hip-hop beat with rapping and funk guitar lines, then transition into a reggae groove, then into a clasically influenced piano part with orchestral instrumemts and then mabe into a medieval part with harpsichord and so on. The options are endless. Keeping in mind that a polystylism peice is not really supposed to be 2 or more different styles strung together in succession- it's more about taking two or more styles and making a song/peice out of it. One style of music can be the verse, another style is the chorus- then you can come back to the verse and for the bridge you can go to another style...it helps to provides some form of familiarity and structure to the listener, instead of rolling through without coming back to any previous themes.

Some say that Polystylism, as a compositional technique, has been responsible for the labels of 'randomness', 'disjointedness' and at times the impression that it is foolish or unintelligent. Due to it's broad range of possibilities (due to no or very few ground rules), there is good reason to believe that there is some truth to these labels. Quite simply, there is no telling where a Polystylistic peice might end up and that is just the nature of it's style- I think that's the beauty that all of it's notable composers saw in it. There are endless possibilities as to what you can do musically when talking in corncern of Polystylism. Polystylism, as mentioned before, was moulded and brought to musical and public relevence by Alfred Schnittke around 1965 and it was largely overlooked until years later when more musicians/artists started to practice in this style. One of these artists was Frank Zappa.

Other Important Contributors

Frank Zappa, born Dec 21 and died Dec 4 1993, is well known for his use of nearly every contemporary musical genre in his work that spans across his musical career of 3 decades. His trademark sense of stratological and caustic satire, that he weaves throughout his peices, have given him a controversial portrayal in the public- but also managed to create an almost "cult" like following surrounding him and his music. Zappa acheived his best successes in the mainstream of pop music in 1966 and the mid-late 70's with hits like "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" and "Dancin' Fool". However, it wasn't until the mid 80's until Zappa started dabbling in the style of polystylism. Over the years he had evolved a unique compositional approach — "which he dubbed "conceptual continuity" — that ranged across virtually every genre of music. His work combines satirical lyrics and pop melodies with virtuoso instrumental prowess, where long, jazz-inflected improvisational passages are counterbalanced with densely edited and seemingly chaotic collage sequences that mix music, sound effects and snatches of conversation. Conceptual continuity clues are to be found throughout Zappa's entire oeuvre." (wikipedia, 2000). With the release of "The Man from Utopia" in 1983, Zappa was by now fully emersed in the polystylism technique; with eclectisism evident in such tracks as "Dangerous Kitchen" and "The Jazz Discharge Party Hats". Zappa's music became more and more influenced by polystylism/eclectisism as he made more records and the influence lasted through to his final ones.

Musical Characteristics of Polystylism/Eclectisism

The fact that Polystylism can juxtaposition just about any two or more genres/styles of music together in the one peice makes the list of characteristics for it's particular style quite vast. Basically, there are no set rules to what styles should be used, how many instruments should be used in a peice or the duration in which a peice should last. It's up to the artist to make those decisions- of course it should be taken into account the already evident boundries that are presented with any style of music (eg. a jazz influenced section wouldn't be communicated effectively if a thunderously loud six-string bass guitar played the flute line- you could but it would then be falling more into the post rock category). Once you start 'jump-cut' sectionalising (Thompson, 2003), all boundries become extendable at the request of the artist.

Polystylism/Eclectisism is a compositional technique that few artists have applied effectively to their music- the artists who have done so, are/were highly accomplished artists/musicians before their involvement in the polystylism genre and they relied on this previous knowledge and artistic discipline to fully utilise and put the power and effectiveness of the Polystylism/Eclectism technique to it's absolute best.

Polystylism/Eclectisism artists- Further Listening

Frank Zappa- [(http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:15r92avy05na)] "Hungry Freaks, Daddy"

John Zorn- [(http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:0v6wtv5tklmx)] "Leng Tch'e"

Alfred Schnittke- String Quartet Number 2

Sofia Gubaidulina- Sofia Gubaydulina / Edison Denisov / Arnold Schnittke

George Rochberg- Music for the Magic Theatre

References

[www.allmusic.com] The Allmusic Guide

(2000) Polystylism- Frank Zappa. Frank Zappa. (13/10/06)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa

Thompson, D. (2003) Polystylism/Postmodernism. Polystylism. (12/10/06)http://www.expergo.org/ams2005.htm

(2004) Polystylism- Alfred Schnittke. Alfred Schnittke. (12/10/06) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Schnittke

(2004) Polystylism. Polystylism. (13/10/06) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polystylism