George Steiner, On Difficulty (1978)
A common reaction to poetry: Huh?
Four Difficulties
Contingent
Modal
Tactical (my favorite!)
Ontological
Four Difficulties
Contingent -- a cultural reference that you might have to "go look up."
Your understanding (and, presumably, enjoyment) is contingent on knowing some fact (or tune?)
Jan van EyckMarriage of Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami, 1434
single candle =
God’s eye
St Margaret?
crystal prayer beads
oranges = ?
shoes
imported carpet $$$
Fido
Four Difficulties
Modal -- after sincerely trying to engage and understand the work, you just can't like it due to fundamental issues of taste or personal experience.
(Horror films revel in modal difficulty.)
Four Difficulties
Tactical -- the artist deliberately gets in your way of immediately understanding the work's meaning
(Why do this? Which is more enjoyable – the tale
or the telling of the tale?) Pulp Fiction Speed or overwhelming complexity of music –
bebop Insider slang in lyrics Ravel’s La Valse
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg Woman in Front of a Mirror, 1841oil on canvas, 33.5 x 26 cm (13 3/16 x 10 1/4)
Four Difficulties
Ontological -- the artist through the work challenges the very definition of the genre or even the idea of art itself
Fountain, 1917
Attention, shoppers. From within the inverted commas of a strambotto, seditious whispering watermarks this time of day. Time to get
out and, as they say, about.
From a poem, “Where Shall I Wander,” by John Ashbery, 2005
Attention, shoppers. From within the inverted commas of a strambotto, seditious whispering watermarks this time of day. Time to get
out and, as they say, about.
From a poem, “Where Shall I Wander,” by John Ashbery, pub. 2005
contingent
Attention, shoppers. From within the inverted commas of a strambotto, seditious whispering watermarks this time of day. Time to get
out and, as they say, about.
From a poem, “Where Shall I Wander,” by John Ashbery, pub. 2005
tactical
Attention, shoppers. From within the inverted commas of a strambotto, seditious whispering watermarks this time of day. Time to get
out and, as they say, about.
From a poem, “Where Shall I Wander,” by John Ashbery, pub. 2005
ontologicalThis is a poem?
ontologicalThis is a poem?
improv, especially with electronics
new tunings
rhythmic developments
hybrids with rock, studio techniques
timbral refinement
Non-ontological directions in new music
x
Me
Sonata Rocinante
Rocinante – Don Quixote’s horse
4 sections -- Rocinante•as described by Cervantes
(bony, stubborn)•as imagined by Quixote•again as described by Cervantes•as imagined by Quixote –
and the reader?
• the horse• the rider• the writer• the reader
(computer demo performance)
Sonata Rocinante
the rider
Quixote’s POV – Rocinante as dark, powerful, muscular
(sort of in the style of Chopin)
Undercurrent
traditional motific development & expansion
then subjected to various folding, fragmentation and repetition