Two Transcriptions/Ode to Schoenberg, 2013

  “Mister, you – in spite of my protest – you have published Leibowitz’ performance of my Ode to Napoleon with a woman’s voice, which I find terrible.”

—Arnold Schoenberg, 1951 letter
This project considers a moment in music history when some of the stereotypes of modernism – namely, that it’s patriarchal, authoritarian, and sexist – turned out to be true. In 1951, the modernist composer Arnold Schoenberg protested the inclusion of a feminine voice on a recording of his composition Ode to Napoleon (1942). Questioning such an authoritarian stance on authorship, my project includes transgender performers in two transcriptions of Schoenberg’s piece.

In one transcription, the artist Zackary Drucker sings/speaks the original poetic text over a new performance based on the transgressive 1951 record. This version uses an AI app I created that produces a musical score based on an acoustical analysis of a recording. Another transcription, sung by the musician Theo Baer, construes Schoenberg’s 1942 score as a kind of musical readymade.

Audio
Drucker Side


Baer Side


Score
Drucker Side Score (PDF)

Further background: “Re-transcribing Composition”


Presented by Audio Visual Arts Gallery and Franklin Furnace, New York, 2013