Rethinking Babbitt’s ‘Serious’ Music as Play
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14810585 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alison Maggart (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 2-3 |
| Pages | 141-161 |
| Publication date | 2021-05-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Contemporary Music Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0749-4467 • E-ISSN: 1477-2256 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/07494467.2021.2017232 |
| OpenAlex | W4206903863 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 31 |
Vividly effervescing on the wit and whimsy in Babbitt’s compositions, lovers and listeners of Babbitt’s music often intimate that perception of play is vital for experiential pleasure. Indeed, ludic metaphors permeate the casual discourse on Babbitt’s music. Yet, within the academic literature Babbitt’s ‘play’ is regularly overshadowed by more emphatic pronouncements of his and his music’s ‘seriousness’. This article traces why this has been the case, arguing that contemporary understandings of play have been shaped by (outdated) postmodernist perspectives that preclude the ludic potential of formalist aesthetics. Then, it explores what an interpretation of Babbitt’s music as play might entail. Conceiving Babbitt’s music as play not only emphasises elements of the music that are often minimised (e.g. how structural ambiguities play out on the musical surface), but also focuses on the aspects that more readily lead to enjoyment
Aesthetics · Art · Babbitt · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literature · Musical · Pleasure · Seriousness · Music History and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy · Psychology · Theater, Performance, and Music History
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.67 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |