1st Edition
War and Death in the Music of George Crumb A Crisis of Collective Memory
This book studies George Crumb’s The Winds of Destiny (2004) and Black Angels (1970) as artifacts of collective memory and cultural trauma. It situates these two pieces in Crumb’s output and unpacks the complex methodologies needed to understand these pieces as contributions and challenges to traditional narratives of the Civil War and the Vietnam War. The Winds of Destiny is shown to be a critical commentary on the legacy of American wars and militarism, both concepts crucial to American identity. The Winds of Destiny also acts as an ironic war memorial as a means of critiquing such concepts. Black Angels has long been associated with the Vietnam War. This book shows how this association began and how it endures through connections to iconic Vietnam War media, including films and books. Together these analyses show the legacy of trauma in American collective memory, which is in a continuous crisis. Crumb’s musical critiques point to a need to resist conventional narratives and to begin to heal trauma on a collective level. This book will be of interest to students of contemporary American music, American studies, and memory studies. It benefits readers by newly situating Crumb’s music within these three fields of study.
Introduction
- Crumb, The Winds of Destiny, and Black Angels
- Chapter Summaries
Chapter 1. Analyzing Memory and Trauma in the Music of Crumb
- Methodologies
- Collective Memory and Trauma
- Death in Wartime
- Collective Memory, Sound, Space, and Place
- Memory and Musical Analysis
- A Crisis of Collective Memory
Chapter 2. Collective Haunting and the Civil War
- Trauma and Memory
- Ghosts and Memory
- "Beautiful Dreamer"
- "Bringing in the Sheaves"
- "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory"
- Conclusion
Chapter 3. The Winds of Destiny and the Musical Grotesque
- Collective Civil War Memory
- Victorious Belliphonic
- Creating the Grotesque: Mahler’s Funeral March
- Musical Grotesque
- A Grotesque Musical Memorial
- Conclusion
Chapter 4. Black Angels, The Things They Carried, and the Vietnam War
- Black Angels Reception
- Notions of Truth and Narrative
- Trauma, Morality, and Blurriness
- Things
- Happening-Truth and Story-Truth
- "Night of the Electric Insects"
- "Bones and Flutes"
- "Pavana Lachrymae"
- Return
Chapter 5. Place and Subjectivity in Black Angels
- Place, Wilderness, and Nature
- "Night of the Electric Insects"
- Placelessness
- "Lost Bells"
- God, the Devil, and the Morality of War
- Listening
Chapter 6. Conclusion: Ongoing Crisis
- Ongoing Crisis of Collective Memory
Biography
Abigail Shupe is an Assistant Professor of Music Theory at Colorado State University. Her research focuses on Rameau and experimentation in Enlightenment France and George Crumb’s music about death and war. She lives in Fort Collins, CO with her family.
