First posting on Milton Babbitt

Milton Babbitt (b. 1916) is an American composer most known for his twelve-tone theory and works as well as his electronic music. He is very well-read and knowledgeable in other disciplines other than music, especially in mathematics. He formalized many of the most important aspects of twelve-tone compositional techniques using terms from other areas of study. One of these terms is “set” in response to Schoenberg’s use of the term “row”, where the latter has certain biasness which suggests a certain idea progressing from the left to right. Speaking of Schoenberg, Babbitt’s work and musical thinking mostly stem from the Second Viennese School (ie. Schoenberg, Webern and Berg).

His view of the twelve-tone system is that it is different in kind, not simply in degree, from the tonal system: “The tonal motive assumes functional meaning within a context, and becomes, in turn, a vehicle of movement within this context; the twelve-tone set, however, is the instigator of movement, and defines the functional context.” Babbitt is by no means rigidly confined by the rules and regulations of the twelve-tone technique. Within these constraints, he uses a wide range of expressive possibilities and structures.

Babbitt is also very well-known for his article “Who Cares If You Listen?”, unfortunately. This title was given by journalists without his knowledge or permission. This is most unfortunate because Babbitt in his own words says that “I care a great deal who listened, but above all how they listened” (Gagne & Caras, 1982). He also gets very annoyed at other professionals who would become irritated when Babbitt insists that his music be taken seriously. Most of the other people simply feel that music should only provide them with entertainment or relaxation from their more important pursuits.

Reading Babbitt’s lectures and a transcript of an interview with him, it is clear that he is very passionate about what he does. So much so that it becomes infectious and compels me to take a closer look at his works. Personally I used to question if this kind of music is really music cos it really really doesn’t seem to make any cow sense! I want to make sense of it but it’s highly annoying that I’m not able to. My aim for the next few months or so would be to immerse myself in the world of Babbitt’s music, learn to make sense of it and know how to approach it. Hopefully in time to come my attitude towards Serial practice would progress like this:
know -> understand -> appreciate -> accept -> embrace! (heh)

Having found out more about Babbitt and the twelve-tone system, I find that it can be related to what we have learnt in class about Set Theory. They both free us from having tonal hierarchy in music. This is possible in Set Theory using 4 assumptions and they are:
- Octave equivalence
- Enharmonic equivalence
- Transpositional equivalence
- Inversional equivalence

What has been researched so far:
To date, many of Babbitt’s works have been analysed by theorists. A few major ones that I have come across include Three Compositions for Piano (1947), Composition for Twelve Instruments (1948,54), Semi-Simple Variations for Piano (1956) and Partitions for Piano (1957).


I’ll most probably start with Semi-Simple Variations for Piano. :)