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.
Author(s): Abigail Shupe
Series: Ashgate Studies in Theory and Analysis of Music After 1900
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 174
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Crumb, The Winds of Destiny, and Black Angels
Summaries
Notes
References
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
Notes
References
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
Notes
References
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
Notes
References
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
Notes
References
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
Notes
References
6 Conclusion: Ongoing Crisis
Ongoing Crisis of Collective Memory
Notes
References
Index
