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“O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing”: Anthony Braxton's Speculative Musics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2008

MIKE HEFFLEY
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Abstract

Anthony Braxton's opera Trillium R (1991): Shala Fears for the Poor is examined macroscopically, microscopically, and theoretically for its resonances with both spoken and written language. The latter is posited as an ur-technology spawning six more specialized technologies tropes, through which the macroscopic survey unfolds. Braxton's music is conflated with the academic discourse of “speculative musicology” and the genre of “speculative fiction,” the literary arena of most fertile explorations of technological potential. The microscopic study examines the relationship between Braxton's libretto and music in the score, and that between the determinate and indeterminate in both, as the techne (tool) of its effectiveness. Finally, the article explains Braxton's work through its European, African, Asian, and Native American influences.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Society for American Music , Volume 2 , Issue 2: Special issue on Technology and Black Music in the Americas , May 2008 , pp. 203 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Music 2008

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