Musicology Commons^™

Parallel Dichotomies: Serialism, Folk Song, The University, And Authenticity, David Blake

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This thesis seeks to analyze the similarities between the electronic music and serialist movement in art music, and the folk revival, both of which peaked during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Each of these movements contained within them an avant-garde that positioned itself on the university setting to gain cultural terrain to combat what they perceived to be commercialized “kitsch.” The avant-gardes within each culture felt the ideologies they promoted were justified because they were authentic. Electronic music composers and serialists viewed themselves as aligned with the modernist tradition of art music, which promoted the progression of music through …