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Reich And Wittgenstein: Notes towards a synthesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Robert Cowan
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Extract

To try to establish a relationship between the terse linguistic philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the deceptively simple minimalist music of Steve Reich might at first seem a little ambitious, if not downright misguided. Yet a synoptic survey of the two men's work reveals a series of formal and conceptual correlations that is often quite striking. I hasten to add that my comparisons apply mostly to those of Reich's compositions where melodic and harmonic ideas are ‘phased’ and developed over the ground of a constant pulse, rather than to works such as The Desert Music where poetic texts substantially influence the form and design of Reich's music. I tend to draw more on Wittgenstein's later thought – especially the Philosophical Investigations than on his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, although Reich himself has quoted from the latter in discussing his own artistic style.

Type
Research Article
Information
Tempo , Issue 157 , June 1986 , pp. 2 - 7
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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References

Notes

1 von Wright, Gcorg Hcnrik: ‘Biographical Sketch’ in Malcolm, Norman, Ludwig Wittgenstein, a Memoir (OUP, 1958), pp. 20–21 Google Scholar.

2 Wittgenstein, : Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Section 7 (Pears, /McGuiness, translation) Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1961, p. 74 Google Scholar.

3 Tractatus, Section 4. 112 (p.25).

4 Wittgenstein, : Culture and Value (trans. Winch, Peter) Basil Blackwell, 1980, p. 9eGoogle Scholar.

5 Reich, Steve: ‘Music as a Gradual Process’ (1968), in Writings About Music (Universal Edition, 1974), p. 9 Google Scholar.

6 Ibid. (p. 9)

7 Ibid. (p. 10)

8 IObid (p. 10)

9 Reich, Steve: Music for 18 Musicians, pub. Steve Reich 1976 Google Scholar. I have made use or Reich's liner notes for the.1978 ECM recordings, on CD No. 821 417–2.

10 Wittgenstein, : Philosophical Investigations (trans. Anscombe, G. E. M.): Third Edition, Basil Blackwell, 1967, pp. 134 Google Scholar.

11 Culture and Value (p. 7e).

12 Rhees, Rush: ‘Wittgenstein on Language and Ritual’, in Wittgenstein and his Times, Basil Blackwell 1983 Google Scholar.

13 Brian McGuiness: ‘Freud and Wittgenstein’, in Wittgenstein in his Times.

14 Philosophical Investigations, Preface (p. viii).

15 Quoted in Kenny's, Anthony Wittgenstein (Penguin, 1973), p. 1 Google Scholar.

16 Reich, Steve: Tehillim (1981)Google Scholar. The quotation is taken from Reich's liner notes for the 1982 ECM recording, on CD No. 827 411–2.