Musical Functionalism: The Musical Thoughts of Arnold Schoenberg and Paul Hindemith by Magnar Breivik (review)

Abstract

Functionalism: Thoughts of Schoenberg and Paul Hindemith. By Magnar Breivik. (Interplay: Music in Interdisciplinary Dialogue, no. 8.) Hillsdale, NY: Pen- dragon Press, 2011. [xviii, 417 p. ISBN 9781576471708. $42.] Music examples, illustrations, bibliography, index.At first glance, it may seem that Schoenberg and Paul would make an odd couple for a shared study. They represented widely divergent schools of thought within twentieth-century music in terms of their compositional techniques and theoretical writings. Schoenberg today enjoys a lasting legacy through contin- ued work of serialist composers, while Hindemith's legacy is mainly historical. Magnar Breivik skillfully links these two composers within school of functionalism in study presented in this volume. For first time in English, Breivik builds on work he presented in article Arnold Schonberg og Paul Hinde- mith: Individualister pa funksjonalistisk grunn (Svensk tidskrift for musikforskning 78 [1996]: 11-24), and his dissertation, Musikalsk funksjonalisme: En studie i Schonbergs og Paul Hindemiths musikktenkning (Ph.D. diss., Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet, 1998). Though Breivik's application of mu- sical functionalism to Schoenberg and together is novel, his study is not first to treat two composers: an- other important study is found in David Neumeyer and Giselher Schubert's article, Arnold Schoenberg and Paul Hindemith ( Journal of Schoenberg Institute 13, no. 1 [June 1990]: 3-46), which Breivik cites in his discussion of relationship between two.Breivik begins first part of his study, Musical Functionalism: Perspectives in Early 20th-Century Art (pp. 1-72) by intro- ducing reader to the concept of func- tionalism (p. 1), through examination of architectural trends in German- speaking world in first decades of twentieth century. In introduction and throughout book, Breivik links function to form, in music as well as architecture.Breivik identifies another central aspect of functionalism in choice and use of material: Any artistic material is defined by certain possibilities and limitations, a fact that has led to speculations that materials may have an inherent 'will' unique to each substance, with which an artist's will has to co-operate (p. 12). According to Breivik, artists of all sorts must work within limi- tations of their chosen materials. He asserts that Schoenberg and both un- derstood boundaries of their chosen materials (p. 22). Other important aspects of functionalist thought, according to Breivik, are that art works are created by craftsmen and not mass-produced (p. 23), functionalism eschews ornamentation (pp. 32-41), and that Neue Sachlichkeit movement stressed objectivism in design (pp. 58-65).Breivik discusses functionalism as a back- drop for his study in The Concept of Musi- cal Functionalism, beginning on page 65. His opening paragraphs tie art to function, and stress that while goal is to produce art serving a function, functionalism is not synonymous with style. On page 66, Breivik attributes phrase musical functional- ism to Carl Dahlhaus (see Musikalischer Funktionalismus, in Schonberg und Andere: Gesammelte Aufsatze zur neuen Musik [Mainz: Schott, 1978], 63). Breivik ties functionalism with older concept of functional music, which covered a musico- sociological category that included music created for certain purposes, whether eco- nomic or civic and also served as a less negatively loaded synonym for Gebrauchs- musik (p. 68). Breivik closes first part of book with his three-part definition of functionalism, which outlines structure for rest of study:1. Functional treatment of chosen material2. Functional design3. Focus on work's intended func- tion (p. …