Music has not one history but many


'Kagel was to continue to insist that music has not one history but many, especially since the early twentieth century, and that the norms of musical life are only social conventions. In the particular case of Anagrama he also unloosed sonic possibilities that stimulated many of his contemporaries' - Paul Griffths writes in A Concise History of Western Music about Mauricio Kagel (above) who died today aged 76.

The use of a speaking choir in Anagrama links it with Darius Milhaud's little known music drama Christophe Colomb. Kagel was not among Milhaud's students, but many other important twentieth-century musicians were.

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Doundou Tchil said…
Interesting you mention Christophe Colombe. That's what brought Kagel to Europe. Kagel was one of the extras in the Teatro Colon production in 1953, brought to the Argentine by Pierre Boulez. The two met and swapped music. Boulez was instrumental in getting Kagel a scholarship to Cologne when his attempt to study in Paris fell through.
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