A Review of Mark Iddon's New Music at Darmstadt: Nono, Stockhausen, Cage, and Boulez

Mark Iddon’s New Music at Darmstadt: Nono, Stockhausen, Cage, and Boulez does more than weave together a history of the development, reception, and performance of compositional techniques presented at the The Darmstadt School in post -World War II Darmstadt, Germany. The aim of the Darmstadt School’s International Courses for New Music was to offer the instruction and performance of musical styles previously denied under the fascist government of the Nazi regime. Mark Iddon’s work questions the school’s well-known association with serialism. Drawing upon the works of Luigi Nono, Pierre Boulez, Bruno Maderna, and Karl Heinz Stockhausen, collectively considered the composers of the Darmstadt School, Iddon challenges the perception that the Darmstadt School was a a hub of the avant-garde operating under a blanket of multiple serialisms. Iddon uses direct quotations from reviews by composers and music critics alike about the performances and lectures given at Darmstadt to paint a picture of the reception of the New music produced and taught there.