MAXIMALISM
Within the period 1890–1914, and especially in the German-speaking lands, modernism chiefly manifested itself in the manner to which Pound drew attention in the passage that heads this chapter as an epigraph: as a radical intensification of means toward accepted or traditional ends (or at least toward ends that could be so described). That is why modernism of this early vintage is perhaps best characterized as maximalism. The cultural phase we are about to embark upon was called the fin de siècle not only because it happened to coincide with the end of a century, but also because it reflected apocalyptic presentiments—superstitious premonitions of ultimate revelation and possible catastrophe—such as attend any great calendrical divide. The acceleration of stylistic innovation, so marked as to seem not just a matter of degree but one of actual kind, requiring a new “periodization,” looks now, from the vantage point of the next fin de siècle, to have been perhaps more a matter of inflated rhetoric than of having new things to say.
- Citation (MLA):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 1 Reaching (for) Limits." The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. New York, USA. n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2024. <https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume4/actrade-9780195384840-div1-001003.xml>.
- Citation (APA):
- Taruskin, R. (n.d.). Chapter 1 Reaching (for) Limits. In Oxford University Press, Music in the Early Twentieth Century. New York, USA. Retrieved 8 Dec. 2024, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume4/actrade-9780195384840-div1-001003.xml
- Citation (Chicago):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 1 Reaching (for) Limits." In Music in the Early Twentieth Century, Oxford University Press. (New York, USA, n.d.). Retrieved 8 Dec. 2024, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume4/actrade-9780195384840-div1-001003.xml
