The Height of the Breadth: Pop Culture Infiltrations in the Music of Nicolaus A. Huber¹

[1] First published in German in MusikTexte, 108, February 2006. Used with permission. Translated by Philipp Blume.

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Notes

[1] First published in German in MusikTexte, 108, February 2006. Used with permission. Translated by Philipp Blume.

[2] The title of the piece makes reference to a pseudonym/alter ego of Duchamp. It first appeared on a portrait of Duchamp, photographed by Man Ray, which shows him dressed as a woman. Duchamp has signed the picture with the name ‘Rrose Selavy’ ( = Eros c'est la vie).

[3] Cf. the discussion about Harakiri, reproduced in Huber, 2000, pp. 387–401.

[4] In the mid-1970s Nicolaus A. Huber composed political revues intended for performance in pubs and assembly halls.

[5]Translator's note: The word fressen is to animals what the word essen is to humans. The closest equivalent to fressen is ‘devouring’ (i.e. mindless eating), though fressen has much more crass connotations and is generally not appropriate when talking about people.

[6] Jean Baudrillard, quoted in Huber, 2000a, p. 280.

[7]‘[A] slow, gentle stroking of the stuffed toy (tiger, leopard, lion, or cheetah). The movement and position of the hand should visibly/audibly convey the pppppp.’ From the score of Huber, 2000b, line 24.

[8] George Eastman, quoted in Wall, 2007, p. 164.

[9]Translator's note: the title Seifenoper means ‘soap opera’, and OmU stands for Original mit Untertiteln, or ‘in the original language, with subtitles’, a frequent designation in cinema listings for foreign films to distinguish them from films that have been overdubbed with synchronized dialogue.

[10] The title of the essay translates as ‘Mouth and Breath as Material and Sense’ in Huber, 2000a, pp. 274–278.