sound.mass.notes.pdf

Theory IV Brinkman/Folio Sound Mass Pieces Page 1 of 14

PEDERECKI: Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima composed 1960; originally titled 837 from Danuta Mirka: Texture in Pendreckis Sonoristic Style ABSTRACT: In his so-called sonoristic period of the early 1960srepresented by pieces such as Threnody, Fluorescences, Polymorphia, and othersPenderecki employed a compositional system whose axiomatic concept was not a single sound, but the sound matter in its totality. Distinct states of this sound matter were governed by two relatively independent systems: (1) a basic system which ruled the texture of sound masses and (2) a timbre system governing their sound color. Categories of the basic system are a few binary oppositions concerning pitch, time, and loudness: spatial mobility vs. immobility, temporal mobility vs. immobility, spatial continuity vs. discontinuity, temporal continuity vs. discontinuity, high vs. low register, loud vs. soft dynamics. These categories account for the morphology of the basic system because a combination of terms chosen from individual categories generates an inventory of units in Penderecki's sonoristic style. The same set of categories also determines syntax, as the temporal order of units in the course of musical narration is ruled by the internal logic of individual binary oppositions. Categories of the timbre system are in turn metal, wood, and leathermaterials of which the sound sources of traditional musical instruments are most often madeforming a ternary opposition. The timbre system underlies the wealth of new musical tools as well as eccentric playing techniques on traditional instruments called for by the composer. An excerpt from the score is shown on the next few pages (from Ralph Turek, Analytical Anthology of Music, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, 1992).


STOCKHAUSEN: Gesang der Junglinge composed 1955-1956

1) one of the first pieces to use spatialization as a compositional element (recall Bartoks specifications regarding the deployment of the orchestras in Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta)

2) original performance broadcast on five loudspeakers (manually synchronized!) 3) in it, Stockhausen is concerned with integrating electronic and vocal sounds (all of the

sung parts were performed by a single boy); he does this, in part, through the electronic production of phonemes (in language: a basic, theoretical unit of sound that can distinguish words; i.e., by changing a single phoneme one can change the meaning of a given word)

4) concrete (as in musique concrete) sounds are manipulated by recording the sounds at various speeds (for example, a sound could be speeded up, and its pitch consequently raised, by recording the sound with a recorder set to a slower speed; when the new recording of the sound is played at normal speed, the sound will have been altered, and could then be speeded up, etc. Stockhausen is said to have repeated this procedure at some points in Gesang as many as 1000 times)

5) in order to achieve the spatial element in Gesang, Stockhausen created a rotation table (basically a lazy susan); the sound source was placed on the table, which was rotated by hand to a maximum velocity of six rotations per second. Four microphones were placed around the table to record (on four separate channels) the sounds that each of them heard. Four of the five loudspeakers used in the first performance of Gesang broadcast what these four microphones recorded; the fifth used a mix of the four, and was intended to hang from the ceiling (not feasible, as it turned out).

6) the text of Gesang is the song of the three young Hebrew men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who are thrown into a fiery furnace by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar for refusing to bow down to an image of himself. The song itself does not appear in the Bible.

7) other related works/events: tape recorder invented in 1935 (Germany); the birth of musique concrete in 1948 (France); Poeme Electronique (Varese) premiered at the Brussels World Fair in the Phillips Pavilion (designed by Xenakis, if you take his word for it) in 1958

8) Stockhausen achieved a unique fame in the 60s, evidenced by his appearance on the cover of the Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album in 1967 (his photo is top row, fifth from the left).


Text for Gesang der Jnglinge (Karlheinze Stockhausen1955-1956) -from the apocryphal Book of Daniel Preiset (Jubelt) den(m) Herrn, ihr Werke alles des Herrn O all ye works of the Lord lobt ihn und ber alles erhebt ihn in Ewigkeit. praise (exalt) ye the Lord above all for ever. Preiset den Herrn, ihr Engel des Herrn O ye angels of the Lord, praise ye the Lord preiset den Herrn, ihr Himmel droben. O ye heavens, praise ye the Lord. Preiset den Herrn, ihr Wasser alle, die ber den Himmeln sind O all ye waters that be above the heaven, praise ye the Lord preiset den Herrn, ihr Scharen alle des Herrn. O all ye hosts of the Lord, praise ye the Lord. Preiset den Herrn, Sonne und Mond O ye sun and moon, praise ye the Lord preiset den Herrn, des Himmels Sterne. O ye stars of heaven, praise ye the Lord. Preiset den Herrn, aller Regen und Tau O every shower and dew, praise ye the Lord preiset den Herrn, alle Winde. O all ye winds, praise ye the Lord. Preiset den Herrn, Feuer und Sommersglut O ye fire and heat, praise ye the Lord preiset den Herrn, Klte und starrer Winter. O ye cold and hard winter, praise ye the Lord. Preiset den Herrn, Tau und des Regens Fall O ye dew and fall of rain, praise ye the Lord preiset den Herrn, Eis und Frost. O ye ice and frost, praise ye the Lord. Preiset den Herrn, Reif und Schnee O ye hoar frost and snow, praise ye the Lord preiset den Herrn, Nchte und Tage. O ye nights and days, praise ye the Lord. Preiset den Herrn, Licht und Dunkel O ye light and darkness, praise ye the Lord preiset den Herrn, Blitze und Wolken. O ye lightning and clouds, praise ye the Lord.


Legeti. Lux Aeterna (1966) The following is paragraph is from Reginald Smith Brindle, The New Music (Oxford University Press, 1975), in the chapter on Vocal MusicThe New Choralism (p. 167, following a discussion of Ligitis Aventures (1962)): Fortunately, the extreme complications of such voice parts are less evident in choral music, though the general tendency is towards a complex sound produced by much subdivision of parts. As we shall see later with Berios Passaggio, the individuality of parts can be so extreme that only a total sound can be heard, without any single part being clearly audible. This characteristic haze of sound may be created in what could otherwise be quite simple muical situations, transforming them into apparently dense sound-masses. For example, Ligetis Lux Aeterna (1966), for sixteen-part mixed choir, is built on an essentially very sparse musical skeleton. The music begins as on page 168 [following], with a unison F above middle C. Other sounds are gradually introduced to form clusters, and the note-span spreads almost imperceptibly upwards to cover an octave on the A above middle C. From this point the music then spreads downwards until it ends an octave lower than the first F. The whole of this movement occupies eight-and-a-half minutesa considerable period for such an apparently elementary musical idea. But, of course, the music does not sound elementary at all. It seems to be suspended in time, fluctuating tenuously within small areas, the clusters gradually expanding and contracting almost imperceptibly. Note the metrical suspension, created by avoidance of the beat, and the subdivision of crochets into three, four, and five parts. The text Lux Aeterna (Eternal Light) is the communion from the Latin mass for the dead:

Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, cum Sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Let eternal light shine upon them, O Lord, with Thy saints forever, for Thou art merciful. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.

The beginning of the composition (womens voices) utilizes a 29-note series of pitches with much chromaticism. Each voice uses the same series, but the voices enter and change pitches at different times, to create chromatic clusters of pitches.

The first page of the score is shown on the following page.


Gyrgy Ligeti: Atmosphres (1961) Atmospheres is scored for the following instruments: 4 flutes (1-5 also piccolo) 4 oboes 4 clarinets (4th also clarinet Eb) 3 bassoons contrabassoon 6 horns 4 trumpets 4 trombones tuba piano (2 players if possible percussionists) 14 first violins 14 second violins 10 violas 10 violoncellos 8 contrabasses (1st, 2nd, and 3rd with fifth string) In contrast to Threnody, which used a great deal of graphic notation, Atmospheres is completely notated, almost entirely in traditional musical notation (the exception is the piano which is played with various brushes on the strings, by percussionists). Every instrument in the orchestra has its own parteven separate parts for each string instrumentand some pages of the score have as many as 88 staves. However, the overall effect is of a continuously evolving sound mass. It could almost be mistaken for an electronically produced composition. A reproduction of a page of the score is shown on the next page. We will bring the score to class for inspection. There will not be time to listen to all of these pieces all the way through. They will be available on the class web site as streaming file, and we urge you to listen to them.