The Cantatas by Pierre Boulez in the Context of the Main Trends in the Development of Choral Composition of the 20th Century

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu15.2021.102

Abstract

The article focuses on Pierre Boulez’s choral style in the cantatas “Le visage nuptial” and “Le soleil des eaux”. The versions of these works, created over the course of almost 40 years (from 1951 to 1989), represent a complex of techniques in regard to texture and timbre, which, on the one hand, are a continuation of experiments by composers of the New Vienna School (A. Schönberg, A. Webern), and on the other hand, they preface a number of innovations in the choral style of Boulez’s contemporaries (L. Nono, L. Berio, K. Stockhausen, I. Xenakis). Evidence is provided in favor of the idea that Boulez’s choral works were the logical link between the vocal and choral opuses of the composers of the first and second Western European avant-garde. The article examines the peculiarities of the interaction between the verbal and musical series, the specifics of the textural organization of Boulez’s works, and systematizes the information about the timbre techniques used. Links are identified between the heterophonic presentation typical of Boulez’s choral works and the use of quarter tone notation, glissando reception, and various variants of speech singing (Sprechgesang). The connections between stereophonic effects in the music of Boulez and Nono are traced. An important place is occupied by the study of vocal sound recovery or “vocal emission” technologies (as defined by Boulez). The significance of Schönberg and Webern’s experience in the formulation of the technical foundations of Boulez’s choral timbres is stressed. Special attention is paid to the problem of “work in progress” as one of the defining features of the composer’s choral heritage. Comparing the works by Nono, Maderna, and Bulez, the author concludes the different reasons for which composers came to the concept of “opera aperta” (U. Eco).

Keywords:

Pierre Boulez, Arnold Schönberg, Anton Webern, René Char, Western European Avant Garde, choral music, choral texture, vocal timbres, work in progress, Sprechgesang

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Author Biography

Aleksandr S. Ryzhinskii, Gnesins’ Russian Academy of Music

Dr. Habil. in Arts, Professor

References

Литература

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References

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3. Peyser, Joan. Boulez: Composer, Conductor, Enigma. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1976.

4. Eko, Umberto. The Open Work: Form and Uncertainty in Modern Poetics. Rus. ed. Transl. by A. Shurbelev. St. Petersburg: Akademicheskii prospekt Publ., 2004. (In Russian)

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11. Zeller, Hans Rudolf. “Le Visage Nuptial”. In Pierre Boulez, Hrsg. Heinz-Klaus Metzger und Rainer Riehn, 76–90. München: Edition Text+Kritik, 1995. (Musik-Konzepte, Heft 89/90).

12. Zeller, Hans Rudolf. “Von einer (zeitweiligen) Korrespondenz”. In Pierre Boulez, Hrsg. Heinz-Klaus Metzger und Rainer Riehn, 154–70. München: Edition Text+Kritik, 1995. (Musik-Konzepte, Heft 89/90).

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14. Alwes, Chester L. A History of Western Choral Music. 2 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016, vol. 2.

15. Campbell, Edward. Boulez, Music and Philosophy. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 2010. (Music in the Twentieth Century, bk. 27).

16. Campbell, Edward. “Pierre Boulez: Composer, Traveler, Correspondent”. In Pierre Boulez Studies, eds Edward Campbell and Peter O’Hagan, 3–24. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.

17. Goldman, Jonathan. The Musical Language of Pierre Boule: Writings and Compositions. London: Cambridge University Press, 2011. (Music since 1900).

18. Cadieu, Martine. Pierre Boulez. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, S.A., 1977.

19. Petruseva, Nadezhda, “The King of the Left Era. Remembering the Composer and Conductor Pierre Boulez”, Muzykal’noe obozrenie, March 28, 2016. Accessed December 31, 2019. http://muzobozrenie.ru/korol-ushedshej-e-pohi/. (In Russian)

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Published

2021-03-24

How to Cite

Ryzhinskii, A. S. (2021). The Cantatas by Pierre Boulez in the Context of the Main Trends in the Development of Choral Composition of the 20th Century. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Arts, 11(1), 21–38. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu15.2021.102

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2021)

Section

Music

License

Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Arts" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.