On the Problem of Notation in Mixed Type Composition: From the Experience of Marco Stroppa

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu15.2022.301

Abstract

The evolutionary processes in the field of musical notation, which characterize the second half of the 20th century, reflected the main trend in the individualization of styles. The large-scale development of new instrumental techniques and technologies for synthesis and electronic sound processing stimulated the further development of a musical notation system as one of the means of visualizing a musical idea. Marco Stroppa, one of the leading composers of modern Europe, made significant developments in the field of graphic fixation of both new timbres and various aspects of the interaction of acoustic and electronic instruments within the framework of a mixed type composition. The interpenetration of the techniques of sound synthesis and instrumental writing as a special subject of Stroppa’s interest is reflected not only in his musical work, but also in his texts. The musicological literature in Russian about Stroppa is represented by the only article by the author of this publication, in which, for the first time, a number of aspects of Stroppa’s compositional method were analyzed using the example of the triptych “Traiettoria” for piano and computer-generated sounds, and the history of the birth of the piece was recreated. This publication focuses on the problem of notation in a mixed type composition and introduces into scientific use Stroppa’s compositional developments, implemented by him in the score “Traiettoria… deviate”, the first part of the “Traiettoria” cycle. The symbolic graphics of electronic sounds (“sound ‘objects’”) are considered, based on the composer’s commentary, such essential concepts for his workshop as a sound complex-“code”, temporal and frequency “staves” are characterized, examples of dynamic levels notation, pitch indication are presented as well as the schemes of the spatial disposition of the “synthetic orchestra” — a complex of multiple sound sources that organize the “spatial polyphony” of the piece.

Keywords:

Marco Stroppa, mixed type composition, musical notation, sound complex, time staff, pitch indication, spatial measurement, chamber electronics

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References

Литература

1. Mazzoli, Mario. “Emerging Musical Structures: A Method for the Transcription and Analysis of Electroacoustic Music”. PhD diss., The City University of New York, 2014.

2. Горбунова, Ирина. Музыкальный компьютер. СПб.: СМИО-Пресс, 2007.

3. Fox, Christopher. “Opening Offer or Contractual Obligation? On the Prescriptive Function of Notation in Music Today”. Tempo 68, no. 269 (2014): 6–19. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0040298214000023

4. Holmes, Thom. Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music and Culture. 6th ed. London: Taylor & Francis Group, 2020.

5. Pickles, Daren. “Musical Notation, Electronic Technology and Cybernetics; a Pragmatic Perspective”. ResearchGate. Accessed January 15, 2022. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263661672_Musical_Notation_Electronic_Technology_and_Cybernetics_a_Pragmatic_Perspective.

6. Леру, Филипп. “Модель модели в VOI(REX)”. Пер. Марианна Высоцкая. В изд. Композиторы современной Франции о музыке и музыкальной композиции: учебное пособие, ред.-сост. Владимир Тарнопольский, Марианна Высоцкая, Татьяна Цареградская, отв. ред. Марианна Высоцкая, 160‒76. М.: НИЦ “Московская консерватория”, 2020.

7. Strachan, Jeremy. “Canavangard, Udo Kasemets’s Trigon, and Marshall McLuhan: Graphic Notation in the Electronic Age”. Twentieth-Century Music 14, no. 2 (2017): 209–43. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1478572217000214

8. Barrett, G. Douglas, and Michael Winter. “LiveScore: Real-Time Notation in the Music of Harris Wulfson”. Contemporary Music Review 29, no. 1 (2010): 55–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/07494467.2010.509594

9. Freeman, Jason, and Andrew Colella. “Tools for Real-Time Music Notation”. Contemporary Music Review 29, no. 1 (2010): 101–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/07494467.2010.509599

10. Sallis, F., V. Bertolani, J. Burle, and L. Zattra, eds. Live Electronic Music. Composition, Performance, Study. London; New York: Routledge, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315776989

11. Stroppa, Marco. “Un orchestra synthétique: Remarques sur une notation personnelle”. In Le timbre: Métaphore pour la composition, ed. par Jean-Baptiste Barrière, 485‒538. Paris: I. R. C. A. M.; Christian Bourgois Éditeur, 1991. (Collection Musique / Passé / Présent).

12. Tiffon, Vincent, and Noémie Sprenger-Ohana. “Marco Stroppa’s Compositional Process and Scientific Knowledge Between 1980‒1991”. Accessed January 15, 2022. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01157107/document.

13. Высоцкая, Марианна. “‘Сочинять звук’: к проблеме музыкальной организации в ‘Traiettoria’ Марко Строппы”. Научный вестник Московской консерватории, no. 1/40 (2020): 36‒55. https://doi.org/10.26176/mosconsv.2020.40.1.003

14. Sprenger-Ohana, Noémie, and Vincent Tiffon. “Traiettoria, l’atelier dans l’atelier du compositeur Marco Stroppa”. Revue de musicology 98, no. 1 (2012): 193‒220.

15. Dautrey, Jehanne. “Entretien avec Marco Stroppa: Accorder musicalement un espace réel et un espace inventé”. Rue Descartes 2, no. 56 (2007): 70‒81. https://doi.org/10.3917/rdes.056.0070

16. Laurenzi, Carlo, and Marco Stroppa. “The Notation of Dynamic Levels in the Performance of Electronic Music”. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.923859

17. Trigueros, Francisco Castillo, and Rodrigo Tascón. “An Interview with Marco Stroppa”. Academia. Accessed December 12, 2021. https://www.academia.edu/8776854/An_Interview_with_Marco_Stroppa.

18. Trigueros, Francisco Castillo, and Rodrigo Tascón. “An Interview with Marco Stroppa”. Academia. Accessed December 12, 2021. https://www.academia.edu/8776854/An_Interview_with_Marco_Stroppa.

19. Stroppa, Marco. “Placement des instruments”. In Stroppa, Marco. Hommage à Gy. K.: per clarinetto, viola et pianoforte (1997‒2003 / rev. 2011): partitura. Milano: Ricordi, 2011.

Нотные издания

I. Stroppa, Marco. Traiettoria… deviata (da Traiettoria): per pianoforte e suoni generate dal computer (1982–1984): partitura. Milano: Ricordi, 2011, no. 133770

II. Stroppa, Marco. Hommage à Gy. K.: per clarinetto, viola et pianoforte (1997‒2003 / rev. 2011): partitura. Milano: Ricordi, 2011, no. 139241.

References

1. Mazzoli, Mario. “Emerging Musical Structures: A Method for the Transcription and Analysis of Electroacoustic Music”. PhD diss., The City University of New York, 2014.

2. Gorbunova, Irina. Music Compute. St Petersburg: SMIO-Press, 2007. (In Russian)

3. Fox, Christopher. “Opening Offer or Contractual Obligation? On the Prescriptive Function of Notation in Music Today”. Tempo 68, no. 269 (2014): 6–19. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0040298214000023

4. Holmes, Thom. Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music and Culture. 6th ed. London: Taylor & Francis Group, 2020.

5. Pickles, Daren. “Musical Notation, Electronic Technology and Cybernetics; a Pragmatic Perspective”. ResearchGate. Accessed January 15, 2022. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263661672_Musical_Notation_Electronic_Technology_and_Cybernetics_a_Pragmatic_Perspective.

6. Leroux, Philippe. “Model of the Model in VOI(REX)”. Rus. ed. Transl. by Marianna Vysotskaya. In Kompozitory sovremennoi Frantsii o muzyke i muzykal’noi kompozitsii: uchebnoe posobie, ed. and comp. by Vladimir Tarnopol’skii, Marianna Vysotskaia, Tat’iana Tsaregradskaia, executive ed. Marianna Vysotskaia, 160‒76. Moscow: NITs “Moskovskaia konservatoriia” Publ., 2020. (In Russian)

7. Strachan, Jeremy. “Canavangard, Udo Kasemets’s Trigon, and Marshall McLuhan: Graphic Notation in the Electronic Age”. Twentieth-Century Music 14, no. 2 (2017): 209–43. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1478572217000214

8. Barrett, G. Douglas, and Michael Winter. “LiveScore: Real-Time Notation in the Music of Harris Wulfson”. Contemporary Music Review 29, no. 1 (2010): 55–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/07494467.2010.509594

9. Freeman, Jason, and Andrew Colella. “Tools for Real-Time Music Notation”. Contemporary Music Review 29, no. 1 (2010): 101–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/07494467.2010.509599

10. Sallis, F., V. Bertolani, J. Burle, and L. Zattra, eds. Live Electronic Music. Composition, Performance, Study. London; New York: Routledge, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315776989

11. Stroppa, Marco. “Un orchestra synthétique: Remarques sur une notation personnelle”. In Le timbre: Métaphore pour la composition, ed. par Jean-Baptiste Barrière, 485‒538. Paris: I. R. C. A. M.; Christian Bourgois Éditeur, 1991. (Collection Musique / Passé / Présent).

12. Tiffon, Vincent, and Noémie Sprenger-Ohana. “Marco Stroppa’s Compositional Process and Scientific Knowledge Between 1980‒1991”. Accessed January 15, 2022. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01157107/document.

13. Vysotskaya, Marianna. “‘To Compose Sound’: To the Problem of Musical Organization in ‘Traietto- ria’ by Marco Stroppa”. Nauchnyi vestnik Moskovskoi konservatorii, no. 1/40 (2020): 36‒55. https://doi.org/10.26176/mosconsv.2020.40.1.003 (In Russian)

14. Sprenger-Ohana, Noémie, and Vincent Tiffon. “Traiettoria, l’atelier dans l’atelier du compositeur Marco Stroppa”. Revue de musicology 98, no. 1 (2012): 193‒220.

15. Dautrey, Jehanne. “Entretien avec Marco Stroppa: Accorder musicalement un espace réel et un espace inventé”. Rue Descartes 2, no. 56 (2007): 70‒81. https://doi.org/10.3917/rdes.056.0070

16. Laurenzi, Carlo, and Marco Stroppa. “The Notation of Dynamic Levels in the Performance of Electronic Music”. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.923859

17. Trigueros, Francisco Castillo, and Rodrigo Tascón. “An Interview with Marco Stroppa”. Academia. Accessed December 12, 2021. https://www.academia.edu/8776854/An_Interview_with_Marco_Stroppa.

18. Trigueros, Francisco Castillo, and Rodrigo Tascón. “An Interview with Marco Stroppa”. Academia. Accessed December 12, 2021. https://www.academia.edu/8776854/An_Interview_with_Marco_Stroppa.

19. Stroppa, Marco. “Placement des instruments”. In Stroppa, Marco. Hommage à Gy. K.: per clarinetto, viola et pianoforte (1997‒2003 / rev. 2011): partitura. Milano: Ricordi, 2011.

Musical Editions

I. Stroppa, Marco. Traiettoria… deviata (da Traiettoria): per pianoforte e suoni generate dal computer (1982–1984): partitura. Milano: Ricordi, 2011, no. 133770

II. Stroppa, Marco. Hommage à Gy. K.: per clarinetto, viola et pianoforte (1997‒2003 / rev. 2011): partitura. Milano: Ricordi, 2011, no. 139241.

Published

2022-09-22

How to Cite

Vysotskaya, M. S. (2022). On the Problem of Notation in Mixed Type Composition: From the Experience of Marco Stroppa. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Arts, 12(3), 414–431. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu15.2022.301

Issue

Section

Music