Le 28 juin 2017
de 16h00 à 17h00
Le Patio (université de Strasbourg)
22 rue René Descartes, 67000 Strasbourg
salle 3206
Séance - Bridging the Twentieth Century: Stravinsky, Varèse, and Boulez
Pré-acte / Acte
Auteur : Catherine Losada
Commentators on Boulez’s music, from early ones (e.g. Bradshaw and Bennett 1963, Rosen 1986) to recent (e.g. Edwards 2006, Campbell 2010, Goldman 2011, Losada 2014), have noted Stravinsky’s influence on Boulez’s approach to form. The composer himself motivated this line of commentary through numerous references to Stravinsky’s formal techniques (e.g. Boulez [1983, 1988, 1989] 2005). Although this influence has been shown to have important ramifications in the realm of structure, for example, in the “dialogue of oppositions” that Goldman considers essential to Boulez’s late works, the way in which it manifests in Boulez’s compositional process has not been addressed in detail.
This paper sheds light on the central role of Stravinsky’s influence on Boulez’s compositional process. It presents two sketches from Domaines (2nd version, 1968) that relate to one another such that one could be derived from the other through a straightforward application of Stravinsky’s cut and paste techniques (Nabokov 1951, Horlacher 2001, Carr 2002). Extending beyond previous scholarship, it discusses the way Boulez adapted this approach to move away from simple juxtaposition (including straightforward repetition) and towards contrasts incorporating continuous development. In Boulez’s music, straightforward and complex passages are subsumed within orthogonal perceptible, large-scale juxtapositions. These are defined by tempo, texture, rhythm, dynamics and expressive content, as well as inner qualities revealed by examination of the harmonic language, a central focus of the analysis. Applying transformational theory, the analysis explains the correlation of the harmonic content with these other musical parameters and its implications in terms of formal function.
