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Pierre Boulez

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Pierre Boulez <tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3">Image:Boulez.jpg
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Background information

<tr><td>Birth name</td><td colspan="2">Pierre Boulez</td></tr><tr><td>Born</td><td colspan="2">March 26 1925</td></tr><tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Montbrison, France</td></tr><tr><td>Occupation(s)</td><td colspan="2">Composer and Conductor</td></tr>

Pierre Boulez (IPA: /pjɛʁ.buˈlɛz/) (born March 26, 1925) is a composer and conductor of contemporary classical music.

Contents

[edit] Life and music

[edit] Early years

Boulez was born in Montbrison, France. He initially studied mathematics at Lyon before pursuing music at the Paris Conservatoire under Olivier Messiaen and Andrée Vaurabourg (Arthur Honegger's wife). He studied twelve-tone technique with René Leibowitz and went on to write atonal music in a post-Webernian serial style. The first fruits of this were his cantatas Le visage nuptial and Le soleil des eaux for female voices and orchestra (both composed in the late forties and revised several times since), as well as the Second Piano Sonata of 1948, a well-received 32-minute work that Boulez composed at the age of 23. Thereafter, Boulez was influenced by Messiaen's research to extend twelve-tone technique beyond the realm of pitch organization, serialising durations, dynamics, accents, and so on. This technique became known as integral serialism. Boulez quickly became one of the philosophical leaders of the post-war movement in the arts towards greater abstraction and experimentation. Many composers of Boulez's generation taught at the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt, Germany. The so-called Darmstadt School composers were instrumental in creating a style that, for a time, existed as an antidote to music of nationalist fervor; an international, even cosmopolitan style, a style that could not be 'co-opted' as propaganda in the way that the Nazis used, for example, the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. Boulez was in contact with many young composers who would become influential, including John Cage.

[edit] Serialism

Boulez's totally serialized, punctual works included Polyphonie X (1951; withdrawn) for 18 instruments, and Structures, book I for two pianos. The latter work was quite successful, and seems to sum up the feelings of zero hour in Europe during the early 50s.[verification needed] Structures was also a turning point for Boulez. As one of the most visible totally serialized works, it became a lightning rod for various kinds of criticism. György Ligeti, for example, published an article that examined its patterns of durations, dynamics, pitch, and attack types in great detail, concluding that its "ascetic attitude" is "akin to compulsion neurosis", and that Boulez "had to break away from it. . . . And so he created the sensual feline world of the 'Marteau'" (Ligeti 1960, 62). These criticisms, combined with what Boulez felt was a lack of expressive flexibility in the language, as he outlined in his essay "At the Limit of Fertile Land..." had already led Boulez to refine his compositional language. He loosened the strictness of his total serialism into a more supple and strongly gestural music, and did not publicly reveal much about these techniques, which limited further discussion. His first venture into this new kind of serialism was a work for 12 solo voices titled Oubli signal lapidé (1952), but it was withdrawn after a single performance. (Its material was reused in the 1970 composition Cummings ist der Dichter (Hopkins & Griffiths 2006)).

[edit] Le marteau sans maître

Boulez's strongest achievement in this method is his masterpiece Le marteau sans maître for ensemble and voice, from 1953-1957, one of the few works of advanced music from the fifties to remain in the repertoire. Le marteau was a surprising and revolutionary synthesis of many different streams in modern music, as well as seeming to encompass the sound worlds of modern jazz, the Balinese Gamelan, traditional African musics, and traditional Japanese musics. It seemed to be powerfully relevant and earth-shatteringly cosmopolitan, and it was hailed by diverse musicians, including Igor Stravinsky. At that time, Boulez seemed to control the modern musical discourse. Boulez described one of his innovations, called "pitch multiplication", in several articles, most importantly in the chapter "Musical Technique" in Boulez 1971. It was Lev Koblyakov, however, who first described its presence in the three "L'Artisanat furieux" movements of Le Marteau sans maître in a 1977 article, and in his 1981 doctoral thesis (published as Koblyakov 1990). However, an explanation of the processes themselves was not made until Heinemann 1993. Other techniques used in the "Bourreaux de solitude" cycle were first described by Ulrich Mosch (1997), and elaborated in Mosch 2004.

[edit] Experimentation

After Le marteau sans maître, Boulez began to strengthen the position of the music post-WWI modern composers through conducting and advocacy. He also begins to consider new avenues in his own work. With Pli selon pli for orchestra with solo soprano, he began to work with an idea of improvisation and open-endedness. He considered how the conductor might be able to 'improvise' on vague notations, such as the fermata, and how the players might 'improvise' on irrational durations, such as grace notes. In addition, he worked with the idea of leaving the specific ordering of movements or sections of music open to be chosen for a particular night of a performance, an idea related to the polyvalent form of Karlheinz Stockhausen. Interestingly, though the two works sound similar today, and certainly represent the same impeccable craft, Pli selon pli was not received as well as Le marteau. This is perhaps more of a cultural barometer than a reflection on the work itself. During the time that Boulez was testing these new ideas, those colleagues who had never been entirely comfortable with the prominence of a rigorous musical language, such as György Ligeti, had brought a convincing musical counter argument to Boulez's musical ideals. In a poetic twist, Boulez had moved from peerless respect for Le marteau sans maître, meaning "the hammer without master", to seeming defeat with Pli selon pli ("Fold upon fold"), which sets a Stéphane Mallarmé poem about the tripping impotence of a swan, unable to take flight from a frozen lake.

[edit] "Controlled chance"

From the 1950s, beginning with the Third Piano Sonata (1955–57/63), Boulez experimented with what he called "controlled chance" and he developed his views on aleatoric music in the articles "Aléa" (1957) and "Sonate, que me veux-tu?" (1960). His use of chance, which he would later employ in compositions like Eclat (1965), Domaines (1961–68) and Rituel in Memoriam Bruno Maderna (1974–75) is very different from that in the works of, for example, John Cage. While in Cage's music the performers are often given the freedom to improvise and create completely unforeseen sounds, with the object of removing the composer's intention from the music, in works by Boulez they only get to choose between possibilities that have been written out in detail by the composer—a method that is often described as "mobile form".

[edit] 1970s

Boulez's output since the late 1970s has been of a different kind since the early works that brought him to initial prominence. After a rapid succession of explosive works, such as the three cantatas on poetry by René Char, the first two piano sonatas, and other chamber music, compositions have tended to be contemplated and expanded over a long period of time, during which they were performed in various stages of development. ...explosante-fixe..., now resembling a flute concerto with electronics, was first published in 1971 as a sketch in the journal Tempo as a memorial tribute to Stravinsky, then worked out in various versions, including one for mixed octet with electronics performed in 1973. Eclat/Multiples has remained a large fragment, and Dérive II (1988/2002/2006) and Répons (1980/82/84) have been performed in various stages of development. The desire to expand unrealized possibilities has also lead Boulez to create related works in series. His early twelve miniatures for piano, Notations (1945), has, since the 1970s, been in the process of being expanded as an orchestral cycle. To date, at least seven movements have been completed. The material contained in Anthèmes for solo violin, itself once expanded, was later worked out as an extended composition for violin and electronics Anthèmes 2. Boulez now plans to further realize the material's implications as a violin concerto. Incises, a short work for solo piano, has since exploded into Sur Incises for three percussion groups in two very extended movements.

[edit] Electronic music

After the 1960s, in which he had produced little, Boulez began to turn back to the electronic medium and to large extended works. Although unsatisfied with the products of his work with tape in the 1950s (Two Studies, Poésie pour pouvoir) he began to explore the possibilities of live electronic sound manipulation. His first attempt was the 1973 version of ...explosant/fixe... However, at around this time president Georges Pompidou began to discuss with Boulez the possibility of creating an institute for the exploration and development of modern music where there would be a chance to explore the medium seriously. This was to become IRCAM. At IRCAM, Boulez created an environment where composers would have at hand the best performers available, and where the most advanced technology and computer scientists would be at their serviceclassical electronic music and computer music. Boulez now began to explore the use of electronic sound transformation in real time. Previously electronic music had to be recorded to tape, which thus 'fixed' it. The temporal aspect of any live music making in which it played a part had to be coordinated with the tape exactly. Boulez found this impossibly restrictive. Now at IRCAM, he composed Répons, for six instrumental groups, chamber orchestra, and electronics. With the assistance of Andrew Gerzso Boulez fashioned a work in which the computer captured the resonance and spatialization of sounds created by the ensemble and process them in real time.

[edit] Recent years

Today, Boulez was and is one of the leaders of the post-World War II musical modernism. His compositions have enriched musical culture, and his advocacy of modern and postmodern music has been decisive for many. Boulez continues to conduct and compose as of 2006. From 1976-1995, Boulez held the Chair in "Invention, technique et langage en musique" at the prestigious Collège de France. In 2002 he was awarded the prestigious Glenn Gould Prize for his contributions.

[edit] Boulez as a conductor

Boulez is also a world-famous conductor, having directed most of the world's leading symphony orchestras and ensembles since the late fifties. He served both as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1971-1975, and Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from 1971-1977. He is currently the Conductor Emeritus of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Boulez is particularly famed for his polished interpretations of twentieth century classics - Claude Debussy, Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, Anton Webern and Edgard Varèse - as well as for numerous performances of contemporary music. Clarity, precision, rhythmic agility and a respect for the composers' intentions as notated in the musical score are the hallmarks of his conducting style. In 1984 he collaborated with Frank Zappa and conducted the Ensemble Intercontemporain, who performed three of Zappa's pieces. He never uses a baton, conducting with his hands alone. His nineteenth century repertoire focuses upon Ludwig van Beethoven, Hector Berlioz, Robert Schumann and especially Richard Wagner.

However, he has been much criticized, even by members of the orchestra, for his concentration on modern repertoire at the expense of neglecting the music of the great masters. In his 1981 volume of compilation of reviews from the New York Times, Facing the Music, critic Harold C. Schonberg includes a column in which he details how unhappy some members of the orchestra were with Boulez during his tenure.

[edit] Boulez as a writer

Boulez is also an articulate, perceptive and sweeping writer on music. Some articles - notably the notorious "Schoenberg is Dead," (1952) were deliberately provocative and veered towards polemic. Others dealt with questions of technique and aesthetics in a deeply reflective if sometimes elliptical manner. These writings have mostly been republished under the titles Stocktakings from an Apprenticeship, Orientations: Collected Writings, and Boulez on Music Today, as well as in the journal of the Darmstadt composers of the time, Die Reihe.

[edit] Selected list of compositions

Main article: List of compositions by Pierre Boulez

[edit] References

  • Pierre Boulez. Boulez on Music Today. Translated by Susan Bradshaw and Richard Rodney Bennett. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1971.
  • ———. Orientations: Collected Writings. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press,1981. ISBN 0-674-64376-3
  • Paul Griffiths. Modern Music and After: Directions Since 1945. London: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-19-816511-0.
  • Stephen Heinemann. "Pitch-Class Set Multiplication in Boulez's Le Marteau sans maître. D.M.A. diss., University of Washington, 1993.
  • ———. "Pitch-Class Set Multiplication in Theory and Practice." Music Theory Spectrum 20/1 (Spring 1998): 72-96.* Dominque Jameux. Pierre Boulez. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-674-66740-9
  • Hopkins, G. W., and Paul Griffiths. 2006. "Pierre Boulez", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 13 November 2006)
  • Lev Koblyakov. "P. Boulez Le marteau sans maître: Analysis of Pitch Structure". Zeitschrift für Musiktheorie 8/1 (1977): 24-39.
  • ———. "The World of Harmony of Pierre Boulez: Analysis of Le marteau sans maître. Ph.D. diss., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1981.
  • ———. Pierre Boulez: A World of Harmony. Chur: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1990.
  • Ligeti, György. 1960. "Pierre Boulez: Decision and Automatism in Structure Ia." Die Reihe 4 (Young Composers): 36-62. (Translated from the original German edition of 1958.)
  • Ulrich Mosch. "Wahrnehmungsweisen serieller Musik." Musiktheorie 12 (1997): 61–70.
  • ———. Musikalisches Hören serieller Musik: Untersuchungen am Beispiel von Pierre Boulez' 'Le Marteau sans maître'. Saarbrücken: Pfau-Verlag, 2004. ISBN 3-89727-253-9.
  • Joan Peyser. Boulez: Composer, Conductor, Enigma. New York: Schirmer Books, 1976.

[edit] External links

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Preceded by:
Colin Davis 		Chief Conductor, BBC Symphony Orchestra
1971–1976 		Succeeded by:
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George Szell (music advisor) 		Music Director, New York Philharmonic
1971–1978 		Succeeded by:
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1976–1978 		Succeeded by:
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