Music 680, Fall 2005: Special Topics in Music Theory - Algorithmic Composition
Lecture 4: October 3, 2005 - serialism II: Boulez

Boulez, serialism, and complexity
	"Schoenberg Is Dead"
		"The last point of equilibrium, opus 23 clearly is the inauguration of serial writing, into which
			the fifth piece - a waltz - introduces us: each of us may be permitted to meditate on that 
			very 'expressionistic' meeting of the first dodecaphonic composition with a type-product of
			German romanticism ('Prepare oneself for it by serious immobilities,' Satie might have 
			said)."
		perceived conflict between tonal forms/conventions (including thematics) & serial technique
			though note that these issues are still in play in the 2nd Sonata
		"The confusion between theme and series is explicit enough to show his impotence to foresee
			the sound-world that the series demands."
		Boulez' teleological view of history at the time....
		"Every composer outside the serial experiments has been useless."	

	Structures Ia
		Boulez' insistence on the composer's hand:
			"Thus the global serial structure may be seen from a double point of view: on the one hand
			the activity of serial combination, with structures produced by the automatism of numerical
			relations; on the other hand, directed and interchangeable combination, where arbitrary
			choice plays a much larger role.  The two ways of regarding the musical structure can
			obviously provide an extremely effective dialectic of musical development."
		borrowing from Cage the notion of generalizing the series:
			"It is obvious that in terms of rhythm, one can use rhythmic possibilities."
		Ligeti's analysis
			the row form borrowed from Mode de valeurs et d'intensities
			the fixity of pitch relative to rhythm and especially dynamics
			two pianos as an acoustic necessity
				two bundles of serial threads proceeding independently
				rapid decay permitting sophisticated pointilistic textures
			forty-eight serial threads
				one for each transposition and form of the initial series (for both pitch and duration)
				each thread is "homogenous in its dynamics and modes of attack"
				combined into "bundles" of one, two, or three simultaneous threads per piano
					for a total vertical density from one to six threads
				and distributed in fourteen total sections
			Ligeti notes Boulez' deviations from the serial plan:
				"An exaggeration of serial thought would here establish a series of degrees of error:
					1. fautless;
					2. quite small deviation (the dynamic alterations);
					3. rather more radical deviation (interchange of modes of attack);
					4. very radical deviation (disturbance of the course of the durations).
					But such 'error-series' could only be functionally evaluated if they were built into
					the overall architecture in a truly organic way - which is not the case here."
			organizing patterns
				thread-density; tempo; movements towards certain types of serial combination
			choices left to the composer
				register: intended to avoid octave relationships where possible
					(which becomes a major constraint in dense areas)
					also preferring note-repetitions as a kind of structural "knot"
			commentary
				"So the 'poor old serialist' is no more a captive than the tonal composer chained to his
					cadences; now as ever, the vital thing is how far, and in what way, one can tug at 
					one's chains."
				"The adding together of regular processes gives a wholly irregular result, of very 
					elegant flexibility."
				"This ascetic attitude, akin to compulsion neurosis, is self-limitation from choice - as if
					the composer were taking himself for a walk on the end of a lead; yet Boulez had
					to break away from it, in order to throw himself into something completely opposed
					(but internally related). And so he created the sensual feline world of the Marteau."

	Boulez' critique of Feldman and Cage
		noting in "Alea" the pure rationalism and pure indeterminacy are sides of the same coin
		but trying to retain indeterminacy in the form of interpretation
			whether in composition, where the intuititive can take on "lived necessity" over time
				and thus extending Ligeti's "decision - automatism - decision" structure recursively
				surprise and discovery as features of the compositional process
			or in performance
				"that research, which, in my view, can concentrate on the necessity of destroying
					every kind of immanent structure"
				generalized rubato; but implied/directed by the composer, not imposed by the player
				aleatoric form not as generalized but as particular bifurcations and decision points
				Boulez' own increasing role as an interpreter....

	Le Marteau sans maitre
		and the generalization of serial technique beyond analyzability
		addressing the parenthetical form through interlocking cycles rather than through aleatorics
		as a response to Pierrot Lunaire

more complex serialism in Scheme
	logical propositions
		(and)
		(or)
		(not)