Colloque – Boulez : l’invention au pouvoir ? Les années 1975-1995 – Spirals in the Harmonic and Formal Structure of Répons

Pierre-Michel MengerCollège de FranceAnnée 2023-2024Sociologie du travail créateurColloque - Boulez : l'invention au pouvoir ? Les années 1975-1995 - Spirals in the Harmonic and Formal Structure of RéponsSession 3 : Spirales, dérives, fragments : le style compositionnel des années 1980Intervenant :Catherine LosadaProfessor of Music Theory, University of CincinnattiColloque organisé pour le centenaire de la naissance de Pierre Boulez par le Pr Pierre-Michel Menger, chaire Sociologie du travail créateur, et Nicolas Donin, professeur de musicologie à l'université de Genève.Avec le soutien de la Fondation du Collège de France et de son grand mécène LVMH.RésuméA landmark work, Pierre Boulez's Répons (1980-82) was written to showcase the technological potential of IRCAM, the Parisian Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music that Boulez founded in 1977. This piece, like many others, was considered a work-in-progress at the time of the composer's death in 2016. Existing associated scholarship for the most part builds on Boulez's commentary, which encompasses the five chords that generate the first two sections of the work and the concept of a spiral. On the aesthetic level, the spiral clearly illustrates the idea of a constantly evolving, unfinished work (DiPietro 2000), but Boulez's explanation of how it applies to the musical materials is somewhat vague "Répons is a set of variations in which the material is arranged is such a way that it revolves around itself" (Derrien 1988). In this paper, I will show how the model of a spiral is essential to the conception of this piece in two additional ways, one at a technical, pitch generation level, the other a larger formal level. In this way, I will elucidate interesting aspects of the harmonic structure of the piece, its overall form, and their relationship to Boulez's broader aesthetic outlook.The third version of Répons (1984) consists of an introduction, eight sections and a coda. An early version of the piece (1981) ended after the fourth section. My paper will comment on the evolving quality of Boulez's works by examining the relationship between section four and the immediately ensuing section—added in the following version (1982) (Jameux, 1989). The material for both sections is based on a chord that presents the SACHER hexagram in a precise registral disposition. Common to many of Boulez's later works, the use of this hexagram constitutes an homage to Boulez's benefactor, Paul Sacher. Although several sources note the importance of the hexagram for this piece, none explain its precise function. Boulez uses this chord as a basis for a fascinating technique (Example 1) that is related to, but distinct from techniques he used previously in his career, a spiral-like adaptation of a rotational array. The spiraling process creates precise registral invariances illustrated by the fixed boundary pitches and the arrows shown on the sketch. I will show how the array generates the instrumental material (discussed in Williams 1994, Tissier 2011) as well as the superimposed recorded material (the "wallpaper") for section four. Significantly, the material for the fifth section is based on a retrograde reworking of this material. This is the essence behind the formal concept of a spiral: a new, intensified cycling through materials that are related at a deep level. Finally, I will show how Boulez's application of this array creates a background pitch organization with a flexibility that successfully addresses the main challenge he sought to resolve in this piece: that of maintaining the vitality of live performance in a work that includes recorded materials (Boulez 1985). This was one of the most striking and influential aspects of this work.RéférencesBoulez, Pierre. 1985. "Pierre Boulez: Über Répons: ein Interview mit Josef Häusler." InTeilton. Schriftenreihe der Heinrich-Strobel-Stiftung des Südwestfunks. Ed. Josef Häusler. Kassel: Bärenreiter: 7-14.Boulez, Pierre. 2005. "The System and the Idea." In Pierre Boulez Music Lessons : The Collège de France Lectures. Ed. Jonathan Dunsby, Jonathan Goldman and Arnold Whittall. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Originally published as "Le Système et l'idée." In InHarmoniques 1 (1986) : 62-104.Boulez, Pierre and Andrew Gerzso. 1988. "Computers in Music." Scientific American 258.4: 44-51.