Composition 3

MUH 2026

Boulez - Le Marteau Sans Maitre

Grove article on Boulez (APU campus only).

Introduction to serialism

• Boulez is recognized as a major figure in international composition since the war.
• He studied with Messiaen.
• He founded IRCAM in Paris with the help of the French government.
• Has for many years been a French cultural icon.
• Pieces like Structures rigorously intregrally serial:

  ‘Any musician who has not felt ... the necessity of the dodecaphonic language is OF NO USE (‘Eventuellement ...’, 1952, in Boulez, 1966)

• Le Marteau is said to be serial but it is very difficult to work this out from the music.
  Is it important?
• Le Marteau also has the reputation for being very difficult music.
• Stravinsky said in the sixties that in a few years many people will be playing this music - that is that technical and musical understanding will increase. Is this true and why?

...Le Marteau sans Maitre (1954) was widely hailed as a masterpiece of post-war serialism. Yet nobody could figure out, much less hear, how the piece was serial. From hints in Boulez (1963), Koblyakov (1977) at last determined

Boulez, P. (1963). Penser la musique aujourd'hui. Schott, Mainz. (Tr. 1971 by S Bradshaw and R.R.Bennett. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.)

References

Structure

Unlike Boulez's earlier settings of Char's poetry, Le marteau sans maître is scored for a small ensemble; its contralto soloist is complemented only by alto flute, xylorimba, vibraphone, percussion, guitar and viola. Char's three poems are embedded in a nine-movement structure of interlacing settings and related instrumental movements. Recalling the cellular style of late Webern, Boulez cultivated a certain rhythmic monotony, emphasized by his use of the percussion in some of the movements. This is offset by abrupt tempo transitions, passages of broadly improvisatory melodic style, and - not least of all - the fascination of exotic instrumental colouring, underlining the work's basically static conception. Grove

• [m1] - avant l'artisanat furieux
• [m3] - l'artisanat furieux
• [m7] - apres l'artisanat furieux
  
  
• [m2] - commentaire 1 de bourreaux de solitude
• [m4] - commentaire 2 de bourreaux de solitude
• [m6] - bourreaux de solitude
• [m8] - commentaire 3 de bourreaux de solitude
  
  
• [m5] - bel edifice et les pressentiments 1
• [m9] - bel edifice et les pressentiments 2

Relationships with other music...

• [m1] - avant l'artisanat furieux
• [m2] - commentaire 1 de bourreaux de solitude
• [m3] - l'artisanat furieux
• [m4] - commentaire 2 de bourreaux de solitude
• [m5] - bel edifice et les pressentiments 1
• [m6] - bourreaux de solitude
• [m7] - apres l'artisanat furieux
• [m8] - commentaire 3 de bourreaux de solitude
• [m9] - bel edifice et les pressentiments 2

The poems

III "l'artisanat furieux"

La roulotte rouge au bord du clou
Et cadavre dans le panier
Et chevaux de labours dans le fer a cheval
Je revela tete sur la pointe de mon couteau le Perou

V "bel edifice et les pressentiments" version premiere

J'ecoute marcher dans mes jambes la mer morte vagues par dessus
Enfant la jetee promenade sauvage
Homme l'illusion imitee
Des yeux purs dans les bois cherchent en pleurant latete habitable

VI "bourreaux de solitude"

sur te cadran de l'Imitation
Le Balancier lancier lance sa charge de granit reflexe

IX "bel edifice et les pressentiments" double

J'ecoute marcher dans mes jambes la mer morte vagues par dessus tete
Enfant la jetee promenade sauvage
Homme l'llusion imitee
Des yeux purs dans les bois cherchent en pleurant la tete habitable.

Examples:

Boulez Techniques

Typical Boulez techniques (in Le Marteau) include:

• The use of fragments separated by pauses;
• The use of textures rather than explicit melodies or harmonies;
• The juxtaposition of very fluid rhythmic ideas as opposed to very rigid metronomic pulses;
• The rather controversial use of serial techniques. It's controversial as Boulez has refused to reveal the serial 'explanation' of the piece;
• The use of exotic instrumental colours.

Other Works

You may be interested in listening to the following pieces available in the library:

• Piano Sonata No 1
• Structures Pour Deux Pianos
• Eclat for 15 instruments (1965)
• Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna (1974/5)
• Notations (1-4) for orchestra
• Multiples for 25 instruments

Influences on...

The most obvious influence is probably Messiaen. Clearly, though, apart from the western tradition, Boulez has maintained a keen ear open to developments in electroacoustics by Stockhausen, etc. He stalwartly maintains the position that while his music is difficult, it is up to the audience to 'keep up' with him.

Influences of...

Awaiting material.