AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
AS Level Music Unit 3: Developing musical understanding
Vocal music 2011
Luciano Berio S e q u e n z a I I I
A guide for students
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
Developing Developing musical understand understanding ing works for 2011 .... 3 Instrumental music mus ic .................. .............................. ................... ................ ..................... ................... ................. ............ .. 3 Vocal music .................... ............................... .................. ................. ................... ................ ................... ..................... .............. ..... 3 About this document...................... document................................ ................... .................. ..................... ................... .............. ....... 3 The exam .................. ........................... ................ ................... ..................... ................... ................... ................... ................... ......... 4
Luciano Luciano Berio ............. ...................... .................. ................ .............. ............... ................ ........ 5 Performance Performance instructions instructions for Sequenza III ................ ................ 6 The poem ................ ......................... ................ .............. .............. ................ .................. ............ ... 7 The Twentieth Twentieth Century in context context ................ ....................... .............. ....... 8 Italian futurism .............. ....................... .................. .................. .................. ................. ........ 9 The development of music notation in the Twentieth Century ............. ...................... .................. ............... ............... ................. ................. .............. ..... 10 Sequenza III score conventions.................. co nventions............................ ................. ................ .................. ............ ... 11 Other examples of experimental score notation ..................... ............................... .......... 12
Sequenzas and Chemins ................. .......................... ................ .............. .......... ... 14 Indeterminacy.............. Indeterminacy..................... ................ ................ ................ .................. ............ ... 16 Bars and metre.................... metre............................. ................ ................ .................. ............ ... 17 Vocal technique technique and pitch pitch ................. .......................... ................. .............. ...... 20 Text .................... ............................. ................ ................... ..................... ................ ................. ...................... ...................... .............. .... 21
Structure Structure & text ................ ......................... ................ ............... ................. ............... ...... 22 Overall structure......... structure ..................... ..................... ................ ................. ...................... ................... ................ .............. ..... 25
Thematicism Thematicism ............... ........................ ................. .............. ............... .................. .............. ..... 26 YouTube YouTube links...... links ............. ................ .................. ................ .............. ............... .............. ...... 28
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
Developing musical understanding works for 2011 Instrumental music Bach Sarabande & Gigue from Partita in D Haydn String Quartet The Joke, movement 4 Webern Quartet Op. 22, movement 1 Tippett Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Vocal music Dowland Flow my tears Bruckner Locus iste Gershwin Summertime Berio S e q u e n za I I I for female voice
Cliff You can get it if you really want Gallagher Don’t look back in anger
About this document This document is designed to support the study of AS Level Music (edexcel) Unit 3 Developing musical understanding, Vocal Music. The guide is available at www.nickredfern.co.uk and is produced in conjunction with student workbooks, PowerPoint documents and other related material. I have tried not to include detail which is extraneous to the exam, such as dates and biographical detail, analysis of text, etc. For
further
information
or
enquiries
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
The exam There are two questions which relate to the set works which are constant in format.
Part B: Investigating Musical Styles
(b) Vocal Music
(i) Describe the stylistic features of XXXXX (one of the set works) which show that this is an example of XXXXX (style/period/era) (10)
(ii) Compare and contrast the XXXXX and XXXXX (two compositional devices: harmony, tonality, melody, structure, vocal writing, texture and word setting) of XXXXX and XXXXX (two different set works) (18)
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
Luciano Berio Luciano Berio was born in Italy October 24 th, 1925 and died in May 27 th, 2003. He was one of the prominent group of young European composers to emerge in the 1950s and 10960s along with Stockhausen, Boulez, Kagel, Xenakis and Nono.
He was a prolific and highly individual composer who wrote works for all genres but like many great Italian composers the greater part of his work involved writing for the voice. Although ostensibly an avant-garde composer his
work
embraces
many
styles
and
genres
including
folk
song
arrangements, works for theatre and even composing an ending for Puccini’s Opera Turandot .
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
Performance instructions for Sequenza III
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
The poem
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
The Twentieth Century in context These dates are approximate!
1880 - 1900 Development of harmonic language. Use of extended chords, highly
chromatic
music
and
the
non-resolution
of
dissonance
( the
emancipation of the dissonance)
1900 – 1916 Development of atonal music language and birth of serial technique 1912 Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. The birth of Music Theatre (not musical theatre)
1940s The birth of Musique Concrète and Electronic Music 1950 – 1960s Extension of serial technique to multi-serial music where other parameters such as rhythm, dynamics and articulation were subject to strict order 1950s The first application of aleatoric (chance) principles in music 1950s – 1970s The development of rhythmic complexity 1960 – 1970s The development of musical notation to accommodate new realms of expression
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
Italian futurism This movement was launched by the poet and writer Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909. The movement encompassed many artistic genres, one of which was poetry. The poetic style involved the representation of text in a highly idiosyncratic form which would suggest an animated and highly dramatic rendition. Any aspects of conventional grammar were disregarded in order to create the effect a continuous outburst of though.
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III Although Berio’s work makes no specific reference to the wok of Marinetti (Berio would often quote other composer’s material) I do feel it is important to be aware that the language of Sequenza III is not without precedent.
The development of music notation in the Twentieth Century The standard musical notational convention informs the musician on specific aspects of a musical performance. These are traditionally:
1. Pitch 2. Duration 3. Dynamics 4. Key and metre 5. Articulation 6. Tempo 7. Performance guide
2 6
3 1
4 5 7
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
Sequenza III score conventions 1. Pitch.
Here pitch is approximate but is still defined by its vertical
positioning, that is high positioning = high pitch, low positioning = low pitch. 2. Duration.
Duration is approximate but in proportion in accordance
with its horizontal positioning, which is how traditional duration is represented. 3. Dynamics.
These are implied by the descriptive terms, such as
urgent and tense muttering 4. Key and metre.
There is no key or traditional metric convention.
Each bar, however, represents 10 seconds which is a metric convention adopted by many composers in the 1960s. 5. Articulation. Here Berio has devised an array of detailed articulations 6. Tempo. Tempo is defined in seconds. And there are clearly passages
which move an differing tempi (see Overall Structure) 7. Performance
guide.
There are many verbal indications, or
descriptions, above the score
Figure 1 Berio Sequenza III second measure
So Berio is not straying too far from any traditional application of notational principles.
He simply has to extend or modify notation to accommodate 11 © Nick Redfern www.nickredfern.co.uk Contact:
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III performance requirements that are not addressed in traditional scoring practice. Clearly the influence of music theatre (not musical theatre) has required Berio
to
develop
the
notational
principles
which
would
allow
the
choreography of physical movements and articulations which are not accommodated by traditional notation. The influence of Electronic Music is also evident both in the style, structure and gestural language of the music. Berio had produced Visage for tape which employed a startling and highly explicit use of Kathy Berberian’s voice. Clearly the expressive language of Sequenza III has its origins in this work and the notational devises appear to recreate much of the expressionistic vocal gestures in Visage.
Other examples of experimental score notation Stockhausen was keen to develop a new notational form which would reflect the sounds of his Musique concrete works:
Figure 2 Stockhuassen G e sa n g d e J ün g l i n g e
Between 1963 – 67 Cornelius Cardew composed Treatise for solo piano using graphic notation which would allow the performer almost limitless freedom in interpretation of the score. 12 © Nick Redfern www.nickredfern.co.uk Contact:
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
Figure 3 Cardew T r e a t i s e page 75
Figure 4 Cradew T r e a t i s e page 183
However, it was not Berio’s intention to allow the singer of the Sequenza great artistic freedom.
On the contrary, Berio is quite fastidious in his
requirements for the performer.
A work by Berio from 1960, Circles for female voice, harp and two percussionists, clearly shows notational traits that were later to be fully realised in Sequenza III.
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
Figure 5 Berio C i r c l e s
Figure 6 Berio C i r c l e s
What makes Circles remarkable is the combination of traditional and approximate or indeterminate notation for both pitch and rhythm
Sequenzas and Chemins Between 1958 – 2002 Berio composed a series of compositions for solo instrument.
These were intended as virtuosic works which would extend
conventional performance practice and would often include extended 14 © Nick Redfern www.nickredfern.co.uk Contact:
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III techniques .
Extended techniques are methods of sound production or
articulation which lie outside the common methods of playing and instrument or singing.
The works Berio composed for this series are: Sequenza I for flute (1958) Sequenza II for harp (1963) Sequenza III for female voice (1965) Sequenza IV for piano (1966) Sequenza V for trombone (1965) Sequenza VI for viola (1967) Sequenza VII for oboe (1969) Sequenza VIII for violin (1976) Sequenza IXa for clarinet (1980) Sequenza IXb for alto saxophone (1981) Sequenza X for trumpet in C and piano resonance (1984) Sequenza XI for guitar (1987-88) Sequenza XII for bassoon (1995) Sequenza XIII for accordion (1995) Sequenza XIVa for violoncello (2002)
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III The Chemins are works which extend the Sequenzas to include instrumental ensembles.
Indeterminacy The work is neither improvised nor aleatoric, that is where musical outcomes are influence by chance occurrence. The singer is not acting upon whim or impulse or even personal preference when interpreting the music. Berio’s score is quite exact in what is required of the singer but equally the singer is not always required to perform certain aspects, such as pitch and rhythm, in a precise manner. This is known as indeterminacy. Here both pitch and rhythm are defined in a proportional manner depending on their horizontal and vertical alignment.
Figure 7 Page 3, stave 2 measures 3 - 4
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
Bars and metre The rhythmic language of the multi-serial and stochastic (based on mathematical theory) works of the 1950s and 1960s produced some breathtakingly difficult scores to realise.
Pithoprakta, by Iannis Xenakis
1955–56, is a good example:
Figure 8 Xenakis P i t h o p r a k t a
Composers adopting a proportional method of rhythmic notation were able to produce music of rhythmic complexity without resorting to using highly complex rhythmic divisions. 17 © Nick Redfern www.nickredfern.co.uk Contact:
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III The performer is required to realise the rhythms in relation to their placing within the bar or measure. Each measure lasts approximately 10 seconds so the closer the events the faster the realisation, the more spaced apart the slower:
Figure 9 Sequenza III
Figure 10 Sequenza III
This proportional method is in fact an allusion to the traditional form of rhythmic notation where the pace of events is represented by the proximity or nearness of notes.
Figure 11 Beethoven A n d i e Ge l i eb t e
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III Berio stipulates a number of types of speed of articulation
Figure 12 Berio Sequenza Composer's Notes
Here the mode of notation does not require the multiple beaming to carry through the whole note group.
Figure 13 Berio Sequenza Composer's Notes
Sustained notes are described as
Figure 14 Berio Sequenza Composer's Notes
Here is a more sustained passage
Berio does use grace notes:
Figure 15 Berio Sequenza Composer's Notes
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III The use of grace notes does indicate a subtle differentiation between principal notes and decorative notes.
Vocal technique and pitch Berio chooses three types of stave: single line, three and five lines.
The
single lines are to be spoken with pitch definition.
The three lined staves indicate relative pitch of high, medium and low.
Five lines are used extensively and indicate relative pitch; that is the intervals are to be sung precisely but their exact pitch is determined by the range of the singer.
The dotted lines tie notes of identical pitch and also indicate that a change in vocal or vowel sounds will occur smoothly and without accenting individual notes.
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
Text
Figure 16 Sequenza Composer's Notes
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
Structure & text The basic premise or idea of the work is the unfolding of the text via the exaggerated and highly mannered vocal technique adopted by Berio.
A
narrative of sorts becomes evident, but not is a linear or chronological manner, as the narrative of a traditional vocal work. The listener becomes aware of the text as fragments are offered and reworked in an often clustered and garbled fashion. The opening passage of page 1 from stave 1 to just over the second measure of stave 2 with its incoherent babble and consonant clusters1 is important in establishing a stylistic and above all
dramatic stance. The singer does, after all, enter the auditorium with her tense muttering.
The extended notes exploring phonetic sounds are also
important in establishing clear tessitural (pitch range) and timbral (the colour of sound) vocal characteristics.
The more sustained and lyrical passages do reveal the text in a more cogent or clear manner. It is interesting that Berio chooses the first recognisable text to be a / w o / man at the third measure of stave 2, page 1 .
Figure 17 3rd measure, page 1, stave 2
The final passage of page 1, stave 3 to the opening of stave 4 has the first extended statement of the text in almost unbroken form:
1
C consonant cluster is where consecutive consonants occur, such as CT or SF
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
Figure 18 Page 1, end of stave 3
Figure 19 Page 1, start of stave 4
Berio makes play with the poem by inserting phonetic variants, reordering and restructuring words and so changing their context and meaning within the poem. Page 2, second half of stave 2 to the first half of stave 3 is such an example, where the a few words, give me and to sing are freely rearranged:
Figure 20 Page 2staves 2 - 3
The reworking of these lines is continued for the rest of page 2 where the increasing reinvention of text by syllable and vowel in highly virtuosic coloratura often leads to incoherence. This can be considered to be the first 23 © Nick Redfern www.nickredfern.co.uk Contact:
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III climax of the work and is reminiscent of scat singing, a characteristic of Jazz vocal improvisation. The next climactic point takes the texts a few words, give me and to sing but here in a declamatory style with repeated pitches ( page 3, stave 1 & 2 , 1 st measure). The soprano, Cathy Berberian, chooses the interval of a minor
third for the highest two notes of this passage, an interval which has great resonance and prominence in this work
Figure 21 Page 3; stave 1 & 2 1st measure
Page 3, stave 2 has the final scat passage which leads to the work reaching
a more lyrical, sustained and even sombre ending. The final line is one of the more sustained and reflective passages of the work.
Figure 22 Page 3, line 4
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III
Overall structure As musical structure is often the outcome of stating and manipulating melody and harmony within clear tonal structures it is quite difficult and ultimately futile to try and appreciate this work and its structure by applying traditional methods, such as binary and tertiary form. However, the work does have a very real dramatic shape.
Page 1
A: Entrance of singer and the unfolding of fragments of text 3rd measure.
staves 1 – 3,
Note how the babbling music of this passage (stave 1,
measure 1) does not return until the final stages of the work
Page 1 – 2
B: Lyrical passage with exact intervals and full voice.
Extended use of the
minor 3rd. Fleeting interjections. Page 1, stave 3, measure 4 to page 2, stave 3, measure 2. In fact the B¨ -F# of page 2, stave 2 measures 1 – 2 anticipate the final pitches of the work (B ¨ - G¨) and the final note of this
passage, F# is the enharmonic equivalent of the final pitch of the piece, G ¨. Although the exact pitch is indeterminate, the intervals and tessitura (vocal range) do remain.
Page 2
C: Climax 1.
This passage, page 2, stave 3 measure 3 to end of stave
4 is characterised by a rapid succession of alternating extended vocal techniques in direct contrast to the previous passage.
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AS Music Study Guide Berio Sequenza III Page 2
B1:
Page 2, stave 5 to page 3 measure 1.
Return to five stave
intervals, lyrical full voice with fleeting interjections.
Page 3
C1: Climax 2.
Page 3, staves 1 measure 2 to stave 3 measure 3 .
Page 3
B2: To the end.
Return to five line stave, lyrical full voice. Final pitches
B¨ - G¨.
Thematicism The work has no overt thematic statements and can be considered to be athematic . However, Berio does make constant reference to gestures and
intervals which has the effect of creating an accumulative set of expressive events. The mouth click
is a particularly striking sonority and helps
to define the phrasing of the opening section:
Figure 23 Page 1, end of 1st stave
There is a continual recurrence of the minor third, which is a particularly expressive interval and ensures continuity in the melodic language.
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Figure 24 Page 1, end of 2nd stave
Figure 25 Page 1, 3rd stave
Figure 26 Page 1, end of 3rd stave
Figure 27 Page 2, 1st stave
Figure 28 Page 2, 2nd stave
Figure 29 Page 2, end of 3rd stave
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YouTube links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbJzjoUGk0I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2FzJDXXG-A&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUou6M4ZNTk&feature=related
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