Varieties of Transformation in Xenakis’s Metastaseis

Ron Squibbs, Assoc. Prof. of Music Theory, University of Connecticut, Storrs

[Slide 1]

Today I will present a few observations on Xenakis’s Metastaseis, with particular reference to his
adaptation of musical materials that had become well established by the time that work was composed.

[Slide 2]

Metastaseis for orchestra was composed in 1953-54. The orchestra is dominated by a large string
ensemble in which each player performs an independent part. It also features winds, brass, and
percussion, which appear in some sections of the work but not in others. Metastaseis is generally
considered to be Xenakis’s first mature composition. The work exists in two versions: Metastaseis A and
Metastaseis B. Metastaseis B, a revised version with a string ensemble of 46 players, was published in
1967. Metastaseis A, with a slightly larger string ensemble, has been performed recently in Europe and
is in the process of being published. My remarks today will be in reference to Metastaseis B. Until
recently this was the standard, and only available, version of the work.

[Slide 3]

As the composer remarks in his preface to the published score, the title of the work comes from the
Greek Meta, meaning “after” or “beyond,” and Staseis, indicating “stationary states.” The combination
of these two root words thus conveys the meaning of “dialectical transformation.” Metastaseis thus
represents a dynamic synthesis of elements that were especially pertinent to Xenakis at the time of its
composition.

Among the specifically musical antecedents to Metastaseis are Schoenberg’s 12-tone composition and
Messiaen’s modes of limited transposition. The role of these modes in the genesis of the harmonies in
Metastaseis has not been much discussed: it is one of the facets of the work that I will explore briefly
today.

Among the elements derived from drawing and architecture in Metastaseis are applications of
proportions to the work’s temporal structure. This is done following their application to architecture as
formulated in Le Corbusier’s Modulor, which was both a method of measurement based on the golden
section and the name of a two-volume study of that method. The appendix to the second volume of The
Modulor includes a short essay by Xenakis that references Metastaseis. Ruled surfaces also make
appearances in the sketches for portions of Metastaseis. In these sketches the two dimensions of pitch
and time are represented in the manner of projective drawing, suggesting that the moving clusters of
sounds may be taken to represent curved planar surfaces in sonic space.

Finally, there are the composer’s personal experiences in Greece in the 1940s, both as a student of
engineering at Athens Polytechnic and in his involvement in the Greek resistance against the Nazis and
other occupying forces. It was this involvement that led to his emigration from Greece after nearly losing
his life in a mortar attack.

[Slide 4]

This is a graphic transcription of the pitches and durations of the string parts in Metastaseis in mm. 1-55.
The most evident type of transformation here is motion from a single pitch in all parts—G3, 5 semitones
below middle C—to a cluster containing 46 different pitches, one for each string instrument. The graph
shows that the pitches are not evenly distributed within the cluster. Rather, they are clustered more
densely in the upper register than in the lower registers, and there is a significant gap in the lower
middle portion of the cluster. Here is a sound clip: [play].

[Slide 5]

This slide shows the opening G3 in relation to the boundary pitches of the cluster. The upper boundary
is 39 semitones away from the opening G3, while the lower boundary is 27 semitones away. The gap, or
empty space, in the cluster is 6 semitones away from G3 in either direction, opening up an octave from
C#3 to C#4. The musical reduction in the center is hypothetical, showing how the boundaries of the
actual cluster result from adding extra octaves onto what could have been a symmetrical expansion
from G down to E and up to A#. The musical reduction at the right shows that the pitch classes of the
boundary pitches may be gathered together to form a diminished seventh chord in a single octave. Let
us now hear the samples: please excuse the rather crude MIDI realization of the string glissandi. [play]

This analytical focus on the boundary pitches, and the gathering of their pitch classes to form a
diminished seventh chord, point toward another type of transformation in these opening measures: the
transformation of a familiar harmonic structure into a seething mass of sounds. The use of masses here
and elsewhere in Metastaseis is not merely a technical device: it is also a musical transformation of the
experiences of mass protests, and of the military opposition to those protests, in Greece during the war.

The boundary pitches are filled in with multiple occurrences of the chromatic pitch classes. The
chromatic pitch classes also appear on the surface of the music as a detail, in the form of pizzicato notes
that are articulated one at a time while the rest of the strings sustain their notes in the cluster.

[Slide 6]

The first instance of these pizzicato notes is shown in this slide. The actual pitches are shown above and
their associated pitch classes below. As the example shows, this succession of pizzicato nearly articulates
a 12-tone row. The missing pitch class is G, which is replaced by a re-articulated G#. When isolated from
the surrounding pitch cluster, these pizzicati sound like this: [play]. A second succession of pizzicati is
presented several measures later. That succession—not shown here—presents a complete 12-tone row.

[Slide 7]

This slide shows an interpretation of the multi-level temporal structure of the opening 55 measures of
Metastaseis. The first temporal division in the strings partitions the 55 measures into the 34 during
which the unison G3 is transformed by glissandi into the 46-note cluster. Once achieved, this cluster is
sustained for 21 measures, through m. 55. 21, 34, and 55 are integers in the Fibonacci series, and
therefore 21/34 and 34/55 are both close approximations of the golden section. The use of integers
from the Fibonacci series, of course, references Le Corbusier’s Modulor, and therefore represents the
transformation of an architectural idea into a musical context.

A second division using the Fibonacci series occurs within the sustained cluster, where the first 13
measures are played without tremolo while the 8 remaining measures are played with tremolo. Yet a
third division occurs where the 13 non-tremolo measures are divided into the 8 prior to the pizzicato
quasi-12-tone row and the remaining 5 that contain the pizzicati. Thus there is a nested temporal
structure here, containing four levels, all of which are based on the Fibonacci series.

Overlaid upon this structure, nearly symmetrically, is a succession of attacks on the wood-block, the
distances between which are drawn mostly from the Fibonacci series.

The layout of the graphic in this slide is inspired by the panel exercise that is illustrated in Le Corbusier’s
The Modulor, and is vaguely suggestive of a type of building whose façade features rectangular planes
and whose structure receives at least partial support from thin columns.

[Slide 8]

The Convent of La Tourette, on which Xenakis collaborated with Le Corbusier, is one such structure,
pictured here.

[Slide 9]

The first large section of Metastaseis extends to m. 104. Using a bit of imagination, this entire section
may be thought of as a single thematic process. Within this process, the opening glissandi may be
regarded as a basic idea and the sustained cluster as a contrasting idea. Together the two ideas may be
seen to form a large antecedent phrase. This is followed by a quasi-developmental large phrase which
may be termed a continuation.

Following the cessation of the tremolo string cluster at the end of m. 55 is a brief section in triangle and
xylophone that acts as a link to the next series of sound masses in the strings. When the strings return,
they alternate their dynamics between soft and loud, thus articulating a rhythm similar to that
presented by the wood-block in mm. 11-46. In this way, a percussion rhythm is transformed into a
rhythm for the string mass, resulting in a fragmentation of the primary musical texture. The brass
passage that overlays this fragmentation contributes to a build-up of tension. The final mass of glissandi,
on the other hand, reverses the process of the first mass, effectively dissolving the accumulated tension
of the fragmentation and leading to a quasi-cadential, yet inconclusive, chordal sonority.

Let us now hear this process as a whole. [play]

[Slide 10]

This slide focuses on some of the details of the brass passage in mm. 61-87. This passage is fairly
symmetrical, as evidenced by the reversal of the trombone parts from the beginning as the passage
nears its end. The passage also features a symmetrical succession of harmonic references. It begins with
a subset of Messiaen’s 4th mode of limited transposition, moves into a complete presentation of the 6th
mode of limited transposition in the center, and returns to the subset from the 4th mode. In this
passage, harmonic materials associated with Xenakis’s teacher Messiaen are transformed, both through
the application of glissandi and by their use as elements within a strident block of sound. [play]

[Slide 11]

The references to Messiaen’s modes are not limited just to the brass passage. In fact, the boundary
pitches of the first string cluster, combined with the four-note chord at the end of the second string
cluster, form the same 7-note pitch-class set as do the beginning and ending sonorities in the brass
passage. This example illustrates. While the pitch-class contents of the combined string sonorities and of
the brass sonority are the same, their voicing and instrumentation are, of course, different. Nonetheless,
the harmonic connection between them is clear. [play]

[Slide 12]

This slide shows that the thematic process described with reference to mm. 1-104 is reflected as a large-
scale formal process for the work as a whole. The work begins and ends with glissandi, as does the first
part, and contains a second, contrasting part followed by a developmental part that features
fragmentation.

[Slide 13]

Both the thematic process and the large-scale formal process exhibit proportional temporal schemes.
The specifics of these schemes are different, but they are structured similarly. In each case, the sums of
the outer sections or parts exist in a specific relationship to the sums of the durations of the inner
sections or parts. Within the first part, the sum of the durations of the outer sections is equivalent to
that of the inner sections. Within the work as a whole, however, the sum of the durations of the outer
parts is equivalent to the golden section of the sum of the inner parts.

[Slide 14]

The end of the third, developmental part of the work functions as a retransition to the final part. Here
the winds, brass, and percussion drop out, leaving the strings alone in preparation for the final glissando
passage.

The graphic transcription of the score of this passage consists of ruled surfaces, the use of straight lines
in two dimensions to suggest the effect of curved planes in three dimensions. As architectural historian
Robin Evans has commented: “Ruled surfaces were commonplace in aeronautical, naval, and civil
engineering. Since the 1930s they had appeared in modern architecture in the easily recognized form of
hyperbolic paraboloid saddles. As such they were symbols of technological advance, badges of
contemporaneity. In certain hands they demonstrated the triumph of a new architectural beauty, based
on calculation yet transcending the exhausted dreams of art; the kind of thing that Le Corbusier used to
write so much about.”

Here is what this passage sounds like: [play]

[Slide 15]

Similar kinds of shapes to those seen in the graphic transcription of this passage were used in the design
of the Philips Pavilion several years later, a model of which is shown here.

[Slide 16]

Xenakis’s rendering of these ruled surfaces is relatively straightforward. The graphic in this slide, and the
musical example above it, focus in greater detail on some of the violin parts in this passage.

The musical example shows that, in mm. 311-12, a chromatic cluster bounded by a diminished 5th twists
around itself by inversion. The axis of inversion is A#5, shown in the middle staff. This A# also acts as an
axis of inversion for a chromatic cluster bounded by a perfect 5th, shown in the lower staff. This cluster
moves twice as fast as the one in the upper staff. The notes in both clusters begin at the same time, but
they move at different speeds and arrive at their destinations at different times. The graphic
transcription of this complex process, shown below, resembles an arch in a curved planar space,
perhaps a portion of a hyperbolic paraboloid saddle.

Another process occurs in mm. 313-15. In this one all of the violins begin on the same pitch, F#5, and
arrive at their destination points at the same time, but each violin begins at a different time and moves
at a different speed from the others. The graphic transcription, shown below, resembles a portion of a
cone in curved planar space.

In order that the unfolding of these processes may be heard more clearly, I will first play them at half
tempo and then once more at the actual tempo. [play 1] [play 2]

[Slide 17]

This slide shows a graphic score of the final part, for strings alone. This complex figure is composed so
that the instruments change direction in accordance with a rhythm determined by the Fibonacci series:
8 measures until the first change of direction, then 5, then 3. Symmetrically disposed in time around the
final 3 measures of the glissando figure is the concluding unison, whose length of 13 measures is
equivalent to the sum of the lengths of the first two portions of the figure: 8 plus 5. [play]

[Slide 18]

This example shows the boundaries of the moving glissandi, the sustained chords, and prominent single
pitches in the strings in the first and last parts of Metastaseis. The sustained chords and prominent
single pitches are shown in open noteheads, while the boundaries of the glissandi are shown in closed
noteheads. Glissandi are symbolized by the lines connecting some of the noteheads.

This example highlights the fact that the piece begins on G3 and ends on G#3. G#3 occurs earlier in the
work, however, in the chord at the end of the first part. Thus, the “evolutionary” path from G3 to G#3
over the course of the work is prefigured at the end of its first part.

The single pitch class that is common to all of the segments of the example is E. E1, the lowest pitch
available in the basses, appears repeatedly, as shown in the lowest staff. The E an octave higher, E2,
appears in the four-note chord at the end of the first part. As James Harley points out, the four-note
chord at the end of the first part is “strongly consonant with the major tenth interval in the bass.”
(Harley 2004: 11) Indeed, the four pitch classes involved—E, G#, A, and D#—are all members of the E
major scale. Further, the voicing of the chord suggests the root and third of the tonic triad, along with an
added 4th and 7th. The four-note chord at the end of the retransition likewise features E, this time with
E6 as its highest pitch, together with the pitch classes C#, D, and D#, creating a chromatic cluster in
contrast to the diatonic associations of the first four-note chord. The diatonic and chromatic elements
are combined in the final part, where the upper boundary pitches of the glissandi spell out a B major
triad while the lower boundary pitches repeat the chromatically related E, D#, and D of the preceding
four-note chord. The G# on which the upper and lower boundaries converge is, once again, consonant
with E. [play]

[Slide 19]

Following these harmonic ideas to their logical conclusion, it may be worth considering the possibility
that the entire composition is embraced by a harmonic progression from a common-tone diminished 7th
chord to a tonic 9th chord in E major. These harmonies are condensed revoicings of boundary pitches
from the initial and final string masses. [play]

[Slide 20]

[click] In conclusion, Metastaseis represents a synthesis of several elements, both musical and extra-
musical. First, there are the references to prior 20th-century musical developments, especially
Schoenberg’s method of composition with 12 tones and Messiaen’s modes of limited transposition.
Second, there are references to developments in architecture, specifically Le Corbusier’s use of the
Modulor and the use of ruled surfaces in architectural design. Third, there are the subjective qualities of
the music that reflect Xenakis’s experiences in Greece during the war.

[click] In terms of the structural analysis of Metastaseis, two complementary characteristics are
significant. First are those features that are complex, perhaps somewhat abstract, and generally atypical
of the music of the majority of Xenakis’s predecessors and contemporaries. These features include his
particular use of sound masses and the rendering of ruled surfaces and other geometrical and algebraic
structures into sound. Second are the clear structural signposts, which help to give his music such focus
and dramatic power. It is as if Xenakis guides the listener through the unfamiliar territory of his music by
referencing—even if subliminally—harmonic structures that may be familiar from the recent, or even
non-so-recent past. Additionally, the music’s temporal structure is designed in a way that gives the
music structural depth and facilitates the listener’s comprehension of its form. It is these structures in
particular that reveal the significant impact of Xenakis’s studies of previous music as he developed his
innovative and highly distinctive style.