Globokar, Vinko

Niall O’Loughlin

https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.11283
Published in print: 20 January 2001
Published online: 2001
updated, 25 July 2013

(b Anderny, Meurthe-et-Moselle, July 7, 1934). Slovenian composer and trombonist. He lived in France
until 1947, when he moved to Ljubljana to study at the music school and conservatory, gaining his
diploma in 1954. In 1955 he began studies at the Paris Conservatoire, where he won first prizes for
trombone (1959) and chamber music. He studied composition and conducting with Leibowitz (1959–
63) and composition with Berio in Berlin (1965). In 1966 Globokar joined a performing group for new
music at SUNY (Buffalo), and in 1968 he was appointed to teach the trombone at the Staatliche
Hochschule für Musik in Cologne and composition at the Cologne Courses for New Music. He founded
the Free Music Group in 1969 and a quartet, New Phonic Art, also in 1969, both of which perform
contemporary music, including many of his own works. He also performed in Stockhausen’s group, and
from 1973 to 1979 was head of vocal-instrumental research at IRCAM, Paris.

Having studied in both France and Germany, Globokar was able to make early contact with the latest
compositional trends in Europe. His phenomenal virtuoso technique on the trombone also attracted
many composers to write for him, among them Stockhausen (trombone version of Solo), Berio
(Sequenza V) and Kagel (Atem and Morceau de concours). Globokar’s cosmopolitan approach, his
prodigious technique and his riotous imagination, his early interest in jazz and his theatrical sense of
humour have all combined to produce a series of original works. Voie (1965–6), a sometimes very
complex score, shows his handling of large subdivided groups with the soloistic use of a chorus, while
Accord makes sensitive use of a small chamber group, in which the voice is used as an instrument, and
which fully uses current developments in instrumental technique. The dramatic implications of these
works were made explicit in a later series of works, including the bizarre and sometimes very funny
Traumdeutung (Gaudeamus Prize 1968) and the nine Discours pieces. Entrances and exits, for
example, are staged in order to reinforce the musical events; instrumental demands are extended to
include singing while playing and producing many unorthodox sounds. Globokar’s theatrical approach
was developed further in works for his performing groups, including Drama and Correspondences, in
which exactly notated material is gradually abandoned until the players are left only with improvisation
instructions. He has also developed elaborate staged concert works, sometimes approaching operas in
scope, for large ensembles with speakers and singers, the most notable being Les émigrés (1982–
6).and L’armonia drammatica (1987–90). Unlike many of his compatriots, Globokar has not used
folksong extensively, except in the fascinating Etudes pour folklora (1968), where Yugoslav instruments
– the gusle, dvojnice and tambura – are used prominently, and in the first part of Der Engel der
Geschichte (2000).

Works

Vocal and orchestral

Page 1 of 7
Printed from Grove Music Online. Grove is a registered trademark. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an
individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy).

Subscriber: Universita degli Studi di Milano; date: 11 May 2020

 Voie (V. Maiakovsky), narr, chorus, orch, 1965–6

Accord (Globokar), S, fl, trbn, vc, elec org, perc, 1966

Traumdeutung (psychodrama, E. Sanguineti), 4 chorus, cel, hp, vib, gui, perc, 1967

Etude pour folklora I, 19 insts, 1968

Etude pour folklora II, orch, 1968

Concerto grosso, 5 insts, chorus, orch, 1969–75

Ausstrahlungen, ob/cl/sax/bn, 20 insts, 1971

Vendre le vent, 9 wind, pf, perc, 1972

Laboratorium, 11 musicians, 1973–85

Das Orchester, orch, 1974

Material zur Diskussion eines historischen Instruments, orch, 1974

Un jour comme un autre, S, 5 inst, 1975

Carrousel, 4 solo vv, 16 insts, 1976

Standpunkte, chorus, orch, 1977

La tromba e mobile, wind orch, 1979

Der Käfig, improviser, orch, 1980

Jenseits der Sicherheit, 1v, 1981

Le émigrés, singers, jazz group, orch, 1982–6

Hallo! do you Hear me?, chorus, jazz qnt, orch, tape, 1986

L’armonia drammatica (op.2, text in Ger., It., Slovenian, Fr. and Eng. compiled by T.
Ažman), 7vv, chorus, orch, 1987–90

Kolo, chorus, trbn, 1988

Eisenberg, 16 musicians ad lib, 1990

Page 2 of 7
Printed from Grove Music Online. Grove is a registered trademark. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an
individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy).

Subscriber: Universita degli Studi di Milano; date: 11 May 2020

 Labour, orch, 1992

Letters, S, 2 cl, va, vc, db, 1994

Der Engel der Geschichte, 2000–4, Part 1: Zerfall, 2 orch groups, tape, 2000, Part 2:
Mars, 2 orch groups, tape, elecs, 2001–2, Part 3: Hoffnung, 2 orch groups, sampler,
2003–4

Les chemins de la liberté, orch, 2003–5

Les otages, orch, sampler, 2003

Mutation, singing orch, 2006–7

Radiographie d’un roman, 7 solo vv, accdn, perc, chorus, 30 inst, live elecs, 2009–10

Chamber and solo instrumental

6 pièces brèves, str qt, c1962

Vibone, trbn, vib, 1963

Plan, zarb, b cl, t sax, cornet, trbn, 1965

Fluide, 3 hn, 2 tpt, flugel hn, 2 trbn, tuba, 3 perc, 1967

Discours I, trbn, 4 perc, 1967, withdrawn; Discours II, 5 trbn, 1967–8

Discours III, 5 ob, 1969

Correspondences, 1 ww, 1 brass, 1 perc, 1 kbd, 1969

La ronde, melody inst/insts, 1970

Drama, pf, perc, 1971

Atemstudie, ob, 1972

Notes, pf, 1972

Echanges, 1 inst, 1973

Limites, vn/va, 1973

Page 3 of 7
Printed from Grove Music Online. Grove is a registered trademark. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an
individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy).

Subscriber: Universita degli Studi di Milano; date: 11 May 2020

 Res/as/ex/ins-pirer, 1 brass inst, 1973

Toucher, perc, 1973

Voix instrumentalisée, b cl, 1973

Discours IV, 3 cl, 1974

Dédoublement, cl, 1975

Monolith, fl, 1976

Vorstellung, 1 wind/1 str/1 brass, film, 1976

Discours V, 4 sax, 1981

Discours VI, str qt, 1981

Tribadabum extensif sur Par une forêt de symboles, 6 musicians ad lib, 1986

Discours VII, brass qt, Kvadrat, 4 perc, 1989

Discours VIII, wind qnt, 1989–90

Pendulum, vc, 1991

Élégie balkanique, fl, gui, perc, 1992

Blinde Zeit, 7 insts, 1993

Discours IX, 2 pf, 1993

Dialog über Erde, perc, 1994

Dialog über Feuer, db, 1994

Dialog über Luft, accdn, 1994

Dialog über Wasser, elec and acoustic guis, 1994

Nous pensons que ..., S, 5 inst, tape, 1998

Kaktus unter Strom, ob, hn, db, tape, elecs, 1999

Rêve d’un touriste slovène au Wallis, 8 insts, 2000

Page 4 of 7
Printed from Grove Music Online. Grove is a registered trademark. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an
individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy).

Subscriber: Universita degli Studi di Milano; date: 11 May 2020

 Crocs-en-jambe, 2 tpt, 2 trbn, tuba, 2 sax, perc, 2000

Kartomlin croisé, vn, elecs, 2001

La Prison, 8 insts, 2001

Avgustin, dober je vin, wind qnt, 2002

Eppure si muove, trbn, 11 inst, 2003

Métamorphoses parallèles, va, pf, 2 samplers, 2004–5

Rêve énigmatique No. 135, 4 gui, 2 samplers, 2006–7

Substitution anonyme, fl, cl, pf, vn, va, vc, 2007

Au-delà d’une étude pour percussion, perc, 2008

Destinées Machinales, perc, cl, vc, trbn/alphorn, ‘music machines’, 2008

Damdaj, fl, cl, trbn, tuba, vn, vc, pf, perc, 2009

Idée fixe, vc, 2010

Electro-acoustic

Airs de voyages vers l’intérieur, 8 solo vv, cl, trbn, elec, 1972

Koexistenz, 2 vc, elec, 1976

Pre-Occupation, org, tape, 1980

Introspection d’un tubiste, tuba, tape, lighting, 1983

Ombre, singing percussionist, tape, rhythm machine, 1989

Prestop I, cl, elec, 1991

Prestop II, trbn, elec, 1991

Principal publisher: Peters, Ricordi

Page 5 of 7
Printed from Grove Music Online. Grove is a registered trademark. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an
individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy).

Subscriber: Universita degli Studi di Milano; date: 11 May 2020

Writings
‘Problem instrumentalnega in glasbenega teatra’, MZ, 4 (1968), 132–7

‘Vom Standpunkt eines Interpreten’, Melos, 36 (1969), 513 only

‘Réagir’, Musique en jeu, 1 (1970), 70–77

‘Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten der Blasinstrumente’, Sonda (1970)

‘Reagovanje’, Zvuk, nos.80–81 (1970), 91–5

‘Oni improvizuju … improvizujte … improvizujmo’, Zvuk, nos.115–16 (1971), 281–4

‘Interpretator stvaralac’ [Interpreter-composer], Zvuk, no.3 (1975), 5–11

Vdih←→Izdih [Inhalation←→Exhalation] (Ljubljana, 1987)

‘Ob delu Halo! Me slište?/Annotations to my piece Hallo! do you Hear me?’, MZ, 23 (1987), 99–
102

Einatmen, Ausatmen (Hofheim, 1994)

Laboratorium (Ljubljana, 2002)

Bibliography
E. Jirku: ‘Riječ kao mogućnost muzike’ [The story as a musical possibility], Telegram (Zagreb, 9
May 1969)

R. Gregory: ‘Recent Developments in Technique’, The Trombone (London, 1973)

W. König: Vinko Globokar: Komposition und Improvisation (Wiesbaden, 1977)

N. O’Loughlin: Slovenian Composition since the First World War (diss., U. of Leicester, 1978)

A. Rijavec: Slovenska glasbena dela [Slovenian musical works] (Ljubljana, 1979), 68–77

E. R. Lund: The Discourse of Vinko Globokar: to Speak is to Play (DMA diss., U. of Illinois, 1988)

W. Klüppelholz: ‘Vinko Globokar – Fiziognomijska skica’, Zvuk, no.3 (1990), 41–6

K. Bedina: ‘Vinko Globokar: d idejo izseljenstva v glasbi, improvizacijo in glasbenim

gledališčem’ [Vinko Globokar: between the idea of emigration and music, improvisation and
musical theatre], XXVII. seminar slovenskega jezika, literature in kulture: Ljubljana 1991
(Ljubljana, 1991), 249–59

W. Klüppelholz: ‘Vinko Globokar: fiziognomična skica/Vinko Globokar: Eine physiognomische

Skizze’, Slovenska glasba v preteklosti in sedanjosti, ed. P. Kuret (Ljubljana, 1992), 288–98

V. Globokar, L. Lebič and J. Jež: ‘Pogovor z Vinkom Globokarjem in Lojzetom Lebičem ib njuni 60-
letnici’ [Conversation with Vinko Globokar and Lojze Lebič in their 60th years], Naši zbori, 46/3–
4 (1994), 69–74

Page 6 of 7
Printed from Grove Music Online. Grove is a registered trademark. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an
individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy).

Subscriber: Universita degli Studi di Milano; date: 11 May 2020

N. O’Loughlin: ‘Vinko Globokar, agent provocateur: Shock Tactics in the Concert Hall’,
Provokacija v glasbi, ed. P. Kuret (Ljubljana, 1994), 177–88

N. O’Loughlin: Novejši glasba v Sloveniji (Ljubljana, 2000), 304–16

L. Stefanija: O glasbeno novem ob Slovenski instrumentalni glasbi zadnje četrtine 20. stoletja
(Ljubljana, 2001)

W. Klüppelholz: ‘Vom erkalten der Erde zu den neueren Werken von Vinko Globokar’, Glasbeno
gledališče: včeraj, danes, jutri/Musical Theatre: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, P. Kuret (Ljubljana,
2003), 52–7

Page 7 of 7
Printed from Grove Music Online. Grove is a registered trademark. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an
individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy).

Subscriber: Universita degli Studi di Milano; date: 11 May 2020