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    73 views13 pages

    Treatise Handbook - Organized

    Uploaded by

    nonibes

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    of 13
    TREATISE HANDBOOK including BUN NO.2 FOR ORCHESTRA - VOLO SOLO Introduction {rote Treatise withthe definite intention that it should stan ent twithout any form of introduction or instruction to mislead prospective performers lito the slavish practice of ‘doing what they are told’, So Ite with great reluctance = ence having achieved, by some fluke, the ‘cleanest’ publication it were powibe £2 imagine ~ that {have tet myself be persuaded to collect there obscire end, where ‘not obscure, uninteresting remarks into publishable form, ‘The temptations to explain why there is no explanation ane offer instructions on hhow to cope with the lack of instructions hold no attraction. However, the years of ‘work on Treatise have furnished me with a fund of experience viously dstinet {rom the experience embodied Inthe score itsaf. And ths fund continues to accu ‘ulate, since my experience of and withthe piece Is by no means completed with the completion of the score; so some of the exerets of this find may as wall be made available to those who, because it’s published, may shortly wish to be occu: ped with the score, Possibly some errors and misconceptions may thus be avoided To complete the information content ofthis handbook I must briefly outline the biography of the place. Early in 1963, on the basis ofan elaborate scheme involving 67 elements, some ‘musical, séme graphic, | began sketching what | soon came to regard as my Treatise ‘and pressed quite quickly ahead to what is now page 99. To start with my idea of what the piece was to be was so sketchy as to be completa inarticulate; fete, in Buffalo in November 1966 I felt it necessary to completely recompose the frst 44 ‘pages. In the summer of 1963 I put pages 45-51, 57-62, 75.79 into fair copy, using |8 much larger format than the one | finally decided on. The apparent musicality of page 99 seemed a stumbling block that impeded my way for sometime to come. ‘My next decisive action on the piece was in December 1964 when | put sever separate pages into freehand fair copy using the format that the piece now eppears jn. These pages were 53, 64, 74, 89, 93, 96/7 (as one page), 99. | quickly decided against freehand drawing forthe finished score. In Rome inthe first months of 1865 | pushed ahead to page 143, putting it into falc copy as { went along, with the ‘exception of the ‘black pages’ which I did not finalise until much tater (?Feb 1966) In England in the second half of 1965 | worked on redrawing in the new format the ‘rst passages | had copied out (45-51, 57-62, 75-79) as wel a reworking the incer- ening material and drawing It in fait copy. When | came to Buffalo in October 11966 | thus had the score complete and continuous from 45-143, {By this time the fluency of my draughtsmanship had increased and my conception of the piece wes expanding. | re-zppraised the schematic material that | had yet to compose and made substitutions for some of the elements that had not yet come into play. For instance: 1 had originally planned to work with solid back ellipsoids ‘towards the end of the piece; now I substituted either the dea of melodic presents: tion or the tree form that features prominently towards the end (at this point | ‘cannot remember which of these two took the place ofthe ellipsoids). | had become’ ‘more and more strongly aware of the xructure's adaptability to my desires since passages like 114116 and 122-128, and especially from the experience of teworkdog 1-44. In the final $0 pages | exploited this adaptability tothe fll even to the Bint of activating the (orginally pasive and merely ouuse-countiog) numbers. ‘These last £0 poges were written inthe early months of 1967 in Buta. /Ater this exposition It hardly seems necessary to excuse the fact that many of the eal notes written while working on the piace a different tages ae likely to be mutually contradictory. If they are not it isnot my fault Ihave made no attempt One item weighs aginst my general rluetanee in connection with this handtook, tnd that isthe oppartunity to print Volo Salo, which I find a useful piece, fll of fnwee irs, and now I come to think of it that may be the reazon European publishers have so consistently sneczad ati “The analytical ancl that follows Volo Solo wes written in Rome shorty after the ccamplation of tha pecs Two years have elapsed since the foregoing was written. have taken advantage of ‘this delay in publication to include some new material, in particular the lecture on improvizition. Not that | now consider Treatise ‘improvisatory’ any more than | id wiile writing it But it does seem (using hindsight) to have pointed in the rection of improviation. A square musician (like myself) might use Treatise 35a ‘ath to the acean of spontaneity. Whether it wil equip him for survival in that ‘ocean is another question altogether. The lecture on improvisation represents an ial survey basad on a thin veneer of experience. 92.70. ‘Treatise: Working Notes (oe Feb 62 ‘A compote who hear sounds wil ry to find a eatatic for sounds. One who has eas wil find one that exorocts his ideas, leaving hele interpretation tee, o.com ‘idence hat his ideas have been accurately and corssely notated eh Feb 63 Notation ea way of making people move. If you tack others, ike aggression oF pparsussion, The notation should doit. This br the most rewarding aspect of work ‘Sn. notation. Trouble i Juet as you find your sounds are too ae, intended “fore different culture’, you make the same dicovery about your beautiful nots tion: no-one i willing to understand it. No-one move. ‘8th torch 63 {do not suggest thatthe art of composition i relly a sience of measurement anc precision. | de think that any work demande precision of judgment, otherwise it ‘wil Blow away. Iti precision that iluminates (Confucius (Pound|: “The sun's ance failing on the precise soot verbally”). This clarity is joy, however much it may suit our temperaments to continue roiling a the mud. An right if itis exactly what you want (elthough how Interesting sit to went exactly that? Well, that depends on how badly you want ith, But ite bad fit is a confession of failure. And that’s the point; where isthe difference located? Certainly not In the squiggle. Hence for you, des stone there is no difference whatever. (Which is why {can never turn to you for advice). 6 (virtten in the score) NA the sound should be a picture of the score, not vice vers. 63 Ioterpreter! Remember that no meanings as yet attached to the symbols. They are however to be interpreted in the context of ther role in the whole, Distingulsh symbole that enclose space (circle, etc]: those that havea characteristic feature inet symbols are for sounding and what for orientation. Example: The horizontal ‘central ba isthe mein and most constant orientation; what happens where it cases (oe bends}? Do you go out of tune (ea)? 15th May 62 In connection with Frege's ‘Foundations of Arithmetic’:

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