Amriques

Amriques is a musical composition by the French-born 1929 by the Orchestre des Concerts Poulet under Gaston
composer Edgard Varse. Poulet[5] at the Maison Gaveau. It was rst recorded
in 1960 by the Utah Symphony Orchestra and Maurice
Written between 1918 and 1921 and revised in 1927, it
is scored for a very large, romantic orchestra with addi- Abravanel. In recent years it has emerged as a popu-
lar modernist showpiece in the orchestral repertoire, with
tional percussion (for eleven performers) including sirens.
It was the rst work Varse composed after he moved to recordings by Pierre Boulez, Christoph von Dohnanyi,
Riccardo Chailly, among others.
the United States, and although it was not his rst work, and
he destroyed many of his earlier pieces, eectively mak-
ing Amriques his opus one (although he never used that
designation).[1] 2 Instrumentation
The work is in one movement which lasts around twenty-
three minutes, with full orchestral involvement almost The original version of Amriques is scored for the fol-
throughout. Although it opens quietly, with "Debussy- lowing very large orchestra with additional percussion:
like musing,[2] it quickly builds in dynamic power and The revised version of 1927 reduced the instrumentation
is punctuated by massive crescendos which are similar in to the following:[6]
style to those found in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring but
on a much larger scale. The work is marked by its ercely
dissonant chords and rhythmically complex polyphonies 3 References
for percussion and winds. It develops in continuous evo-
lution with recurring short motifs, which are juxtaposed
[1] Composer Biography - Varese, Edgard Archived October
without development. 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
Structurally, the work is assembled by placing a number
[2] Gramophone Magazine, September 2001
of self-contained 'blocks of music against one another in
the manner of Stravinsky. The blocks are marked primar- [3] Varse and the Music of Fire | Rudhyar Archival Project |
ily by texture and timbre, with melody and rhythm being Musical Works and Writings
much more malleable. This remained common practice
[4] Quoted in Cambridge Companion to the Orchestra (2003)
for Varese throughout his career.
ed. Lawson, p. 63
A number of these blocks are built out of direct quo-
tations from other works, including the Peripetie from [5] Gaston Poulet
Schoenbergs Fnf Orchesterstcke Op. 16, the rst [6] Edgard Varse: Ameriques (Score), Colfranc, New York
movement of Mahlers Third Symphony, and Stravinskys 1973, ed. Chou Wen-Chung
Rite of Spring, along with references to the big band
sound of the 1920s.
Commentary on Amriques has focused on its elemental
power,[3] and its vivid representation of New York City,
not failing to incorporate its howling police car sirens.
Varse used the sirens for structural importance, as rep-
resentions of a continuum pitch beyond twelve-tone equal
temperament. Varse intended the title Amriques to
symbolize discoveries - new worlds on earth, in the sky,
or in the minds of men.[4]

1 Performances
The original version of Amriques was premiered on 9
April 1926 by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold
Stokowski. The revised version was premiered on 30 May

1
2 4 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

4 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

4.1 Text
Amriques Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%A9riques?oldid=749357717 Contributors: Hyacinth, Ruziklan, BD2412,
RussBot, Stevouk, Hftf, MegA, BrownHairedGirl, Greg Pugh, Jetman, ShelfSkewed, Justin Tokke, Carillonista, Sjones23, Ex penumbrae,
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4.2 Images
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Original artist: ?

4.3 Content license

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