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ALEA
PIERRE BOULEZ
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a vain endeavor?Madness,perhaps,butit willbe a useful madness.In
to
any case, adopt chance throughweakness, as the easyway, to turn
oneselfoverto it,is a formofrenunciation thatcouldnotbe accepted
without denyingall theprerogatives and thehierarchies thata created
workimplies.In whatrespectthencan compositionand chancebe
reconciled?
Sincemusicaldevelopment is a function ofduration, ofthephysical
timeduringwhichit unfolds, it permitstheintroduction of"chances"
at severalstagesand at severallevelsofcomposition. Whenall is said
and done, the resultantof thiswould be a sequencebased on the
greatest probability ofchance-determined happenings withinthelimits
ofa certaindurationthatwouldalso be indeterminate. That mayseem
absurdin thecontextofour Occidentalmusic,but Hindu music,for
example,bycombining a kindofstructural "formant" withinstantane-
ousimprovisation, arrivesveryeasilyat thiskindofproblem andprovides
an everydaysolutionforit. Obviouslyit also requiresa completely
different wayoflistening and existsin an opencycle,whereaswe con-
ceiveoftheformulated workas a closedcycleofpossibilities.
Let us see,however, whether by surmounting certaincontradictions
it is notpossibleto absorbchance.
We beginat themostelementary level,theone at whichone gives
a certainfreedomto the performer. Let's make no mistake:if used
summarily, thiswillbe no more than a kind ofgeneralized some-
rubato,
whatmoreorganizedthanbefore(I meana rubatothatcan be applied
to dynamics,to registers, and to tempo,ofcourse).If theinterpreter
can modifythetextas he likes,thismodification mustbe impliedby
thetextand notmerely addedafterwards. The musicaltextshouldcon-
tain inherently this"chance"of the interpreter. If,forexample,in a
certainsuccession ofsounds,I inserta variablenumberofgracenotes,
it is perfectly evidentthat the tempoof thesesoundswill be made
constantly changingbytheintrusion ofthegracenotes,whichprovoke
each timean interruption, or moreexactly,a ruptureofdifferent ten-
sion.Theycan contribute to givingan impression ofnonhomogeneous
time.Similarly, in thecase ofa rapidsuccessionofnotesand chords
thatare ofequal rhythmical lengthbutthatrequireverypronounced
shiftings (registerseitherverycloseto one anotheror veryfarapart),
verydifferent densities(aggregates offromtwoto elevensounds),and
excessively differentiatedattacksand dynamics, ifI ask theperformer
to regulatehis tempoaccordingto the difficulty ofperformance, it is
clear thatthissuccessionwill not have a regularrhythmic pulsation,
but thattherhythm willbe physically tiedto themechanicaldiffer-
entiationthat I require of him. Anotherexample: I can ask the inter-
preternot to slow up or to accelerate, but to oscillate around a given
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tempo, within more or less strict limits. I can also make certain
caesuras depend rather freely on the dynamic level but without
defininga rigidlimitto the ad libitum. In thisway I introduceby means
of the text a necessityof chance in the interpretation-a directed
chance. A word of caution: thesewordsrubato,ad libitum are used here
only to facilitateexpression,since the notions thus introduced forthe
firsttime in compositionhave nothingto do withthe conceptionsthat
these terms generallyreferto-conceptions, that is, which are con-
nected simply with flexibilityof articulation (we may associate with
them the fermata and the pause, of which usage has completely
changed the meaning).I have takenhere the case ofa singleperformer,
but it is easy to surmisethe kaleidoscopeofferedto the imaginationby
several performers or several groups of performers. For then,one will
be free to utilize an interchangebetween the two dimensionsof the
text, one rigorous,the other interpreted.In so doing, one entersa
pragmatic realm that deservesexamination,since the performanceor
conductingof such pieces of music presentscompletelyunprecedented
problems (notation has its role also in what is implicated here); but
experience has already proved that scores conceived in this way are
practicable. We will come back to thissubject later,limitingourselves
forthe momentto the "theoretical"aspect of the question.
However, even though implied by the musical text,this"chance,"
let us repeat,occursat an elementarylevel. It alreadygivesappreciable
possibilitiesof aerating,ofliberating,the interpretation; it seemsto re-
solve the dilemma betweenstrictinterpretation and freeinterpretation.
Perhaps now the performer needs more boldnessthan beforeto "fitin"
withthe composer'sinvention,but-without excessiveoptimism-good
resultsfromthis more effectivecollaboration can be hoped for.How-
ever, let us rememberhow much this libertyneeds to be directed,
projected,forthe "instantaneous"imaginationis moresubjectto lapses
than to illuminations.Consequentlythislibertyis exercisednot,strictly
speaking,on the inventionitself,but on the pragmatismof the inven-
tion. I thinkeveryonewill admit the prudenceof thisposition.
At the level on whichthe structuresthemselvesare called into play,
I believe that one can firstabsorbchance by establishinga certain
automatism of relationshipamong various networksof probabilities
drawn up beforehand.But, someone will remindme, you are in con-
tradictionwithyourinitialstatement,in whichyou refusedthisautom-
atism, this objectivity,as a fetishismof numbers. I naturally expect
that thisautomatismshould not take in all creativethought,but that
it may play a role in such thoughtas a particularlyefficacious means at
such-and-sucha givenmomentduringthe elaborationofa work.There
is nothinglike it to give an impressionof nondirection,of weightless-
.
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duce such notionsas thoseofdefinedor undefinedstructure, amorphous
or directionalstructure, divergentor convergentstructure. It is undeni-
able that this developmentof chance in compositionwill create a
universe decidedly more differentiated than beforeand will mark a
more acute developmentof a renewed perceptionof form.In a con-
ducted ensemble,thesevariousstructuresoughtto be obligatorilycon-
trolledby a general"phrasing,"oughtnecessarilyto have an initialand
a finalsign,oughtto call accessorilyupon kindsofplatforms ofbifurca-
tion-all this in order to avoid a complete loss of the global senseof
formas well as in orderto steerclear of an improvisation withno other
necessity than freechoice. For, as we said earlier,the liberty-or the
liberation-of the performerchanges absolutely nothing about the
notion of structure,since the problem is actually merelyput offuntil
a little later and since the solutionsstill remain to be found. I think
that a well-foundedobjectioncan be made here: doesn't such a form
carrywithit an enormousdanger of compartmentalization? Aren'twe
goingto be guiltyof one of the faultsthat have done the mostharmto
composition as it has been understood-the fault which consistsof
juxtaposing "sections," each with its own center? This argumentis
justifiableonlyin case one actuallydoes not thinkofa generalformbut
develops, if I may use the expression,step by step. In order to cover
up thisdisappearance of composition,one ought to have recourseto a
new notionofdevelopmentthat would be essentiallydiscontinuous, but
discontinuousin a predictableand foreseenway. And fromthiswould
followthe necessaryintroductionof the "formants"of a work and of
the "phrasing"that is indispensableto the interrelation ofstructuresof
variouskinds.
It would accordinglybe possiblein such a formto conceivejunction
points, platformsof bifurcation,kinds of mobile elementscapable of
adapting themselves(with certainmodificationsthat would be written
in as possibilities)to eligible fixedstructuresin an arbitraryway,but
withthe restriction that,in the "course" of the development,any given
happening could occur onlyonce. Finally,in orderto oppose the hori-
zontal and the vertical by means of an enlargementof this simple
notion,certainstructures would be juxtaposable or superposable,either
or
completely partially; that is to say, eitherbeginningat a givenjunc-
tion point or until one is reached-with the positive or negative
criterionthat the necessityor the absence of superpositionwill impose
upon the writtentext. We are therebyfaced once more with the de-
mands of writing:how indeed are the requirementsof thesestructures
going to manifestthemselvesin their actual realization? Obviously,
theywill be evidentfirstof all in the timbres,whichare themosteasily
perceptible phenomena; by referringto instrumentalgroups or, less
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