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aggregate (in this case, all the possible partitionings of 12-note sets
into as many as six parts). All-partition arrays are found in much of
Babbitts music after 1960. Each of the sections of Arie da capomay
be construed as an aria for one of the five instruments; but the
conception of the aria is reimagined so that the central instrument
dominates less quantitatively than relationally, in that its music is the
immediate source of, and is complemented and counterpointed by,
the music of the accompanying instruments. Da capo repetitions
of set forms recur throughout the arias, both on the musical surface
and as non-consecutive pitches associated by register, articulation or
instrumentation.
A Solo Requiem for soprano and two pianos (19767) is Babbitts
most extended composition for voice. This magisterial work (a
memorial to the composer Godfrey Winham) incorporates a wide
range of vocal techniques and reveals the extraordinary range and
sensitivity of Babbitts response to a variety of dramatic and lyrical
poetic texts. In My Complements to Roger for solo piano (1978),
Babbitt succinctly demonstrates a number of methods for associating
pitch and rhythmic structures. The partitioning of metrical units and
pitch class sets is correlated in each bar. Often in the piece the
grouping of a string of pitches extracted from the abstract pitch class
array is articulated on the musical surface by presenting the pitch
string within a single beat, subdivided into the same number of parts
as there are pitches in the string (see Mead, 1983).
Babbitt has continued to expand the 12-note universe. Since the
1980s he has explored the premise of the superarray, the
combination of individual arrays to form larger and more intricate 12note structures. These very large arrays of pitch class structure have
inspired ever more inventive musical textures. For example,
in Transfigured Notes for string orchestra (1986), Babbitt divides
each of four instrumental groups (1st and 2nd violins, violas and
cellos) into two sub-groups and then distinguishes between three
separate registers in each group in order to articulate 24 distinct
areas. These instrumental groupings are then recombined to project
the structural counterpoint which comprises one interpretation of the
abstract superarray.
The world that Babbitts music evokes is not simple. He has said I
want a piece of music to be literally as much as possible. While
some critics have felt that such an attitude has resulted in a body of
inaccessible music, others have praised his pioneering approach,
involving as it has a systematic and comprehensive exploration of
the 12-note compositional universe. His emphasis on the relationship
between practice and theory, his insistence on the composers
assumption of responsibility for every musical event in a work, and
his reinterpretation of the constituent elements of the Western
musical tradition have had a vital influence on the thinking and music
of numerous younger composers.
Babbitt, Milton
WORKS
all published unless otherwise stated
instrumental
Orch: Generatrix, 1935, inc., withdrawn; Composition for Str Orch, 1940, withdrawn;
Sym., 1941, inc., withdrawn; Into the Good Ground, film score, 1949, inc.,
withdrawn; Relata I, 1965; Relata II, 1968; Ars combinatoria, small orch, 1981;
Conc. for Pf and Orch, 1985; Transfigured Notes, str orch, 1986; Conc. no.2, pf,
orch, 1998
Chbr: Str Trio, 1941, withdrawn; Composition for 4 Insts, fl, cl, vn, vc, 1948;
Composition for 12 Insts, wind qnt, tpt, hp, cel, str trio, db, 1948, rev. 1954; Str Qt
no.1, 1948, withdrawn; Composition for Va and Pf, 1950; Ww Qt, 1953; Str Qt no.2,
1954; All Set, a sax, t sax, tpt, trbn, db, pf, vib, perc, 1957; Sextets, vn, pf, 1966; Str
Qt no.3, 196970; Str Qt no.4, 1970; Arie da capo, fl, cl + b cl, pf, vn, vc, 19734;
Paraphrases, fl, ob + eng hn, cl, b cl, bn, hn, tpt, trbn, tuba, pf, 1979
Dual, vc, pf, 1980; Str Qt no.5, 1982; Groupwise, pic + fl + a fl, vn, va, vc, pf, 1983;
Four Play, cl, vn, vc, pf, 1984; The Joy of More Sextets, vn, pf, 1986; Fanfare, 4 hn,
4 tpt, 3 trbn, tuba, 1987; Souper, spkr, fl, cl, vn, vc, pf, 1987; Whirled Series, a sax,
pf, 1987; The Crowded Air, fl, ob, cl, bn, pf, mar, gui, vn, va, vc, db, 1988; Consortini,
fl, pf, vib, mar, vc, 1989; Soli e Duettini, 2 gui, 1989; Soli e Duettini, fl, gui, 1989; Soli
e Duettini, vn, va, 1990
Counterparts, 2 tpt, hn, trbn, tuba, 1992; Septet, but Equal, 2 cl, cl + b cl, vn, va, vc,
pf, 1992; Fanfare for All, 2 tpt, hn, trbn, tuba, 1993; Str Qt no.6, 1993; Accompanied
Recitative, s sax, pf, 1994; Arrivals and Departures, 2 vn, 1994; Triad, cl, va, pf,
1994; Bicenquinquagenary Fanfare, 2 tpt, hn, trbn, tuba, 1995; Pf Qt, 1995; Qnt, cl,
2 vn, va, vc, 1996; When Shall We Three Meet Again?, fl, cl, vib, 1996
Pf: 3 Compositions for Pf, 1947; Duet, 1956; Semi-Simple Variations, 1956;
Partitions, 1957; Post-Partitions, 1966; Tableaux, 1972; Minute Waltz (3/4 1/8),
1977; Playing for Time, 1977; My Complements to Roger, 1978; About Time, 1982;
Don, pf 4 hands, 1981; Canonical Form, 1983; Playing for Time, 1983; It Takes
Twelve to Tango, 1984; Lagniappe, 1985; Overtime, 1987; In his Own Words, spkr,
pf, 1988; Emblems (Ars Emblematica), 1989; Envoi, pf 4 hands, 1990; Preludes,
Interludes and Postlude, 1991; Tutte le corde, 1994
Other solo inst: My Ends are my Beginnings, cl, 1978; Melismata, vn, 1982; Sheer
Pluck (Composition for Gui), 1984; Homily, snare drum, 1987; Beaten Paths, mar,
1988; Play it Again Sam, va, 1989; None but the Lonely Flute, fl, 1991; Around the
Horn, hn, 1993; Manifold Music, org, 1995
vocal
Dramatic: Fabulous Voyage (musical, R. Childs, R. Koch, Babbitt), 1946
Choral: Music for the Mass I, SATB, 1940, withdrawn; Music for the Mass II, SATB,
1941, withdrawn; 4 Canons, female chorus, 1968 [after Schoenberg]; More
Phonemena, 12vv, 1978; An Elizabethan Sextette, female chorus 6vv, 1979;
Glosses, boys' choir, 1988
Solo vocal: Three Theatrical Songs, 1v, pf, 1946 [from musical Fabulous Voyage];
The Widow's Lament in Springtime (W.C. Williams), S, pf, 1950; Du (Stramm), song
cycle, S, pf, 1951; Vision and Prayer, S, pf, 1954, unpubd, unperf.; 2 Sonnets (G.M.
Hopkins), Bar, cl, va, vc, 1955; Composition for Tenor and 6 Insts, T, fl, ob, vn, va,
vc, hpd, 1960; Sounds and Words, S, pf, 1960
Phonemena, S, pf, 196970; A Solo Requiem (W. Shakespeare, Hopkins, G.
Meredith, Stramm, J. Dryden), S, 2 pf, 19767; The Head of the Bed (J. Hollander),
S, fl, cl, vn, vc, 1982; The Virginal Book, C, pf, 1988; 4 Cavalier Settings (R. Herrick,
T. Carew), T, gui, 1991; Mehr Du (Stramm), Mez, va, pf, 1991; Quatrains, S, 2 cl,
1993; No Longer Very Clear, S, fl, cl, vn, vc, 1994
Babbitt, Milton
WRITINGS
for fuller list see Mead (1994)
The Function of Set Structure in the Twelve-Tone
System (unpubd paper, 1946; diss., Princeton U., 1992)
The String Quartets of Bartk,MQ, xxxv (1949), 37785
Some Aspects of Twelve-Tone Composition, The Score, no.12
(1955), 5361
Who Cares if You Listen?, High Fidelity, viii/2 (1958), 3840;
65
The Synthesis, Perception and Specification of Musical
(19645), 7483
The Structure and Functions of Music Theory I, College Music
(1981), 5166
Words about Music, ed. S. Dembski and J.N. Straus (Madison,
WI, 1987)
Stravinsky's Verticals and (Schoenberg's) Diagonals: a Twist of
Babbitt, Milton
BIBLIOGRAPHY
VintonD (B. Boretz)
Babbitt, Milton, CBY 1962
G. Perle: Serial Composition and Atonality (Berkeley, CA, 1962,
6/1991)
R. French: Current Chronicle: New York, MQ, l (1964), 3828
[on Philomel]
P. Westergaard: Some Problems Raised by the Rhythmic
Procedures in Milton Babbitts Composition for Twelve
Instruments,PNM, iv/1 (1965), 10918
E. Barkin: A Simple Approach to Milton Babbitts Semi-Simple
Variations, MR, xxviii (1967), 31622
J. Hollander: Notes on the Text of Philomel, PNM, vi/1 (1967),
13441
R. Kostelanetz: The Two Extremes of Avant-Garde Music, New
York Times Magazine (15 Jan 1967)
E. Salzman: Babbitt and Serialism, Twentieth-Century Music:
an Introduction (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1967, 3/1988), 1545, 158
An Interview with Milton Babbitt, Music Educators Journal, lv/3
(19689), 56 only
S. Arnold and G. Hair: Champion of Serialism, Music and
Musicians, xvii/10 (1969), 467
H.W. Hitchcock: Systematic Serial Composition, Music in the
United States (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1969, 3/1988), 2529
P. Lieberson, E. Lundborg and J. Peel: Conversation with
Milton Babbitt, Contemporary Music Newsletter, viii (1974), no.1,
pp.23; no.2, pp.23; no.3, pp.24
J. Peel: Milton Babbitt: String Quartet no.3, Contemporary
Music Newsletter, viii/1 (1974), 12
PNM, xiv/2xv/1 (1976) [double issue, 323]
B. Benward: The Widows Lament in Springtime, Music in
Theory and Practice, ii (Dubuque, IA, 1977, 2/1981), 48396
R. Gauldin: A Pedagogical Introduction to Set Theory, Theory
and Practice, iii/2 (1978), 314
H. Wilcox and P. Escot: A Musical Set Theory, Theory and
(1995), 81118
Milton Babbitt, videotaped interview, Brandeis University Archive
of Electro-Acoustic Music (1997)
Babbitt: Portrait of a Serial Composer, documentary film, dir. R.
Hilferty (1998)