Punctualism commonly also called pointillism or point music is a style of musical composition prevalent in Europe between 1949 and 1955 whose structures are predominantly effected from tone to tone, without superordinate formal conceptions coming to bear Essl 1989, 93 . In simpler terms music that consists of separately formed particles however complexly these may be composed is called punctual music, as opposed to linear, or group formed, or mass formed music Stockhausen 1998, 452 . This was accomplished by assigning to each note in a composition values drawn from scales of pitch, duration, dynamics, and attack characteristics, resulting in a stronger individualizing of separate tones Frisius 1994 . Another important factor was maintaining discrete values in all parameters of the music. Punctual dynamics, for example blockquote mean that all dynamic degrees are fixed one point will be linked directly to another on the chosen scale, without any intervening transition or gesture. Line dynamics, on the other hand, involve the transitions from one given amplitude to another crescendo, decrescendo and their combinations. This second category can be defined as a dynamic glissando, comparable to glissandi of pitch and of tempi accelerando, ritardando . Boulez 1971, 60 blockquote The almost analytical focus on individual events, and then the transition between them, brings a stillness to this music far removed from the gestural quality of other pieces Grant 2001, 78 . From a purely technical point of view, the term punctual has the sense of a point of intersection of parameters in serialism serial music Eggebrecht 1974 . Retrospectively attributed to the music of Anton Webern , the term was originally coined in German punktuelle Musik , by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Herbert Eimert who also used the expression star music to describe pieces such as Olivier Messiaen s Mode de valeurs et d intensit s 1949 Stockhausen 1989, 35 . However, it is most commonly associated with serial ... more details
Kontra Punkte is a musical composition composition for ten instruments by Karlheinz Stockhausen which resolves contrasts among six musical instrument instrumental timbre s, as well as extremes of note value s and dynamics music dynamic levels , into a homogeneous ending texture music texture . Stockhausen said, commenting on the piece Counter Points a series of the most concealed and also the most conspicuous transformations and renewals with no predictable end. The same thing is never heard twice. Yet there is a distinct feeling of never falling out of an unmistakable construction of the utmost homogeneity. An underlying force that holds things together related proportions a structure. Not the same Gestalten in a changing light. But rather this various Gestalten in the same light, that permeates everything Stockhausen 1963, 37 The first, untitled version, written in 1952 53, was a sparse textured, Punctualism punctual composition scored for flute , E flat clarinet , contrabass clarinet , contrabassoon , trumpet , contrabass tuba , piano four hands, harp , violin , and double bass . This score was almost immediately rejected by the composer, who created a new version in the spring of 1953 for flute , clarinet in A, bass clarinet , bassoon , trumpet , trombone , piano one player , harp , violin , and cello . This version has the distinction of being Nr. 1 in the composer s catalog of works, although the Klavierst cke Stockhausen Klavierst cke I IV , designated Nr. 2 , were actually composed in the previous year. A Punctualism punctual ensemble style using ten soloists divided into six sound groups 1 flute bassoon, 2 clarinet bass clarinet, 3 trumpet trombone, 4 piano, 5 harp, 6 violin violoncello is transformed irregularly but steadily into a soloistic style articulated by groups , gradually focussing on the piano part Stockhausen 1964, 20 . This version adds progressively longer insertions of denser note groups, often in single instruments, while at the same time gr ... more details
The Online Encyclopedia http www.britannica.com ref This type of music is also known as punctualism ... by Georges Lemmen See also Neo Impressionism Stippling Divisionism Punctualism Micromontage , similar ... more details
Kreuzspiel Crossplay is a composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen written for oboe , bass clarinet , piano and four percussion instrument percussionists in 1951 it was later revised for just three percussionists, along with other changes . Stockhausen regarded Kreuzspiel as his first original composition, as opposed to the style imitation exercises he did as part of his music studies Stockhausen 1989, 34 & 55 . According to the composer, it was influenced by Olivier Messiaen s Mode de valeurs et d intensit s 1949 and Karel Goeyvaerts s Sonata for Two Pianos 1950 , and is one of the earliest examples of Punctualism point music . Kreuzspiel was premi red at the Darmst dter Ferienkurse Darmst dter Internationale Ferienkurse in the summer of 1952, conducted by the composer. According to Stockhausen, the performance ended in a scandal Stockhausen 1964, 11 . Kreuzspiel has been analysed in print more often than any other work by Stockhausen, though all but one Borio and Garda 1991 restrict themselves to just the first of its three stages. Though routinely described by the composer as well as others as a serialism serial composition, Kreuzspiel does not employ a referential, recurring twelve tone technique twelve tone ordered set. Rather, it uses constant reordering of twelve element linked pitch, duration, dynamic, and in the original version attack sets a device sometimes called permutation al serialism e.g., Blake and Eisler 1995, 111 . It also uses a permutational 7 element system to control register music register Toop 1974, 159 61 . The composition consists of three linked Movement music movements , or stages . In the first stage, six notes begin in the highest register, and six others begin in the lowest register. These gradually move into the four middle octaves until an equal distribution of pitches throughout the entire range is achieved at the centre of the movement. from that point to the end of the movement, the process is reversed, so that all notes arrive again ... more details
Image Shapey.jpg thumb Ralph Shapey Ralph Shapey March 12, 1921 &ndash June 13, 2002 was an United States American composer and Conducting conductor . He is well known for his work as a composition professor at the University of Chicago , where he founded and directed the Contemporary Chamber Players. Shapey was a MacArthur Fellows Program MacArthur Fellow in 1982. Although Shapey s style is characterized by angularity, irony, and technical rigor, it eschews the Punctualism pointillism , anti emotionalism, and detached austerity of much twelve tone technique twelve tone music. His work s insistence instead on sweeping gesture, frenetic passion, rhythmic vitality, lyrical melody, and dramatic arc recall Romanticism . Shapey was dubbed by critics Leonard Meyer and Bernard Jacobson as a radical traditionalist, which pleased him immensely he held a deep respect for the masters of the past, whom he regarded as his finest teachers. The French American composer Edgard Var se was among Shapey s most important influences. Both composers shared a fascination with unusual sonorities, counterpoint masses, and the outer extremes of pitch space . The coordination of static sound blocks in Shapey s music also reminds one of another great French composer, Olivier Messiaen , though Shapey reportedly found Messiaen s music saccharine and maudlin. Shapey also studied with Stefan Wolpe . Although comparisons are useful, Shapey s compositional voice is undoubtedly personal and distinctive. Many listeners would call his music atonal , but Shapey himself denied the label. He considered himself a tonal composer, and indeed his work, though couched in a highly dissonant harmonic idiom rich in interval class es 1 and 6, does adhere to certain organizational features of tonal music, including pitch hierarchy and object permanence . In 1992 the Pulitzer Prize for Music jury, which that year consisted of George Perle , Roger Reynolds , and Harvey Sollberger , selected Shapey s Concerto Fantasti ... more details
Image Philippe Manoury.jpg thumb right 200px Philippe Manoury Philippe Manoury born 19 June 1952 is a French composer . Biography Philippe Manoury was born in Tulle . His first composition studies were at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris , with G rard Cond and Max Deutsch . He continued his studies from 1974 to 1978 at the Conservatoire de Paris with Michel Philippot , Ivo Malec, and Claude Ballif . ref name Poirier 2001 Poirier 2001. ref From 1975 he undertook studies in computer assisted composition with Pierre Barbaud . He joined IRCAM in 1980. He is currently on the composition faculty at the University of California, San Diego where he teaches courses in composition, real time signal processing, and musical analysis. Music Manoury s work is strongly influenced by Pierre Boulez , Karlheinz Stockhausen , and Iannis Xenakis , and his early work from 1972 76 combines serial Punctualism with the densely massed elements characteristic of the music of Stockhausen and Xenakis, and the paintings of Jackson Pollock . ref name Poirier 2001 Works such as Sound and Fury are of interest because of the use of computer assisted composition. Sound and Fury also uses a very large orchestra, which is symmetrically disposed, and makes quite extensive use of left right spatial effects. The Sonus ex machina series of works, which were developed in collaboration with Miller Puckette , are among the first pieces to utilize real time audio signal processing. Fact date May 2008 His substantial Abgrund pour grand orchestre was commission art commissioned by the Bavarian State Opera together with the Orchestre symphonique de Montr al and premiered by the Bavarian State Orchestra on November 26, 2007. It has been described as a work that will neither disturb nor annoy ... a pleasant and perhaps harmless string of dissonant semi climaxes, little jolts, and resting phases. It has an invigorating effect, is easy to concentrate on. . . . ref name musicweb international.com cite web last ... more details
File Wlodzimierz Kotonski Polish composer.jpg thumb 150px W odzimierz Koto ski W odzimierz Koto ski born 23 August 1925 in Warsaw , is a Poland Polish composer. Biography Koto ski studied with Piotr Rytel and Tadeusz Szeligowski at the PWSM in Warsaw, graduating in 1951. In an initial period of activity he took an interest in folk music from the Podhale region in southern Poland. After attending the Darmst dter Ferienkurse in 1957 61, he adopted Punctualism punctual serialism in works like Sze miniatur Six Miniatures for clarinet and piano of 1957 and Muzyka kameralna Chamber Music for 21 instruments and percussion in the following year. This trend culminated in 1959 in Musique en relief for six orchestral groups Thomas 2001 . His Etiuda na jedno uderzenie talerz Study on One Cymbal Stroke was the first Polish piece of electronic music, created at Polish Radio s Experimental Studio. He also worked in various electronic music studios abroad, amongst others in Cologne , Paris , Freiburg , and Berlin . In 1967 he was appointed lecturer in composition at the Fr d ric Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, where he also directed the electronic music studio. In the years 1974 1976 he was head music editor at the Polskie Radio and head music director for the Polish Radio and Telewizja Polska Television . In the years 1980 1983 he was vice president, and in 1983 1989 president of the Polish Section, International Society for Contemporary Music ISCM . He presented guest lectures in composition and electroacoustic music at foreign universities in, amongst others, Stockholm , Buffalo, New York Buffalo , Los Angeles , and Jerusalem . Partly translated from the Polish wikipedia Compositions Poemat , for orchestra 1949 Ta ce g ralskie Highlander Dances , for orchestra 1950 Quartettino, for 4 horns 1950 Preludium i passacaglia , for orchestra 1953 6 miniatur , for clarinet and piano 1957 Muzyka kameralna , for 21 instruments and percussion 1958 Etiuda na jedno uderzenie w talerz Study ... more details
File Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild F004566 0002, Darmstadt, Internationaler Kurs f r neue Musik.jpg thumb 350px Karlheinz Stockhausen lecturing on Klavierst ck XI at Darmstadt, July 1957. The Klavierst cke German for Piano Musical piece Pieces constitute a series of nineteen compositions by Germany German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen . Stockhausen has said the Klavierst cke are my drawings Stockhausen 1971, 19 . Originating as a set of four small pieces composed between February and June 1952 Blumr der 1993, 109 10 , Stockhausen later formulated a plan for a large cycle of 21 Klavierst cke , in sets of 4 6 1 5 3 2 pieces Smalley 1969, 30 Toop 1983, 348 . He composed the second set in 1954 55 VI was subsequently revised several times and IX and X were finished only in 1961 , and the single Klavierst ck XI in 1956. Beginning in 1979, he resumed composing Klavierst cke and finished eight more, but appears to have abandoned the plan for a set of 21 pieces. The pieces from XV onward are for the synthesizer or similar electronic instruments, which Stockhausen had come to regard as the natural successor to the piano. The dimensions vary considerably, from a duration of less than half a minute for Klavierst ck III to around half an hour for Klavierst cke VI , X , XIII , and XIX . Klavierst cke I&ndash IV from point to group composition The first four Klavierst cke together mark a stage in Stockhausen s evolution from Punctualism point music to group composition Maconie 2005, 118 . They were composed in the order III II IV I, the first two originally titled simply A and B in February 1952, and the remaining two before June 1952 Blumr der 1993, 109 10 . The set is dedicated to Marcelle Mercenier, the Belgian pianist who performed the world premiere in Darmstadt on 21 August 1954 Decroupet 1999, 115 . Klavierst ck I Klavierst ck I , the last of the set to be composed, was written in just two days, after the composer had previously merely prepared some measurements and relationship ... more details
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