Beyond the dots - how composers score the avant-garde

Photo by Carsten Stabenow (Flickr: creative commons)

At the dawn of the Twentieth Century painter Luigi Russolo created one of the earliest electronic instruments. His 'Intonarumori' did not attempt to replicate an orchestra's traditional tones and pitches. Rather its ‘rumblers’,’scrapers’, ‘hissers’ and ‘buzzers’ created a cacophony of noise and textures.

In 1914 Russolo composed “Risveglio di una cotta” (The awaking of the city). He used his instrument to capture the rhythms and sounds of an urban landscape waking from slumber.

Russolo wanted to score his work so others could play it. His instruments did not create tones, so Russolo used lines, steps and wriggles to convey how the piece should be performed.

Check out Russolo's score here: https://bit.ly/42SU3Zy

You can listen to 'Risveglio di una cotta' here: https://youtu.be/IC3KMbSkYNI

Composer John Cage expanded upon this idea.

In his autobiographical statement, Cage challenges music's core purpose. His interest in Asian philosophy led him to conclude that music must "sober and quiet the mind, thus making it susceptible to divine influences". (Cage, 1989)

He experimented with rhythmic structures that could be realised with any sound including silence. Like Russolo he was wanted to document and share his ideas so he needed a score that transcended traditional concepts of harmony and structure.

His 1958 score for “Aria” dispenses with bar lines and five line staves altogether. Instead, the score uses colour, lines and textures to convey how the work should be performed. The score is an artwork in its own right!

You can watch Jean-Pascal Chaigne perform “Aria” here: https://youtu.be/SN9DVjYpyUs?si=jQfuqe4ZEKQVGkAW

Special thanks

Thank you Carsten Stabenow for this fabulous photo of an amazing early instrument. Thank you also for making it available for non-commercial use.

Interested to find out more?

John Cage Trust. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.johncage.org/autobiographical_statement.html

Muchalski, M. (2013). Excerpts from the score for Risveglio di una citta, to be played on intonarumori. Retrieved from https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/inventingabstraction/?work=240

Spencer, M. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/latest/graphic-scores-art-music-pictures/cage-aria/

Image credit

Stabenow, C. (2013). Wessel Westerveld & Yuri Landman – The Intonarumori @ Gesu Church. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/festival_garage/9355424655