IMPRESSIONISM	PRIMITIVISM	NEO-CLASSICISM
EXPRESSIONISM	SERIALISM	TOTAL SERIALISM
	*
INDETERMINISM	TEXTURALISM	MINIMALISM
ELECTRONICISM	NEO-ROMANTICISM	ECLECTICISM

TEXTURALISM: an appeal to the undefinable

	Gottlieb communicates to us by placing two large shapes in his canvas. The are not immediately recognizable, but they fill our minds with ideas.
Adolf Gottlieb: Night Glow	(1971)

Background

Texturalism is a term to define large musical gestures and textures which exist beyond simple melody and harmony, or stated differently, gesture and texture assume the status which more traditional music reserves for melody and rhythm. Texturalism is about relationships of timbre, dynamics, media, number of parts, and density of pitch and rhythm. Texture is a vital aspect of all music, but in the second half of the 20th century, there has been unprecedented attention paid to it.

Composers associated with Texturalism

• Edgard Varese (1883-1965)
• Elliott Carter (1908)
• Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994)
• Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)
• Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001)
• Gyorgy Ligeti (1923)
• Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928)
• Krzysztof Penderecki (1933)

Musical elements

A. Notation

1. Composers can use traditional music notation, which combine into layers of sound forces.
2. Composers can provide written directions, as found in Indeterminism.
3. Composers can create graphic symbols, as seen in Indeterminism.
4. Composers can create patterns either mathematically or with computers and translate them into traditional notation (STOCHASTIC music).

B. Extended techniques

1. Extensions of traditional color resources (such as flutter tongue or pizzicato)
2. Newly developing techniques (such as multiphonics)
3. Extended use of instruments (such as plucking inside a piano or tapping on brass instruments)
4. Extended use of voices (such as grunts, shouts, or whispers)
5. Extended use of performers (such as foot stomps or whistling)
6. Electronic manipulation of acoustic sounds

C. Textures

1. There are three traditional textures:
   1. Monophony: a single melodic line
   2. Homophony: a single important line with chordal or accompanimental support
   3. Polyphony: two or more lines of relative equality and independence
2. Texturalism stacks and juxtaposes these traditional textures to create compound textures (STRATIFICATION).
3. A dense (and frequently static) texture is called a SOUND-MASS
   1. These are sometimes created with sustained sounds, either consonant or dissonant.
   2. They can also be created from stacked ostinati or loops of random sounds.

Analysis projects

• Krzysztof Penderecki: String Quartet, no. 2 (1968) [MA #454]
• Krzysztof Penderecki: Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (1960) [ATM #27]

Suggested listening

• Edgard Varese: Hyperprism (1923) [ATM #13]
• Edgard Varese: Ionisation (1931)
• Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gruppen (1955-57)
• Witold Lutoslawski: String Quartet (1965) [MA #453]
• Iannis Xenakis: Terretektorh (1966)
• Gyorgy Ligeti: Three Fantasiess (1983) [ATM #24]

Composition project

Write an Indeterminate and Texturalistic piece for a chorus of class members, one page or less, which is a complete musical thought. Include the following:

1. Use graphic notational techniques (do NOT use staff lines)
2. Utilize elements of both chance and choice
3. Do not use a "word" text

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