''Jeux vénitiens'' (French for ''Venetian Games'') is a 1961 composition by

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

composer Witold Lutosławski, under commission from the Krakow Philharmonic. It premiered April 21, 1961 in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. Another performance occurred at Warsaw Autumn in 1961. Inspired by

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

, ''Jeux vénitiens'' is notable for its use of limited

aleatory Aleatoricism or aleatorism, the noun associated with the adjectival aleatory and aleatoric, is a term popularised by the musical composer Pierre Boulez, but also Witold Lutosławski and Franco Evangelisti (composer), Franco Evangelisti, for compo ...

techniques. In the piece, Lutosławski determined the overall form and harmonic boundaries, yet he left the realization of the exact contrapuntal and harmonic details up to chance in performance. The indeterminate character produces aleatoric counterpoint'','' which is a type of sound mass. The score of the first movement contains eight boxed musical events labeled A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H. Sections A, C, E, and G function as a refrain. Four percussion instruments signal the beginning of these sections, which are composed of lively un-metered lines played by woodwinds. Each subsequent refrain adds instrumentation. Thus, section C utilizes woodwinds and 3 timpani; section E utilizes woodwinds, 3 timpani, and 3 brass instruments; and section G utilizes woodwinds, 3 timpani, 3 brass instruments, and piano. Except for section E, each subsequent refrain adds duration in multiples of 6 seconds. Thus, the durations for each section are: A-12″, C-18″, E-6″, and G-24″. Sections B, D, F, and H function as contrasting interludes. Similar to the refrains, percussion instruments signal the beginning of these sections, which are composed of static soft string clusters. Another notable feature of this composition is Lutosławski's hallmark use of a twelve-tone chord. Lutosławski's twelve-tone chords are symmetrical and often use a limited number of intervals. For example, the woodwind pitches of section A contain 12 notes and exhibit the following intervallic structure from bottom to top: 23222 / 5 / 22232. Thus, such aleatoric counterpoint produces a special type of sound mass in which the full chromatic spectrum is not covered. Rather than a tone cluster, listeners can hear the twelve-tone chords as a symmetrically spaced chord. (Roig-Francoli 2008, 287–91)

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeux venitiens Compositions by Witold Lutosławski 1961 compositions Compositions for chamber orchestra