''Makrokosmos'' is a series of four volumes of pieces for

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

by American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

George Crumb George Henry Crumb Jr. (24 October 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an American composer of avant-garde contemporary classical music. Early in his life he rejected the widespread modernist usage of serialism, developing a highly personal musical ...

. The name alludes to '' Mikrokosmos'', a set of piano pieces by

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...

, one of Crumb's favorite 20th-century composers. The first volume of the set was composed in 1972, while the last was completed in early 1979; the first performance of all four volumes in sequence was given by

Yvar Mikhashoff Yvar Emilian Mikhashoff (born Ronald Mackay; March 8, 1941 in Troy, New York – October 11, 1993 in Buffalo, New York) was an American virtuoso pianist and composer. He is best known for his performance of contemporary classical music. Mik ...

Aki Takahashi is a Japanese pianist specializing in contemporary classical music. Biography Born in Kamakura, she began studying piano at the age of five and received her M.A. degree from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Her teachers inc ...

, Stephen Manes, Freida Manes, Jan Williams and Lynn Harbold, in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, on 12 June 1980.

Volume I

''Makrokosmos, Volume I'' was composed in 1972 for pianist and friend David Burge (who previously commissioned and premiered Crumb's ''Five Pieces for Piano'' (1962)). The collection is subtitled ''Twelve Fantasy-Pieces after the Zodiac'' and is scored for amplified piano. Its contents are as follows: * Part 1: # ''Primeval Sounds (Genesis I)'' (Cancer) # ''Proteus'' (Pisces) # ''Pastorale (from the Kingdom of Atlantis, ca. 10,000 B.C.)'' (Taurus) # ''Crucifixus'' YMBOL(Capricorn) * Part 2: #

''The Phantom Gondolier'' (Scorpio) # ''Night-Spell I'' (Sagittarius) # ''Music of Shadows (for Aeolian Harp)'' (Libra) # ''The Magic Circle of Infinity (Moto Perpetuo)'' YMBOL(Leo)

* Part 3: #

''The Abyss of Time'' (Virgo) # ''Spring-Fire'' (Aries) # ''Dream Images (Love-Death Music)'' (Gemini) # ''Spiral Galaxy'' YMBOL(Aquarius)

The last piece of each part is notated in such a way that the score forms an image: a cross (piece 4), a circle (piece 8), and a spiral (piece 12). Burge premiered ''Volume I'' at

Colorado College Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its campus. The college offer ...

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

, on 8 February 1973.

Volume II

The second volume of ''Makrokosmos'' was completed in 1973. It largely follows the organizational scheme of the first volume, bears the same subtitle (i.e. ''Twelve Fantasy-Pieces after the Zodiac'') and is also scored for amplified piano. Crumb has stated that the two volumes form a sequence of 24 fantasy-pieces. ''Volume II'' comprises the following works: * Part 1: # ''Morning Music (Genesis II)'' (Cancer) # ''The Mystic Chord'' (Sagittarius) # ''Rain-Death Variations'' (Pisces) # ''Twin Suns (Doppelgänger aus der Ewigkeit)'' YMBOL(Gemini) * Part 2: #

''Ghost-Nocturne: for the Druids of Stonehenge (Night-Spell II)'' (Virgo) # ''Gargoyles'' (Taurus) # ''Tora! Tora! Tora! (Cadenza Apocalittica)'' (Scorpio) # ''A Prophecy of Nostradamus'' YMBOL(Aries)

* Part 3: #

Cosmic wind Cosmic wind is a powerful cosmic force that can push interstellar dust clouds of low density into intergalactic space. Although it easily pushes low density gas and dust clouds, it cannot easily push high density clouds. As the cosmic winds start t ...

'' (Libra) # ''Voices from "Corona Borealis"'' (Aquarius) # ''Litany of the Galactic Bells'' (Leo) # ''Agnus Dei'' YMBOL(Capricorn)

Similarly to ''Volume I'', the last piece of each part is notated so that the score forms an image: two circles (piece 4), a

cowrie Cowrie or cowry () is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. The term ''porcelain'' derives from the old Italian term for the cowrie shell (''porcellana'') du ...

-like shape (piece 8), and the

peace sign A number of peace symbols have been used many ways in various cultures and contexts. The dove and olive branch was used symbolically by early Christians and then eventually became a secular peace symbol, popularized by a ''Dove'' lithograph by ...

(piece 12). The collection was premiered by Robert Miller at the

Alice Tully Hall Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The hall is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assist ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, on 12 November 1974.

Volume III

A collection of five pieces completed in 1974 and titled ''Music for a Summer Evening'' forms the third volume of ''Makrokosmos''. It departs considerably from the previous two. Commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation for Swarthmore College, the work is scored for two amplified pianos and percussion (two players), contains fewer pieces, and does not associate any of the pieces with Zodiac signs. The contents are as follows: # ''Nocturnal Sounds (The Awakening)'' # ''Wanderer-Fantasy'' # ''The Advent'' (including ''Hymn for the Nativity of the Star-Child'') # ''Myth'' # ''Music of the Starry Night'' Three of the pieces bear an epigraph: piece 1 from

Salvatore Quasimodo Salvatore Quasimodo (; August 20, 1901 – June 14, 1968) was an Italian poet and translator. In 1959, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own time ...

's poem ''Ulysses' Isle'', piece 3 from

Pascal Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Fren ...

, and piece 5 from Rilke. ''Music for a Summer Evening'' was premiered by Gilbert Kalish and James Freeman (piano), Raymond DesRoches and Richard Fitz (percussion) at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, on 30 March 1974. John Keillor has written, “It is a work so successful and openhearted that Makrokosmos III is among the most frequently performed avant-garde chamber works from the second half of the twentieth century.”

Volume IV

The collection that forms the fourth instance of ''Makrokosmos'' is titled ''Celestial Mechanics'', and subtitled ''Cosmic Dances for Amplified Piano, Four Hands''. It was completed in April 1979. # ''Alpha Centauri'' # ''Beta Cygni'' # ''Gamma Draconis'' # ''Delta Orionis'' The cycle was premiered by

Gilbert Kalish Gilbert Kalish (born July 2, 1935) is an American pianist. He was born in New York and studied with Leonard Shure, Julius Hereford and Isabelle Vengerova. He was a founding member of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, a pioneering new music gr ...

and Paul Jacobs at the Alice Tully Hall, New York City, on 18 November 1979.

Recordings

* Parts I-III: Yoshiko Shimizu (piano), Rupert Struber (percussion), KAIROS (record label), 2018 * Parts I-II : Stéphanos Thomopoulos (piano), Printemps des Arts de Monte Carlo (record label), http://printempsdesarts.com/fr/collection-cd, 2018

References

* Prefaces to scores of Volumes I-IV: C.F. Peters, P66539a (''Volume I''), P66539b (''Volume 2''), P66590 (''Music for a Summer Evening''), and P66788 (''Celestial Mechanics'').

External links

* Composition pages on The Official George Crumb Homepage: *
Volume I
*

*

*

{{Portal bar, Classical music, Music Compositions by George Crumb Compositions that use extended techniques