''Psappha'' (Edition: Salabert, 1975) is a

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

for multi-

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

solo by

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ref ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

modernist composer

Iannis Xenakis Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; el, Γιάννης "Ιωάννης" Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης, ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde ...

. The work does not include specific instrumentation, although the composer calls for three groups of wood and/or skins and three groups of metal instruments. The actual printed performance score is written in a unique graph notation and consists of 2,396 segments. It presents a greater demand on the performer due to this unique style. Together with '' Rebonds'', composed between 1987 and 1989, ''Psappha'' is one of the two compositions for solo percussion by Xenakis.

Background

"Psappha" is an archaic form of "

Sappho Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...

", a great Greek poet from the Island of Lesbos, born in the 6th century BC. Her style was sensual and melodic, and she was one of the first poets to write from the first person, describing love and loss as it affected her personally. The target of her affections was most commonly female, and today both her name and place of residence have become synonymous with woman-love. Written for six groups of instruments, three of wood and/or skins and three of metal, ''Psappha'' is sharp, brittle, and even violent at times. The inspiration here manifests not as aesthetic, but as structure. The work's rhythmic structures are derived from small

rhythmic cell The 1957 ''Encyclopédie Larousse''quoted in Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1990). ''Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music'' (''Musicologie générale et sémiologue'', 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate (1990). . defines a cell in music as a "s ...

s characteristic of Sappho's poetry. These rhythms pervade the entire work and make both local and large-scale appearances. Much of the specifics of instrument choice is left up to the performer: Xenakis writes, "timbre serves only to clarify the rhythmic structures," suggesting the "words" of this poem are only a secondary color to the structures that contain them.

Commission

''Psappha'' was commissioned by the

English Bach Festival The English Bach Festival was an annual UK classical music festival which ran from 1963 to 2009. It was founded by the Greek-born harpsichordist and singer Lina Lalandi (1920–2012) and the English musicologist Jack Westrup who were co-directors d ...

with financial assistance from the

Gulbenkian Foundation The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation ( pt, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian), commonly referred to simply as the Gulbenkian Foundation, is a Portuguese institution dedicated to the promotion of the arts, philanthropy, science, and education. One of ...

and is dedicated to percussionist

Sylvio Gualda Sylvio may refer to: * Sylvio Breleur (born 1978), French Guiana football player * Sylvio de Lellis (born 1923), the second son of the Baron Admiral Armando de Lellis * Sylvio Hoffmann Mazzi (born 1908), former Brazilian football player * Sylvio La ...

. The work was premiered by the dedicatee at Round House, London, on 2 May 1976.Percussion Solo Literature. Thomas Siwe, editor. Champaign, Ill.: Media Press, c1995

Footnotes

References

*Xenakis, I. (1975). ''Psappha'', p. 1 *Siwe, Thomas. "Percussion Solo Literature" Champaign, Ill.: Media Press, 1995. *Solomon, Samuel. "''Psappha'
program note

External links

''Psappha''
video (Alexey Nadzharov) an
Score facsimile
{{Authority control 1975 compositions Compositions by Iannis Xenakis Music dedicated to ensembles or performers Percussion music