''Etudes Boreales'' is a set of etudes for

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...

and/or

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 ...

composed 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 f ...

in 1978. The set is a small counterpart to Cage's other etude collections - '' Etudes Australes'' for piano and '' Freeman Etudes'' for violin. ''Etudes Boreales'' were composed for, and dedicated to, the cellist Jack Kirstein (1921-1996) and his wife, the pianist Jeanne Kirstein (1924-1979). The latter performed Cage's piano works in the 1970s, but found ''Etudes Boreales'' unplayable; the first performer to find a way to play the pieces was percussionist Michael Pugliese (Pritchett, 199). The set comprises four pieces. The cello parts are technically similar to ''Freeman Etudes'': they are extremely demanding pieces composed using chance operations, every aspect of the work meticulously detailed in the score. The difference between the works is that in ''Etudes Boreales'' the pitch range is limited at any given time, and changes throughout the pieces, whereas in ''Freeman Etudes'' the range was unlimited. An excerpt from one of the etudes shows that the technique required involves the ability to jump accurately to any point on the

fingerboard The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The s ...

or beyond, which is particularly difficult in these pieces as they are to be played without

vibrato Vibrato ( Italian, from past participle of " vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms ...

(Stowell, 221): The piano parts of ''Etudes Boreales'' were composed using star charts, as in ''Atlas Eclipticalis'', ''Etudes Australes'' and ''Song Books'' (here Cage chose the maps of ''Atlas Boreales'', an atlas of the northern sky by

Antonín Bečvář Antonín Bečvář (; 10 June 1901 – 10 January 1965) was a Czech astronomer who was active in Slovakia. He was born (and died) in Stará Boleslav. Among his chief achievements is the foundation of the Skalnaté Pleso Observatory and the ...

, hence the title of the work). However, the charts were used not to determine actual pitches, as in those works, but to determine where on the piano the performer is to play (the keyboard, the frame, the strings, etc.). This effectively transforms the piano etudes into percussion works (Pritchett, 199). Cello and piano parts may be performed separately, as ''Etudes Boreales for cello'' or ''Etudes Boreales for piano'', or simultaneously as duets, although they were composed independently.

Editions

References

* James Pritchett. ''The Music of John Cage'', p. 199. Cambridge University Press, 1993. * Robin Stowell. '' The Cambridge Companion to the Cello'', p. 220–221. Cambridge University Press, 1999. {{italic title Compositions by John Cage 1978 compositions Boreales Boreales