''Nummer 2'' for thirteen instruments (also called ''Opus 2 for thirteen instruments'') is a composition written in 1951 by the Belgian composer
Karel Goeyvaerts
Karel August Goeyvaerts (8 June 1923 – 3 February 1993) was a Belgian composer.
Life
Goeyvaerts was born in Antwerp, where he studied at the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory; he later studied composition in Paris with Darius Milhaud and analys ...
.
''Nummer 2'' has been claimed as the first "total
serial" composition. though the same claim has been made for
Milton Babbitt
Milton Byron Babbitt (May 10, 1916 – January 29, 2011) was an American composer, music theorist, mathematician, and teacher. He is particularly noted for his serial and electronic music.
Biography
Babbitt was born in Philadelphia to Albert E ...
's ''Three Compositions for Piano'' (1947), which predates Goeyvaerts's work by four years.
Form
''Nr 2'' is in a single movement, but falls into three large sections. Unlike its immediate predecessor in Goeyvaerts's catalog, ''Nr 1'' (1950–51)
Sonata for Two Pianos, and two of its serial successors, the electronic ''Nr 4 met dode tonen'' (1952) and ''
Nr 5 met zuivere tonen'' (1953), ''Nr 2'' uses a recurring
twelve-tone row (B F F E G A E D A B D C). In the outer sections this row is played monodically by the piano, five times in succession in part one, and five more times in the third section, but in retrograde. Around this linear presentation, in a second layer, the other twelve instruments present the chromatic total several times in a dispersed order with constant permutation. The middle section works in a contrasting manner, presenting pitches in successive groups of either two or three simultaneously sounding instruments, completing the twelve-tone
aggregate
Aggregate or aggregates may refer to:
Computing and mathematics
* collection of objects that are bound together by a root entity, otherwise known as an aggregate root. The aggregate root guarantees the consistency of changes being made within the ...
every eight bars. Pitch repetitions are initially dispersed, but toward the centre become increasingly more concentrated.
Instrumentation
''Nr 2'' is scored for
flute (doubling
piccolo
The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the s ...
), two
oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range.
...
s, two
bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave ...
s,
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 musica ...
, two
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
s, two
viola
; german: Bratsche
, alt=Viola shown from the front and the side
, image=Bratsche.jpg
, caption=
, background=string
, hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow
, range=
, related=
*Violin family ...
s, two
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
s, and
double bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
.
Discography
*Goeyvaerts, Karel. ''The Serial Works
1–7'. Champ d'Action;
Celso Antunes
Celso Antunes (born November 12, 1959) is a Brazilian conductor located in Germany.
Biography
Antunes studied singing and conducting at the University of São Paulo, achieved recognition as assistant conductor of the São Paulo Youth Symphony O ...
, cond. (in Nr. 2, 3, and 6). Megadisc MDC 7845. Gent: Megadisc Classics, 1998.
Sources
Sources
*
*
*
Further reading
*
* . 1972. "Das Musikdenken von Karel Goeyvaerts in Bezug auf das Schaffen von Karlheinz Stockhausen: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der frühseriellen und elektronischen Musik 1950–1956". ''Interface'' 2:101–113.
* Sabbe, Herman. 1981. "Die Einheit der Stockhausen-Zeit ...: Neue Erkenntnismöglichkeiten der seriellen Entwicklung anhand des frühen Wirkens von Stockhausen und Goeyvaerts. Dargestellt aufgrund der Briefe Stockhausens an Goevaerts". In ''Musik-Konzepte 19: Karlheinz Stockhausen: ... wie die Zeit verging ...'', edited by
Heinz-Klaus Metzger
Heinz-Klaus Metzger (6 February 1932 – 25 October 2009) was a German music critic and theorist.
Born in Konstanz, Metzger studied piano under Carl Seemann in Freiburg im Breisgau and composition under Max Deutsch in Paris. Later, he met Theodo ...
and
Rainer Riehn Rainer Riehn (12 November 1941 – 9 June 2015) was a German composer and conductor, and a co-editor of music theory magazines.
Riehn was born in Danzig, Germany (modern Gdańsk, Poland) studied music theory in Mainz, Zürich, and Berlin and com ...
, 5–96. Munich: Edition Text + Kritik.
Serial compositions
Compositions by Karel Goeyvaerts
{{classical-composition-stub