Challenging Historiographic Assumptions

Opening Up Serialism with Pierre Boulez's Don

Bibliographic Data

ID21728372
AuthorsJoseph Salem (0000-0002-2876-3099, University of Victoria, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume21
Issue3
Pages363-390
Publication date2024-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
Venuetwentieth-century music (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1478-5722 • E-ISSN: 1478-5730
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1478572223000130
OpenAlexW4386253642
LanguageEN
References cited20

This article combines historiographic reflections on the open-work concept in serial music with a new philology of Pierre Boulez's Don , the opening piece of Pli selon pli . I begin by presenting challenges in defining the open-work concept. I also deconstruct the dual use of the term ‘serialism’ to define a set of compositional techniques and a musical style. This leads me to a reconsideration of the similarities between the changing compositional strategies of Boulez and John Cage (and their influence on others) during a time of formal and stylistic experimentation in the 1950s. Finally, I segue to Boulez's compositional plans for Don . In doing so, I provide a concrete example of how the techniques of serialism often belie the aesthetic and extramusical connotations at play in works that are serial in style

Art · Feminism · Linguistics · Literature · Philology · Sociology · Diverse Musicological Studies · Music History and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy

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