Nummer 5
Encyclopedia
Nummer 5 met zuivere tonen (Number 5 with Pure Tones) is a musical work by the Belgian composer Karel Goeyvaerts
, realized in 1953 and one of the earliest pieces of electronic music
.
had finished his Studie I
in November that Goeyvaerts was able to come to Cologne to realise his work. In the meantime, Goeyvaerts made a revised version of his score, probably in the Autumn, with a much more complex web of proportions over the entire composition that appears to have been influenced by Stockhausen's Studie (Decroupet and Ungeheuer 1994, 112, 115; Goeyvaerts 1994, 50–51). Goeyvaerts was given technical assistance by Stockhausen in realising his work (Morawska-Büngeler 1988, 109). The premiere of Goeyvarts's composition was given on 19 October 1954 on the inaugural concert of works produced in the WDR studio, together with the first performances of six other pieces: Stockhausen's Studie I and Studie II
, Herbert Eimert
's Glockenspiel and Etüde über Tongemische, Paul Gredinger's Formanten I/II, and Henri Pousseur
's Seismogramme. Eimert emphatically titled these pieces "Die sieben Stücke" (The Seven Pieces), and long maintained that this was the first concert of electronic music (Decroupet and Ungeheuer 1994, 115; Morawska-Büngeler 1988, 115; Grant 2001, 75). In retrospect, Goeyvaerts was unhappy with Nummer 5 as a finished product, because it demonstrated that absolute certainty lay outside his grasp (Goeyvaerts 1994, 51).
, from which the various sounds used in the piece are compounded. The work is characterised by stillness, possessing a non-dialectical
mode of proceeding so that its harmonic proportions need not exclude an equilibrium of elements. A second force is responsible for the piece’s form: it is exactly symmetrical: not only does each event in the second half of the piece occur according to an axis of symmetry at the exact centre, but each event itself is reversed. It is a perfect example of Goeyvaerts's aesthetics, the perfect example of the imperfection of perfection (Grant 2001, 64–65). All the relations among the parametric values are derived from the arithmetic series
of the integers from 1 to 11. This series defines not only the numbers of elements, but also the relations between the values of these elements. Within the individual composite tones this applies not only to the relations between the component tones but also to the relations between the various composite sounds (Sabbe 1977, 70).
Karel Goeyvaerts
Karel Goeyvaerts was a Belgian composer.-Life:After studies at the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory in Antwerp, Goeyvaerts studied composition in Paris with Darius Milhaud and analysis with Olivier Messiaen...
, realized in 1953 and one of the earliest pieces of electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
.
History
A first version of the work was written by March 1953, but it was only after his friend Karlheinz StockhausenKarlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
had finished his Studie I
Studie I
Studie I is an electronic music composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen from the year 1953. It lasts 9 minutes 42 seconds and, together with his Studie II, comprises his work number 3.-History:...
in November that Goeyvaerts was able to come to Cologne to realise his work. In the meantime, Goeyvaerts made a revised version of his score, probably in the Autumn, with a much more complex web of proportions over the entire composition that appears to have been influenced by Stockhausen's Studie (Decroupet and Ungeheuer 1994, 112, 115; Goeyvaerts 1994, 50–51). Goeyvaerts was given technical assistance by Stockhausen in realising his work (Morawska-Büngeler 1988, 109). The premiere of Goeyvarts's composition was given on 19 October 1954 on the inaugural concert of works produced in the WDR studio, together with the first performances of six other pieces: Stockhausen's Studie I and Studie II
Studie II
Studie II is an electronic music composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen from the year 1954 and, together with his Studie I, comprises his work number 3...
, Herbert Eimert
Herbert Eimert
Herbert Eimert was a German music theorist, musicologist, journalist, music critic, editor, radio producer, and composer.-Life:...
's Glockenspiel and Etüde über Tongemische, Paul Gredinger's Formanten I/II, and Henri Pousseur
Henri Pousseur
Henri Pousseur was a Belgian composer.-Biography:Pousseur studied at the Academies of Music in Liège and in Brussels from 1947 to 1953. He was closely associated with Pierre Froidebise and André Souris...
's Seismogramme. Eimert emphatically titled these pieces "Die sieben Stücke" (The Seven Pieces), and long maintained that this was the first concert of electronic music (Decroupet and Ungeheuer 1994, 115; Morawska-Büngeler 1988, 115; Grant 2001, 75). In retrospect, Goeyvaerts was unhappy with Nummer 5 as a finished product, because it demonstrated that absolute certainty lay outside his grasp (Goeyvaerts 1994, 51).
Analysis
The "pure tones" of the subtitle refer to sine tonesSine wave
The sine wave or sinusoid is a mathematical function that describes a smooth repetitive oscillation. It occurs often in pure mathematics, as well as physics, signal processing, electrical engineering and many other fields...
, from which the various sounds used in the piece are compounded. The work is characterised by stillness, possessing a non-dialectical
Dialectic
Dialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...
mode of proceeding so that its harmonic proportions need not exclude an equilibrium of elements. A second force is responsible for the piece’s form: it is exactly symmetrical: not only does each event in the second half of the piece occur according to an axis of symmetry at the exact centre, but each event itself is reversed. It is a perfect example of Goeyvaerts's aesthetics, the perfect example of the imperfection of perfection (Grant 2001, 64–65). All the relations among the parametric values are derived from the arithmetic series
Arithmetic progression
In mathematics, an arithmetic progression or arithmetic sequence is a sequence of numbers such that the difference between the consecutive terms is constant...
of the integers from 1 to 11. This series defines not only the numbers of elements, but also the relations between the values of these elements. Within the individual composite tones this applies not only to the relations between the component tones but also to the relations between the various composite sounds (Sabbe 1977, 70).
Discography
- Goeyvaerts, Karel. The Serial Works [#1–7] . Champ d'Action. Megadisc MDC 7845. Gent: Megadisc Classics, 1998.
- Early Electronic Music: Cologne—WDR. CD recording BVHAAST 9106. Amsterdam : BV HAAST Records, 1999. Herbert Eimert and Robert Beyer, Klang im unbegrenzten Raum and Klangstudie II; Herbert Eimert, Klangstudie I, and Glockenspiel; Karel Goeyvaerts, Nr 5 and Nr 7; Paul Gredinger, Formaten I und II; Gottfried Michael Koenig, Klangfiguren I; Henri Pousseur, Seismogramme I–II; Bengt Hambraeus, Doppelrohr II; Franco Evangelisti, Incontri di fasce sonore; György Ligeti, Glissandi and Artikulation; Giselher Kiebe Interferenzen; Herbert Brün, Anepigraphe.