Boulez and poetry as influence in avant-garde music, 1955-1960

Abstract:
Concentrating on three major works by Boulez, Le Marteau Sans Maître, the Third Piano Sonata and Pli Selon Pli, I outline the poetic gestures assimilated in the music. I make clear the shift in poetic gestures influencing the music as Boulez developed and evolved his style through these three works. Throughout runs the theme that Boulez is trying to achieve a certain anonymity of authorship through the treatment of poetry in the music, and link music and poetry using structure.

There will be three examples. Firstly, poetry as influence and content in Le Marteau Sans Maître; Rene Chars poem is present in the music as an influence on content and also as words. Secondly, poetry as structural basis in the Third Piano Sonata; the incorporation of the structural gestures suggested by Mallarmé’s Un Coup de Des and other literary metaphors for the sonata. Lastly, Boulez’s homage to Mallarmé in converting the essence of the poems in Pli Selon Pli; the development of Boulez’s idea of poetry as centre and absence in music.

This comparison shows how the study of these instances helps outline Boulez’s intentions in some of his later works such as Répons; the concept of the one versus the many and the multi layered transformation of themes and ideas, and also how the development of the absorption of poetic gestures into music during this five year period influenced Boulez’s treatment of material in later works.