Pierre
Boulez is a French composer, conductor, and pianist. After first studying mathematics, Boulez began his study of
music at the Paris Conservatoire under Olivier Messiaen, from whom he learned
the twelve-tone technique.
The
twelve-tone technique is a technique developed by Arnold Schoenberg that
ensures that all twelve notes of the chromatic scale are found in equal number
throughout a piece, with no emphasis on any one note. Because all notes are given equal importance, music written
using the twelve-tone technique is not considered to be in any certain key.
Boulez
became fascinated by the twelve-tone technique, and went on to study it
privately under Rene Leibowitz. As
Boulez progressed in his career, he became one of the front-runners of a
musical style known as serialism – a style based primarily on the twelve-tone
technique. In serialism, recurring
musical elements are employed to give a piece of music unity. A prime example of this technique can
be found in Boulez’s “Anthemes”, which can be listened to here:
Typical
of the serialist style, the piece cannot be placed in a key, but rather
exhibits unpredictability with no stress on any particular note or notes. While the piece is rather chaotic,
there still seems to be a certain melody that can be followed, however
seemingly random. It is
interesting to note that while the notes don’t seem to “go together”, it is
almost this aspect that makes them fit so seamlessly together. In a sense, it’s almost as if the piece
is so bad, it’s good. While this
style of music is obviously unconventional and may not suit every listener,
Boulez does an excellent job of knitting together seemingly incompatible notes.
