Rituel in Memoriam Bruno Maderna

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Rituel in Memoriam Bruno Maderna (1974-1975) is a composition for large chamber ensemble in eight groups by the French composer Pierre Boulez. It was first performed in London, 2 April 1975, by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Boulez.^[1]

The work was written after the death of Boulez's fellow composer Bruno Maderna. The work makes use of multiple groups of musicians (each with different instruments), widely separated across the performance space, as in many of Maderna's works (e.g. Quadrivium, 1969). There are eight groups, each one featuring different instruments, with every group but brass conducted by a percussionist keeping the individual tempo of the group; thus the groups have a rhythmic independence of each other, though there is a larger scale organization directed by a primary conductor.^[2]

Boulez based the tonal structure of "Rituel" largely on a set of seven tones, corresponding to the number of the letters in the name "Maderna".^[3][4]

[edit] References

1. ^ Jameux 1991, p.351
2. ^ Derrien, Jean-Pierre. notations, figures-doubles-prismes, rituel, included booklet. Naïve MO 782163, Lyons, 2002.
3. ^ Blumröder, Cristoph von. Lecture "Stationen der Neuen Musik seit 1950", Musikwissenschaftliches Institut der Universität zu Köln, 9 May 2006.
4. ^ Jameux 1991, pp.355-356

[edit] Bibliography

• Jameux, Dominique (1991). Pierre Boulez. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674667409.