Louis Andriessen: De Staat
Louis Andriessen is a minimalist composer of the late 20th
century and it is still currently alive and working into the early 20th
century. His style of music ties into his Dutch cultural roots of being blunt
and direct. Combining this with his strong ideological beliefs on society and
politics forms much of his musical voice and is what made him the leading
modern composer in the Netherlands. The composer’s true passion for the
advancement of music is seen through his actions at the Concertgebouw. There
would be many occasions where he disrupted the Concertgebouw because he
disagreed with how they seemed to force the composer’s hand into composing a
certain type of music (Service 6). By this it means that if composers wanted
their music performed at the highest level and to gain wide recognition then
better be writing music scored for the large orchestras that were the highlight
of the Romantic period. Many of the modern composers were looking to distance
themselves from the Romantic period though. For Andriessen, he was much more
interested in writing for a much smaller group consisting mainly of winds.
Luckily for him, he had gained connections that allowed him to pull in greats performers
from across the best of the Dutch ensembles, even many from the Concertgebouw.
The group looks much like an orchestral brass section, but with some additions
such as guitar and piano. Andriessen fittingly named this ensemble De
Volharding, which translates in English to “Perseverance,” which you could say
is the single word that could be used to describe Andriessen.
De Staat, by Louis Andriessen, translates to mean “The
Republic,” which is the first indication of the political messages to be
present throughout this piece. This piece was actually written for the
Netherlands Wind Ensemble, but the influences of his own band are seen through
his inclusion of violas, guitars, and harps. When looking at the set up of the
stage for De Staat, one can see that a type of palindrome is created down the
center of the ensemble. This creates a conversation, or more of an argument,
between both sides of the ensemble. A great example of this is nine measures
after rehearsal 20 where there are accented quarter notes down the scores. On
the score it looks like it’s every other note for every other instrument, it is
what looks like when each of the ensemble is in unison arguing against the
other side of the ensemble (Musical Score pg. 38). This section is one earliest
moments of climax in the discussions and as the piece goes on the conversation
continuously gets more heated until eventually both sides can come to a
tentative agreement, even through it’s still quite in a “shouted” manner with
the winds.
The composer choose to set this piece to the music to the
text of Plato because he says that Plato’s ideals on the relationship between
music and politics are both absurd, but Andriessen also wishes the ideals could
be true. As an example of this, one of Plato beliefs was that “mixolydian mode
should be banned as it would have a damaging influence on the development of
character” (Musical Score pg. 2), which we can realize is quite the stretch of
the imagination in today’s modern society. At the same time Andriessen yearned
that music could have such a large effect on society.
The composer’s way of displaying both sides of thought
through the music is in how he sets the text. The texture become more
simplistic in its repetition and stays rhythmically consistent to allow the
vocals to enter and be heard easily through the thick texture of winds. After
everything negative Plato had said about the mixolydian he would be probably be
turning in his grave to learn that Andriessen ironically set much of the text
in the mixolydian mode (Musical Score rhs. 5). The symbolism created through
this ironic gesture highlights both parts of the conversation intended by the
composer. The listener hears the original text, but at the same their character
is most likely not being altered at all by hearing the mixolydian mode.
Andriessen then continues to use the mixolydian mode
throughout many other instruments and also mixes it with other modes such as
locrian and small pitch sets. At the beginning of the piece this small pitch
set identifiable in the double quartet. The only notes used in this section are
B, C, E, F (0 1 5 6) which set in a counterpoint between each pair of oboe and
English horn on each side of the ensemble. By using that counterpoint he is
able to create a melodic idea with only the four notes. The double reed timbre
is quite thin though and isn’t the real voice of the piece. When the trombones
take over it paints the picture of how the rest of the piece is set to develop.
The blunt nature of Dutch society is seen by how there is transition between
the two section. This entire piece is actually written without transitions
because it becomes more direct and highlights the minimal elements of
Andriessen’s style. When the trombones enter the timbre becomes much thicker
and the same melodic idea becomes much more “punchy.” This timbre will actually
become much more the standard throughout the piece, instead of the thinner
timbre that started the piece.
With the thick texture, the fact that De Staat is quite
repetitious, and that it goes on for
approximately 40 minutes it expertly crafted by Andriessen so that it
doesn’t become boring. One of the aspects of the composer’s writing that keeps
the listener drawn in is the experimentation of the timbre of different
timbres. As the beginning moves on Andriessen pairs different instruments, which
creates a wide array of complex timbres. These pairs are put over a piano
ostinato that consists of many leaps and very little step-wise motion. As it
goes on trumpets and oboes match the piano ostinato in unison and the virtuosic
nature of the passage is accentuated by the fact that they are wind instruments
(Musical Score rhs. 12). These extended technical passages are bound to grab
the attention of the listener, if only if it’s because they can’t believe more
notes aren’t being missed by the trumpets.
One problem that could be predicted by Andriessen’s use
of such a thick texture with many brass instruments is that he would probably
have problems getting a wide dynamic range, especially on the soft side.
Andriessen answer to this alleged problem of dynamic range surprisingly wasn’t
asking the brass to play quieter more often, but instead to play louder. The
quietest dynamic that the brass is bound to see throughout the score is a solid
forte. This means that at points of emphasis they are written at fff. Then when De Staat gets to points
of climax the brass is asked to flutter-tongue many times. This technique has
been explored more by composers in the 20th century and it’s
interesting how Andriessen makes use of it. Instead of just using it as effect,
the composer seems to interpret the flutter-tongue as a further extension of
the fff brass sound. This makes sense because the
timbre at fff is already quite crass
and prominent so by adding the grinding, obtrusive quality of the
flutter-tongue the composer can make a very obvious step above fff that is sure to highlight his
important structure points.
Andriessen uses mixed meter to make his repetitions less
predictable and to keep the listener on their toes. This technique can be seen
by looking at the writing of the horn parts at rehearsal 18. The horns only
have a two note motif in a half step between F and F#, but because Andriessen
oscillates through meters such as 4/8, 5/16, 7/16, and 9/16 the listener never
knows how many sixteenth notes there are going to get out of him (Musical Score
pg. 34). The technique is also what separated Andriessen from the other notable
minimalist composers, Steve Reich. Reich was known for presented a repetitious
figure and then move through making small changes as he went. Because of
Andriessen’s blunt Dutch nature he had to find another create interesting
internal changes, since he wouldn’t be using transitions between big ideas.
These mix meters offered that small internal change because the figures mostly
stay the same but because of how the meter is notated will change where
emphasis is put on the figure, much like what Stravinsky made use of in his
works.
Through De Staat Andriessen is able to make a compelling
argument about society and politics in the Netherlands, and in a very
nationalistic Dutch manner none the less. The fact that he was able to get De
Staat noticed and appreciated by such a wide array of people, and be held up
the highest regard with the composers of the 20th century, is
evidence that he is continually pushing for the right for composers to write
the kind of music they want to write. He believes composers should not be
restricted by the established conventions set in place by the majority of the
academic music world. This persistence is his character is only projected more
through De Staat and how he is to make use of the minimalistic style of
repetition and the underlying pressure to not sway from the original path set
out on.
Works
Cited
Adlington, Robert. "Other Links." Preface.
Louis Andreissen: De Staat. N.p.: Ashgate, n.d. N. pag. Louis Andriessen: De
Staat by Robert Adlington. Ashgate Publishing, Aug. 2004. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.
Andriessen, Louis. “De Staat”. Boosey & Hawkes.
Musical Score. 1972-1976.
Service, Tom. "A Guide to Louis Andriessen's
Music." Web log post. The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 15 Oct. 2012.
Web. 13 Mar. 2013.
