...explosante-fixe...

Title#

The title of the work is taken from the concluding line of the first chapter of André Breton’s L’amour fou (1937): “La beauté convulsive sera érotique-voilée, explosante-fixe, magique-circonstancielle, ou ne sera pas” (Convulsive beauty will be erotic-veiled, exploding-fixed, magical-circumstantial, or it will not be at all).

History#

The first version of …explosante-fixe… (1971–1972) is a one-page aleatoric work in seven parts entitled, according to one report, Originel and Transitoires II–VII, though the manuscript score (published as two pages of music and twelve pages of instructions) bears the title in the composer’s hand … Explosante-fixe … , and the indications “Originel” and “Transitoires II–VII” are the names of the groups into which the work is divided. The seven parts each represent one member of a seven-note row found in the “Originel” section: E, G, D, A, B, A, E, an emblem of the Stravinsky memorial for which it was composed (the note E sustained at the beginning is pronounced Es in German, cognate with the letter S for “Stravinsky”). The pitches of this row were later used also in Rituel. In this original form, the instruments were not indicated, Like most of the other pieces in the Stravinsky memorial, this reflects the instrumentation of two brief commemorative works Stravinsky wrote in 1959: the Epitaphium for flute, clarinet, and harp, and the Double Canon (in memory of Dufy) for string quartet. In the two subsequent years, Boulez developed …explosante-fixe… into a work for solo flute, accompanied by clarinet, trumpet, harp, vibraphone, violin, viola, cello and electronics. Boulez, however, was ultimately unsatisfied with the electronics. These revisions involved changes in the order of sections and rewriting six of the eight instrumental parts. In all, there are four different versions for the flute, three versions each for the viola and cello, two versions each for the trumpet, violin, and clarinet, but only one version each for the vibraphone and harp, which differ from one version to the next only in the ordering of their constituent parts. Boulez withdrew the materials for both versions, primarily because of his dissatisfaction with the all-too-audible failure of the electronics, and in particular the computer tape that was intended to direct the conductorless 1973 Proms version, but also as an acknowledgement that the scoring really required a symphony orchestra. The next version of …explosante-fixe…, for vibraphone and electronics, was not composed until 1986. This version premiered in Turin, Italy at Settembre Musica Festival on 13 September 1993, in a performance by the Ensemble InterContemporain.

Further reading#

• Boulez, Pierre, Michel Fano, and Thomas Repensek. 1980. “A Conversation”. October 14 (Autumn): 101–20.
• Bradshaw, Susan. 1973. “First Performances: ‘…explosante-fixe…’”. Tempo, new series, no. 106 (September): 58–59.
• Dal Molin, Paolo. 2009. “Mémoriale de Pierre Boulez: Ce que les sources (ne) nous disent (pas)”. Revue de musicologie 95, no. 2:475–523.
• Goldman, Jonathan. 2006. “Exploding/Fixed: Form as Opposition in the Writings and Later Works of Pierre Boulez”. PhD diss. Montreal: Université de Montréal. .
• Goldman, Jonathan. 2008. “Charting Mémoriale: Paradigmatic Analysis and Harmonic Schemata in Boulez’s …explosante-fixe… “. Music Analysis 27, nos. 2–3:217–52.
• Kimmig, Rudolf. 1991. “Unterricht beim Meister: Pierre Boulez’ Fragment explosante-fixe”. Motiv: Musik in Gesellschaft anderer Künste, nos. 2–3:73–74.
• Mawhinney, Simon, and Pierre Boulez. 2001. “Composer in Interview: Pierre Boulez”. Tempo, new series, no. 216 (April): 2–5.

External links#

• May, Thomas. 1996 . About the Piece: ‘…explosante-fixe…’: Pierre Boulez”. La Phil website. Accessed 25 August 2011.
• Zurletti, Michelangelo. 1993. Gli spazi sonori di Pierre Boulez, about the Turin premiere La Repubblica (18 September), from website. Accessed 28 September 2019.