THE LATE CHORAL WORKS OF TON DE LEEUW AN ANALYTICAL STUDY by RENS TIENSTRA A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Music College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham September 2016 ABSTRACT Ton de Leeuw (1926–1996) is widely regarded as one of the most important post-war Dutch composers. Taught among others by Olivier Messiaen and Jaap Kunst, and strongly influenced by non-Western music, De Leeuw was a teacher at the University of Amsterdam and professor of composition and electronic music at the Amsterdam Conservatory from 1959 to 1986, a position in which he educated many Dutch composers active today. His book Music of the Twentieth Century, first published in 1964, is still regarded as an authoritative work. Despite De Leeuw’s formidable reputation as composer and teacher, and the regular performance of his works, hardly any scholarly research into his oeuvre has yet been undertaken. The current study is an attempt to change this, exploring five of De Leeuw’s later choral compositions as representative of the style he described in terms of ‘extended modality’. This study is aimed at understanding the nature and specificity of De Leeuw’s later choral works, and thereby clarifying the place of the composer’s later works – the choral works in particular – within the context of their time. ii CONTENTS Preface ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... v Acknowledgements ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... vii PART I: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I Research subject ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 Outline of the research ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 CHAPTER II 2.1 Ton de Leeuw: biography ... ... ... ... ... 6 2.2 De Leeuw’s choral works: overview ... ... ... ... 11 CHAPTER III 3.1 De Leeuw’s writings: overview ... ... ... ... ... 15 3.2 ‘Back to the Source’ ... ... ... ... ... ... 19 3.2.1 Topics, concerns or intentions ... ... ... ... 21 ‘… a symbol of unity’ ... ... ... ... 21 ‘… the audible reflection of the laws of nature’ ... 22 ‘… the supreme symbol of mortality’: the question of a temporal art ... ... 24 Compositional technique: the ‘model’ ... ... 26 On using a compositional system ... ... ... 28 3.2.2 Absent topics ... ... ... ... ... ... 32 3.2.3 Usability in musical analysis ... ... ... ... 33 PART II: EXPLORATIONS CHAPTER IV: Car nos vignes sont en fleur ... ... ... ... 36 4.1 Unity and unification ... ... ... ... ... ... 37 4.2 Presentation of text ... ... ... ... ... ... 43 4.3 Repetition and cyclicity ... ... ... ... ... ... 46 CHAPTER V: Transparence ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 54 5.1 Transparence: general survey ... ... ... ... ... 54 5.2 Topic and questions ... ... ... ... ... ... 57 5.3 The model: overview ... ... ... ... ... ... 58 5.4 First phase ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 61 5.5 Second phase ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 70 5.6 Third and fourth phase ... ... ... ... ... ... 71 5.7 Fifth phase ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 74 5.8 Embellishments, variations and deviations ... ... ... 76 5.9 Conclusions ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 79 iii CHAPTER VI: Cinq Hymnes ... ... ... ... ... ... 82 6.1 Temporality ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 82 6.1.1 Orientation ... ... ... ... ... ... 83 6.1.2 ‘Ultimate reality’ vs. a time-bound medium ... ... 85 6.1.3 Selection ... ... ... ... ... ... 86 6.1.4 Patterns ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 87 6.1.5 Pulse, periodicity and ‘patterns’ ... ... ... 89 6.1.6 Duration resulting from melodic orientation ... ... 97 6.1.7 Tempo and metre ... ... ... ... ... 100 6.1.8 Conclusions ... ... ... ... ... ... 101 6.2 Prosody ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 103 6.2.1 Texts and languages of choice ... ... ... ... 103 6.2.2 From sound ... ... ... ... ... ... 105 6.2.3 ... to a text’s sonic qualities ... ... ... ... 106 6.2.4 ... to clear utterance ... ... ... ... ... 108 6.2.5 Pace of utterance and silence ... ... ... ... 110 6.2.6 Conclusions ... ... ... ... ... ... 111 CHAPTER VII: A cette heure du jour ... ... ... ... ... 113 7.1 A cette heure du jour: general survey ... ... ... ... 114 7.2 Use of structural pitches ... ... ... ... ... ... 126 7.3 Modality ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 129 7.4 A cette heure du jour’s ‘model’ ... ... ... ... ... 134 CHAPTER VIII: Élégie pour les villes détruites ... ... ... ... 140 8.1 Grouping ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 141 8.2 Layering ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 143 8.3 Doubling ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 153 8.3.1 Doubling at the unison ... ... ... ... ... 153 8.3.2 Doubling at multiple octaves ... ... ... ... 155 8.3.3 Conclusions ... ... ... ... ... ... 157 CHAPTER IX: Synthesis ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 158 ‘The late choral works’? ... ... ... ... ... ... 158 Hermeneutics ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 160 Interpreting De Leeuw’s modality and cyclicity ... ... ... 161 Interpreting the structural elements of De Leeuw’s language ... 163 Bibliography ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 166 iv Preface This article so strongly emphasizes technical and philosophical aspects of composition that the reader may justly wonder where the music begins. The quality of music is not determined by theories. In our century, many artists have, to varying degrees, been led astray by stuffing their work full of theory, psychology, politics, and what have you. It should be clear that the creative fantasy never frees itself if we remain immersed in speculations. We must work from living experience. Only then can we reach a dimension in which music blossoms, guided by intuition, imagination, uncertainty, technical discipline, in short all the attributes that have always been a part of creative work. (Ton de Leeuw, ‘Back to the Source’1) Studying the works of a contemporary composer often presents an opportunity to gather information from people who have worked with the artist. At the same time, as stated above by the composer whose works are the subject of this dissertation, one can easily be ‘led astray’ by the sheer number of theoretical, philosophical and political writings and statements of the average twentieth-century composer... In the case of Dutch composer Ton de Leeuw (1926–1996), ‘living experience’ actually formed the motivation for the current dissertation. His legacy could be found and felt far beyond the theoretical writings one normally encounters in the study of twentieth-century composers: I was introduced to the composer and his music by professors of Composition, Solfège, the Recorder and Electronic Music, who all had their stories to tell about this apparently inspiring personality; I was astonished by some of the musical tombeaux written after De Leeuw’s demise (including the moving setting of the Egidiuslied by my first composition teacher, Daan Manneke), and wondered what kind of man could have inspired such heartfelt compositions; finally, I was introduced to De Leeuw’s scores and rehearsals of his music through singers and conductors who had worked with him, each one adding his or her own story to the music. 1 Sligter 1995: 93. v The first score of a work by De Leeuw I was able to examine was a copy of the composer’s autograph of Car nos vignes sont en fleur, whose closing movement has pleasantly lingered in my mind ever since. The second score was, again, a copy of De Leeuw’s handwriting, this time the Élégie pour les villes détruites. These works are the cornerstones of this dissertation, marking a period in De Leeuw’s life in which he composed a number of works which have always fascinated me, but which, so far, have also been left unexplored by musicologists. With this dissertation I hope to fill that void, and hope to offer further incentive for the study and performance of De Leeuw’s works; if the University of Birmingham Library’s acquisition of a fair number of the composer’s books and scores, brought about by the writing of this dissertation, may be considered indicative of the feasibility of this goal, I have no doubt the composer’s words opening this preface were not written in vain. vi Acknowledgements I would like to express gratitude to the following persons who participated in this research: Dr Ben Earle, for his valuable and constructive suggestions during the planning and development of this dissertation. Lourens Stuifbergen and Herma van Piekeren, for introducing me to the scores of De Leeuw’s works many years ago. The librarians of the Conservatory of Amsterdam, for graciously allowing me to borrow material from their library. My fellow Distance Learning-students of the 2016 January Induction at Birmingham University, for sharing their passion for an eclectic range of research subjects during a memorable week. The singers of Cappella Amsterdam, for allowing me to witness their rehearsals of De Leeuw’s works in April and May 2015. The Dominican friars of Holy Spirit Priory, Oxford, and Benedictine monks of St Adelbert Abbey, Egmond, for allowing me to work on this project in their inspiring surroundings. Em Angevaare, dear friend, for his assistance with grammar and style. vii PART I INTRODUCTION 1 I. 1.1 Research subject And if I would have to choose... on that famous deserted island, and I was only allowed to do this or that... then I’d prefer choral music, yes. Yes. For I think that the voice, the human voice... is so direct, and so closely connected to my idea of sound, that it is best – even more so than our perfected Western instruments – capable of expressing one’s ideas.2 Ton de Leeuw (1926–1996) is widely regarded as one of the most important post-war Dutch composers. Taught by Olivier Messiaen and Jaap Kunst among others, and strongly influenced by non-Western