UTSA Electronic Music Studio Web Site: Varese's Poeme Electronique

Edgard Varése: Poème électronique (1958)

Background:

Commission for the Brussels Expo. (1958) and composed at the Phillips studio in the Netherlands, the work used 15 channels and 350 speakers in the Phillips Pavilion designed by Corbusier (but largely worked on by Xenakis).

"The tape sounds were distributed by telephone relays among various combinations of loudspeakers. These 'sound parts' were determined by a fifteen channel control tape, each track of which contained twelve separate signals. Therefore 180 (15X12) control signals were available to regulate the sound routes, lighting effects and a variety of light sources which consisted of film projectors and projection lanterns, spotlights, ultraviolet lamps, bulbs, and fluorescent lamps of various colors." (David Ernst, The Evolution of Electronic Music, p. 42)

Of course, keep in mind that Varese is interested in music as organized sound.

Electronic techniques:

The piece combines musique concrète and electronishche Musik. The concrète elements include piano, percussion (drums, temple bells, gongs), organ, solo and choral voices, and machine noises (such as a jet airplane). The electronic sounds range from simple sine-wave sounds to white noise. David Cope (New Directions in Music) divides each kind of music into two types:

Concrète:

instrumental sounds
vocal sounds

Electronic:

simple sounds (sine-tone types)
complex sounds (noise-like)

These elements were altered through the classic analog techniques of:

tape speed changes: the female voice extends beyond human potential
filters: at the beginning, the sixth gong is filtered so it sounds nearly an octave lower in pitch
envelope control: the initial six attacks of the gong-type motive are all varied; the cut-offs are also heavily edited
synchronization: fast switching between the drums and organ in the final section
tape splicing: throughout; of course envelope control and synchronization are types of splicing
reverberation: again, used throughout; in some places quite clearly

Form:

David Cope concludes that several types of rondo forms may be heard. He is most convinced by the "inverse" rondo shown below. In addition he has noted the possibility of hearing the work as a simple three-part form, each of which begins similarly with gongs followed by long pedal tones. The forms can be diagramed thusly:

	rondo:	B A C	B A D	B A D
	3 part:	A	B	C

He distinguishes the following basic materials when deciding on form:

gongs (large bells)
long, held tones (pedals)
sawtooth-type noise elements
rising motive (2nds)
drums
rising glissandi
voice(s)