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In Goethe's version of the Faust theme, the subject and object of transformation is not merely the hero, but the whole world. Goethe's Faust expresses and dramatizes the process by which, at the end of the eighteenth century and the start of the nineteenth, a distinctively modern world system comes into being.
The vital force that animates Goethe's Faust, that marks it off from its predecessors, and that generates much of its richness and dynamism, is an impulse that I will call the desire for development [...]
When Marx in the Communist Manifesto sets out to describe the bourgeoisie's authentic revolutionary achievements, the first achievement on his list is that it has "put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic conditions."
The first part of Faust takes place at a moment when, after centuries, these feudal, patriarchal social conditions are breaking down. The vast majority of people still live in "little worlds" like Gretchen's, and those worlds, as we have seen, are formidable enough. Nevertheless, these cellular small towns are beginning to crack: first of all, through contact with explosive marginal figures from outside -Faust and Mephisto [...] - but more important, through implosion, ignited by the volatile inner developments that their own children, like Gretchen, are going through.
Marshall Berman - All That Is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity (1982)
[...] it is the machine which possesses skill and strength in place of the worker, is itself the virtuoso, with a soul of its own in the mechanical laws acting through it; and it consumes coal, oil etc. (matières instrumentales), just as the worker consumes food, to keep up its perpetual motion. The worker's activity, reduced to a mere abstraction of activity, is determined and regulated on all sides by the movement of the machinery, and not the opposite. The science which compels the inanimate limbs of the machinery, by their construction, to act purposefully, as an automaton, does not exist in the worker's consciousness, but rather acts upon him through the machine as an alien power, as the power of the machine itself. [...] The production process has ceased to be a labour process in the sense of a process dominated by labour as its governing unity. Labour appears, rather, merely as a conscious organ, scattered among the individual living workers at numerous points of the mechanical system; subsumed under the total process of the machinery itself, as itself only a link of the system, whose unity exists not in the living workers, but rather in the living (active) machinery, which confronts his individual, insignificant doings as a mighty organism.
Karl Marx - Grundrisse (1857-58)
/umenta*on
Flu! [open-hole model wi# low Bn footjoint] also playing Bass Flu!, Piccolo and Woodcock (& Bécassine) ca)
Clarinet in B b also playing Bass Clarinet in B b and Swift (& Mar*net) ca)
Horn in B b/Fn also playing Harmonica in B b and tuned Bo+le
Percussion :
Vibraphone range :
BoomWackers
Cow Be)s (”à la Messiaen” : long, resonant sound)
Tubular Be)s
Pla! Be)s Toy Piano range :
Crotales Desk Be)s Tuned Bo+le
Log Drum ( if possible tuned as fo)ows : )
Mokusho Hazel Grouse (&. Gélino+e) ca) Harmonica in Cn
Harp detuned and prepared wi# patafix Piano prepared wi# patafix and coins
Acous*c Guitar (amplifica*on required)
1st, 2nd, 4# & 5# s/ings prepared wi# patafix, 6# s/ing tuned a minor #ird lower
Violin 2nd and 4# s/ings prepared wi# patafix
Viola
2nd and 4# s/ings prepared wi# patafix
Ce)o
3rd s/ing prepared wi# patafix, 4# s/ing tuned a half 0ne lower
Double Bass (4 s/ings model)
2nd s/ing prepared wi# patafix, 4# s/ing tuned a half 0ne lower
1e score is wri+en in #e relevant /ansposi*ons
#ose two no!s mut be damped :
A B D E
S#ing prepara$ons :
normal s#ing indica$ons (violin, viola, ce!o and double-bass)
s#ings prepared wi) patafix (violin, viola, ce!o and double-bass)
ce!o and double-bass 4) detuned s#ing (sounds a half %ne lower)
normal s#ing indica$on (guitar)
s#ings prepared wi) patafix (guitar)
guitar 6) detuned s#ing (sounds a minor )ird lower)
Every single ins#ument has some s#ings which have % be prepared fixing some “patafix” on )e node of )e 8) harmonic (violin, viola and double-bass) and 4) harmonic (ce!o), or on )e posi$on of )e last "et (guitar)
Vn 2 c node of harm. #8
Vn 4c node of harm. #8
Vla 2 c node of harm. #8 Vla 4c node of harm. #8 Ce!o 3 c node of harm. #4
Dbass 2 c node of harm. #8
Guitar 1 last "et Guitar 2 last "et
Patafix is reusable pu.y-like pressure-sensi$ve adhesive commonly used % a.ach lightweight objects (such as pos/rs or sheets of paper) % wa!s or o)er dry surfaces. Patafix is produced by UHU. Similar products are “ Blu-Tack” (produced by Bos$k) and “ Tack-it” (produced by Faber-Cas/!)
Once you add some pu.y on a s#ing )e 1ndamental %ne is lowered ()e more you put )e lower it gets) and a rich, inharmonic spec#um is obtained.
-e amount of patafix is % be care1!y weigh/d according % )e fo!owing chart :
Guitar 4 last "et
Guitar 5 last "et
Once )e right quan$, of patafix is chosen, it should be kept somewhere and used when needed. -e quali, of )e sound is considerably be.er if )e mass, ins/ad of being simply punctua!y fixed on )e node is a li.le bit spread along )e s#ing ()e node is % be considered )e cen/r of )e mass)
-e dynamic range of prepared and detuned s#ing is not )e same of )e normal ones.
Try % balance as much as possible )e in/nsi, of )e o)er s#ings in order % match )e level of )e “patafixed” ones.
Try also % avoid fluctua$ons of )e sound keeping bow pressure as constant as possible.
Fingerings on prepared s#ings do not correspond % )e perceived pitch (hence )e 0 no/head is used)
Ce!o and Double-Bass 4) and Guitar 6) s#ings DO NOT sound as wri.en.
no&s are always used according ' (
Resul)ng pitches DO ma*er, especia+y on sustained no&s. Since fingerings on prepared s,ings do not correspond ' (e perceived pitch (e fo+owing chart can be help-l :
fingerings Vn X
result (arco P) result (pizz)
fingerings Vn Z
result (arco P)
result (pizz)
fingerings Vla X
result (arco P)
result (pizz)
fingerings Vla Z
result (arco P)
result (pizz)
fingerings Vc Y
result (arco P)
result (pizz)
fingerings Dbass X
result (arco P)
result (pizz)
fingerings Guit A
fingerings Guit B
fingerings Guit D
fingerings Guit E
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3 easy s&ps for choosing (e right amount of pu*y :
1) tune (e open s,ings norma+y (prepared s,ings are NOT detuned !)
2) “de-tune” (e open s,ings by adding pu*y li*le by li*le (pu*ing 'o much pu*y is a common mistake) if you have a very sensi)ve scale -like a jewe+ery one-, you can care-+y measure (e quan). of pu*y according ' (e weights of page ii)
3) fine-tune (e s,ings (always adding or removing pu*y) ,ying out some no&s of (e above chart (e.g. (e octave)
Prepared s,ing require ,aining and dedica)on. /e sound ' obtain is suppose ' be a gentle, rich mul)phonic (when played wi( (e bow), or a gamelan-like sound (when played pizzica')
Pizzica' no&s are easier ' obtain. Arco no&s require a slower bow compared ' (e ordinary ones, and a constant bow pressure ' avoid “squawky” sounds.
While bowing, dynamic range affects tuning. /e resul)ng pitches of (is chart (but also (e ones in (e score) refer ' no&s played wi(in a piano/mezzopiano dynamic range.
Louder dynamics result in pitch going flat (especia+y on lower s,ings) /us, in a ff passage, (e resul)ng 'nes may differ 2om (e indica&d resul)ng ones.
Don’t bo(er 'o much about (at.
some s&ing of "e harp must be prepared wi" patafix, according % "e fo#owing chart : weight : distance (om "e tuning pins :
result :
Harp prepara!on : "e fo#owing no$s must be lowered by a quar
Piano prepara!on :
)e fo#owing no$s must be prepared wi" a light coin - 1€ cent or a (ligh$r) canadian dime)e result should be a rich, resonant, be#-like sound.
“ Tune” care/#y "e prepara!on in order % obtain "e required resul!ng /ndamentals : Care/#y place "e coins on "e indica$d s&ings in order % obtain "e fo#owing results :
result :
)e fo#owing no$s must be damped wi" a light amount of patafix. Pitch should remain perceivable : (A sma# amount of patafix can be used % add mass % "e coin, "us lowering "e tuning of "e resul!ng sound)
General remarks :
iin case of crescendos and diminuendos +om/'wards (e silence, no#heads are present only on (e beginning of (e fade-in and on (e peak of (e crescendo. *is peak is ' be considered as (e most important part of (is gesture and must be performed exactly on "me.
Fade -in and fade-out do not require (e same ry(mical precision.
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Micro'nal accidentals :
I b B n µ m ÷
quar#r-'ne scale (24edo)
eigh(-'ne scale (48edo)
six#en(-'ne scale (96edo)
eigh(-'nes and six#en(-'nes are mainly (or even exclusively) used on repea#d no#s (at are gradua.y bending
Woodwinds :
Mul"phonics have an harmonic meaning. Pitch con#nt does ma$er.
In case of crescendo “dal nien#”, players have ' start wi( (e lowest no# and gently open up (e target spec)um li$le by li$le. *e reverse process applies ' decrescendos.
GRETCHEN
AND THE
FRAGMENT
for 11 musicians (2022)
ON