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Chapter 8. From “slow lettuce” to “striated time”

On Pierre Boulez’s conceptualizations of musical temporality
  • José L. Besada
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Time Representations in the Perspective of Human Creativity
This chapter is in the book Time Representations in the Perspective of Human Creativity

Abstract

Many trends of the 20th (and 21st) century Western art music have emphasized the value of individual novelty when conceiving art. This ideological imperative has boosted composers’ creativity for developing personal and almost ex novo conceptions of musical attributes and parameters, time among them. Some of these conceptions can be retrieved in the several traces of their compositional practices. My study focuses on composer and conductor Pierre Boulez (1925–2016), and his presentation of some original formulae for managing musical temporality. Through his essays, compositional sketches, scores, and performances, I analyze several cross-modal features, based on embodied experience, and image schemata underlying his time conceptualizations, with the help of cognitive science and in quest of a generalizable model.

Abstract

Many trends of the 20th (and 21st) century Western art music have emphasized the value of individual novelty when conceiving art. This ideological imperative has boosted composers’ creativity for developing personal and almost ex novo conceptions of musical attributes and parameters, time among them. Some of these conceptions can be retrieved in the several traces of their compositional practices. My study focuses on composer and conductor Pierre Boulez (1925–2016), and his presentation of some original formulae for managing musical temporality. Through his essays, compositional sketches, scores, and performances, I analyze several cross-modal features, based on embodied experience, and image schemata underlying his time conceptualizations, with the help of cognitive science and in quest of a generalizable model.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Time and creativity in language
  6. Chapter 1. A corpus-based look at time metaphors 15
  7. Chapter 2. Time moves more often in poetry 41
  8. Chapter 3. What is time? 61
  9. Chapter 4. Working on it 81
  10. Part II. Beyond language
  11. Chapter 5. Creative visual metaphors of protracted and frozen time in autobiographical comics about depression 101
  12. Chapter 6. Time-creation in film 125
  13. Chapter 7. Beyond the limits 147
  14. Chapter 8. From “slow lettuce” to “striated time” 163
  15. Chapter 9. Physical and imaginary landmarks in English time gestures 187
  16. Chapter 10. Time in Chinese hands 209
  17. Epilogue. Creative to whom, and on what basis? 233
  18. Index 243
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.75.08bes

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Time and creativity in language
  6. Chapter 1. A corpus-based look at time metaphors 15
  7. Chapter 2. Time moves more often in poetry 41
  8. Chapter 3. What is time? 61
  9. Chapter 4. Working on it 81
  10. Part II. Beyond language
  11. Chapter 5. Creative visual metaphors of protracted and frozen time in autobiographical comics about depression 101
  12. Chapter 6. Time-creation in film 125
  13. Chapter 7. Beyond the limits 147
  14. Chapter 8. From “slow lettuce” to “striated time” 163
  15. Chapter 9. Physical and imaginary landmarks in English time gestures 187
  16. Chapter 10. Time in Chinese hands 209
  17. Epilogue. Creative to whom, and on what basis? 233
  18. Index 243
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