All Topics  
Amériques

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Amériques
 
 
  Topics Amériques Topic Home

Amériques is a musical composition by the French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
-born composer Edgard Varèse
Edgard Varèse

Edgard Victor Achille Charles Var?se, whose name was also spelled Edgar Var?se , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
.

Written between 1918 and 1921 and revised in 1927, it is scored for a very large, romantic
Romantic music

In music, romanticism is a term, often considered misleading, and concept derived from literature traditionally defined by attributes including, "interest in nature, medieval chivalry, mysticism, [and] remoteness [ Social alienation and Solitude]"....
 orchestra with additional percussion (for eleven performers) including siren
Siren (noisemaker)

A siren is a loud noise maker. The original version would yield sounds under water, suggesting a link with the sirens of Greek mythology. Most modern ones are civil defense siren or "air raid" sirens, tornado sirens, or the sirens on emergency service vehicles such as ambulances, police cars and Fire apparatus....
s. It was the first work Varèse composed after he moved to the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, and although it was not his first work, he destroyed many of his earlier pieces, effectively making Amériques his opus
Opus number

Opus, from the Latin word opus meaning "work", is usually used in the sense of "a work of art".The Latin plural of opus, "opera", is used to refer to the genre of music drama ....
 one (although he never used that designation).

Structurally, the work is in one movement which lasts for around twenty-three minutes, with full orchestral involvement virtually throughout.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Amériques'
Start a new discussion about 'Amériques'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Amériques is a musical composition by the French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
-born composer Edgard Varèse
Edgard Varèse

Edgard Victor Achille Charles Var?se, whose name was also spelled Edgar Var?se , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
.

Written between 1918 and 1921 and revised in 1927, it is scored for a very large, romantic
Romantic music

In music, romanticism is a term, often considered misleading, and concept derived from literature traditionally defined by attributes including, "interest in nature, medieval chivalry, mysticism, [and] remoteness [ Social alienation and Solitude]"....
 orchestra with additional percussion (for eleven performers) including siren
Siren (noisemaker)

A siren is a loud noise maker. The original version would yield sounds under water, suggesting a link with the sirens of Greek mythology. Most modern ones are civil defense siren or "air raid" sirens, tornado sirens, or the sirens on emergency service vehicles such as ambulances, police cars and Fire apparatus....
s. It was the first work Varèse composed after he moved to the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, and although it was not his first work, he destroyed many of his earlier pieces, effectively making Amériques his opus
Opus number

Opus, from the Latin word opus meaning "work", is usually used in the sense of "a work of art".The Latin plural of opus, "opera", is used to refer to the genre of music drama ....
 one (although he never used that designation).

Structurally, the work is in one movement which lasts for around twenty-three minutes, with full orchestral involvement virtually throughout. Although it opens quietly, with "Debussy-like musing", it quickly builds in dynamic power, and is punctuated by massive crescendo
Dynamics (music)

In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note , but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional ....
s which are similar in style Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring, commonly referred to by its original French language title, Le Sacre du Printemps is a ballet with music by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, original choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky, and original set design and costumes by archaeologist and painter Nicholas Roerich, all under impresario Serge Diaghilev....
 but on a much larger scale. The work is marked by its fiercely dissonant chords, and rhythmically complex polyphonies for percussion and wind. It develops in continuous evolution with recurring short motif
Motif (music)

In music, a motif or motive is a perceivable or salience recurring fragment or succession of notes that may be used to construct the entirety or parts of complete melody and theme s....
s, which are juxtaposed without development.

Opinions of the work have focused on its elemental power, and its vivid expression of New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
 (replete with howling police cars). The siren was for Varèse of structural importance, however, representing a continuum pitch
Pitch (music)

Pitch represents the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. It is one of the three major auditory system attributes of sounds along with loudness and timbre....
 beyond the twelve tone system. Varèse intended the title Amériques to symbolise "discoveries - new worlds on earth, in the sky, or in the minds of men."

Performances

Amériques was premiered on 9 April 1926 by the Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra

The Philadelphia Orchestra is an orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is historically considered to be one of the "Big Five " American orchestras....
 under Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski

Leopold Stokowski was a famous orchestral conducting, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted....
, although it was not until 1960 that it was recorded by the Utah Symphony Orchestra
Utah Symphony Orchestra

The Utah Symphony Orchestra is a full-time symphony orchestra located in Salt Lake City, Utah....
 and Maurice Abravanel
Maurice Abravanel

Maurice Abravanel , was aSwitzerland-United States of America Jewish conductor of classical music....
. In recent years it has emerged as a popular modernist showpiece in the orchestral repertoire, with recordings by Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music and Conducting....
, Christoph von Dohnanyi
Christoph von Dohnányi

Christoph von Dohn?nyi is a conducting of Hungarian people and German ancestry....
 and Riccardo Chailly
Riccardo Chailly

Riccardo Chailly is an Italy conducting. He started his career as an opera conductor and gradually extended his repertoire to encompass symphonic music....
, among others.

Instrumentation
Instrumentation

Instrumentation is the branch of science that deals with measurement and control.An instrument is a device that measures or manipulates variables such as flow, temperature, level, or pressure....

Amériques is scored for the following very large orchestra with additional percussion:

Woodwind
Woodwind instrument

A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against an edge of, or opening in, the instrument, causing the air to vibrate within a resonator....
s:
3 Piccolo
Piccolo

The piccolo is a small flute. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger component, the flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written....
s
4 Flute
Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike other woodwind instruments, a flute is a reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air against an edge....
s
Alto Flute
Alto flute

The alto flute is a type of Western concert flute, a musical instrument in the woodwind family. It is the next extension downward of the Western concert flute after the fl?te d'amour....
4 Oboe
Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois", "hoboy", or "French hoboy"....
s
English Horn
Heckelphone
Heckelphone

The Heckelphone is a musical instrument invented by Wilhelm Heckel and his sons, introduced in 1904.It is a double reed instrument of the oboe family, but with a wider bore and hence a heavier and more penetrating tone....
E-flat clarinet
E-flat clarinet

The E-flat clarinet is a member of the clarinet family. It is usually classed as a soprano clarinet, although some authors describe it as a "sopranino" or even "piccolo" clarinet....
4 Clarinet
Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet....
s in B-flat
Bass Clarinet
Bass clarinet

The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet....
Contrabass Clarinet
Contrabass clarinet

The contrabass clarinet is the largest member of the clarinet family that has ever been in regular production or significant use. Modern contrabass clarinets are transposing instrument, sounding two octaves lower than the common B soprano clarinet and one octave lower than the B bass clarinet....
4 Bassoon
Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the Bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher....
s
2 Contrabassoon
Contrabassoon

The contrabassoon is a larger version of the bassoon sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences....
s


Brass
Brass instrument

A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose tone is produced by vibration of the lips as the player blows into a tubular resonator. They are also called labrosones, literally meaning "lip-vibrated instruments" ....
:
8 Horns in F
6 Trumpet
Trumpet

The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
s
4 Tenor Trombones
Types of trombones

There are many different types of trombones. The most frequently encountered trombones today are the tenor and bass, though as with other Renaissance instruments such as the recorder, the trombone has been built in every size from piccolo to contrabass ....
Bass Trombone
Types of trombones

There are many different types of trombones. The most frequently encountered trombones today are the tenor and bass, though as with other Renaissance instruments such as the recorder, the trombone has been built in every size from piccolo to contrabass ....
Bass Tuba
Tuba

The tuba is the largest and lowest pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped Mouthpiece ....
2 Contrabass Tubas


Percussion
Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration....
:
Timpani
Timpani

Timpani are musical instruments in the percussion instrument family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a drumhead stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper, and more recently, constructed of more lightweight fiberglass....
 (2 players)
13 Percussion Players
1: Xylophone
Xylophone

The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion instrument family which probably originated in Slovakia. It consists of wooden bars of various lengths that are struck by plastic, wooden, or rubber drum stick#Malletss....
, Triangle
Triangle (instrument)

The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the Percussion instrument family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel in modern instruments, bent into a triangle shape....
, Ratchet
Ratchet

A ratchet may refer to* Ratchet , a mechanical device for controlling rotational motion* Socket wrench, a tool that makes use of the above mechanical device...
, Sleigh Bells
2: Glockenspiel
Glockenspiel

File:Glockenspiel-malletech.jpgFile:GlockenspielSousaphone.jpgThe glockenspiel is a musical instrument in the percussion instrument family....
, Lion's Roar
Lion's roar

The lion's roar is a membranophone instrument that has a drum head and a cord or horsehair passing through it. The home-made lion's roar is a drum that sits on the floor....
, Ratchet, Whip
Whip

The word whip describes two basic types of tools:A long stick-like device, usually slightly flexible, with a small bit of leather or cord, called a "popper", on the end....
3: Tambourine
Tambourine

The tambourine or Marine is a musical instrument of the Percussion instrument family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils"....
, Gong
Gong

A gong is an East Asia and South East Asian musical instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet.Gongs are broadly of three types....
4: Celesta
Celesta

The celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard instrument. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box ....
, 2 Bass Drum
Bass drum

A bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch . There are three general classifications of bass drums: the concert bass drum, the kick' drum, and the pitched bass drum....
s, Slapstick
Slapstick

Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated extreme physical violence or activities which exceed the boundaries of common sense, such as a character being hit in the face with a heavy frying pan or running into a brick wall....
s, Gong, Triangle, Lion's Roar
5: 2 Bass Drums, Slapsticks
6: Castanets, Sleigh Bells
7: Sleigh Bells, Siren
Siren

In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous bird-women, portrayed as seductresses, who lived on an island called Sirenum scopuli. In some later, rationalized traditions the literal geography of the "flowery" island of Anthemoessa, or Anthemusa, is fixed: sometimes on Cape Pelorum and at others in the Sirenusian islands near Paestum...
, Boat Whistle
Whistle

A whistle or call is a simple aerophone, an musical instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means....
, Wind Machine
Wind machine

The wind machine is a specialist musical instrument used to produce the sound of wind. One type uses an electric fan with wooden slats added to produce the required sound....
8: Cymbals, Gong
9: Snare Drum
Snare drum

The snare drum is a drum with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or catgut cords stretched across the a drumhead, typically the bottom....
10: Crow Call, Sleigh Bells, Lion's Roar, Wind Machine, Triangle, Slapsticks
11: Slapsticks, Lion's Roar, Sleigh Bells, Whip
12: Whip, Triangle, Slapsticks, Wind Machine
13: Sleigh Bells, Slapsticks, Gong, Triangle


"Interior Fanfare
Fanfare

A fanfare is a short piece of music played by trumpets and other brass instruments, frequently accompanied by percussion instruments, usually for ceremony purposes....
"
4 Trumpets (2 in E-flat, 2 in D)
3 Trombones (2 Tenor, Bass)


String
String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones....
s
2 Harp
Harp

The 'harp' is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the Sounding board. It is also considered to be a percussion instrument....
s


Violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
s I, II (16 each)
Viola
Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range , and nearly identical playing position....
s (14)
Violoncellos (10)
Double bass
Double bass

The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
es (10) (with low C extensions)