Pierrot ensemble
Encyclopedia
A Pierrot ensemble is a musical ensemble
comprising flute
, clarinet
, violin
, cello
and piano
, frequently augmented by the addition of a singer or percussionist, and/or by the performers doubling on other woodwind/stringed/keyboard instruments.
’s seminal work Pierrot Lunaire
, which includes the quintet of instruments above with a mezzo-soprano singer.
The quintet of instruments used in Pierrot Lunaire became the core ensemble for many contemporary-music ensembles of the twentieth century, such as The Fires of London
, who formed in 1965 as "The Pierrot Players" to perform Pierrot Lunaire, and continued to concertize with a varied classical and contemporary repertory. This group (and others like it) began to perform works arranged for these instruments and commission new works especially to take advantage of this ensemble's instrumental colors.
While many professional chamber ensembles (such as string quartet
s and piano trio
s) continued to focus on musical literature of the 18th and 19th centuries, the Pierrot ensemble became one of the most prominent chamber
ensembles in classical music
of the 20th century, and continues to be popular with composers and performers today.
's Pierrot Lunaire
, the flutist is asked to play piccolo
, the clarinetist is asked to play bass clarinet
(as in Earle Brown
's "Tracking Pierrot"), or saxophone, and (much more unusually) the violinist is asked to play viola
. Other common doublings might include E-flat clarinet
(as in Carter
's Triple Duo), alto flute
, or even harpsichord
(as in Maxwell Davies
's Eight Songs for a Mad King).
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
comprising flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, frequently augmented by the addition of a singer or percussionist, and/or by the performers doubling on other woodwind/stringed/keyboard instruments.
History
This ensemble is named for twentieth century composer Arnold SchoenbergArnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
’s seminal work Pierrot Lunaire
Pierrot Lunaire
Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds 'Pierrot lunaire' , commonly known simply as Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 , is a melodrama by Arnold Schoenberg...
, which includes the quintet of instruments above with a mezzo-soprano singer.
The quintet of instruments used in Pierrot Lunaire became the core ensemble for many contemporary-music ensembles of the twentieth century, such as The Fires of London
Fires of London
The Fires of London, first formed in 1965 as the Pierrot Players, was a British chamber music ensemble which was active from 1965 to 1987....
, who formed in 1965 as "The Pierrot Players" to perform Pierrot Lunaire, and continued to concertize with a varied classical and contemporary repertory. This group (and others like it) began to perform works arranged for these instruments and commission new works especially to take advantage of this ensemble's instrumental colors.
While many professional chamber ensembles (such as string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
s and piano trio
Piano trio
A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music...
s) continued to focus on musical literature of the 18th and 19th centuries, the Pierrot ensemble became one of the most prominent chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
ensembles in classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
of the 20th century, and continues to be popular with composers and performers today.
Doublings
Doublings are often called for in music written for Pierrot ensemble. For example, in SchoenbergArnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
's Pierrot Lunaire
Pierrot Lunaire
Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds 'Pierrot lunaire' , commonly known simply as Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 , is a melodrama by Arnold Schoenberg...
, the flutist is asked to play piccolo
Piccolo
The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
, the clarinetist is asked to play bass clarinet
Bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
(as in Earle Brown
Earle Brown
Earle Brown was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems...
's "Tracking Pierrot"), or saxophone, and (much more unusually) the violinist is asked to play viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
. Other common doublings might include 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. Smaller in size and higher in pitch than the more common B clarinet, it is a transposing instrument in E, sounding a...
(as in Carter
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
's Triple Duo), 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 C flute after the flûte d'amour. It is characterized by its distinct, mellow tone in the lower portion of its range...
, or even harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
(as in Maxwell Davies
Peter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
's Eight Songs for a Mad King).
Important Pierrot ensembles
- Da Capo Chamber PlayersDa Capo Chamber PlayersDa Capo Chamber Players is an American contemporary music "Pierrot ensemble," founded in 1970. Winners of the Naumburg Award in 1973, its founding members included composer/pianist Joan Tower, violinist Joel Lester, Dean of Mannes College of Music, and flutist Patricia Spencer...
- eighth blackbirdEighth blackbirdeighth blackbird is a Grammy Award-winning contemporary music sextet based in Chicago. The group derives its name from the eighth stanza of Wallace Stevens' poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird...
- Fires of LondonFires of LondonThe Fires of London, first formed in 1965 as the Pierrot Players, was a British chamber music ensemble which was active from 1965 to 1987....
- New York New Music EnsembleNew York New Music EnsembleThe New York New Music Ensemble is a contemporary "Pierrot ensemble" chamber music group. The group formed in 1975 by Robert Block.Current members include: flutist Jayn Rosenfeld, clarinetist Jean Kopperud, violinist Linda Quan, cellist Chris Finckel, pianist Stephen Gosling and percussionist...
- Pierrot Ensemble Wien
- Piccola Accademia degli SpecchiPiccola Accademia degli SpecchiPiccola Accademia degli Specchi is a chamber ensemble in Rome, central Italy. founded in late 2000 by Giovanni Rosati and Matteo Sommacal, specializing in the performance of contemporary classical music, with particular attention to the so-called minimalist and postminimalist experiences...
- Lunatics at LargeLunatics at LargeLunatics at Large is a New Music chamber ensemble based in New York City. It was formed in 2007 in order to explore the repertoire for mixed chamber combinations beginning with Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire, op. 21...
Major works for Pierrot ensemble
- Christina Athinodorou (1981): Aktaí pour flûte, clarinette, vibraphone, violon, violoncelle et piano (2008)
- Milton BabbittMilton BabbittMilton Byron Babbitt was an American composer, music theorist, and teacher. He is particularly noted for his serial and electronic music.-Biography:...
: Arie da Capo (1979) - Martin BresnickMartin BresnickMartin Bresnick is a composer of contemporary classical music, film scores and experimental music.-Education and early career:Bresnick was born and raised in the Bronx, and is a graduate of New York City's specialized High School of Music and Art. He was educated at the University of Hartford ,...
: My Twentieth Century (2002) + viola - Earle BrownEarle BrownEarle Brown was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems...
: "Tracking Pierrot" (1992) + percussion - John CageJohn CageJohn Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
: Seven (1988) + viola - Elliott CarterElliott CarterElliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
: Triple Duo (1983) + percussion - Chen YiChen Yi (composer)Chen Yi is a Chinese composer of contemporary classical music. She was the first Chinese woman to receive a Master of Arts in music composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She is also a violinist....
: Sparkle (1992) + 2 percussionists & double-bass - Sebastian CurrierSebastian CurrierSebastian Currier is an American composer of music for chamber groups and orchestras. He was also a professor of music at Columbia University from 1999 to 2007.-Life:...
: Static (2003) {recipient of the 2007 Grawemeyer AwardGrawemeyer AwardThe Grawemeyer Awards are five awards given annually by the University of Louisville in the state of Kentucky, United States. The prizes are presented to individuals in the fields of education, ideas improving world order, music composition, religion, and psychology...
} - Mario DavidovskyMario DavidovskyMario Davidovsky is an Argentine-American composer. Born in Argentina, he emigrated in 1960 to the US, where he lives today...
: Flashbacks (1995) + percussion - Maurício Dottori: Elegie per il tramonto della luna (1989)
- Jacob DruckmanJacob DruckmanJacob Druckman was an American composer born in Philadelphia. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Druckman studied with Vincent Persichetti, Peter Mennin, and Bernard Wagenaar. In 1949 and 1950 he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood and later continued his studies at the École Normale de...
: Come Round (1992) - Mohammed FairouzMohammed FairouzMohammed Fairouz is an Arab American composer.Having fulfilling many commissions and created a substantial body of frequently performed works, he is considered one of the most sought after composers of the young generation. Fairouz began composing at an early age and studied at the New England...
: Unwritten (2010) - Morton FeldmanMorton FeldmanMorton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown...
: The Viola in My Life 2 (1970) + viola (the keyboard is a celesta) - Jorge Grossmann: "Siray" (2005)
- Gérard GriseyGérard GriseyGérard Grisey was a French composer of contemporary music.-Biography:Gérard Grisey was born in Belfort, France on 17 June 1946. He studied at the Trossingen Conservatory in Germany from 1963 to 1965 before entering the Conservatoire de Paris...
: Taléa (1986) - Gérard GriseyGérard GriseyGérard Grisey was a French composer of contemporary music.-Biography:Gérard Grisey was born in Belfort, France on 17 June 1946. He studied at the Trossingen Conservatory in Germany from 1963 to 1965 before entering the Conservatoire de Paris...
: Vortex Temporum (1996) + viola - John HarbisonJohn HarbisonJohn Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...
: The Natural World (1986) + soprano - Dorothy Hindman: Setting Century (1999)
- Kamran InceKamran InceKamran N. İnce is a Turkish-American composer.- Life :Ince was born in Glendive, Montana, and at the age of six moved with his family to Turkey. He entered the Ankara State Conservatory at the age of ten, in 1971, where he began studying cello and piano, and took composition lessons with İlhan Baran...
: Waves of Talya (1989) - David LangDavid Lang (composer)David Lang is an American composer living in New York City. He was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Music for The Little Match Girl Passion.-Biography:...
: Sweet Air (1999) - Fred LerdahlFred LerdahlAlfred Whitford Lerdahl is the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and music theorist best known for his work on pitch space and cognitive constraints on compositional systems or "musical grammar[s]." He has written many orchestral and chamber...
: Time After Time (2000) + percussion {finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
} - Fabien LevyFabien Lévy-Biography:Lévy was born in Paris, France. After having been a jazz pianist, he studied composition with Gérard Grisey, orchestration with Marc-André Dalbavie and ethnomusicology with Gilles Leothaud at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1996 to 2000. In 2001, he went to Berlin on the DAAD Artist...
: A propos (2008) - Steven MackeySteven MackeySteven Mackey is an American composer, guitarist, and music educator.-Life:As a musician growing up listening to and performing vernacular American musics as well as classical music, Mackey's compositions are informed by rock and jazz, though in an avant-garde vein...
: Indigenous Instruments (1989) - Steven MackeySteven MackeySteven Mackey is an American composer, guitarist, and music educator.-Life:As a musician growing up listening to and performing vernacular American musics as well as classical music, Mackey's compositions are informed by rock and jazz, though in an avant-garde vein...
: Microsymphony (1999) + percussion - Donald MartinoDonald MartinoDonald Martino was a Pulitzer Prize winning American composer.Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, Martino studied composition with Ernst Bacon, Roger Sessions, Milton Babbitt, and Luigi Dallapiccola...
: Notturno (1973) + percussion {winner of the 1974 Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
} - Ron C. Mann: Claire Lunaire (2009) flute/piccolo, oboe/cor Anglais, viola, harp, soprano.
- Peter Maxwell DaviesPeter Maxwell DaviesSir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
: Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969) + baritone and percussion - Rytis Mazulis: Canon mensurabilis (2000) + viola
- Ira J. Mowitz: Shimmerings (2004) + Digital Soundtrack: Alto flute/Piccolo, B-flat Clarinet/Bass Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano, Glockenspiel
- Tristan MurailTristan MurailTristan Murail is a French composer. His father, Gérard Murail, is a poet and his mother, Marie-Thérèse Barrois, a journalist. One of his brothers, Lorris Murail, and his younger sister Elvire Murail, aka Moka, also write, and his younger sister Marie-Aude Murail is a French children's writer...
: Winter Fragments (2000) + electronic sounds - Lior NavokLior NavokLior Navok is an Israeli classical composer and conductor. He was born in Tel Aviv. His music has been performed in the United States, Europe, Israel, and Mexico by orchestras and ensembles including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and the Tanglewood Festival...
: Sextet (1998) + percussion - Lior NavokLior NavokLior Navok is an Israeli classical composer and conductor. He was born in Tel Aviv. His music has been performed in the United States, Europe, Israel, and Mexico by orchestras and ensembles including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and the Tanglewood Festival...
: Elegy to the Future (2001) - George PerleGeorge PerleGeorge Perle was a composer and music theorist. He was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. Perle was an alumnus of DePaul University...
: Critical Moments 2 (2001) + percussion - Mel PowellMel PowellMel Powell was a jazz pianist and composer of classical music.Mel Epstein was born to Russian Jewish parents, Milton Epstein and Mildred Mark Epstein, and began playing piano as a child. He performed jazz professionally in New York City as a teenager...
: Sextet + percussion - Steve ReichSteve ReichStephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
: Double Sextet (2007) can be performed either by Pierrot ensemble with tape or by 12 players {winner of the 2009 Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
} - Belinda Reynolds: Coming Around
- Frederic RzewskiFrederic RzewskiFrederic Anthony Rzewski is an American composer and virtuoso pianist.- Biography :Rzewski began playing piano at age 5. He attended Phillips Academy, Harvard and Princeton, where his teachers included Randall Thompson, Roger Sessions, Walter Piston and Milton Babbitt...
: Pocket Symphony + percussion - Arnold SchoenbergArnold SchoenbergArnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
: Pierrot Lunaire (1912) + mezzo-soprano - Gunther SchullerGunther SchullerGunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
: Paradigm Exchanges (1991) - Salvatore SciarrinoSalvatore SciarrinoSalvatore Sciarrino is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:In his youth, Sciarrino was attracted to the visual arts, but began experimenting with music when he was twelve. Though he had some lessons from Antonino Titone and Turi Belfiore, he is primarily self-taught as a...
: "Lo Spazio inverso" (1985) + Celesta - Ralph ShapeyRalph ShapeyRalph Shapey was an American composer and conductor. He is well-known for his work as a composition professor at the University of Chicago, where he founded and directed the Contemporary Chamber Players...
: Three for Six (1979) + percussion - Matteo SommacalMatteo SommacalMatteo Sommacal, born November 18, 1977 in Roma , is an Italian composer and mathematical physicist.As a composer, he has been active since 2000 writing concert and film music. Since late 2000, he has been serving as the artistic director of the Italian chamber ensemble Piccola Accademia degli...
: Counter Rotating In Vacuum (2001) - Matteo SommacalMatteo SommacalMatteo Sommacal, born November 18, 1977 in Roma , is an Italian composer and mathematical physicist.As a composer, he has been active since 2000 writing concert and film music. Since late 2000, he has been serving as the artistic director of the Italian chamber ensemble Piccola Accademia degli...
: La ragazza che dormiva sotto il letto (2009) - Steven StuckySteven StuckySteven Stucky is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer.Stucky was born in Hutchinson, Kansas. At age 9, he moved with his family to Abilene, Texas, where, as a teenager, he studied music in the public schools and, privately, viola with Herbert Preston, conducting with Leo Scheer, and...
: Ad Parnassum (1998) - William SusmanWilliam SusmanWilliam Joseph Susman, born August 29, 1960 in Chicago, is an American composer of concert and film music as well as an accomplished pianist. He belongs to the generation of American composers that came of age in the late twentieth century, received traditional academic training while remaining...
: Twisted Figures (1987) + mallets - William SusmanWilliam SusmanWilliam Joseph Susman, born August 29, 1960 in Chicago, is an American composer of concert and film music as well as an accomplished pianist. He belongs to the generation of American composers that came of age in the late twentieth century, received traditional academic training while remaining...
: The Starry Dynamo (1994) - William SusmanWilliam SusmanWilliam Joseph Susman, born August 29, 1960 in Chicago, is an American composer of concert and film music as well as an accomplished pianist. He belongs to the generation of American composers that came of age in the late twentieth century, received traditional academic training while remaining...
: Camille (2010) with piano four-hands - Michael TorkeMichael TorkeMichael Torke is an American composer who writes music influenced by jazz and minimalism. Sometimes described as a post-minimalist, his most postminimal piece is Four Proverbs, in which the syllable for each pitch is fixed and variations in the melody produce streams of nonsense words. Other works...
: Telephone Book (1995) {comprising Yellow Pages (1985), Blue Pages (1995), and White Pages (1995)} - Joan TowerJoan TowerJoan Tower is a Grammy-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor. Lauded by the New Yorker as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time", her bold and energetic compositions have been performed in concert halls around the world...
: Petroushskates (1980) - Theo VerbeyTheo Verbey-Biography:Theo Verbey first achieved recognition for his orchestral arrangement of Alban Berg's Piano Sonata, Op. 1, a piece he orchestrated in 1984 while still a student. He studied at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague where he graduated in 1986. His principle composition teachers were Peter...
: Perplex (2004) + vibraphone - Rolf WallinRolf WallinRolf Wallin is a Norwegian composer, trumpeter and avant-garde performance artist.Rolf Wallin has established a reputation as one of the leading Scandinavian composers of his generation. He studied in Oslo with Finn Mortensen and Olav Anton Thommessen and later at the University of California...
: The Age of Wire and String (2005) - Barbara White: Learning to See + percussion
- Barbara White: Life in the Castle + mezzo-soprano
- Barbara White: My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon
- Charles WuorinenCharles WuorinenCharles Peter Wuorinen is a prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. His catalog of more than 250 compositions includes works for orchestra, opera, chamber music, as well as solo instrumental and vocal works...
: New York Notes (1982) + 1 or 2 percussionists and electronic sounds - Iannis XenakisIannis XenakisIannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
: Plektó (1993) + percussion - Carolyn YarnellCarolyn YarnellCarolyn Yarnell is an American composer and visual artist. A recipient of the Rome Prize, Charles Ives Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, she is particularly noted for works which combine visual and musical depictions of landscape and light, many of which were inspired by the landscapes of her...
: Lapis Lazuli - Zhou LongZhou LongZhou Long is a Pulitzer-prize-winning Chinese American composer.-Biography:Born into an artistic family, Zhou Long began studying piano from an early age. Due to the artistic restrictions implemented during the Cultural Revolution, he was forced to delay his piano studies and live on a state-run...
: Five Elements (2002) + percussion {also exists in a version with Chinese instruments}
External links
- From the Arnold Schoenberg Center
- Pierrot Lunaire Ensemble Wien
- Art of the States: Pierrot ensemble American works for Pierrot ensemble
- Barbara White