24044509

Department of Music Theory, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University
Texture, Register, and Their Formal Roles in the Music of Witold Lutosławski
Author(s): Michael Klein
Source: Indiana Theory Review, Vol. 20, No. 1 (SPRING 1999), pp. 37-70
Published by: Indiana University Press on behalf of the Department of Music Theory,
Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24044509
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Texture, Register, and Their Formal Roles in
the Music of Witold Lutoslawski
Michael Klein
lines and their interactions, where a precise definition for the term line
BY texture I mean
remains open according tothat
context. part
By registerof musical
I mean the placementstructure
of conceived as a number of
those lines in a pitch-space, whose span from low to high is segmented into
equal parts by the octave. Following Wallace Berry, we might conceive of a
coupling of texture and register into a single musical structure called texture-space.
Berry's definition of texture-space—"a two-dimensioned field setting out 'hori
zontal' and 'vertical' boundaries enclosing the element-successions which con
stitute the musical work"—implies a temporal element that I shall leave
relatively unexplored in this paper.1 His emphasis on registral boundaries, how
ever, resonates with properties defined in this paper that I find central to an
understanding of form in the music of Witold Lutoslawski.
Texture-space takes on a role of heightened importance in much avant-garde
music after 1960, notably in the music of Lutoslawski, Krzysztof Penderecki, and
György Ligeti, among others. The dense pitch clusters that are common in this
music have generated a confusing array of terms in historical and analytical stud
ies, including textural music, cluster compositions, net-structure compositions (Ligeti),
and aleatorism of texture (Lutoslawski). In recent publications, some theorists have
offered detailed observations of how texture-space generates form in music of the
1960s, particularly in the music of Ligeti.2 Absent from this literature is any
exposition of how texture-space functions in the music of Lutoslawski, per
haps because his method of organizing pitch (harmonic aggregates) and
rhythm (ad libitum sections) complicates such a study.
1 Wallace Berry, Structural Functions in Music (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1976), 279.
2Among many examples are Miguel Roig-Francoli, "Harmonic and Formal Processes in
Ligeti's Net-Structure Compositions," Music Theory Spectrum 17, no. 2 (1995): 242—67; Jonathan
W. Bernard, "Voice Leading as a Spatial Function in the Music of Ligeti," Music Analysis 13 (1994):
227—53; Alejandro Pulido, "Differentiation and Integration in Ligeti's Chamber Concerto, HI," Sonus
9 (1988): 17—37; Bernard, "Inaudible Structures, Audible Music: Ligeti's Problem, and His
Solution," Music Analysis 6 (1987): 207-36; and Robert Cogan, "György Ligeti: Lux Aeterna," in
New Images of Musical Sound (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984), 39—43.
38 Indiana Theory Review Vol. 20/1
Perhaps the best-known research about the music of Lutoslawski is Steven

Stucky's book of 1981, which, though written well before the composer's
death, is still a valuable introduction to his life and music.3 Charles Bodman Rae
(1994) has offered a similar study, expanding upon Stucky's work by including
brief analyses of the Polish composer's last compositions.4 Probably the most
detailed published analysis of a single composition by Lutoslawski is Aloyse
Michaely's 1991 article on the Symphony No. 3,5 while the most important
body of analytical research comes from Martina Homma,6 who, in addition to
writing nearly a dozen analyses of Lutoslawski's works, was responsible for
cataloging the composer's sketches for the Paul Sacher Foundation.7 All of the
analytical work mentioned above focuses on issues of pitch organization or dis
cusses Lutoslawski's use of aleatory techniques.8 None of this work, however,
includes analysis of how the dense textures that are central to Lutoslawski's
music after 1960 delineate form.
sSteven Stucky, Lutoslawski and His Music (New York: Cambridge University Press,
1981).
+Charles Bodman Rae, The Music of Lutoslawski (London: Faber and Faber, 1994).
sAloyse Michaely, "Lutosiawskis III. Sinfonie," Musik-Konzepte 71—73 (1991): 52—197.
6A complete list of Homma's work on the music of Lutoslawski is impractical here.
Most of these publications draw on material from her published dissertation Witold Lutoslawski:
Zwöftonharmonik, Formbildung, "aleatorischer Kontrapunkt"; Studien zum Gesamtwerk unter Einbezie
hung der Skizzen (Cologne: Bela, 1995).
7The Paul Sacher Foundation holds Lutoslawski's sketches and manuscripts with the excep
tion of some fair copies (final manuscripts) that the composer gave to performers who pre
miered his works. Extant are sketches for nearly all of his music after 1960.
8In addition to this analytical work, there are a number of published interviews, includ
ing Irina Nikolska, Conversations with Witold Lutoslawski, trans. Valeri Yerokbin (Stockholm:
Melos, 1994); Tadeusz Kaczynski, Conversations with Witold Lutoslawski, trans. Yolanta May
(London: Chester Music, 1984); and Bâlint Andrâs Varga, Lutoslawski Profile: Witold Lutoslawski
in Conversation with Bàlint Andrâs Varga, trans, and ed. Stephen Walsh (London: Chester,
1976). Theses and dissertations about the music of Lutoslawski are numerous. Notable
theoretical studies among these include Michael L. Klein, "A Theoretical Study of the Late
Music of Witold Lutoslawski: New Interactions of Pitch, Rhythm, and Form," Ph.D. diss.,
State University of New York at Buffalo, 1995; Douglas M. Rust, "Lutoslawski's Sym
phonic Forms," Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1995; Gerald Evans, "The Development and
Application of New Structural Procedures in the Works Chain 1, Chain 11, and Chain III by
Witold Lutoslawski," Ph.D. diss., Kent State University, 1990 (especially Part II); and
Kathy Ann Russavage, "Instrumentation in the Works of Witold Lutoslawski," D.M.A.
thesis, University of Illinois, 1988. A more complete bibliography appears in Martina
Homma, "Auswahlbibliographie," Musik-Konzepte 71—73 (1991): 208—16.
Klein, Texture, Register, and Their Formal Roles in Lutoslawski 39
Clues to Lutoslawski's use of register or texture come from the composer

himself, who, in a brief article devoted to the use of aleatory techniques, offers two
small graphs showing how the registral boundaries of one pitch collection can
expand or contract to form the registral boundaries of another pitch collection.9
Lutoslawski's concern with registral boundaries in these graphs reminds us of
Berry's definition of texture-space, described above. In this paper, therefore, I
take Berry's conception of texture-space as a point of departure for an under
standing of how such space functions in the music of Lutoslawski. I begin by
outlining Lutoslawski's method of organizing pitch and rhythm, then proceed to
define some properties of texture-space (field, density, and compression) and
some transformations of those properties that recur frequently in Lutoslawski's
music. The paper concludes with analyses of Trois poèmes d'Henri Michaux (1963)
and Chain 1 (1983).
Lutoslawski's Compositional Elements
Beginning with his Five Songs on texts by Kazimiera Illakowicz (1957),

Lutoslawski structured pitch through harmonic aggregates,10 which are ordered
pitch collections containing all twelve pitch classes, where each of the pitch
classes is fixed in a single register. Example 1 shows the first harmonic aggre
gate that structures the piano part of "Morze" (The Sea), the first of the Five
Songs. We can represent a harmonic aggregate as an interval string indicating
the succession of ordered pitch intervals between its pairs of adjacent pitches
from lowest to highest. Such an interval string can also represent a class of
harmonic aggregates, all of which are related by transposition in pitch space.
'Witold Lutoslawski, "Rhythm and the Organization of Pitch in Composing Techniques

Employing a Limited Element of Chance," Polish Musicological Studies 2 (1986): 37—53. In addi
tion, a study of Lutoslawski's sketches shows that some are written on pieces of graph paper,
on which the composer has drawn shapes showing how registral boundaries move from one
pitch collection to another. Such sketches support the type of registral analyses that I present
in this paper.
""There is little consistency in the terminology used to describe these chords in pub
lished analyses. Stucky uses the term harmonic aggregate. Rae uses the terms 12-note chord and
chord-aggregate. Homma, whose work on Lutoslawski's music is enormously detailed, uses
the term Zwölfion-Harmonik (12-tone harmony). Lutoslawski, who was fluent in English, was
inconsistent with his use of terms as well. For more detailed treatments of the structure of
harmonic aggregates, see Homma, Witold Lutoslawski; Klein, "A Theoretical Study of the Late
Music"; Rust, "Lutoslawski's Symphonic Forms"; Rae, The Music of Lutoslawski; and Stucky,
Lutoslawski and His Music.
EXAMPLE 1. Harmonic aggregate from "Morze"
, Q i i— .. o«i«>
Ä °
1 fe tide ' ïo w
«> i°
rsyoi; #«. o ■
i —o 1 jo
9* t°jl'
3 t <6, 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 0, 3, 4, 7, T, E>
7-1-3-3-1-3-3-1-3-3-1
In order to show the twe

can also represent them as
mas between brackets < >
the integers represent pi
and a number to the left o
pitch of the harmonic aggr
type of representation do
appear between adjacent m
one interval string may m
representation appear below
With the premiere of h
harmonic aggregates in ad
affect the rhythmic coord
sections, Lutoslawski notât
even the entrances of the
the exact rhythmic coordin
ally lack a common mete
sections Lutoslawski deman
"Among the terms used to de

controlled aleatorism, aleatoric c
technique. Lutoslawski himself
indicate aleatory sections with t
to mark the beginning of an
claimed to prefer the term limi
music simply as ad libs. The lat
former may choose to skip a
rhythms; neither of these me
ties implicit in this array of ter
expressive freedom of a solo or a cadenza.12 During ad libitum sections the conduc

tor ceases beating time and uses the baton only to indicate cues or to show the
beginning of a new section that may be either in battuta (measured) or ad libitum
style. The end of an ad libitum section often includes repeated patterns, which the
player is to perform until the conductor cues the entire ensemble to begin the next
section. Several notational consequences arise as a result of Lutoslawski's limited
aleatory technique: first, he indicates the lengths of many ad libitum sections in
numbers of seconds; second, all accidentals apply only to the pitch that immedi
ately follows (this is true of ad libitum as well as battuta sections); finally, in all ad
libitum sections any visual coordination of parts in the score is purely incidental and
should not be interpreted as a rhythmic coordination preferred by the composer.
Lutoslawski was quite open about his method of presenting pitch material
in ad libitum sections:
Within an aleatoric section, pitch can be stricdy fixed. That may appear
strange if you think of the loosening of time relations between sounds... .
This is the simplest way of organising pitch within an aleatoric
section. We compose a twelve tone chord, which serves as the basis of
that section. The instruments only play the notes belonging to that
chord. It may occur that the chord never actually sounds in its entirety
—it is supplemented by our memory and imagination.13
Only one harmonic aggregate unfolds within each ad libitum section, and because
of this one-to-one correspondence we can define both microrhythmic and
macrorhythmic structures in Lutoslawski's music. Mictorhythm includes all of
the attack points unfolding in the course of a single ad libitum section, analo
gous to the most surface or foreground rhythm in non-aleatoric music.
Macroihythm is created by the change from one harmonic aggregate to the next,
often corresponding to the changes from one ad libitum section to the next.14
l2Witold Lutoslawski, interview by author, 24 October 1993, Toronto, Canada.

"Varga, Lutoslawski Profile, 24—25.
"Discussion of micro and macrorhythm in Lutoslawski's music first appears in
Stucky, Lutoslawski and His Music, 128. Stucky's definition of macrorhythm is broader than
mine. He describes macrorhythm as the "relationships in time between whole sections of music,"
without defining precisely what these large sections are, although in some cases it is clear that
he is talking about harmonic rhythm as defined by a change from one harmonic aggregate to
the next. In his later music, Lutoslawski tends to use ad libitum sections less frequently. In
such music, harmonic aggregates may unfold in the course of battuta sections, in which they
would still define macrorhythm. In the latest music, harmonic aggregates cease to structure the
entire pitch content of his compositions.
A clear distinction between macro- and microrhythm is more difficult when

dealing with battuta sections, which are not always governed by harmonic aggre
gates, especially in Lutoslawski's later works. My primary interest in this paper,
however, lies with Lutoslawski's most textural music (those works from the
1960s and 1970s), in which case the distinction is less difficult to make. In addi
tion, I am concerned with macrorhythm, and the graphs that follow show the
placement in register of harmonic aggregates, each of which might unfold over
the course of a different ad libitum section.
Another result of the one-to-one correspondence of harmonic aggregates

and ad libitum sections is that pitch, timbre, and register remain static through
out such sections. Lutoslawski freely discussed these consequences, saying:
One can't deny that the controlled aleatory technique enriches the
music's rhythm and expression, and transforms the musical content
from a kind of versified speech into prose. But it also impoverishes the
musical matter to some extent. This impoverishment affects the har
monic flow, which inevitably slows down in all the sections played ad
libitum; and that in turn produces a somewhat static effect.15
Although the composer does not discuss the extension of stasis into the realm of
register, he surely must have known that if pitches are fixed throughout an ad
libitum section, so too are registers. But I suspect that, at first, Lutoslawski con
sidered this static effect to be a positive attribute. In fact, given the emphasis in
music of the 1960s on the generation of form through texture, timbre, and reg
ister, Lutoslawski may well have thought of ad libitum sections as liberating
forces that allowed him to focus on the coordination of blocks of sound.
Texture-Space
The combination of harmonic aggregates and their presentation in ad libitum

sections has a profound effect on the use of texture-space in Lutoslawski's music.
In order to pinpoint this effect I shall define some properties and their transfor
mations that organize texture-space. Although there is no doubt that studies of
pitch and rhythm make up a large percentage of music-analytic writings, a grow
ing body of literature focuses on register and texture, or what I have been railing
texture-space. I have already mentioned Wallace Berry's study of texture in his
Structural Functions in Music. In addition, Robert Cogan and Pozzi Escot have
5Kaczynski, Conversations with Witold Lutoslawski, 48.
devoted a large portion of their Sonic Design to explaining the correlation between
historical conceptions of perspective in the pictorial arts and composers' use of
texture-space in music.16 Jonathan Bernard's work on the music of Varèse con
tains substantial development of a theory for that composer's use of register.17
Both the work of Cogan and Escot and that of Bernard use a grid notation to illus
trate the structure of texture-space. In these grids the vertical axis represents the
total available registral spectrum from CO to C8, and the horizontal axis repre
sents a movement through musical time. I will use a similar grid notation to illus
trate how Lutoslawski structures texture-space in the creation of musical form.
Berry has made a useful distinction between quantitative and qualitative accounts
of texture-space.18 Thus the difference between monophonie and polyphonic
textures is primarily quantitative (one voice versus two or more voices), while
that between polyphonic and heterophonic textures is primarily qualitative
(two or more independent voices versus two or more voices with hetero
melodic structures).19 The qualitative aspect of a texture entails an account of
the interaction of its voices, especially in regard to the relative independence of
their melodies, rhythms, timbres, contours, registers, and so on. The quantita
tive aspect of a texture entails a numeration of the span, voices, and thickness of
the textural fabric. I shall consider primarily quantitative characteristics of tex
ture-space when analyzing Lutoslawski's music, and among such characteristics
I shall make reference to three: field, density, and compression. Thefield of any
texture-space is the expanse of its register from the lowest to the highest notes
in that space.2 The density of any texture-space can be, according to context, the
"Robert Cogan and Pozzi Escot, Sonic Design: The Nature of Sound and Music (Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1976).
"Jonathan W. Bernard, The Music ofEdgard Varèse (New Haven: Yale University Press,
1987). Earlier versions of this material appear in his "Pitch/Register in the Music of Edgard
Varèse, Music Theory Spectrum 3 (1981): 1—25; and in his "A Theory of Pitch and Register for the
Music ofEdgard Varèse," Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1977.
"Berry, Structural Functions in Music, 185.
"There is little agreement both on how many voices must be present to create a texture
and on how to define the term voice. For example, John White, The Analysis of Music (Engle
wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1976) asserts that "two or more voices . . . produce a texture,"
(185) while Berry allows textures to be made up of one voice. In the interest of both musical
and mathematical thoroughness I define textures as the product of zero (silence) or more
voices. For a more thorough discussion of the term voice, see Monte Tubb, "Textural Con
structions in Music," Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy 1, no. 2 (1987): 201—24.
20Cogan and Escot, Sonic Design, define fields as "frequency areas of any width—from the
narrowness of a single frequency to the width of the entire available frequency range" (52).
number of voices or the number of pitches in the textural field. Finally, compression
refers to how tightly packed the voices are within a textural field.21 A more
thorough and heuristic exposition of these three terms follows.
Our measurements of a textural_/ï'eU may be approximate or precise. Approxi
mately, we might measure the field of a texture-space by the entire register or
registers that it spans, where a fixed interval (traditionally the octave) marks the
boundary from one register to the next.22 The pitches shown in example 2 all fall
within a three-octave range, therefore the approximate field of the collection is
three octaves. The most precise measurement of the field of a texture-space,
however, is the total number of semitones from the lowest to highest pitches in
that space. Under this measurement the pitch collection of example 2 has a field
of 26 semitones. Note that the measurement for this field (and all of those that fol
low) has been from the lowest to highest pitches inclusive. Thus, a texture-space
that consists of one pitch has a field value of 1, not 0. The reason for this type of
computation will become clearer during the discussion of textural compression.
EXAMPLE 2. Measurements for textural field
$f -ÖP
O
o
rf>
»
Approximate Field: pitches fall within 3 octaves
Exact Field (number of semitones, inclusive): B2-C5
2'Berry, Structural Functions in Music, 184 use

compression to refer to what I am calling density an
unhyphenated versions of these terms in order
has pointed out to me that in the sciences the term
I am calling compression. The problem is that the
ings to refer to a number of lines or a number o
Sonic Design-, see also Richard Delone, Vernon L.
Music, ed. Gary Wittlich [Englewood Cliffs,
"Textural Constructions in Music"). I do not wish
a new way, nor do 1 wish to resort to possessive
order to make this material clear. Therefore, I sh
density to refer to a number of lines or pitches in
22By convention, we use the octave as the widt
ily define registral bandwidths by larger or smal
bility in his Class Notes for Atonal Music Theory (R
Klein, Texture, Register, and Their Formed Roles in Lutoslawski 45
The term density is commonly invoked when quantifying texture-space,

although the exact use of this term can vary according to musical context.
Cogan and Escot, for example, use the term density to refer either to the num
ber of voices in a section of music or to the number of notes in a sonority.23 The
difference between these two conceptions of density is not at all moot. Taking
as an example the first measure of Chopin's Etude in C minor, op. 25, no. 12
(example 3), we can consider the density to consist of two voices, represented
by the single lines of sixteenth notes in both the right and left hands, or we can
consider the density to consist of all the notes (32) that appear during the
course of this measure, or even as the number of pitches (6) that make up the
first chord before its replication an octave higher. A similar problem arises
when determining the density of texture-space in Lutoslawski's music, espe
cially in ad libitum sections.
EXAMPLE 3. Opening measure of Chopin Etude op. 25, no. 12
TT ^ Pi h
1( it
(fatrh
g Ud*
-==
IP 1J —m
J J J1
w
/ i rj. n *
y ' ^ i, ^—r'
=rff
r \jBst
Lüj
Lutoslawski's limited aleatory technique creates a high degree of independ
ence among a relatively large number of voices. Often these voices will be
homo- or heteromelodic, yet the absence of a common meter results in what
Lutoslawski called a "richness of rhythm,"24 which is a qualitative characteristic
that contributes to textural complexity. Although the absence of a common
meter in limited aleatory sections is a solution to a compositional problem, it
presents an analytical problem in quantifying textural density. While the num
ber of voices (instrumental lines) remains constant with each performance of
any ad libitum section, the precise number of notes within each section will
change from performance to performance. When quantifying the density of the
2iCogan and Escot, Sonic Design, 28—68.

24Lutos}awski, interview by author.
sonority of an ad libitum section, therefore, I will often consider its macrostruc

ture as a chord that has been composed out with the limited aleatory technique.
Borrowing an analogy that Lutoslawski makes between his ad libitum sections
and the Alberti bass of much eighteenth-century music,25 we might say that just
as the Alberti bass activates a triad, or three-voiced texture, so the limited alea
tory technique activates a harmonic aggregate, or twelve-voiced texture.
This conception of density as the number of pitches in a sonority, however,
leads to a second problem when analyzing Lutoslawski's use of texture-space.
Since harmonic aggregates form the macrostructure of much of his music, the
density of texture-space remains constant with a value of twelve. Therefore,
we need a way to compare how such pitch structures organize texture-space.
Compression will enable us to compare harmonic aggregates; compression will be
the number of pitches per unit of space within the field of a pitch collection and
will be calculated by the following formula,26 where c = compression, d = den
sity, andJ— field:
c-d/j
For example, given a pitch collection with a density of 4 pitches and a field of 11
semitones, the compression of that collection is 0.36 (0.36 = 4/11).27 Example
4 shows calculations for the compressions of two pitch collections. When con
sidering values for compression, higher values correspond to higher compression,
and the greatest possible compression of any pitch collection yields a value of c
— 1. If a collection has a compression value of 1, then every available pitch
within its field is present. In a metaphorical sense, we can think of compression
as the opacity of a pitch collection. In example 4 the second harmonic aggregate
has a higher value for compression than the first; therefore, it has greater com
pression, and we might think of it as being more opaque than the first harmonic
aggregate. Generally, we might contend that pitch structures with the extreme
compression value of 1 are central to the musical language of the 1960s. This
observation often extends to sections of music that focus on only one pitch.
Such sections have a small field of 1 but an extreme compression of 1. An example
appears in the first movement of Ligeti's Cello Concerto, whose opening pitch
material is limited to a single sustained E4 and whose textural field expands from
this E4 rather slowly. Lutoslawski's Chain 7, to be analyzed later in this paper,
illustrates a second such example.
2!Varga, Lutosiawski Profile, 25.

26I am indebted to John Clough for simplifying an earlier formula that I used for compression.
27,
Values for compression will be rounded to two figures after the decimal point.
EXAMPLE 4. Compression of two harmonic aggregates
cc == compression
compressiond =ddensity
= density
/ = field
/ = field
cc == dt
d!ff
pxx
VO
IX
xx
«
n
%?
%F
m pige
ptfN
d»
i£»
PTT
d=
= 12 /= 56 rf= 12 /= 32
c= 12/56 = 0.21 c= 12/32 = 0.38
Before focusing on transformations of these textural characte

be helpful to show how field, density, and compression interact,
interactions are limited by the structure of harmonic aggregates
wish to note that if density remains constant, as it often does in
music, an increase in the textural field results in a decrease i
while a decrease in the textural field results in an increase
Some simple examples will illustrate this inverse relationship. In
collection of example S the field value is 8, density is 4, and com
(hereafterJ— 8, d = 4, and c — 0.S), but in the second collecti
the field to 26 results in a decrease in compression to 0.15 becaus
density remains constant. Example 5b illustrates the reverse case.
collections have a value of d — 2, but as the field decreases from
to j— 6, compression increases from c = 0.11 to c = 0.17 to c
5c shows that despite decreases in the textural field, the com
three pitch collections can remain constant if there are decr
Here again the fields decrease from J— 18 to f =12 to f = 6,
remains constant at c = 0.33 because the densities decrease from
to d— 2.
The registral process outlined in example 5c is not a possibility in any music

by Lutoslawski structured solely with harmonic aggregates. Since the density of
such music remains constant at d — 12, any decrease in the textural field will
result in an increase in compression. In compositions like Chain 1, as I will
show, Lutoslawski uses the types of textural motions that result in increases in
compression to create formal connections between large sections of music.
EXAMPLE 5. Interactions of field, density, and compression
a) b)
-X
-fe +TT
frA*
J **> o o
-CT; 8S e
/= 8 /= 26 /= 18 /= 12 /= 6
</=4
<7=4 rf=4
<7=4 rf=2
<7=2 <7=2
</=2 <7=2
</=2
c = 0.5 c = 0.15 c = 0.11 c= 0.17 c=0.33
c)
$I ¥ S o
/= 18 /= 12 /= 6
<7=6
rf=6 <7
rf=4
= 4 <7=2
<7=2
c = 0.33 c = 0.33 c = 0.33
However, Lutosiawski may have viewed the inter

compression as a compositional problem in musi
stant. In a discussion of his music after 1980, Luto
One of the important steps here was to invent a

thinner textures; I just reached it only a few yea
that in the sixties my pieces employed large mas
exclusively, as in the Second Symphony, and to
Livre pour orchestre, Three Poems by Henri Michaux, Je
It was so not because I delighted in sound masess
suitable tools for writing in a thinner texture. . . .
I have always imagined that large masses should on
tain percentage of the music of a work, though ou
worked just with them . . . Meanwhile, thin texture
ber of simultaneous sounds, were still a question f
say, clarified itself late, but luckily it did. And onl
such pieces as the Concertofor Oboe and Harp, or now
2SGregorz Michalski, "An Interview with Witold Lutosla

(1988): 3-21.
Lutoslawski's reference to large sound masses lacks the precision to allow us to

conclude that he was thinking specifically of the property called density, although
the mention of "simultaneous sounds" is close to a definition of this property. If we
can trust Lutoslawsld's retrospective comments about his music from the 1960s,
we might conclude that he was concerned with the problem of altering density in
this music. In later examples, we shall see how Lutoslawski makes efforts to solve
the problem of constant density that results from the use of harmonic aggregates.
Transformations of Texture-Space ( 1 )—Expansion and Contraction
Since density often remains constant in Lutoslawski's works, field and

compression will become the foci of an investigation of transformations of
musical space. In Lutoslawski's music, we can often confine our observations to
transformations of the textural field alone since an increase or decrease in the
field will result in the opposite effect in compression.

I refer to any increase in the textural field as an expansion and any decrease
as a contraction. If an expansion or contraction appears over a number of har
monic aggregates, it can serve to delineate formal sections. For example, in the
opening of "Pensées," the first movement of Trois poèmes d'Henri Michaux (1963),
a field contraction unfolds over the course of six harmonic aggregates. Trois
poèmes is scored for orchestra and SATB chorus, and in performance the orches
tra and the chorus require separate conductors. Lutoslawski notâtes the compo
sition in two large scores, but provides an orchestral reduction in the choral
score and a choral reduction in the orchestral score. Example 6 is based on
Lutoslawski's reduction of the orchestral score and reproduces the harmonic
aggregates that appear in the introduction. From example 6, we can see that the first
six harmonic aggregates represent a field contraction from f= 28 down to J — 12.
EXAMPLE 6. Reduction of opening of "Pensées"
sm m
i
$ f= 28 /= 12
SO Indiana Theory Review Vol. 20/1
Because the clef change may make it difficult to visualize this field contraction,
example 7 transfers these harmonic aggregates into grid notation. Here, we can
monitor visually the increase in compression from the first harmonic aggregate
to the last by focusing on the amount of space between notes. As is the case in
much of Lutoslawski's music, the six harmonic aggregates in the introduction of
"Pensées" gradually contract to reach a registral goal with the extreme com
pression of c — 1. Later in this paper, I will show how the vocal section that fol
lows the introduction uses pitch collections with the same compression (c = 1 )
to structure the first stanza of "Pensées."
EXAMPLE 7. Opening of "Pensées" in grid notation
01
1 1
Jn
1
| 1 F#
: : ! ! ! d:
c
I:
1 ■
1 i
B
■
Bb
s
! 1 ] !1 1I 11
' 1
A
1 i
Ab
C
H Aggregates 1
Transformations of Texture-Space (2)—Symmetric Expansion and Symmetric

Contraction; Projection
In addition to expansion and contraction, which are broadly defined trans

formations of the textural field, I will consider two transformations that Jonathan
Bernard develops in his work on registral structure in the compositions of
Varèse: symmetric expansion and symmetric contraction.29 I define symmetric expansion
as a transformation in the field of two pitch collections in which the highest note
of the second collection is the same distance higher than the highest note of the
first collection as the lowest note of the second collection is lower than the low
est note of the first collection. I define symmetric contraction as the reverse
transformation of symmetric expansion. Since these transformations involve the
textural field alone, they can occur between pitch collections of different densi
ties and compressions. Also following Bernard, I will allow measurements over
relatively long time spans, so that we can measure the distances between the
highest and lowest notes of two or more sections of music. Since I am inter
ested primarily in the registral extremes of collections, and since Lutoslawski
uses large collections of pitches, I will sometimes plot only the highest and low
est notes of a collection in grid notation.
A good example of both symmetric expansion and contraction appears
in the first movement of Jeux vénitiens (1961), the first composition in which
Lutoslawski uses the limited aleatory technique. This movement has a simple
form, based on the alternation of material set in the ad libitum style and material
set in the battuta style. For this example, I am concerned only with the material
in the ad libitum sections. The movement opens with an ad libitum played by the
winds. At each return of this opening material, a new group of instruments is
added to the wind section. At the first repetition the percussion is added. At the
second repetition the brass is added, and at the final repetition two pianos are
added. Lutoslawski notâtes these sections within boxes, which appear together
on one large page of the score. Table 1 lists the pitch material for each of these
ad libitum sections. Note that when all the sections are played together, during
the final repetition of the ad libitum material, the result is a harmonic aggregate
"Bernard often uses simply expansion or contraction without the modifier symmetric. In order
to avoid confusion between these techniques and the more general registral expansions and
contractions outlined earlier, I will always use the terms symmetric expansion and symmetric con
traction to refer to exact measurements between highest and lowest notes, as defined in Bernard's
work. The terms expansion and contraction without the modifier symmetric will refer to the
more general use of wider or narrower textural fields.
TABLE 1. Pitch material in ad libitum sections of Jeux vénitiens: first movement
Timbre Pitch material
winds 3f
3Î <7,9,0,2,4,6,
<7,9,0,2,4,6, 8,
8, 9,
9, E,
E, 1,3,
1,3, 5,
5, 8,
8, T>
T>
2- 3- 2- 2- 2- 2-1-2-2- 2- 2- 3-2
brass 4t<7,8,9,T>
4î<7,8,9,T>
1-1-1
pianos If
1T<E,
<E,3,0,4,1,5,2,6>
3, 0,4,1,5,2,6>
4- 9-4-33-4-9-4
(9)
winds, brass, pianos It <E, 3,0,4,7,9,0,2,4,6,7,8,9, T, E, 1,3,5,8, T, 1,5,2,6>

4- 9- 4- 3- 2- 3-2-2-2-1-1-1-1-1- 2- 2- 2- 3- 2- 3- 4- 9- 4
with twenty-four pitches, where each pitch class appears in two registers. Alter
natively, we might consider this final section to consist of two harmonic aggre
gates played simultaneously. The appearance of the twenty-four pitches in this
final section doubles the density found in most other ad libitum sections. We
might view this doubling of density as a solution to the problem of constant
density that occurs when music is based solely on the standard harmonic aggre
gate with twelve pitches. Lutoslawski only rarely repeats this solution in his
later works, with one such example appearing in a section of his Fourth Symphony
(1992).30 The rare reappearance of this solution may be because it results in
greater density, while the compositional problem that Lutoslawski claims to
have been facing involved the writing of music with less density.
Lutoslawski's choice of registers for each of the three pitched orchestral
groups reveals a process of symmetric contraction and symmetric expansion
with respect to the initiating wind section. The highest and lowest notes of each
of these orchestral groups appear on a grid in example 8. Since the winds first
perform alone, their highest and lowest pitches appear in the left part of the
grid. The pitches of the brass section and the piano section are added to the
pitches of the wind section as we move through the grid from left to right, and
the three different shapes in the grid represent the three different timbres (circle
i0The section in question appears at rehearsal numbers 53—58. Here Lutoslawski gradually
builds a harmonic aggregate with an octave duplication of each pitch, resulting in a harmonic
aggregate with twenty-four pitches.
EXAMPLE 8. Grid notation for boundary pitches in Jeux vénitiens
F#
Li i ii
+20y . --''
Bb
Bb 1i <it
-12
* *S ,
"A Bb
1 1 1 II
u 1 1 II
Cm
o G
X'
I
+ 12
GG
« 1 < it
'' ^.
.
-20 '•v
* i Li Ia
Winds Brass Pianos Tutti
= winds, square = brass, an

boundary pitches of the brass
boundary pitches of the ope
boundary pitches represent a s
brass sections. In example 9
pitches to produce a graphic
register. In this example, I hav
because the four upper pitches
lower pitches. The resulting bo
that Lutoslawski often uses t
vide an image for the static
clear image of the interaction
54 Indiana Theory Review Vol. 20/ 1
EXAMPLE 9. Registrai/timbrai boxes in Jeux vénitiens
s
u
o
Winds
Winds Brass
BrassPianos
Pianos Tutti
compositions does Lutoslawski re

musical elements, but often from
registral or timbrai sound that pro
In addition to symmetric expan
also to a transformation called pr
to a new pitch/registral level; as
of internal detail (such as dens
structure) is optional.
A return to "Pensées" offers
use of both symmetric expansi
^Bernard, Edgard Varèse, 48.
Klein, Texture, Register, and Their Formal Roles in Lutosiawski S S
TABLE 2. Organization of the first stanza in "Pensées"
Section Rehearsal Orchestration Harmonic aggregate

numbers
Orchestral in 1-28 winds, brass see examples 6,7

troduction
Line 1 28-29 SATB 3T<7,8,9,T,E,0,

3t<7,8,9,T,E,0, 1,2,3,4, 5, 6>
Line 2 29-30 SA 4T <5,6, 7, 8,9>
Line 3 (begin) 30-32 (SA)TB 3|

3î<T,E,0,1,2>
<T, E, 0,1,2>
Line 3 (end) 32-34 (T)B 3t

3Î <3,4>
<3,4>
Orchestral
Orchestral 35-45 winds 4f <2,3,4,5,
4| <2,3,4,5, 6,
6, 7,
7, 8,9,
8,9, T>
T>
interlude:
interlude:
part 1
orchestral introduction, and here I expand that analysis to include the entire
first stanza, in which three lines of text compare thought to an indistinct sea.
Lutoslawsld devotes an ad libitum section to each of the first two lines, and he
devotes two ad libitum sections to the third line. The entire stanza is sung a cappella.
Following the first stanza, the orchestra enters briefly but then pauses before
setting up the choral entrance for the second stanza. Typical of Lutoslawski's
music is the careful alternation of high and low voices to mark clearly the struc
ture of the stanza. This information, along with the harmonic aggregates that
appear in the ad libitum sections, is summarized in table 2. Under the entry for
"Line 3 (Begin)," the soprano and alto parts are enclosed within parentheses
(SA) because their pitch material from Line 2 carries over into the third line of
the poem. Similarly, under the entry for "Line 3 (end)," the tenor part is en
closed within parentheses (T) because it maintains the pitch material from Line
3 (begin). Together the pitch material for lines 2, 3 (begin), and 3 (end) form a
harmonic aggregate, and the compression values for all of the entries in table 2
are equivalent at c = 1. Since the harmonic aggregate is divided into three sub
sets (in three ad libitum sections) that vary in their fields but share equivalent
compressions, this first stanza offers another solution to the problem of con
stant density in works structured with harmonic aggregates.
In example 10, the information of table 2 appears in a grid in which only

the highest and lowest notes of each pitch collection are plotted in order to
show the fields of the material. The calibration of the pitch-space on the vertical
axis is exact in this grid, but the calibration of time on the horizontal axis reveals
only the order of events and not their duration. The material for the orchestral
introduction is not included because it appears in example 7. The lowest and
highest notes of the orchestral interlude also appear separately since this section
of the music begins with repeated notes on D4, the section's lowest pitch, and
ends with repeated notes on Bt4, the section's highest pitch. Dark horizontal
lines show that the highest or lowest notes of one pitch collection remain con
stant into the next collection. Pairs of dark arrows illustrate projections, and
dotted arrows illustrate a symmetric expansion.
EXAMPLE 10. Grid notation for first stanza of "Pensées"
+ 4 semit ones
A A
— -> < t Bb
:-s.
F# > "J
(
D
( ► 4 > < >
—^ (
'■V
< > Bb
C
*D#
-4 ;emitones
SATB SA (SA)TB (T)B Winds Winds (End)
The grid also reveals that the texture-space of the first stanza—from the
opening choral part to the close of the orchestral interlude—undergoes the
transformation of symmetric expansion. At the opening of the stanza the high
est pitch of the choral part is F#4, and by the end of the stanza the wind section
expands this note up four semitones to BM-; similarly, the lowest pitch in the
opening choral part is G3, and by the end of the stanza the basses expand this
note down four semitones to DÜ3. Despite the large ensemble required for per
formance of this work, Lutoslawski contains the opening stanza of "Pensées"
within a texture-space whose narrowness is matched by the extreme compres
sion of the individual pitch collections. The music navigates through this narrow
texture-space through two projections. In the first projection the sopranos and
altos expand the higher register of the musical space to A4, which is nearly the
highest pitch of the entire first stanza. In the second projection, the tenors and
basses mirror the expansion of the sopranos and altos by reaching down to Dit 3,
the lowest pitch of the first stanza.
Analysis 1: Trois poèmes d'Henri Michaux, "Repos dans le Malheur"
Having defined characteristics of texture-space and having illustrated trans

formations of these characteristics in excerpts from Lutoslawski's music, I will
turn now to an analysis of an entire composition, "Repos dans le Malheur," the
third and final movement of Trois poèmes d'Henri Michaux. I have already com
mented on this score's complexity, which arises both from the sheer number of
required performers and from the nearly total reliance on the ad libitum technique
in both choral and instrumental parts. Trois poèmes, along with Lutoslawski's next
composition, the String Quartet (1964), represents his most thorough use of lim
ited aleatory techniques. Combining the materials of two scores in preparing an
analysis of Trois poèmes presents numerous difficulties, but the third movement
presents fewer challenges since the chorus maintains an a cappella style and,
with the exception of a brief instrumental climax, the orchestra is reduced to
two pianos and harp, which serve to introduce divisions of the text.
Steven Stucky argues for a fourfold division of this movement on the basis
of four solo harp entrances in which a single pitch is repeated.32 I agree with
Stucky that the harp entrances provide a clue to the formal plan of "Repos," but
in the analysis that follows I also maintain that, in addition to any importance
they may have for the pitch content of this movement, the harp pitches also
2Stucky, Lutoslawski and His Music, 146.
EXAMPLE 11. Four structural pitches of "Repos dans le Malheur"
function to articulate Lutoslawski's structural use of texture-space. Example 11

shows the four pitches in the registers in which they appear in "Repos." Just as
the four pitch classes mark a path up to Ftt, the three different registers that they
represent are balanced around the fourth octave, with the first two pitches appear
ing in the octave above FÄ4 and the third pitch appearing in the octave below.
In order to reveal the ramifications of this registral balance around the
fourth octave, I offer example 12, a grid analysis of the texture-space of the
entire movement. In this grid I have plotted all of the pitch material but have
only labeled the highest and lowest pitches of each vertical collection. As with
some of the other grid examples, time has been flattened somewhat in this exam
ple; that is, events to the right occur after events to the left, but the relative dura
tions of these events are not graphed. I have shown timbre in the grid through the
various shapes of the pitches: circles represent the harp, triangles (sometimes
stacked upon each other) represent the pianos, boxes represent the voices, and
diamonds represent the full orchestra. Arrows show projections, and pairs of
lines show symmetric expansions and contractions. Rehearsal numbers appear
at the bottom of the grid, and the first words of each of the two stanzas of the
poem appear at the top of the grid precisely where they occur in the music.
The two most striking transformations of texture-space in example 12 are
the series of symmetric expansions and contractions near the end of the move
ment and the sustained projection near the opening of the movement. I will
turn first to the symmetric expansions and contractions at the movement's cli
max. At rehearsal number 29 the winds, brass, percussion, and piano play Ft
through a full seven octaves. Ft+ is the central octave in this registral spectrum,
an octave to which Lutoslawsld points by gradually removing instruments and
octaves from the texture. The culmination of this symmetrical contraction appears
at rehearsal number 32, where the solo harp repeats the pitch F#4. More sub
jectively, the octaves in this passage, coming with the words "dans ton horreur"
(referring to the narrator, who loses himself in misery), have a devastating
emotional effect, matching the tone of the poem. Remember that harmonic
aggregates lack octaves; therefore, with the introduction of octaves at this point
EXAMPLE 12. Grid notation for "Repos dans le Malheur"
Le i^alheur mon grand l^boureur... Mon grand theatre.. ^
Ob ± D Eb f Efb
\Bb • i || SI
II |K •
ffl A#
eb!^
M ISIs
11
At? u
■
G#
i.l
*# A# A
R ff:
#: 11 2
2 3
3 4
4 5
5 6
6 7
7 8
8 9
9 10
10 11
11 12
12 13
13 18
18 20
20 21
21 24 26 29
in the music, the expanse of pitch-spa

space, perhaps mirroring the collapse of th
The final vocal entrance begins on FÏ4
from this note down to C$4-. Against this
this movement in which the vocal part
symmetrical expansion, performing pitch
starting at exactly one octave and one se
classes C, B, and Bt> in three octaves start
tone below the vocal Ct4. Thus, the pitc
the center of pitch focus, but also the cent
is the central register in these symmet
tions, and the same octave is the center
harp pitches that appear throughout the m
On the basis of the transformations of
will posit the fourth octave as the goa
movement. By turning to the opening
achieves this registral goal. Here, the solo
registral starting point. Disregarding the
the vocal part begins in the same register
through a projection of a textured field o
number 10, the lowest and highest notes of the vocal part are Eh3 and EhS.
Octaves 3 and S he on either side of octave 4, which will be the final register of
the entire movement. The total registral space that unfolds within this section is
a contraction of the solo piano part that precedes it. Notice that here the con
traction is not symmetric since the highest pitch of the piano part, C6, lies nine
semitones above the highest vocal pitch, and the lowest pitch of the piano part,
Al>2, lies seven semitones below the lowest note of the vocal part. However,
we can characterize the piano part as establishing a textural space from octave
6 to octave 2, which the vocal part contracts to a range of octave S to octave 3
through a gradual downward projection.
Due to the extreme compression of the vocal pitch collections up to rehearsal
number 10, the graph does not reveal well the gradual increase in density that
accompanies the projection of this section. Each vocal pitch collection contains
one more pitch than the previous one, starting with the opening collection of
seven notes. The only exception occurs precisely at the completion of the pro
jection at rehearsal number 8, where there is a move from a collection of ten
notes directly to the full aggregate. Following the completion of the projection,
the density decreases and the field of the vocal part undergoes two symmetric
contractions so that the end of this section is reduced to a single pitch, G#3,
which is part of the dyad {Gif, A} that lies at the center of the previous pitch
collection, G through At.
Following this single Gtt, the return of the solo harp playing repeated
pitches implies a new musical section parallel to the opening of the movement.
This formal division receives support in the structure of the poem, since the G#
in the vocal part at the end of rehearsal number 10 marks the end of the first
stanza. We might characterize the entire first stanza as establishing a texture
space between octaves 3 and 5 through a steadily descending projection of pitch
collections with equivalent compressions and ever-expanding fields and densities.
Upon reaching the lower register, these pitch collections contract to a single
pitch in the third register, mirroring the single pitch in the fifth register at the
opening of the movement.
The use of texture-space in the second stanza represents a wider field but
less compression than the texture-space of the first stanza. The lower range of
the vocal part extends to include register 2, which has a counterpart in the use
of register 6 in the piano part that opens this stanza. The use of a wider field in
the vocal part culminates in the pitch collection that extends from A2 to FS
immediately before the climactic Fits. The sudden collapse of register to the sin
gle FÜ4 in the solo harp highlights the climax of the movement.
Klein, Texture, Register, and Their Formal Roles in Lutosiawski 61
EXAMPLE 13. Centers of registral balance for stanza 2 of "Repos dans le Malheur"
a
u
SS 3
>
2
y
O 2
R#: 11 12 13 18 20 21 24 26
We can trace a rough contour of th

sidering the central register around
anced. Example 13 replaces each of
stanza 2 with a single pitch that repre
pitch collections. In graphing the coll
tural field into a single pitch represe
that the pitch collections of stanza 2 t
at octave 5, descends to octave 3, an
first and second stanzas trace a registr
3, though this registral path is more
illustrates these registral motions for
basic registral motion, while the thin
motion. In both stanzas register 4 is a
single registral descent. It is only at th
motion is completed by a centering o
motion of the first stanza represents
3iIn Richard Delone et. al., Aspects of Twen

in relation to register. The authors use the m
the midpoint of the total tessitura of a sectio
EXAMPLE 14. Registrai graph of "Repos dans le Malheur"
Stanza 1 Stanza 2
5% II
registral shape of "Repos". This incomplete motion may represent a kind of for
mal analog to the two-part tonal form that Heinrich Schenker describes as an
interruption in the fundamental line, although here the fundamental line is one of
register, and it is not given a priori but develops from the texture of the entire
composition through repetitions in timbre (the four harp pitches). Because of the
similarity to interruption form, I have borrowed the symbol of parallel lines that
Schenker uses to mark an interruption and placed it between the two stanzas.
Analysis 2: Chain 1 (1983)
The perception of musical structure depends upon memory. When musical

ideas are vivid, their impressions allow for a rich network of associations, creat
ing senses of expectation and fulfillment that are central to musical experience.
In much of Lutoslawsld's music, the vivid use of texture-space cuts across time,
allowing us to hear connections between ideas even when an expanse of mate
rial separates them. Consider two sections from Chain 1 for fourteen instru
ments (1983). Each of these sections has been reproduced in piano reduction as
example 15.34 The first is the opening of the work, and the second is the climax,
"The two reductions show pitch only. No attempt has been made to notate the
rhythm of the passages (a highly difficult task in any case, given their notation as ad libitum
sections). Lutoslawski himself uses similar rhythmless reductions in the scores (vocal and
instrumental) of his Trois poèmes d'Henri Michaux.
EXAMPLE 15. Reductions of opening and climax of Chain 1
Opening
Rehearsal no.: 1 2 3 before 4
ka.
ko.
jf to
pi pP
«*>
Climax
Rehearsal no.: 46 47
1?
1? at|Ä
t|a
4^ T
ÛS T koTWfo
nfë ,
i ^ M i>o
simultaneity
simultaneity *
^ \ total
\ chromatic
shortly before the end of the work. Both sections appear as a series of ad libitum
sections in the full score, and given their considerable rhythmic activity we may
at first focus our attention on their registral shapes. The opening passage begins
on a single pitch from which the texture-space expands in both directions,
only to collapse again onto a single pitch, like the unfolding and infolding of
the wings of a large bird of prey. The climactic passage begins with a wide tex
tural field that collapses onto a single pitch, only to expand and then collapse
again onto a chromatic cluster. Here, the extremely active rhythm and dynamic
intensity might suggest that a more appropriate image is that of a dying sun, col
lapsing and expanding, only to gather energy one last time before a violent ex
plosion leaves behind a single dense black hole. The two passages express
similar registral ideas that cut across time, forging a connection between the
opening and climax of this remarkable music. Although the images I have drawn
above may help to bring these passages to life for the reader, the textural char
acteristics of field and compression may lead to a richer, if less poetic, under
standing of this music.
In example 16 the two harmonic aggregates of the introduction appear in grid

notation to illustrate the use of texture-space. Example 17 reproduces the harmonic
aggregates at the climax of Chain 1 in the same grid notation. A cursory comparison
of the two examples reveals that in both the introduction and climax of Chain 1,
there is the same basic shape in which the textural field expands and then contracts.
The shape of the introduction is perhaps more readily perceived since it takes place
over the course of a brief ad libitum passage ftamed by single pitches that highlight the
expansion and contraction. The shape of the introduction is composed out in the
climax, where the expansion occurs over the course of six lengthy ad libitum sections.
The single pitch, Bl>4, that appears at rehearsal number 46 draws our attention back
to the single pitches that opened the composition. The sudden collapse of the tex
tural field at rehearsal number 46 nearly mirrors the collapse of the field to the single
pitch, B3, at the opening of Chain 1. In addition, the final three events at rehearsal
numbers 46-47 mirror the registral shape of the introduction. However, the com
posing out in the climax of material from the introduction goes beyond the basic
shape of the two passages, as the more detailed analysis that follows will reveal.
The introduction (example 16) begins with the fourteen instruments of the
ensemble playing a single pitch that expands immediately to the first of two harmonic
aggregates. The second harmonic aggregate is a symmetric contraction of the textural
field of the first harmonic aggregate, and the concluding singleton is a contraction that
balances the opening expansion. The symmetric contraction is achieved by maintaining
the middle six pitches of the first harmonic aggregate through the second harmonic
aggregate. Dashes in example 16 represent these six pitches. The remaining six pitches
in the second harmonic aggregate result from an octave transfer of both the highest and
lowest trichords from the first harmonic aggregate. The dotted arrows in example 16
represent the octave transfers of the outer trichords from the first to the second har
monic aggregate and thus the symmetric contraction of the textural field.
The single pitches that frame the introduction also imply an octave transfer.
The B3 that completes the introduction appears in the octave lower than the A4
that opened the introduction. These two pitches together nearly bisect the field of
the first harmonic aggregate, which represents the widest field of the introduction.
B3 is 22 semitones distant from Dt2, the lowest note of the introduction, and A4 is
twenty-three semitones distant from Ak>, the highest note of the introduction.
An exact bisection of the highest and lowest notes would require Bt4 instead of A4,
resulting in the two pitches Bb4 and B3. These are the exact pitches that form the
outer boundaries of the final harmonic aggregate that occurs at the climax of Chain 1
at rehearsal number 47 (example 17). The field of this climax, J — 12, Ls the same as
that of the trichords that participate in the octave transfers in the introduction.
EXAMPLE 16. Grid notation for opening of Chain 1
Ab
< >Ab
D< »
Ab
Ab
A< i
F1 ■ F
*•
\ << »
A< „ A# ( ; a#
Ff . ■ F#
u
Cm
O
D#
D#. ■ D#
CA
a» B i! • B < ► B
>
2 /
CJ / /
(( Il
o mElu ■ ■ / ■ . E
I1' i( i
C D
G<<
G \i //'
( i
Dashes — pitches that remain constant
Dots — pitches that move by octaves
Diamonds = first and last pitches
EXAMPLE 17. Grid notation for climax of Chain 1
A
r AAi
! • '
\
\\
\ >
d! \
\
s
\
\
\
\
t
N
\ N
\
• \
\ ^3—t
^ IV
E F# -23
-23
#
►
•
• i V
\
5 •
BbBb
O t •
* >
Bb
Bb
t Bb]
Bb
# < . *
M
(V 4 | •
>
(0 -23 «\
-23
I
■M *
• /
-A B
U V /
O C •
\
I /
/
\ /
3
cc $. B
c# t
C#
R#: 41 42 43 44 44 45 46 46 47
I have already mentioned the contraction from

rehearsal number 45 to a single pitch at 46, which i
of the climax shown in example 17. Following th
the climax closes with a final harmonic aggregate th
possible field of 12 semitones. These final four pitch
bers 45^47, replay some of the same registral pro
tion of Chain 1. Lutoslawski sets this final sectio
climax by the sudden reduction in the use of the lo
of repeated notes that will continue through the en
The final harmonic aggregate returns to the register defined by the two sin
gle pitches of the introduction of Chain 1. Indeed, the lowest pitch of the final
harmonic aggregate, B3, is the same as the final pitch of the introduction, and the
highest pitch, Bt4, is only one semitone higher than the opening pitch of the
introduction. This final harmonic aggregate nearly bisects the textural field of the
previous harmonic aggregate at rehearsal number 46. The lowest pitch in the
final harmonic aggregate, B3, is twelve semitones higher than the B2 of the pre
vious harmonic aggregate, and the highest pitch in the final harmonic aggregate,
BU-, is eleven semitones lower than the A5 of the previous harmonic aggregate.
Lutoslawski might have achieved a perfect bisection of texture-space here by
making A4 the highest note of the final harmonic aggregate. In that case, the
highest and lowest pitches of the final harmonic aggregate would correspond to
the single pitches that frame the introduction but would sacrifice a complete
harmonic aggregate, since all twelve pitch classes cannot appear within the field
whose boundaries are B3 and A4. A perfect bisection of the textural field does
occur at rehearsal number 46 with the single pitch Bi>4 that is twenty-three
semitones lower than the highest pitch of the previous harmonic aggregate and
twenty-three semitones higher than the lowest pitch of the following harmonic
aggregate. This registral relationship between the single pitch and its surround
ing harmonic aggregates helps us hear these final four events as part of a single
formal component.
The register of the final harmonic aggregate involves two octave transfers.
These are shown in example 17 as dotted arrows. The first octave transfer occurs
between the highest note of the harmonic aggregate at rehearsal number 45 and
the highest note of the harmonic aggregate at 46. The second octave transfer
occurs between the lowest note of the harmonic aggregate at rehearsal number
46 and the lowest note of the final harmonic aggregate. Recall that in the intro
duction octave transfers served to produce a symmetric contraction between
two harmonic aggregates. In the climax the contraction appears between three
harmonic aggregates; however, the contraction is still symmetric in that it involves
a reduction of one octave in both the highest and lowest registers.
The symmetry of the contraction is difficult to see in example 17 because
there is a phase-shift of register in the final four pitch collections. Example 18
shows a version of the same passage in grid notation, but here the contraction is
used to put the passage back in phase. In the example only the highest and low
est pitches are shown with the Bl>4 that bisects the field of these pitches. This
Bt>4 appears in all four of the final pitch collections of the climax. On the left
EXAMPLE 18. Phase-shift in climax of Chain 1
i< ,A <
iJ
1J -J
< ,A 1< ,,A
A
5
- - - < h < i—
O B B B B B
S 4 ( i i
>
71
y] B 71'
yl' B
2
u
O
3 i i i >
B B
In Phase Phase Shift
Diamonds — pitches that re
Dots — pitches that move
side of example 18 the passage appe

ring simultaneously. On the right
of the graph is shifted one segmen
shift matches the use of register w
left side of example 18, we note th
the octave transfers mirrors the s
Chain 1. Thus, the use of register
the use of register in the introduct
Conclusion
I would like to conclude this paper by making explicit the nature of the
claims I am making about register and texture in the music of Lutoslawski. In
order to do this, it will be useful to make reference to a well known tripartition
of musical facts into areas focusing on the composer, the material form(s), and
the listener, or, roughly, what Jean-Jacques Nattiez calls the poietic, immanent,
and esthesic dimensions.35
Most of the claims in this paper involve the immanent dimension. In other
words, I am describing structures and the ways in which they connect large sec
tions of Lutoslawski's music. These structures involve texture-space, with a
particular emphasis on registral boundaries. In the pursuit of spatial metaphors
with which we can imagine this music, I have had to marginalize many details
that some might find worthy of more attention. For example, although I have
demonstrated how harmonic aggregates have a profound effect on the treat
ment of texture-space, I have ignored the internal details of these pitch struc
tures and their precise unfolding in ad libitum sections in order to highlight
large-scale registral connections. A more complete theory for the music of
Lutoslawski will have to contend with the difficulty of coordinating these regis
tral events with the enormous detail and complexity within the individual ad
libitum sections. In addition, such a theory will have to address the question of
how Lutoslawski writes the thinner textures that characterize his music in the
1980s, when harmonic aggregates cease to be the sole source of pitch organization.
I have made no claims in this paper about the perceivability of the registral
motions that I describe (the esthesic dimension). Such claims would need the
support of research and/or experimentation in cognition and perception. How
ever, I do believe that most of these transformations are easy enough to hear.
Simply put, such hearings require that the listener attend to the registral
boundaries of some static sections of music, and that she notice the ways in
which those boundaries expand or contract from section to section.
Finally, although I cannot yet make solid claims about how the registral
procedures I describe match Lutoslawski's creative processes (the poietic dimen
sion), I have tried to develop a theory that is sensitive to the composer's con
cerns. Among much documentary evidence implying that texture and register
were of primary importance to Lutoslawski, his description of how he began to
write texture music seems worth repeating here:
?5Jean-Jacques Nattiez, Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music, trans. Carolyn
Abbate (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990).
Composers often do not hear the music that is being played: it

only serves as an impulse for something quite different—for the crea
tion of music that only lives in their imagination. It is a sort of schizo
phrenia—we are listening to something and at the same time creating
something else.
That is how it happened with Cage's Piano Concerto. While listen
ing to it, I suddenly realized that I could compose music differently
from that of my past. That I could progress toward the whole not
from the little detail but the other way round—I should start out from
the chaos and create order in it, gradually. That is when I started to
compose Jeux vénitiens.36
Although, like any passage, this one is open to many interpretations, I believe that
the description of working from the whole to the little detail may suggest that
Lutoslawski began his compositions of the 1960s by sketching out long-range regis
tral motions; only later in the process did he flesh out these motions within each ad
libitum section. This contention is supported by a look at Lutoslawski's sketches,
which are often drawn on graph paper and include geometric shapes. A fuller
account of these types of sketches, however, is too broad a subject for this paper.
The analyses included here give us clues to the types of textural and regis
tral procedures that Lutoslawski favors in his music after 1960. For example,
pitch collections with extreme compression are often the starting points or
goals of formed motions in texture-space. In the first and third movements of
Trois poèmes compressed pitch collections expand the registral field through pro
jections and symmetric expansions, and in Chain 1 compressed pitch collections
create an association between the introduction and the climax. Reference to the
properties of texture-space that I have defined (field, density, and compression)
may be useful for understanding the music of other composers active during the
1960s and '70s as well. In this regard, I have already mentioned the Cello Concerto
of Ligeti, but I could extend this reference to include the music of Xenakis,
Penderecki, and others.
,6Varga, Lutoslawski Profile, 12—13.

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Department of Music Theory, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University

Indiana University Press, Department of Music Theory, Jacobs School of Music,

Perhaps the best-known research about the music of Lutoslawski is Steven

Clues to Lutoslawski's use of register or texture come from the composer

Lutoslawski's Compositional Elements

Beginning with his Five Songs on texts by Kazimiera Illakowicz (1957),

'Witold Lutoslawski, "Rhythm and the Organization of Pitch in Composing Techniques

EXAMPLE 1. Harmonic aggregate from "Morze"

In order to show the twe

"Among the terms used to de

expressive freedom of a solo or a cadenza.12 During ad libitum sections the conduc

l2Witold Lutoslawski, interview by author, 24 October 1993, Toronto, Canada.

A clear distinction between macro- and microrhythm is more difficult when

Another result of the one-to-one correspondence of harmonic aggregates

The combination of harmonic aggregates and their presentation in ad libitum

5Kaczynski, Conversations with Witold Lutoslawski, 48.

EXAMPLE 2. Measurements for textural field

Approximate Field: pitches fall within 3 octaves

Exact Field (number of semitones, inclusive): B2-C5

2'Berry, Structural Functions in Music, 184 use

The term density is commonly invoked when quantifying texture-space,

EXAMPLE 3. Opening measure of Chopin Etude op. 25, no. 12

2iCogan and Escot, Sonic Design, 28—68.

sonority of an ad libitum section, therefore, I will often consider its macrostruc

2!Varga, Lutosiawski Profile, 25.

EXAMPLE 4. Compression of two harmonic aggregates

Before focusing on transformations of these textural characte

The registral process outlined in example 5c is not a possibility in any music

EXAMPLE 5. Interactions of field, density, and compression

However, Lutosiawski may have viewed the inter

One of the important steps here was to invent a

2SGregorz Michalski, "An Interview with Witold Lutosla

Lutoslawski's reference to large sound masses lacks the precision to allow us to

Transformations of Texture-Space ( 1 )—Expansion and Contraction

Since density often remains constant in Lutoslawski's works, field and

field will result in the opposite effect in compression.

EXAMPLE 6. Reduction of opening of "Pensées"

EXAMPLE 7. Opening of "Pensées" in grid notation

Transformations of Texture-Space (2)—Symmetric Expansion and Symmetric

In addition to expansion and contraction, which are broadly defined trans

TABLE 1. Pitch material in ad libitum sections of Jeux vénitiens: first movement

Timbre Pitch material

winds, brass, pianos It <E, 3,0,4,7,9,0,2,4,6,7,8,9, T, E, 1,3,5,8, T, 1,5,2,6>

EXAMPLE 8. Grid notation for boundary pitches in Jeux vénitiens

Winds Brass Pianos Tutti

= winds, square = brass, an

EXAMPLE 9. Registrai/timbrai boxes in Jeux vénitiens

compositions does Lutoslawski re

^Bernard, Edgard Varèse, 48.

TABLE 2. Organization of the first stanza in "Pensées"

Section Rehearsal Orchestration Harmonic aggregate

Orchestral in 1-28 winds, brass see examples 6,7

Line 1 28-29 SATB 3T<7,8,9,T,E,0,

Line 2 29-30 SA 4T <5,6, 7, 8,9>

Line 3 (begin) 30-32 (SA)TB 3|

Line 3 (end) 32-34 (T)B 3t

In example 10, the information of table 2 appears in a grid in which only

EXAMPLE 10. Grid notation for first stanza of "Pensées"

SATB SA (SA)TB (T)B Winds Winds (End)

Analysis 1: Trois poèmes d'Henri Michaux, "Repos dans le Malheur"

Having defined characteristics of texture-space and having illustrated trans

2Stucky, Lutoslawski and His Music, 146.

EXAMPLE 11. Four structural pitches of "Repos dans le Malheur"

function to articulate Lutoslawski's structural use of texture-space. Example 11