Octandre

Octandre is a chamber piece by Edgard Varèse, written in 1923 and published by J. Curwen & Sons in London in 1924 (new edition, New York: G. Ricordi, 1956; new edition, revised and edited by Chou Wen-chung, New York: Ricordi, 1980).^[1] It is dedicated to pianist E. Robert Schmitz.

Octandre consists of three movements:^[2]

1. Assez lent
2. Très vif et nerveux
3. Grave–Animé et jubilatoire

It is scored for 1 piccolo/flute, 1 oboe, 1 B♭ clarinet/E♭ clarinet, 1 horn, 1 bassoon, 1 trumpet (in C), 1 trombone, 1 double bass.^[3][4]

References

1. Chou Wen-chung. "Octandre (1923)". Program notes for the new edition revised and edited by Chou Wen-chung (New York: Ricordi, 1980). Chou Wen-chung website (Accessed 15 April 2014); Kennedy, Michael (1990). "Octandre". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 459. ISBN 0193113201.
2. Donato Mancini. Octandre, for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, and double bass at AllMusic. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
3. "Octandre (1923)" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
4. Paul Griffiths, "Varèse, Edgard [Edgar] (Victor Achille Charles)", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001).

Further reading

• Anderson, John Davis. 1984. "The Influence of Scientific Concepts on the Music and Thought of Edgard Varèse". D.A. diss. Greeley: University of Northern Colorado.
• Babbitt, Milton. 1966. "Edgard Varèse: A Few Observations of His Music". Perspectives of New Music 4, no. 2 (Spring–Summer): 14–22.
• Fulford, William Douglas. 1979. "An Analysis of Sound Masses in Hyperprism, Octandre, and Intégrales, Three Chamber Works by Edgard Varèse". MA Thesis. Fullerton: California State University, Fullerton.
• Koto, Katashi. 1988. "Basic Cells and Hybridization in Varèse's Octandre". Sonus 8, no. 2:59–67.
• Marvin, Elizabeth West. 1991. "The Perception of Rhythm in Non-Tonal Music: Rhythmic Contours in the Music of Edgard Varèse" Music Theory Spectrum 13, no. 1 (Spring): 61–78.
• Post, Nora. 1981–82. "Varèse, Wolpe, and the Oboe". Perspectives of New Music 20, nos. 1–2:135–148.
• Ramsier, Paul. 1972. "An Analysis and Comparison of the Motivic Structure of Octandre and Intégrales, Two Instrumental Works by Edgard Varèse". PhD diss. New York: New York University.
• Stempel, Larry. 1979. "Varèse's 'Awkwardness' and the Symmetry in the 'Frame of 12 Tones': An Analytic Approach". The Musical Quarterly 65, no. 2 (April): 148–166.
• Wilheim, András. 1977. "The Genesis of a Specific Twelve-Tone System in the Works of Varèse". Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 19, nos. 1–4:20–26.
• Wilkinson, Marc. 1961. "Edgard Varèse: Pionier und Prophet". Melos 28:68–76.
• Yang, Yong. 1995. "The Pitch Structure in Edgard Varèse's Octandre". PhD diss. Waltham, Massachusetts: Brandeis University.