Contents • • • • • • • Background In the 1950s and 60s, composers began a new push in, especially with regard to. George Crumb was commissioned by the Stanley Quartet (then in residence at his the ) to create just such an experimental piece. Sure that he wanted to avoid writing a typical piece for, Crumb looked to experimental from the early 60s for inspiration, and decided to explore the contemporary world's religious strife in his composition. 'Black Angels' reflects these haunting and mystical undertones; Crumb meant for the violin to embody the devil's music, and cast the cello as 'the voice of God.' The image of Black Angels is an archetypical convention used by artists to represent an angel banished from.

The 'Dark Land' refers to, with consistent references to, via, the Trillo del diavolo (', from ), and the (quoted in section 4 Devil-music, and as a Duo Alternativo in section 5 ). Crumb also makes references to other tonal works that incorporate death, such as (quoted in section 6 Pavana Lachrymae and section 13 Threnody III). 'Black Angels' was not originally intended to refer to wartime, and Crumb only associated his work with towards the end of its composition. 'I came to recognize that there was something of the feeling of that strange time.

That's when I called it music in tempore belli, in time of war,' he said in an interview with. After making the connection between his piece and war, Crumb also connected it to another contemporary wartime piece, '.' Both pieces open with high pitched extended technique on violin, and Black Angels features three important which divide it. Construction and numerology The first part, Departure, begins by establishing the dark mood of Black Angels and introducing the primary death theme. In the second part, Absence, the fallen angel's themes are heard.

Finally in part three, Return, God prevails over evil, as presented in section 10 God-music. Each of these parts is built around the 7 and 13 in some way.

Black Angels. George Crumb's Black Angels is a piece which presents the polarity of good versus evil. Because of the hierarchy that Crumb sets up, it is an ideal piece for deconstructive analysis. C5 Projector Headlights Install. This essay will begin with an introduction to deconstruction, traditionally a analytical technique applied to literature.

This might be reflected in the length of the section, its phrases, its note values, patterns of, or (in accordance with ). Crumb himself forgets how the numbers play in to every section, and warns not to read too much into their significance, as he 'got carried away with the thing.' He views the numerology as more of a 'technical, structural' experiment, and has played down the numbers' significance increasingly in the years since 1970. Program Part Title Numerology I.

THRENODY I: Night of the Electric Insects 13 times 7 and 7 times 13 2. Sounds of Bones and Flutes 7 in 13 3. Lost Bells 13 over 7 4. Devil-music 7 and 13 5.

13 times 7 II. Pavana Lachrymae 13 under 13 7. THRENODY II: BLACK ANGELS! 7 times 7 and 13 times 13 8.

Sarabanda de la Muerte Oscura 13 over 13 9. Lost Bells (Echo) 7 times 13 III. God-music 13 and 7 11.

Ancient Voices 7 over 13 12. Ancient Voices (echo) 13 in 7 13. THRENODY III: Night of the Electric Insects 7 times 13 and 13 times 7 Instrumentation Black Angels is primarily written (in unusual and very detailed notation) for (in Crumb's words) 'electric string quartet.' Though generally played by amplified acoustic instruments, the work is occasionally performed on specially constructed electronic string instruments. The music uses the extremes of the instruments' registers as well as such as bowing on the above the fingers and tapping the strings with thimbles. At certain points in the music, the players are even required to make sounds with their mouths and to speak. Each of the string players is also assigned a set of instruments to play throughout the piece.

Some of the equipment requires specific preparation, such as the crystal glasses, which are tuned with different amounts of water. Violin 1 • • 7 crystal glasses • 6' glass rod • 2 metal • metal pick (paper clip) Violin 2 • 15' suspended and mallet • bow (for use on tam-tam) • 7 crystal glasses • 6' glass rod • 2 metal thimbles • metal pick (paper clip) Viola • 6 crystal glasses • 6' glass rod • 2 metal thimbles • metal pick Cello • maraca • 24' suspended tam-tam, soft and hard mallets • contrabass bow Stage Positioning Crumb's score includes a diagram that places the four musicians in a box-like formation. Electric Violin II and Electric Cello are located near upstage right and upstage left, respectively, with their tam-tams between them. Electric Violin I and Electric Viola are near downstage right and downstage left, respectively, but are slightly farther apart than the other two musicians in order to allow full sight of the quartet. Violin I, Violin II and Viola have a set of crystal glasses downstage of them, while Violin I and Cello have maracas upstage of them.

Each of the four musicians has a speaker next to him or her. Cultural Influences •, which specializes in new music, was originally formed when violinist David Harrington heard 'Black Angels' over the radio. He thought Crumb's piece was 'something wild, something scary' and 'absolutely the right music to play.' It was the first composition Kronos performed. • 'Threnody I: Night of the Electric Insects' is featured on the of.

George Crumb's seminal Vietnam War-inspired 1970 work 'Black Angels (Thirteen Images From the Dark Land)' for electric string quartet, tuned crystal glasses, tam-tam gong and rattles. Performed by the Stadler Quartett with violinists Frank Stadler and Izso Bajusz, violist Predrag Katanic, and cellist Peter Sigl. Recording and engineering by Jakob Sigl: All asterisked footnotes indicating directions to the performers were originally located at the bottom of each page of the score - here they have been moved as often as possible close to their first appearances in the score proper.