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and as a continuous whole. It is however only the complete and continuous score which carries theinscription while composing I deposited music on Artauds words. Artauds text is in every section,

every note.iii Given the non-sequential nature of the composition, how exactly then does the music

relate to the text?

Background to Artauds Tutuguri

In 1936 Artaud had visited Mexico, in an attempt to encounter at first hand an indigenouspeople who, as Stephen Barber puts it, would have:

cultures which would vindicate the proposals he had made for the theatre.These cultures would possess a fierce, specifically physical language, which couldsuck all other languages into itself, and would exist independently, without theneed for texts or writing of any kind

iv

and from this Artaud intended to further develop his gestural language for the theatre by including theauditory language of sounds - the visual language of objects, of movements, of attitudes, of gestures,but on condition that they prolong their sense to the point where they become signs

vArtaudsproblem was that in order to express his ideas he was forced to use words. This tension between the

imaginary and the symbolic in Artauds conception would resurface when Rihm had to face up to thechallenge of expressing pure musical imagination in a symbolic (i.e. notated musical) language.Artauds Tutuguriexists in two complete versions with several drafts. The first, Tutuguri: the

Rite of the Black Sun, forms the second part of Pour en finir avec le jugement de Dieu, a radiobroadcast created by Artaud in November 1947 and scheduled for transmission in early February 1948,only to be pulled by the director of the radio station Wladimir Porch a day before the scheduled

broadcast. Artaud wrote the second Tutuguritwo weeks later as part of a letter to the publisher MarcBarbezat, but this version did not appear until 1955, seven years after his death, in the volume LesTarahumaras.vi

It is unlikely that Rihm actually heard the broadcast recording since it was only available inpirated copies until 1986, when it was released on the Harmonia Mundi label, some four years afterRihm completed the final extended version of his Tutuguri. When he was writing TutuguriI he was

probably not aware of either the sound or the exact nature of the gestural language that Artaud uses

throughout the broadcast and its relationship to the concept of Theatre of Cruelty that he espoused.This is important because what reinvigorated Rihms compositional language was not the sound ofArtauds gestural language, but the textual impact of the words themselves, and it was probably theGerman translation Schlu mit dem Gottesgerichtpublished in 1980viithat Rihm discovered. It is morethan a semantic consideration as to the language through which Rihm first encountered Artaudswords: in translation the meaning of the text has already been mediated and reinterpreted by thetranslators choice of vocabulary, especially in German where words often carry shades of meaningthat can go beyond the implications of the original text.

Some ten months later after the completion of Tutuguri IRihm came to write the programmenote for TutuguriVI(for six percussionists) which elaborates Artaudsmetaphor of the six men onefor each sun. By then he had found the German translation of Les Tarahumaras which had been

published in 1975. So despite the fact that his initial stimulus was the text of the 1947 radio broadcast(and that was the starting point for TutuguriIand VI), it is likely that the second poem had a greater

influence of TutuguriIII,II and IV. By this time Rihm had also acquired a deeper understanding on thenature of Artauds gestural language this may explain why these later pieces incorporate and extendArtauds invented language which prefaces the radio broadcast text:viii

kr puc tekr everything must puk tepek be arranged li lekre to a hair pek ti lee in a fulminating krukpte order.

In the first version of TutuguriIVcompleted in early 1982 these invented words are delivered by thescreaming man who subsequently reappeared in Rihms opera on Artauds text The Conquest of

Mexico. Alistair Williams has suggested that this might be a staging of Artaud himself ixbut givenRihms love of the pre-1910 Expressionist works of the Second Viennese School it is also undoubtedly


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a physical, real-time, version of Munchs The Cry, that archetypal image of Expressionism: in hisprogramme note Rihm declares that [the music] must become a cry. x

A subtle shift was taking place in Rihms conception of this particular work during the courseof its long gestation. Whereas the individual works TutuguriI - IVand VIwere all described as nachArtaud (after Artaud), from the composition of VIonwards he began to think of the work more as acomposition for dancers and orchestra,

xithat is, as music embodied through dance. The final collated

version of Tutuguri was subtitled danced poem (Pome dans) - undoubtedly a cross-reference toDebussys 1911 workJeux. In this version the gestural elements of Artauds text are to be embodiedin the dance, and it was described as a work after the poem Tutugurifrom the radio broadcast . xiiThis is a more accurate designation because RihmsTutuguri is not a work about Artauds theatrical

philosophy but simply a response to the poem. At this point Artauds poem was for Rihm the Other -he had yet to interrogate the aspects of madness which underlie Artauds work as he would in latermusic theatre pieces. He had also still to engage fully with the delicate balance between the Imaginary,the Real and the Symbolic that are implicit in his idea of spontaneous composition - his equivalent ofthefuror poeticus(poetic madness).

Artauds text allowed Rihm to transmute the embodied musical gestures into the actual bodilygestures of the dancers, and in doing this he avoided facing up to the potential problem created byreleasing the uncontrolled illogical Other - chaotic spontaneous Imagination - into the Symbolic levelof notated music. As a result of this transference it was necessary for Rihm to make alterations to the

musical score in order to integrate aspects of embodiment into the musical text. As a result he:

- revised and increased the number of percussion parts in the final continuous versionto mirror the six players who signify Artauds six men for eachsunin TutuguriVI;- increased the size and thus the potential dynamic range of the orchestra to create agreater embodiment of sound;- inserted a new chorus part (that is, an embodied group, but, which is actually alsodisembodied by being only on tape) into the final bars of original version of Tutuguri

IIto deliver Artauds invented language and to lead the work towards the end of theFirst Part - the black hole;xiii- modified the end of the work (what was TutuguriIV) so that the screaming man,already suggested to be a staging (embodiment) of Artaud himself, was accompanied

by a embodied chorus (singing kha ho ta) (but likewise also disembodied by being

on pre-recorded tape only).

Finally Rihm inserted a series of subtitles for each part of the final version suggesting alogical sequencing of musical events broadly connected to the unfolding poem. But how can this be?We already know that the compositional sequence was not linear. There have been hints already thatsomething more complex was going on in Rihms compositional thinking and the final part of this

paper will explore what this was.

Under the compositional skin

In his 1978 essay Ins eigene Fleisch Rihm wrote I have the idea of a large music block thatis in me. Each composition is also a part of its chiseled countenance I really must cut into my ownflesh to find it.

xivNot many composers embody their art in terms of self-abuse. Rihm, however, has

often identified his compositional art directly with sculpture - and with increasing frequency afterTutuguri. In a new programme note for the final version written for a performance of the work in 1984,he calls the music a sculpture before us. These words were written some two years after completingthe revision of Tutuguriand by then Rihms use of imagery had solidified into metaphors for sound-sign sculpting. Thus he speaks of sound space, knots of density, overpainted areas competingcolours, linear compulsion, grids, the plastic, the haptic.xv

Rihms appropriation ofthe language of art and sculpture is a marker for how he understandsand articulates the compositional methods that he employs and the concept of overpainting in

particular can be directly related to the musical ideas he creates. In the 1981 programme note forTutuguriVIRihm indicated that while composing he has been studying the work of Arnulf Rainer.xviRainer became famous, or possibly infamous, for his technique of overpainting previous images, often

paintings and, latterly,photographs. Through this technique he explored the destruction of formswithblackenings, overpaintings and maskings. Apparently without connection to Artauds ideas Rainer

was concerned with the expressiveness of body language,xviiwith extreme emotional states, gesturalabstractions and art informel.xviii


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Taking Rainer and Artauds ideas together Rihm sought an allied parallel means of (new)expression within music. In Tutugurihe was effectively overpaintingArtauds text with his music:the poembecame the naked body of his music. He wrote consequence for music: it can no longer bea linked figuration, an arrangement of more or less historically established models, but must come to us- an old wish (of mine) - in a raw state, as itself, naked . xix In overpainting the TutuguripoemsRihm could be said to be effectively denying their origins masking the original in the process of

making a new piece of artwork. Both Artaud and Rainer sought an emotional response from theiraudiences: Rihm now demands the same.There is, however, a problem inherent in this approach, which Artaud struggled with, and

Rihm similarly: an art form needs to exist in time and space and often needs to be articulated thoughsome kind of linguistic medium (parsing music as a language). Alistair Williams articulates thedilemma for Rihm when he says: Rihm is creatively aware of the ways in which music functions as a

symbolic network, yet simultaneously seeks something more direct than symbolic communication.xxIn music Rihm is tapping into the present imagination,xxia phrase he himself used of Artauds [firstTutuguri] poem.

Thus we find Rihm appealing directly to the Lacanian idea of the Imaginary just as he would afew years later in his setting of The Conquest of Mexico. Williams articulates this impulse in the laterwork as the memory of a pre-symbolic level of utterance, or at least a language closer to a somaticenergy than to the foundations of propositional knowledge.xxii Rihm wants a language that speaks

directly, and his desire is to let the subconscious mind articulate the musical material with as littleintervention of the predetermining will as possible. This has resonances with the concept ofmindfulness and leads him to refer to the art of composing in rather impersonal terms. Thus he says:Iexpress situations of music itself.

xxiiiWhile both present imagination and symbolic utterance are clearly contesting levels in

Rihms compositional thinking, he may not be so aware of the traumatic presence of the third aspect ofthe triad - the Real - in his creative personality. The implicit violence of this aspect of the Lacaniantriad is expressed through the words he uses to describe the processes of composition, as in the earlierquote from Ins Eigene Fleisch, but alsoarticulated in the programme note for this work. Many of theimages he evokes are violent ones. In Tutugurihe says he found his own sound like a scalpel, like aknife slicing through the air. There are shades of Hitchcocks Psycho in that metaphor. Theprogramme note of the revised version speaks of a life force of sounds harnessed in a diktat of theImagination - this is surely the Real kept in check by the Imaginary and expressed by the Symbolic -

because music follows painstakingly precise notation. But the dark side is continually present,expressed in words and phrases which litter the programme note: crashout, compels, unalterable,dark, fierce, wild, pounding, compulsion, eliminating, fear, unpremeditated.xxiv

It is almost as though Rihm has consciously and vindictively subjected Artauds text to

violence, effectively and deliberately wounding the text - perhaps he thinks that is what Artaud wouldhave wanted: I sought to compose music like that which Artaud perhaps imagined.

xxvBut, do we believe everything the composer says? Does the composer really have more

insight into the compositional processes and the reasoning that underpins choices in the creation ofmusical ideas? And even if he or she does understand the processes clearly, is it not in the interests ofthe composer to create a mythology about the nature and effect of the compositional impetus. The

passage of time, and a degree of reflection, always has an ameliorating effect on the memory of thecreative act. After Tutuguriwas finished Rihm looked back, and, with the benefit of hindsight, as wellas the experience of having written works which developed these new ideas further, was able to

imply that Tutuguri was a turning point in his creative output.xxvi Commentators subsequently mayhave been happy to reinforce this understanding based on Rihms own perceptions rather than givingdue analytical consideration to earlier and later works. As a result the importance of a work like thefourth string quartet, begun and gestated a year before Tutuguri Iand finished while Rihm was workingin TutuguriVI, has probably been downplayed.

In all the works of this period Rihm is hedging towards an articulation of the processesimplied by the term poetic madness (furor poeticus),the idea of instant(musical) inspiration guidingthe pen, a sort of white heat of creation that he appears to interpret as the way in which Artaud worked.This view is expressed in an interview he gave in 1981 while absorbed in the composition of Tutuguriwhere he speaks of the heat, the fevered aggressive pulse which resides in the text -vision.xxvii Thefreedom Rihm seeks lies with in the unfettered, uncluttered, unconstrained imagination - the imaginaryworld freed and let loose: The stream of music, liberated free music, subject to its own urges.xxviiiBut,

because written-down music is tied to the symbol, the desire to express freely becomes ever keener,tauter, more important and explosive, even though it is all the more difficult to crash out of thecontextual web, to reach that which compels without context.

xxix


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Notes

i W. Rihm, Notizen zum Chiffre-Zyklus, in Wolfgang Rihm: ausgesprochen: Schriften undGesprche, U, Mosch (ed.), Amadeus, Winterthur 1997, vol. 2, p. 343.iiRihm, Notizen zur Tutuguri-Musik, in Wolfgang Rihm: ausgesprochen: Schriften und Gesprche,

U. Mosch (ed.), Amadeus, Winterthur 1997, vol. 2, p. 326 (hereafter ausgesprochen). This note isreproduced in the CD liner for the work (Wolfgang Rihm, Tutuguri, Hnssler Classics, 93.069,Holzgerlingen, 2003.), though missing two paragraphs found on p. 327.iii W. Rihm, Tutuguri, full score, U.E. 17736, Universal Edition, Vienna, 1982.iv S. Barber, Blows and Bombs, Antonin Artaud: The Biography, (revised version), Creation Books,London 2003, p. 100. For Artaud, struggling during most of his life with drug dependency, the fact thatthe state of mind of the Tarahumaras Indians in the rite was achieved through use of the drug Peyotl,would have increased its attractiveness.vArtaud quoted in Barber, op. cit., p. 71.vi Barber, op cit., p. 212, currently published in French as A. Artaud, Les Tarahumaras, ditionsGallimard, Paris 1971.viiA. Artaud, tr. Elena Kapralik, Schlu mit dem Gottesgericht, Matthes & Seitz, Mnchen, 1980/2002.viii An English version is available online at: http://www.iki.fi/~kartturi/tekstit/artaud.htm (accessed

July 2010).ix A. Williams, Voices of the Other: Wolfgang Rihms Music Drama Die Eroberung von Mexico,Journal of the Royal Musical Association, vol. 129, Part 2, 2004, p. 263.xRihm, Notizen zur Tutuguri-Musik:ausgesprochen, vol. 2, p. 326.xi W. Rihm, Tutuguri VI (Kreuze), Musik nach Artaud fr sechs Schlagzeugspieler (1980-81),ausgesprochen, vol. 2, pp 324-5. The CD liner has a cut down version of the main Tutuguri note(ausgesprochen, vol. 2,pp 326-7), significantly omitting reference to Arnulf Rainer (for which, seelater).xiiRihm, Notizen zur Tutuguri-Musik:ausgesprochen, vol. 2, p. 326.xiii W. Rihm, Tutuguri, full score, U.E. 17736, op. cit.xiv W. Rihm, Ins eigene Fleisch. (Lose Bltter ber Jungerkomponistsein), in Wolfgang Rihm:ausgesprochen: Schriften und Gesprche, U. Mosch (ed.), Amadeus, Winterthur 1997, vol. 1, p. 114-5xvRihm, Notizen zur Tutuguri-Musik ausgesprochen, vol. 2, p. 327 and note p. 436.xviRihm,ibid,p.326.xvii Arnulf Rainer at Galerie Heike Curtze: http://www.heikecurtze.com/arnulf-rainer.189.html(accessed July 2010) and The Museum of Modern Art, New Yorkhttp://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=4792,biographical note written by Ingrid Severinfrom Grove Art Online, Oxford University Press, 2009.xviiiRainers paintings Christusgesicht(1979), Christuskopf(1980), andKreuz Christus + Baum(1980)are reproduced in D. Rexroth (ed.), Der Komponist Wolfgang Rihm. Schott, Frankfurt, 1985, pp 105,109, 113. Artauds poem Tutugurispeaks of the abolition of the cross and Rihm subtitled TutuguriVI

Kreuz.xixRihm,ibid, vol. 2,p.326.xxWilliams op. cit., p. 242.xxiRihm, ibid, p.327 and note page 436 Rihm wrote this in the programme note for the European

premier of TutuguriII and the world premier of TutuguriIV on 20 May 1982 before he had completedthe stitched together version of the work.xxii Williams, op. cit., p. 252.xxiiiRihm, Ins eigene Fleisch, op. cit., ausgesprochen vol. 1, p. 119.xxiv Rihm, Notizen zur Tutuguri-Musik op. cit., ausgesprochen, vol.2, pp 326-7.xxv Rihm, ibid, vol. 2, p. 327.xxvi Rihm, ibid, vol. 2, p. 66: in TutuguriI realized my own sound for the first time. xxvii W. Rihm, Wahrend der Arbeit an Tutuguri, Gesprch mit Hartmut Lck (1982), inausgesprochen, vol. 2, p. 75 and note p. 431. The interview took place in March 1982.xxviiiRihm, Notizen zur Tutuguri-Musik op. cit., ausgesprochen, vol.2, p. 326.xxixRihm, ibid, vol.2, p. 326.

Bibliography

Artaud, A. tr. V. Corti, The Tulane Drama Review, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Spring, 1965), pp. 56-98
http://www.heikecurtze.com/arnulf-rainer.189.htmlhttp://www.heikecurtze.com/arnulf-rainer.189.htmlhttp://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=4792http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=4792http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=4792http://www.heikecurtze.com/arnulf-rainer.189.html


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___,Les Tarahumaras. ditions Gallimard, Paris 1971.

___, Die Tarahumaras. Rogner and Bernhard, Mnchen, 1975.

___, Selected Writings. S. Sonntag (ed), University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, 1976.

___, tr. E. Kapralik, Schlu mit dem Gottesgericht. Matthes & Seitz, Mnchen, 1980/2002

___, Tutuguri and Tutuguri aus Die Tarahumaras (German versions), Artaud in D. Rexroth (ed.),

Der Komponist Wolfgang Rihm. Schott, Frankfurt, 1985, pp 100 111

Barber, S., Blows and Bombs, Antonin Artaud: The Biography. (revised version), Creation Books,London 2003.

Darbon, N., Wolfgang Rihm et la Nouvelle Simplicit. Millnaire III, Bourg-la-Reine 2008, pp 106-13,143, 223-5

Rihm, W., Ins eigene Fleisch. (Lose Bltter ber Jungerkomponistsein), in Wolfgang Rihm:ausgesprochen: Schriften und Gesprche, Vol. 1. U. Mosch (ed.), Amadeus, Winterthur 1997, pp 113-20

___, TutuguriVI (Kreuze), Musik nach Artaud fr sechs Schlagzeugspieler (1980-81), in WolfgangRihm: ausgesprochen: Schriften und Gesprche, Vol. 1. U. Mosch (ed.), Amadeus, Winterthur 1997, p.324

___, Wahrend der Arbeit an Tutuguri, Gesprch mit Hartmut Lck (1982), in ausgesprochen :Schriften und Gesprche, vol. 2, pp 69-78

___, Notizen zur Tutuguri-Musik, in Wolfgang Rihm: ausgesprochen: Schriften und Gesprche, Vol.

2. U. Mosch (ed.), Amadeus, Winterthur 1997, pp 326-7.

___, Notizen zum Chiffre-Zyklus, in Wolfgang Rihm: ausgesprochen: Schriften und Gesprche, Vol.2. U. Mosch (ed.), Amadeus, Winterthur 1997, pp 343-5.

___, Offene Enden. U. Mosch (ed.), Edition Akzente Hanser, Mnchen/Vienna, 2002

___ , Tutuguri. Full score, U.E. 17736, Universal Edition, Vienna, 1982.

Stoianova, I., Das Auge des Unvergesslichen von Lenz zu Artaud in D. Rexroth (ed.), Der KomponistWolfgang Rihm. Schott, Frankfurt, 1985, pp 127-38

___, Rihm und Artaud: das Musik-Theater der Grausamkeit inMusik-Konzepte Sonderband:Wolfgang Rihm. U. Tadday (ed.), Richard Boorberg Verlag GmbH, Mnchen, 2004, pp 135-52

___, El malestar en msica en la obra de Wolfgang Rihm inEscritura e Imagen, vol. 5, 2009, pp 185-204

Williams, A.,New Music and the Claims of Modernity. Aldershot, Ashgate Publishing Company, 1999

___, Constructing Musicology. Aldershot, Ashgate Publishing Company, 2001

___, Voices of the Other: Wolfgang Rihms Music DramaDie Eroberung von Mexico, Journal of theRoyal Musical Association. vol. 129, Part 2, 2004, pp

Zenck, M., Die Gewalt der physischen Prsenz in Wolfgang Rihms Pome dans Tutuguri nach

Antonin Artaud mit einem medienethisches Exkurs, in T. Koebner (ed.), sthetische ExistenzEthische Existenz, Richard Boorberg Verlag GmbH, Mnchen, 2008, pp 180-99


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Compact Disc:

Wolfgang Rihm, Tutuguri. Hnssler Classics, 93.069, Holzgerlingen, 2003.

Electronic Sources:

Artaud, A., tr, Weaver, H., online reproduction of English version of To have Done with the Judgment

of God, (taken from Artaud, Selected Writings, ed. Sonntag see books above), viewed July 2010,http://ndirty.cute.fi/~karttu/tekstit/artaud.htm

Galerie Heike Curtze, Arnulf Rainer, Galerie Heike Curtze, Vienna/Berlin, 2010, (viewed July

2010),http://www.heikecurtze.com/arnulf-rainer.189.html

I[ngrid] Severin, Arnulf Rainer, The Collection, MOMA PS1, Museum of Modern Art, New York,2009, viewed July 2010http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=4792,

Pour en finir avec le jugement de Dieu (French text available as a pdf fileat):http://www.laphilosophie.fr/telechargement.php?id=523viewed September 2010)

Richard McGregor is Professor of Music at the University of Cumbria. His principal interest is in thepre-compositional sketches of composers, particularly Maxwell Davies, MacMillan and Rihm. Hewrites also on inspiration, creativity and spirituality in music.

Notes for the Appendix:

In the grid that follows some of these connections and contradictions are explored in relationto Artauds poems, Rihms programme note and examples from the musical text, as presented at theconference. These are given a commentary which draws out possible connections between these three

elements, with reference also to the work of Arnulf Rainer. Of course this is both speculative andinterpretative on my part and on the simplest level these associated elements might just have someideas in common. In theory only Rihm himself could (possibly) confirm or deny such connections, but,given the passage of time, the unreliability of memory, and the tendency of artists to construct personalmythologies for the processes of creation, any interpretation could well be valid.

The sources for the grid are varied and full details are contained in the bibliography but somegeneral pointers to the material cited is necessary. As observed earlier Rihms versions of the poems

were undoubtedly in German translation, and these can be found in Rexroths 1985 collection of essaysabout the composer, as well as in the published volumes Schlu mit dem Gottesgericht (1980/2002) and

Die Tarahumaras(1975). The original French version ofPour en finir avec le jugement de Dieucan bedownloaded as a pdf file, while the second Tutuguri poem is found in the volume Les Tarahumaras.

The English translation of the first Tutuguripoem is available in the Sonntag collection but I have usedthe version printed in the CD booklet for the complete recording of Rihms work. For the secondtranslation I have used the version from The Tulane Drama Review. The pictures by Rainer,Christusgesicht (1979), Christuskopf (1980) and Kreuz Christus (1980) which Rihm studied while

writing Tutuguri are reprinted in the Rexroth volume. Other images by Rainer can be found using aninternet search engine. The music examples are given as time-codes from the tracks of the HnsslerClassics CD (and mp3 download) version of Rihms Tutuguri. Finally, all Rihms programme notematerial is taken from the volume ausgesprochenusing the translation from the liner for the CD justmentioned. The translation of the extract from Ins eigene Fleisch, also from ausgesprochen, is mine.
http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=4792http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=4792http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=4792http://www.laphilosophie.fr/telechargement.php?id=523http://www.laphilosophie.fr/telechargement.php?id=523http://www.laphilosophie.fr/telechargement.php?id=523http://www.laphilosophie.fr/telechargement.php?id=523http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=4792


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Tutuguri poem: Artaud (version 1) Music Exs Rihm's programme notes McGregor commentary

Tutuguri:The Rite of the Black Sun Ex 1: CD 1, Track 1, 11.40-12.02

On first reading the Artaudtext, stream of music,music crash

This grid links Rihm'sprogramme note words toplaces in the poems fromwhich they might have drawninspiration, and these are also

related to musical examplesfrom his final version of thecomposition Tutuguri. Throughthe interactions of the variouselements it is possible toexplore aspects of the Lacaniantriad -Real/Imaginary/Symbolic -which help to explain Rihm'sconception of the workTutuguri and of his developingideas of the nature of'spontaneous composition'.

[Text omitted]

The Rite is

that the new sun should pass by at seven

points, before it explodes at the hole of the earth Ex 2: CD 1, Track 1, 11.58-12.19

At root the desire for totalfreedom, no regulationother than the laws of one'sown nature. But this growsever keener, tauter, moreimpatient and explosive.

These words of Rihm all comefrom the programme note forthe revised version of Tutuguriwhich he completed in August1982 by combining all theprevious parts of the worktogether. Total freedom is arelative term because even if acomposer simply provides a setof verbal instructions for animprovisation that does notconstitute freedom because it isalready constrained by thewords the composer has used.And Rihm is no improvisatory

composer - everything hewrites is precisely notated witha great deal of performancedetail. Where then is thefreedom? The explosion whichthreatens is a direct result ofthe tension between elementsof the LACANIAN triad in thecomposer's imagination.

[Text omitted]

At the shattering of a drum and a

trumpet, long-drawn-out,

strange, Ex 3: CD 1, Track 1 8.52-9.17

the unrelatedness of theparts in unalterableprogression of time

Artaud's problem is essentiallylinguistic - the only way that hecan express his ideas is throughwords and yet what he wants todo is propose a theatre thatgoes beyond words, at the sametime as having to express theideas through words. Theimagination (i.e. Imaginary)has to express itself through thesymbolic and this is exactly theparadox facing Rihm. How is itpossible to capture pureImagination when it is alwaysmediated by the Symbol? AsArtaud discovered, if the Realmanifests itself the results canbe traumatic.

[Text omitted]and each leap


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is matched by the gong, ever deeper

and

muffled, Ex 4: CD 1, Track 1 6.59-7.19

I have sought to compose aMusic such as Artaudperhaps imagined

Can Rihm avoid making use ofthe symbols stated in Artaud'stext? - Probably not - therefore

the gong here and elsewhererecalls not just Artaud butthrough Artaud to the contextof Balinese music (so essentialto the Balinese theatre whichArtaud admired)

till suddenly, at full gallop,

at breakneck

speed Ex 5: CD 1, Track 1, 13.12-13.40

Presentation of a dark,fierce cult the beat as

the beginning of music andits end

Rihm cannot help but draw onmodels from the past. It isinevitable that Stravinsky's Riteof Spring exists as a shadowbehind Rihm's new rite. Ittherefore represents an originalcontext which it could be saidthat Rihm, like Rainer, hasoverpainted, albeit with music.

[Text omitted]

wholly naked

and virgin

on its back. Ex 6: CD 1, Track 4, 16.50-17.15

Consequence for themusic: it can no longer bea linked figuration, anarrangement of more orless historically establishedmodels, but come to us

in a raw state, as itself,

naked

Exactly the problem, as forArtaud, is that, when it iswritten down then there is pre-meditation, even if just takinginto account only the timetaken to write it down. So themusic can ever be truly nakedbecause the idea/execution willalways adapt itself. At thispoint the Imaginary

(imagination) lays itself bare ...[Text omitted]

Now, the major key of the Rite is precisely

THE ABOLITION OF THE CROSS. Ex 7: CD 1, Track 4, 21.39-22.04

the desire for a

liberated, free music,subject to its own urges

Abolition of context: a majorchord no longer has anycontext - so it becomes simplya passing aspect of theharmonic texture. Rihm has towrite it down (Symbol) butrebels in the imagination.

[Text omitted]

[Translated J and M Berridge, CD booklet for Wolfgang Rihm 'Tutuguri' Hnssler Classic CD 93.069]

1948 VERSION - TUTUGURI (Version 2)

Created for the outer glory of the sun, Tutuguri is a black

rite. Ex 8: CD 1, Track 4, 11.52-12.17

The free wild calls ofthe first part are givenpure pounding inanswer.

Stravinskian echoes again -especially the use of irregularaccents. There is no doubt thatmany will make thatassociation - so how does thatleave 'compels without context'(see Ex. 16)? The Imaginationcalls upon models to helpstructure - and cannot help it.

[text omitted]


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does it not place itself between the four cardinal points? Ex 9: Silence (CD 1, Track 1, 2.09-2.22

Leaving behind thesubject action theatrefor a ritual theatre thatis itself subject.

Rihm's conception ofArtaudian Theatre. AlistairWilliams writes: 'Derrida[argues] that Artaud's desire todiscard the written word infavour of something that is

made in real space amounts toa pursuit of a metaphysics thatis a form of madness because itpresses against the limitationsof representation' (Williams2004, p.266). Rihm wants toextend this pursuit into thesphere of musical soundleading him towards, asAlistair Williams remarks: 'theattempt to convey states ofmind as partly carried out bywriting extreme music ...'(William 1999, p.141)

[text omitted]

And one certain day, at sunrise, the seventh Tutuguri

begins the dance by striking one of the strips with a

dark black iron mallet. Ex 10: CD 1, Track 4, 2.00-2.18

assaults onmaterials, sonic blows

As Rihm's understanding of theway in which he could expressArtaud's work developed hesaw the need to embody thesound in different musicalways, such as throughincreased orchestration and theuse of chorus vocalisations.

[text omitted]

The drum of the seventh Tutuguri has taken on an agonizing

throb: it is the crater of a volcano at the height of

its eruption. Ex 11: CD 1, Track 3, 17.32-17.57

.. Life force of soundsharnessed in a diktat ofthe imagination

The volcano is a sign for theLacanian Real which waits to

erupt uncontrolled - yet inRihm's conception everythingis controlled - he does notallow improvisatory elementsin - they are potentially chaotic.Rihm is paradoxical: he seekspure imagination and to allowit free rein while at the sametime insisting on elements ofcontrol such as exact pitches,precise rhythms, carefullydelineated dynamics. Rihm'sTutuguriis a perfect exampleof the power of the symbol andof the mind to impose orderupon chaos.

[text omitted]

and this immense flame boils.

It boils with an unheard-of noise. Ex 12: CD 1, Track 4, 15.35-16.00 the music must

become a cry

This is not just a reference toArtaud but almost certainlycross-referential to Munch'sExpressionist picture: Rihmmay relate this to theExpressionist works ofSchoenberg which he seems toprefer to that composer's laterwork.

[text omitted]

It has

suddenly located itself as it were at the center of a tremendous


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explosion. Ex 13: CD 1, Track 4, 14.45-15.10

as these steel

girders were rammedinto the ground, and,as well, there werethese apparatuses, thesteam rams which

forced the iron moreand more deeply into]the ground withdreadfuldetonation/explosion.Even today this is amusical obsession forme. (Rihm from 'Inseigene Fleisch').

These loud aggressive fiercenoises are undoubtedly aworking out of a childhood

memory - because the noisewas so overwhelming itrepresents the Real world -here he is not just fighting withthe need to symbolise it inorder to neutralise it but he isequally fighting with theimagination that seeks tocontrol it.

[text omitted]

For the drum is a wind, it has become like

wind-borne music whence an army could quite easilyadvance. Ex 14: CD 1, Track 4, 18.22-18.45

the way from styleto sound, to the pre-note

Yet the pre-note is never heard- it exists only in theImagination: no Symbol hasyet captured it.

And so it is.There is at the borders of noise and the void, for the noise is

so loud

that it calls

before it

only the void, Ex 15: CD 1, Track 4, 25.15-25.40

the unpremeditated

attempt to retreat intothe atavistic from thepresent

Here is part of the reason whyso much of Rihm's music is,and has been, essentially ratherviolent. In order to trulyexpress the imagination Rihmhas to actively engage withextremes. Here in Artaud isthat point where the Real sits -between extremely loud noise

and emptiness of sound. - thereare places of extreme loudnessin Rihm's Tutuguribut there isalso emptiness, the void,silence. This is the location ofthe Real and Rihm knows this -a later work was entitled'Silence to be Beaten' - theschizophrenic ambiguityremains.

there is an intense stamping. Measured rhythm

of a marching army Ex 16: CD 1, Track 4, 3.26-3.49

music constantly

complies: it is all themore difficult to crashout of thecontextualised to reachthat which compelswithout context

Who or what is compelled??The audience inevitably bringstheir own context and lays thatupon anything written by thecomposer - just as I am doingnow

[text omitted]

because the drummed rhythm was 7 [text adapted] Ex 17: CD 2, Track 1, 00.00-00.05

search for reflex-like music, for a bodyof sound, whosetwitching andremodeling will bemelos, rhythm and

colour

Seven is an irregular rhythm -where Rihm uses such arhythm he is directlyresponding to the ideacontained in the poem - andhence the 7 beat group thatopensTutuguriVI, andreappears at other points in thatwork. The 6 percussionists arethe 'body' of sound - theembodiment of Artaud's six

men.Now there are only six crosses.


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And in the woody drum of the seventh Tutuguri

always an introduction of void

always that introduction of void: Ex 18: CD 1, Track 4, 15.45-16.10

The hope of

emerging in the never-before-heard

The elaboration of Artaud'sgestural language by thedisembodied chorus is exactly

Rihm 'overpainting' Artaud toproduce a new 'image' - but it isan 'image' that defaces theoriginal, it can do no other thandeface it because it changes thecontext and, inevitably, themeaning. Artaud's concept hasbeen recontextualised. ThusRihm exerts his imaginationover both the Real and theSymbolic by controlling theexpression of trauma throughmusical means.

that hollow beat,

a hollow beat, Ex 19: CD 1, Track 4, 23.56-24.21

towards the end:

extinction of colour,elimination of anyobligation todevelopment otherthan the musical

The end of the work is surelyRihm's expression of the void -

the musical text speaks to this'extinction of colour' - Rihmhas referred to teaching himselfto experiment with greycolours only: that is more exactperhaps than 'extinction' sincethat word implies nothingness,emptiness which can only beconveyed by silence. Orperhaps this is part of themusical metaphor that givesaccess to' parts of the self thatare unfamiliar orforeign'.(Williams 2004, p.243) In part it is, as William'sasserts, the 'theme' of madness

that attracts Rihm to Artaud,but perhaps also this attractionultimately validated Rihm'ssearch for what he views as a'language that speaksdirectly'.(Williams 2004, p.264)

[text omitted]

Translations by Victor Corti from the Tulane DramaReview, vol. 9 no. 3, (Spring 1965), pp. 56-98

r mcgregor paper

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