Contrapuntal Forms
(after the sculpture by Barbara Hepworth)
For a quartet of mixed timbres
(version for flute, tenor sax in Bb, synthesizer or marimba, and double bass)
Poem by Margaret Morgan
Music by Nigel Morgan
This study score has been downloaded from the website archive of composer
Nigel Morgan. The PDF file is solely for personal study, repertoire research or
educational reference. It is not intended for use in public performance except in
educational situations when an extract is required for illustration purposes.
Performance scores and parts are available from Tonality Systems Press in two
formats: as standard printed and bound paper copies, and as PDF electronic
masters carrying a special electronic license for an unlimited number of
performances over an agreed period. For more information please e-mail
Tonality Systems Press.
ISMN 979-0-57043-018-5
About the music
Contrapuntal Forms
When Barbara Hepworth was working on her sculpture Contrapuntal Forms she
had recently embarked on a friendship with the composer Priaulx Rainier.
Through Rainier, Hepworth developed a delight in the domestic contrapuntal
music of the English Renaissance such as the fantasias of Orlando Gibbons.
For a quartet of mixed timbres
(version for flute, tenor sax in Bb,
synthesizer or marimba, and double bass)
Hepworth's sculpture is a kind of visual fantasia for two figures. This idea is
developed in the first of my own 'contrapuntal forms' called Guico Delle Coppe
(Game of Pairs) - the title Bartok gave to the second movement of his Concerto
for Orchestra - where only two instruments out of the four ever play together at
the same time. It could be said to be music 'of the sculpture'.
(after the sculpture by Barbara Hepworth)
Poem by Margaret Morgan
In the second 'contrapuntal form' titled Jeux Diurnes (Late Afternoon Games) the
music might be regarded as what goes on 'outside the sculpture'; what surrounds
it, or how it might be encountered. The music plays games with itself spinning a
contrapuntal web of patterns, woven by each player into a whole. Like the
fantasias of Orlando Gibbons there is often intense imitation between each
instrumental part.
Music by Nigel Morgan
The titles given to each contrapuntal form, Guico Delle Coppe and Jeux Diurnes,
are important 'clues' to the spirit of 'play' that might be summoned up during a
performance: play of timbres, a play of registers, a play of rhythms and melodic
patterns . . . and at a different level the play of things public and things private.
Also, the sheer sense of 'playing' with the musical material rather than simply
playing it!
Margaret Morgan's poem is another guide to how this music might be approached.
Her poem reflects on a visit to the current location of Contrapuntal Forms.
Commissioned by the Festival of Britain and shown on London's South Bank in
1952 the sculpture is now ‘in retirement’ standing next to cherry trees on an Essex
housing estate, playing games in the twilight with time and space.
More information about the Music for Sculptures series can be found on the
composer’s website at http://www.nigel-morgan.co.uk.
i
Scoring and Performance Instructions
The music is scored for a 'quartet of timbres'. The instrumentation is not fixed but
constrained to the idea that the quartet should be played by instruments of different or opposing timbres. The ideal ensemble might bring together wind, brass,
percussion and string timbres, indeed the initial 'model' was imagined for soprano
sax, bass trombone, marimba, and cello. This is not a work to be attempted by a
string quartet!
Although some detailed articulations will be found on the score these markings
should only be considered a guide, no more. Dynamics per se are not indicated.
Octave transposition of and within phrases is encouraged to secure the best 'fit' of
instrument to part.
In Guico Delle Coppe complex phrases within each quarter beat may be treated
with an improvisational flourish rather than with mechanical exactitude.
The rehearsal letters in each movement indicate the sections of the musical
structure. Players are encouraged to give these sections different characters using
specific dynamics or tempo.
Contrapuntal Forms was devised using the beat-space scoring approach invented
by Milton Babbitt in his Composition for Four Instruments of 1948. Here, the
ordering and combining of instrumental parts is the first compositional decision
from which everything else flows. Like many of Babbitt's scores the style of
performance is also closer to Modern Jazz than Classical Chamber Music.
Contrapuntal Forms was first performed by musicians from the BBC National
Orchestra of Wales in 2003. Their studio recording, available to download on the
composer's website, is a lively reference for musicians reflecting on just how
freely the piece might be interpreted.
ii
Circling round ‘Contrapuntal Forms’
The little bush counts to a hundred
in the centre of the cobbled forecourt.
When it opens its eyes there is no-one
in passages under flats, or concealed
in washing drying on balconies
or between cars staring each other out.
A little wall shouts ‘Boo’ in the face
of a cherry tree, and runs away
scuffling petals and tripping
on a partial pavement.
Hide and seek
seems to have given way
to Oranges and Lemons; terraces
and flats polarised and pulling
across the road with speed humps
where a man has appeared and
thoughtfully walks round his car.
Then they come face to face.
Time to play secrets. “Here,
by this cherry tree and in the presence
of all these windows, I whisper
a secret. You are part of me, but
not part of me.
Or shall we
pretend to be Chicken Licken,
because, you must see,
the sky is falling in, freezing
into a glacier between us,
keeping us apart.” “So let’s play
at being statues. Stay still.”
“It’s melting now. Come closer.
And closer. Let’s play at experimental childish sex.
under these cherry trees.
Two blue limestone forms
play in a corner.
“Is this ‘Follow my Leader’?”
“No. It’s ‘If you are moving
when I turn my head you are out.’”
The Resident upon his balcony
Dreams among his flowers while below
Juliet leans towards her Romeo.
And washing swats at the intruding sun
Which still gains entrance, waves from windowpanes,
Gradually mounting stairs, yawns from bedrooms
While owl, cat, fox and party-goers
Serenade the evening their own way.
Maybe tomorrow a faint white heart
Will tell a limestone lie about falling in love.
© Margaret Morgan 2003
iii
iv
Guico Delle Coppe
= 50
2
4 Flute
Tenor Saxophone
in Bb
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
5
24 Double Bass
2 4
2
4
Synthesiser
or Marimba
pizz.
1
arco
pizz.
© Tonality Systems Press 2009
10
Fl.
Synth.
arco.
Db.
Ten.Sax.
16
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
A
2
pizz.
arco
21
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
pizz.
26
Fl.
echo
pizz.
l.v.
3
arco
arco
31
Fl.
Synth.
35
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
pizz.
arco
4
Ten.Sax.
Db.
B
40
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
45
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
C
5
as an echo
51
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Db.
56
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Db.
more distant
6
en dehors
Synth.
a very distant pre-echo
Synth.
60
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
arco
7
as a pre-echo
pizz.
66
71
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
8
= 70
2
4
Flute
in Bb
2
4
Synthesiser
or Marimba
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
2 4
arco
6
pizz.
Fl.
24 Tenor Saxophone
Double Bass
Jeux Diurnes
arco
9
pizz.
pizz.
11
Fl.
Synth.
Db.
Ten.Sax.
pizz.
arco
16
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
10
22
Fl.
27
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
Synth.
Db.
Ten.Sax.
arco
D
11
pizz.
34 43 5
8
85
34 85
43 85
32
Fl.
24
5
8
24 5
8
24
36
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
24 Synth.
Fl.
5 8
Ten.Sax.
Db.
5
8
7
8
78 58 78
85
78
78
58 85
43
43
78
43
43
85
43
12
85
85
pizz.
34 78 43 78
arco
85 43
40
Fl.
3
4
43
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
34 Synth.
7 8 78 44
78
78
44
78
44
78
44
44 78 78 44
3 4
Ten.Sax.
Db.
3 4
78
78 44 44 13
78
78 85
85
85
5
8
46
Fl.
44
78
44
85
44
78
44
85
58 44 78
44
85
58 Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
5
8
5 8
44
50
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
5
8
5 8
5
8
5 8
34 43
43 44 43
78
14
85
53
Fl.
Synth.
56
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
() Ten.Sax.
Db.
4
4 4
4
pizz.
44
58 44
44
58 44
58 44
44 44
arco
85 44 44
44
43
78
24 78
24
43
78 24
43
78
24 43
15
E
59
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
3
4
3
4
63
Fl.
3
4 Ten.Sax.
3
4
Synth.
3
4
Db.
3
4
78
78
78
83
78
83
78
83
83
3 4
Synth.
Db.
3
4
78 16
78 43
43
arco
pizz.
78 43
43
85
85
85
85
66
Fl.
5
8 Ten.Sax.
5
8
Synth.
5
8
83 83
pizz.
Db.
5
8 83
83 78
78 78 78
89
89
89
89
l.v.
70
9
8
Ten.Sax.
9
8
Synth.
9
8
Fl.
Db.
arco
98 3 85
4
very light - behind synth/marimba
43
85
43
5
3
4 8
43
43
43
17
3
4 85
74
Fl.
3
4
Ten.Sax.
3
4
Synth.
Db.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
85
85
3
4
58 3
4
85
34 ( )
77
Fl.
3
4
3
4
3 4
78
85 85 43
78
43
78
43
43
43
85
43
18
43
58 43
78
44
44
44
44
80
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
4
4 4
4
4 4
4
4
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
24 24
78
43
34 78
43 78
43
78
43 3 4
24
34 3
4
43
43
43
43
24 84
58 19
58 85
pizz.
58 43
43
43
43
88
Fl.
3
4
Synth.
3
4
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
83
arco
38 3
4
3
4
78
78
85
43
28
43
43
85
38 78
85
83 83 20
78
arco
pizz.
28 3
8 7 34 8 3
4
28 2 58 8 43
85 78
94
Fl.
83 3
3
4
8 Ten.Sax.
Db.
3
4
F
85
7
85
8 78
85
98
Fl.
5 8
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
5
8 58 5
8
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
102
24
83
78
24 83 78
24
83
78
24 83 7
8
43
78
83
7
8
43
78
83 7
8
78 43
78 43 21
7
8
83
43
83
78
43
43
3
4
106
Fl.
3
4
Synth.
34 Fl.
Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
7
8
78 78 24
78
7 2
8 4 7
8
78
43 78
34 78
43
78
78 109
78
3
4 Ten.Sax.
Db.
3
4
43
24
24
22
83 58 83 85 83 85 83 85 114
Fl.
Ten.Sax.
3
4
43 Ten.Sax.
Synth.
Db.
5
8 5 8
83
83
83 83 5
8
5 8
43
120
Fl.
3
4 Synth.
Db.
28
83 85
for Alice and Neil
23
3
28 8
83
28 28
83
85
85
85