Helmut Lachenmann's Staub: a compositional, aesthetic and sociopolitical approach

Abstract

In 1985 Helmut Lachenmann was commissioned a new composition that would be premiered at the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the SWF-Sinfonieorchester. This commission implied a fixed program in which the new work would be performed together with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Such combination of works presupposed that the new composition could not remain on an indifferent level, but should effectively show Lachenmann's personal reaction towards Beethoven's symphony. In fact, "Staub" is one of Lachenmann's most relevant responses to the problems and conditionings derived from the confrontation with musical tradition. "Staub" offers a particular approach to Beethoven's Ninth and encapsulates most of Lachenmann's representative musical and aesthetic standpoints after the seventies. This composition is characterized by the inclusion of concealed references to Beethoven's Ninth among Lachenmann's intricate cosmos of unexpected and newly crafted sonorities. The nature and the particular treatment given to these references raises several issues: the nature of the technical procedures used in their process of inclusion and adaptation to the new piece, the aesthetic and philosophical intentionality behind this inclusion, the extent of the listener's capabilities of identification and association, etc. This essay attempts to elucidate the importance and the ultimate extent of the bonds established between these works. In order to accomplish this, I will look at "Staub" from various angles: historical, structural, sonic and perceptual, trying to understand the main features and particularities of Lachenmann's creative process.