Ralph Shapey and the Search for a New Concept of Musical Continuity, 1954–1958

Abstract

During the 1950s, Ralph Shapey attempted to reformulate the concept of musical continuity. In a series of works, he gradually abandoned traditional procedures of musical development based on the unfolding of motives or themes. He created a music in which contrast and continuity are produced mainly through variation of register, density, texture and timbre. Although he worked out many of his ideas within the medium of chamber music, he focused primarily on the creation of a new way of writing for the orchestra in which he was able to fully realize the implications of his new musical language. This article traces the evolution of Shapey's ideas from the Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Group (1954) to their full realization in Ontogeny (1958) and the Invocation-Violin Concerto (1958).