Rrrrrrr... 8 Stücke für Orgel (1981)
(for organ)

As I started to think about the Radio Phantasy, I imagined d’Alembert engaged in the tedious work on his Encyclopaedia, often nodding off over the pages of his manuscript, all of whose entries began with the letter "R" . In his half-sleep, the precise meanings of the definitions would overlap, very unscientifically, with the possibility of combining them by instinctive association, or in a way that blurs their sense.

I only had to modify this idea just a little for my knowledge – in Diderot’s sense – to be illuminatingly expanded, and for the project to be made feasible. Thus I changed the starting point from a broadly conceived encyclopaedia to a music dictionary: I got hold of a paperback example, and immediately found myself in the midst of infinitely multiplying domains, ranging from compelling semantics to the farthest reaches of musicological poesy.

The work Rrrrrrr… consists of 41 independent pieces of music, all beginning with the letter "R". Each segment (I organ; II choir and piano; III percussion duo; IV winds, double basses and percussion; V solo voice; VI jazz trio) is published in a separate volume. A performance of the pieces results in the Radio Phantasy Rrrrrrr…

1       râga (Indian): term applied to melodic models in Indian music. Like the Arabian māqamāt, these models, which may be male (râgas) or female (râginîs), are defined by means of a central pitch, the choice of certain pitches from a matrix of scalar material (jâtis) and by fixed melodic and rhythmic formulae. They serve as the basis of improvisation and composition with a characteristic expressive flavour.

2      Rauschpfeife (German; Middle High German rusche = reed pipe): 1. (wind instr.) double–reed instrument of the 16th-17th centuries with a straight cylindrical bore, broadened opening and windcap. 2. Non-repeating harmonic organ stop belonging to the compound timbre stops and resembling the sound of the early wind instrument, composed of fifths (5 1/3’, 2 2/3’) and octaves (4’, 2’). 3. Medieval term for reed instrument.

3      repercussa (Latin): Recitation note; the repetition of the same pitch (e.g. with certain neumes).

4      ragtime (ragged time): 1. Popular piano style developed by negro musicians at the end of the 19th century in the mid-western USA in barrel houses, amusement centres etc. Based on elements from march, polka, coon song and cakewalk among other sources, ragtime had a fundamental influence on the development of jazz. Typical of ragtime is its strong melodic syncopation using a stylized off-beat technique (right-hand) over a regularly accented beat (3.) in the bass (left hand). 2. Also, a general term for New Orleans jazz before the arrival of the concept of jazz.

5      Rondeña (Spanish): variant of the fandango common in southern Spain (Ronda).

6      ripieno (Italian = full): the full organ: organo pleno.

7      Rosalia, Vetter Michel, Schusterfleck: the reiterated, often excessive repetition of a motive transposed stepwise up or down (sequence). Its name and pejorative connotations derive from the titles of melodies structured in this way (Schusterfleck is German for cobbler’s patch, i.e. a. stopgap measure).

8      rossignol (French): nightingale.
rossignols enrhumés = nightingales with a could; not to be found in any dictionary.

M. K.