Opus clavicembalisticum

The Opus clavicembalisticum is the best-known piano work by the British- Parsian composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji . At the time of its creation, it was the longest ever and probably technically most difficult piano work ever. In 1970 it was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest non-repetitive piano work in the world .

Origin and structure

Sorabji's stylistic self-discovery around 1923 is located between his 3rd piano sonata and the early monumental works for organ. In addition to the influence of Ferruccio Busoni , Sorabji was mainly concerned with the Franco-Flemish school, in particular Palestrina , and Johann Sebastian Bach . The Opus Clavicembalisticum was the first early evidence of this confrontation.

Sorabji began work on this in 1929. Sorabji said in a letter:

“With a wracking head and literally my whole body shaking as with ague I write this and tell you I have finished Clavicembalisticum just this afternoon early… The closing 4 pages are so cataclysmic and catastrophic as anything I've ever done — the harmony bites like nitric acid — the counterpoint grinds like the mills of God ”

"With my head overstretched and my whole body literally trembling with fever, I write this and tell you that I just finished the Clavicembalisticum early this evening ... The last four pages are about everything I have ever done, cataclysmic and catastrophic - the harmony bites like nitric acid - and the counterpoint grinds like the mills of God. "

- Letter to Erik Chisholm , June 25th, 1930

The dedication of the work reads:

"TO MY TWO FRIENDS (E DUOBUS UNUM) HUGH M'DIARMID and CM GRIEVE […] LIKEWISE TO THE EVERLASTING GLORY OF THOSE FEW MEN BLESSED AND SANCTIFIED IN THE CURSES AND EXECRATIONS OF THOSE MANY WHOSE PRAISE IS ETERNAL DAMNATION"

"TO MY TWO FRIENDS (E DUOBUS UNUM) HUGH M'DIARID and CM GRIEVE [...] ALSO FOR THE ETERNAL GLORY OF THE FEW BLESSED AND SANCTIFIED IN THE CURES AND WISHES OF THE MANY THOSE WHO ARE PRAISE THE ETERNAL DAMNATION"

construction

The work is divided into three parts with the following sequence:

Title ¹	Presentation title ²	Page (s) ³	Estimated duration ⁴
- Pars great -
I. Introito	Adagio - Vivo e pesante molto - Libero - Presto	Pp. 5-7	3 min.
II. Preludio-Corale [Nexus] ⁵	Solenne e maestoso con grandezza - Con immenso impetò e forza - Adagio assai	Pp. 7-19	13 min.
III. Fugue I.	Sommessamente moderato	Pp. 19-30	12 min.
IV. Fantasia	Scorrevolle leggiero - Presto volante, leggiero -	Pp. 30-39	5 min.
V. Fuga II [duplex] ⁶	Animato assai - Di molto più andante - Moderato o dim súbito	Pp. 39-59	16 min.
-			49 minutes in total
- Pars altera -
VI. Interludium Primum [subject cum XLIX Variationibus]	Vivo - Moderato - Presto - Moderato - Animato - Andante - Abbastanza adagio - Vivo - Arditamente - Rapido - Esaltato - Luminoso - Quasi adagio - Moderato - Lento - Moderato - Legatissimo abbastanza - Paganinesco - Impetuoso - Arpa eolica - Moderato - Quasi lento - Animato assai - Vivace - Lo stesso tempo - Lo stesso tempo. Arditamente - Moderatamente andando - Moderato - Lo stesso tempo - Adagio - Moderato e dolcissimo semper - Impetuoso - Temposto - Presto vivace - Vivace e secco - Moderato - Adagio - Andando - Precipitato - Moderato - Vivace - Liscio - Vivace abbastanza - Moderato con impeto - Moderato con libertá - Andante - Moderato	Pp. 59-98	45 min.
VII. Cadenza I	Allegro vivace - Con sentenziosità didattica, pesante e pomposo - Movimiento principale	Pp. 98-104	5 min.
VIII. Fuga Tertia Triplex: ⁷ [Dux primus] [Dux Alter] [Dux Tertius]	Moderato - Allargando a aumentando - Ritenuto - Andante moderato - Stringere passo a passo e aumentare - Stringendo - Molto più andante - Affrettare alquanto - Moderato e andando - Allargando alquanto e aumentare - ma affrettare semper poco a poco - Più vivo - Ancora più vivo - Allegro - quasi organo pieno - molto adagio	Pp. 104-137	33 min.
-			132 minutes in total: 2.2 hours
- Pars tertia -
IX. Interludium Alterum (Toccata, Adagio, Passacaglia cum LXXXI Variationibus)	Toccata - Adagio - Adagissimo - Passacaglia: Tranquilo e moderato - Andante scorrevole - Fantastico - Tranquillo - Moderato semper - Moderato - Vivace saltando - Scorrevole - Leggiero. Animato assai - Moderato - Deciso ma molto legato semper - Moderato - Vivo - Moderato - Liscio uguale tranquillamente - Moderato - Saltando vivace - Liscio e tranquilo - Placido - Con impeto - Più tranquillo - Fantastico - Più moderato - Tranquilo semper - Semper moderato - Deciso ma senza rigore - Placidi e scorrevoli questi tre variazioni - Quasi pizzicato - Pochettino: Grandioso - Vivace leggiero - Quasi tambura - Moderato assai - Animato con forza - Tranquillo - Quieto ma intensamente - Impetuoso e focosamente - Ma Lento - Moderato abbastanza, pato abbastanza dolce o morbido - Vivace leggierissimo ea capriccio - Semplice e moderato - Lo stesso tempo - Pocchettino piú lento - Lo stesso tempo - Focosamente - Calmo - Dolcemente scorrevole - Severo - Legato e calmo ma non dolce - Vivace leggierissimo - Quasi adagio - Capricc Lento e fantastico - Scorrevole e ugualissimo - Arditamente e focosamente - Potentissimo e grandioso, ma più moderato - Con somma forza e grandezza - Epilog o: Largissimo e dolcissimo	Pp. 137-193	61 min.
X. Cadenza II	Vivo	Pp. 193-198	3 min.
XI. Fuga IV Quadruplex: ⁸ [Dux primus] [Dux Alter] [Dux Tertius] [Dux Quartus]	Molto moderato - Allegro abbastanza - Poco più moderato - Più moderato in tempo - Ancora più andante - Irato impaziente	Pp. 193-240	32 min.
XII. Coda Stretta	Stretta - Moderato - Quasi vivo - Piú largo	Pp. 240-252	7 min.
-			235 minutes in total: 4 hours

Performances

The performance lasts between three and five hours . As a result, it is rarely performed. The following performances were recorded until July 2016:

December 1, 1930 in Glasgow by Sorabji himself, under the patronage of the Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music
March 10, 1936 by John Tobin (partial performance of Pars Prima). The performance lasted twice as long as stated in the presentation. Sorabji then forbade any further performance of his works - the ban was only lifted in 1976 - with the words "no performance at all is vastly preferable to an obscene travesty" ("no performance is far preferable to an obscene travesty").
1982 by Geoffrey Douglas Madge ; the performance was released on LP. Madge played the work five more times. Another record exists from a performance in 1983 (BIS Records).
John Ogdon performed the work privately in 1959 and publicly in 1988 and produced it in June 1985 for the Altarus label, where it was released in 1989.
Jonathan Powell performed it five times.
Daan Vandewalle
JJ Schmid as part of the Biennale Bern 03
2001 by Alexander Amatosi (Pars Prima) at the University of Durham School of Music .

literature

Paul Rapoport : Review In: Tempo New Series, No. 137, June 1981, pp. 51-52.
Alec Rowley : Opus Clavicembalisticum. In: The Musical Times . Volume 73, 1932, pp. 321-322, ISSN 0027-4666 .
Paul Rapoport (Ed.): Sorabji: A Critical Celebration. Scolar Press, Aldershot 1992, ISBN 0-85967-923-3 .
Marc André Roberge: Producing Evidence for the Beatification of a Composer: Sorabji's Deification of Busoni. In: Music Review. Volume 54, No. 2. Black Bear Press Ltd., Cambridge, England 1996, pp. 123-136 ( mus.ulaval.ca PDF).

Web links

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b ^c Alistair Hinton: Opus Clavicembalisticum. A brief history . In: Supplement to the recording of John Ogdon . 1988, p. 21–26 ( de.scribd.com - revised version from 2002 with photographs by Helmut Petzsch and a dedication to Hugh MacDiarmid alias Christopher Murray Grieve).

[hinton1988-1] A ^b ^c Alistair Hinton: Opus Clavicembalisticum. A brief history . In: Supplement to the recording of John Ogdon . 1988, p. 21–26 ( de.scribd.com - revised version from 2002 with photographs by Helmut Petzsch and a dedication to Hugh MacDiarmid alias Christopher Murray Grieve).