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Work
Le Marteau sans maître
for alto and six instruments
- Composer:
- Pierre Boulez
- Text author:
- René Char (1907-1988)
- Composition:
- 1952-1955; revised in 1957
- Duration:
- Approximately 35 min Score inscription
- Dedication:
- To Hans Rosbaud
Premiere
- Without the end of the movement 9: 18 June 1955, in Baden-Baden (Südwestfunk, Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music), by Sybilla Plate (mezzo-soprano) and the members of the Südwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, conducted by Hans Rosbaud.
- With the end of the movement 9: 21 March 1956, in Paris (Petit Théâtre Marigny, Domaine musical), by Marie-Thérèse Cahn (mezzo-soprano) and the Ensemble du Domaine musical, conducted by Pierre Boulez.
Work structure
3 interlaced cycles in 9 movements:
- 1. Avant « L’artisanat furieux » – Rapide
- 2. Commentaire I de « Bourreaux de solitude » – Lent
- 3. « L’artisanat furieux » – Modéré sans rigueur
- 4. Commentaire II de « Bourreaux de solitude » – Rapide
- 5. « Bel édifice et ses pressentiments » version première – Assez vif
- 6. « Bourreaux de solitude » – Assez lent
- 7. Après « L’artisanat furieux » – Rapide
- 8. Commentaire III de « Bourreaux de solitude » – Assez lent
- 9. « Bel édifice et ses pressentiments » double – Tempo libre de récit
Instrumentation
Soloist: alto Ensemble: flute in G, xylorimba, vibraphone, 1 percussion (frame drum, 2 bongos, maracas, claves, double bell, triangle, 2 tam-tams, gong, suspended cymbal, small cymbals), guitar, viola
Publisher
Universal Edition (London), cop. 1954 and 1957 [UE 12450 (conductor) / UE 34133 (study score) / Philharmonia n° 398 (pocket edition)]
Note
The texts in the work are taken from René Char’s collection of poems Le Marteau sans maître (1934). The poem "L’artisanat furieux" is taken from the cycle "L’action de la justice est éteinte" (1931); "Bourreaux de solitude" is taken from the cycle "Poèmes militants" (1932); "Bel édifice et ses pressentiments" is taken from the cycle "Arsenal" (1927-1929).
Source: Excerpt from Pierre Boulez : catalogue de l’œuvre, edition prepared by Alain Galliari, Éditions de la Philharmonie, 2025.
