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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 January 2016
The overriding picture that emerges from the scrutiny of the sketches for Peter Maxwell Davies's Third Symphony (1984) is the remarkable insight it affords in demonstrating a highly proficient composer in total control of his material. He is the consummate workman: diligent, methodical, economical. Indeed, his rather cerebral approach can be construed as objective – purely in the sense of the detached and calculating nature of the sketches, seemingly free as they are from spontaneous outpourings of instinctive musical inspiration. Nevertheless, Davies's method of composing endows the overall project with a sense of cogent direction and powerful meaning. Such discernment is not easily achieved, and has to be carefully planned early on in the work's genesis; certainly, the Third Symphony – a prodigious piece of architecture lasting almost one hour – is enriched by its preliminary working-out. Furthermore, Davies's employment of precompositional determinants, such as Magic Squares and pitch and durational matrices, is so integral to the overall construction of the piece that there exists a susbstantial volume of material, soley devoted to precompositional workings for the work.
1 The story of how Maxwell Davies's sketches came to be in the possession of the British Library is a very long and complex tale. For a detailed account, see McGregor, Richard E. ‘The Maxwell Davies Sketch Material in the British Library’, Tempo 196 (04 1996), p. 9 Google Scholar.
2 McGregor, , op.cit., pp. 9–19 Google Scholar, and an Appendix, Tempo 197 (July 1996), pp.20–22.
3 Bayliss, Colin. The Music of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: an annotated catalogue (London: Highgate Press, 1991)Google Scholar.
4 McGregor, , Tempo 197 (07 1996), pp. 20–21 Google Scholar.
5 I use this label to affirm my belief that although Davies's ‘serial’ technique is highly personal and very idosyncractic, it can obviously be seen as an ongoing process that may ultimately be traced back to the proto-Schoenbergian serial pieces of the 1950s (the Trumpet Sonata of 1955 being the obvious example) – hence the prefix ‘post-’. Indeed, as a result of his technical development and employment of Magic Squares as a compositional determinant, his serial procedure is now very different but still attains some of the former characteristics of some 30 years earlier, displaying a remarkable continuity of compositional technique.
6 The manuscript leaves are ‘self-made’, for Davies has ripped 24-stave leaves of manuscript in half, horizontally, to make 12-stave leaves.
7 Craft, Robert, ‘The Rite of Spring: Genesis of a Masterpiece’, in Igor, Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring Sketches 1911–13, p. xv Google Scholar.
8 There are a variety of Magic Square species; it will suffice to say that the kind of Magic Squares that Davies employs are numerical squares, ranging from 3x3 to 9x9, consisting of integers in serial order, starting with 1, arranged in such a way that the sum of each row, column, and long diagonal is the same.
9 Analysts working on Davies's works are indebted to David Roberts who, in the late 1970s and culminating in his PhD dissertation ‘Techniques of Composition in the Music of Peter Maxwell Davies’ (Birmingham University, 1985)Google Scholar, has formulated a vocabulary solely for Davies's individual compositional technique.
10 It is certainly not unusual for Maxwell Davies to do so: in an interview with the author in April of 1997, Davies stated that: ‘If you are filtering through a particular mode, then you're going to have to change notes. All the lines will be based on sets, often very freely – but you can trace them’.
11 Sedelmayar, Hans. Die Entstehung der Kathdrale (Graz: Akademische Druck– u. Verlagsanstalt, 1976)Google Scholar.
