Manipulations of time in music – an introduction

Abstract

In this paper we discuss both how music can give shape to the passage of time and the way time can be manipulated when it is music. The text is divided in three parts. In the first part, as a starting point, we choose a concept of time whose propositions coincide with those of the definition of music. In the second part we first present some authors' approaches that show that these coincidences have led them to identify time with music. Then, considering that when time is music, it can be controlled, we propose some determinants of temporal manipulations, and speculate about the role of music as symbolic mediation for man. The final part is an attempt to exemplify the discussion by examining the way similar musical materials can evoke predominantly either the linear time of becoming or the nonlinear time of being. We use first some
tonal material to write two distinct passages; and second, comment on three sound mass pieces by Ligeti, Cage, and Lutoslawski respectively.
Keywords: Time and music. Being and Becoming. Sound mass compositions. Ligeti. Cage. Lutoslawski.