View source for Aleatoric music

{{Short description|Music in which some element of the composition is left to chance}}
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=February 2023}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F004566-0002, Darmstadt, Internationaler Kurs für neue Musik.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Karlheinz Stockhausen]] lecturing on [[Klavierstücke (Stockhausen)#Klavierstück XI: polyvalent structure|Klavierstück XI]] at Darmstadt, July 1957]]
'''Aleatoric''' '''music''' (also '''aleatory music''' or '''chance music'''; from the [[Latin language|Latin]] word ''alea'', meaning "[[dice]]") is [[music]] in which some [[Aspect of music|element of the composition]] is left to [[Randomness|chance]], or some primary element of a composed work's realization is left to the determination of its performer(s), or both. The term is most often associated with procedures in which the chance element involves a relatively limited number of possibilities.

The term became known to European composers through lectures by [[acoustics|acoustician]] [[Werner Meyer-Eppler]] at the [[Darmstadt New Music Summer School|Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music]] in the beginning of the 1950s. According to his definition, "a process is said to be aleatoric ... if its course is determined in general but depends on chance in detail".{{sfn|Meyer-Eppler|1957|p=55}} Through a confusion of Meyer-Eppler's German terms ''Aleatorik'' (noun) and ''aleatorisch'' (adjective), his translator created a new English word, "aleatoric" (rather than using the existing English adjective "aleatory"), which quickly became fashionable and has persisted.{{sfn|Jacobs|1966}} More recently, the variant "aleatoriality" has been introduced.{{sfn|Roig-Francolí|2008|p=340}}

==History==
===Early precedents===
Compositions that could be considered a precedent for aleatory composition date back to at least the late 15th century, with the genre of the catholicon, exemplified by the ''[[Missa cuiusvis toni]]'' of [[Johannes Ockeghem]]. A later genre was the ''[[Musikalisches Würfelspiel]]'' or musical [[dice]] game, popular in the late 18th and early 19th century. (Such dice games are attributed to [[Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach|Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach]], [[Joseph Haydn]], and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]].) These games consisted of a sequence of musical [[bar (music)|measures]], for which each measure had several possible versions and a procedure for selecting the precise sequence based on the throwing of a number of dice.{{sfn|Boehmer|1967|p=9–47}}

The French artist [[Marcel Duchamp]] composed two pieces between 1913 and 1915 based on chance operations.{{Clarify|date=June 2017|reason=Do these pieces conform in any way to Meyer-Eppler's definition of 'aleatoric' or are they 'indeterminate', in Cage's conception?}} One of these, ''Erratum Musical'', written with Duchamp's sisters Yvonne and Magdeleine<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.toutfait.com/erratum-musical-1913/|title=Erratum Musical, 1913|accessdate=26 January 2022}}</ref> for three voices, was first performed at the Manifestation of Dada on 27 March 1920,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/fa347ec0-3acb-0133-ccc0-00505686a51c|title=Manifestation Dada|website=NYPL Digital Collections|accessdate=26 January 2022}}</ref> and was eventually published in 1934. Two of his contemporaries, [[Francis Picabia]] and [[Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes]], also experimented with chance composition,{{Clarify|date=June 2017|reason=Do these pieces conform in any way to Meyer-Eppler's definition of 'aleatoric'?}} these works being performed at a Festival Dada staged at the [[Salle Gaveau (Paris)|Salle Gaveau]] concert hall, Paris, on 26 May 1920.{{Citation needed|date=August 2014}} American composer [[John Cage]]'s ''[[Music of Changes]]'' (1951) was "the first composition to be largely determined by random procedures",{{sfn|Randel|2002|p=17}} though his [[Indeterminacy (music)|indeterminacy]] is of a different order from Meyer-Eppler's concept. Cage later asked Duchamp: "How is it that you used chance operations when I was just being born?"{{sfn|Lotringer|1998|p={{Page needed|date=January 2011}}}}

===Modern usage===
The earliest significant use of aleatory features is found in many of the compositions of American [[Charles Ives]] in the early 20th century. [[Henry Cowell]] adopted Ives's ideas during the 1930s, in such works as the ''Mosaic Quartet'' (String Quartet No. 3, 1934), which allows the players to arrange the fragments of music in a number of different possible sequences. Cowell also used specially devised notations to introduce variability into the performance of a work, sometimes instructing the performers to improvise a short passage or play ''ad libitum''.{{sfn|Griffiths|2001}} Later American composers, such as [[Alan Hovhaness]] (beginning with his ''[[Lousadzak]]'' of 1944) used procedures superficially similar to Cowell's, in which different short patterns with specified pitches and rhythm are assigned to several parts, with instructions that they be performed repeatedly at their own speed without coordination with the rest of the ensemble.{{sfn|Farach-Colton|2005}} Some scholars regard the resultant blur as "hardly aleatory, since exact pitches are carefully controlled and any two performances will be substantially the same"{{sfn|Rosner & Wolverton|2001}} although, according to another writer, this technique is essentially the same as that later used by [[Witold Lutosławski]].{{sfn|Fisher|2010}}{{Unreliable source?|date=June 2010|reason=This is a blog. Does it really stand comparison with an article in the New Grove? On the other hand, does this mean that Lutosławski's usage is also not aleatory?}} Depending on the vehemence of the technique, Hovhaness's published scores annotate these sections variously, for example as "Free tempo / humming effect"{{sfn|Hovhaness|1944|p=3}} and "Repeat and repeat ad lib, but not together".{{sfn|Hovhaness|1958|p=2}}

In Europe, following the introduction of the expression "aleatory music" by Meyer-Eppler, the French composer [[Pierre Boulez]] was largely responsible for popularizing the term.{{sfn|Boulez|1957}}

Other early European examples of aleatory music include [[Klavierstücke (Stockhausen)#Klavierstück XI: polyvalent structure|Klavierstück XI]] (1956) by [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], which features 19 elements to be performed in a sequence to be determined in each case by the performer.{{sfn|Boehmer|1967|p=72}} A form of limited aleatory was used by [[Witold Lutosławski]] (beginning with ''Jeux Vénitiens'' in 1960–61),{{sfn|Rae|2001}} where extensive passages of pitches and rhythms are fully specified, but the rhythmic coordination of parts within the ensemble is subject to an element of chance.

There has been much confusion of the terms aleatory and indeterminate/chance music. One of Cage's pieces, ''[[HPSCHD]]'', itself composed using chance procedures, uses music from Mozart's ''Musikalisches Würfelspiel'', referred to above, as well as original music.

==Types of indeterminate music==
Some writers do not make a distinction between aleatory, chance, and [[Indeterminacy (music)|indeterminacy in music]], and use the terms interchangeably.{{sfn|Griffiths|2001}}{{sfn|Joe & Song|2002|p=264}}{{sfn|Roig-Francolí|2008|p=280}} From this point of view, indeterminate or chance music can be divided into three groups: (1) the use of random procedures to produce a determinate, fixed score, (2) mobile form, and (3) indeterminate notation, including [[graphic notation (music)|graphic notation]] and texts.{{sfn|Griffiths|2001}}

The first group includes scores in which the chance element is involved only in the process of composition, so that every parameter is fixed before their performance. In [[John Cage]]'s ''Music of Changes'' (1951), for example, the composer selected duration, tempo, and dynamics by using the ''[[I Ching]]'', an ancient Chinese book which prescribes methods for arriving at random numbers.{{sfn|Joe & Song|2002|p=268}} Because this work is absolutely fixed from performance to performance, Cage regarded it as an entirely determinate work made using chance procedures.{{sfn|Pritchett|1993|p=108}} On the level of detail, [[Iannis Xenakis]] used probability theories to define some microscopic aspects of ''[[Pithoprakta]]'' (1955–56), which is Greek for "actions by means of probability". This work contains four sections, characterized by textural and timbral attributes, such as glissandi and pizzicati. At the macroscopic level, the sections are designed and controlled by the composer while the single components of sound are controlled by mathematical theories.{{sfn|Joe & Song|2002|p=268}}{{Vague|date=January 2012|reason=It still is not clear why a piece clearly described as determined at every level by the composer should be brought into a discussion of indeterminacy.}}

In the second type of indeterminate music, chance elements involve the performance. Notated events are provided by the composer, but their arrangement is left to the determination of the performer. [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]]'s Klavierstück XI (1956) presents nineteen events which are composed and notated in a traditional way, but the arrangement of these events is determined by the performer spontaneously during the performance. In [[Earle Brown]]'s ''Available forms II'' (1962), the conductor is asked to decide the order of the events at the very moment of the performance.{{sfn|Joe & Song|2002|p=269}}

The greatest degree of indeterminacy is reached by the third type of indeterminate music, where traditional musical notation is replaced by visual or verbal signs suggesting how a work can be performed, for example in [[graphic notation (music)|graphic score]] pieces. Earle Brown's ''December 1952'' (1952) shows lines and rectangles of various lengths and thicknesses that can read as loudness, duration, or pitch. The performer chooses how to read them. Another example is [[Morton Feldman]]'s ''Intersection No. 2'' (1951) for piano solo, written on coordinate paper. Time units are represented by the squares viewed horizontally, while relative pitch levels of high, middle, and low are indicated by three vertical squares in each row. The performer determines what particular pitches and rhythms to play.{{sfn|Joe & Song|2002|p=269}}

==Open form music==
[[Open form]] is a term sometimes used for 'mobile' or 'polyvalent' [[musical form]]s, where the order of [[Movement (music)|movements]] or [[Section (music)|section]]s is indeterminate or left up to the [[Musician|performer]]. [[Roman Haubenstock-Ramati]] composed a series of influential "mobiles" such as ''Interpolation'' (1958).

However, "open form" in music is also used in the sense defined by the art historian [[Heinrich Wölfflin]]{{sfn|Wölfflin|1915}} to mean a work which is fundamentally incomplete, represents an unfinished activity, or points outside of itself. In this sense, a "mobile form" can be either "open" or "closed". An example of a "dynamic, closed" mobile musical composition is Stockhausen's ''[[Zyklus]]'' (1959).{{sfn|Maconie|2005|p=185}}

==Stochastic music==
Stochastic processes may be used in music to compose a fixed piece or may be produced in performance. [[Stochastic music]] was pioneered by [[Iannis Xenakis|Xenakis]], who coined the term ''stochastic music''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Luque |first1=Sergio |title=The Stochastic Synthesis of Iannis Xenakis |journal=Leonardo Music Journal |date=2009 |volume=19 |pages=77–84 |doi=10.1162/lmj.2009.19.77 |jstor=40926355 |s2cid=57561840 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40926355 |access-date=7 July 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Specific examples of mathematics, statistics, and physics applied to music composition are the use of the [[statistical mechanics]] of gases in ''Pithoprakta'', [[statistical distribution]] of points on a plane in ''[[Diamorphoses]]'', minimal [[Constraint (mathematics)|constraints]] in ''Achorripsis'', the [[normal distribution]] in ''ST/10'' and ''Atrées'', [[Markov chain]]s in ''Analogiques'', [[game theory]] in ''Duel'' and ''Stratégie'', [[group theory]] in ''[[Nomos Alpha]]'' (for [[Siegfried Palm]]), [[set theory]] in ''[[Herma (Xenakis)|Herma]]'' and ''[[Eonta]]'',{{sfn|Chrissochoidis, Houliaras, & Mitsakis|2005}} and [[Brownian motion]] in ''N'Shima''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Luque |first1=Sergio |title=The Stochastic Synthesis of Iannis Xenakis |journal=Leonardo Music Journal |date=2009 |volume=19 |page=79 |doi=10.1162/lmj.2009.19.77 |jstor=40926355 |s2cid=57561840 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40926355 |access-date=7 July 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
 
Xenakis frequently used [[computer music|computers]] to produce his scores, such as the ''ST'' series including ''Morsima-Amorsima'' and ''Atrées'', and founded [[CEMAMu]].{{sfn|Xenakis|1971}}{{Page needed|date=November 2019}}

==Film music==
Examples of extensive aleatoric writing can be found in small passages from [[John Williams]]' score for the film ''[[Images (film)|Images]]''. Other film composers using this technique are [[Mark Snow]] (''[[X-Files: Fight the Future]]''), [[John Corigliano]], and others.{{sfn|Karlin & Wright|2004|pp=430–436}} Snow used digital samples of acoustic instruments "to merge starkly electronic timbres with acoustically based sounds, an approach developed extensively in his much celebrated music for ''The X-Files'' (1993–2002, 2016–18). Over the course of the series, Snow's often ambient music dissolved distinctions between sound design and musical score."{{sfn|Platte|2014}}

[[Howard Shore]] employed aleatoric [[Music of The Lord of the Rings film series|composition]] in ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' during the [[Fellowship of the Ring (characters)|Fellowship's]] encounter with the [[Watcher in the Water]] outside of the gates of [[Moria (Middle-earth)|Moria]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Adams|first=Doug |title=The music of the Lord of the rings films: a comprehensive account of Howard Shore's scores|date=2010 |isbn=978-0-7390-7157-1 |location=Van Nuys, CA|oclc=657600945}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=The Music of the Monsters of Lord of the Rings| date=9 August 2021 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh0Ed1yiHkA|language=en|access-date=2022-01-18}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Aleatoricism]]
* [[Algorithmic composition]]
* [[Generative music]]

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=20em}}
'''Sources'''
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Boehmer|1967}}|reference=[[Konrad Boehmer|Boehmer, Konrad]]. 1967. ''Zur Theorie der offenen Form in der neuen Musik''. Darmstadt: Edition Tonos. (Second printing 1988.)}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Boulez|1957}}|reference=[[Pierre Boulez|Boulez, Pierre]]. 1957. "Aléa". ''Nouvelle Revue française'', no. 59 (1 November). Reprinted in Pierre Boulez, ''Relevés d'apprenti'', collected and presented by Paule Thévenin, 41–45. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1966. {{ISBN|2-02-001930-2}}. English as "Alea" in Pierre Boulez, ''Notes of an Apprenticeship'', collected and presented by Paule Thévenin, translated from the French by [[Herbert Weinstock]], 35–51. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968. New English translation, as "Alea", in Pierre Boulez, ''Stocktakings from an Apprenticeship'', collected and presented by Paule Thévenin, translated from the French by [[Stephen Walsh (writer)|Stephen Walsh]], with an introduction by Robert Piencikowski, 26–38. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. {{ISBN|0-19-311210-8}}.}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Chrissochoidis, Houliaras, & Mitsakis|2005}}|reference=Chrissochoidis, Ilias, Stavros Houliaras, and Christos Mitsakis. 2005.[https://www.academia.edu/249265/Set_theory_in_Xenakis_EONTA "Set theory in Xenakis' ''EONTA''"]. In ''International Symposium Iannis Xenakis'', edited by Anastasia Georgaki and [[Makis Solomos]], 241–249. Athens: The National and Kapodistrian University.}}
*{{cite web |last=Farach-Colton |first=Andrew |title=Hovhaness Concerto for 2 Pianos; (3) Pieces for 2 Pianos |work=[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]] |date=November 2005 |url=http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/hovhaness-concerto-for-2-pianos-3-pieces-for-2-pianos |access-date=June 4, 2015}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Fisher|2010}}|reference=Fisher, Lynn. 2010. "[http://aleacounterpoint.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/orpheus/ An Unlikely Musical Pioneer? Early Aleatory Counterpoint]". ''AleaCounterpoint'' blog site (Accessed 22 June 2010).}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Griffiths|2001}}|reference=Griffiths, Paul. 2001. "Aleatory". ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]]. London: Macmillan Publishers.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Hovhaness|1944}}|reference=[[Alan Hovhaness|Hovhaness, Alan]]. 1944. ''[[Lousadzak]]'', Op. 48 (score).  New York: Peer International Corporation.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Hovhaness|1958}}|reference=Hovhaness, Alan. 1958. ''Meditation on Orpheus'', Op. 155 (score). New York: C. F. Peters.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Jacobs|1966}}|reference=Jacobs, Arthur. 1966. "Admonitoric Note". ''[[The Musical Times]]'' 107, no. 1479 (May): 414.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Joe & Song|2002}}|reference=Joe, Jeongwon, and S. Hoon Song. 2002. "Roland Barthes' 'Text' and Aleatoric Music: Is the Birth of the Reader the Birth of the Listener?". ''Muzikologija'' 2:263–281.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Karlin & Wright|2004}}|reference=Karlin, Fred, and Rayburn Wright. 2004. ''On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring'', second edition. New York: Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-94135-0}} (cloth); {{ISBN|0-415-94136-9}} (pbk).}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Lotringer|1998}}|reference=Lotringer, Sylvère. 1998. "Duchamp Werden". In ''Crossings: Kunst zum Hören und Sehen: Kunsthalle Wien, 29.5.-13. 9.1998'' [exhibition catalogue], edited by Cathrin Pichler, 55-61. Ostfildern bei Stuttgart: Cantz. {{ISBN|3-89322-443-2}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Maconie|2005}}|reference=[[Robin Maconie|Maconie, Robin]]. 2005. ''Other Planets: The Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen''. Lanham, Maryland, Toronto, Oxford: Scarecrow Press. {{ISBN|0-8108-5356-6}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Meyer-Eppler|1957}}|reference=[[Werner Meyer-Eppler|Meyer-Eppler, Werner]]. 1957. "Statistic and Psychologic Problems of Sound",  translated by Alexander Goehr. ''[[Die Reihe]]'' 1 ("Electronic Music"): 55–61. Original German edition, 1955, as "Statistische und psychologische Klangprobleme", ''Die Reihe'' 1 ("Elektronische Musik"): 22–28.}}
*{{Wikicite|ref={{harvid|Platte|2014}}|reference=Platte, Nathan. [https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002263168 "Snow, Mark".] [[Grove Music Online]]. 1 July 2014; Accessed 10 December 2020.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Pritchett|1993}}|reference=Pritchett, James. 1993. ''The Music of John Cage''. Music in the 20th Century. Cambridge, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-41621-3}} (cloth); {{ISBN|0-521-56544-8}} (pbk).}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Rae|2001}}|reference=Rae, Charles Bodman. 2001. "Lutosławski, Witold (Roman)". ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]]. London: Macmillan Publishers.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Randel|2002}}|reference=[[Don Michael Randel|Randel, Don Michael]]. 2002. ''The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. {{ISBN|0-674-00978-9}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Roig-Francolí|2008}}|reference=Roig-Francolí, Miguel A. 2008. ''Understanding Post-Tonal Music''. Boston: McGraw-Hill. {{ISBN|0-07-293624-X}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Rosner & Wolverton|2001}}|reference=Rosner, Arnold, and Vance Wolverton. 2001. "Hovhaness [Hovaness], Alan [Chakmakjian, Alan Hovhaness]". ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]]. London: Macmillan Publishers.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Wölfflin|1915}}|reference=[[Heinrich Wölfflin|Wölfflin, Heinrich]]. 1915. ''Kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe: das Problem der Stilentwicklung in der neueren Kunst''. Munich, F. Bruckmann.}}
** Wölfflin, Heinrich. 1932. ''Principles of Art History: The Problem of the Development of Style in Later Art'', translated from the seventh German edition (1929) by Marie D. Hottinger. London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. Reprinted, New York: Dover Publications, 1950.
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Xenakis|1971}}|reference=Xenakis, Iannis. 1971. ''Formalized Music:  Thought and Mathematics in Composition''. Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-253-32378-1}}.}}
{{div col end}}

==Further reading==
* Lieberman, David. 2006. "[http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1174472 Game Enhanced Music Manuscript]." In ''GRAPHITE '06: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Australasia and South East Asia, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), November 29 – December 2, 2006'', edited by Y. T. Lee, Siti Mariyam Shamsuddin, Diego Gutierrez, and Norhaida Mohd Suaib, 245–250. New York: ACM Press. {{ISBN|1-59593-564-9}}.
* Pimmer, Hans. 1997. ''Würfelkomposition: zeitgenössische Recherche: mit Betrachtungen über die Musik 1799''. Munich: Akademischer Verlag. {{ISBN|3-929115-90-5}}.
* Prendergast, Mark J. 2000. ''[[The Ambient Century: From Mahler to Trance – The Evolution of Sound in the Electronic Age]]''. London: Bloomsbury. {{ISBN|0-7475-4213-9}}.
* Stone, Susan. 7 February 2005. "[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4486840 The Barrons: Forgotten Pioneers of Electronic Music]", ''[[NPR Music]]''. (Accessed 23 September 2008)

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20181119113708/http://sunsite.univie.ac.at/Mozart/dice/ Mozart's Musikalisches Würfelspiel]  - online version of Mozart's dice game
* [http://www.lcdf.org/indeterminacy John Cage's ''Indeterminacy'']
* {{youTube|CZ_KijiwQHE|Aleatoric water musical instrument}}

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