4.4 The third part of Sinfonia

4.5 THE THIRD PART OF SINFONIA Berio called this part “perhaps the most experimental music I have ever written”. It consists of four layers that continuously alternate between the foreground and background. In other words, a layer can be clearly foregrounded, only to be replaced by a second layer a few bars later, becoming its background, or even disappear altogether for a short while. - First layer: Berio’s own material, which functions as filling, change, alienation. - Second layer: quotes. These are not randomly chosen well-known pieces but make up a dense net of mutual relations. Unlike Zimmermann, Berio does not mention the original pieces in his score, but they are all well-known pieces. The quoted fragments are: J.S. Bach, the second part of the first Brandenburg Concerto, element from the solo part of the violin concertos of Brahms and Berg, Berlioz (second part of his Symphonie fantastique), a chord from Boulez’ Don, and quotes from Beethoven (Sixth Symphony), Debussy (La Mer), Ravel (La Valse) Richard Strauss (Der Rosenkavalier), Stravinsky (Sacre),

Hindemith, Stockhausen, Pousseur, Globokar, Schönberg (Farben),

Berg (Wozzeck, third act, scene four), Webern, and Berio himself.

Many of these quotes are related to water: the scherzo by Mahler is based on the song Des Antonio von Padua Fischpredigt from the song cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Schönberg’s Farben’s subtitle is Sommermorgen an einem See, Debussy’s La Mer is self-evident.

From Wozzeck he chose the scene in which the protagonist drowns in a lake, and from Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony he chooses: Szene am Bach. It is all in line with Lévi-Strauss’ text used in the first and fifth part on the origin of water. On this, Berio says: “…the text of the fifth part is in essence derived from that of the first part, but with new elements from Le cru et le cuit added. Fragments from two myths are superimposed here. They have similarities and parallels in structure but their meaning is different. One is about the origin of water, the other about the origin of music.”201 - Third layer: texts a. Quotes from texts by James Joyce, statements from students during the May ’68 student protests, fragments from conversations with friends and family, solmizations and phonetic basic material. b. The text of Samuel Beckett’s novella The Unnamable (1953) which consists entirely of a disjointed monologue from the perspective of an unnamed and immobile protagonist. The text meanders through the third part as a perpetuum mobile. It is related to the narrative

201Berio, in the programme brochure of the Donaueschinger Musiktage 1968.