N. 23 Utopia IV

In this piece, the order of events is not fixed, but determined in an aleatoric way by the interpreters. There are three groups from top to bottom (1, 2, 3). In order to know with which group to start, the trumpeter rolls a dice (or simulates this action) and marks the first group. She then determines in the same way which group follows next and also marks it etc. This is how the order of events is determined before each performance of the “Original” part of the score. This procedure is then also applied to the parts “Variation I” and “Variation II”. If there is more than one trumpet player/speaker, they proceed in the same way. Moreover, the player may determine whether there is a rest between groups and if so, how long the rest lasts. The validity of every direction ends after each group. Thus if no other direction is given, the trumpeter plays ordinario in the beginning. Moreover, the speaker is supposed to articulate excerpts from Thomas More’s Utopia through a tube. The speaker and the trumpet can be understood as a single instrument as the original idea of the piece was to make the trumpeter articulate the text through the trumpet and colour it by means of the fingerings. However, now the trumpeter colours the spoken passages by playing. Alternatively, the trumpeter can also assume the role of speaker by recording the passages herself in advance and playing them back via loudspeakers during the performance. Three excerpts are distributed among the three groups. All fragments are depicted in the original Latin version1. Therefore, the pronunciation is free.

Fragment 1: Siquidem cum tuus censeat Plato respublicas ita demum futuras esse felices si aut regnent philosophi aut reges philosophentur, quam procul aberit felicitas si philosophi regibus nec dignentur saltem suum impertiri consilium? (Lat. "Your friend Plato thinks that commonwealths will be happy only when philosophers become kings or kings become philosophers. No wonder we are so far from happiness when philosophers do not condescend even to assist kings with their counsels.")

Fragment 2: Quippe quum populum videant in plateas effusum assiduis imbribus perfundi, nec persuadere queant illis ut se subducant pluviae tectaque subeant (...) semet intra tecta continent, habentes satis quando alienae stultitiae non possunt mederi (...). (Lat. "They see the people swarming through the streets and getting soaked with rain; they cannot persuade them to go indoors and get out of the wet. (...) So they stay indoors and keep at least themselves dry (...).")

Fragment 3: [I]nquam, dum apud me considero, aequior Platoni fio, minusque demiror dedignatum illis leges ferre ullas qui recusabant eas quibus ex aequo omnes omnia partirentur commoda. (Lat. "When I consider all these things, I become more sympathetic to Plato, and wonder the less that he refused to make any laws for people who rejected laws requiring all goods to be shared equally by all.")

Furthermore, an acoustic filter tree is supposed to be constructed (see below): five round boxes are here hanging from a frame, while the middle “box” is a snare drum with open back (con corde). According to the position of the trumpet, the sound is filtered through one of five different materials. The trumpeter is supposed to change the position of the trumpet in the course of the piece. The motions are depicted on pp. V-VIII. They are related to the sound groups while there is always one motion (1-60) connected to each play sequence (1-60). Hence, motion 1 is always executed for play sequence 1, motion 2 for play sequence 2 etc. – no matter which group is determined, the motion is always the same. However, the speed of the motion may change according to the group and the order of play sequences is different in “Variation I/II”. The motions are supposed to copied / printend and placed next to the score. In the “Original” part of the score, all actions always merge into each other. This means that the position of the trumpet is the same at the end of one play sequence as in the beginning of the next one. As the order of play sequences changes, this is not always the case for “Variation I/II”. When playing these parts of the piece, the trumpeter needs to adapt the position of the trumpet in the break between the groups. The whole procedure is also valid when the work is performed by two or three trumpeters who then play the piece together according to their own order in their own tempo (especially according to the rests between groups). Only the absolute synchronisation between the trumpeter and speaker cannot be omitted. Moreover, all players should wait for each other when they start the variations. The (loud)speaker is positioned aside the filter tree. Accidentals only apply to the note they directly precede.