Research On Milton Babbitt’s Superarray Technique

Milton Babbitt is an innovator of the twelve-tone composition technique.In his early compositions,Babbitt used only one array to build one composition;In the third period of Babbitt’s creations,he uses multiple arrays to develop and oppose each other to form a mega-structure that can be characterized as a array group.This structure is called a Superarray.The Superarray technique combines the early contributions of Babbitt,including the Trichordal Arrays and All-Partition Arrays composition techniques.Its rich application expands the possibility of composition and brings a variety of richness to Babbitt’s works.The expansion of the pitch resources inherent in the Superarray also includes the availability of pitch and aggregate doubling,which enables the possibility of articulate pitches,thus opening up diverse possibilities of musical elements’ layout,such as structure,tone,rhythm.Composing with the composition technique of Superarray,the result of the sensibility is not the various ‘difficulties’ added to the audience,but especially the aspect of the instrumental organization and rhythm segmentation,looking for the audience an open space to enter into Babbitt’s music channel.“String Quartet no.5”(1982)is a representative work created by Babbitt in the third period using the Superarray technique.The first three chapters of this dissertation develop the analysis in terms of structural layout,pitch organization,tone design,rhythm characteristics and other composition techniques.It is found that many interesting composing possibilities are realized by the Superarray technique.For example,the Superarray on the structural level is the expansion of the concept of the array;the complex sound set formed by the vertical division of the boundary between the array on the pitch level;and the structural force of the orchestration and rhythm design.The fourth chapter will compare and explore the ‘invariance’ embodied in the works,including its inheritance invariance and own invariance.At the end of this dissertation,the principle of ‘invariance’ extends from the technical theory level to the aesthetic thinking,and the true immutability is the ‘above hearing’ principle.Uncovering the mystery of this important work combining theory with practice of the composer known as the ever-changing creator that reaches the peak of contemporary intellectual achievement.For contemporary scholars to expand relevant theoretical knowledge,expanding the field of composing still has a certain positive effect.