Her electroacoustic works
by Andra McCartney |imed_0159-0001|
“What is the composer’s attitude toward this technique? It is with a
completely new and liberated spirit that he must make the electroacoustic
approach to composition, and above all not forget that it is easier to learn
how to turn a knob than to know why he should turn it. The difficulty does
not lie in controlling the machine technically, but rather in controlling his
reflexes when in front of the machine. With electroacoustic music, the
composer maintains a constant relationship with the sound material; his
direct control of it allows him to verify that this actions have given the
desired results. The composer can also make use of the distance of the
listener, just as the painter can step back from the canvas in order to see
it better. Electroacoustic music is therefore a continuous fusion of doing
and hearing, a permanent equilibrium between the composer’s intention (what
is in his head) and the result (what is on the tape).” (Coulombe Saint-Marcoux, Le Devoir, June 27, 1970)
Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux’s approach to
electroacoustic music was important to the development of the form in several
significant areas: exploration of the voice as an instrument, integration of
electroacoustics with other artistic disciplines, reflection on the role of
women composers, and experimentation with spatial trajectories to make the
movement of sound more palpable to the listener.
Coulombe Saint-Marcoux considered the voice as a
fragile and important instrument. During her childhood in the Lac Saint-Jean
region, she constantly listened to her family singing. She was aware of the
incredible possibilities of the voice, but considered it fragile because of
its connection with each person. When she was studying with Claude Champagne, he insisted that students create works for
voice, and initially she wrote settings for poems by Verlaine. However, she was dissatisfied with the gap between
singer and accompaniment, and wanted to integrate voice with instruments, to
find points of fusion, change and rapid juxtaposition, as in Arksalalartôq. She believed in the abilities of contemporary
vocalists to improvise, to re-discover the vocal freedom of children: “the
most progressive music has its basis in the spontaneity of childhood”
(Lamy 1971).
Another important aspect of Arksalalartôq is its
use of texts by two Québécois poets, Noël Audet and
Gilles Marsolais, who also collaborated with her on
Makazoti, a work for voice and instrumental ensemble.
Bernavir, a work for tape, also used excerpts of a
poem by Audet. Her works often included texts by
Québécois writers, including Paul Chamberland,
France Théoret, and Nicole
Brossard. Her approach to their work was to consider both the meaning
of the words, as well as their less denotative but emotionally rich sounds
and sonorities. Coulombe Saint-Marcoux was very
sensitive to other artistic currents that surrounded her in Quebec: poetry,
theatre, painting, and dance. She worked closely with other artists, finding
that there was often a correspondence between her work and the work in
progress of colleagues in other artistic fields. She believed that there is a
reciprocal influence between ear and eye, and between sound and theatrical
gesture.
As the quote at the beginning of this text demonstrates, Coulombe Saint-Marcoux was deeply interested in the role of the
electroacoustic composer, and her relationships with technology, society and
culture. She also spoke of her position as a woman composer. She was not
satisfied with simple access to composition studios, but wanted a more
meaningful recognition of the ideas and approaches of women. She noted that
although: “society admits to the presence of women creators, societal
structures do not change to allow them to live fully and with the same
authority as men” (Lefebvre 1991: 80). Professor
Lefebvre notes that during the 1970s, Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux was the only female professor
of composition in the Montréal area, and so must have felt isolated. Also,
her work has rarely been performed in concert in Montréal except for one
occasion a few weeks after her death in 1985 (personal communication, October
1994). Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux spoke
emphatically of her beliefs about the importance of being permitted a truly
feminist way of life in order for women creators to live comfortably: “As the
world that I inhabit does not, in my opinion, allow me a place that can be
considered truly feminist, I live apart from it” (Lefebvre 1991: 80). Her assertion points out both an alienation
from the situation that she experienced, as well as a determination to insist
on a better and more accepting environment.
Coulombe Saint-Marcoux was strongly influenced by
Iannis Xenakis, whom she met in Montréal in 1967
while he was working on the Polytope of the French
pavillion at Expo ’67. It was Xenakis who
recommended to Saint-Marcoux that she study modern mathematics and then work
with Pierre Schaeffer at the GRM. As with
Xenakis’ work, Coulombe
Saint-Marcoux’s compositions are marked by blocks of sound describing
sweeping trajectories through space, what she refers to as “circuits sonores”
(sonic circuits). These organized sonic circuits provide a kind of linear map
of timbral, harmonic, rhythmic and melodic movement for the listeners to
orient themselves through the composition, making the music more palpable,
touching the listeners as it arcs through space and time.
This disc presents all of Coulombe
Saint-Marcoux’s electroacoustic music for tape except for Chut (1969) (with Pierre Bernard,
Marcelle Deschênes, and Richard
Grégoire) and Bernavir (1970), which could not
be found. Her other electroacoustic works are mixed, film soundtracks, and
incidental music: Trakadie (1970) for percussion and
tape; Arksalalartôq (1970-71, 76) for voice, one
instumentalist and tape; Alchera (1972-73) for
mezzo-soprano, flute (piccolo), clarinet, trombone, violin, cello,
harpsichord (Hammond organ), tape and lights; Miroirs
(1975) for harpsichord and tape; Regards (1978) for
oboe, clarinet, trombone, harp, piano, percussion, viola, cello, double bass
and tape; Tel qu’en Lemieux (1973) film music for a
film by Guy Robert; Comment Wang-Fô
fut sauvé (1982-83) theatre music for a story by Marguerite Yourcenar.
Coulombe Saint-Marcoux writes, about Regards (1978): “The creator is in perpetual development, an actor
constantly learning and re-learning his part. Having broken with the known
world, the organized world, the everyday world, he is an active participant
in a multitude of ever-varied situations, a sort of great ‘improvisation’ in
which the rules of the game are based on the most elementary laws of social
behaviour. It is chaos and a life of what appears to be anarchy, but an
extremely rich and stimulating one in which everyone who inhabits it is never
definitively defined.”
References:
• Gagné, Mireille, et Maryvonne
Kendergi, Gilles Potvin. Compositeurs au Quebec: Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux.
Montréal, QC: Centre de musique canadienne au Quebec, 1986.
• Gagné, Mireille. Micheline
Coulombe Saint-Marcoux ou l’art de conjuguer le mot femme. Sonances,
avril 1985: 25-26.
• Lamy, Suzanne. Inventer des sons
nouveaux. Châtelaine, November 1971.
• Lefebvre, Marie-Thérèse. Existe-t-il une musique dite féministe?. Les Batisseuses de la
Cité. Congrès de l’ACFAS. Les Cahiers Scientifiques
79, 1993: 233-40.
• Lefebvre, Marie-Thérèse. La
création musicale des femmes au Québec. Montréal: les éditions du
remue-ménage, 1991.
• Potvin, Gilles. Présence de la
musique électroacoustique. Le Devoir, February 3, 1979.
• Richer, Lyse. Micheline Coulombe
Saint-Marcoux accorde une entrevue à Lyse Richer. Anthology of Canadian Music 18. Radio Canada International, 1984:
19-22.
• Coulombe Saint-Marcoux, Micheline. À la recherche d’une nouvelle écoute. Le Devoir, April 15,
1972.
Andra McCartney, Montréal [ix-01]
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