LOUIS ANDRIESSEN’S “DE TIJD”AN ANALYSIS

Isaac Hayward

De Tijd or Time is a piece by Louis Andriessen for female choir and large

ensembe written from 1980-81. Conceptually, the piece deals with the

nature of time, and throughout the pieces’ 41 minutes, the listener is afloat

in the eternally slow, yet ever-moving ethereal strata of the piece.

Andriessen’s metronome marking (q = 48), defines a common unit of time

for the players to count in. Throughout the piece, the space between events

in the same layer range between about 3 and 12 beats (i.e. 4–15 seconds).

These spacings are meticulously calculated on a system with the numerals 2

and 31 (Fig. I). As the piece progresses, the density of the layers increases,

and the piece has the illusion of speeding up, due to the increasing rhythmic

density. However, for most of the piece, the period between notes in strata is

so long that it is not perceived polyrhythmically, as it appears on paper.

This is because the slowest pulse a regular human can perceive (without

subdividing) is around q = 30, i.e. a period of 2 seconds.2 Although musical

events do occur within periods of 2 seconds, the common pulse of q = 48,

through most of the piece, is not substantiated enough to perceive a pulse.

Instead, the listener perceives the layers as hypopolyrhthmic—just-out-of-

reach, calculated synergy. The patterns which never quite meet up also

represent an eternity of music which we are just hearing a fraction of. This is

an excellent representation of the nature of time— a force which is

1 Elmer Schonberger, “Louis Andriessen: On conceiving of time” Journal De Revisor, 1981/2: 92 Robert A. Duke, “Musician’s perception of beat in monotonic stimuli” Journal of Research in Music Education, 37/1 (1989): 64

superhuman, lying above our perceptions, and yet able to be felt and

measured in an indescribable way.

I. The hypopolyrhythmic strata of De Tijd

I. Mixed third chord

I1: The E7(4) chord.

Woven through these strata are chords which simultaneously suggest

tension and resolution, creating a sense of ever-suspended harmony.

Andriessen’s original idea was to use a mixed-third dominant seventh chord,

(Fig. I) and this chord appears in De Tijd occasionally. He however decided

that in order to create this “combinations of tensions and non-tensions

difficult to describe,3” he would build his harmony upon a dominant seventh

chord (with no 5th) sounded simultaneously with the resolving tonic (Fig. II).

By sounding the fourth, the dominant seventh chord suggests resolution

which has already occurred. Extending this chord, Andriessen also uses

dominant seventh chord with a dominant seventh chord built upon its

resolving tonic. For example, B7 resolves to E, so the two chords would be B7

and E7— two dominant 7th chords a fifth apart. (Fig III.)

III. E7(4) & B7(4), a key sonority in De Tijd.

Using these chords, Andriessen is able to create a “chain of dominants; an

eternally postponed resolution which is nevertheless there all along.”4 It is

not this simple though— due to the rhythmic layers in the piece, the above

chords are often superimposed on others.

3 Elmer Schonberger, “Louis Andriessen: On conceiving of time” Journal De Revisor, 1981 2: 84 ibid.

This can be seen from bb. 97-114, where the harmonic content of the

passage is based on Andriessen’s dominant chords, carried by four

contrabasses and eight violins in one layer, and eight flutes in another. One-

beat gaps are written into the parts to allow the flautists to breathe and also

to punctuate entries. The length of sound in the flutes being related to a long

breath gives the notes an organic, human quality, whereas the voices,

constantly sustained through dovetailing, sound more foreign.

In generally, the basses and violins, playing in rhythmic unison, have a

slower harmonic rhythm than the flutes, and throughout this section there is

a heavy emphasis on the note A— being the note that Andriessen “knew that

the piece ought to have something to do with.”5 Beginning with bar 97, (Fig.

IV) the flutes play a clearly voiced, D7/A7 chord, which is in the form of

Andriessen’s two dominant 7ths a fifth apart. Throughout this passage, the

fifths in the dominant chords are often played. The basses play a B,

thickened by the addition of the higher D# and E, but this can be analysed

as the third of a dominant chord resolving to the tonic.

In bar 98, the flutes then move to a more ambiguous mixed-third A7 chord,

with a B included. The B may be accounted for as the 9 th in an A9 mixed-third

chord, as may be the F# in 99. The C# in 99 in the flutes may be accounted

for as being the 3rd in the resolving tonic chord, supporting the A.

5 ibid.

IV. Reduction: bb. 97-99

The violins and basses also begin to play dominants, the violins playing a

voicing of G7(4), and the basses D7. Note that in the reductions, the violins

sound an octave higher than written, and the basses and octave lower. This

gives clarity to the polytonal harmony.

The violins and basses continue to play dominant chords, changing at a

slower harmonic rhythm that the flutes. At 102 (Fig V.), the flutes play a

chord containing the notes of B7 (no 5th), but also an E, D and G. One

possible analysis would be B7 with Em7, but treating the E as part of the B7

is probably how Andriessen conceived it, considering there are no minor-7 th

chords elsewhere. This is an instance of Andriessen stacking two dominant

7th chords which are not related by fifth to vary the harmonic content. This

also occurs at 111 with B7 and A7.

V. Reduction: bb. 100-102

VI. Reduction: bb. 104-111

Andriessen also swaps the position of each dominant 7th chord at 104-105 in

the flutes, (Fig VI.) before using an unusual voicing of E7(4) to highlight the

choral part moving into seconds for 106.

BIT MORE HERE

Conceptually, De Tijd is an extremely impressive work, capturing the

essence of time through superhuman, hypopolyrhythms, with harmony which

suspends the listener in a balanced, perpetually moving wash of tonal

ambiguity. If not for anything else, De Tijd is a masterpiece in interpreting a

non-musical concept into a composition.

Hyperrhythm?

Hypermetre?

Hyperpolyrhythms

Robert A. Duke, “Musician’s perception of beat in monotonic stimuli” Journal of Research in

Music Education, 37/1 (1989): 61-71