BOULEZ Pierre (1925-2016). Lot n° 30

BOULEZ Pierre (1925-2016). MUSICAL MANUSCRIT autograph signed, Deuxième Sonate pour piano (1948); 1 title sheet and 23 pages in-fol. Precious manuscript of the Second Piano Sonata, a major work in the production of the first Boulez and in the twentieth-century piano repertoire. Composed between October 1947 and May 1948, it was premiered by Yvette Grimaud at the Concert des éditeurs at the École Normale de Musique on April 29, 1950, and published the same year by Heugel. The manuscript is precisely drawn in black ink on 26-line paper. It is signed and dated at the end: "mai 48 / octobre-novembre 47 février 48". It bears this note at the top: "General remark: When interpreting nuances, avoid absolutely, especially in slow tempos, what are known as 'expressive nuances'". The Sonata is divided into four movements: I. Extremely fast ; II. Lent ; III. Moderate, almost lively (page 15: 22 bars crossed out and a sheet inserted with 9 new bars) ; IV. Very freely, with sudden oppositions of movement and nuance. Let's quote André Boucourechliev's fine commentary on this Second Sonata: "In this work, the dodecaphonic system is transformed into a - much broader - serial conception of musical language, which no longer governs sounds but sound relationships, and brings rhythm, in an extremely developed form and autonomous organization, into its new structures. Here, Boulez proceeds by means of short rhythmic cells, constituted as truly independent rhythmic themes, and developed according to principles emphasized and taught by Messiaen: non-retrogradable rhythms, rhythmic canons, transformations, proportional increases and decreases in values, etc. The rhythmic autonomy of the counterpoints in Boulez's Sonata (where, as the composer points out, all the voices are equally important), the total abolition of all regular pulsation (the bar line is no more than a visual cue for the performer), create a new musical time, of total discoooontinuity, which demands a new kind of listening on the part of the listener because, obviously, Boulez's work is the very opposite of an escape; it calls for our participation, our own anxiety: only then - and much more quickly than might at first appear - does it reveal itself, with its discontinuous and unpredictable rhythmic violence, astonishingly close to us, to our sensibility as modern men".Attached are the corrected proofs (Heugel 1950) printed in blue by the engraver Buchardt (48 pages each): the first proof (December 8, 1949) is overprinted with autograph corrections; the 2nd proof bears the order for the print run (dated 21-2-50).Plus a L.A.S. from Pierre Boulez (1 p. in-8), with an in-4 page of autograph corrections for the Errata; plus the Errata proof sheet.Bibliography: Dominique Jameux, Pierre Boulez (Fayard 1984), pp. 298-315 (detailed analysis of the Second Sonata). Discography: Maurizio Pollini (Deutsche Grammophon, enr. 1976).