Construction and Numerology
The first part, Departure, begins by establishing the dark mood of Black Angels and introducing the primary death theme. In the second part, Absence, the fallen angel's themes are heard. Finally in part three, Return, God prevails over evil, as presented in section 10 God-music. The titles of these three sections derive from the titles of the three movements of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 26, Les Adieux.
Each of these parts is built around the primes 7 and 13 in some way. This might be reflected in the length of the section, its phrases, its note values, patterns of motifs, or pitch (in accordance with set theory). Crumb himself forgets how the numbers play in to every section, and warns not to read too much into their significance, as he "got carried away with the Friday the 13th thing." He views the numerology as more of a "technical, structural" experiment, and has played down the numbers' significance increasingly in the years since 1970.
| Part | Title | Numerology |
|---|---|---|
| I. Departure | 1. THRENODY I: Night of the Electric Insects | 13 times 7 and 7 times 13 |
| 2. Sounds of Bones and Flutes | 7 in 13 | |
| 3. Lost Bells | 13 over 7 | |
| 4. Devil-music | 7 and 13 | |
| 5. Danse Macabre | 13 times 7 | |
| II. Absence | 6. Pavana Lachrymae | 13 under 13 |
| 7. THRENODY II: BLACK ANGELS! | 7 times 7 and 13 times 13 | |
| 8. Sarabanda de la Muerte Oscura | 13 over 13 | |
| 9. Lost Bells (Echo) | 7 times 13 | |
| III. Return | 10. God-music | 13 and 7 |
| 11. Ancient Voices | 7 over 13 | |
| 12. Ancient Voices (echo) | 13 in 7 | |
| 13. THRENODY III: Night of the Electric Insects | 7 times 13 and 13 times 7 |
Read more about this topic: Black Angels (Crumb)
Famous quotes containing the word construction:
“There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional education greater than its failure to secure the active cooperation of the pupil in construction of the purposes involved in his studying.”
—John Dewey (1859–1952)