Page 17 - Composing Processes and Artistic Agency

6 Introduction

because it would have been felt to be disruptive and threatened the inform-
ality of their actions. The five composers we selected were therefore asked to
save all the notations, concepts, drawings and, where applicable, electronic
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audio files; to keep a verbal or written work-day diary; and to be available
for interviews with us at various points in the composing process. In some
cases, we listened to the music files with the composers and clarified a number
of details from the diaries that we found preoccupying. Moreover, in two
cases we were able to observe and take videos of rehearsals with the ensembles
(similar methodologies and further reflections can be found in Collins 2007,
2012; Donin & Féron 2012; Roels 2013).
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The case-study composers and their corresponding compositions were:

Marko Ciciliani: “LipsEarsAssNoseBoobs (Gloomy Sunday)”; premiered
on 6 April 2014 in Cologne, Germany, by the Ensemble Bakin Zub.
Karlheinz Essl: “Herbecks Versprechen”; premiered on 10 March 2013 in
Vienna, Austria, by Karlheinz Essl.
Clemens Gadenstätter: “Les Cris des Lumières”; premiered on 19
November 2014 in Vienna, Austria, by the Ensemble Ascolta.
Katharina Klement: “peripheries”; premiere of “peripheries, part I” on
11 February 2015 in Brussels, Belgium, by Katharina Klement. First
performance of the whole work on 2 December 2016 in Vienna, Austria,
by the composer.
Joanna Wozny: “some remains”; premiered on 23 May 2014 in Rottweil,
Germany, by the Ensemble Aventure.

In parallel with the case studies, we conducted 23 one-off interviews with
composers (11 women and 12 men), in which we asked them about their
artistic training, work processes and most significant cooperative partners.
Martin Niederauer’s three-week research stay at the Institut de Recherche et
Coordination Acoustique/Musique in Paris during the “ManiFeste 2015”
festival afforded us another source of material. Workshops, ensemble rehearsals
and cooperative interactions between composers, musicians, conductors,
sound engineers and software developers produced further observations.
Overall, we had about 750 pages of transcribed interviews, 92 pages of work
diaries, 62 pages of notes from observations, and a large number of musical
sketches and scores. In hindsight, the case studies certainly gave us a deeper
insight into the composing processes, but the one-off interviews decisively
shaped the breadth of our perspective.
Our analysis, which already began during the phase of data collection, was
guided by grounded theory (see Strauss & Corbin 1990). In several phases, we
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formulated 15 codes out of the empirical material and gradually developed
object-related concepts, which form the building blocks of this book’schapters.
During our analysis, the empirical material, our knowledge gained in previous
research projects on creative processes, and specific theoretical reflections were
in a dialogical relationship, meaning that we can neither speak of a purely