Page 26 - Composing Processes and Artistic Agency

The topography of composing work 15

unlike human beings objects are “not carriers of implicit knowledge, they
make no autonomous contribution to the meaningful integration and intel-
ligibility of practices” and thus do not form a community of practice by
themselves.
And a final clarification of our terminology: part of our empirical material
consists of music sketches (Notate), within which term we include every kind
of musical mark, such as musical notes and graphics, for instance. We reserve
the term “writings” (Notizen) for all forms of verbal jotting-down during the
composition processes that are not music sketches – diary entries, verbal key
points, longer texts, calculations, etc. We make this distinction to highlight
the fact that composers think not only in music but also in pictures, con-
cepts, figures and figurative drawings. Both writings and music sketches are
fragmentary in character and must not be confused with a music score. By
score we mean the written end product authorised by the composer: the
composition that musicians and conductors will use as a template. A score
consists primarily of musical signs (e.g. notes, intervals, treble or bass clef),
which are sometimes complemented by textual directions (e.g. staccato) and
explanations.

1.1 Parameters and resources

In Western contemporary art music, composition processes usually have a
direct trigger: a commission to compose. All the composers we interviewed
confirmed that it would be exceptional for them to compose something, or to
create a full compositional development of an existing idea, without specific
motivations. Judith Unterpertinger aptly summarises it: “I’m not interested in
working just to fill my desk drawer.” Both financial and practical reasons
underpin her words. An artwork without a public – never exhibited, performed
or published – has no social existence. In that case, to what extent is it even
an artwork? Composers of contemporary art music are aware that their works
must be performed if they are to be visible – it is the fundamental
prerequisite.
When composers receive a request for a composition, they have to consider
whether to accept or decline it. They base their reasoning partly on pragmatic
factors, such as the time available to them, the fee, and the artistic reputation
of the performance context. Additionally, there are artistic and musical
aspects that inform their decision, such as whether they find a given theme
fascinating, or consider specific composition challenges to be attractive, or
how interested they are in working with certain ensembles. In the following
chapters, we will discuss each of these aspects in turn.

1.1.1 Predetermined parameters
Typically, clients who commission compositions are organisations such as
music and event organisers, festivals, orchestras and public or private funding