The virtual theme is defined by its partial or total absence from the musical surface while remaining through, or being represented by, some form of simulacrum derived from a variety of developmental and transformational techniques. Combining and layering techniques increases the “virtuality” of the theme in that it becomes increasingly difficult to identify in any concrete fashion. What remains of the series are vestiges, with
21
I take this term from Campbell in his discussion of Deleuze (and Deleuze’s reading of Bergson’s Time and Free Will), in relation to the concepts of continuity and discontinuity, originality and simulacra. Campbell comments on how Bergson theorized in Matter and Memory that memory starts out “from a ‘virtual state’ which we lead onwards, step by step, through a series of different planes of consciousness, up to the goal where it is materialized in an actual perception; that is to say, up to the point where it becomes a present, active stage; in fine, up to that extreme plane of our consciousness against which our body stands out. In this virtual state pure memory exists.” Campbell,
Boulez, Music, and Philosophy, 148. Here, a virtual state is one in which the origin of a present simulacrum is apprehensible, even given its literal absence, or manifestation through a variation that is literally present. The importance of the virtual theme is then one that is apprehensible through the stages of consciousness that render the difference between the simulacra of the theme and some ideation of the theme itself. Bergson’s memory is one that is expanded enough to include details of simulacra, rather than one that inserts the variation alongside some idea of the original. The concept of a
constellation of expanding differences and variations works well within the construct of a musical constellation of expanding and developed variations upon an illusory “original” theme. Though Deleuze would argue against the concept of originality both in and of itself and in direct relation to the Platonic Idea, Bergson’s theory of memory seems to allow for a constellation that includes both details brought to the literal fore and a concept of an ideal form. That a virtual theme originates in a virtual state alludes to the theme’s intransigence as a product of a means of thought, rather than as an absolute, literal entity. In more literal terms, to apprehend the virtual theme, one must embrace the constellation of expanding musical structures to include the present simulacra as well as each stage of development that has lead to its details.
the series present in an ontological sense in that it is the origin of a particular
constellation that has been expanded to include all possible simulacra, as well as the stages of development that contribute to the musical materials as they are literally present in the musical work. Campbell articulates the concept of the virtual theme as “what we imagine [that] does not necessarily take concrete form and can remain in a virtual
state.”22 Campbell observes Boulez’s avoidance of literal repetition of the theme, instead treating it in the style of Webern as a “single Idea that exists at a precompositional level.”23 The virtual theme possesses a tenuous existence to the musical work. For Boulez, the series is the germ at the center of a constellation of musical structures that contains within it manifold potential that unfolds along different constituent developing trajectories. The series functions as a centripetal force against the centrifugal force of the ever-expanding constellation of derived and developing musical structures. It functions as a source of precompositional material from which new materials are derived, each of which preserves some features, however seemingly insignificant, of a vestige of the original. The concept of the virtual theme highlights the generalized series as a means to compose music, while, unlike the traditional thematic series, not necessarily being music itself.
Campbell likens the virtual theme to a germinal idea, an impetus for musical materials that ultimately present themselves in the work. It projects a metaphysical sense
22
Ibid., 190. 23
Ibid., 157–60. Goldman also addresses the concept of the virtual theme in
Anthèmes 1, in which the theme, composed of eight elements, never appears in the work with all the elements present, instead “always appearing in fragmentary form.” In this example, the elements of the theme that do appear still maintain their original order, so the theme could be reconstructed through the appearance of its fragments. See Goldman,
of its presence in the music despite its literal absence, or a marginally tangible
fragmented remainder into the musical work. In Campbell’s words: “The theme is said to no longer exist within itself, but rather as a developmental function in the articulation of form. Consequently, it can be explicit, amorphous or anywhere in between.”24 And yet, because Boulez combines complex techniques for deriving new pitch materials from existing ones, all of which can ultimately be traced back to an original series, there are often striking similarities between seemingly unrelated materials. By disentangling the lineage of a convoluted constellation, it becomes clear that Boulez equally combines the systematic with the indisciplinary: logical systematic processes combine with subjective decisions that together form a general compositional approach that precludes both arbitrary and theoretical exaggeration.