The Studies for Player Piano is a series of 49 études for player piano by American composer Conlon Nancarrow. Often exploring complex rhythmic variations beyond the ability of a human pianist, these compositions are some of the best-known and celebrated compositions by Nancarrow, even though they are generally not considered a set of compositions, but rather individual compositions that were given the same title and status. The dates of composition are unknown, but approximate ranges have been given according to best evidence.
Composition
Nancarrow's Studies for Player Piano were started when Nancarrow himself was first experimenting with the possibilities of the player piano. Most of these studies were never given a formal premiere and, given that Nancarrow lived his life in relative isolation, his studies became better known after the 80s. Furthermore, most of his studies were arranged for many different ensembles and instruments, including two pianos, small orchestra, string quartet, xylophone, vibraphone and celesta, synthesizers and computers.
1948: Boogie-Woogie Suite
It is suspected that the Study No. 3 was Nancarrow's first composition for player piano composed between 1948 and 1949. This study was later compiled from the three initial parts into a five movement suite entitled Boogie-Woogie Suite in 1962. Its fourth movement included fragments of the second movement of Nancarrow's Suite for Orchestra, composed in 1945. It was arranged for piano, piano four-hands, chamber orchestra and small orchestra. This study was expanded and finished as Nancarrow's Piece for Ligeti, in an hommage to György Ligeti on 17 October 1988, at the Hamburgische Staatsoper. Of the two available versions of the third study, the Boogie-Woogie Suite remains the better known and more recorded one. A photocopy of the first version of the study is available at the Lincoln Center Library. The suite was first performed in Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes on 30 July 1962.
The suite consists of five movements featuring different music styles. The first movement features a hasty boogie-woogie in which up to seven layers of melodic and rhythmic structures are superimposed. The second movement features a blues, with a twelve-bar ostinato in the bass line which is repeated ten times. The third movement also has a blues character with canonic passages. The fourth movement features a jazz style, whereas the fifth movement comes back to an even more rushed boogie-woogie.
1949 to 1950
The first study came right after, entitled Rhythm Study No. 1 for Player Piano and finished between 1949 and 1950. It was published in New Music Edition, a quarterly of modern composition, in Los Angeles in October 1951. The study has more than two hundred tempo changes. It was premiered together with Studies Nos. 1 and 2, in Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes on 30 July 1962.
Nancarrow's Study No. 2 was composed circa 1950 and premiered together with Nos. 1 and 2. It is a slow blues with two melodic bass parts in tempo ratio of 3:5. However, Nancarrow also composed three additional version of the same study, entitled by himself Didactical Study No. 2x, Didactical Study No. 2y and Didactical Study No. 2z. These versions are also known as 2b, 2c and 2d, respectively, 2a being the main study. This way, 2x (2b) has a tempo ratio of 5:9, 2y (2c) has a tempo ratio of 4:7 and 2z (2d) has a tempo ratio of 5:7.
Some publishers and record companies use the title Study No. 2a in order to differentiate it from Nancarrow's Study No. 2A (sometimes also erroneously entitled Study No. 2b, as it would lead to confusion), an extended version of the fourth movement of his 1945 Suite for Orchestra. This extended version arranged for player piano was also composed in 1950 and was later included in the set decades later as an afterthought.
1951 to 1960
Between 1951 and 1965, Nancarrow wrote the studies nos. 4 to 30. Some of these compositions have been dated according to evidence, but Nancarrow never left a date in any of his originals. In these studies, Nancarrow explored the possibilities of polyrhythm, prolation canons and the usage of irrational numbers, such as the square root of two. However, he still used different musical styles, including jazz or blues.
The Study No. 4 is a study with jazzy melody lines which features canonlike elements. However, it is not a strict canon, as the rhythmic patterns are not followed. It was premiered in a performance at Ann Arbor, Michigan, at the ONCE Festival of New Music, on 18 February 1962. It was arranged for the ballet Crises, by Merce Cunningham and John Cage, and again for piano four-hands. The Study No. 5 was premiered in the same festival as the Study No. 4. It is a study of repeated and rapid runs and chordal motifs, superimposed over two ostinato rhythmic and melodic lines in the bass at tempos 5:7. It starts with only two voices but ends up with thirteen. It was also arranged for Crises and, later on, for chamber orchestra. The Study No. 6 has a rather bluesy style, with a tune on top of a quasi-ostinato bass line, which tempo ratios of 4:5:6, shifting back and forth every four notes along the whole movement. It was first performed in Kassel, in Summer 1982, and has since been arranged for a Marantz computer-piano, chamber orchestra, piano four-hands, two pianos and small orchestra. Amongst the arrangers is British composer Thomas Adès.
Of all of Nancarrow's early compositions for player piano, Study No. 7 is probably one of the longest. It takes 6 minutes to perform. According to American music scholar Kyle Gann, it is one of the few studies approaching the sonata form. One of the most complex early compositions, the study features striking rhythmic pattern together with melodic lines. The eight-part composition ends with racing arpeggios. It was originally presented with a longer beginning and a shorter ending. It was first performed together with the first three studies in Mexico City, on 30 July 1962 and has been arranged for a Marantz computer-piano, chamber orchestra, piano four-hands, two pianos and two disc-pianos.
The Study No. 8 is probably one of the most important early studies, because it features some of the most representative traits of Nancarrow's music: canons and continual tempo changes. These techniques were further developed along his musical career. The study is in three parts and is considered the first acceleration study. It was also the first time Nancarrow used bar lines and conventional notation. The first performance of the work was the one in 1962 in Mexico City. The following studies would continue to explore varied meters and tempos. Among them, the Study No. 9, which can be described as a collage with three repeating loops at different tempos. As his previous studies, the bass line is in ostinato and the ratios used in the study are 3:4:5. It was also premiered in the performance of the studies 7 and 8, in Mexico City and was arranged for chamber orchestra, piano four-hands and two pianos.
The last study to feature jazz characteristics is Study No. 10. It has a blues melody and complex rhythmic patterns, given the continually changing time signature. The first version of this study was in ABA form. However, in Nancarrow's circa-1980 revision of the study, the first section was dropped. This later revision is now considered authoritative. The Study No. 11 is an isorhythmic study which uses a technique from the 14th century motets. It uses conventional notation and features a sequence of repeating 120 chords. There are up to thirty tempo changes in the first page alone. The Study No. 12 is the first one to receive an unofficial subtitle: the flamenco study, because of its influence by Spanish flamenco. The study imitates the guitar arpeggios used in flamenco music. This study was arranged for chamber orchestra in 1995. These three studies were first performed at the Mexico City event in which most of his other studies to date were performed.
Seven Canonic Pieces
The studies 13 to 19 constitute a cycle of canons composed before 1960 entitled Siete piezas canónicas (). The whole cycle of canons was first performed in the Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes, on 30 July 1962. All of these canons have at least one characteristic in common: the prolation of the different parts.
The Study No. 13 is the preliminary study for the whole set. Nancarrow became displeased with the result and decided to withdraw it and to never publish it. However, he made it available as a recording. The rest of the canons were published, starting with Study No. 14 which is a canon 4/5, in which the first part begins at a tempo of ♩ = 88, followed shortly thereafter by the second part, two octaves and a fifth higher at tempo ♩ = 110. The Study No. 15 is a canon 3/4, in which the two parts are three octaves apart and the faster meter alternates in a way that both parts begin and end simultaneously. The Study No. 16 explores deeper into the concept of two-part prolation canons. It is a sketch of a canon 3/5. There are two sections, the second 5/3 as fast as the first, and then the two are played simultaneously as a third section. The Study No. 17 is a three-part canon with ratios 12/15/20. The Study No. 18 is, again, a two-part canon with ratios 3/4. The second voice begins when the first has gone 1/3 of its way, but it is played 1/3 faster, so it catches up and finishes together with the first part. It is largely seen as a precursor of Study No. 40b. Finally, the Study No. 19 has the same tempo ratios than Study No. 17. It is a three-part canon with ratios 12/15/20, and its second and third part entries are set in a way that all three parts end up simultaneously.
1961 to 1965
Chronologically, the next composition to be finished was the Study No. 21, the canon X. It is an acceleration study where one voice progressively slows down while the other speeds up. The study starts with a bass line playing a 12-tone row at about 4 notes per second, immediately followed by the other voice, playing thirty-nine notes per second. Then the bass line starts to speed up and the treble line slows down progressively, reaching the same tempo halfway through the piece. The piece ends up with one of the lines playing 120 notes per second. It was presumably written in 1961 and was first performed in the Mexico City performance in 1962. The X alludes to the tempo acceleration and deceleration of both parts in the canon. It was also arranged for synthesizer, Marantz computer-piano, two disc-pianos and two voices. Following, Study No. 22, a canon with ratios of 1%/1½%/2¼%; this means that the lowest voice starts at a given tempo and accelerates 1% over time, the second voice does so at 1½% and the third voice at 2¼%. The three voices accelerate until the middle of the piece, where they decelerate at the same rate and get to the end of the piece at the same initial speeds. This canon was first performed in Kassel, Germany, in Summer 1982.