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Casting New Sounds in Old Forms: The Use of Baroque Chaconne Technique as Structural Design in the Music of Magnus Lindberg

The means by which the underlying structure is generated in many works by the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg is through a repeating series of harmonies, over which a progression of continuous variations generates a heterogeneous musical surface.  Lindberg himself has coined this method of harmonic organization as a modified form of Baroque chaconne technique.  The term should not be taken lightly, for it is apparent that Lindberg’s conception of chaconne technique is an important means by which he feels connected with the tradition of western art music.

This presentation explores the two basic approaches Lindberg has used to generate the background harmonic structure in his chaconne-styled compositions.  One approach is to construct a chaconne using a series of symmetrically arranged twelve-note harmonies.  Two compositions are used to illustrate this method, the 1988 Twine, for piano solo, and 1986 chamber work UR.  For the second approach, a series of chaconne harmonies forged from French Spectral techniques serves as the basis of harmonic organization.  To this approach, I discuss Lindberg’s 1990 chamber orchestra work Joy, the third of an important trilogy of works that may be seen as the summation of a decade of compositional thought, with respect to chaconne technique.