Pettersson's Pavilion

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Here's something I've wondered about, but never found an answer to. How did he get all those notes down on paper? From what I've read, due to his severe arthritis, the last symphony he was able to compose physically was #5 (or maybe it was #6). So who put those millions of notes down on paper? And did he dictate them to someone?

[CRCulver]

Here's something I've wondered about, but never found an answer to. How did he get all those notes down on paper? From what I've read, due to his severe arthritis, the last symphony he was able to compose physically was #5 (or maybe it was #6). So who put those millions of notes down on paper? And did he dictate them to someone?

That's a good question. I suspect the Allan Pettersson group on Facebook could answer that. I just did a quick search through the web and the Leif Aare biography but didn't find anything. I vaguely recall now that there is a scene in one of those BIS documentary DVDs where Pettersson was working with an assistant? Anyway, that assistant(s) is quite unsung compared to say, Ligeti's assistant Louise Duchesneau who figures heavily in scholarship regarding that composer, or James Ingram the copyist for Stockhausen.

[hopefullytrusting]

I was first drawn to this performance because of the screen capture which looked quite "unclassical," but this is a hauntingly, beautiful performance of maybe Pettersson's most lyrical work, Barefoot Songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAyYUlWQbVw

Now, I obviously don't speak Swedish, nor have I looked up the translated poems, so they are likely a lot darker than I am presuming, especially given how lilting and lulling the piano is as an accompaniment.

[hopefullytrusting]

Here's something I've wondered about, but never found an answer to. How did he get all those notes down on paper? From what I've read, due to his severe arthritis, the last symphony he was able to compose physically was #5 (or maybe it was #6). So who put those millions of notes down on paper? And did he dictate them to someone?

That's a good question. I suspect the Allan Pettersson group on Facebook could answer that. I just did a quick search through the web and the Leif Aare biography but didn't find anything. I vaguely recall now that there is a scene in one of those BIS documentary DVDs where Pettersson was working with an assistant? Anyway, that assistant(s) is quite unsung compared to say, Ligeti's assistant Louise Duchesneau who figures heavily in scholarship regarding that composer, or James Ingram the copyist for Stockhausen.

And here is Pettersson, himself, singing one of his Barefoot Songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30zcfg1ELUs



This is from an article by Paul Rapoport:
"Pettersson completed his Ninth symphony just before his illness took a grave turn and hospitalized him for nine months. He dedicated it to Comissiona and the Gothenburg Symphony, who played it first in February 1971 and again in December 1974. It is amazing that writing it down took Pettersson only about four months (in 1970), considering his poor health and its one-movement length of about 82 minutes. "

While Allen Gimbel adds this:
"Unfortunately, however, Pettersson's compositional sketches are not available, and relevant medical records and eyewitness accounts are both problematic—access to the former is unlikely due to legal and ethical considerations; access to the latter is by definition undependable."

[AnotherSpin]

For some reason, I want to believe that Pettersson wrote the notes with his own hand. There's something important in that. By some strange analogy, I recall words from Essays in Idleness by the Japanese monk Kenkō Hōshi, about how the great master of carving always works with a slightly dull chisel.

[hopefullytrusting]

For some reason, I want to believe that Pettersson wrote the notes with his own hand. There's something important in that. By some strange analogy, I recall words from Essays in Idleness by the Japanese monk Kenkō Hōshi, about how the great master of carving always works with a slightly dull chisel.

Everything I've read on him thus far seems to indicate that this is the likely case, but Gimbel is right, without having access to the original manuscripts, we simply won't really know, but given his overall character - I can imagine him seeing the struggle to produce the work as part of a process of embodied composition.

[Karl Henning]

I totally agree with your first sentence. But I do occasionally like to listen to some of the later ones (10, 11 & 14).

Also, how does he "lose his footing" before the Sixth? 😉

[Karl Henning]

just on the 9th -- my own view used to be that it was part of the central 6-9 of roughly equal merit, although no. 9 is certainly the most ambitious. I remember discussing it with Steve Elcock (Pettersson is probably the main influence on his own symphonies) and he regards this work as a failure -- far too long and lacking in direction. When I listened to it a few months ago, I also struggled, wondering what I had previously seen in it. Either tastes change or I just had a bad day. There are certainly those who regard it as his masterpiece.

Very interesting. When we revisit music, we don't hear with quite the same ears. 

[Spotted Horses]

Here's something I've wondered about, but never found an answer to. How did he get all those notes down on paper? From what I've read, due to his severe arthritis, the last symphony he was able to compose physically was #5 (or maybe it was #6). So who put those millions of notes down on paper? And did he dictate them to someone?

I vaguely recall reading in some CD booklet or another that he wrote the scores himself but that by the end they were nearly indecipherable and required great effort to transcribe. This is a low confidence recollection.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I think I read about his composition process somewhere on this website. It's a very comprehensive blog run by a Pettersson enthusiast named Derek Ho. However, I'm too lazy to look for the specific info now.

https://allanpettersson100.blogspot.com/

[ChamberNut]

Also, how does he "lose his footing" before the Sixth? 😉

Prosthetics work wonders!

[Karl Henning]

I also think that singling out the 6th–8th symphonies as special while dismissing what came before and after is not entirely justified. I was also particularly impressed by the 9th, as well as the 4th, for instance.

The Fourth is excellent!