Uploaded December 2010 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
The most remarkable features of Fartein Valen's 4th Symphony are the inexhaustible melodic vein and the way he uses the knowledge inherited from the old masters of counterpoint. During the three movements of the symphony with a confronted with a very stringent polyphony, where a great variety of melodic lines are woven in a continuously moving whole. At the same time we notice through the entire 1st movement (Allegro) how he brings to maturity that wish for a simplified texture which he first demonstrated in the 3rd Symphony and later in the Serenade. As in chamber music, the tissue of lines is transparent and elegant, as if this late in life he wanted to rid himself of all remaining pathos in order to interiorize his emotions.
The 2nd movement (Larghetto) is also shorter and more concentrated than similar movements of his earlier symphonies. Being the middle one of only three movements, it has the double function of serving as a slow meditation and as a more airy scherzo. This, too, is a kind of ambiguity no unknown to Mozart.
In the 3rd movement (Chacone -- Moderato), Valen, as did Brahms for the Finale of his fourth symphony, goes back to a very old type of variations. As always in a chaconne, a bass theme is introduced and later wanders through all the instrumental groups, constantly accompanied by new counterthemes. Valen thus writes 18 variations, of which the last two also serve as a coda. The choice of this ancient form for a highly personal message in the atonal language clearly demonstrates Valen's belief in a timeless beauty.
The first sketches for the 4th Symphony were made in September 1947, but Valen had been stocking up ideas for this symphony, and even for a fifth one, since the spring of 1945, when he was still working on his 3rd Symphony. The symphony took him two years to write and was finished in September, 1949. These were eventful years. Fame seemed to be coming, at least, and he could no longer life completely hidden from the world. His Sonetto di Michelangelo for orchestra was successfully premiered at the 1947 ISCM festival in Copenhagen, and Valen had to spend weeks answering all the newspapers and reviewers that suddently wanted to know more about the man and his music. His 69th birthday was also duly publicized, and for the first time in nine years his friends managed to bring him to Oslo so that he could supervise the rehearsals for the first performance of his violin concerto in October, 1947. This performance, too, was a great success, as was the performance of the same concerto at the Amsterdam ISCM festival in 1949. At that moment, Valen had been a prize for his 3rd Symphony and had been offered a new contract by his publisher, so that he could afford to go to Amsterdam and savor his triumph in person.
The most remarkable features of Fartein Valen's 4th Symphony are the inexhaustible melodic vein and the way he uses the knowledge inherited from the old masters of counterpoint. During the three movements of the symphony with a confronted with a very stringent polyphony, where a great variety of melodic lines are woven in a continuously moving whole. At the same time we notice through the entire 1st movement (Allegro) how he brings to maturity that wish for a simplified texture which he first demonstrated in the 3rd Symphony and later in the Serenade. As in chamber music, the tissue of lines is transparent and elegant, as if this late in life he wanted to rid himself of all remaining pathos in order to interiorize his emotions.
The 2nd movement (Larghetto) is also shorter and more concentrated than similar movements of his earlier symphonies. Being the middle one of only three movements, it has the double function of serving as a slow meditation and as a more airy scherzo. This, too, is a kind of ambiguity no unknown to Mozart.
In the 3rd movement (Chacone -- Moderato), Valen, as did Brahms for the Finale of his fourth symphony, goes back to a very old type of variations. As always in a chaconne, a bass theme is introduced and later wanders through all the instrumental groups, constantly accompanied by new counterthemes. Valen thus writes 18 variations, of which the last two also serve as a coda. The choice of this ancient form for a highly personal message in the atonal language clearly demonstrates Valen's belief in a timeless beauty.
The first sketches for the 4th Symphony were made in September 1947, but Valen had been stocking up ideas for this symphony, and even for a fifth one, since the spring of 1945, when he was still working on his 3rd Symphony. The symphony took him two years to write and was finished in September, 1949. These were eventful years. Fame seemed to be coming, at least, and he could no longer life completely hidden from the world. His Sonetto di Michelangelo for orchestra was successfully premiered at the 1947 ISCM festival in Copenhagen, and Valen had to spend weeks answering all the newspapers and reviewers that suddently wanted to know more about the man and his music. His 69th birthday was also duly publicized, and for the first time in nine years his friends managed to bring him to Oslo so that he could supervise the rehearsals for the first performance of his violin concerto in October, 1947. This performance, too, was a great success, as was the performance of the same concerto at the Amsterdam ISCM festival in 1949. At that moment, Valen had been a prize for his 3rd Symphony and had been offered a new contract by his publisher, so that he could afford to go to Amsterdam and savor his triumph in person.
![Claude Ballif, Sonate pour flûte et piano Op. 23 [1958] - 1 of 2](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VE2in5tjJHw/mqdefault.jpg "Claude Ballif, Sonate pour flûte et piano Op. 23 [1958] - 1 of 2
Claude Ballif - Compositeur français né le 22 mai 1924 à Paris, mort le 24 juillet 2004 à Poissons, Haute-Marne. Claude Ballif a étudié au Conservatoire de Paris dans les classes de Noël Gallon, Tony Aubin et Olivier Messiaen. Puis à Berlin en 1954 auprès de Boris Blacher et Josef Rufer. Enfin à Darmstadt avec Luigi Nono, Bruno Maderna, Luciano Berio et Karlheinz Stockhausen. Il obtient en 1955 le Premier prix de composition musicale au concours international de Genève pour son oeuvre orchestrale Lovecraft et son premier Quatuor à cordes. En 1956 il publie dans la Revue Musicale son traité : Introduction à la métatonalité.
De retour en France en 1959, il entre comme assistant au GRM où il restera jusquen 1963. Rencontrant Iannis Xenakis, François Bayle et Ivo Malec, Claude Ballif écrit deux pièces pour bande : Etudes au ressort (1961) et Points, Mouvements (1962). Mais lessentiel de sa production demeure instrumentale, avec notamment la création en 1965, au Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, dA Cor et à Cri pour orchestre sous la direction d Hermann Scherchen .
Claude Ballif participe à la création de lUniversité de Paris VIII en 1968 et publie la même année un ouvrage sur Berlioz, il reçoit de nombreux prix et enseigne lanalyse et la composition au Conservatoire de Paris de 1971 à 1990. Depuis, il enseigne ces mêmes matières au Conservatoire de Sevran. En 1984 le Festival Estival de Paris le choisit comme compositeur de lété et organise toute une série de concerts et de manifestations autour de son oeuvre.
Il est Chevalier des arts et lettres en 1984; en 1986 il reçoit le Grand Prix SACEM de la Musique Symphonique; en 1991 il est Officier dans lOrdre national du mérite, puis Commandeur en 1994. Il obtient le Grand Prix national de la Musique en 1999.
Il a publié de nombreux ouvrages sur la musique: Introduction à la Métatonalité, Richard Masse, Paris 1956; Berlioz, Seuil, Paris 1968; Voyage de mon oreille, «10/18», Union Générale dÉdition, 1979; Économie Musicale, Méridiens-Klincksiec, Paris 1988; Lhabitant du Labyrinthe : Entretiens avec Alain Galliari, Pro Musica 1992. Un numéro spécial de la Revue Musicale lui a été consacré en 1968.
Claude Ballif sest toujours situé en marge des écoles et des systèmes, auteur dune oeuvre abondante, il a peu varié dans son esthétique depuis ses débuts de compositeur, fidèle à une écriture atonale (mais non sérielle), usant de micro-intervalles, où lémotion affleure constamment. Compositeur catholique, Claude Ballif a signé plus dune pièce dinspiration sacrée.")
