ABSTRACT
In his Third String Quartet (1971), Elliott Carter explores the concept of spatial dispersion – the ways space relates to music. Influenced by Stravinsky’s and Ives’s rhythmic and timbral explorations, Carter examines in detail Ives’s three main methods of combining different and complex rhythmic planes, which he directly implements into his Third Quartet. He separates the four players in space and time in order to involve both the performers and the audience in the auditory experience of the spatial effect. The ensemble is divided into two duos, which play unrelated musical material, including their own set of movements, for the duration of the entire piece. Carter achieves an innovative design that forms a constant interlacing of moods, characters, and materials, evoking the idea of stream of consciousness. Through the analysis of sketches (housed at the Library of Congress and Paul Sacher Stiftung), the author decodes the complex harmonic, rhythmic, and formal structure of the piece.
