ABSTRACT
In Boulez’s lectures at the Darmstadt courses in 1960, he introduced the now well-known contrast between ‘smooth’ and ‘striated.’ On the surface, the distinction is a simple one: ‘smoothness’ describes the distribution of some musical element within a continuous, non-partitioned gamut, while the ‘striated’ is articulated by modules, temperament, or pulse. With respect to the concept of smooth time, a difficulty arises in deciding which of Boulez’s many influences are most historically significant for interpreting his ideas and his music. Boulez’s generally mathematical and scientific sounding language is certainly well-known, but in many cases it is unclear whether his terminology was meant to have some recognizable point of reference, or whether he relied on the vocabulary to simply sound more technical. To fully capture the concept of the ‘smooth,’ Boulez’s idea must be contextualized within this particular historical frame, and not in the isolation of the utterly innovative music theory in which it was initially cast.
