Musicologica Olomucensia vol. 37(1), (2025):206-222 | DOI: 10.5507/mo.2025.016
Solitude Transformed. George Crumb's Makrokosmos III (Music for a Summer Evening) from the Perspective of the Topos per aspera ad astra
- Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland
According to the programme note authored by George Crumb, Makrokosmos III (Music for a Summer Evening) “projects a clearly articulated large expressive curve;” its three main parts (I, III, V) “might be interpreted as a kind of cosmic drama,” whereas the intermezzi-like inner section (II, IV) are more subjective in nature.
In this 1974 cycle, Crumb took up Beethoven’s topos per aspera ad astra, i.e., the path from darkness to light or from suffering to joy. The ideological context of this narrative is the modern conflict between religion and science, to which Crumb refers through philosophical and literary mottos, performance notes, musical allusions, quotations and self-quotations (with particular emphasis on Bach’s Fugue in D sharp minor, DWK II). The central idea of the work is the transition from Pascal’s dramatic “eternal silence of the infinite space” to the restored musica mundana, presented in Part V, “Music of the Starry Night,” containing the motif of galactic bells, derived from a modified quotation of Bach’s fugue. This new spiritual vision is brought by the Star-Child, whose birth is celebrated with awe in Part III (The Advent). The Star-Child seems to be Crumb’s interpretation of the Christian idea of the Second Coming. The good news it brings is the prospect of a quasi-nirvanic mystical union between man and cosmos, presented musically at the end of the work.
Keywords: George Crumb; musical hermeneutics; musical analysis; 20th century music; spirituality
According to the programme note authored by George Crumb, Makrokosmos III (Music for a Summer Evening) "projects a clearly articulated large expressive curve;" its three main parts (I, III, V) "might be interpreted as a kind of cosmic drama," whereas the intermezzi-like inner section (II, IV) are more subjective in nature. In this 1974 cycle, Crumb took up Beethoven's topos per aspera ad astra, i.e., the path from darkness to light or from suffering to joy. The ideological context of this narrative is the modern conflict between religion and science, to which Crumb refers through philosophical and literary mottos, performance notes, musical allusions, quotations and self-quotations (with particular emphasis on Bach's Fugue in D sharp minor, DWK II). The central idea of the work is the transition from Pascal's dramatic "eternal silence of the infinite space" to the restored musica mundana, presented in Part V, "Music of the Starry Night," containing the motif of galactic bells, derived from a modified quotation of Bach's fugue. This new spiritual vision is brought by the Star-Child, whose birth is celebrated with awe in Part III (The Advent). The Star-Child seems to be Crumb's interpretation of the Christian idea of the Second Coming. The good news it brings is the prospect of a quasi-nirvanic mystical union between man and cosmos, presented musically at the end of the work.
Accepted: February 27, 2026; Published: May 30, 2025 Show citation
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Selected references
- Crumb, George. Ancient Voices of Children; Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III). Programme note. Elektra Nonesuch 9-79149-2, 1990.Heller, Erich. The Disinherited Mind: Essays in Modern German Literature and Thought. Cambridge: Bowes & Bowes, 1975.
- Hinrichsen, Hans-Joachim, and Stefan Keym, eds. Dur versus Moll: Zur Geschichte der Semantik eines musikalischen Elementarkontrasts. Köln: Böhlau Verlag, 2020.Koyré, Alexandre. From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1957.
- Milosz, Czesław. The Land of Ulro. Translated by L. Iribarne. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1984.Tschuggnall, Peter, ed. Religion - Literatur - Künste II: Ein Dialog. Basel: Müller-Speiser, 2002.
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