Architecture and Algorithms in the composition of Analogies

This paper presents an interdisciplinary approach to the composition of a piece for orchestra entitled Analogies. Composition involved the creation of musical analogies to structural characteristics found in architecture. More specifically, four movements were composed based on various structural facets of the Eiffel Tower. The paper discusses compositional issues that arose during the inception of the project and then reveals how the architectural analogies were created in each of the four movements. There are also brief remarks regarding an algorithmic composition program that was used throughout the composition process. Key-Words: algorithm, architecture, analogy, Eiffel Tower, random, stochastic, chaos, convergence, oscillation Architecture and Music: an active inquiry In the Summer of 1998, I had the pleasure of working with Iannis Xenakis’ graphic synthesis system, UPIC, at the Xenakis studios in Paris. Since studio time was limited, I often spent my non-studio time pursuing one of my favorite pastimes—namely, exploring architecture. As I thus moved back and forth between graphic synthesis and my encounters with architecture, I began to wonder about the potential of importing architectural drawings into the UPIC system. It was immediately apparent to me that the results of such a process could easily produce masses of sound which would exhibit none of the characteristic details of the architecture that I loved. The use of UPIC would clearly require some refinement; but my return to the USA precluded my pursuing it and left me with a lingering, more abstract question: how might a piece of music take on the characteristics of a work of architecture? Or to put it another way: how might a work of architecture function as a model for a musical composition?