Prologue
Introduction
1. The Russian and the Paris Periods
2. Structural Characteristics
3. In Search of a New Harmonic Language
4. Scales and Intervallic Series that Defy Tonal Gravity
5. Glissandi and Ostinati: Two Extensively Used Techniques
6. Variants as Evolutionary Steps towards Orchestration
Epilogue
Appendices
Biography
Azadeh Atri is a pianist, composer, scholar, and essayist. She gained first-class honours for writing piano compositions of pedagogical intent, becoming the first composer to incorporate aspects of traditional Persian sources into pedagogical pieces. These works are available on the website of the National Library of Australia. She completed her doctoral degree at the Australian National University and her primary research area is the compositional methods of early 20th-century composers, particularly those of Nicolas Obouhow. Dr Atri’s research interests also include arts education and the professional development of arts teachers about which she has contributed an article. She is the author of philosophical essays and short stories, titled Deliriums.
“From the time of his arrival in France (in 1919), Obouhow’s unprecedented, exceptional uniqueness attracted attention. Nicolas Obouhow aimed to create a comprehensive spectacle with costumes and projected colours in a space which he himself conceived and built. Having created, at the beginning of the 20th century, a unique system of writing, he turns towards ‘ultra-chromatic’ densities, both harmonic and melodic, and allows himself truly original gestures and textures. This very short introduction is certainly disproportionate to the many questions which may arise from Obouhow’s work... Azadeh Atri’s research contributes most positively to our knowledge of this ‘Illuminé’.”
Jean-Michel Bardez
French musicologist, composer, pianist, visual artist, and director of collections
“Material on Obouhow is rather scarce—and even more so in English. Most of what is out there is biographical and anecdotal. This book is thus doubly valuable. It contains, for the first time, detailed analyses of compositional procedures. The analytical procedures are accompanied by many music examples, all illuminating the text. This work demonstrates the early days of writing for electronic instruments as well as an early approach to the construction and notation for such instruments. The translation of The Book of Life into English is another big bonus in this research. It is high time that a figure such as Obouhow is put under the microscope, as he is a fascinating and enigmatic composer.”
Prof. Emer. Larry Sitsky (AO)
The Australian National University
