William Bolcom

Introduction
William Bolcom is an American composer and pianist born May 26th, 1938 in Seattle, Washington. Bolcom entered the University of Washington at the age of 11 to study composition and piano under George McKay, John Verrall, and Madame Berthe Jacobson. Bolcom's works from the early 1960s included an edited version of the serial technique. In later years he experimented more freely with different musical styles.

Work Analysis
The piece I will be analyzing is Black Host written in 1967. Black Host is written for a large pipe organ, chimes, cymbals, bass drum and electronic tape. This piece was premiered a year later at the University of Michigan by organist William Albright. Because this was a later piece Bolcom did not use serial techniques however still has a tonal themes mixing with tonal elements. Black Host also includes elements of ragtime which fit smoothly with the tonal and a tonal relationships. There are sections dedicated to two different hymns the Dies Irae and Donne Secours. The piece as a whole is made up of a passacaglia, a musical form from the early 17th century, a rag, and a chorale. The piece opens up with very intense repeated chords on the organ every couple seconds until we start to hear the electronic tape sounds. The opening is dissonant and has an evil feeling to it. We hear the percussions start to come in almost at the 5-minute mark and they sound like heavy footsteps in the background of the organ. The drums increase in speed before we hear a crash from the cymbals at 6 minutes. We then start to hear what sounds like church bells in the background. The rag theme enters around 10 minutes and features a recording being played on the electronic tape. This part sounds very disturbing and circus-like. Towards the end of the piece, we only hear drums and the organ before ending completely with a long sustained chord on the organ.

Comparisons
Because of his use of a tonal techniques, William Bolcom was influenced by a tonal composers such as Bartók and Roy Harris. His early compositions were influenced by composers such as Boulez, Stockhausen, and Berio, Berio, and Stockhausen both were pioneers with electronic music and Boulez was a composer of post-war times.

Observations
I really don't like the organ I think its unsettling and sounds evil so from a subjective point, I did not enjoy the piece. From an objective standpoint, the incorporation of ragtime and the use of the electronic tape made great contributions to the feeling and emotion of the piece. The different sections of the piece were easily identified and the a tonal and tonal relationships were heard clearly.