IV.

Intro I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. next

In some variations, the work can be slow and indirect. Different clamps and clothes pegs placed at different locations along the strings, for instance, create completely different sonorities, so these variations require more conventional musical practice and deliberation than ‘Variation I’. The score also declines to indicate how many preparations should be employed, whether these variations should be played with the bow or otherwise, and other such operative details. In order to develop a sense of the possibility of particular tools and techniques in these variations, I tried out as many possibilities as seemed worthwhile, becoming aware of other variables in the process.

2009: ‘The composer’ seemed amused at my ‘removal’ of the clothes pegs in ‘Variation IV’. Do you like it? If not, place a number of wooden and plastic spring-type clothes pegs on your fingers. Do you like it now?

In the previous variation (III), an inserted fragment from Verdi’s Rigoletto appears below the verbal instructions. A photocopied shadow below the second staff suggests that Patterson cut and pasted the fragment on top of the typewritten layer. Despite the fragment’s temporary, haphazard appearance, performing it presents no practical complications per se.

Subsequent appearances of Rigoletto, however, are less self-explanatory. Such is the case in ‘Variation IV’, where it appears in handwritten rhythms with accidentals, but without staff lines or any supplementary information about how it should be played. It seems to be pasted over a fully notated version on staff lines, remnants of which can be seen to the lower left of the variation. Possibly fixed pitches were eliminated, as  the clothes peg preparations  change the pitch of the strings, and therefore the melody, unpredictably.

In an effort to elucidate ‘Variation IV’, I sought other, similar fragments for guidance. I found a similar case was found in ‘Variation XIV’,  which also contained handwritten rhythms and accidentals but no staff lines, except those underneath the cut and pasted overlay. But ‘Variation XIV’ is equally cryptic; no more information is given than in ‘Variation IV’.

Adding to the mystery, the accidentals in ‘Variation XIV’ do not correspond to those in ‘Variation IV’. In the latter case, the accidentals are identical to those in the fully notated version of ‘Variation III’. More questions are raised than answered here — should the Rigoletto of ‘Variation XIV’ be played in a different key to the others? And if so, which one? And what of the numerous verbal instructions to play Rigoletto I find throughout the score, such as ‘Rigoletto’ in ‘Variations V’ and ‘IX’, ‘pizzicato Rigoletto full’ in ‘X’, or ‘Rigoletto rhythm’ in ‘XII’?