Fraktalklang: (Selbst)ähnliche Formstrukturen in Helmut Lachenmanns Zweitem Streichquartett „Reigen seliger Geister”

This analysis examines similarities between different levels of the formal structure in Helmut Lachenmann’s second string quartet. The methodological approach presents a visual model of structural entities based on a categorization of sound structures that expands Lachenmann’s well-known »Klangtypen« (sound types), namely »sound processes«, »sound conditions« and »structure sounds«. It also describes three main types of categorical transformation relevant to the analysis, namely timbral transformation, transformation to impulse-categories, and transformation from horizontal to vertical sounds. An overview of the large-scale form reveals five main sections that introduce (1) flautato-, trill-/tremolo-, and noise-variants (all played »tenuto«), (2) »inverted pizzicati«/glissandi, (3) pizzicati, (4) pizzicato-chords and (5) »toneless« noise-variants respectively. The overall form might also be described as a process leading from »toneless« sounds to pitched sounds and back to »toneless« sounds again. This fadein/ fade-out of pitched sounds can also be observed on microformal levels, e.g. frequently in trill-variants, providing an example for formal self-similarity. In the main part of the analysis three sections comprising the first 19 bars of the quartet are analysed in detail, applying a hierarchical system of »supersounds« and »subsounds«. It can be argued that all three sections describe self-similar relationships with the large-scale form (and, consequently, among each other). The first five bars, for example, can be described as »tenuto«-sounds that are increasingly »perforated«, eventually resulting in short impulses – a process that is (self-)similar to the first three sections of the large-scale form. The further development of the piece up to bar 40 is considered a first major step towards what the composer has described as a »superinstrument« which combines all four instruments into a single sound body. Bars 35-40 in particular, can again be compared to the large-scale formal development, representing a first climax of four major realms of categorical transformation: horizontal to vertical, noise to pitch, solo to tutti, tenuto to impulse. Finally, the article argues that, although Lachenmann has probably conceived of the sound structures in his second string quartet in different terms than those introduced here, the revealed connections between different levels of the formal structure have been uncovered by his specific compositional methods