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retours irréguliers

English translation: irregular returns

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:retours irréguliers
English translation:irregular returns
Entered by: John Holland

14:24 Sep 24, 2015
French to English translations [PRO]
Music
French term or phrase: retours irréguliers
This is from a section of an academic text on Debussy's musical technique that quotes Harry Halbreich's biography of the composer:

Cette technique qui consiste selon Harry Halbreich en « une juxtaposition par imbrication d’éléments aux ***retours irréguliers*** donnant naissance par voie de prolifération organique à des éléments nouveaux »
tatyana000
Local time: 05:50
irregular returns
Explanation:
A similar quote about Debussy from Boulez quote has been translated as follows, on p. 217 of the following PDF of R.J.C. van Randwijck's thesis, available at http://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/27669/rand... :

"à partir d’une extrême rigidité de conception – d’une écriture pratiquement canonique – on arrive à une souplesse de réalisation qui se laisse couramment prendre pour une improvisation flexible, d’où une succession à sens unique se trouve totalement exclue grâce à ces retours irréguliers qui changent fondamentalement la perception de la forme canonique même.

[From an extreme rigidity of conception – of a practically canonical scripture – one arrives at a suppleness of realization which lets itself be widely taken for a flexible improvisation, from which a one-way succession finds itself totally excluded thanks to these irregular returns which change fundamentally the perception of the canonical form itself.]"

(Both the French and an English translation are provided in the thesis.)

Also used in this discussion of Debussy (at http://www.ex-tempore.org/eduardo/eduardo.htm ):
"This is often achieved through embellishment using both diatonic and chromatic neighbor tones and chords, e.g., back and forth motion or trills, and can occur in compound form. Discontinuity in the form of juxtapositions, interruptions, irregular and apparently random returns, “new starts,” and other devices to different degrees also diminish directional tendencies and create a nonlinear effect."

I believe this refers to the composer returning to or repeating a theme or melodic line not in regular way, as in the symmetrical themes of a fugue (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue ), but in a more unexpected or irregular way.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2015-09-24 15:39:14 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Please ignore the second occurrence of the word "quote" in my first sentence, and sorry for the typo.
Selected response from:

John Holland
France
Local time: 05:50
Grading comment
Thanks for the explanation!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4irregular returns
John Holland


  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
irregular returns


Explanation:
A similar quote about Debussy from Boulez quote has been translated as follows, on p. 217 of the following PDF of R.J.C. van Randwijck's thesis, available at http://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/27669/rand... :

"à partir d’une extrême rigidité de conception – d’une écriture pratiquement canonique – on arrive à une souplesse de réalisation qui se laisse couramment prendre pour une improvisation flexible, d’où une succession à sens unique se trouve totalement exclue grâce à ces retours irréguliers qui changent fondamentalement la perception de la forme canonique même.

[From an extreme rigidity of conception – of a practically canonical scripture – one arrives at a suppleness of realization which lets itself be widely taken for a flexible improvisation, from which a one-way succession finds itself totally excluded thanks to these irregular returns which change fundamentally the perception of the canonical form itself.]"

(Both the French and an English translation are provided in the thesis.)

Also used in this discussion of Debussy (at http://www.ex-tempore.org/eduardo/eduardo.htm ):
"This is often achieved through embellishment using both diatonic and chromatic neighbor tones and chords, e.g., back and forth motion or trills, and can occur in compound form. Discontinuity in the form of juxtapositions, interruptions, irregular and apparently random returns, “new starts,” and other devices to different degrees also diminish directional tendencies and create a nonlinear effect."

I believe this refers to the composer returning to or repeating a theme or melodic line not in regular way, as in the symmetrical themes of a fugue (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue ), but in a more unexpected or irregular way.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2015-09-24 15:39:14 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Please ignore the second occurrence of the word "quote" in my first sentence, and sorry for the typo.

John Holland
France
Local time: 05:50
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Thanks for the explanation!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  kashew
20 mins
  -> Thank you, kashew
agree  Gayle Wallimann
32 mins
  -> Thank you, Gayle
agree  Charles Davis: "Returns" is fine, and so is "irregular", so the combination should be OK, though the translation in that thesis is suspect: "scripture" for "écriture", for example.
46 mins
  -> Thanks Charles, and I agree that "scripture" is infelicitous.
agree  Yvonne Gallagher
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Gallagy
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