was a center for contemporary art in Southeast Portland, Oregon. It was led by a desire to support artists, propose new modes of production, and stimulate the ongoing public discourse around art. This website serves as an archive of Yale Union’s programming from 2011 through 2021.

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WALTER MARCHETTI

EV

A Performance
Saturday, December 15, 8pm
$10

We say goodbye to the ephemeral distinction of two thousand and twelve with Walter Marchetti’s Natura Morta (1988). Composed for a grand piano covered in fruit and vegetables, Natura Morta is slow with no punctures, peaks, or destinies. There is so seemingly little to the composition that it inevitably invites the feeling that one could have made it, but don’t lose your head, one couldn’t have.

There can be no question that what makes Walter Marchetti’s Natura Morta safe from larvae and rust is not its commentary about composition or consumption, but its art, only its art. Walter Marchetti was born in Italy in 1931. A composer and artist, Marchetti is ear-marked for his associations and collaborations with Juan Hidalgo and his involvement with Zaj, a music and performance collective founded in Milan in 1959.

The piece will be performed by the pianist Patrik Csak. Thanks to Jordan Dykstra, who transcribed the piece (), and Alex Waterman for his avuncular consultations.

C, D, E, F, G, A, and B, with or without sharps or flats, are referred to in my music, though not respectively, as C, D, E, F, G, A, and B, with or without sharps or flats. C in any case is B’s uncle. D is the child of G’s second marriage, with A-sharp. A has no relatives, at present. D-sharp, E’s brother, has a liaison with F, who is also B’s sister. Therefore; if C is D, B-flat’s nom d’ artiste is G, and G in turn is known as A. The triad A-C-E is not on friendly terms with D-sharp and E-flat, also because E-flat, who is G’s cousin, takes an equally dim view of G-sharp, who, like F, is thought of not too highly by B-flat, D, F-sharp, G, and D-flat, but… A and A-sharp are frequently… far too frequently… seen together. In short, they are very much in love, even if everyone else views their situation as true and proper incest. Considering, moreover, that A is married to C-sharp, that C, who is also A-sharp’s father, was born from this marriage, and that this same C-sharp, as the lover of F, who is A’s mother, is likewise the natural father of A-sharp, who in addition to being C’s mother is also B-flat’s mother, the best to be said of A is that the circumstances surrounding her birth are particularly obscure. One doesn’t understand, moreover, how A-sharp’s father and A’s mother, who moreover are the brother and sister of G, manage to put up with this relationship; so there’s food for the strangest of rumors. A and A-sharp in any case continue to see one another, in utter indifference to everything and everyone, and their affair is by now on the lips of all. It would be better, and far less compromising for everyone else, if at least they moved a few octaves away. Especially in the light of being so badly spoken of by G-flat, E-flat, D and G as well. And even if this does nothing to diminish the fact that the latter two live somewhat dissolute lives. B alone leads an always moral and upright life that sets him apart from this hardly edifying snarl of relationships. E, F, and G-sharp, after all, are widely known to be just as licentious as A and A-sharp might perhaps be said to be. But for absolutely amoral behavior, D-flat stands out above all others; entangled in various ways with C, C-sharp, D, D-sharp, E, F, F-sharp, G, G-sharp, A, A-sharp, B, B-flat, A-flat, G-flat, and E-flat, he always presents himself as a very sorry figure, marked by a great lack of style. As far as everything else is concerned, my music is truly beautiful.

Walter Marchetti’s “In my music” was included in the liner notes of the Alga Marghen reissue of Natura Morta.