Syllabus || Blank Sheet Music
Petrushka Opening - Thematic Stratification
Petrushka Chord
"The intersecting of inherently non-symmetrical diatonic elements with inherently non-diatonic symmetrical elements seems ... the defining principle of the musical language ... and the source of the unparalleled tension and conflicted energy in Le Sacre." - George Perle, 1977
Chords
Chords & "Linkage"
Chords & "Linkage" & Melodic Fragments
Ranking Phrases from Symmetrically Chromatic (high) to Diatonic (low)
Ben's Remix (based moving gradually from maximally symmetrical to maximally diatonic)
Beginning of Nacht - a cannon of [0 1 4]
A more in depth analysis of the pitch structure by J. Gillespie.
My marked up copy of Nacht, indicating the various instantiations of [0 1 4].
All six T and TI of [0 1 4] which include a C#.
Webern: "When that kind of unity [of 12-tone rows] is the basis, even the most fragmented sounds must have a completely coherent effect, and leave hardly anything to be desired as far as 'comprehensibility' is concerned. Composition with twelve notes has achieved a degree of complete unity that was not even approximately there before. It is clear that where relatedness and unity are omnipresent, comprehensibility is also guaranteed. And all the rest is dilettantism, nothing else, for all time, and always has been."
Score
A 12-tone matrix showing all possible 48 transpositions, inversions, retrogrades and retrograde inversions of Schoenberg's row from 33a. The four forms that Schoenberg uses in the opening are highlighted.
Row forms, mm. 1-6
Row forms in the score
Repeating pc diads when superimposing P4 and I6, from rows in mm. 1-7.
Inverted ordered interval contour taken from mm. 1-7.
"frozen" registers pitch-classes for the entire movement, symmetrical with respect to A4.
a histogram of pitches for the entire movement, again symmetrical with respect to A4.
My marked up copy of the score
Row transformations where the four trichords of P0 remain intact (though often with a different ordering). Also, P0 and RI1 produce the same four trichords in the same order!
Rhythmic analysis of the opening, showing a "theme" of different trichord speeds.
My take on the form of movement I, showing the symmetrical construction.
My analysis of the "sonic organisms" in movement I.
The Unanswered Question Score
The Program Note by Ives:
[The strings] are to represent "The Silences of the Druids - who Know, See and Hear Nothing." The trumpet intones "The Perennial Question of Existence," and states it in the same tone of voice each time. But the hunt for "The Invisible Answer" undertaken by the flutes and other human beings becomes gradually more active, faster and louder through an animando to a con fuoco. . . . "The Fighting Answerers," as the time goes on, and after a "secret conference," seem to realize a futility, and begin to mock "The Question" - the strife is over for the moment. After they disappear, "The Question" is asked for the last time, and the "Silences" are heard beyond in "Undisturbed Solitude."
Several contrasting characteristics make each of the three musical streams sonically unique and differentiable:
The relationship between the pitches in the flutes and the strings.
Some similarities in motivic contour between different partitions of the ensemble.
Constrasting sound masses in the opening section
Different variable rhythmical aspects of the tutti section
A MIDI-style representation rate of new note entrances in the transition from the opening section to the "tutti" section
Materials from Lecture
1/24 - Petrushka
Beethoven Opening Harmonic Analysis
Petrushka Opening - Thematic Stratification
Petrushka Chord
1/26 - Rite of Spring, mvn III
Stravinsky's 2 Piano Version"The intersecting of inherently non-symmetrical diatonic elements with inherently non-diatonic symmetrical elements seems ... the defining principle of the musical language ... and the source of the unparalleled tension and conflicted energy in Le Sacre." - George Perle, 1977
Chords
Chords & "Linkage"
Chords & "Linkage" & Melodic Fragments
Ranking Phrases from Symmetrically Chromatic (high) to Diatonic (low)
Ben's Remix (based moving gradually from maximally symmetrical to maximally diatonic)
2/7 - Prime Form; Nacht
Steps to Finding a set's Prime Form (from John Rahn, Basic Atonal Theory)Beginning of Nacht - a cannon of [0 1 4]
2/9 - Nacht from Pierrot Lunaire
Giraud's poems that form the text of each of the 21 movements.A more in depth analysis of the pitch structure by J. Gillespie.
My marked up copy of Nacht, indicating the various instantiations of [0 1 4].
2/16 - Webern Opus 5 No. 3
My marked up copy of movement 3, indicating the various instantiations of [0 1 4] and [0 1 5].All six T and TI of [0 1 4] which include a C#.
2/21 - Twelve-Tone and Schoenberg Opus 33a
Schoenberg:"Composition with twelve tones has no other aim than comprehensibility"Webern: "When that kind of unity [of 12-tone rows] is the basis, even the most fragmented sounds must have a completely coherent effect, and leave hardly anything to be desired as far as 'comprehensibility' is concerned. Composition with twelve notes has achieved a degree of complete unity that was not even approximately there before. It is clear that where relatedness and unity are omnipresent, comprehensibility is also guaranteed. And all the rest is dilettantism, nothing else, for all time, and always has been."
Score
A 12-tone matrix showing all possible 48 transpositions, inversions, retrogrades and retrograde inversions of Schoenberg's row from 33a. The four forms that Schoenberg uses in the opening are highlighted.
Row forms, mm. 1-6
2/23 - Webern op. 27 movement 2
A 12-tone matrix showing all possible 48 transpositions, inversions, retrogrades and retrograde inversions of Webern's row. The eight forms used in this movement are highlighted.
Row forms in the score
Repeating pc diads when superimposing P4 and I6, from rows in mm. 1-7.
Inverted ordered interval contour taken from mm. 1-7.
"frozen" registers pitch-classes for the entire movement, symmetrical with respect to A4.
a histogram of pitches for the entire movement, again symmetrical with respect to A4.
2/28 - Webern op. 24 movement 1
The 12-tone matrix for movement I.
My marked up copy of the score
Row transformations where the four trichords of P0 remain intact (though often with a different ordering). Also, P0 and RI1 produce the same four trichords in the same order!
Rhythmic analysis of the opening, showing a "theme" of different trichord speeds.
My take on the form of movement I, showing the symmetrical construction.
3/1 - Quator pour la Fin du Temps, movement 1
Score.My analysis of the "sonic organisms" in movement I.
3/6 - Ives - The Unanswered Question
Final: Recording by Pollini | ScoreThe Unanswered Question Score
The Program Note by Ives:
[The strings] are to represent "The Silences of the Druids - who Know, See and Hear Nothing." The trumpet intones "The Perennial Question of Existence," and states it in the same tone of voice each time. But the hunt for "The Invisible Answer" undertaken by the flutes and other human beings becomes gradually more active, faster and louder through an animando to a con fuoco. . . . "The Fighting Answerers," as the time goes on, and after a "secret conference," seem to realize a futility, and begin to mock "The Question" - the strife is over for the moment. After they disappear, "The Question" is asked for the last time, and the "Silences" are heard beyond in "Undisturbed Solitude."
Several contrasting characteristics make each of the three musical streams sonically unique and differentiable:
The relationship between the pitches in the flutes and the strings.
Some similarities in motivic contour between different partitions of the ensemble.
3/8 - Ives/Nancarrow
Ives' strategies for manipulating quoted materials:- Metrical superimposition - Score | Sound
- Temporal Warping - Score | Sound
- Polyrhythms / Pitch Clusters - Sound
- Rhythmic/Pitch Augmentation/Diminution - Score | Sound
3/13 - Varese - Octandre
Different variable rhythmical aspects of the opening flute "solo"
Constrasting sound masses in the opening section
Different variable rhythmical aspects of the tutti section
A MIDI-style representation rate of new note entrances in the transition from the opening section to the "tutti" section
