UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

Date: August 06, 2007

I, Joseph Williams ,
hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of:
Master of Music
in:
CCM Division of Composition, Musicology and Theory (Theory)
It is entitled:
Discontinuous Continuity?: Structural Analysis of Sofia
Gubaidulinas String Quartets

This work and its defense approved by:
Chair: Dr. Catherine Losada, Ph.D.
Dr. David Carson Berry, Ph.D.
Dr. Robert Zierolf, Ph.D.
Discontinuous Continuity?:
Structural Analysis of Sofia Gubaidulinas String Quartets
A thesis submitted to the
Division of Graduate Studies and Research
of the University of Cincinnati
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF MUSIC
in the Division of Composition, Musicology, and Theory
at the College-Conservatory of Music
2007
by
Joseph Williams
B.M. Stephen F. Austin State University, 2004
Committee Chair: Dr. Catherine Losada, Ph.D.
iii
ABSTRACT
Since the early 1980s, the majority of studies on Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina (b.
1931) have centered on her historical influence. These writings, although necessary and
interesting, have neglected any detailed analytical approaches in favor of aesthetic descriptions
of her experimental new sounds and manipulations of proportions in large scale form. In
particular, these studies have placed considerable stress on the discontinuous nature of her
compositions, characterized as having episodic forms and lack of development. This study
demonstrates how Gubaidulinas music is not as discontinuous as it first appears. Utilizing the
composers four string quartets as specific examples, the author shows in detail how, although
seemingly episodic on the surface, they each contain streams of continuity as a result of similarly
conceived structural processes that organize the various musical elements, including pitch,
rhythm, and large-scale form. Through an analysis of these quartets, the author illustrates the
processes at work and demonstrates the specific manner in which each process aids in
establishing continuity and coherence throughout.
The first quartet illustrates the process of expansion, in which pitches (and sometimes
rhythms) are organized in one of two ways. First, they may radiate outward in pitch space from
some central point or, second, they may expand outward in pitch space using some interval as a
measure of distance. The second quartet utilizes inversional symmetry as a means of organizing
large collections of pitches about a single asserted axis. This quartet also demonstrates the
process of gap-fill, in which an interval is established and gradually filled in chromatically. The
third quartet presents an organizing principle based on the intervals inherent to the pitch
collection. Specific intervals are assigned particular functions in order to structurally arrange the
iv
individual pitches both linearly and harmonically. In this case, ic5 and ic1 act as structural
markers between sections and as a means of differentiating between individual voices. Finally,
the fourth quartet illustrates an organizing process based on sound masses. These collections are
shown to mutate into one another via transformations.
v
vi
CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES viii
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1
The Religion of the Avant-Garde: Classical vs. Experimental 2
Gubaidulinas Place in the Avant-Garde 11
Elements of Individual Style 15
The Four String Quartets 21
CHAPTER TWO ANALYSIS OF STRING QUARTET NO. 1 (1971): 24
EXPANSION PROCESSES
Wedge Expansion 27
Additive Expansion 32
Conclusion 37
CHAPTER THREE ANALYSIS OF STRING QUARTET NO. 2 (1987): 39
GAP-FILL PROCESSES AND INVERSIONAL SYMMETRY
Section A 41
Section B 46
Conclusion 52
CHAPTER FOUR ANALYSIS OF STRING QUARTET NO. 3 (1987): 53
INTERVALLIC DEFINITION
Hierarchical and Formal Separation 55
Motivic Development and Transformations 61
Conclusion 65
vii
CHAPTER FIVE ANALYSIS OF STRING QUARTET NO. 4 (1993): 67
VERTICALIZED SOUND MASSES
The Primary Pitch Collections 69
Relating Individual Sound Masses 72
Conclusion 79
EPILOGUE CONCLUDING REMARKS 81
BIBLIOGRAPHY 84
MUSICAL FIGURES 88
viii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1: Diagram of Avant-Garde dichotomy 88
Figure 2.1: Abstract example of additive expansion 89
Figure 2.2: Viola (mm. 1-2) 90
Figure 2.3: Violin II (R1, mm. 1-4) 91
Figure 2.4: Wedge expansion from F#6 (R8, mm. 3-10) 92
Figure 2.5: Wedge expansion from C#4 in violin I, violin II, and cello (R6, mm. 4-7) 93
Figure 2.6: Wedge expansion from E5 in violin II (R7, mm. 2-9) 94
Figure 2.7: Wedge expansion from D4 (R21, mm. 1-15) 95
Figure 2.8a: Violin II and cello (R25, mm. 1-11) 97
Figure 2.8b: Reduction of cello (R25, mm. 1-11) 100
Figure 2.9: Viola (R1, mm. 1-2) 101
Figure 2.10: Violin II, viola, and cello (R4, mm. 1-4) 102
Figure 2.11: Cello (R1, mm. 1-4) 103
Figure 2.12: Additive expansion in rhythm and pitch (R48, mm. 4-15) 104
Figure 2.13: Wedge expansion and additive expansion in violin I and cello (R42-43) 106
Figure 3.1: Emphasis on G4/G5 dyad in m. 1 107
Figure 3.2a: Violin I/cello motive (R5, m. 1) 108
Figure 3.2b: Gap-fill process in violin I (R5-15) 108
Figure 3.3: New violin I/cello motive (R15) 109
Figure 3.4: Moment of gap-fill completion in violin I motive (R20) 110
Figure 3.5: R22-25 111
Figure 3.6: R21-22 112
Figure 3.7: Reduction of R21-22 with inversional symmetry in voice leading 113
Figure 3.8: Reduction of R25-27 with inversional symmetry in voice leading 114
Figure 4.1: Formal diagram of Third String Quartet 115
Figure 4.2: Primary set verticalized as sonorities (R49) 116
Figure 4.3: Melody and accompaniment in opening measures 117
Figure 4.4: Violin II accompaniment with second melodic segment (R1-2) 118
Figure 4.5: Alternation of primary-set melodic material and ic5 structural divisions (R13-14) 119
Figure 4.6: Ic5 structural divider (circled) in viola and cello (R55-56) 120
Figure 4.7: Structural opposition between ic5 (R10) and ic1 (R11) 121
Figure 4.8: Structural opposition between ic5 and ic1 (R15-17) 122
Figure 4.9: Simultaneous structural opposition between ic5 and ic1 (R50) 124
Figure 4.10: Melodic/accompanimental emphasis of ic1 and [G#, A, Bb] (R23) 125
Figure 4.11: Linear version of primary set replicating pitch-classes from first sonority 125
at R49 (R52)
Figure 4.12: Violin I melody replicating cello pitches from R52 (R53-56) 126
Figure 4.13: Motivic development using <+4, 1> (R58-60) 127
Figure 4.14: Motivic development of violin I melody using <+4, 1> (R66-68) 128
ix
Figure 4.15: Replication of primary-set cello pitch-classes from R52 (R71-73) 129
Figure 4.16: Interaction between ic5 and ic1 (R37-38) 130
Figure 5.1: B-viola four-measure ostinato pattern 131
Figure 5.2: Reduction of recorded ensemble pitches into verticalized sound masses 131
Figure 5.3: First occurrence of Live Collection in each voice of live ensemble 132
Figure 5.4: Pitch-space graph of violin I (R26) 133
Figure 5.5: Pitch-space graph of violin I (R14) 134
Figure 5.6: Pitch-space graph of live ensemble (R34-41) 135
Figure 5.7: Reduction of lower duet illustrating ascending thirds (R36-41) 137
1
Jonathan Kramer, Beyond Unity: Toward an Understanding of Musical Postmodernism, in Concert
Music, Rock, and Jazz since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies, ed. Elizabeth West Marvin and Richard Hermann
(Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 1995), 23.
1
Chapter 1
Introduction
Since the early 1980s, the majority of studies on Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina (b.
1931) have centered on her historical influence. These writings, although necessary and
interesting, have neglected any detailed analytical approaches in favor of aesthetic descriptions
of her experimental new sounds and manipulations of proportions in large-scale form. The
formal studies have been informed specifically by the composers intense beliefs in the religious
significance and mystical nature of numbers along with their proportional relations to one
another when applied to rhythmic and sectional durations.
In particular, these studies have placed significant stress on the discontinuous nature of
her compositions. Jonathan Kramer characterized discontinuous music as having episodic
forms and lack of development.
1
Gubaidulinas musical style has often been described in this
exact manner. The disjunct, micro-chromatic pitch structures and sudden shifts in harmony,
rhythm, and texture create a musical environment that can be disturbing to an unwary listener.
The goal of this study is to demonstrate that this music is not as discontinuous as it appears.
Gubaidulinas four string quartets, although episodic on the surface, contain streams of
continuity as a result of similarly conceived structural processes that organize the various
musical elements, including pitch, rhythm, and large-scale form. Through an analysis of these
2
quartets, I will illustrate the processes at work and demonstrate the specific manner in which
each process aids in establishing continuity and coherence throughout.
The following discussion will place the composer in the proper historical and stylistic
context. It will first present the general attributes of the post-1945 avant-garde movement
followed by an overview of Gubaidulinas life as a Soviet citizen composing in this vein,
including considerations of her particular aesthetic views and a survey of the basic
characteristics of her individual style. Finally, it will address the problems of using conventional
analytic tools in a technical explanation of Gubaidulinas works along with my proposed
solution.
The Religion of the Avant-Garde: Classical vs. Experimental
One of the most salient features of twentieth-century musical aesthetics is the multiplicity
of approaches that arose throughout the era. In earlier historical periods a common aesthetic
approach was often embraced, but aesthetic approaches of the twentieth century seemed to
fragment into countless possible methods of creating artworks. I will focus on the particular
manner in which a dichotomy arose within the avant-garde school of composers in the years
following World War II.
Some composers were determined to find ways to control the musical elements in a strict
fashion in order to create a coherent whole; other composers, however, set their sights on
creating a phenomenological moment-by-moment experience of the work, thereby disregarding
the importance traditionally placed on the artwork as a cohesive whole. Because the former were
more traditional in their overall approach, I refer to them as classical avant-gardists while the
2
Leonard B. Meyer, Music, the Arts, and Idea (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967), 210. It should
be pointed out that Meyers duality is not universally accepted within scholarly circles. Ivo Supii specifically
characterizes the duality as between matter and form rather than between Meyers material and content.
(Matter and Form in Music, International Review of Music Aesthetics and Sociology 1, no. 2 (December 1970):
157.)
3
latter group are the experimental avant-gardists. Although this dichotomy over-simplifies a
period of music history that is characterized as one of the most multi-variant, these labels are
meant to distinguish the basic artistic motivations of composers writing in the years following
WWII until 1975. They were either focused on producing a holistically coherent work or they
focused on details while unconcerned with the overall map of the piece. The following
discussion will present a more detailed treatment of this dichotomy along with a general
historical background.
Leonard Meyer, in his discussion of the aesthetic changes in the twentieth century, posits
that a dichotomy arose in the artistic motivations of composers. He states:
Changes in aesthetic attitudes are matters of emphasis, having to do with what is
considered to be the main focus of appreciative attentionthe locus of artistic
significance and value. . . . Aesthetics and criticism were dualistic. On the one
hand were the materials and form of a work of art, the means; on the other hand
were subject matter, expression and meaning, the end or goal. The former were
significant because they made the latter possible. If one asked what a work of art
was about, the answer was almost always in terms of subject matter or whatever
it was thought to express, symbolize, or signify.
2
This duality of focus, either on the means or the goal of a work of art, characterized the radical
changes that occurred in compositional practice. Specifically, in the first half of the century, the
two stylistic trends could be distinguished in terms of their relation to past styles. Compositions
organized primarily on tonal procedures were considered traditional while works utilizing novel
strategies were considered avant-garde.
3
Ibid., 218.
4
Susan Sontag, Against Interpretation (New York: Noonday Press, 1966), 142. Further claims of novelty
as the primary characteristic of avant-garde art can be found in Renato Poggioli, The Theory of the Avant-Garde
(New York: Harper & Row, 1968), 214, and Frank X. Mauceri, From Experimental Music to Musical Experiment,
Perspectives of New Music 35, no. 1 (1997): 191.
5
Marina Lobanova, Musical Style and Genre: History and Modernity, trans. Kate Cook (Amsterdam:
Harwood Academic Publishers Association, 2000), 22.
4
The primary characteristic of avant-garde art is the focus on novelty. According to
Meyer:
In the absence of viable critical criteria, the one thing that could be assessed was
whether the artists method, style, or idea was new. Novelty, often mistakenly
confused with originality from which it sprang, gradually became a criterion for
judging works of art. And this gave further impetus to the search for the newfor
novelty for its own sake. . . . The new is valuable because it enlarges the
sensibilities and awareness of the art audience.
3
This is further elaborated by Susan Sontag: New art is valued for the novel state it induces in
the spectator and for what it reveals to him about himself, the physical world, or simply his way
of reacting to paintings.
4
The intense aesthetic focus on novelty linked composers across national borders creating
what could be called an international style. In other words, the ability to be novel and intriguing
initiated a commonality between artistsunity formed from disunity. In her book Musical Style
and Genre, Marina Lobanova states that in the twentieth century with the rejection of the
canonical system of thinking in culture, artists acquired an exclusive right to experiment. . . . Art
continued to develop under the banner of discovery.
5
In fact, this aesthetic carried a mystical
and religious character:
What had unified [the avant-garde composers] was a radicalism of aesthetic
purpose. For the modernist tradition of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the
great sin against the human spirit was that of boredom. It was a sin brilliantly and
definitively epitomized by Baudelaire in his great poem, Le Voyage.
6
David Osmond-Smith, New Beginnings: The International Avant-Garde, 194562, in The Cambridge
History of Twentieth-Century Music, ed. Nicholas Cook and Anthony Pople (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2004), 361.
7
Joaquim M. Benitez, Avant-Garde or Experimental?: Classifying Contemporary Music, International
Review of the Aesthetics of Sociology of Music 9, no. 1 (June 1978): 63. The distinction between these two groups
has sometimes been specifically referred to terms of choice vs. chance. (See Glenn Watkins, Soundings: Music in
the Twentieth Century (New York: Schirmer Books, 1988) and Paul Griffiths, Modern Music: The Avant Garde
since 1945 (London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1981).)
5
Repetitions and returnsforms that achieved closure by recapitulation, by
submitting gratefully to the gravitational force of home keys, styles that
knowingly acknowledged that desire through the manipulation of neo-baroque
and neoclassical topoiwere not merely pardonable indulgences; they were
denials of the quintessential potential of human life. They ministeredeither
resignedly or in calculationto the regressive streak present in every human and
massively encouraged by the popular culture of the years after the Second World
War.
6
A new dichotomy emerged in the latter half of the century. While neo-classical stylistic
trends partially continued within certain circles of composers, the general school of avant-
garde composers fragmented into two distinct groupsclassical and experimental avant-
gardists.
7
This duality was analogous to the split that occurred around the turn of the twentieth
century between the traditionalists and the general avant-gardists. In other words, the classical
avant-garde primarily focused on the end, while the experimental avant-garde leaned toward the
individual means. Figure 1.1 presents a diagram summarizing the previous discussion.
The classical avant-garde, in its earliest form, was associated with total serialism. In
order to present an idea through musical means, complete composer-control over all musical
elements was required:
At the end of World War II the musical world was eager to pursue somewhat
selectively the explorations of the first half of the century. . . . If tonal
Neoclassicism, following a final flourish in the late 1940s, was finally laid to rest
with Stravinskys The Rakes Progress (19481951), the Serialism of Schoenberg
and his followers, which had been pronounced a dead end by many a critic in the
1930s and 1940s, was now taken up with an individualizing touch by composers
8
Watkins, 506.
9
John Cage, Silence (Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1967), 69.
6
of various nationalities and stylistic inclinations. The message their new works
carried was that any aesthetic is capable of being reinterpreted and vitalized in
highly personal terms. The early recognition that serial organization need not
imply a style was a revelation to many, and the consequent fervor of the
subscription cannot help but suggest that in part it was a reflection of an almost
compulsive search for order following a period of world-wide chaos.
8
In fact, it is somewhat ironic that what originally began as a reaction against the traditional
compositional strategies via focus on altering the musical materials (i.e., the means) eventually
became aesthetically associated with the more content-oriented (i.e., less experimental) artistic
perspective.
The experimental avant-garde, on the other hand, continued to focus on new means of
musical expression without any particular holistic goal. John Cage stated: What is the nature of
an experimental action? It is simply an action the outcome of which is not foreseen. It is
therefore very useful if one had decided that sounds are to come into their own, rather than being
exploited to express sentiments or ideas of order.
9
To composers of experimental music, the
classical avant-garde tendencies were too stifling and narrow. They believed an artist should not
be concerned with attempting to express some point in the final product; rather, the work of art
should simply be purged of all composer-control.
Following the 1950s, the classical avant-garde gradually began to incorporate more than
just serial techniques. The classical avant-garde, in the specific way I use the term in this
study, came to be associated with any non-traditional method of organizing and structuring
sound. Watkins elaborated: Following a mid-century crisis that seemingly demanded that a
choice be made between Serialism and Neoclassicism, we have come to the point where we are
10
Watkins, 688.
11
The especially self-conscious nature of the classical avant-garde movement is made evident by the fact
composers began writing more and more about their own music. Essentially, there seemed to be a particular need to
both describe and justify individual organizational techniques. See Lucian Krukowski, Hegel, Progress, and the
Avant-Garde, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 44, no. 3 (1986), 279 and Watkins, 52023.
12
Mauceri notes that the avant-garde is characterized as radically new but it is also posited as an historical
category, a tradition in its own right. But as pointed out by art critic Harold Rosenberg, The new cannot become a
tradition without giving rise to unique contradictions, myths, absurdities. The irony of this historical category is the
attempt to construct a genre out of work that by its own definition is radically different and highly individualistic.
The whole of this study follows from this sentiment in an effort to formulate a fairly complete picture of
Gubaidulinas individual style within the context of her avant-garde organizational procedures.
7
comfortable with the wealth of our various alternatives, and an anything goes attitude
prevails.
10
The primary aesthetic focus on novelty, however, also posed new compositional
problems that required resolution. Experiments in new sounds and performance strategies forced
composers to create novel means of organizing sound. On a local level, melodic and harmonic
parameters required new systems of arrangement in order to sustain any sense of coherence. At
the same time, large-scale properties such as rhythmic and metric proportions as well as formal
dimensions also demanded some type of organized structure. After World War II, locating a
means of unifying the various elements in a work instantly became the primary concern of
classical avant-garde artists everywhere.
11
Although it is impossible to formulate a specific
stylistic trend,
12
I will attempt to describe certain overarching concerns that arose in the
compositional strategies in post-1945 classical avant-garde musical works.
In structuring local-level elements (i.e., melody and harmony), an interesting pattern of
stylistic influence arose among composers. Because of the nearly infinite possibilities of creating
art, a similarly infinite array of potential organizational apparatuses could be conceived. The
modernist movement saw a number of these enacted at some time; however, memories of past
13
Lobanova, 158 (italics original).
14
Harold Bloom, The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry (London: OUP, 1973), 5.
8
structural means were often invoked. In other words, although composers were constantly
seeking novel musical properties, they often reached, either consciously or unconsciously, to the
past for inspiration. Lobanova calls this mixed style:
The change of the musical paradigm . . . affected the new style conception:
from polystylistics proper where one could detect fairly precise popular
principles of quotation and allusion, composers moved to a different
interpretation of style. The new stage was connected with the search for organics:
tradition, which was offered point-blank in stuck-together collages and lost its
meaning in them, was included more and more mediately and subtly in the style
model of the composition. It was precisely on this difficult path of reflected
transformation, accumulation of the traditional, that innovative treatments were
found. The overcoming of distancing in the view and interpretation of the other
style provided a vital link of the ages within an artistic work. Today the mixed
style is not a means of polemic with attitudes of the preceding period, but a new
system of artistic communication which admits of a multitude of individual
treatments while preserving a connection with tradition.
13
Thus, although the avant-garde aesthetic insisted on novelty and creative originality at the center
of the role of art, it was ironically dependent on the art of the past. The property of intertextuality
between the present and the past was originally posited by Harold Bloom in The Anxiety of
Influence: We need to stop thinking of any poet as an autonomous ego, however solipsistic the
strongest of poets may be. Every poet is a being caught up in a dialectical relationship
(transference, repetition, error, communication) with another poet or poets.
14
In other words, for
any poet (or composer), the interpreter (or analyst) must always realize how the works from the
past both influence and even define the works of the present.
The mixed style and anxiety of influence can be illustrated with serialism. Although
the pitches are arranged in such a way as to avoid any sense of pitch centricity or tonality,
15
Quoted in David Cope, New Directions in Music, sixth ed. (Dubuque, IA: Brown & Benchmark, 1993),
66.
16
See Joseph Straus, Remaking the Past: Musical Modernism and the Influence of the Tonal Tradition
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990); Kevin Korsyn, Towards a New Poetics of Musical
Influence, Music Analysis 10, no. 12 (MarchJuly 1991), 372; and Mark Evan Bonds, After Beethoven:
Imperatives of Originality in the Symphony (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996).
17
For a discussion of the various types of utilizing past works, see Meyer, Music, the Arts, and Ideas,
193208.
9
composers continued to limit themselves with their reliance upon the same pitches and rhythms
used for centuries prior. In fact, the necessity of arranging the pitches as a linear row
automatically retains a sense of hundreds of years of melodic organization. Ben Johnston goes so
far as to present the twelve-tone pitch limit itself as unnatural:
Over the whole of the historical period of instrumental music, Western music has
based itself upon an acoustical lie. In our time this liethat the normal musical
ear hears twelve equal intervals within the span of an octavehas led to the
impoverishment of pitch usage in our music. In our frustration at the complex
means it takes to wrest yet a few more permutations from a closed system, we
have attempted the abandonment of all systems, forgetting that we need never
have closed our system. . . . In our laziness, when we changed over to the twelve-
tone system, we just took the pitches of the previous music as though we were
moving into a furnished apartment and had no time to even take the pictures off
the wall.
15
Most avant-garde composers attempted to negate this misreading of the past, but
present-day music theorists have demonstrated how modern art music is reliant upon the past
traditions of tonality.
16
Other composers, however, deliberately attempted to exploit the past in
an attempt to create novelty. This could be done by simulating or modeling a past style, or even
borrowing or quoting directly from a specific composition.
17
Gubaidulina, in her creative efforts, has written works that avoid past influence as well as
works that consciously utilize themes or styles from the past. For instance, The Seven Last
Words of Jesus Christ (1982), Offertorium (1980), and Meditation on the Bach Chorale Vor
18
Sofia Gubaidulina and Vera Lukomsky, Sofia Gubaidulina: My Desire is Always to Rebel, to Swim
Against the Stream! Perspectives of New Music 36, no. 1 (1998): 26.
19
Lobanova, 12223 (italics mine). This lack of cause-and-effect connections adds to the notion that
avant-garde music is fragmented and discontinuous, a position to which this study stands antithetically.
10
deinen Thron tret ich hiermit (1993) all feature a quoted statement from J. S. Bach (16851750)
or Heinrich Schtz (15851672). For Gubaidulina, these quotations are meant to symbolize some
aspect of the work rather than to imitate a past style: I used this theme [of King Frederick the
Great of Prussia in Offertorium] not to refer to the style of Frederick the Great (or Bach, who
developed the same theme in his Musical Offering), but to symbolize the idea of sacrifice.
18
As for the large-scale formal properties of avant-garde music, ingenuity abounded.
Although mixed procedures were quite evident, rhythmic and formal attributes were subjected
to numerous experimental attempts at novel organization. Lobanova states:
The search for new musical syntax was connected with the idea of the
fundamental unlimitedness of musical and objective time and the full or partial
openness of musical form. This is an important symptom of the rejection of
classical conceptions of time organisation [sic] and a single interpretation of
artistic time as opposed to physical time. As a result there arose a plurality of
individual treatments which broke completely or partially with the familiar cause-
and-effect connections of the classical type. . . . The consecutive application of
simultaneous forms meant the interconvertibility of many musical parameters, the
formation of new dimensions, and a new attitude to musical space and time
structures.
19
In other words, the musical elements on the local level were more limited and dependent on
previous compositional thought. Formal proportions, being temporal in nature, were more easily
transformed in the classical avant-garde because of recent philosophical trends that had
reconsidered the nature of time itself.
To summarize the discussion thus far, the main concept of the classical avant-garde
aesthetic was based on creation and novelty; the means of achieving it, on the other hand, were
20
Griffiths, 15.
11
not so straightforward. The musical elements basically necessitated recourse to the past because
of the nature of music itself. Composers were forced to conceptualize new methods of
presentation and organizational procedures. Formal manipulation was also necessary in order for
classical avant-garde composers to produce novel works with little or no connection to previous
thinking. Into this musical environment, Sofia Gubaidulina was born.
Gubaidulinas Place in the Avant-Garde
For a composer interested in the avant-garde aesthetic, Soviet Russia was a less than
ideal environment. Paul Griffiths describes compositional practice in the years immediately
following World War II as such:
In the U. S. S. R., too, the symphony was being cultivated assiduously, though as
a genre suited to the optimistic and aesthetically conservative doctrine of socialist
realism . . . . The newly severe interpretation of socialist realism, announced to
musicians by Andrey Zhdanov in January 1948, obliged composers not only in
the U. S. S. R. but throughout the communist bloc to address their music to the
people in the simplest and most direct terms. Thus musicians from eastern Europe
were effectively prevented from participating in avant-garde movement for some
years. . . . But equally and more widely significant was the tension set up between
musical radicalism and commitment to political revolution.
20
Further description is given by Lobanova:
The concept of modern music, like that of world musical culture, hung around in
the Soviet Union for a painfully long time: the rich contacts of the twenties were
replaced by a long bout of delirium. After the Russian Association of
Proletarian Musicians turned into the official censor in 1930, having established
together with the NKVD (later the KGB) and the Communist Party control over
musical culture, achieved the banning of ideologically hostile organisations
(first and foremost, the Association of Contemporary Music), publishers,
magazines and compositions, and repressed some of its political opponents as
enemies of the people, while forcing others to renounce their convictions,
21
Lobanova, 29.
22
The latter three are collectively referred to as the great three. However, both Volkonsky and Karamanov
were essential in cultivating the experimental school of composers and must also be included in any list of
influential avant-garde Soviet composers. See Levon Hakobian, Music of the Soviet Age: 19171987 (Stockholm,
Sweden: Melos Music Literature, 1998), 25661.
23
Svetlana Savenko, Valentin Silvestrovs Lyrical Universe, in Underground Music from the Former
U.S.S.R., ed. Valeria Tsenova, trans. Romela Kohanovskaya (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1997), 67.
12
connections with the West were broken, as were the threads linking the past,
present and future in Russian culture. All modernistic, formalistic,
decadent, religious, bourgeois, and reactionary works were banned from
cultural usage. . . . East-West was interpreted by official ideology in accordance
with the canons of mythological description as them and us, left and right,
bad and good.
21
Thus, experimental art of any type was strictly forbidden and censored from both publication and
performance.
Despite the stifling socio-political environment, the avant-garde aesthetic continued to
thrive in some academic circles. Specifically, five graduate students came to be known as the
primary leaders of avant-garde music in Moscow: Andrey Volkonsky, Alemdar Karamanov,
Edison Denisov, Alfred Schnittke, and Sofia Gubaidulina.
22
It was they who began the intensive
assimilation of the avant-gardist musical idioms. The Sturm und Drang of the young composers
allowed within a short span of time to overcome the local confinement of Soviet music and
disrupt its actually existing isolation despite the world-wide recognition of Dmitry Shostakovich,
Sergei Prokofiev, and Aram Khachaturyan.
23
The influence of Western compositional practice is apparent in the works of these
composers. Nevertheless, the Soviet classical avant-garde composers, in general, acquired their
own unique stylistic traits. Joel Sachs attributes this to the fact that they received the new
24
Joel Sachs, Notes on the Soviet Avant-Garde, in Russian and Soviet Music: Essays for Boris Schwarz,
ed. Malcolm H. Brown, Russian Music Studies, vol. 11 (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1984), 307. He clarifies
his claim further, stating: They did not have strong preconceptions, because they did not participate in the agony
associated with the evolution in the West of those techniques, and thus escaped the strongly partisan atmosphere so
often transmitted in composition training. [They] seem, therefore, to have bypassed the aggressive modernity that
can be found in many Western composers of their generation.
25
Gubaidulina, Lukomsky, My Desire is Always to Rebel, 16.
26
Gubaidulina gives specific examples of blatant censorship of both Schnittkes and her own music in Sofia
Gubaidulina and Dorothea Redepenning, Sofia Gubaidulina: An Interview with Dorothea Redepenning, in
Contemporary Composers on Contemporary Music, ed. Elliott Schwartz, Barry Childs, and James Fox (New York:
Da Capo Press, 1998), 44950 and idem, Sofia Gubaidulina: Into the Labyrinth of the Soul, in The Voice of Music:
Conversations with Composers of Our Time, ed. Anders Beyer and Jean Christensen (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000),
4547.
13
Western techniques more or less in one burst, at a time when they, already experienced young
composers, could pick and choose from them at will.
24
Of the five composers listed above, Gubaidulina is the only one who never held a
university position. She was encouraged to pursue a career in composition, despite her affinity
toward anti-communist artistic trends:
And although we were accepted to the graduate school [in 1954], the
Conservatory officials declared that, despite our giftedness and capacity for hard
work, we had chosen the wrong way, or what they called a false way (the right
way, of course, meant Socialist Realism). . . . [Shostakovich] told me personally:
Everybody thinks that you are moving in the wrong direction. But I wish you to
continue on your mistaken path.
25
Upon completing her compositional studies at the Moscow Conservatoire in 1963, she worked as
a freelance composer developing film scores. Her mistaken career path allowed her numerous
opportunities to experiment with unusual collections of instruments (both conventional and
exotic) and unique methods of producing sounds.
Eventually, the oppression of censorship became too much for the composer. Not only
was it impossible to arrange a performance of her works, she was finding it increasingly difficult
to be creative. As a result, her compositional output began to suffer.
26
To relieve herself of
27
Quoted in Josiah Fisk, ed., Composer to Composer: Conversations About Music (St. Leonards, NSW,
Australia: Allen & Unwin, 1993), 460.
28
Quotes concerning Gubaidulinas thoughts on ethical composing are countless in number. Some examples
can be found in: Fisk, 461; Gubaidulina, Labyrinth of the Soul, 50; Sofia Gubaidulina, Vera Lukomsky, The
Eucharist is My Fantasy: Interview with Sofia Gubaidulina, Tempo 206 (Sept. 1998): 31; Claire Polin, The
Composer as Seer, but Not Prophet, Tempo 190 (Sept. 1994): 1617.
14
compositional sterility, she traveled to Germany, visiting for long periods of time starting in
1985. In 1992, she permanently relocated to Hamburg.
Aesthetically, for Gubaidulina, the liberty discovered in musical experimentation was
religious in nature. In describing what caused her to become a composer, she resorts to mystical
language, stating:
A human being, even under the most difficult conditions, even in a murderous
atmosphere, must have something to hold sacred. I remember extremely well my
impressions at five years of age, when I began to have some understanding: all
my life was gray and I felt good only when I entered the door of the music school.
From that moment I felt myself in a sacred space. I heard the sounds coming from
the halls, I felt the bond that united the students, and everything came together in
that polytonal harmony of sounds, and I wanted to live in that world.
27
Based on her experiences as a child, Gubaidulina turned to religion as a means of moral strength,
allowing her beliefs to form her aesthetic attitude toward music, experimental music in
particular. Because of this religious focus, she regards the act of composition as an ethical
process; thus, much of her compositional output centers on a religious theme.
28
Because of the intense socio-political situation, Gubaidulinas artistic opportunities were
limited. Her compositional ventures were tightly controlled by those who believed her music
would not suit the common class, whether because of difficulty in comprehension or simply
because of radical individualism. Either would contradict the socialist ideology. For these
reasons, she considered her own compositions to be a sacred and holy object. To her, they were a
29
Hakobian, 287.
30
Gubaidulina, Lukomsky, My Desire is Always to Rebel, 9.
15
means by which to escape the mundane into a divine presence, requiring the sacrifice of the
composer and giving a moral quality to the process of composing.
29
In the end, Gubaidulinas experimentation with musical style can be understood and
appreciated only if her motivations are perceived. In the context of the above discussion, she can
be placed firmly in the classical avant-garde: We must worry about the incarnation of our idea,
about meaning and formation. The contemporary artist is faced with an extremely important
task: finding a correlation between intuition and intellectual work.
30
For Gubaidulina, the
composer must find new musical materials and organizational means in order to create a work of
art containing specific spiritual content. Based on her own admission, her compositions are
formed with a particular end in mind, placing her squarely in the arena of the classical avant-
garde aesthetic.
Elements of Individual Style
Throughout her career, Gubaidulina has experimented with and incorporated various
post-1945 avant-garde trends into a characteristically individual style. I will discuss these in four
categories: melody, vertical dimension (harmony), timbre/texture, and rhythm/form.
31
Joseph N. Straus, The Music of Ruth Crawford Seeger (Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press,
1995), 18.
32
Gubaidulina, Lukomsky, My Desire is Always to Rebel, 11.
16
Melody
Gubaidulinas melodies are especially characterized by their intense chromaticism. Any
tonal implication is quickly subsumed by a shift toward extra-diatonic/atonal pitch collections. In
Ruth Crawford Seegers music, Joseph Straus refers to this process as dissonation: Melodies,
. . . should be systematically dissonated, that is, organized to suppress any traditional tonal or
triadic implications. Since any consonant interval might be heard to suggest a major or minor
triad, it will normally be followed by a dissonant interval, to undermine that implication.
31
Although Gubaidulina utilizes triads to some extent, the succeeding sonorities do not reference a
tonal syntax.
Another melodic characteristic involves the use of quarter-tones. The composer describes
her view:
I understand it as a unification of two spaces: the first is the twelve-semitonal
space, and the second is another twelve-semitonal space a quarter tone higher. For
me this is a metaphor of the image and its shadow, or a day and a night. From my
point of view, in the twelve-tone compositions of the twentieth century,
everything is as in the daytime; everything is enlightened and reationalized; there
is no place for night. Night existed as a supplement of the diatonic system:
the diatonic sphere was day, whereas the chromatic sphere was night: one
could go there and return. That blessed situation gave us classical and romantic
composers. In twelve-tone compositions we lost night: everything became
day. But within the twenty-four tone scale, we may have not only a day, but
also a night.
32
33
See Dorothea Redepenning, Staccato Existence: Russian Women Composers in Germany, in Women
Composers in Germany, ed. Roswitha Sperber (Bonn: Inter Nationes, 1996), 101.
34
Gubaidulina, Polin, 1516.
17
From her own words, it can be deduced that the traditional twelve tones make up the tonal
system while those pitches micro-tonally related to the former are chromatic. This binary
opposition is elsewhere referred to in terms of consonant and dissonant.
33
Finally, glissandi are used fairly often, further adding to the ambiguous nature of her
melodic material. Although upper and lower limit pitches may be notated, the glissandi serve to
downplay the notated pitchs importance by creating a continuous melodic line lacking precision
in its placement in pitch space.
In general, Gubaidulina avoids long melodic lines, preferring to link several short
melodic segments together. In this way, cadential implications are circumvented, allowing for an
open-ended quality. The segments are often sequenced through some systematic variation,
yielding a dynamic melodic process as opposed to a static melodic object.
Vertical Dimension (Harmony)
Because of the detailed stress placed on melodic structure, Gubaidulinas harmonies
almost always arise from some linear stratification. In fact, at times she has even described the
individual lines and voices of her music as characters intersecting and crossing at specific
points.
34
For this reason, the term vertical dimensions seems best suited in describing the
chordal character.
One important aspect in Gubaidulinas music must be stressed. As in the music of Edgard
Varse (18831965) and Gyrgy Ligeti (19232006), octave equivalence is rarely granted a
18
prominent place in Gubaidulinas works. That is, notes an octave apart are denied equivalent
status, and thus pitch-class space is generally irrelevant. Rather, the musical action occurs in
pitch space. In this way, for example, the occurrence of C3 is a qualitatively different event than
the occurrence of C4.
Based on the organizational principle of pitch space, two other types of vertical
dimensions are possible: sound masses and pitch clusters. Although similar, for this study I will
distinguish between these two. I define sound mass as a group of pitches (melodically distributed
or simultaneously occurring) irrespective of proximity to one another in pitch space. A pitch
cluster, on the other hand, consists of pitches in extremely close pitch-space proximity
performed simultaneously (i.e., as an actual sonority).
Texture/Timbre
As implied above, Gubaidulina often organizes a composition into an intricate web of
independently moving lines intersecting at various points. Because of the intensity of the
counterpoint, thick pitch clusters and sound masses are inevitable; however, the density of these
sections is almost always counterbalanced by sections containing a lighter texture and, often,
solo instruments. Once more, it is apparent how much stress is placed on individual lines.
Register plays an important structural role in the composers works. Registral extremes
are often favored in order to produce some dramatic effect, such as melodic climax and
heightened contrast between her self-described characters. Also, register is intimately linked
with concerns of timbre. Gubaidulina often employs string harmonics in melodic structures. In
her own words: Sound can have an earthly, only too human expressiveness. And yet if you
35
Quoted in Hakobian, 288.
36
Susanne Langer, Feeling and Form (New York: Scribners, 1953), 110.
37
Sofia Gubaidulina and Vera Lukomsky, Hearing the Subconscious: Interview with Sofia Gubaidulina,
Tempo 206 (July 1999): 30.
19
touch the same spot of the string in another way, if you change a bit your attitude, you are
carried away from earth to heaven. The ordinary, the trivial becomes heavenly, if not sacred.
35
Thus, timbre is directly linked to the composers aesthetic values.
Gubaidulina also experiments with unconventional performance methods. Performers are
often instructed to manipulate the natural sound of their instruments in order to create a specific
auditory effect. Along with experimental acoustic sounds, the composer has also worked with
electronic sounds and devices.
Rhythm/Form
According to Gubaidulina, temporal factors are the most important aspects of a musical
work. In her view, numbers contain mystical properties that can be manifested within the music.
Similar to Susanne Langer, Gubaidulina believes that music makes time audible
36
and that it is
the composers ethical duty to embody the spiritual within a musical form. This is achieved by
means of accurate proportions and rhythmic durations. In her own words: I form a certain
profile of numbers. But in general, there is a beautiful picture of rhythmic calculation,
proportionality, mathematic exactness in the large-scale formal organizationover the absolute
freedom of all other musical elements: melody, harmony, rhythm.
37
More specifically, she is most concerned with the Fibonacci sequence, a series of
numbers in which each member is formed by the addition of the previous two members. The
38
See Valeria Zenowa, Zahlenmystik in der Musik von Sofia Gubaidulina, trans. Hans-Joachim Grimm and
Ernst Kuhn (Berlin: Verlag Ernst Kuhn, 2001). Although I admit the possibility of the formal and rhythmic inclusion
of this property in the string quartets, I have failed to locate any specific example. Also lacking is any reference by
the composer in her interviews to this formal aspect in the quartets. The discussion is included in this chapter
primarily in an attempt to describe the composers stylistic tendencies as completely as possible.
39
See Swetlana Sarkisjan, Die Streichquartette Sofie Gubaidulinas als Versuch der Erschleissung des
Sonoristischen Raumes, International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 36, no. 2 (2005): 27186.
40
Gerard McBurney, Encountering Gubaidulina, The Musical Times 129, no. 1741 (March 1988): 123.
20
sequence as a whole approximates a series of increasingly refined golden means since each
member is related to its neighbor in a golden ratio. For Gubaidulina, this produces the most
perfect and natural relation between two parts; thus, any musical form manifesting a golden-
mean proportion is spiritually and physically balanced. Based on her aesthetic views, beauty is
characterized by this perfect proportion.
38
In a more practical sense, texture and timbre, more than any other musical element, are
the most convenient means of articulating formal sections lacking a form of syntax. Sudden
changes in texture or timbre generate an immediate sense of restarting (i.e., a new section). In
fact, as will be illustrated shortly, she employed this method of formal division in three of her
four string quartets.
39
As for rhythmic properties in general, Gubaidulina places significant emphasis on the
possibility of utilizing rhythm as a structural entity as opposed to mere local figuration:
In the light of the very frequent speculation about the different ways in which
modern composers try to control rhythm and proportion in a work, it is worth
noticing one important and distinctive part of Gubaydulinas [sic] attitude to the
problem. In conversation she is most keen to stress that she cannot accept the idea
(a frequent post-serial one) of rhythm or duration as the material of a piece. . . .
To her, rhythm is nowadays a generating principle as, for instance, the cadence
was to tonal composers of the Classical period; it therefore cannot be the surface
material of a work. . . . [S]he expresses her impatience with Messiaen, whose use
of rhythmic modes to generate local imagery, she feels, restricts the effectiveness
of rhythm as an underlying formal level of the music.
40
21
In other words, durations segment and organize time; thus, rhythm cannot be musical material on
its own. It is a structural coordinator that arranges other musical parameters.
In sum, Gubaidulinas music is structured in terms of melodic properties that are
organized by rhythmic proportions. Vertical dimensions arise out of melodic interaction while
formal units similarly arise out of textural interactions. For her, the music is not a static object;
rather, it is a living dynamic organism that grows and changes as it is performed. Melodies do
not exist in themselves; they are formed through a process by which a small segment is expanded
and developed. Formal divisions are not objectively present; rather, they arise out of the
interaction of different textures and shifts in timbre. A formal scheme does not structure music;
instead, the music produces a form as it grows in time.
The Four String Quartets
The quartets were written over a period of thirty-two years. Following post-graduate
studies in Moscow, Gubaidulina began working in the Moscow experimental studio for
electronic music (196970). The first quartet, composed in 1971 (significantly earlier than the
remaining three), was one of her earliest instrumental pieces not designed in this electronic
studio. The remaining three were composed within a shorter time-span and betray influence from
her involvement with the Astrea improvisational team (197580 and 1991 to present). The
second and third were composed the same year (1987) and the fourth was composed six years
later (1993).
Also, during this later time in the composers life, her interests turned toward symphonic
textures, giving more equality to the individual instruments than do her initial works. This shift
22
toward symphonic textures can be seen in Stimmen . . . Verstummen . . . (1986) and Pro et contra
(1989). As in most of her orchestral works, all four quartets are designed to allow the maximum
freedom for each member of the ensemble, but the later they were written, the more experimental
they became. The composer not only found new possibilities for organizing sound, she also
became more comfortable with her choices.
Attempting to analyze a piece organized entirely on the basis of an individually created
style that lacks any conventional syntactical system poses a problem. Understandably,
endeavoring to employ traditional analytic tools on such idiosyncratic music proves fruitless. In
the case of Gubaidulinas four string quartets, conventional set-class analysis cannot explain the
pitch organization. In general, her music does not depend on similar pitch groupings. Discrete
passages often organize the same pitches in ways that are fundamentally different. This requires
two different interpretations of the same pc-set class, severely limiting the amount and
importance of the information a pc-set class analysis can convey.
On the other hand, separate passages contain radically different pitch collections
organized in a similar fashion. Once again, a pc set-class analysis would fail to yield valuable
information concerning the comparative structure of these passages. The lack of available tools
that might aid in a valid understanding of the work actually supports the notion that the
composition is fragmented and lacks continuity. I argue that these quartets are coherent works
and do retain some form of continuity throughout. I will demonstrate my point by exploring four
different processes of organization unfolding within the quartets.
The first quartet illustrates the process of expansion, in which pitches (and sometimes
rhythms) are organized in one of two ways. First, they may radiate outward in pitch space from
23
some central point or, second, they may expand outward in pitch space using some interval as a
measure of distance. The second quartet utilizes inversional symmetry as a means of organizing
large collections of pitches about a single asserted axis. This quartet also demonstrates the
process of gap-fill, in which an interval is established and gradually filled in chromatically. The
third quartet presents an organizing principle based on the intervals inherent in the pitch
collection. Specific intervals are assigned particular functions in order to structurally arrange the
individual pitches both linearly and harmonically. In this case, ic5 and ic1 act as structural
markers between sections and as a means of differentiating between individual voices. Finally,
the fourth quartet illustrates an organizing process based on sound masses. These collections are
shown to mutate into one another via transformations.
The analyses that follow are not intended to be exhaustive, nor even complete. Instead,
my primary purpose is to demonstrate continuity in these well-designed compositions by
presenting specific processes that organize the musical elements throughout each individual
work.
1
These properties are discussed at length in chapter 1.
24
Chapter 2
Analysis of String Quartet No. 1 (1971):
Expansion Processes
Unlike the remaining three quartets composed by Gubaidulina, the first does not
conveniently divide into large formal sections. Rather, the work seems to play out as a chain of
small, often unrelated ideas formally separated only by rests or sudden shifts in texture. This
stream-of-consciousness property only adds to the accepted notion that this composers works
are discontinuous and unfold in a series of moments.
1
However, I propose to demonstrate how
one particular process of organization assists in uniting the various formal portions of the work
and aids in establishing continuity. This process, which I will call expansion, coordinates the
seemingly random pitches and rhythms into an organized and cohesive structure.
The expansion process that occurs throughout the work can be divided into two basic
categories. The first, which I call wedge expansion, begins with the assertion of a single pitch.
From this starting point, the pitch space is gradually opened up by the statement of pitches on
either side of the initial pitch. The size of the intervals between each of the outer pitches and
the central pitch (and necessarily between the outer pitches themselves) gradually increases. This
wedge can be achieved via contrary motion between two voices: as one voice states the
various pitches below the initial pitch, an alternate voice balances the wedge with pitches above
the initial pitch. The same process is also possible by means of a single voice. In this case, an
2
See especially chapter 3 for a discussion of Gubaidulinas use of inversional symmetry.
3
Jonathan Bernard, Inaudible Structures, Audible Music: Ligetis Problem, and His Solution, Music
Analysis 6, no. 3 (1987): 226.
25
initial pitch is followed by alternate statements of pitches of gradually increasing intervals in
both directions from the original pitch.
One caveat must be included with this discussion of wedge expansion. Although
symmetrical structures do play an important part in the later quartets,
2
the presence of exact
inversional symmetry is interestingly lacking in this work. Here, the process of expanding or
opening up pitch space rarely corresponds to exact interval sizes traversed in both directions, yet
the wedge expansion does describe the specific manner in which the various pitches are
organized in pitch space. Jonathan Bernard, in his discussion of Ligetis Kammerkonzert,
presents a description that also applies to this quartet: As the dimensions of occupied space
continue to spread outward, the general idea of a symmetrical centre is effectively conveyed, but
the actual, specific location of that centre is constantly in flux.
3
In other words, although exact
inversional symmetry is rarely presented, the pitch organization mimics a symmetrical layout. In
order to avoid implying an exact symmetrical center, however, I will refrain from using the term
axis in reference to the initial pitch.
In contrast to the wedge category, the second category of expansion, additive expansion,
is more unidirectional. Instead of organizing pitches around a central tone, an interval distance is
utilized as the starting point from which the rest of the process stems. This is best explained
through demonstration. Figure 2.1 presents a chain of four pitches: E4, G4, C5, G5. The first
4
Throughout this study, a number placed within square brackets will always refer to an exact interval size in
semitones (e.g., [13] = 13 semitones). If the interval is more clearly represented as part of a class of intervals, this
will be notated with the prefix ic (e.g., ic1 = 1 semitone, mod-12 and regardless of direction). Therefore, [13] =
ic1, depending on the contextual emphasis. Finally, anytime it is necessary to define or clarify an interval size (exact
or interval class) with exact pitches, the following shorthand will be utilized: [13]: (C4C#5) or ic1: (C4C#5). For
both, the interval size before the colon is specifically defined by the pitches in the post-colonic parentheses.
5
The idea of transformations as performed on pitches and intervals was originally posited by David
Lewin. See Transformational Techniques in Atonal and Other Music Theories, Perspectives of New Music 21, no.
12 (1982): 31271 and Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations (New Haven: Yale University Press,
1987).
26
interval, E4G4, is [3], that is, the pitches are separated by three semitones.
4
This stated interval
is then manipulated by the addition of another (unstated) interval. The resulting sum of the two
intervals dictates the size of the interval immediately following the stated interval. In Figure 2.1,
[2] is added to the stated interval [3] producing [5]. As can clearly be seen, the interval
immediately following E4G4 is G4C5, which is [5]. This process is repeated, employing the
same unstated interval, to produce the next interval. Here, [2] is added to [5]: (G4C5) resulting
in [7]: (C5G5). This type of expansion is essentially a chain of transformations that extends
each resulting interval by a constant.
5
For the present example, the transformation could be
named ADDTWO since it is defined as a procedure that adds two semitones to each ensuing
interval.
In the following analyses, I will present examples of each type of expansion as individual
processes. Although the sections in the first quartet are texturally distinct and display relatively
little surface-level commonality, I will demonstrate that, not only is it possible, but it is quite
apparent that the expansion processes are indeed functioning as organizing principles for both
pitch and rhythm.
6
Because of her interest in experimental sounds, Gubaidulina often composes works with microtonal
elements. The first and fourth quartets employ these microtones and the notations require some explanation. Since
the two quartets have different notational procedures, I will present each one in the context of that quartet (for the
fourth quartet, see chapter 5). In this work, the half-sharp is notated as a sharp missing one vertical and one
horizontal line while the one-and-a-half-sharp simply adds an extra vertical line to the half-sharp sign. The half-flat
is notated with a flag (similar to an eighth-note flag) added to the flat sign and the one-and-a-half-flat simply
includes a horizontal line through the regular flat sign.
7
It should be noted that the interval sizes involve fractions corresponding to the microtones. Also, [0]
indicates a unison.
8
Throughout this study, rehearsal numbers are abbreviated with a capital R followed by the number.
27
Wedge Expansion
Figure 2.2 displays the solo viola motive from the opening measure of the piece. The G#3
is first established as a dotted half-note, ornamented with a gradually strengthening vibrato,
notated as a curved zig-zag line above the staff. Following a triplet A3-G#3-A3 figure, the G#3
descends through two quarter-tones to G3.
6
A3 is similarly inflected by a quarter-tone descent,
after which a two-quarter-tone ascent begins with G3. The return to G#3 is finally completed
with the final quarter-tone descent from A-half-flat. Displayed beneath each interval in the score
is the relative size in semitones (Figure 2.2).
7
It can be seen that the unison [0] increases in size
to a whole-tone [2] before collapsing back into a unison. This process is repeated in turn at the
same tonal level (G#3) in each of the remaining voices in the ensemble. Thus, the opening
motive establishes the model by which many of the processes operative throughout the work can
be understood.
In the first four measures of R1 (Figure 2.3),
8
the second violin presents a small wedge
expansion beginning with the center pitch C-half-#5. The first segment gradually expands
outward in quarter-tone intervals until reaching D-half-#5 in the ascending direction and B4 in
the descending direction. The second segment, separated from the first by a dotted eighth-rest,
9
It is of interest to note how this passage invokes serial techniques since no pitch is repeated until the entire
aggregate has been established. Gubaidulina, however, rarely made use of this technique as a means of structuring a
composition.
28
discards the use of quarter steps and continues the asymmetrical expansion via semitones before
ending with a final upward ascent (G#4-D#5-B-half-#5). It is interesting that not only is the
initial expansion continued, but the expansion interval itself is affected by its own expansion
(quarter-step expanded to half-step).
A similar process occurs in mm. 310 of R8 (Figure 2.4) between three members of the
quartet. The first violin discontinues its previous highly chromatic motion (not shown in Figure
2.4), focusing on two pitches: F#6G6. The second violin maintains the F#6 as the first violin
descends to F6. The procedure occurs once more by the second violin and viola while the first
violin continues to expand in both directions to E6 and G#6. In m. 8, the expansion process
reverses by collapsing back into F#6. However, rather than retracing the exact steps utilized in
expanding, the contraction process employs quarter-tones. For instance, the first-violin E6
ascends to E-half-sharp6 while G#6 simultaneously descend a quarter step to G-half-#6. The
process continues until all three voices intersect at a unison F#6. Thus, in a similar way to the
second-violin line, shown in Figure 2.3, this passage exemplifies how multiple intervals can be
utilized in the wedge expansion process.
Figure 2.5 presents a passage in which a single wedge expansion is simultaneously
applied to three different voices. Beginning in m. 4 of R6, the two violins and cello lines are
canonic in their melodic structure while the rhythmic durations of individual pitches are
contrasted throughout. They each commence by asserting C#4 and gradually expand in pitch
space in both directions until all twelve chromatic pitches are stated.
9
29
The second violin in mm. 49 of R7 (Figure 2.6) employs the identical method of wedge
expansion demonstrated in the semi-canonic passage described above. Beginning with an
asserted E5, the melodic material expands outward in pitch space until the entire twelve-tone
aggregate is established, ending with A#5 in m. 6. This passage is differentiated from the one
previously discussed by the inclusion of repeated pitches. In Figure 2.6 the circled pitches
represent those involved in the wedge expansion, while those not circled are repetitions of some
previously established pitch, always retaining the exact pitch level. In this way the expansion
process continues to function as the primary means of organization.
The remainder of the passage following the aggregate completion continues to be
structured by the expansion begun in m. 4. Following the A#5, C#6 is asserted as a break in the
ascent, which, until now, has expanded by semitones. The descending portion follows suit by
stepping a whole-tone from the previous B4 to A4 and continuing to descend chromatically.
However, the Bb4 is immediately stated, re-establishing the possibility of a continued semitone
expansion. Following the Eb5-A5-Ab4 segment (all repeated pitches), the line ends with another
semitonal descent from F4 to B3. Although the descending portion of the wedge receives heavier
emphasis, it can be viewed as an acutely unbalanced continuation of the initially balanced wedge
expansion process.
A particularly salient example of wedge expansion occurs at R21 (Figure 2.7). Beginning
on D4, the first violin gradually ascends by semitones (circled in Figure 2.7), alternating each
new pitch with a restatement of the initial D4. The remaining voices in the ensemble support the
expansion through the reiteration of the newly established pitches. For example, in m. 2 the first-
violin line expands from D4 to E4, passing through Eb4. Once the first violin reaches E4
10
This passage also exemplifies how the wedge expansion principle is not bound by temporal placement.
Either component may occur first or they may occur simultaneously. Just as the passage in Figure 2.6 was
imbalanced by the emphasis on the descending portion of the wedge, the passage in Figure 2.7 is heavily imbalanced
toward the ascending component. This is partially based on the fact that the descending component begins over half-
way through the passage.
30
(doubled by the viola), the second-violin and cello lines repeat the Eb4. Thus, as the first-violin
line ascends, the remaining quartet members chromatically saturate the created interval with
repetition. As the interval becomes larger, the literal repetition of every asserted pitch must cease
for a practical reason (i.e., there are too few instruments). Interestingly, the first instance of
losing a previously stated pitch (m. 7), in which the pitch segment <D4-E4-F4-F#4-G4> lacks
Eb4, occurs just prior to the commencement of the descending component of the wedge in the
cello and viola lines (m. 9). Throughout this passage, the voices retain the D4 as a continuous
drone that functions as both a stable point of repose and a catalyst for an expansion
simultaneous motivation for continuity and change.
10
A complex example of wedge expansion can be found at R25 (Figure 2.8a). The cello
and second violin provide an accompaniment to the improvisational first-violin melody (omitted
from Figure 2.8a). These accompanying voices are structurally based on the wedge-expansion
process outlined above. D5 is asserted in the cello for four beats before sliding down through
Bb4 and returning upward to D-half-b5, one quarter-tone below the initial pitch. Another slide
to Bb4 is followed by another ascent to Db5. This process continues, always ascending to a pitch
one quarter-tone below the previous ascent, until C5 is attained. At this point the slide is
followed by an ascent to a half-note Eb5, and the process recommences from D5. As is
demonstrated in the analytic voice-leading graph of the cello line (Figure 2.8b), each descent
from D5 terminates on a pitch expanded downward by one quarter-tone from the previous
31
termination. Each of these pitches is also immediately followed by an ascent to a pitch expanded
upward by one semitone in relation to the previous ascent. In other words, each descent and
ascent expands away from D5 in both directions; however, the pitch space below D5 is
organized by quarter-tone expansions while the space above D5 is expanded by semitones. The
process culminates on the final pitch B-half-b4, one quarter-tone from the slide pitch Bb4.
The D5 for the cello also acts as the center for a wedge expansion in the second-violin
line, although the method of expansion is less consistent than for the cello. As a counter-balance
to the cello drone and the rhythmically fluctuating melodic material for the first violin, the
second-violin line is decisively rhythmic. The initial interval [4]: (C#5F5), defined by the
pitches in the first measure, has already expanded the pitch space in both directions around D5.
Gb5 and G5 are asserted in mm. 67, creating an unbalanced ascent compared to the descending
component, which has not exceeded C#5. Balance is achieved in mm. 1011 when the wedge
expands downward to Bb4, the lower boundary of the cello line. Thus, the wedge expansion
process not only structures each of the individual voices of the duet, it also organizes the pitches
between the voices through the emphasis on D5 and B4. The emphasis on descent by the cello is
balanced by the emphasis on ascent in the second violin, even though the voices as individual
lines are imbalanced.
In sum, wedge expansion organizes the pitches within a passage of music around a
previously asserted central pitch. Not only can this process occur among multiple voices, it can
also structure a single line. Most importantly, wedge expansion does not consistently organize
the pitches symmetrically or even in any balanced manner. However, because of the nature of the
wedge expansion, some form of symmetry does often arise.
32
Additive Expansion
Whereas wedge expansion is specifically bound to a particular pitch in pitch space, the
second type of expansion process, additive expansion, uses a constant to create a chain of events.
Each event is a transformation of the preceding event rather than a transformation based on a
single pitch. In this way, the expansion is bound to a temporal process as well as a spatial
organization.
For example, the viola line in mm. 23 of R1 (Figure 2.9) consists of three ascending
intervals, each starting on a different pitch. The first interval [9]: (Eb4C5) is expanded by [1] in
the next interval [10]: (A4G5). This process is repeated as the next interval is expanded once
more ([11]: (D5C#6)). Thus, a single operative transformation can be defined as add [1] to the
previous interval. Throughout the remainder of this chapter, I will refer to this particular
transformation as ADDONE.
Figure 2.10 displays mm. 14 of R4, in which the second violin presents a descending
melody based on the ADDONE additive transformation. The initial interval [1]: (F#7F7) is
expanded by [1], resulting in [2]: (F7Eb7). As can be seen by the labels above the score in
Figure 2.10, each interval in this descent is the result of ADDONE applied to the immediately
preceding interval. However, the line produced in this passage is fundamentally different from
that in the previous discussion. In Figure 2.9, the first interval [9]: (Eb4C5) is separated from
[10]: (A4G5) because they do not share any pitches. In the present example, each new interval
formed as a result of ADDONE is built on the terminating pitch of the previous interval. Thus,
[2]: (F7Eb7) shares its first pitch with the previous interval [1]: (F#7F7). This transformational
expansion continues until the pitches are out of the second-violin range, at which time they are
11
This idea was inspired by the notions of projection and deferral as presented in Christopher Hasty,
Meter and Rhythm (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997) and by the work of David Lewin: On Formal Intervals
Between Time-Spans, Music Perception 1, no. 4 (1984): 41423 and Generalized Musical Intervals, 6081. The
concept of constantly-undermined expectations of rhythmic continuity is especially prominent in Gubaidulinas
experimentation with the stream-of-consciousness character of time perception. By avoiding any constancy of
metric division, countless manners of temporal perception within a composition become possible. In the particular
context of this analysis, an additive character lends a unique quality to the piece as a whole, in which time seems to
be constantly expanding.
33
continued by the cello line. The pattern terminates only after the cello has reached its registral
nadir.
The possibility of rhythmic organization utilizing a wedge formation is difficult to
imagine since rhythms are limited to temporal space. Not only must temporal aspects occur in
sequence whereas pitches can occur simultaneously, pitches have an added benefit of being
perceived on vertical levels in space corresponding to a listeners impression of high and low.
Thus, it is possible for pitches to move outward and expand in pitch space in two different
directions. Sequential events are incapable of spatial movement and are cognized as occurring in
chains, which necessarily do not allow for bidirectional perception. Based on this understanding,
wedge expansion, because of its dependence on multiple directionality, is only capable of
structuring pitch material. However, the additive expansion process is perfectly able to formally
structure rhythmic material.
Additive expansion applied to rhythmic space follows the same basic procedure as it does
when applied to pitch space. Rhythmic values are expanded in duration by some constant
rhythmic value. As with intervals, the transformation acts upon each resulting duration in order
to produce the next duration.
11
For example, the cello melody in mm. 24 of R1 (Figure 2.11) is
made up of four (012) melodic trichords: <Gb4-G4-Ab4>, <F4-D#4-E4>, <D5-C5-C#5>, and
<C4-B3-Bb3>. Each trichord is rhythmically articulated as a short-short-long segment; however,
12
To clarify, although the example under discussion involves transformations acting upon durations of
pitches, the ADD16th function can also (and will) apply to durations of rests as well.
34
though the short is consistently presented as a sixteenth-note, the long is systematically
lengthened in each consecutive statement. The first statement employs a long duration of three
sixteenth-notes, and the second statement includes an expanded long duration of four
sixteenth-notes. The third and fourth statements continue the process of expanding the previous
long duration by one more sixteenth-note. This additive expansion could be seen as the
rhythmic analogue of expanding an interval by [1]. Therefore, I will define this particular
transformation as add one sixteenth-note duration to the previous duration. For the remainder
of this chapter, I will refer to this defined transformation as ADD16th.
12
Returning to Figure 2.10, the identical additive process ADD16th structures the rhythmic
properties of the descending melody. Although the pitch statements retain a constant sixteenth-
note duration, the duration of the rests between these pitches fluctuates. Between the first two
(F#7F7) exists a zero duration of silence. The transformation ADD16th is applied to this
zero duration resulting in a one-sixteenth-rest between the second and third pitches (F7Eb7).
Applying ADD16th once more results in a two-sixteenth-rest between the third and fourth
pitches (Eb7C7). This additive expansion continues unhindered, even as the melody passes into
the cello line, resulting in a duration of nine sixteenth-rests between the final two pitches
(B2C2). The process is graphically demonstrated with labels below the score in Figure 2.10.
Thus, the additive expansion process effectively organizes both the pitch material and rhythmic
durations of this passage.
Another example of this interaction of pitch and rhythm via additive expansion is
demonstrated in mm. 415 of R48 (Figure 2.12). B4 is asserted by the first violin, viola, and
35
cello in unison. As the viola sustains B4, the first violin ascends by a quarter-tone, and the cello
descends the same distance. This apparent wedge expansion is immediately subsumed by an
additive expansion. Following an eighth-rest, the first violin begins once more from B4 and
expands upward two quarter-tones to C4 while the viola ascends one quarter-tone and the cello
sustains B4. The interval in each voice has been expanded upward by one quarter-tone. In this
second iteration, the viola repeats the first violins first statement, and the cello repeats the
violas first statement. This process continues throughout, so the first violin can be thought of as
acting as a dux in a pitch canon in which the pitches are organized as quarter-tone additive
expansions, always starting from B4. The viola, acting as a comes, is delayed by one quarter-
tone expansion while the cello lags behind by two quarter-tone expansions. In other words,
following every rest, each voice returns to B4 and presents a quarter-tone expansion of its own
previous interval.
The additive process also organizes the rhythmic structure of both the B4 repetitions and
the intervening rests. The initial B4 duration, four sixteenth-notes, is expanded via ADD16th to a
five-sixteenth-note duration when B4 is repeated. The duration of the rest between the initial
first-violin interval (B4B-half-#4) and the second interval (B4C4) is two sixteenth-rests.
Parallel to the pitch rhythms, the next silence is expanded by one sixteenth-rest. As is graphically
demonstrated in Figure 2.12, the ADD16th process continues in the rhythms of both pitch
(labeled above the first-violin line) and the intervening rests (labeled below the first-violin line)
until m. 9. At this point (circled in Figure 2.12), a single eighth-rest is inserted, successfully
discontinuing the pattern and, in this passage, signaling a second attempt at the process. The
rhythm of the B4 reinitiates the process beginning with a two-sixteenth-note duration while the
36
intervening rest durations resume the process beginning with a one-sixteenth-rest duration. The
newly begun process continues uninhibited through the remainder of the passage.
Figure 2.13 (R42R43) presents a similar additive expansion functioning on both pitch
and rhythmic levels, creating an interesting interaction. The ascending first-violin line in R42
establishes a consistent pattern, albeit not as simple as ADDONE. The pattern alternates between
expansions via [2] and [3]. By using a [3]-expansion twice, the pattern is broken with the final
pitch.
The rhythmic additive expansion pattern is also much less transparent than the previous
ADD16th. As Figure 2.13 demonstrates, the second and third pitches are expanded by one
sixteenth-note compared to their previous durations. The fourth and fifth pitches, on the other
hand, double the additive constant (i.e., sixteenth-note), making each new duration two
sixteenth-notes longer than the previous one. Finally, the sixth and seventh pitches in the
melodic chain are each expanded by a four-sixteenth-note duration, once again doubling the two-
sixteenth-note additive constant. In this way the melodic line is expanded exponentially in both
pitch space and temporal space.
The cello follows the first-violin pattern in a similar manner while inverting the overall
direction of the line. At R43 the alternation of additive [2] and [3] begins as expected; however,
once E4 is reached the pattern is completely broken. By traversing a descending interval of [8] to
A3, the pattern, which should have added [3], subtracts [1]. Instead of [8] becoming [11], the
chain follows [8] with [7]! This is compounded by the remarkably large [18]: (A3Eb2)
immediately following.
37
The rhythmic pattern performs a stabilizing role in the cello line. The exponential quality
of the durational expansions carries over from the first-violin line; however, instead of starting
the chain with sixteenth-note durations, the descending cello line is structurally based on eighth-
note durations. In other words, although the ratios between the individual durational
transformations is identical to ratios in the first-violin transformations, the constant is doubled
(sixteenth-note becomes eighth-note). The cello pattern deviates by allowing one extra eighth-
note addition before resuming the expected rhythmic transformations. Aside from this, the
rhythmic pattern retains its structural stability at a point when the pattern of transformations
acting on the pitch structure is discontinued.
Conclusion
The two categories of expansion processes presented in this chapter aid in giving the
quartet some sense of continuity and growth. Although the individual sections may seem to be
connected in only the most superficial manners, the ubiquitous property of expansion in pitch
space and rhythmic space assists in establishing a method or process by which these individual
sections are connected.
One final note concerning performance will reinforce these various musical aspects.
According to the composers instructions, the performers should begin the work sitting in a
traditional string quartet arrangement. At various moments throughout the performance, each of
the members is individually directed to pick up his or her chair and move away from the still-
playing group toward a preselected corner of the stage. The expansion of the ensemble occurs
both temporally, over the course of the entire work, and spatially, since only one member moves
38
by a small amount each time. In other words, the expansion processes are not limited to the notes
on the score. It seems appropriate in the context of this discussion to note the similarity between
the aural and visual aspects of the performance.
39
Chapter 3
Analysis of String Quartet No. 2 (1987):
Gap-Fill Processes and Inversional Symmetry
Gubaidulinas second quartet can be divided into two distinct sections separated by a
slight pause just before R21. The two sections exhibit two drastically different textures, creating
a distinct mood for each section. The first section (A) lacks any metric notation and, with one
exception, avoids strict rhythmic divisions. The music is notated to allow for a maximum of
performance freedom. The first section consists of a non-stop drone and several tremolo pitches
moving at a quick pace, though lack of meter is often interpreted as a method of achieving
temporal stasis. In this case the overall effect is one of frustrated restlessness and agitation rather
than motionless serenity.
The second section (B), on the other hand, although governed by temporal divisions of
metric notation, consists primarily of long durations, sometimes lasting several measures. Often,
one voice changes pitch while the remaining voices continue holding their respective tones in the
sonority. The voices also feature intensely chromatic lines, requiring small melodic steps, and
employ several harmonics. The lack of simultaneous motion, along with the acute focus on
chromaticism and harmonics, yields a quality of ethereal dreaminess. Thus, at first glance the
piece actually consists of two dissimilar and unconnected sections rather than a single cohesive
work; however, the processes at work within the each section assist in creating an overarching
structure and establish a means of achieving continuity.
1
Much work has been done with the concept of gap-fill and chromatic saturation within established gaps.
See Leonard B. Meyer, Emotion and Meaning in Music (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956); Joseph N.
Straus, The Music of Ruth Crawford Seeger (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995); and Catherine Losada,
A Theoretical Model for the Analysis of Collage in Music Derived from Selected Works by Berio, Zimmerman,
and Rochberg, (Ph.D. diss., City University of New York, 2004).
2
Meyers discussions of gap-fill in a tonal context is applicable to the present study. He presents these
needs for pattern completion and closure as products of a more general psychological need for structural
completenessfor the elimination of structural gaps not only in the melodic line of the individual piece but also in
the tonal system itself. . . . A structural gap, then, creates a tendency toward filling in. And if this tendency is
delayed, if the completion of the pattern is blocked, affect or the objectification of meaning will probably follow.
(Meyer, 134)
40
Two primary structural processes are at work in the second quartet: gap-fill and
inversional symmetry. In the first, gap-fill, the voices establish a particular pitch space within
which the immediately following musical material unfolds.
1
The interval gap is established
through the assertion of two pitches of significant distance in pitch space. This can be attained in
two ways: a single voice may leap from an asserted pitch creating a gap between the two pitches;
or, two voices may state two different pitches, simultaneously or in melodic sequence, at
different registral levels. Based on Leonard Meyers concepts of affect and meaning, the
produced gap creates an expectation for pattern completion, which is achieved by means of
chromatic saturation.
2
Because the music avoids any reference to conventional functional
tonality, the only recourse is to saturate chromatically the established gaps. Carrying Meyers
reference to affect and meaning one step further, the systematic blocking of gap-fill
completions becomes necessary for establishing long-range formal sections in the second
quartet. In this way, a section of music organizes the pitches contained therein by opening up a
space and eventually filling the gap with every missing chromatic pitch.
The second process, inversional symmetry, involves the arrangement of pitches, both
melodic and harmonic, around some pitch or dyad. This central pitch acts as an axis that may
3
It should be noted that the word axis was avoided in chapter 2 in order to deflect any connection to exact
inversional symmetry and focus only on expansion outward in pitch space, regardless of distance. In this chapter,
however, the concept of exact symmetrical distances from a central point is quite important; thus, the term axis
will be employed as needed.
4
A massive amount of work has been produced with inversional symmetry as the theme. For instance, see
Milton Babbitt, Twelve-Tone Rhythmic Structure and the Electronic Medium, Perspectives of New Music 1, no. 1
(1962): 4979; David Lewin, Inversional Balance as an Organizing Force in Schoenbergs Music and Thought,
Perspectives of New Music 6, no. 2 (1968): 121; idem, A Label-Free Development for 12-Pitch-Class Systems,
Journal of Music Theory 21, no. 1 (1977): 2948; George Perle, Bergs Master Array of the Interval Cycles,
Musical Quarterly 63, no. 1 (1977): 130; Elliott Antokoletz, The Music of Bla Bartk: A Study of Tonality and
Progression in Twentieth-Century Music (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984); Jonathan Bernard, Space
and Symmetry in Bartk, Journal of Music Theory 30, no. 2 (1986): 185201; and Philip Stoecker, Studies in
Post-Tonal Symmetry: a Transformational Approach (Ph.D. diss., City University of New York, 2003).
5
As will be illustrated in the following discussion, the two organizational processes cooperate on many
levels. Because this interaction is so pertinent to the understanding of their particular organizational functions, the
following analysis will be structurally divided based on the musical section being discussed rather than the
individual processes.
41
either be literally asserted in the music or merely implied based on the symmetrical organization
of those pitches within its gravitational pull.
3
In most cases the central axis has some functional
connection to the previous and following musical material, thus creating a connective link
between the various segments of music.
4
Section A
5
Gap-fill, as a process that organizes the musical elements of this work, primarily
accomplishes two significant goals: melodic coherence and sectional articulation. The melodic
coherence occurs on a purely local level, connecting musical elements within an immediate
temporal vicinity. The methods of melodic organization are similar to Ruth Crawford Seegers
melodic structures with regards to chromatic completion; however, in this quartet there is an
almost exclusive use of gap-fill in pitch space with the resultant avoidance of abstract pitch-class
6
Once an initial note has been asserted, a second note can be added to open a musical space that then
becomes the locus of the ensuing action. . . . A previously opened space (either pitch of pitch-class space) is often
filled in chromatically. This strategy is closely related to the drive of Crawfords melodies toward chromatic
completion. (Straus, Ruth Crawford Seeger, 4142)
7
The assertion of pitches outside the boundaries of an established space is closely related to the expansion
processes presented in chapter 2. The importance of F#4 will be elaborated in further discussion; however, it must be
ignored for the time being.
42
relations.
6
The goal of sectional articulation, on the other hand, is achieved via chaining several
of these musical events into larger formal segments. The following discussion will clarify the
different manners in which the gap-fill process achieves these ends.
In the opening passage of the work (Figure 3.1), the second violin asserts a harmonic G5,
which is sustained at a soft dynamic level throughout the entire A section. The cello initially
supports the harmonic G5 before inserting articulations of non-harmonic G4. This same
alternation of G4G5 occurs in different rhythmic forms in each of the two remaining voices
(i.e., first violin and viola). Thus, the only two pitches asserted in the first four rehearsal numbers
are G4 and G5. The sheer repetition of this octave establishes a gap, successfully opening up a
pitch space in which the melodic material of A section unfolds.
As can be seen in Figure 3.2a, the first-violin line at R5 comprises thirteen pitches
beamed together and followed by a brief pause. This group of pitches initiates the process of
gap-fill that will occupy the remainder of section A. Into the originally established G4G5 gap,
G#4, A4, and D5 are inserted while, outside the established space, F#4 is added.
7
This grouping
of quickly-stated pitches followed by a short rest takes on a motivic character in section A. The
first-violin line invariably incorporates similar formations of pitches and pauses, creating a chain
of independent pitch collections. The motivic aspect is further strengthened by the particular
pitch contour (initial ascent followed by a descent that returns to the opening pitches) and
8
Once more, it should be noted how this particular use of gap-fill corresponds to the process of expansion
(ch. 1). The only difference lies in the assertion of a goal pitch. The expansion process simply asserts an initial pitch
from which the remaining pitches radiate. On the other hand, the specific gap-fill process utilized in Gubaidulinas
string quartets involves the assertion of both an initial pitch and a goal pitch. Thus, in a sense, the process of
expansion is still a major organizing force in this passage.
43
dynamic markings (gradual crescendo followed by decrescendo) established with the first group
(Figure 3.2a). Each new declaration of this motivic collection integrates one or more previously
unstated pitches.
In this way, through several statements of the motive, the G4G5 gap is eventually
saturated with every chromatic pitch within its lower and upper boundaries (i.e., G4 and G5,
respectively). However, as the reduction in Figure 3.2b demonstrates, the order of additional
pitches is not random. Beginning from the D5 in the first motive statement (Figure 3.2a), each
succeeding motive includes a pitch a semitone higher than the previous one. In other words, the
next motive statement includes Eb5 and the following contains E5. In similar fashion, except for
C5, the pitches below D5 are also added in semitonal increments. This process continues until
the pitches have extended to the upper boundary, G5.
8
The chain of motive statements is terminated at R15 with the introduction of a
contrasting idea in the first violin (Figure 3.3). The new first-violin statement is distinguished
from the previous motive in many respects. First, the line begins from its highest point and
descends, establishing a new contour. Second, the initial dynamic level is forte, discontinuing the
preceding trend of gradually increasing in dynamic from an initial piano. Third, this motive also
represents the only deviation from a free rhythm because the first five pitches are notated in
specific rhythmic durations. Finally, this is the moment at which the pitches above D5 have
ascended to the upper boundary pitch G5. Thus, the various musical elements combine to
9
Markedness, a concept traceable to Roman Jakobson and the Prague School of linguistics, can be defined
as the valuation given to difference. Robert Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness, Correlation, and
Interpretation (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1994), 34.
44
constitute a formal boundary with respect to the A section (hereafter, divided into A1 and A2).
Based on the intense markedness of this new motive,
9
one would assume that the gap-fill process
is correspondingly completed; however, C5 remains unstated.
The remainder of section A (specifically, A2) follows a process similar to A1. The
motive-chain, now based on the newly established line (R15), is resumed by the first violin.
However, as foreshadowed by the assertion of a pitch beyond the established boundary at R5
(F#4), the newly established pitches in each statement continue the semitone expansion,
ascending beyond G5. This, combined with the gradually reduced durations of the intermittent
pauses, generates a significantly enhanced momentum in the final moments of section A. Figure
3.4 demonstrates how the original catalyst for this continued expedition, C5 (circled in Figure
3.4), is finally attained in the final statement. This statement also marks the simultaneous
cessation of the ascending expansion with an upper boundary of F#6.
Inversional symmetry, the second process at work in this piece, is closely related to the
gap-fill procedure presented above. Not only does inversional symmetry tie local motives and
relate different voices to one another, it also aids in establishing large-scale connections across
the work as a whole. I will discuss these aspects of inversional symmetry as well as its
association with the formal boundaries previously outlined.
10
Stoecker, Studies in Post-Tonal Symmetry, 5. It is successive because the cello line does not occur
simultaneously with the first-violin line (the lack of exact temporal correspondence is apparent in Figures 3.13.3).
11
To convey the inversional property, I present the established gaps as extending from the axis. Thus,
G4G3, although backward from the conventional notation of intervals (e.g., G3G4) directs attention to the fact
that it actually is backward since it is based on an inversion.
45
At R5 (Figure 3.2) the cello line, neglected in the previous discussion, features an exact
inversion about G4 of the first-violin statement. Based on its structural function and its salient
presentation in the preceding music, G4 is the most logical axis point. Symmetrical inversion
becomes apparent upon closer examination of the pitches involved. Beginning with an asserted
G4, the intervallic contour of the first-violin statement is <+1, +1, 2, +1, +6, 6, 2, +1, +1, +1,
2, +1> with each sign/number pair equivalent to a directed interval. In other words, the first
violin changes pitches from starting pitch G4 up [1], then another move up [1], followed by [2]
down, etc. The contour of the cello line, beginning with the same G4, is <1, 1, +2, 1, 6, +6,
+2, 1, 1, 1, +2, 1>. The interval distances remain constant when compared to the first violin,
but the direction of each individual motion is inverted, creating what Philip Stoecker refers to as
a successive mirror.
10
Thus, not only is the expansion process attempting to fill the gap
between G4 and G5 in the first violin, an implied gap is simultaneously being filled via
inversional symmetry. The cello line mirrors the first-violin line and, by implication, will
eventually fill the gap between G4 and G3.
11
Every time the first violin adds an ascending pitch,
the cello adds its inversionally related mate. As is demonstrated in Figure 3.4, in the same
passage in which C5 successfully completes the first-violin G4G5 gap, D4 appears in the cello
line, completely saturating the G4G3 gap with its own chromatic pitches.
In sum, the opening passage establishes one level of activity (the alternation of G4 and
G5), and the material beginning at R5 constitutes a second level of activity. Throughout section
46
A, the second violin and viola preserve the initial activity of the opening passage with a focus on
G4 and G5. The two levels interact as the first-level activity maintains the initial octave gap as a
structural basis, and the second-level activity (first violin and cello) saturates the space (along
with the inversionally related space) with every possible chromatic pitch. Once this saturation is
essentially satisfied (excepting one pitch), the second-level voices are forced to exceed the
boundaries of the primary octaves.
As for large-scale articulation, section A can be conveniently divided into two sub-
sections (A1 and A2). The first is governed by the process of gap-fill within the boundary
pitches G4G5 and, through a symmetrical process, G4G3. The formal boundary is established
at the moment G5 is attained, articulated in the melody by a sudden change in various musical
parameters. Section A2 consists of an expansion beyond G5, which is terminated with the
assertion of C5, the only remaining unstated pitch within the G4G5 gap. Throughout section A,
the cello line mirrors the inversional partner of every pitch asserted by the first violin.
Section B
The character of the second quartets second large section (B) is antithetic to section A.
Whereas section A is rhythmically and metrically vague, section B maintains a consistent meter
and rhythmic structure throughout. The melodic material of section A is aggressively asserted in
short bursts alternating with pauses. Section B, on the other hand, comprises consistent and
slow-moving melodic lines. The accompanimental material in section B focuses on the sustained
[3] and [4] at varied pitch levels, whereas section A is limited to the articulated repetitions of
[12] on an exclusive pitch level (i.e., octave G4G5).
12
The canon here is based on the violas pitch sequence alone. Rhythms are varied and essentially
unsystematic. Nonetheless, generally, in any given measure, one voice sustains a dyad for a significantly long
duration while the other two continue their stretch upward.
47
Notwithstanding the noticeable differences in character, section B, beginning at R21, is
fundamentally structured in a fashion similar to section A. In the opening measure of R21, the
first-violin line contains a harmonic F#6 immediately followed by F#4. Tantamount to the focus
on G4G5 in the opening of section A, these two pitches similarly establish the gap that is
eventually filled in section B. The structural importance of F#6 is supported by the fact that
section A halted the ascending expansion on this exact pitch. Thus, the two sections are
interrelated based on the structural importance of the final pitch of section A and the initial pitch
of section B.
Ascension by [1] is the primary means of gap-fill in section B, again constituting another
structural property in common with section A. At R23 (Figure 3.5), [1]: (A4Bb4) is stated
melodically by the viola before being sustained as a dyad for five beats. This [1] figure initiates a
three-voice canon, answered by the first violin (m. 2) followed by the second violin (m.1 of
R24).
12
The violas A4 is invariably sustained while the upper note of the dyad ascends by
increments of [1]. For instance, at R24 the A4B4 dyad, expanded from the originally
established A4Bb4, continues to expand. The same process occurs in the remaining two canonic
voices, terminating once the viola reaches the [8]:(A4F5) dyad. F#5 is stated by the
unaccompanied first violin at R25, effectively ceasing the [1] expansion.
Although the first octave seems completely saturated, the initial pitch in the viola line is
A4. Therefore, two pitches remain unaccounted for, G4 and G#4; however, they can be located
in the cello and viola parts at R28. In this way the first octave of the F#4F#6 gap-fill is achieved
48
primarily by means of an ascending [1] expansion, paralleling a similar procedure in section A.
Two significant aspects can be seen here: first, the F#4F#5 octave is completely filled before
the upper voices resume the [1] expansion at R30 (discussed below). Thus, the first half of the
gap is successfully saturated before any attempt is made at the second octave (F#5F#6).
Second, the structural importance of G4 in section A is apparent, and the fact that it is one of the
final pitches attained in the gap-fill process of section B seems significant. In a sense, it exposes
section Bs structural reliance on material previously presented in section A.
Following a lengthy interlude reminiscent of the opening of section B, a second [1]
expansion process begins at R30 by the violins. Beginning with F#5, the first-violin line resumes
the [1] ascent as the second violin accompanies a semitone below. The sustained dyads parallel
the A4Bb4 dyad that initiates the canon at R23. Although some pitches, immediately after their
initial statement, are repeated as harmonics two octaves higher, the process at R30 is essentially
unhindered until R31. The expansion temporarily ceases once C6 is reached by the first violin. In
other words, the gap-fill process once again fails to successfully saturate the originally
established space.
It is interesting to note the correlation between this renewed process and the first
expansion occurring at R21R25. The first expansion spans A4F#5 as part of the gap-fill of the
lower half of the originally established F#4F#6. In other words, F#5, the terminating pitch,
bisects the initial space into two [12], and the first expansion process, along with the statement of
G4 and G#4, only fills the lower [12], leaving the upper [12] empty of its chromatic saturation.
At R31 the second process is terminated at C6, once again bisecting the remaining empty space
49
into two equivalent intervals (i.e., [6]). Similar to the first expansion, this second process only
fills the lower portion of the remaining gap.
In m. 7 of R31, the C6 is reasserted in the first violin while the second violin adopts the
familiar accompaniment a semitone below. In this way the second expansion begun at R30 is
resumed from this point. The gap-fill is successfully completed at R33 with the assertion of F#6
(notated as Gb6) by the first violin. However, in similar fashion to section A, the expansion
process continues by both violins beyond the functional boundary pitch, finally ceasing at A7,
more than an octave above F#6.
Taking stock of the many parallels between section A and section B, we are invited to
find formal correlations as well. Section A is interpreted as consisting of two individual sub-
sections differentiated by individual processes contained therein. Sub-section A1 is governed by
the gap-fill process of G4G5, and sub-section A2 is governed by an expansion beyond the
boundary pitch, G5. In section B, the same criteria reveal a similar formal structure. Sub-section
B1 (R21R29) contains the first octave gap-fill, and sub-section B2 (R30 through m. 2 of R33) is
characterized by the second octave gap-fill. The individual sections are also contrasting in their
individual textures. B1 comprises a canonic melodic structure, whereas the homorhythmic
violins carry the melody in B2. The final sub-section, B3 (beginning in m.3 of R33), consists of
long sustained sonorities, each voice rhythmically synchronized, in similar fashion to a chorale.
However, in pitch structure the violins continue the [1] ascension. Therefore, it can be seen that
section B consists of three subsections, the first two representing an octave gap-fill (parallel to
sub-section A1), and the third contains an expansion beyond the boundary pitch F#6 (parallel to
sub-section A2).
13
Inversional symmetry can structurally act on pitch classes without recourse to actual pitch space. In order
to portray this in the analysis, the lack of a number after a pitch name indicates that octave equivalence is enacted. In
other words, F#4 refers to a specific pitch located [6] above middle C while F# (no number) refers to any F# in
pitch space.
14
This is an instance of what Straus terms PIVOT: As a melody progresses, single notes or pairs of notes
are often established as momentary pivot point or centers of inversion around which other notes balance. (Straus,
Ruth Crawford Seeger, 42) It is important to note that a temporary PIVOT can affect a single pitch or several of the
pitches that immediately follow.
15
The graphic representation of the voice-leading used in this and following examples is originally taken
from Henry Klumpenhouwer, A Generalized Model of Voice-Leading for Atonal Music, (PhD diss., Harvard
University, 1991) and expanded by Joseph N. Straus, Voice-Leading in Atonal Music, in Music Theory in Concpt
and Practice, ed. James Baker (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 1997), 237274 and Uniformity, Balance
and Smoothness in Atonal Voice-Leading, Music Theory Spectrum 25/2 (2003), 305352.
50
In section B, inversionally symmetrical relationships create connections between adjacent
sonorities. Throughout the passages presented in the ensuing discussion, a chain of inversional
transformations manipulates each individual set of pitches in order to produce the resulting set.
Each resulting set is then exploited as a temporary inversional axis in order to produce more
pitches. For example, at R21 (Figure 3.6) the dyad containing pitch classes D and F# is the
prominent sonority for three measures.
13
Following the F#4F4 statement by the first violin,
pitch class A is asserted via inversion about F/F# in pitch-class space. Thus, A is the inversional
counterpart of D, a relationship further strengthened by their simultaneous statement in m. 4.
14
This is graphically portrayed in Figure 3.7.
15
Similarly, at R22 the opening D5F#6 dyad
is inversionally mapped onto a harmonic A4F6 dyad about the F/F# axis (in pitch-class space).
Thus, the addition of pitch class A is achieved by means of symmetrical inversion.
In m. 2 of R22 (Figure 3.6), the semitone A4Bb4 in the first-violin line is symmetrically
balanced by an inverted statement in the cello line (A3G#3). This simultaneous statement
establishes the newly asserted pitch class A as the new axis, usurping the structural title
previously held by the F/F# axis. The second-violin assertion of [7]: (A4E5) in m. 3 of R22 is
51
the exact counterpart about the newly established A axis of the first-violin [7]: (D4A4) in m. 5
of R21. Finally, the following [11]: (A4G#5) in the second-violin line (mm. 45), an exact
repetition of the first-violin statement in mm. 67 of R21, is also related by inversion about A to
the [1]: (A4Bb4) in pitch-class space. Thus, almost every pitch throughout R21R22, though
superficially unassociated, can be related by means of inversional symmetry and shift of axes
(either in literal pitch space or in pitch-class space).
As graphically presented in Figure 3.8, a similar procedure involving the same axes can
be located in the interlude material following the completion of the gap-fill process on the first
F#4F#5 octave (R25R30). In m. 3 of R25, the D/F# dyad is once again asserted by the first
violin and cello, closely followed by a statement of F#3F3 in the cello line, paralleling the
F#4F4 in the passage presented above. Once again, a statement of pitch classes D and A
(inversionally related about the F#/F axis) is immediately followed with a statement of pitch
classes A and E. As before, A becomes the structural axis inversionally mapping pitch classes D
and E onto one another. The violins immediately follow with two more open fifths (C4G4 and
B5F#6), which are related by inversion about D/E, the pitches attained in the previous sonority
via inversion about A. Following this, the viola pitch changes from A5 to Bb3 while the cello
line shifts to Db4 from D4. The pitch classes A and D are inversionally mapped on to Bb and Db
via the axis B/C, the exact pitch classes in the violinss open fifths. Finally, the viola asserts [1]:
(F5E5) followed immediately by a cello statement of [1]: (F#4G4). Pitch class F will map onto
F# and pitch class E will map onto G when inverted about Bb/Db, the pitches previously attained
by the cello and viola.
52
Inversional symmetry functionally organizes the individual pitches within these passages
into a constellation of intervals relating each pitch to at least one other pitch. In other words,
although the individual pitches may appear unrelated, random, and disjunct, a single process of
inversional symmetry is functioning as an organizing force, establishing continuity throughout.
Conclusion
Far from being discontinuous, the second string quartet displays a cohesive design. The
motives and themes are developed by the same means by which large-scale unity is maintained.
The gap-fill process paves the way for chromatic saturation in order to establish specific pitches
as more structural than others based on their inclusion in (or lack thereof) in a specific group.
Inversional symmetry allows certain pitches to assert their structural and formal priority based
on their function as a central axis about which other pitches are organized. The two
compositional processes are keys to the cohesive nature and continuity of the work.
1
Christopher Hasty, An Intervallic Definition of Set Class, Journal of Music Theory 31, no. 2 (1987):
183204. Hastys notion consists of utilizing the interval vector of a pitch-class set as a means of defining said pc
set. In other words, rather than dependence on the numbered pitches, Hasty proposes defining a pc set by its
potential interval usage. For my own purpose in this analysis, I have particularized and focused this intervallic
definition to demonstrate how the contained intervals themselves may also be functionally defined, creating the
potential for formal delineation. Not only is the collection of possible intervals important for defining the pitch
collection, each individual interval class involved is specifically limited in its potential use for organizing pitches. In
essence, it is simply a further delineation of levels. Not only is a specific pc set structurally employed within the
various sections of the piece in question (via its intervallic definition), the individual intervals also function on an
abstract micro-level to establish the manner in which the pc set itself is utilized.
2
Claire Polin specifically discusses the aesthetic consequences of Gubaidulinas focus on changes in texture
and timbre as formal articulation within this work: Note that Gubaidulina appears to be most interested in and
draws her material from the manner in which sound is produced. Of her Third String Quartet she says as a
composer I am most interested in the distinctions such as . . . whether the sound is produced by means of touch or by
plucking . . . such small changes can create the climax of the piece, when it changes from pizzicato to arco [R49].
(The Composer as Seer, but not Prophet, Tempo 190 (Sept. 1994): 16)
53
Chapter 4
Analysis of String Quartet No. 3 (1987):
Intervallic Definition
In the third quartet, another process is at work to aid in establishing continuity is at work.
It involves the assignment of a particular function to specific interval classes contained within
the primary pitch-class set employed. The assigned function assists in delineating the formal
structure. This is specifically achieved in two ways. First, ic5 and ic1 each act as structural
markers between sections and as a means of differentiating between voices. Second, when a
primary set is disposed as a series, the intervals within the series are used to vary motives via
repetition of intervals and additive chains. This corresponds to Christopher Hastys notion of
intervallic definition.
1
Figure 4.1 graphically presents the formal outline of the composition. Formal divisions
are articulated primarily through shifts in textures.
2
The opening through R18 (section A) is
3
Interestingly, this quartet does not depend on pitch-space organization as much as the other quartets in this
study. Much of this analysis relies on the means through which pitch-class collections are organized without the
intense recourse to exact pitches so ubiquitous in the remaining three analyses.
54
characterized by its emphasis on a single melodic line accompanied by ostinato repetitions of
arpeggiated open fifths in other voices. The melody exhibits aspects of Webernian Klangfarben-
melodie as two or more instruments perform successive pitches in the melodic line, endowing
individual pitches with a unique timbre. Section B (R19R48) is more contrapuntal,
characterized by its emphasis on semitonal relationships, both within and between each
instrumental voice. Although a single meter temporally organizes the four instrumental lines, the
rhythmic divisions exhibited by the individual voices are completely independent of one another.
Each line is organized into an idiosyncratic rhythm lacking any connection to the remaining
voices. Section C (R49R51) ensues following a five-second pause. Beginning with six chords,
each held in long notes and consisting of seven individual pitches, the section continues with
material similar to the accompanimental arpeggiated fifths from the A section. Section D
(R52R76) contains qualities from each of the previous sections. The texture consists primarily
of imitative counterpoint between the main voices, but the rhythmic meandering of section B is
conspicuously absent. Melodically, the passage resumes melodic material similar to that initially
utilized in section A, creating an overarching connection to the single-line
melody/accompaniment texture of the opening. The final section (R77R78) functions as a small
coda that echoes musical material from section C.
The primary pitch material for the work as a whole is epitomized in the chords at R49
(Figure 4.2). These chords, each with seven different pitches,
3
are arranged so that the outer
pitches (the highest in the first-violin voice and the lowest in the cello voice) move in contrary
55
motion toward each other. This wedge-like motion, reminiscent of the process utilized in the first
quartet, culminates in the final septachord, which consists of stacked semitones [A, Bb, B, C, C#,
D, Eb]. The first five sonorities belong to a single set-classnamely, 7-27 (0124579). The first
sonority comprises the pcs [G, A, B, C, D, Eb, E], and the second comprises the pcs [Db, D, Eb,
F, Gb, Ab, Bb]; each of the remaining three chords consists of the exact pcs contained in the first
sonority. The relation between the first two chords is the inversion that maps Eb onto D (i.e., I5
transformation). This set class, verticalized into a single sonority in this passage, constitutes the
primary melodic and harmonic material for the entire work. Because the exact pitch collection
contained in the first chord is so ubiquitous in this work, I will refer to it as the Source Chord. In
some cases the actual pitch-class content of this chord organizes the pitch structure. In other
sections the intervallic definition inherent to this pitch collection is the primary compositional
construct.
Hierarchical and Formal Separation
The pitches asserted in the third quartet are sometimes arranged by assigning specific
functions to an interval class, bestowing upon those interval classes the potential of structurally
organizing the musical material. By analyzing the intervallic structure of the primary set class 7-
27 (0124579), it can be seen that the set is an all-interval septachord with an interval vector
[344451]; thus, any interval is a possible compositional choice. Specific to this work, ic5
functions as a method of separating material, both between sectional units and between
simultaneously sounding voices. This individual intervallic focus is further supported by the fact
56
that ic5 is the most pervasive interval in the vector. I will focus on each issue separately in the
following discussion.
At the opening of the work (Figure 4.3), the second violin performs a series of
arpeggiated open fifths as harmonics on open strings: <D5, A5, E6>. This continues as an
ostinato beneath the first violins prominent melodic statement. Punctuated by fermatas, the
individual units of the melodic line are completely void of ic5; however, the connection between
the two voices is made apparent by the melodys emphasis of the figures D5E6 and A5D#6,
which, except for D#6, assert the exact pitches that the second violin articulated into units of ic2
and ic6. In this way the redundant ic5 line is relegated to the background while articulations of
the remaining ics are imbued with a melodic structural status. This textural separation by means
of intervallic distribution continues throughout the A section as the voices carrying the melodic
material avoid utilizing ic5. For instance, Figure 4.4 presents the second-violin accompaniment
pattern following the first violins initial melodic statement. As can be seen, another fifth is
included in the accompaniment collection: <D5, A5, E6, B6>. This addition is made even more
salient since the first melodic statement terminates on the exact same pitch (B6). In other words,
when combined into a single collection the melodic and accompanimental lines contain the exact
pitch-classes from the Source Chord, yet the individual lines emphasize different ics. The
Eb5G4 asserted by the first violin upon reentry at R2 (Figure 4.4) marks the point at which the
7-27 set class is literally formed. Thus, the pitch-class content of the Source Chord (R49)
structures the opening of the work.
Another important observation concerns the consistent manner in which the melodic
material temporarily ceases each time a new pitch is added to the accompaniment collection.
4
In the process of analyzing this passage, I do not consider the pitches to which the main notes gliss to. In
performance, since the tempo is relatively quick in this passage, the glissando itself seems to be the primary effect
and the termination of the glissando is not actually perceived. Therefore, I will focus on the organization of the
pitches that are readily apparent.
57
Because the ic5-saturated accompanimental material clearly articulates melodic segments, by
implication, ic5 assumes a formal role, functioning as a structural divider between distinct phrase
units. In this way, an interval inherent to the primary pc set is endowed with a functional status.
The structural role of ic5 is operative in other sections of the work. For example, at R13
(Figure 4.5) each pitch of the melodic line is stated by a different instrument. Throughout this
passage, two distinct motives alternate. The first is characterized by relatively shorter rhythmic
value, louder dynamic level, and the inclusion of a glissando tag attached to each note.
4
The
second consists of a group of harmonics and is characterized by the longer rhythmic value, softer
dynamic level, and the lack of a glissando tag. If the glissandi pitches are compared, it can be
seen that they consist of a series of several intervals; however, ic5 never appears between any
consecutive pitches. The harmonic pitches, on the other hand, make up the same
accompanimental pattern from the opening, transposed to begin on C4: <C4, G4, D5, A5>. At
R14 the melodic material embodied by the glissandi pitches is structurally articulated into two
distinct statements by interpolations of accompanimental material.
Another example can be found in section D (Figure 4.6). Throughout this section the
primary melodic material for the first violin is based solely on the previously defined set-class 7-
27. The remaining voices imitate various short motives following the initial statement by the
primary melodic voice. Also, each voice imitates the pitches in a unique rhythmic pattern. In a
sense, the first-violin line functions as a dux voice of a quasi-canonic texture; however, the
comes voices do not imitate the line in toto, but simply focus on short distinct motives while
58
altering the rhythms. Each time an especially long duration appears in the primary melodic
voice, a series of ic5s is asserted in one or more voices. The ic5 statements function as structural
separators, segmenting the melodic material into phrases.
In Figure 4.6, each of the comes voices imitate the first-violin motive in different
rhythmic sequences. In fact, the second violin omits the first pitch of the motive altogether,
focusing instead on the final two pitches. Three measures after R56, the viola and cello perform
the first ic5 in the D section. Because it occurs just prior to the presentation of new motivic
material in the first-violin line (m. 4 of R56), this ic5 series functions as a structural divider
between the first-violin phrases. The same process of organization continues to structure the
entire D section, recreating the contrast between melodic material and the ic5 accompanimental
material that is characteristic of section A.
Ic5 is not the only interval whose function is to establish structural and formal
boundaries; ic1 is also imbued in some sections of the work with a similar function. In the
opening section, for instance, the viola joins the first violins melodic line just prior to R1 (see
Figure 4.3). Along with the first-violin statement of an Eb harmonic, the viola asserts a harmonic
E, emphasizing ic1. In fact, throughout R1R9 every pitch in the viola line sounds a semitone
from the first violins simultaneously sounding pitch. Because ic1 is so saliently exposed in the
melodic material, a special functional contrast is established with the accompanimental material.
In other words, because the ic5 accompanimental material was shown to be functionally distinct
from the melodic material and ic1 was shown to have special status among the melodic intervals
based on its particular salience, it follows that the ic5-ic1 antagonism has the potential to be
5
This terminology points to the fact that the music is perpetually moving with no goal orientation. In other
words, the material in this section of the quartet has a distinct sense of rhythmic and melodic motion, but the syntax
required for some goal is absent, creating a mere perpetual motion machine.
59
exploited as a means of formal structure. Thus, just as ic5 is utilized as a structural divider, the
specific contrast between ic5 and ic1 also establishes formal contrast.
The most striking example, found at R10R11, is presented in Figure 4.7. In section A
the ic5 material can be found in all instruments simultaneously only twice, and, because of the
status of ic5, each time it is a structurally strong formal marker. At R10 all four instruments
utilize the ic5 material in various rhythmic durations for approximately three seconds before
each, in turn, is silenced. Immediately following, at R11, is a section in which each voice is
saturated with ic1 material. The violins consist of two repeated patterns containing the pitches
[G3, Ab3, A3] while the viola and cello focus on [F#3, G3, Ab3]. In essence, this section is
quoting the first-violin/viola simultaneities from the preceding section directly in the viola while
using the same material in a linear fashion in the violins. In this way the salient focus on ic1 in
the melodic material of R1R9 is maximized here in both the vertical and horizontal dimensions,
saturating the present section with varied ic1 presentations.
The dynamic level and distinct manner of pitch articulation support a melodic
interpretation of the viola line. The remaining three lines are softer and redundant, forming a
static pitch structure.
5
Overall, the sole use of ic5 in R10 followed immediately and suddenly by
singular employment of ic1 in R11 creates a tension that is conveniently exploited for its
structural and formal value.
The same idea can be found in R15R17, displayed in Figure 4.8. R15 corresponds to
R10 as each individual voice consists entirely of repeated ic5 chains. The following material is
60
an interpolated echo of the melodic material presented in R12; however, the primary structural
contrast appears in R17, which functions as the formal analogue of R11. The upper three voices
contain a persistent repetition (occurring for about eighteen seconds) of the pitch collection
[A#3, B3, C4, C#4]. The cello remains tacit except for a single statement of the Source Chord
[G, A, B, C, D, Eb, E], again echoing the melodic material from the previous sections (especially
R14). Beginning at R18 the contrapuntal lines completely avoid ic5 between any two
consecutive linear pitches. Because this has been the main criteria for locating hierarchical
difference between simultaneously sounding voices, the lack of any ic5 creates a stronger sense
of true melodic and contrapuntal equality among the individual lines. Thus, not only does the
texture immediately shift at R18, becoming more overtly contrapuntal, it also becomes less clear
which voice is carrying the principal melody. Based on this sudden change in texture and
melodic emphasis, the contrasting ic1 material at R17 functions as a large-scale formal
articulation between the larger A and B sections.
Another example occurs at R50 (Figure 4.9), which follows the section in which the outer
voices complete the wedge motion through the six chords (see Figure 4.2) and eventually come
to rest on a cluster of ic1s: [A, Bb, B, C, C#, D, Eb]. Immediately following this, as the ic1
cluster is softly sustained, each instrument performs a pizzicato version of the accompanimental
material (ic5). The subordinate placement of ic5 is unmistakable since the ic1 drone continues to
sustain past the pizzicato texture. Thus, not only are the two separated as melody and
accompanimental material, they also articulate a formal boundary between sections C and D.
One final example should be noted, as it demonstrates the manner in which ic1 is capable
of functioning alone as a structural entity without relying on the ic5 contrast. At various points
61
throughout the B section, the contrapuntal material focuses on three pitches (different at each
distinct point), always arranged as two ic1s, thus giving ic1 the function of a structural marker.
For instance, the first occurrence of this phenomenon is at R23 (Figure 4.10). Prior to this point
the individual voices have focused on their individual and distinct pitch collections linearly
distributed with wide ranges and various intervals. At R23 all four lines coalesce into a common
pitch collection[G#3, A3, Bb3]. While the upper three voices assert these pitches in various
rhythmic patterns, the cello echos the viola strategy from R11 (Figure 4.7). Just as the viola
followed a simultaneous ic1 assertion with a glissando to a pitch a semitone away, the cello at
R23 states a pizzicato Bb-A simultaneity and slides to G#. Following this short period of repose,
the previous contrapuntal activity resumes. Similar events occur several times throughout the B
section, always with a different pitch collection.
Motivic Development and Transformations
The previous discussion focuses on one manner in which intervals are given a structural
function. A second method of using intervals consists of endowing them with a developmental
function. Typically, a motive consisting of pitches from the primary set is expanded and
developed by an interval inherent to the set itself. Essentially, this can be achieved in two ways:
the interval or intervals in question can simply repeat at a local melodic level, or the motive can
be restated in toto at another transpositional level based on the functional interval.
It can be argued that, since every motive is developed or transposed by an inherent
interval, an all-interval set will, by default, always contain this structural property. The nature of
my discussion, however, will demonstrate how the first manner of applying the process
6
Because of octave equivalence in pitch-class space, any directed interval and its inversion in the opposite
direction are considered identical moves. For instance, +10 is commensurate with 2.
62
systematically avoids utilizing ic5 in expanding and developing motives. The second manner in
which this process occurs, on the other hand, applies only ic5 in transpositional transformations
of motivic material. I begin the discussion with the first method.
Figure 4.11 presents R52, in which the cello utilizes each pitch from the first chord of
R49 (i.e., the primary set), even repeating the Eb that is doubled in the verticality. However, the
melody continues once the pitch source has been exhausted by repeating the same intervallic
series used for the opening pitches of the melody, illustrated in Figure 4.11. Beginning with G3,
the directed interval series is <10, +6, +9, +11, 9> and immediately following with the pitch
D3 is <+2, 6, +9, +11, 9>. Although the first interval <+4> is bypassed in the repetition, the
remainder of the series is intact.
6
It should come as no surprise that ic5 is avoided completely
while every remaining interval class is present.
Although the order has been altered, the first-violin melody in the following section
(Figure 4.12) retains the exact pitch classes from the cello melody and, by direct relation, the
primary set. It is apparent, however, that the interval series has been altered in order to
emphasize ic1. The remaining voices imitate the main lines pitches with varied rhythmic
patterns until the viola initiates a structural division with an ic5 chain just prior to R56.
Beginning at R56 the first-violin melody utilizes the pitch-classes from the second chord
of R49 (related to the first by I5), again repeating the doubled D from the verticalization.
Nevertheless, the ic5 structural division in the cello and viola parts occurs before the pitch-class
source is exhausted (m. 3), thus establishing a new melodic phrase beginning with a descending
[6]: (D6Ab5). The imitative counterpoint resumes until the ic5 structural division is stated once
7
Though tedious, I have consciously chosen to walk through the previous passage chronologically in order
to demonstrate and justify my division of the melody into motivic segments based on the structural divisions of ic5
material. These segments are based entirely on intervals drawn from the primary set and are varied in the remainder
of the sections.
63
again at R58.
7
Although ic6 has been uninvolved in the structural articulation of phrases, the
placement of the structurally-dividing ic5 in m. 3 places enough emphasis on ic6 to endow it
with structural importance, further strengthened by its repetition in the following passages. Thus,
ic6 is specifically utilized as the initial interval of each individual first-violin melodic phrase
throughout section D.
In m. 2 of R58 (Figure 4.13), another statement of this first-violin melody occurs,
beginning with descending [6]: (C6Gb5). However, the statement is not an exact repetition;
rather, the material is expanded by the interpolation of a chain of ic4-ic1 units. Important here is
the formation of a motive from the only two intervals uninvolved in the intervallic pattern
repetition in the cello line. In other words, the initial ic4 and the final ic1 are estranged from the
<10, +6, +9, +11, 9> pattern, clearly marked in Figure 4.11. Combined into a single <+4, 1>
melodic fragment, these two intervals become the primary means of thematic expansion and
development in the following statements of the primary set throughout the entire D section.
Beginning with another descending [6]: (C6Gb5) in mm. 23 of R66, presented in
Figure 4.14, another first-violin melodic segment is initiated, extending only as far as R67 before
a statement of five consecutive <+4, 1> melodic fragments develops. This expansion forms the
dramatic climax of the entire section by carrying the melody to an extreme register. The climax
is further supported by the quicker rhythmic motion and a focus on ic1: [F#5, G5, Ab5, A5] in
the accompanimental viola and cello voices. In R70R73 (Figure 4.15) the melodic material is
8
The primary set 7-27 is absent in this example because this passage occurs in section B. Since this section
is characterized by its structural dependence on ic1, it is only logical that the primary set 7-27 would be subsumed by
a pitch collection consisting of stacked [1]s.
64
successfully brought to a close with an exact restatement of the first six pitch classes from the
cellos opening melody at R52 (circled in Figure 4.15).
The second manner of structurally utilizing intervals contained within the primary pc-set
class 7-27 is more abstract and operates on a deeper level. Rather than using a motive or ic chain
per se, the operations transform the set as a whole entity. However, it will be shown that these
transpositional relations are strong enough to establish a structural and formal function.
The first example occurs at R14 (Figure 4.5). As was previously pointed out, this section
consists of two statements of the primary set separated by the ic5 structural divider. Focusing on
the primary-set statements, it is apparent that the first set is [F#, G#, Bb, B, C#, D, Eb] while the
second set contains the pitch-classes [Db, Eb, F, F#, G#, A, Bb]. (The first set appears to have an
asserted G as its final pitch, but this can be seen as an anticipation of the first pitch in the
immediately following ic5 structural divider, which is also G.) A comparison of these sets
reveals that the second is a transposition of the first down by five semitones (in pitch-class
space). Thus, although ic5 is utilized on the surface as a means of separating statements of the
primary set, at a deeper structural level it is the interval used to relate them.
Another example can be found at R38 (Figure 4.16), in which ic5 is shown to relate the
motivic material. Three different transpositions of set class 3-1 (012) are present in this passage:
[C#, D, Eb], [G#, A, Bb], and [D#, E, F].
8
When compared, an interesting relationship is
revealed. The [G#, A, Bb] collection is first presented at R37 and remains in effect for five
measures before the remaining two collections are presented. The [C#, D, Eb] collection is
65
related to the first by T5, or transposition up by ic5, while the [D#, E, F] collection is related to
the first by T5, or transposition down by ic5. As the surface motives are emphasizing ic1, the
underlying relationship between the motives is controlled by ic5.
The final example occurs in the cello motive at R52 (Figure 4.11). In the discussion
above it was shown how the cello pitches are organized by means of a repeated interval series,
continuing to add pitches after those of the primary set (i.e., the first sonority at R49) are
depleted. By basing the melody on the same interval series, intervallic definition dictates that the
same primary set will be formed again (at some transpositional level). Thus, the first eight pitch
classes of the Source Chord, [G, A, B, C, D, Eb, E], are directly related to the final eight pitch
classes, [D, E, F#, G, A, Bb, B]. When compared, it is apparent that the second collection is
related to the first by T5. The connection is further strengthened by the fact that the only
repeated pitch class in the first eight cello pitches (Eb) directly maps onto the only repeated pitch
class in the final eight pitches (Bb). Once again, even though ic5 is conspicuously absent from
the melodic material itself, it is structurally present, governing the overall relationship between
the pitch collections.
Conclusion
In sum, the pitch organization in the third quartet is structured by means of assigning
particular functions to two specific interval classes found in the primary set 7-27. The distinct
roles of ic5 and ic1 allow the pitches to be hierarchically separated into melodic and
accompanimental levels. The same functional assignments form a contrast between ic5 and the
various remaining interval classes (especially ic1), endowing ic5 with the potential to articulate
66
formal boundaries. Repetition of the remaining intervals of the set as a series (excepting ic5) is
also utilized as a means by which motives are developed and expanded. Finally, ic5, although
avoided melodically on the surface level, is the primary means by which distinct statements of
the primary set 7-27 are structurally related.
1
Another interesting experiment concerns the use of colored lights in the performance of this work. Because
I have chosen to limit my analytical focus to purely musical parameters, any discussion of this aspect and its
consequences on the structural properties of the piece, though interesting, are beyond the scope of this study.
Gubaidulina herself discusses the musical use of colors in Sofia Gubaidulina and Vera Lukomsky, Sofia
Gubaidulina: My Desire Is Always to Rebel, to Swim against the Stream! Perspectives of New Music 36, no. 1
(1998): 2831.
67
Chapter 5
Analysis of String Quartet No. 4 (1993):
Verticalized Sound Masses
Composed considerably later than the other three, the fourth quartet best represents
Gubaidulinas mature style. In many ways it seems to exaggerate various aspects of the avant-
garde experimental textures, making it distinct in comparison to the other three quartets. For
instance, it is the only quartet utilizing three separate ensembles. Two of the ensembles are
recorded onto a tape while the third performs live along with the recording. This work also
illustrates the composers interest in experimenting with the natural timbre of the instruments.
The performers are instructed to attach a ping-pong ball to the instruments with an elastic band.
When the strings vibrate, the ball bounces on the sounding board creating a clicking noise.
This effect is maintained throughout most of the work.
1
The quartet can be divided into two large sections. The first is characterized by two
distinct layers of activity that occur simultaneously. The two recorded ensembles are grouped
together based on the canonic organization of their musical elements, especially rhythm, while
the live ensemble is clearly differentiated by means of its idiosyncrasies in pitch, rhythm, and
texture. However, as I will demonstrate in the following analysis, although the two layers of
2
Compare this to the third quartet, in which the voices sometimes maintain a superficial rhythmic motion
but are actually confined to semitonal motion within two boundary pitches outlining an especially small interval.
3
Many of the analytical tools utilized in this chapter were first presented in recent studies of Ligeti and
Varse: Jonathan W. Bernard, Pitch/Register in the Music of Edgard Varse, Music Theory Spectrum 3 (1981):
125; idem, Inaudible Structures, Audible Music: Ligetis Problem, and His Solution, Music Analysis 6, no. 3
(1987): 20736; idem, The Music of Edgard Varse (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987); idem, Voice
Leading as a Spatial Function in the Music of Ligeti, Music Analysis 13, no. 23 (1994): 22753; Jane Piper
Clendenning, The Pattern-Meccanico Compositions of Gyrgy Ligeti, Perspectives of New Music 31, no. 1
(1993): 192234; Michael Hicks, Interval and Form in Ligetis Continuum and Coule, Perspectives of New Music
31, no. 1 (1993): 17290; Miguel Roig-Francol, Harmonic and Formal Processes in Ligetis Net-Structure
Compositions, Music Theory Spectrum 17, no. 2 (1995): 24267.
68
activity organize and structure their relative elements in different ways, the musical material
being organized is actually comparatively similar based on intervallic structure.
The recorded ensembles discontinue beginning at R30. This second large section contains
a series of gradually changing sonorities performed by the live ensemble. Although the most
immediate distinction between these sections lies in the inclusion or lack of the recorded
ensembles, the live ensemble itself is also fundamentally different within each section. The first
section maintains an anxious character as the voices of the live ensemble each feature their own
individual rhythmic structures. In other words, each individual voice in the ensemble carries its
own rhythmic patterns, completely unconnected to the other three voices. The superimposed
rhythms occurring throughout the first section contrast sharply with the lengthy durations of the
individual sonorities in the second section.
Because of the avant-garde or experimental quality of the various musical elements, the
fourth quartet defies analytical explanation. Although they are constantly in motion with
tremolos, the voices are fairly static in pitch space.
2
Regardless, I will illustrate how these fairly
static segments of pitches can often be verticalized into a collection, demonstrating how they
relate to one another in pitch space.
3
4
Because the score contains two recorded quartets and one live quartet, I label the members of each quartet
differently. The two recorded ensembles are labeled A and B, and the live ensemble is conventionally labeled (i.e.,
without a letter). The individual instrument labels include the ensemble letter (if needed) followed by a hyphen and
the conventional instrument name. For example, B-viola is the viola line in the second recorded ensemble and
first violin refers to the first violin in the live ensemble.
5
Bernard describes this procedure as melody interpreted as harmony, . . . in classic Ligetian fashion.
(Ligetis Restoration of Interval, 10) Interestingly, Gubaidulina herself seems to compose in a similar manner: In
the first phase the sound comes to me, often in a form I have trouble breaking up into its component parts. It seems
to be built up vertically, so I begin to guess what this sound could eventually mean. . . . I rearrange the sound from a
vertical to a horizontal shape, so to speak, and with that the form comes into being. (Sofia Gubaidulina: Into the
Labyrinth of the Soul, in The Voice of Music: Conversations with Composers of Our Time, ed. Anders Beyer and
Jean Christensen (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000), 50. Italics mine.)
69
For example, Figure 5.1 displays the opening pitches in the B-viola voice.
4
Since this line
is repeated in toto numerous times in the ensuing measures, these four measures conveniently
group into a whole with the pitches organized into a four-note ostinato. Because the line
relentlessly continues to return to its initial pitch (via repetition), the line represents a static
sound mass comprised of restless energy but lacking actual motion in pitch space. The sound
mass, therefore, can be conveniently verticalized into a single pitch collection [F4, G4, A4, Bb4]
and related to other similarly formulated sound masses. In other words, a short melody can be
treated as an unordered pitch collection and conceived of as a vertical sonority.
5
In this chapter, I
will illustrate the various manners in which static melodies, verticalized into sound masses,
can be related to one another based on their intervallic structures.
The Primary Pitch Collections
The two distinct layers in this work, although differentiated by means of their
idiosyncratic organizational and structural design, are both based on a characteristic collection of
intervals. The verticalized sound masses contained within each layer of musical activity establish
6
In the abstract reduction, the pitches contained in each individual collection are presented in ascending
order, regardless of their order in the music.
70
a primary intervallic collection and utilize these same organized intervals in registral space in
order to define specific sonorities. This will become clear in the following discussion.
Each member of the recorded ensembles contains a four-measure ostinato rhythmic
pattern, presented in Figure 5.1. Furthermore, the voices in each individual ensemble each
consist of the exact same pitches as their counterpart in the alternate ensemble. In other words,
the A-viola states the same < Bb4, A4, G4, F4, G4, Bb4> segment as its counterpart, B-viola
(Figure 5.1). However, even though the rhythmic and pitch patterns remain consistent between
voice pairs, the metric placement is varied for each individual instrument. The B-viola voice
begins on beat one while the entrance of the A-viola occurs on beat four, creating a canonic
structure. Since the rhythmic durations are consistent for all eight members of the two
ensembles, the canon is not limited to pairs of voices. The two recorded ensembles are organized
together into a single level of rhythmic canonic activity while each instrument, along with its
counterpart, asserts its own particular ordered pitch collection. Thus, the canon is completely
based on rhythmic patterns instead of pitch patterns.
Figure 5.2 presents an abstract reduction of the various pitch collections in order of their
presentation in the music.
6
Because of the consistent preservation of exact pitches, instrument
pairs are displayed together as a single collection. The numbers above the segments roughly
correspond to the placement in the score; however, since the canonic structure of the individual
lines rhythmically displaces the related pair, the individual bars in the figure should not be
read as directly coinciding with the metric structure of the actual music. The bar-lines instead
delineate four-measure segments (rhythmically normalized in this abstract example).
7
In order to avoid confusion, I have basically adopted Roig-Francols shorthand model for displaying
intervallic subdivisions. (Harmonic and Formal Processes, 246, n. 13) However, I will include one difference:
rather than omitting the brackets altogether, interval chains defined by a single pitch collection will be contained
within a single bracket. For instance, [3] can be subdivided as [1 2], [2 1], or [1 1 1].
71
The A-/B-viola and A-/B-second violin maintain the exact same pitches throughout
section one, creating an actual ostinato. The A-/B-first violin and A-/B-cello, while consistently
organized with the same rhythmic pattern, contain different pitches in each successive four-bar
pattern. Together, these two instrument pairs create a wedge-like pattern over the course of the
first section, the first-violin pair moving in contrary motion to the cello pair.
When compared, the first four verticalized sound masses delineated in the abstract
reduction display an interesting consistency. The individual intervallic designs are also notated
beneath the pitch collections in Figure 5.2.
7
The intervallic structure in registral space defining
the initial pitch collection of all four instrument pairs is exactly the same, [2 2 1], further
supporting the posited notion of canonic structure in this layer. The pc set defined by this
intervallic structure, 4-11 (0135), will henceforth be referred to as the Ostinato Collection.
Beyond the first four collections, the Ostinato Collection is never again presented in the recorded
ensembles; however, the importance of this collection will become apparent in the ensuing
discussion.
Figure 5.3 displays the live ensemble at R5. The initial quintuplet in the cello line
contains the ordered pitches <F2, F#2, G2, F#2, A#2> with an intervallic structure [1 1 3]. Each
successive statement transposes this quintuplet by ic1. The exact same sequence of events occurs
at R8 followed by yet another sequence at R9. Its sheer repetition endows this quintuplet with
motivic and structural significance. Henceforth, I will refer to this pc set, 4-4 (0125), as the Live
Collection.
72
It should be clear from the preceding discussion how the Ostinato Collection and the Live
Collection are each firmly established as structural entities within their relative layer of activity.
Both are presented relatively early in the ensemble with which they are associated, asserting an
apparent independence in relation to the other. However, the remainder of this chapter will
reveal this apparent independence to be superficial by demonstrating how the interaction
between these two collections is a primary means of achieving structural coherence and relating
different sound masses.
Relating Individual Sound Masses
Adjacent melodic segments are directly related via the intervals inherent to each;
however, these intervals are not always evident until the melodic segments are verticalized into
sound masses. Different transformations reveal how one sound mass can morph into another,
illustrating the interaction between adjacent sound masses that cannot be related via traditional
operations of transposition and inversion. In other words, the intervals inherent to a collection of
pitches can be transformed by means of specific operations in order to bind the group to an
adjacent collection, establishing a continuity between sets that are normally distinct and
dissociated.
A melody is presented by the first violin beginning in m. 3 of R26. Although seemingly
continuous, the line conveniently divides into distinct segments, punctuated by a consistent
rhythmic cadence. Without exception, each individual segment of this melody terminates on a
pitch with a rhythmic duration of three eighth-notes. This duration is reserved solely for the
8
As is discussed in chapter one, the possibility of utilizing rhythm as a means of formal articulation is
entirely in line with the composers expressed views: I am preoccupied with the issues of rhythm and rhythmic
proportionality in musical form, which I consider the main experiment in my life. (Vera Lukomsky, Hearing the
Subconscious: Interview with Sofia Gubaidulina, Tempo 209 (1999), 27.)
9
Bernard, Pitch/Register in Varse, 9.
73
function of cadential articulation, making it particularly salient when it occurs.
8
Further
supporting its functional role, the terminating pitch is always followed by a [2] descent. In other
words, each individual segment of this melody begins [2] below the terminating pitch of the
previous segment.
Figure 5.4 graphically displays these segments as verticalized sound masses. The vertical
axis maps the individual pitches in pitch space, each unit representing the interval of a semitone.
The horizontal axis plots time points; in this case, however, the horizontal units are not equal
divisions of time (e.g., seconds or measures). The points on the horizontal axis (labeled with
letters in Figure 5.4) are relative time points simply mapping the individual verticalized sound
masses based on the order in which they occur in the music. Thus, point a and point b are
unequal in their temporal durations, but they occur in succession.
In relating the different verticalized sound masses, I have relied heavily on Jonathan
Bernards transformational operations utilized in his studies of the music of Ligeti and Varse.
The primary difference between these operations and those conventionally employed
transformations is the preoccupation of the former with pitch space as opposed to pitch-class
space. These operations are designed to exhibit the specific manner in which pitch collections
mutate in pitch space. I will focus on three: projection, GLIDE, and FLIP.
Projection is defined by Bernard as a transference of structure to a new pitch/registral
level.
9
Essentially, the operation simply transposes some intervallic structure up or down, but
10
Bernards concept of partial projection is similar to Strauss fuzzy transposition. See Joseph N. Straus,
Voice-Leading in Atonal Music, in Music Theory in Concept and Practice, ed. James Baker (Rochester:
University of Rochester Press, 1997), 23774 and Uniformity, Balance and Smoothness in Atonal Voice-Leading,
Music Theory Spectrum 25, no. 2 (2003): 30552.
11
Bernard, Ligetis Restoration of Interval, 15 (original italics). Bernard compares GLIDE to Richard
Cohns transpositional combination with the obvious qualification the glide functions strictly according to the
exigencies of pitch space. (15, n. 26)
12
Ibid. Bernard notes that this operation essentially combines his unfolding and infolding and even has an
etymological similarity to David Lewins versions: FLIPEND and FLIPSTART. See Generalized Musical Intervals
and Transformations (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987), 189.
74
the term projection is preferred over transposition in this context because of its visual/spatial
reference to projecting something onto various planes (comparable to pitch levels here). The
property of partial projection is also possible. Basically, although some of the structure is
transferred, something is also changed during the projection. This operation is less straight-
forward than full projection, but it does require at least an apparent resemblance between the
operand and the result.
10
The remaining two operations allow for transformations between sets with different
cardinalities. The first, GLIDE, occurs when two or more pitches, preserving their pitch-interval
structure, are transposed to a new location without canceling their presence at the original
location. This operation leaves a trace and is therefore irreversible.
11
Essentially, GLIDE
functions as a projection without moving the original pitches. For instance, if GLIDE (1) is
performed on <C#4, Eb4> at point m, the result would be <C4, C#4, D4, Eb4>.
The second operation, FLIP, occurs when a pitch moves about a pivot to a new position,
giving up its old one and ending up the same distance, measured by unordered pitch interval,
above the pivot as it was originally below, or vice versa.
12
In other words, if FLIP (D4) is
performed on Eb4, then Eb4 would flip below D4 to C#4 (i.e., [1] above becomes [1] below).
13
Bernard, Pitch/Register in Varse, 10.
75
Finally, it is important to point out that, contrary to conventional transformational
operations, none of these operations is required to affect the entire set. They are free to transform
any portion of the set so long as the operation is fulfilled completely. The relation between pitch
collections is also not limited to a single operation; rather, it can be achieved by two or more
operations occurring in sequence.
Returning to Figure 5.4, following the [1] dyad (point a), a collection of five pitches with
an intervallic structure [1 2 1 1] is stated (point b). This grouping can be interpreted as an
interlocked Ostinato Collection [E6, F6, G6, A6] = [1 2 2] and Live Collection [E6, G6, G#6,
A6] = [3 1 1]. Because I defined these collections in terms of pc sets, inversions of the original
statements are plausible and likely. However, since intervallic structures depend on order (listing
bottom to top), different intervallic dispositions can not be considered equivalent. Therefore,
inversion of pc sets will necessarily entail a reordering (retrograde) of the subdivision labels in
the intervallic structure. In the present discussion, the Ostinato Collection [2 2 1] becomes [1 2
2]; likewise, the Live Collection [1 1 3] become [3 1 1]. Because the intervallic structure is
reordered when the collection is inverted, Bernard utilizes the term rotation in lieu of
inversion in order to emphasize the intervallic relations in pitch space (as opposed to pitch-
class space).
13
As is graphically demonstrated in Figure 5.4, the same collection occurs at points
c and d, each successively projected down by [1].
Point e exhibits an expanded collection of pitches, interpreted as two groups of
interlocked collections with a common pitch (C#6). As can be seen from the graph, the upper
group [C#6, D6, Eb6, F6, F#6] continues the succession of descending [1] projections (points
76
bd). The lower group [G#5, A5, B5, C6, C#6] is a rotation of the projected collection about
C#6. This expanded collection of a set and its rotation also occurs at point g. Thus, point e is
projected downward by [7] to point g.
An interesting anomaly takes place at points i and j. A partial [7] projection of the same
expanded collection occurs between points g and i, omitting the lowest pitch (F#4). A new
collection is presented at point j with the intervallic structure [1 1 1 1 1]. Essentially, this set, if
reinterpreted, contains the pitches of the interlocked-collection [E4, F4, G4, G#4, A4] with an
added pitch (F#4). It is interesting that this is the exact pitch omitted from the collection at point
i. In a sense, it is as though F#4 is tardy, sounding at an inappropriate moment.
By performing the GLIDE and FLIP operations in succession, the pitch collection at
point m can be directly related to the modified set at point n. First, GLIDE (1) is performed on
the partial collection [C#4, Eb4], resulting in the complete collection [B3, C4, C#4, D4, Eb4].
FLIP (D4) and FLIP (C4) are simultaneously performed on Eb4 and B3, respectively. This
results in the sacrifice of B4 and Eb4, yielding the collection [C4, C#4, D4]. Thus, the set at
point n can be directly related to those at point m.
A similar process takes place at R14 (Figure 5.5), in which the first-violin line contains a
lengthy melodic line accompanied by the remaining voices. The accompanimental texture of the
second violin and viola supports the melody with arpeggiations of (037) trichords and single-
pitch repetitions against the continuous glissandi in the cello voice. Because of the static nature
of the repetitions in the accompaniment, the analysis of this passage will focus exclusively on the
melodic sound masses.
77
The first-violin line is segmented based on the exact criteria employed above. Basically,
the terminating pitch with a rhythmic duration of three eighth-notes followed by a [2] descent
exclusively articulates the individual segments. Points a and b contain the interlocked Ostinato
Collection and Live Collection with an intervallic structure [1 2 1 1]. The collection at point c is
attained via FLIP (D#6) and FLIP (A#5) respectively applied to D6 and B5 followed by a
GLIDE (1) performed on [C#6, E6] (shown in Figure 5.5). Similarly, FLIP (C#6) and FLIP
(A5) performed on C6 and A#5 result in the pitch collection at point d. The collection at point e
results when FLIP (D6) is applied to Eb6 along with the [3] descending projection of [G#5, A5].
Figure 5.5 graphically demonstrates how the remaining pitch collections are derived.
The final example will focus on the second large formal section of the quartet. As stated
above, the recorded ensembles are absent from this section, and the musical material composed
for the live ensemble is characterized by long durations and gradually transforming sonorities.
The voices are structurally divided into two duets, each consisting of its own organizational
procedures. In a sense this echoes the two layers of activity embodied in the different ensembles
in the first section of the piece. Lacking an alternate ensemble, the live ensemble is divided into
its own two activity layers.
The cello and viola are structurally related not only by registral similitude but also on the
basis of their intervallic interaction. Both voices utilize [3] and [6] as organizational properties
within their individual lines while simultaneously employing these intervals as structural entities
between their lines. The upper-voice duet is more overtly linked, maintaining a strict canon at the
imitative distance of a quarter-tone. Although this canon does not preserve a rigorous rhythmic
pattern, the deviations are slight.
78
Rather than pointing out the transformations connecting the individual sound masses, the
analysis of this passage will focus instead on the intervals that have structural significance within
and between sound masses. Specifically, [3] and its multiples are essential to the organization of
this passage.
The sound masses in R34R41 (Figure 5.6) correspond to each individual sonority,
regardless of duration. The individual time points, therefore, are not temporally consistent;
rather, as in the previous graphs, they are relative and simply ordered according to their
appearance in the music. The initial four-measure cello solo is verticalized at point a, revealing
the same ubiquitous interlocked Ostinato/Live Collection. The cello expansion to an upper
boundary of E4 establishes [6] above its lower boundary (Bb3). The viola Bb4 over the cello E4
asserts another structural [6], perfectly bisecting the opened pitch space [12]: (Bb3Bb4). The
[6]-projection of [E4, Bb4] onto [C#4, G4] further divides the two already bisected [6] spaces
into four [3] spaces (point b). The structural [6]: (Gb4C5) also occurs at point c, opening a new
pitch space that is immediately bisected by the viola A4. This point also marks the establishment
of a new boundary pitch (Gb4) below which the cello voice does not descend throughout the
remainder of the section. Finally, the only other structural [6] between the viola and cello occurs
after R39 at point d (C5F#5), relating point c and d. This corresponds to the original [6]
established by the violas initial pitch, Bb4. In other words, just as the viola and cello bisect the
[12]: (Bb3Bb4), point c and d bisect the [12]: (Gb4F#5) with [6].
Along with its role in further bisecting [6], [3] also functions as a structural interval. At
point c, the viola contains two interlocked 3-1 (012) melodic trichords. [Bb4, B4, C5]
corresponds to [G4, Ab4, A4], although the statements overlap. This correlation is demonstrated
79
with an arrow in Figure 5.6. Throughout this section, the viola and cello lines essentially traverse
two levels of pitch space primarily separated by [3]. Figure 5.7 illustrates this characteristic in a
reduction.
The interval [9] also bears structural weight in this passage. The first literal presentation
of [9] occurs at the entrance of the upper duet (point e), between viola and second-violin pitches
(B4G#5). This successfully establishes [9] as a structural boundary between the upper and
lower duets. [9] also delineates the space within which the upper voices themselves unfold. The
lowest stated pitch in the upper duet is F5 while the uppermost boundary is the final first-violin
pitch, D6. Thus, the same interval initially established as a structural boundary between the two
duets gradually delineates and structures the space in which the upper duet itself unfolds.
Conclusion
In sum, the fourth quartet resists analytical explanation when recourse is made to tools
similar to those exemplified in the previous chapters. Instead, the quartet requires evaluation
from the perspective of verticalized sound masses. By reducing the seemingly unrelated pitches
contained in melodic segments into a single sound mass, specific relations become apparent.
Intervallic structures assist in locating similarities between successive sound masses.
Transformations, such as GLIDE and FLIP, reveal how one sound mass can morph into a
following one, assuring the potential for continuity between melodic segments. The passages
discussed in this chapter illustrate how the linear organization of certain voices is based on one
of the two primary intervallic collections, which is apparent only when the line is verticalizated
into a sound mass. Finally, the specific intervals inherent to these individual verticalized sound
80
masses establish unique connections and ties to adjacent pitch collections that are otherwise
incompatible.
81
Epilogue
Concluding Remarks
With this study, my primary goal has been to illustrate through analysis the cohesive
nature of Gubaidulinas four string quartets. Much of her music has been accused of
discontinuity and fragmentation; however, in the analyses above, I have demonstrated that these
works maintain structural continuity at the deepest levels of organization. I do not submit the
previous chapters to the reader as complete analyses of these works. The purpose has been to
demonstrate possible ways of accounting for the organization of those works that thus far have
defied analytical explanation. In this way, it is hoped that a better understanding and, by
implication, appreciation of the compositional craft is achieved.
The first quartet was shown to utilize the process of expansion. Pitches are organized in
pitch space through wedge expansion or additive expansion. The second illustrates the processes
of gap-fill and inversional symmetry. The third utilizes ic5 and ic1, two intervals inherent to the
primary pitch collection, as structural and organizational markers. The intervals are functional in
the ways in which they structure various musical elements. Finally, the fourth quartet
demonstrates how transformations in pitch space can specifically relate adjacent sound masses to
one another and reveal intervallic connections within the different sections.
Despite strong contrasts in musical language and style, the works discussed in this study
are only superficially different in structure. The distinct processes presented in these analyses
reveal a deep similarity among the individual works. For instance, in all four quartets the
melodic and harmonic materials are invariably organized in such a way as to defy octave
82
equivalence as a guiding principle. In other words, the musical elements specifically take place
in pitch space rather than pitch-class space. Each of the processes presented above illustrate the
importance of pitch space in each of these works. Also, because every pitch is an individual
entity in a spatial arrangement, the organization of pitches in pitch space places an intense focus
on intervallic design. The processes utilized as structural forces in these four quartets rely
considerably on interval-distance between pitches in pitch space, even endowing them with
organizational function.
The structural and formal properties of these works betray a fairly consistent
compositional style. Many similar features can be found in works of Varse, Ligeti, and
Crawford Seeger. These composers have resisted placement in any particular school or sustained
alignment with any particular method of composition. Thus, their stylistic similarities can be
seen as striking in the context of stylistic trends in twentieth-century music. The styles of Varse
and Ligeti are comparable in their individual and idiosyncratic approaches to the organizing of
pitches in pitch space and the emphasis on intervallic design, whereas Crawford Seegers style is
similar to Gubaidulinas in its intense chromaticism and use of transformational chains in order
to shift inversional axes about which the pitches are arranged.
Finally, it is important to understand that each of these processes is not limited to the one
quartet that exemplified it in this study. Each of these processes can be traced in all four quartets;
however, I specifically chose to present one process per quartet with the hope of illustrating the
extent to which each of these analytical tools is capable of explicating the musical structure. This
does not imply, for instance, that wedge expansion can only be found in the first quartet.
1
Levon Hakobian, Music of the Soviet Age: 19171987 (Stockholm, Sweden: Melos Music Literature,
1998), 294.
83
In conclusion, I hope this study has stirred interest in the musical works of a well-
respected composer. I close with a quote by Hakobian:
Gubaydulina [sic] is an absolutely unique, unclassifiable, indefinable
phenomenon. It seems that one mightmutatis mutandisapply to Gubaydulina
the words once said about Iosif Brodsky [by Dovlatov], one of rare figures of
more or less the same stature on the cultural scene of contemporary Russia: The
notion of soul was the central, decisive one in both his literary and everyday
existence. He perceived the humdrum life of our State as the dying of a body
abandoned by the soul. Or as the apathy of a sleepy world where only the poetry
is awake . . . Beside Brodsky, the rest of . . . his nonconformist friends seemed to
have an another mtier.
1
84
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Figure 1.1
Diagram of Avant-Garde dichotomy
Musical Figures
89
Figure 2.1
Abstract example of additive expansion
90
Figure 2.2
Viola (mm. 1-2)
91
Figure 2.3
Violin II (R1, mm. 1-4)
92
Figure 2.4
Wedge expansion from F#6 (R8, mm. 3-10)
93
Figure 2.5
Wedge expansion from C#4 in violin I, violin II, and cello (R6, mm. 4-7)
94
Figure 2.6
Wedge expansion from E5 in violin II (R7, mm. 2-9)
95
Figure 2.7
Wedge expansion from D4 (R21, mm. 1-15)
96
Figure 2.7 (cont.)
97
Figure2.8a
Violin II and cello (R25, mm. 1-11)
98
Figure 2.8a (cont.)
99
Figure 2.8a (cont.)
100
Figure 2.8b
Reduction of cello line (R25, mm. 1-11)
101
Figure 2.9
Viola (R1, mm. 1-2)
102
Figure 2.10
Violin II, viola, and cello (R4, mm. 1-4)
103
Figure 2.11
Cello (R1, mm. 1-4)
104
Figure 2.12
Additive expansion in rhythm and pitch (R48, mm. 4-15)
105
Figure 2.12 (cont.)
106
Figure 2.13
Wedge expansion and additive expansion in violin I and cello (R42-43)
107
Figure 3.1
Emphasis on G4/G5 dyad in m. 1
108
Figure 3.2a
Violin I/cello motive (R5, m. 1)
Figure 3.2b
Gap-fill process in violin I (R5-15)
109
Figure 3.3
New violin I/cello motive (R15)
110
Figure 3.4
Moment of gap-fill completion in violin I motive (R20)
111
Figure 3.5
R22-25
112
Figure 3.6
R21-22
113
Figure 3.7
Reduction of R21-22 with inversional symmetry in voice leading
114
D-------------------A D------E CF# ADb FE
GB DBb F#G
Axes: F/F# A D/E C/B Bb/Db
Figure 3.8
Reduction of R25-27 with inversional symmetry in voice leading
115
Section: A B C D (+ Coda)
Rehearsals: R1-18 R19-48 R49-51 R52-78
Texture: Melody and
Accompaniment
Contrapuntal/
Free
Homophonic Contrapuntal/
Imitative
Figure 4.1
Formal Diagram of Third String Quartet
116
Figure 4.2
Primary set verticalized as sonorities (R49)
117
Figure 4.3
Melody and accompaniment in opening measures
118
Figure 4.4
Violin II accompaniment with second melodic segment (R1-2)
119
Figure 4.5
Alternation of primary-set melodic material and ic5 structural divisions (R13-14)
120
Figure 4.6
Ic5 structural divider (circled) in viola and cello (R55-56)
121
Figure 4.7
Structural opposition between ic5 (R10) and ic1 (R11)
122
Figure 4.8
Structural opposition between ic5 and ic1 (R15-17)
123
Figure 4.8 (cont.)
124
Figure 4.9
Simultaneous structural opposition between ic5 and ic1 (R50)
125
Figure 4.11
Linear version of primary set replicating pitch-classes from first sonority at R49 (R52)
Figure 4.10
Melodic/accompanimental emphasis on ic1 and [G#, A, Bb] (R23)
126
Figure 4.12
Violin I melody replicating cello pitches from R52 (R53-56)
127
Figure 4.13
Motivic development using <+4, 1> (R58-60)
128
Figure 4.14
Motivic development of violin I melody using <+4, 1> (R66-68)
129
Figure 4.15
Replication of primary-set cello pitch-classes from R52 (R71-73)
130
Figure 4.16
Interaction between ic5 and ic1 (R37-38)
131
Figure 5.1
B-viola four-measure ostinato pattern
Figure 5.2
Reduction of recorded ensemble pitches into verticalized sound masses
132
Figure 5.3
First occurrence of Live Collection in each voice of live ensemble
133
Figure 5.4
Pitch-space graph of violin I (R26)
134
Figure 5.5
Pitch-space graph of violin I (R14)
135
Figure 5.6
Pitch-space graph of live ensemble (R34-41)
[N.B. + indicates half-sharp and * indicates sharp-and-a-half]
136
Figure 5.6 (cont.)
137
Figure 5.7
Reduction of lower duet illustrating ascending thirds (R36-41)