shostakovich and “playing out” · “blues on the corner," chorus 4 . mccoy tyner 1i ......

http://dmitri.tymoczko.com

SHOSTAKOVICH AND “PLAYING OUT”

centric set theory and polyoctatonicism in the 7th string quartet

Dmitri Tymoczko Princeton University

WHAT IS A SCALE?•  A container?

–  A delimiter of musical possibility?–  The musical field of play?

•  Or something more superficial?–  Generated at a deeper level by the tonic note?–  A byproduct of chords?

•  An ancient metaphysical argument … … perhaps better viewed as a question about style.

–  In Debussy, perhaps, scales are like containers.–  In Shostakovich they may play a more superficial role.

SHOSTAKOVICH: GENERAL•  In Shostakovich’s later music, we often find

–  Clear tonal centers–  Strongly emphasized fifths–  Clear thirds, either major or minor.

•  However, scales are more elusive.–  The music does not always confine itself to familiar scales.–  Neither does it embrace complete chromaticism–  Certain recurring scale-like configurations are important.

•  Plenty of diatonicism

–  These scale-like configurations sometimes seem subservient to their component subsets

•  In particular, octatonic subsets

SHOSTAKOVICH: GENERAL•  Moreover, we find motives subjected to both

chromatic and scalar transformations (inversion, transposition) that suggest something set theory in a centric context.–  There is a continuum between more and less tonal.–  In this sense the music is “polystylistic.”–  But see GOM, chapter 5.

•  Scale not as skeleton but as clothing•  Similar to some other broadly tonal styles that

respond to atonality.–  Jazz

7TH QUARTET AS CASE STUDY•  Written after a visit to the west and exposure

to avant-garde music (1960)•  Three movements without pause•  Fairly systematic use of octatonic fragments

– But complete octatonic scales are rare!

–  Similar techniques appear, in a less consistent way, in contemporaneous pieces such as the 8th and 9th quartets.

FREE USE OF OCTATONIC SUBSETS

Quartet no. 7, opening of the last movement

Melodic and harmonic 023 trichords

Quartet no. 7, opening of the last movement

Scales are not prominent

Quartet no. 9, first movement

Melodic 023 trichords against bass 02 dyads

NOW FOR A SYSTEM

Suppose you fill the span from root to fifth with an octatonic scale.

Q: how can you continue upward to form an octave species?

THREE POLYOCTATONIC MODELS

“Altered scale” (seventh mode of D mm.) with added fifth and leading tone

“Harmonic altered scale” (seventh mode of D hm.) with added fifth and leading tone

Models 1 and 2 share nine notes and are related by inversion

OCTATONIC FRAGMENTS SOMETIMES EXPAND BEYOND THEIR LIMITS!

MODEL 2 EXAMPLES (7TH QUARTET)

Melody and accompaniment consistently model 1.

USING 10-NOTE SCALES•  Individual octatonic fragments are isolated

both registrally and temporally– That is, lines tend to “inhabit” their two octatonic

parts sequentially, rather than mixing notes from different octatonic fragments

MOVEMENT 2 TONAL PLAN

Insert annotated movement 2 score here

SECTION A. mostly D model 1, with model 2 in violin 2

vln 1: D model 1

e continues octatonic fragment by one note

vln 2:D model 2

D model 1

POWERPOINT: http://dmitri.tymoczko.com/shostakovich.pptx

vln 1: D model 1

vln 2:D model 2

D model 1

vln 1: D model 1

vln 2:D model 2

D model 1

vln 1: D model 1

vln 2:D model 2

D model 1

SECTION B. Cs model 2

ef dorian: subset of d model 1

d model 2

transition

continues oct. fragment

Insert annotated movement 2 score here SECTION B. Cs model 2

ef diatonic: subset of d model 1

d model 2

transition

continues oct. fragment

Insert annotated movement 2 score here upper fragment extends down

SECTION A´. D model 1

CODA. D octatonic (model 0)

shift to D model 1 (Cs tonal center. still section 2)

upper fragment extends down

SUMMARY OF OPENING OF M. 2

OPENING OF M. 1

NINTH QUARTET, OPENING

NINTH QUARTET, 2ND THEME

In the repeat, the viola melody shifts down by major second, landing on Ds and creating an approximate B major sound.

McCOY TYNER 1

“Pursuance,” chorus 4

Uses pentatonic subsets rather than octatonic.

McCOY TYNER 1

“Pursuance,” chorus 4

Similar dialectic between “inside” and “outside”

McCOY TYNER 1I

“Blues on the corner," chorus 4

McCOY TYNER 1I

SPECULATIVE IDEA•  Is Shostakovich using octatonic fragments to

try to approximate something like the phrygian mode? Or the altered scale?

•  Is McCoy Tyner doing something similar with pentatonic scales?

•  What about, more generally, using chords of one type to try to “imitate” or match some other scale?

SPECULATIVE IDEA

S Sensation Something (2014)

SPECULATIVE IDEA

S Sensation Something (2014)

CONCLUSION•  In previous work I have discussed one strand

of twentieth-century tonality in which scales act as containers:– An expanded range of scales and modes which

contain an expanded range of chords– Debussy, Stravinsky, earlier jazz

•  A second tradition emphasizing a dialectic between “inside” and “outside” notes.– Controlled deviations from diatonicism–  Scales are more superficial– Mahler, McCoy Tyner, rock harmony

CONCLUSION

Two major strands of twentieth-century tonal thinking. What are the others?

Thank you!��

shostakovich and “playing out” · “blues on the corner," chorus 4 . mccoy tyner 1i ......

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