Nono and Tintoretto

Non-Conventional Planar Designs in the WorksofNono and Tintoretto

JEANNIE MA. GUERRERO

Tintoretto's use of the pictorial plane offers an effective means for examining Nono's compositionalpractices, as the composer's choral works employ configurations of planes in a manner inspired byTintoretto's complex planar designs. By apportioning individual phonemes of a single word to sev-eral distinct performers, Nono creates sound-masses that challenge listeners' apprehension of thetext, and his music creates densely-cluttered as well as sparse planar spaces. Canonic devices oftenfill these spaces with special moments of rarefaction, creating pivotal expanses of silence that illumi-nate central textual themes in the choral works.

Keywords: Luigi Nono, integral serialism, puzzle canons, linear perspective, visual art, Tintoretto,canonic expanses, Prometeo, Sara dolce tacere, Cori di Didone, La terra e la compagna, II canto sospeso

TWO YEARS BEFORE THE PREMIERE OF his theater piecePrometeo, tragedia dell'ascolto (1984/1985), the Venetiancomposer Luigi Nono traveled to London. It was there

that he saw the Lavanda dei piedi ("Washing of the Feet," ca.1547) of fellow-Venetian Jacopo Robusti, the artist popularlyknown as Tintoretto (1518-1594). 1 The Lavanda, which ispermanently housed at Madrid's Museo del Prado, was on loanto England at the time. Example 1(a) shows the postcard thatNono purchased of the painting, on which he wrote: "un ideainiziale /per Prometeo 1982 / a Londra vista /vari isole-spazi—tempi—" (An initial idea /for Prometeo 1982, seen inLondon / several islands—spaces—time spans). 2 The resultingwork has achieved fame for the way in which it creates simul-taneous islands of sound within an architectural space speciallydesigned by Renzo Piano.

Nono's reading of Lavanda seizes upon one of Tintoretto's in-novations, namely, his unconventional use of the pictorial plane.For example, Tintoretto's placement of figures contrasts sharplywith the more focused setting by the Flemish artist Jacques Stella

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Dublin InternationalConference on Music Analysis, Trinity College, Dublin, 23-25 June 2005.The research was funded in part by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Founda-tion, Harvard University, the Nino and Lea Pirrotta Graduate ResearchFund, and the Eastman School of Music. Musical excerpts appear with thekind permission of European American Music Distributors LLC. I wish toexpress special gratitude to Nuria Schoenberg Nono and the staff of theArchivio Luigi Nono for their generosity and support.

I The staged theater piece Prometeo incorporates material from four prepara-tory compositions: Io,frammento dal Prometeo (1981), Das atmende Klarsein(1981), Quando stanno morendo. Diario Polacco n. 2 (1982), and Guai aigelidi mostri (1983).

2 Example 1(a) reproduces a facsimile of the postcard, which is housed at theArchivio Luigi Nono in Venice (ALN 51.09.01/01r-01v). Schaller elabo-rates on the postcard's relevance to Prometeo and relates the visual islandsin the painting (circled on the postcard by Nono) to the structural role thatthe "isole" play in the composition (2004, 119-20).

(1596-1657), in Example 1(b). 3 Stella fills the pictorial planewith two walls of figures with their backs to one another, empha-sizing their separation. The resulting space is further enclosedarchitecturally to concentrate the viewer's attention on Jesus. Bycontrast, Tintoretto's foreground figures and background archi-tecture create a compound perspective rather than a single systemof planes receding toward a single point, as can be seen inExample 1(c). The resulting foreground is filled only sparsely, andthe intervening architectural recesses divide the figures into iso-lated groups.4 This combination of perspectives prevents thescene's iconographic climax from dominating the spatial organi-zation.5 As a result, each island vies directly with the others, and

3 I shall limit my citation of artist-foils against Tintoretto's painting to aparticular circle ( Jacques Stella, Charles Mace, Jean Audran, Charles LeBrun, and Nicolas Poussin) which was explicitly preoccupied with linearperspective. These artists postdate Tintoretto by roughly a century and canbe loosely located in Paris rather than Venice. The selection of artists atsuch a stark distance from Tintoretto in geography, time, and aesthetic isintentional; they have been chosen to illustrate forcibly the peculiar char-acteristics of Tintoretto's planar designs. In overly simplistic and abstractterms, the linear perspective of these Parisians unifies a painting geometri-cally through a single vanishing point.

4 Likewise, the oblique recession to the background might have appeared inisolation to open the space; this is the effect in Serlio's scena tragica, a modelfor Lavanda. Citing other authorities, David Rosand writes: "[The theatri-cal set designer] Serlio himself carried these ideas to Venice in 1527, andeven before their publication, the settings for the tragic and comic sceneswere probably serving as convenient references for Venetian painters .. .and the background architecture of Tintoretto's Washing of the Feet . . . is aquite literal quotation of Serlio's scena tragica" (1997, 113).

5 Nono's emphasis on the discontinuities need not be absolute, of course. Ifthe viewer stood beyond the far right corner, that is, in a position that con-nects the distant arch to Jesus along a single axis, the scene might appearmore continuous. Nonetheless, the background space attracts attention anddraws the viewer's eye from the painting's main subject. This is one funda-mental characteristic of mannerism according to Hauser: "In all [Tintoretto's]works there are the characteristic elongation of forms, the preference fortall, slender figures, the unequal filling of space, the abandonment of

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TINTORETTO AND NONO'S PLANAR DESIGNS 27

EXAMPLE I(C). Planar design ofTintoretto's Lavanda dei piedi

EXAMPLE I(A). Postcard ofTintoretto's Lavanda dei piedi withNono's annotations on frontand back, ALN51.09.01/01r-01v.,

copyright Estate ofLuigi Nono

EXAMPLE I(B). Jacques Stella, Passion of the Christ, © Trusteesof the British Museum

no inevitable visual sequence binds them aside from their simul-taneous presence in the larger panorama.

In addition to inspiring Nono's operatic masterpiece, Tintoretto'sLavanda provided the composer with a new vocabulary to

describe his earliest compositions. 6 Five years after the Londonencounter, Nono used Tintoretto's pictorial language to explain hismotivations behind the layered textures of pieces from the 1950s:

I was very, very interested . . . in certain perspective ruptures ofTintoretto . . . From a musical, point of view, I was interested in tryingother ways to use attacks, releases, qualities of notes in differentiatedsuperimpositions, as well as rests which alter banal consequentiality.?

Thus, in his setting of the a cappella choral work Ha venido laprimavera (1960), given in Example 2, textual components arelayered among several performers, sometimes fragmenting syl-lables or single letters. 8 No individual performer enunciates acomplete textual unit.

Analogies to Tintoretto's use of the pictorial plane, which, Ibelieve, inspired Nono's use of "canonic expanses," both deepenour understanding of the textural stratification in Nono's musicand, crucially, dispel any notion of his work as merely an amor-phous agglomeration of arbitrarily selected notes. It is the goalof this study to propose an analytic theory of Nono's music, theidiosyncratic contrasts of which have partly contributed to its

tight concentration, the relegation of the principal scene from the fore-ground or centre to the background or side, figures sometimes packed to-gether and sometimes scattered widely apart, strong recession broughtabout by foreshortening, [foreground] repoussoir [sic] figures or diagonals,emphatic contrast of dimensions, lighting, and postures, repetition, paral-lelism, and consonance of motives, lines, and forms, the removal of theprotagonist from the centre of the picture and the consequent devaluationof the individual in favour of the group" (1965, 221-22).

6 Hauser (1965) argues that modern artists in particular found much to ap-preciate in Tintoretto, as captured by the title of his book, Mannerism: TheCrisis of the Renaissance and the Origin of Modern Art.

7 "M'interessava moltissimo ... in certe rotture prospettiche del TintorettoDal punto di vista musicale a me interessava provare altre funzioni degliattachi, della fine, delle qualita dei suoni in sovrapposizioni differenziate,anche pausate, the alterano banali consequenzialita" (1987b, 510-11). Alltranslations are the author's unless otherwise noted. The remark occurs inthe context of a discussion about the 1955 instrumental work Incontri andthe 1956 cantata Il canto sospeso. For other references to Tintoretto see Nono(1983, 306), (1984, 318-19), (1986, 415), and Nono and Cacciari (1984,344), which cites Lavanda specifically.

8 Nono composed Ha venido la primavera. Canciones para Silvia to com-memorate the birth of his daughter, Silvia. Throughout the piece floralimagery from Antonio Machado's Nuevas canciones (1917-30) describes thejoy of rebirth and re-awakening.



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neglect in the Anglophonic theoretical literature. I believe thatanalogies to Tintoretto's use of the pictorial plane offer a cul-tural and historical means to illuminate Nono's handling of ca-nonic expanses—particularly in his early choral works. Drawingon vocabulary from Tintoretto studies, I propose a new readingof Nono's superimposed, imitative textures which construesthem as planar constructs, allowing for the generation of novelsenses of form in his music.

In the first part of this article I will explore analogies be-tween Nono's planar designs and Jonathan Kramer's listeningstrategies for non-conventional temporalities in music. Furthercongruencies between Kramer's ideas regarding the perceptionof nonlinear structures and Nono's music share isomorphicparallelisms with art historian David Rosand's readings ofTintoretto's planar designs. In the second part, I will analyzeNono's early choral works according to a theory of space based onthe concept of "canonic expanses" inspired by Tintoretto's planardesigns. The last sections of this article posit an extension of

the notion of "canonic expanses" beyond realms of pitch to in-clude duration, dynamics, and texture.

LISTENING STRATEGIES AND NONO'S MUSIC

Discourse on Nono's music is largely preoccupied with dialec-tical models and contrasts—loud versus soft dynamics, politicalexpression versus private introspection, live performers versuselectronic media. 9 The words of Helmut Lachenmann, whostudied with Nono, provide a particularly eloquent example:

The early instrumental and vocal masses of sound . . . were not just allabout increasing the force of sound . . . [V]iolent pieces . . . contain

9 Durazzi (2001, 2005) examines several contexts for dialectical opposition,which he mks as one indication out of many that Nono desired to linkcompositional technique and political ideology. While I do not addressideology directly here, my studies confirm that Nono's musical thoughtdoes indeed evoke Adorno's negative dialectics and Antonio Gramsci'stheory of the politically-engaged intellectual, among other models.



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challenges which are not so much intended to shake the listener withtheir expressive violence as to sensitise him . .. The silence into whichNono's late works lead us is afortissimo of agitated perception.'°

Such commentary has been valuable for identifying signifi-cant traits of Nono's music, but it discourages equally valuableefforts to reconcile outward differences of style with deeper is-sues of structure.

Nono's music rarely responds to a single listening strategy.Consequently, listeners' aesthetic orientations are nearly alwaysout of kilter with some aspect of the music's presentation. Thecomposer himself provides additional insights into this topic:

In no way do I believe in an immediate hearing, viewing, or reading.I believe it is necessary to penetrate slowly into the interior of phe-nomena. You might think at times that you have understood every-thing, but [you] have taken in only the most exterior elements. Youcan be critical of Raphael's simplicity or naturalism without seeingthe geometric conception that lies within. It is the necessity of con-sciousness, of gnosis: to arrive at illumination, penetration. 11

In an extension of Nono's statement, a listener could adopt alistening strategy stressing unity and coherence without pre-cluding a polarized hearing of surface events. We can infer boththe rejection of an "immediate hearing" and the need for mul-tiple, cumulative hearings to engage the various dichotomies inhis work. Further, these dichotomies might very well transforminto a deeper unity than first meets the mind's ear.

The conscious, non-teleological nature of Nono's music dis-courages traditional listening and analysis by invoking modes ofperception beyond the norm. 12 Indeed, Nono explains that aquest for new temporal strategies profoundly shaped his earliestmusical explorations:

Another fundamental teaching in, our circle [Bruno Maderna, GastoneFabris, Renzo Dall'Oglio, and Nono] concerned the way of conceivingmusic in time. Conceiving it not at the moment in which it happensbut in several different moments. It overcame the understanding of aprogression in time as proceeding from left to right. From this morefluid and elastic perspective you discover in the course of a composi-tion, fifteen minutes into it for example, a relationship to an event thatoccurred seven minutes before, and so on. [You discover all this]within a net of unceasing references that advance, withdraw, cross oneanother, and overlap, throwing off points in many directions in an im-provisatory manner. 13

10 Lachenmann (1999, 26-27).II "In ogni caso io non credo all'ascolto immediato, alla visione o alla letture

immediata. Credo nella necessity di penetrare lentamente all'interno deifenomeni. Si pensa talvolta di aver compreso tutto, ma non si sono colti chegli elementi pill esteriori. Si puO criticare la semplicita oil naturalismo diRafaello senza vedere la concezione geometrica the e all'interno. E la ne-cessity della conoscenza, della gnosi: arrivare all'illuminazione, alla penetra-zione" (1987b, 423). This statement follows a reference to Tintoretto's useof perspective; see Note 25.

12 Musical analysis often proves inadequate for Nono's music. For instance, Bai-ley offers extensive and copious minutiae on Il canto sospeso only to concludethat it does not seem "to consist of musical fabric or to behave in a musicalway" (1992, 328). A less pejorative wording might assert that Nono's musicdoes not audibly project the linear time favored by analysis because it neitherevinces unequivocal motion nor concludes in an obvious manner.

13 "Un altro insegnamento fondamentale riguardava nella nostra scuolamodo di pensare la musica nel tempo. Pensarla non nel momento in cui

In addition, Nono writes in his program notes to La terra e lacompagna (1957): 14

Understanding and intelligibility of the text mean understandingand intelligibility of the music with all its derivative issues: from thecapacity for acoustic perception (not enslaved by habits and preced-ing models) to the capacity for the new musical fact to have mean-ing in its technical-expressive specificity (and not adapting it topassive ears and a false literary-theatric habit). 15

Nono's words call to mind the work of Jonathan Kramerwho, in roughly following Leonard B. Meyer, identifies a trans-historical corpus of "nonteleological" music that challenges con-ventional listening. 16 Kramer devises flexible categories, or"temporalities," to describe various listening strategies to aid indetermining the ways in which music projects time. 17 Whereasclassically-oriented music exhibits principally "directed lineartime," other musics exhibit manifestations of "nonlinear time,"which combine with linear time to create less-familiar tempo-ralities—"multiply-directed linear time," "non-directed lineartime," "moment time," 18 and "vertical time." 19 Kramer observes

accade ma in vari momenti differenti. Si trattava di superare l'idea dellaprogressione del tempo intesa come un procedere che avanza da sinistraverso destra. Secondo questa prospettiva piu fluida ed elastica, nel corso diuna composizione to scopri, per esempio dopo quindici minuti, una relazi-one con un avvenimento occorso sette mii2uti prima e cosi via in una reteincessante di rimandi che avanzano, arretrano, s'incrociano, si sovrappon-gono gettando improvvisamente dei ponti in varie direzioni" (1987a, 489).

14 La terra e la compagna is a work for twenty-four voices, soprano and tenorsoli, and orchestra with percussion, on selected poems from La terra e lamorte (1951) by Cesare Pavese (1908-50). Terra's first half is a quiet, a cap-pella setting of poetry that insulates itself within a shroud of mythical orotherwise-timeless symbols. Its second half, which is in stark contrast, ex-plores the Partisans' abandonment of their homes and eventual deaths inthe Piedmont forests, acquiring urgency with the abrupt addition of per-cussion instruments to the texture."Comprensione e intelligibilita del testo significano comprensione e intel-ligibilita della musica con tutte le questioni derivanti, dalla capacita di per-cezione acustica (non schiava di abitudini e modelli precedenti) allacapacita di intendere it fatto nuovo musicale nella sua specificity tecnico-espressiva (e non adattandolo a orecchi di passiva e falsa abitudine lettera-ria-teatrale)" (1970, 431).

16 Kramer (1988, 56). Kramer (1981) uses Meyer's exact term, which is "anti-teleological music."

17 The subject of musical temporality has inspired radically divergent ap-proaches in the music theory literature. Consider, for instance, Rowell's(1979) investigation of rhythmic terminology used in ancient India, China,and Greece, which he undertakes to illuminate novel usages of time in con-temporary music. Contrast Rowell with London (2002), who finds that timeand pitch assume fundamentally distinct forms in their various representa-tions, including Riemann's Tonnetz and the geometric torus; London impliesthat theorists cannot expect pitch and rhythm to behave in congruent ways.

18 Kramer (1978) appropriated moment time directly from Stockhausen.19 These temporalities are defined throughout Kramer (1988): "Let us also de-

fine linear time as the temporal continuum created by a succession of eventsin which earlier events imply later ones and later ones are consequences ofearlier ones. Nonlinear time is the temporal continuum that results fromprinciples permanently governing a section or piece. The many varieties oftime discussed in this chapter (directed linear time, nondirected linear time,multiply-directed linear time, moment time, and vertical time) arise fromdifferent degrees and kinds of interaction between linear and nonlinear time"(20); "Nondirected linear music avoids the implication that certain pitches



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30 MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 32 (2010)

that music of a predominantly nonlinear temporality (such as"moment time") requires holistic, cumulative listening ratherthan the forward, goal-driven listening practices in which musi-cians are typically trained:

The self-containment of moments [in moment time] allows the lis-tener to understand them as entities. The way these entities add upto a coherent whole is understood through cumulative listening, amode of perception which is quite possible in the absence of large-scale linear processes. As we listen to a piece, we accumulate moreand more information concerning its form. The more we hear, themore we understand the nonlinearity embodied in the consistencyand balance (or lack thereof) that generate the nonlinear form. 2°

Kramer's moment time and other temporalities—which he doesnot rigorously define—lend themselves to the interdisciplinarystudy of painting and music more fully than the approaches ofEdward Pearsall, Nicholas Cook, and Anthony Newcomb. 21

For instance, the explication of moment time given above reso-nates strongly with David Rosand's ways of apprehendingTintoretto's paintings. For Rosand, the understanding ofTintoretto is not predicated on a traditional view assuming acertain unity of apprehension in which the viewer captures es-sential elements of a painting with a single glance—by analogy,

can become totally stable. Such music carries us along its continuum, but wedo not really know where we are going in each phrase or section until we getthere" (40); "It is musical processes, not abstract formal molds, that are reor-dered in multiply-directed linear time. To have truly multiply-directed music,linear processes need to be interrupted and completed later (or earlier!)" (47);"Moments, then, are self-contained sections, set off by discontinuities, thatare heard more for themselves than for their participation in the progressionof the music" (50); and "[Some works project] a single present stretched outinto an enormous duration, a potentially infinite 'now' that nonethelessfeels like an instant of music without phrases, without temporal articula-tion, with total consistency; whatever structure is in the music exists be-tween simultaneous layers of sound, not between successive gestures. Thus,I call the time sense invoked by such music 'vertical' " (55).

20 Kramer (1988, 52). It is worth noting that his view has not been unop-posed. Responding to Kramer's earlier articles (1978, 1981), Hasty writes,"The assertion that in new music events are necessarily disconnected andthat this discontinuity is so absolute as to negate temporal succession is, Ihave argued, unfounded. Certainly, this assertion does little for the cause ofnew music. The traditionalist listener or player will be confirmed in hisopinion that this music cannot make sense to him. In protecting musicfrom tradition, proponents of the new art have contributed significantly toits isolation" (1986, 72).

21 Pearsall's (2006) semiological and semiotic work offers a spectrum of"discursive" and "non-discursive" music rather than a more varied assort-ment of textures. Newcomb's (1987) narratological study appropriatesconcepts of "paradigmatic plots," the temporal succession of which canappear superficially reordered; however, Newcomb rakes his musical ex-amples from Schumann, not twentieth-century composers. It is also use-ful to read Maus (1997), who points to narratological distinctionsbetween story and discourse in critiquing work by Newcomb, Edward T.Cone, and Leo Treitler. Lastly, Cook (2006) ventures into film theory toadopt its principle of montage, in which images erase and replace oneanother rather than succeeding progressively; montage does not translateso easily to the paintings I invoke here. In the absence of my visual artsapproach, the work of any one of these authors enriches non-linear hear-ings of music in general.

EXAMPLE 3(A). Charles Mace, The Crucifixion, Fogg Museum,Harvard Art Museum, Harvard University, Richard Norton

Fund, 56.84, photo: Allan Macintyre, © President andFellows of Harvard College

EXAMPLE 3(B). Planar design of Mace's Crucifixion

as a listener would perceive a unified tonal design via the per-ception of cadential goals, as in Schenkerian analyses. 22

An engraving by Charles Mace (1631–after 1665) of an un-identified Crucifixion, given in Example 3(a), presents its subjectin traditional, directed linear time. All but one of Maces figuresgaze at. the cross despite their distinct movements. The replica-tion of their gazes forms a continuity, which bridges the spatialgaps between angels, cherubs, and mourners—as Rosand ex-plains, this is the very unity decisively lacking in Tintoretto'sLavanda (Example l[a]). Mace's groups of figures create a planardesign that is no less adventurous than Tintoretto's, but planestracing lines of sight among the flying figures converge at thecross, as can be seen in Example 3(b). Similarly, an engraving by

22 Rosand cites a bronze relief by Jacopo Sansovino in Venice's basilica of SanMarco as an example of this unity: "Sansovino condenses the subject [theMiracle of Saint Mark] to a single movement, a simultaneity of action thatcombines into a unified choreography the attempted tortures and the amazed



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pyramid; this is shown in Example 3(d). Both engravings proj-ect directed linear time through sightlines or actual lines, situat-ing movements with respect to a definitive, temporal goal.

By contrast, Tintoretto's planar designs do not project di-rected, linear temporalities. Nono's remarks on the Lavandapostcard suggest that he perceived the work within Kramer'smoment time. Additionally, he expands on the postcard's lan-guage: "And you might see how [Tintoretto] breaks up the cen-ter in favor of a polycentric conception with icons, ruptures,colors: he composes different moments in space, different spaces,different depths."24 Rosand echoes Kramer's language in de-scribing the Miracle of St. Mark, a painting coeval with Lavanda:

Instead of coordinating the several attempts of the torturers into adense unity of action, Tintoretto maintains the relative independence,the separateness of the individual acts. Time manifests itself in a dis-tinction of moments, and we, as readers of the surface, find ourselvesparticipating in that temporal structure . . . we are invited to movethrough and, in effect, to reconstruct the full sequence of the story. 25

In his discussion of Tintoretto's Crucxion in Venice's ScuolaGrande di San Rocco, an engraving of which appears asExample 4(a), Rosand specifically employs a visual analog toKramer's idea of cumulative listening: 26

Although constantly aware of the overall design, we perceive itsspace in separate units, limited thrusts or isolated pockets of denserfigure complexes. As in the more obviously measured architecturalsurfaces of Veronese's large canvases, so here, the very expansivenessprecludes comprehension at a single glance: Reading the image is ofnecessity a cumulative experience.27

Example 4(b) provides a hypothetical parsing of figures as planesin the Crucifixion. The planes do not unite at a single point, axis,or planar space, nor do figures form discrete groups. Counteractingthe placement of Jesus at the scene's geometric center, the nu-merous planar collisions militate against his figure as the singlefocal point. The cumulative reading of the picture is what allowsthe work's consistent elements to emerge, thus enabling the viewerto fuse surface discontinuities into a more unified impression.

EXAMPLE 3(C). Jean Audran, Moses and the Brazen Serpent,Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museum, Harvard University,gift of Belinda L. Randall from the collection ofJohn Witt

Randall, R4058, photo: Imaging Department, © Presidentand Fellows of Harvard College

24

25

26

27

EXAMPLE 3(D). Planar design of Audran's Moses and theBrazen Serpent

Jean Audran (1667-1756) of an unidentified artist's renderingof the biblical tale of Moses and the Brazen Serpent in Example3(c) also uses directed linear constructions. 23 In this case, figuresline up as cues to the tree (emphasized by Moses' upraised rightarm), in which the mounted serpent serves as the apex of a

response to the miracle. The impacting of figures reduces them to a choralgroup, their common mass articulated by the internal variations of gesturethat differentiate them as individuals. Well above the crowd hovers the fig-ure of the saint himself, the distant cause of the drama below" (1997, 137).

23 Moses and the Brazen Serpent (Numbers 21: 4-9) was a popular subjectfor artists and craftsmen, perhaps because it offers an Old Testament

iconographic parallel to the Crucifixion. The parable also supports theiconographic tradition of Saint Roch (or Rocco), patron saint of those withcontagious diseases, who is known for healing the sick. Venice's ScuolaGrande di San Rocco (where many of Tintoretto's paintings remain), isnear the church of the same name, in which the saint's relics are said to rest."Si veda come Tintoretto sfugge alla prospettiva del Rinascimento facendoricorso allo spirito di Venezia, alle sue differenti culture, e si veda come eglirompe it centro a favore di una concezione policentrica, con segni, rotture, co-lori: egli compone differenti momenti nello spazio, differenti spazi, differentiprofondita" (1987b, 423). In a dialogue between Nono and Massimo Cacciari(philosopher and long-time mayor of Venice who assembled the texts forthe opera) regarding the compilation of Prometeo, Cacciari discusses theperspectival distortion in greater detail; see Nono and Cacciari (1984, 344).See Rosand (1997, 137-38).As a clear indication that he had visited the Scuola, which is very near hischildhood home, Nono describes the building's distinctive acoustics, cre-ated by the abundant woodwork in the Sala Superiore (1982, 273). Nonoalso cites Tintoretto's artwork in the Scuola (1987a, 521-22).See Rosand (1997, 146).



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32 MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 32 (20I0)

EXAMPLE 4(A). Crucifixion, Engraving after Tintoretto,ca. 1589, © Trustees of the British Museum

EXAMPLE 4(D). Planar design ofTintoretto's Miracle of theBrazen Serpent

EXAMPLE 4(B). Planar design ofTintoretto's Crucifixion

EXAMPLE 4(C). Detail of Tintoretto drawing, Miracle of theBrazen Serpent, image courtesy of the Board ofTrustees, National

Gallery ofArt, Washington, D. C., Rosenwald Collection,1943.3.8858. (B-10923) DR, © National Gallery ofArt

The painting at the center of the Sala Superiore of theScuola Grande di San Rocco, Il miracolo del serpente di bronzo(1575-76), exceeds the Lavanda and Crucifixion in boldness ofplanar design. A detail of Tintoretto's planar schema can beseen in the drawing given as Example 4(c), reproducing only the

bottom half of his design, minus his densely-populated clustersof figures. In the original, a cluster of angels moving toward theviewer (with the Creator accompanying them) forms a horizon-tal line across the canvas. Tintoretto presents another group offigures as a sloping wall of bodies, which fall to earth along theleft side of the picture. Further complicating the presentation,Tintoretto adds yet another group of figures, the bodies of theafflicted, creating a triangle connecting to a woman in the dis-tance at the painting's center (included in the detail). Thewoman gestures to the left toward Moses, the source of salva-tion, who lies in the same background plane. This line of figuresin the background moves toward Moses and outlines a serpen-tine curve that unwinds from the lower right-hand corner.Ultimately, the simultaneous planes outlined by these figurescollide with one another rather than converging onto a singlepoint or visual axis, as can be seen in Example 4(d).

Serpente exhibits unfamiliar temporalities, including thosetracing multiple destinations in time. Several actions are por-trayed simultaneously, though groups of figures move towarddifferent goals throughout the work. The accumulation of vari-ously-directed movements detracts severely from the painting'ssubject, Moses, who occupies a relatively small space at the leftedge and whose presence fades against the foreground figures.As a result, the spaces filled with groups of figures do not directand focus the viewer's attention onto the Brazen Serpent. Rather,the foreground figures attract a disproportionate amount of at-tention to themselves through density, vivid colors, clear lines,and strong facial expressions. Each planar component of thepainting creates motion in its own direction, rather than empha-sizing Moses and the serpent, the logical focal point of the work.While the planar design presents discontinuities and disruptionson its surface, the cumulative experience of viewing the paintingleads to a coherent apprehension of the overall parable—theemergent coherence resides in the mind of the viewer.

Rosand attributes Tintoretto's historical innovation to theradical apportionment of the pictorial plane into multipleplanes:



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TINTORETTO AND NONO'S PLANAR DESIGNS

33

With respect to the indigenous tradition, Tintoretto's major assaultwas directed at the picture plane itself, the very surface that hadserved as a common value, respected by and thereby uniting genera-tions of Venetian painters. 28

By identifying affinities with his fellow Venetian, Nono un-leashes his own talents for presenting radical structural sche-mata. The ensuing approach to Nono's music adapts thestructural principles of Tintoretto's revolutionary technique inexplicating the role of layered musical planes in non-conven-tional temporal and registral designs.

Dux

Comes CaCC/C2 /

Strict imitation Inversion

I Dux I Comes

PLANAR SIMPLICITY: CANONIC EXPANSES Retrograde Prolation

Nono's choral works composed from 1956 to 1960 exhibit arich diversity of musical effects which are isomorphically paral-lel to Tintoretto's planar perspectives. 29 In evoking varioustemporalities, Nono's music 'exhibits two types of planar com-position; the first of these involves the frequent use of canonicexpanses. The phrase "canonic expanse" is meant to create a dis-tinction from "canon," which carries strong thematic associa-tions. While canonic expanses may incorporate traditionalcanons and any process deriving from them, they need not in-volve pitch. Many of the following examples take duration, dy-namics, or texture as a subject instead of a pitched melody,thereby stretching beyond the boundaries of surface audibility.

Canonic expanses assume a basic design, in which a comesreplicates the plane of its dux. This type of imitation affects theplanes' relative spatial arrangement, as shown in Example 5.Strict two-voice imitation aligns both dux and comes within asingle plane, while the comes in an inversion canon replicates thedux by altering its plane vertically. In prolation canons, a comeslies in a plane parallel to the dux and appears closer or furtheraway in perspective; the example shows 2:1 augmentation cre-ated by projecting the comes forward. Finally, retrograde canonsarise when a comes inverts the dux's plane horizontally. The comesmay appear above or below the dux, or dux and comes may appearsuccessively. Hinged configurations thus model palindromic

28 See Rosand (1997, 161).29 The 1956 cantata Il canto sospeso for soprano, contralto, and tenor soli,

mixed chorus, and orchestra, sets the testaments of persons executed fortheir involvement with the European Resistance during World War II; asizable percussion complement enriches the music and adds decibels to itstextual matter. Two a cappella works from 1960 contain no external socialreferences, maintain soft dynamic levels, and retreat into natural symbolssuch as the earth and its seasons. The first of these is La primavera ha

venido. Canciones Para Silvia (see Note 8); the second, Sara dolce tacere, iswritten for eight mixed voices and sets poetry from La terra e la morte byCesare Pavese. La terra e la compagna (1957), in turn, sets additional poemsfrom Pavese's La terra e la morte (see Note 14). Lastly, the 1958 work Cori

di Didone sets selections from Dido's last meditations as given in the Cori

descrittivi di stati d'animo di Didone, by Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970),from his unfinished Aeneid adaptation La terra promessa, most likely writtenfrom 1935 to 1953. In these selections, Dido's states of mind are capturedas she contemplates her own suicide. Unlike Terra, the Cori travel from acappella meditations to clattering percussive exclamations and back severaltimes. Though the text is. based on a Classical epic, not specific historicalevents, its general theme of suicide has an affinity with Il canto sospeso.

EXAMPLE 5. Planar designs of traditional canons

structures, which also belong to the family of canonically-de-rived imitative procedures.

Broadening the horizons of their fifteenth- and sixteenth-century precursors, canonic expanses assume a number of formsand guises in Nono's choral works. At the most conservativeend of the spectrum, Sara dolce tacere (1960) concludes with therather conventional retrograde canon shown in Example 6(a).In m. 122, Alto 2 sings the pitch B4 on the indication "b.c."("bocca chiusa"), which instructs singers to hum with mouthsclosed. One measure later, Alto 2 hums 05. Alto 1 hums themirror image of these two pitches simultaneously, reflecting theshading of the dynamics on the Cit as well. The two tenor andbass parts retrograde each other with the indication "a.a." ("ap-pena aperta"), calling for singing with mouths nearly open. Thelower voices' dynamics also reflect each other symmetrically.Unlike the other voices, each soprano part retrogrades itself.

Example 6(b) shows that durations remain constant acrossthe axis of symmetry; the diagram uses a system for comparingthem by assigning the numerical value sixty to the quarter note.For instance, Soprano 1 sings a dotted eighth note, equivalentto three-quarters of a quarter note. Multiplying the value sixtyby three-quarters results in the value forty-five. Similarly, Alto1 sings a dotted half note, equivalent to three quarter notes; itthus bears a value of 180 (3 x 60). Following this system, thedurations in the canon present the quantities displayed in theexample. Thus, imitation keeps durations intact in a conven-tional and audible manner.

Pitches are also positioned spatially to create intertwiningstrands across vocal parts, as seen in Example 6(a). 3° One continu-ous stream derives from notated triplets in several parts, readingfrom left to right in the score: Alto 2, Tenor 1, Soprano 2 (twice),Tenor 2, and then Alto 1. A similar stream emerges in quintuplets(Bass 1, Bass 2, then Alto 2), retrospectively including Alto 1; Alto1 imitates the rhythmic duration of Alto 2 (an aspect concealed byits notation as a full quarter note); the parts meet each other, withthe exception of a gap at the center of the stream. A third streamfuses the remaining notes: Bass 2, Tenor 2, Soprano 1, Tenor 1,

3o I am indebted to Jurg Stenzl for initially pointing out continuities betweenvoices.



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34

MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 32 (20I0)

EXAMPLE 6(A). Luigi Nono, Sara dolce tacere, mm. 122-28, © 1960 Ars Viva Verlag, © renewed, all rights reserved, used by permissionof European American Distributors LLC, sole U.S. and Canadian agent forArs Viva Verlag/Schott Musik International

EXAMPLE 6(B). Durations in Sara dolce tacere, mm. 122-28



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35

Pair 1 2/6

2/4

Pair 2 5/7

5/5

Pair 3 7/7

7/5

Pair 4 7/4

12/6

Numerators: 2 5 7 12

Denominators: 4 5 6 7

EXAMPLE 7(A). Duration schemes in Cori di Didone,end of the fifth movement

and Bass 1. While from a traditional perspective the passage ex-hibits retrograde imitation among four pairs of voices, from aradical point of view it is comprised of three palindromic strands.Either way, the music creates a self-contained canonic expanse inwhich all musical dimensions move congruently.

As stated above, canonic expanses can isolate musical dimen-sions other than pitch. A palindrome of durational values anddynamics arises near the end of the fifth movement of Cori diDidone (1958). The first half of the palindrome replicates mate-rial from the sopranos' last utterances in the movement, omittingonly the element of pitch. Durations and dynamics repeat a sec-ond time to form the second half of the non-pitch palindrome;however, this construct excludes the final percussive flourish, thedynamics of which have been bolstered. Within the sopranos'generative material, local imitative elements abound. During thepitch ascent to a unison B6 5 , pitches group themselves into fourcall-and-response pairs; these determine not only the passage'sdynamics, but also its durations. For example, Soprano 7 singsC4, to which Soprano 8 responds a major seventh higher on amuch softer dynamic; although pitch material is not imitated,Soprano 8's dynamics derive from Soprano 7's. A non-pitchedpercussion instrument shadows each response, distinguishing allresponse notes from call notes. As in Sara dolce tacere, the rhyth-mic notation assumes a wide variety of quarter-note divisions:triplets, quintuplets, and septuplets.

Example 7(a) summarizes durations found in the palindrome.The diagram shows another representational system that rendersdurations into numeric fractions. Denominators reflect the divi-sion of the quarter note (triplets, quintuplets, etc.), while numer-ators indicate the number of times the quarter-note division mustbe multiplied to produce the overall duration. For example, theC4 in the passage is notated as two tied sixteenth notes within atriplet grouping; it bears the denominator 6 because a sixteenthnote here divides a quarter note into six parts, not merely three.The pitch also bears the numerator 2, generating the fraction 2/6.

Pair 1

5/6

5/4

Pair 2

8/7

8/5

Pair 3

10/7

10/5

Pair 4

10/4

15/6

EXAMPLE 7(B). Duration schemes for response notes inCori di Didone, end of the fifth movement

The first three of the four call-and-response pairs exhibit small-scale, durational values in imitation. Within each of these pairs,each response imitates its call's numerator (2 in the case of thefirst pair). The response's denominator is derived from the call bysubtracting 2 so that 6 becomes 4 and 7 becomes 5. 31

Nono's sketches reveal that the music serializes four denomi-nators (4, 5, 6, and 7) and four numerators (2, 5, 7, and 12), butthe fourth pair breaks the established pattern. 32 Based on thesketches, one might expect the fourth call-and-response pair tobear the values 12/6 and 12/4. However, a pitch of 12/4 durationwould halt the momentum in the ascent. The extra quarter-notelength of 12/4 also causes the approaching high B6 to intrudeonto the empty axis of symmetry, which Nono seems to haveplanned at the outset. 33 It would appear that Nono opted toshorten both call and response at this point, using the call's orig-inal 12/6 duration as the new response's duration. Nonoamended the call's original 12/4 duration by using the previousnumerator in the succession (7) to yield the duration 7/4.

The rhythmic position of the pitches follows a similarly uni-fied scheme; the numerators in Example 7(b) are derived fromthe previous scheme by adding 3 to each. Further, each note isoffset by various durational distances from the beginning of thesecond measure in the example. The first three pairs exhibit apattern of shared numerators that the fourth pair breaks. As wehave seen before, Nono makes changes so that the fourth call-and-response pair does not breach the silent axis of symmetry.

31 The replications fall under the rubric of "resonance," as described by Guer-rero (2003a and 2003b). Such replication of material may occur in anymusical dimension, i.e., pitch, dynamics, text setting, etc.

32 The numeric schemes can be found on two manuscript leaves at the Ar-chivio Luigi Nono: ALN 18.04.05/01 and 18.04.05/03. The set of de-nominator values is reminiscent of superparticular ratios such as thosefound in Ptolemy's syntonic diatonic scale (e.g., 8:9, 9:10). Nono had agreat interest in scales generally, as evidenced by handwritten notes on sca-lar systems in treatises of Hucbald, Zarlino, and others at the ArchivioLuigi Nono (ALN MO2.01.03/1-49) and diagrams of modal scales (ALNMO2.01.04/1). Nono also used Verdi's scala enigmatica in Quando stanno

morendo. Diario Polacco No. 2, composed in 1982; see Sallis (2006). Inter-estingly, the numerators in Example 7(a) lie at differences of 2, 3, and 5from each other, thereby emulating numeric differences from the so-calledFibonacci series (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 . . .).

33 See ALN 18.05.05/02r.



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36

MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 32 2010)

Stanzas 1 and 6 p<mf>p mf>p<mfp<mp>p mp>p<mp

ppp<mf>ppp mf>ppp<mfPPP<mP>PPP mP>PPP<mPPPP<P>PPP

P>PPP<PPPP

Stanzas 2 and 5 p<mf>pppPPP<mP>P P<mP>PPP

mp>ppp<mf ppp<mf>mpmf>ppp<mp

mp>p<mf

mf>p<mpppp<mp

Stanzas 3 and 4

PPPmp mf

ppp<mf

mf>pppp<mf

mf>pPPP<mP

mP>PPPp<mp mp>pPPP<P

EXAMPLE 8. Underlying dynamics palindrome inCori di Didone, Finale

The serial scheme of numerators and denominators producesoffsets of 15/6 and 15/4 for the fourth pair, yielding durationstoo lengthy to preserve the axis. Again using the original callvalue (15/6) for the response, Nono employs the original re-sponse value (15/4) and amends its numerator to the next-smaller value, 10.

The Finale of Cori di Didone, which follows the fifth move-ment's palindrome, exhibits a much more subtle form of imita-tion. As shown in Example 8, the movement presents six poeticstanzas at three dynamic levels, which are the lowest in the com-position (i.e., sounding at ppp, p, mp, and mf ). The sets are sym-metrically arranged so that the movement's outer stanzas (oneand six) employ hairpin dynamic markings that are themselvesmirror images, including p-mf-p and its inverse, mf-p-mf. Themovement's central stanzas (three and four) employ static or uni-directional dynamic markings:ppp-mf and its retrograde, mf-ppp.Stanzas two and five mediate between these two dynamicschemes, employing hairpin markings that are not symmetric:mp-ppp-mfandits rotation,ppp-mf-mp. As a canonic expanse, theFinale bears deep traces of canonic replication, but its surface de-tails thwart the perception of immediate or obvious symmetry.

Nono's use of canonic expanses is even bolder in pieces suchas the fourth movement of II canto sospeso (1955-56), whichconstitutes a remarkable, serially-generated canonic expanseusing a technique examined by several scholars. 34 The technique

34 See Borio (1999), Guerrero (2006), Motz (1999), Neidhäfer (2007), andNielinger (2006).

5 10 3 8 1 6 11 4 9 2 7 12

10 8 6 4 2 12 5 3 1 11 9 7

8 4 12 3 11 7 10 6 2 5 1 9

4 3 7 6 5 9 8 12 11 10 2 1

3 6 9 12 10 1 4 7 5 8 11 2

6 12 1 7 8 2 3 9 10 4 5 11

12 7 2 9 4 11 6 1 8 3 10 57 9 11 1 3 5 12 2 4 6 8 10

9 1 5 2 6 10 7 11 3 12 4 8

1 2 10 11 12 8 9 5 6 7 3 4

2 11 8 5 7 4 1 10 12 9 6 3

11 5 4 10 9 3 2 8 7 1 12 6

• . p.

EXAMPLE 9(A). Rearrangement scheme in Il canto sospeso, No. 4

for this instrumental interlude follows several steps. First, theseries 5n mod 13 (5 10 3 8 1 6 11 4 9 2 7 12; 0 excluded) under-goes systematic order-number multiplication by 7 mod 13, pro-ducing twelve distinct collections. The multiplication causeseven-numbered ordinal positions (carrying their contents along)to move to the front of the succession and odd-numbered ordi-nal positions to trail behind; the top two ranks of Example 9(a)show even numbers gathering to the front of the series in thesecond rank, while odd numbers occupy the opposite end. 35

Subsequently, each of the collections is then assigned to a mem-ber of II canto sospeso's governing twelve-tone series. In this par-ticular movement, pitches remain fixed in register so that theyalways radiate outward by half-steps from A3 to create a wedge-shaped melodic contour. 36

Next, the collections are plotted onto a network of eight and ahalf "Position-Grids," shown in,Example 9(b). 37 Each grid's

35 Rearrangement schemes throughout the cantata are treated extensively byBailey (1992) and Nielinger (2006), and their use in Incontri is discussed byDurazzi (2001, 2005). Some of the schemes correspond to the M n(S) op-eration of Lewin (1966), which multiplies order-position numbers by theconstant, n mod 13; the rearrangement here is M 7(S). Interestingly, Berguses the same reordering to derive the Acrobat's series in Lulu; see Head-lam (1996, 306).

36 The symmetrical pitch-class dyads correspond to those in the secondmovement of Webern's Opus 27 Variations. The connection seems morethan coincidental: Nono used the wedge series in several other pieces (twoof the choral works investigated here, La terra e la compagna and Cori diDidone, and two instrumental works from 1955, Incontri and Canti per 13),but always centered around C4. The transposition to A3 might be a gloss,perhaps as a double tribute to Webern and to Dallapiccola's "Contrapunc-tus secundus," as discussed by Babbitt (1987, 38).

37 Example 9(b) reproduces Example 2 from Guerrero (2006), which in turncorrects some inaccuracies from Figura 1 in Borio (1999). Borio calls thegrids Tondistanzreihe; Motz (1999) calls them Positionsreihe. My term"Position-Grid" captures the entire horizontal-vertical system as a singleunit, underscoring its role in determining both the horizontal (rhythmic)and vertical (pitched) position of notes. Neidhäfer (2006, 2007) examinesthe general role of magic squares in Maderna's and Nono's music, thus fold-ing Position-Grids into a larger category.

pc 9pc tpc 8pc epc 7pc 0pc 6pc 1pc 5pc 2pc 4pc 3



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37

I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12• •t •8 • •e • •7 • •0 •6 •1 •5 •2 • •4 •3 •

IV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 129 •t •8 •e •7 •0 • •6 • •1 • • • ,5 • •2 •4 •3 •

VII 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

9 •t • •8 • • •e •7 •0 • • •6 • •1 •52 • •4 •3 • •

II 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 129 • •t • •8 •e • •7 •0 •6 •1 •52 •4 •3 •

V 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 91011129 • •t • • •8 •e •7 • • •0 •6 •1 •5 •2 • •4 • • •3 • •

will 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 129 •t •8 •e • • . •7 • •0 •6 •1 •5 • •2 • •4 •3 •

III 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 129 • •t • •8 • •e • •7 •0 • • •6 • •1 •5 • •2 •4 • •3 • •

VI 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 129 • •t •8 • •e •7 • •0 •6 • •1 • • •5 • •2 •4 •

•IX 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

10 1 1 12

9

8

706 •1 • •

2 •

4 • •3 •

EXAMPLE 9(B). Position-Grids inI1 canto sospeso, No. 4

EXAMPLE 9(C). Pitch material in Il canto sospeso, No. 4

twelve ranks correspond to a pitch (not pitch class) in the twelve-tone series. Each grid also contains twelve columns, which, forconceptual clarity, could be thought of as time-points. Eachtime-point initially presents pitches in successive order so thatA3 assumes Time-Point 1, B63 assumes Time-Point 2, and so onuntil Time-Point 12. Thereafter, pitches do not appear until acertain number of empty time-points have passed, as deter-mined by the serial collections. For example, A3's second entryoccurs after five empty time-points have passed (from the firstrank in Example 7[a]), then ten time-points, and so on.Likewise, B63 follows its own scheme, ten empty time-points(from the second rank in Example 7[a]), then eight, and so on.Each pitch level spans exactly ninety time-points. The

constantly-varying entrances simulate a random distribution ofverticalities and empty rests, thereby obfuscating the otherwiseidentifiable profile of the wedge-shaped twelve-tone series.

The Position-Grids, in turn, serve as a. score prototype. Theabstract arrangement of pitches is orchestrated directly, withsingle pitches, simultaneities, and rests preserved rigidly; a re-duction is given in Example 9(c). Durations of individual notestake their numerator values from columns in Example 9(a),starting with the leftmost column and reading from bottom totop. Pitches are also positioned spatially to form a continuousstream, as in the finale of Sara dolce tacere. A palindromic num-ber series (3, 4, 5, 7, 7, 5, 4, 3) governs denominator values usedin each successive Position-Grid so that grids reflect each other



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3 8 MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 32 (2010)

2 4 6 8 10 12

1 3 5 7 9 11

C5 na-

C4

EXAMPLE 9(D). Planar design of Il canto sospeso, No. 4

around an axis between Grids 4 and 5. A palindromic dynamicsseries (ppp, p, mp, mf,f,,,,,f, mf, mp, p, ppp) governs dynam-ics for each successive time-point within each pitch level (notnecessarily within each grid), generating a symmetrical cre-scendo and decrescendo around the same axis. 38

In addition to forming a large palindrome, the movement ex-hibits canonic imitation in a more fundamentally innovative fash-ion. As with Nono's canons of duration and dynamic values, thiscanon is not pitch-based but, rather, takes for its subject twelvelengths of time (represented by the integers 1 through 12), trans-piring between successive entrances of each pitch in the twelve-tone series; imitation is achieved through recursive rearrangement.The rearrangement scheme for Sospeso No. 4 may be rendered astwo planes reoriented spatially, so that odd-numbered ordinal po-sitions lie in a distinct plane from even-numbered positions; seeExample 9(d). At first the two planes are shown as lying atop oneanother to project a continuous integer succession. When theperspective shifts to a vantage point that maximizes the planes'separation, the rearrangement emerges. Thus, unlike the canonicexpanses shown thus far, the planar form of Sospeso No. 4 containsan inherent dynamic element. Still, this expanse exhibits the sametype of simplicity and clarity as the others.

Nono's canonic expanses, having forgone the pitch dimension,lack the forward propulsion of tonal canons, yet create novel typesof musical space. Because they do not progress linearly, canonicexpanses exhibit nonlinear time and thus achieve stasis ratherthan motion. Audibility is also challenged, as in the Finale of Coridi Didone, the palindromic arrangement of which consists ofplanes that differ from each other texturally. Lastly, Sospeso No. 4exhibits a perpetually-mobile orientation in which a rhythmictexture is subjected to a new type of imitative transformation.

PLANAR COMPLEXITY: MULTIPERSPEKTIVITAT

The second class of planar composition involves temporali-ties evoked through Nono's unusual approach to text-setting, inwhich planar complexity generates surface musical textures.Another passage from Cori di Didone contains one such uncon-ventional approach to text allotment, relying on overlappingphonemes to create new musical scenarios. This passage exhib-its small-scale imitation in the same vein as the canonic expansein the fifth movement discussed above, but, in this instance,

38 Guerrero (2006) and Nielinger (2006), independently of one another, offersimilar observations on the movement. Nielinger examines the serializationof instrumental colors in addition to duration and dynamics.

m.19

EXAMPLE JO. Phoneme-bearing notes in Cori di Didone,mm. 17-19

phonetic material from all but two textual syllables resonatesalong with pitch. Dynamics and durations undergo transforma-tions associated with the return of sound to portray the mythi-cal figure of Echo, the dominant character in this portion of thepoem. Example 10 reduces the passage to its essential pho-neme-bearing components to show another distortion, this timeof a semantic nature, in which syllables of the word "lunare"overlap each other. Rather than projecting one syllable at a time,the flow of text introduces syllables before previously-soundingones have ceased, resulting in overlapping streams of text.Nono's textual division is singularly complex at times, com-pletely rearranging a word's parts out of their original semanticorder. The "lo-" of "allora" arrives before "al-," the word's firstsyllable, to subvert the sounds of conventional text-setting,which presents syllables sequentially in directed linear time.

A conventional setting of phonemes in directed linear timeassumes a perspective that projects a segmented plane. Othertemporalities present the same segments from different per-spectives to expose overlaps and gaps that had not been appar-ent before. Nono's allotments fragment that plane to evoke analternative tempOrality. Thus, his text-setting creates musicaloverlaps and gaps rather than continuous melodies.

These shifting perspectives elaborate a concept invoked byErika Schaller, who coined the term Multiperspektivitat. 39

Though she used the term only for her analysis of palindromesin Nono's compositions from the 1950s, I believe Schaller's con-cept can be extended much further, as it codifies specific planarconfigurations that can be observed in visual as well as musicalart. Hence, I invoke it here to describe textures arising fromnumerous perspectives, any one of which renders two events asa linear, continuous stream. Images of the Leaning Tower ofPisa provide an illustrative example of this particular conceptionof Multiperspektiviteit; see Example 11(a), in which a visual art-ist creates an illusion by lining up a figure's hands so that theyappear to support the tower. The optimal vantage point createsa plane of sight analogous to the continuous semantics of atraditionally-set word. For example, when several posed figuresare shown simultaneously, as in Example 11(b), the viewer sees

39 See Schaller (1997, 97-102). Her discussion also takes its departure fromNono's remarks about Tintoretto.

m.17 m.18



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39

EXAMPLE I2(A). Planar design of Example 10, Phoneme-bearingnotes in Cori di Didone, mm. 17-19

EXAMPLE II(A). Optical illusion of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

EXAMPLE 12(3). Planar design of Cori di Didone, mm. 17-19

EXAMPLE II(B). Multiperspektivitat of the Leaning Tower ofPisa

space and objects separating each figure from the tower. Thus,what is perceived linearly (the hands touching the tower) ineach separate image is disrupted when viewed from the com-posite perspective. The accumulation of disruptions determinesplanes of sight that impact both the distances and objects thatintervene between hands and tower. The composite perspectivedoes not show many individuals viewing the same object; rather,individual linear processes undergo interruption by being com-bined into a composite perspective, thereby increasing the sur-face complexity of the resulting image.

Extrapolating from this new conception of Multiperspektivitat,Nono's text-setting can generally be understood as creatingdense, cluttered spaces in contrast to the sparse planar spaceinhabited by canonic expanses. The Echo passage from Cori di

Didone creates a cluttered space when tracing planes from eachword component to its semantic successor, as seen in Example12(a). From any single perspective a given phonemic compo-nent progresses linearly, but small-scale resonance complicatesthe space significantly by adding more perspectives, as shown inExample 12(b).

A remarkably dense planar space can be found in La terra ela compagna (1957). The words "vivi rivivi" from the line "e tovivi rivivi" ("and you live and live again"), inspire highly resonantpassagework and refraction into numerous planes of sight; theplanes are shown in Example 12(c). The right-angle figures joinpitch clusters in the manner of Klangfarbenmelodie, suggesting arelationship between that technique and Nono's perspectivaltechnique of displacement.4°

On a textual level, the non-canonic passages discussed aboveexhibit multiply-directed linear time. Semantics create forwardteleological motion, but Nono's allotment of phonemes preventsthese semantic processes from flowing linearly. Additionally, theproliferation of many simultaneous textual components furtherdisrupts linguistic processes. The combined effect approachesaudible nonlinearity globally, while preserving a linear hearinglocally. 4' As with the planar designs of Tintoretto's Lavanda

40 Schaller (1997) also draws comparisons to Klangfarbenmelodie, but in re-sponse to more sustained pitch-cluster passagework.While the discussion here highlights textual processes, the same type ofdisrupted linearity can occur in any other musical dimension; see Guerrero(2003a).



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MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 32 (2010)

EXAMPLE I2(C). Planar design of La terra e la compagna, mm. 67-70

and Serpente, these novel musical spaces bear further resem-blance to their mannerist ancestors by the way in which theyinhibit the listener's ability to perceive a strictly directed, linearreading. Rather, the outward confusion exhorts the listener toadopt alternative approaches and consider several temporalitiesfor exploration.

It is worth noting that complex planar spaces and canonicexpanses need not always be mutually exclusive. The fifth move-ment of Cori di Didone, discussed above, concludes with a ca-nonic expanse, but the textures within the expanse feature thesame type of planar density as the sections of La terra discussedabove, albeit at a lesser level. Thus, at least two temporalities—nonlinear time for the canonic expanse and multiply-directedlinear time for the surface textures—exist simultaneously in thepassage. Rather than pose a contradiction, the combined tem-poralities constitute what Robert Erickson summarizes as a"bundle of discordant time-series, any one strand [of which]may measure something of nature. [Alfred North] Whitehead'semphasis is upon the bundle; the error we make is to muddlenature into a single scale of time measurement."42 Erickson'sthoughts do much to capture the historical moment of thepieces at issue here, but they also resonate with Nono's islandconception of not only Tintoretto's works, but also his own.

PLANAR DESIGNS AND SILENT IMAGERY

Structures inspired by Tintoretto's planes serve as an ultimateindication and measure of textural clarity or density, linearity ornonlinearity in much of Luigi Nono's music. Such musical planesharness the range of complexity found in passages involved in orapart from canonic expanses. At the same time, they also enablethe representation of a wide assortment of these expanses, thusincreasing the range of traditional canonic varieties (imitative,retrograde, inversion, and retrograde-inversion). Because canonic

42 Erickson (1963, 191).

expanses are located at pivotal moments in Nono's compositions,illustrating their anatomy creates particular interpretive resonancefor engaged listeners.

When juxtaposed against regions of heightened Multi-.perspektivitat, canonic expanses provide special moments of rar-efaction that engage with poetic and textual symbols of stillnessin the choral works. 43 The retrograde canon at the end of Saradolce tacere enacts the yearned-for silence that the earth attains bybecoming devoid of human life, thus creating symmetry with areturn to a pre-Edenic state free of mankind. Further, silencecharacterizes various earth symbols that permeate the poetry:wild fields, uncultivated hills, the cultivated vine, and bonfiresconcluding the harvest. I have illustrated that the multidimen-sional counterpoint of the composition becomes increasingly rar-efied, attaining complete unison motion before the entrance ofthis canon.44 Here, the choir no longer enunciates recognizablephonemes, having used its last sung words to act as harbingers ofthe bonfires that will purge the land. The textless canon providesan apt culmination for the expectation of stillness which has beenbuilt throughout the poem.

The canonic expanse underlying the fourth movement of Ilcanto sospeso wordlessly commemorates its deceased narrators in

43 Pearsall uses the term "silence" in an unusual way that has interesting applica-tions to this work: "Silence in music is not only conveyed through the ab-sence of sound or even the pause at the end of a musical statement or phrase(although pauses may take on this role in some instances) but also by meansof a musical texture that lacks discursive intent. Silence of this kind is perfor-mative, [italics in the original] enacted through sound rather than by thecurtailment of sound. This description conflicts with the usual definition ofsilence" (2006, 43). Whereas Pearsall's non-discursiveness arises largelythrough emphasis on surface attributes such as timbre and intervallic satura-tion at the expense of inter-event relations, the silence attained by Nono'schoral canonic expanses stems from mechanisms lying far beneath the musi-cal surface. Further, the music interacts with its poetry to create additionalassociations of silence. Either way, the responsibility for "hearing" silenceshifts to the listener, who must proactively engage with the music.

44 Guerrero (2003a, 16-17).



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Chorus 5

Ihnio declinio abbellirO, stasera; I shall make beautiful my fall, this evening;A foglie secche si vedra congiunto To dry leaves will be joinedUn bagliore roseo. A rose-like gleaming.

Finale

Pitt non muggisce, non sussurra il mare, It does not moan or murmur now, the sea,H mare. The sea.

Senza i sogni, incolore campo a il mare, A dreamless field colorless, the sea,Il mare. The sea.

Fa pieta anche il mare,Il mare.

Muovono nuvole irriflesse il mare,Il mare.

A fumi tristi cede il letto il mare,Il mare.

Morto d anche [lui, vedi,] il mare,Il mare.

Pitiful, too, the sea,The sea.

Clouds without reflections move the sea,The sea.

It yields its bed to dismal mists the sea,The sea.

It too[, look now,] is dead, the sea,The sea.

EXAMPLE 14. Texts from Cori di Didone, fifth movementand Finale

No. 1: Instrumental, non-canonic

No. 2: I am dying for a world which will shine with light of such strengthand beauty that my own sacrifice is nothing. Millions of men havedied for this on the barricades and in war. I am dying for justice.Our ideas will triumph—Anton Popov, Bulgaria, 26-year-oldteacher and journalist

No. 3: They are taking me to Kessariani for execution together with sevenothers. I am dying for freedom and for my homeland—AndreasLikourinos, Greece, 14-year-old student

Today they will shoot us. We die as men for our homeland. Beworthy of us—Eleftherios Kosses, Greece, 19-year-old student

They are hanging me in the square because I am a patriot. Yourson is leaving, he will not hear the freedom bells—KonstantinosSirbas, Greece, 22-year-old hairdresser

No. 4: Instrumental, permutation canon

No. 5: If the sky were paper, and all the seas of the world were ink, Icould not describe my suffering and all that I see around me. I saygoodbye to all of you and weep—Chaim, Poland, 14-year-old boy

No. 6: The doors open. Here are our murderers. Dressed in black. Theydrive us out of the Synagogue. HoW hard it is to say goodbyeforever to life which is so beautiful!—Esther Srul, Poland

No. 7: Goodbye mother, your daughter, Liubka, is going into the moistearth—Ljuba Schevtzova, Soviet Union

No. 8: Instrumental, non-canon

No. 9: I am not afraid of death—Irina Malozon, Soviet Union

I will be calm and at peace facing the execution squad. Are thosewho have condemned us equally at peace?—Eusebio Giambone,Italy, 40-year-old typesetter

I go in the belief of a better life for [all of] you—Elli Voigt,Germany, 32-year-old worker

EXAMPLE 13. Textual form of Il canto sospeso


41

preparation for their musical transcendence in death (the textsare provided in Example 13).45 Movement 1, an orchestral pre-lude, leads attacca to Movement 2, one of the work's two choralmovements. The third movement introduces three letterswhich, acting as precursors, describe the fate awaiting each oftheir respective authors. At this central point, the orchestralfourth movement invokes vertical time through its multidimen-sional symmetry. Movements 5, 6, and 7 each contain one letterof farewell from the dead to the living. Movements 8 and 9 mir-ror Movements 1 and 2, an orchestral prelude and choral move-ment linked by an attacca indication. These four movements,taken as a whole, provide a frame for the composition. There isone significant departure from large-scale symmetry; textually,the final movement recapitulates the transcendent optimismfirst introduced in Movement 2.

The three instrumental movements (1, 4, and 8) are based oncanonically-derived material and are linked by additional simi-larities.46 Movement 1 uses the same Position-Grid system asMovement 4. While Movements 1 and 8 heavily distort theirimitative symmetry, Movement 4 articulates its canonic struc-ture to offer a particularly lucid moment in the work as a whole. 48Movement 4 also serves as a conceptual axis of symmetry forthe texts as a group, as opposed to Movement 5, which lies atthe work's arithmetic center.47 The prelude and choral move-ments reflect each other around the axis at Movement 4, as do

45 The Italian text with an English translation by Angela Davies can be found 49in Nono (1995). Nielinger (2006, 102) hears resignation in this movement,offering another viable interpretation of the silent music. 50

46 See Guerrero (2006, 58-61).47 Nielinger (2006, 133) finds symmetry of a more conventional sort about an 5 1

axis at Movement 5.

the forward-looking descriptions and retrospective farewells.The palindrome across the work, implying an act of resistanceagainst tyranny and death, undergoes distortion through surfacecontrasts in individual movements."

A stark change in texture is a significant structural marker inMovement 5 of Cori di Didone, with the duration-dynamics pal-indrome arriving precisely, at the point at which Dido ceasesspeaking. Her last words openly allude to the funeral pyre (the"rosy gleaming"; see Example 14 for the complete text) that willsoon receive her lifeless body. 49 As in the previous two examples,a canonic expanse serves as a culmination of expectations forwhat is to come, as reflected by Dido's use of the future tense.Fooling the ear's instinct to equate elevated dynamics with out-cry, the clattering palindrome instead represents profound still-ness, as Dido's frantic words subside in favor of clear resolve andthe freeing of her soul from her body through death. 5°

The ensuing palindrome of dynamics (which concludes thework) underscores the poetry's depiction of the sea which, likeDido, has succumbed to death. As a prime indication that Didono longer speaks, the poetry conspicuously switches vantagepoint in the Finale; the movement's narrative clarity and de-scriptive distance contrast starkly with the chronologically-dis-ordered fragments that make up Didone's choruses. 51 Resonating

The transcendence affirms themes contained in the forward by ThomasMann: "[T]he faith, the hope, the readiness for sacrifice of a young Euro-pean generation, which bore the fine name of the 'resistance', of interna-tionally unanimous resistance against the disgrace of their country, againstthe shame of a Hitlerite Europe and the horror of a Hitlerite world, thoughwho wanted more than simply to resist, feeling themselves to be the van-guard of a better human society." Nono (1995, 89).The text may be found in Ungaretti (1992). Ungaretti (1975) also includesan English translation.As with the canonic ending of Sara dolce tacere, the expanse might symbol-ize a different type of return to nature.It is worth noting that the verses conclude La terra promessa as a whole andwere composed separately from the Cori descrittivi.



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MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 32 (20I0)

with the imitative structure of the Finale's dynamics, the textcontinually repeats the phrase "il mare" at the conclusion ofeach stanza, imitating the ebb and flow of the tides. The Finale'squiet dynamics and underscoring of the silent, dead sea rein-force the quietude at the work's conclusion.

* *

Throughout this study I have demonstrated that the placidand jarring effects of canonic expanses in Nono's choral worksarise from the technique of manipulating planar forms inspiredby Tintoretto's paintings. While I have limited my discussion tochoral works, the present study offers the potential for expan-sion of the discussion into an investigation of the role of ca-nonic expanses in Nono's instrumental compositions. Inprinciple, the connection between Nono and Tintoretto delvesdeeply into the practices of both artists, who invite listeners andobservers, respectively, to explore unfamiliar modes of appre-hending art. In this sense, the 1982 postcard from London doesnot simply show Tintoretto's impact on one of Nono's last com-positions, but rather the painter's profound effect on the com-poser's career-long exploration of musical spaces.

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Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 32, Issue 1, pp. 26-43, ISSN 0195-6167,electronic ISSN 1533-8339. © 2010 by The Society for Music Theory.All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopyor reproduce article content through the University of California Press'sRights and Permissions website, at http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/mts.2010.32.1.26



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