7/23/2019 Aga Wu Pitch Organizational v 5
1/37
7/23/2019 Aga Wu Pitch Organizational v 5
2/37
24 INDIANA
TH ORY
R VI W
for
formal
beauty
and t echn ica l po l i sh and
every other
mani fes ta t ion
o f
' a r t fo r a r t ' s sa k e . ' Abraham fu r the r re
fe r s to s t ru c t u ra l
weaknesses and a l ack
of organic
cohes ion
in
Mussorgsky 's ins t rumenta l works. At
the end of
the
a r t i c l e , the au thor c i t e s
the
f requen t ly used c r i t i c i s m
of
Mussorgsky 's
musical
l anguage-h is
tendency towards
natura l i sm
or rea l i sm-as the bas is of
the l a rge ly unsup
por ted asse r t ion t h a t (Mussorgsky 's) harmony would
of ten
be nonsens ica l as abso lu te
music. , ,3
Debussy, on the other hand, thought di f fe ren t lY4 (He
was,
it must be added, not a lone in hi s th ink ing . )
Por
him, it was not a ques t ion
of l ack
of techn ique ,
but
ra the r a non-dependence on t r a d i t i o n a l composi t iona l
procedures . Th is , in Debussy 's view, i s the source of p ro
gress iveness in Mussorgsky 's music . He descr ibed Mussorg
sky as unique because hi s a r t i s spontaneous and f ree
from
a r id
formulas . S
Such
are the extremes o f
c r i t i c a l
response
assoc ia ted
with the
work
of
Mussorgsky.
They
range
from a mere dismis
s a l
of him as an uneducated composer to a
profound worship
of hi s or ig ina l i t y which, in the
case
of Debussy, and
l i k e
most pronouncements by
composers
about other composers,
should be understood as represen t ing an a r t i s t i c or
aes th e t i c and consequent ly
t echnica l
synonymity.
But the re
i s
a t h i r d
mediat ing approach, one
which
seeks
to provide
a more
objec t ive ba s i s
fo r c r i t i c i s m
through
a
ca re fu l
ana lys i s
o f
organiza t iona l
procedures found
in
Mussorgsky 's
music . This
i s , in pa r t ,
the
purpose of t h i s
paper .
Because of the growth o f
i n t e r e s t of
an a ly t i c a l
theory
in
t h i s cen tu ry , it has
been poss ib le to propose ,
wi th
a decent
degree
of o b jec t i v i t y ,
an ana lys i s
of the
elements
of Mus-
3This paper re fu t e s t h i s viewpoint by descr ib ing ways in
which Mussorgsky 's
harmony
makes p e r f e c t sense . That some of
these ways
are
unorthodox by
nine teen th
cen tury s tandards
the re
i s
no
ques t ion .
But
unorthodoxy does
not
mean
non
sense . The
syntax of each piece d i scussed below i s
shown
to
be
l og ica l according
to
the terms of
the
piece .
4pranz Lisz t a l so
expressed adm irat ion for the Nursery
songs. In
a l e t t e r
to hi s f r i end Vladimir Stasov in
August
1873, Mussorgsky wrote :
L i sz t
l iked
The Nursery so
much
t ha t he
wants
to
do
une
b leu t t e
on
littl themes
from i t .
(See
Jay
Leyda
and Sergei
Bertensson, eds .
and t r a n s . , The
Mussorgsky
Reader
(New York: W.W. Norton, 1947) , p . 236) .
5Claude
Debussy,
Monsieur Croche the D i le t t an t e Hater ,
in Three
Class ics
in the
Aes the t i cs of
Music (New
York:
Dover
Publ ica t ions ,
1962) ,
pp. 19-20.
7/23/2019 Aga Wu Pitch Organizational v 5
3/37
MUSSORGSKY S NURSERY
25
sorgsky ' s
musical language .
6
I t i s not
enough
to
see
the
composer so le ly in the l i gh t of the Russ ian l i be r a l na
t i ona l i sm of the
1860 ' s ,
for t ha t would l imi t
our
perspec
t ive
and
reduce
the scope of our inqui ry to a mere
i de n t i f i c a t i on of fo lk or nat ional elements in h is
music .
An
a h i s t o r i c a l
approach
on
the
o the r
hand,
in
s p i t e
of i t s l i m i t a t i o n s - i t obscures
fo r
i n s t ance , the magnitude
of the impact of the contemporary
a r t i s t i c
environment on
Mussorgsky and v ice versa - se rves to
i l luminate
sp e c i f i c
t echnica l
i s sues .
It does t h i s by
r e j ec t ing
the
c o n s t r a i n t s
of
s t y l e - o f t e n
s t a t i s t i c a l , hence genera l r a the r than
pa r t i cu l a r ,
and of
l imi ted app l i cab i l i t y - i n favor
of
one
t ha t
takes
the i n d i v i d u a l i t y of the
composi t ion as premise ,
and proceeds
to
demonst ra te the log ic of i t s
syn tax .
This
essay
adopts the l a t t e r approach.
Debussy 's i n t e r e s t in Mussorgsky went beyond the genera l
corpus
of
the
l a t t e r ' s
songs
to
a
pa r t i c u l a r
p iece ,
the
song
cyc le Detska ia , o r The
Nursery .
In Apri l of 1901,
Debussy
publ ished a sho r t
a r t i c l e
in the Par i s
p e r i o d i c a l ,
La Revue
Blanche on Mussorgsky 's work, emphasizing
those organiza
t iona l
aspec ts t ha t make it a
masterp iece . 7 These
genera l l y tend ,
unders tandab ly ,
towards
the symbolic
aspec t s
of Mussorgsky's l anguage-aspec t s
of assoc i a t i ve
and
embodied meaning.
8
But the
ac tua l t echn ica l
observa t ions
found in t h i s essay , though few and
far
between, are
per t inen t and of pa r t i c u l a r re levence to t h i s s tudy. Debus
sy seems
to have been
pa r t i cu l a r l y impressed by
Mussorgsky's
economy in choice of p i t ch ma te r i a l . He notes the extreme
s impl i c i t y
with
which
the events in
t h i s
p iece
unfold:
I for
Mussorgsky,
one chord i s
of t en
s u f f i c i en t Or e l se
he uses a modula t ion so i nd iv idua l t ha t it wouldn ' t ever
have been
found in the books of
M
So-and-so .
I
The Nursery , a cyc le of
seven
songs
fo r
voice and p iano ,
was
composed
between 1868 and
1872.
The
fo l lowing
i s the
chronology of the
songs:
9
6
For
example, the
Schenkerian
and
neo-Schenkerian
schools
o f
t h i s
cen tu ry
with
r espec t
to
so -ca l l ed l Iatonal
music
presents
a t tempts to provide
musical s t ruc t u r e .
to
tona l
music,
or
the
approach
t ha t
stems
from Allen
Forte re
an ob jec t i ve
desc r ip t i on of
7
This
essay i s
r ep r in t ed
in Debussy
on
Music, Francois
Lesure
and Richard
L. Smith,
eds.
(New
York:
Alfred A.
K n o ~ f 1977) ,
pp. 20-25.
This desc r ip t ive terminology i s borrowed from Leonard
Meyer 's Emotion and
Meaning in Music (Chicago:
Univers i ty
o f
Chicago
Press , - r956) .
9
From
Oskar von
Riesmann, Mussorgsky, t r a ns .
Paul Eng
land
(New
York:
Dover
pub l i ca t ions ,
1971) .
7/23/2019 Aga Wu Pitch Organizational v 5
4/37
26
INDIANA
TH ORY
REVIEW
Song 1 Child
and Nurse (Niania and
I )
1868
Song
2
In
the Corner
1870
Song
3
The Beet le
1870
Song 4
ItWith
the Doll
1870
Song
5 Going to Sleep 1870
Song
I
IIMurr,
the
Cat (Naughty Puss)
1872
Song 7
A
Ride on the Hobby-horse
ll
1872
This paper of fe r s an an a l y s i s which w i l l
descr ibe
the major
aspec t s
of
pi t ch organ iza t ion in
the composi t ion,
p a r t i c u l a r l y
t hose
t h a t have
impl ica t ions
fo r l a t e r develop
ments in the
organ iza t ion
of musical s t r u c tu r e (no tab ly , in
the
ea r ly twen t ie th century)
To discuss pi t ch organ iza t ion
in song, or for t h a t mat
t e r , any
vocal
work, i s
to
expose onese l f to poss ib le
c r i t i c i s m fo r e i t h e r ignor ing or
s imply underplaying
the
im
por tance o f
ce r t a in desc r ip t ive assoc ia t ions t h a t
occur
of ten and only on the
sur face
of the comp osi t ion. In the
presen t con tex t fo r
example,
it i s
t rue
t h a t a
knowledge
of
the
sound
of the Russ ian language and Mussorgsky's e f f o r t s
towards
n a t u r a l i s t i c r e p re s e n t a t i o n - s y l l a b i c
s e t t i n g
of
words, d i s ju n c t metr ica l and rhythmic s u cces s i o n - i l l u mi n a t e s
one ' s
understanding
of
the ch a rac t e r of the
music. But
there i s
no
su b s t i t u t e
for
a
sys temat ic at tempt to under
stand the
log ic
t h a t governs the choice of p a r t i cu l a r
pi t ch
conf igura t ions ,
and the kind of i n t e r r e l a t i o n s h ip s t h a t
ex
i s t
between them. Thus,
while an e f f o r t
i s
made not to
over look obvious desc r ip t ive ge s tu re s , I
do
not
as c r i b e to
pic to r i a l i sm
or
IIsymbolism, musical
procedures
whose
func t ion
wi th in
the t o t a l f ab r i c I am unable
to
exp la in .
The
fo l lowing discuss ion wi l l
be concerned only wi th t he
f i r s t
f ive
songs of the
cycle
as
they
appear
in
the o r ig in a l
vers ion . Songs 6 and 7 became p a r t of
the
cycle only wi th
the p u b l i ca t i o n of the second e d i t i o n in 1908.
I
w i l l d i s
cuss
each
song fo l lowing
the chronology of the cy c l e .
Be
cause
of
the need to l o ca t e spec i f i c poin t s
in
the music , it
would be
28lpfu l
fo r the reader to have access to
a
copy of
the
cyc le .
lOS . f f .
h '
1 h f 1
ecl
lC re e rences
ln
t
lS
paper app y to
t o
lowing
ed i t ion :
The Nursery:
A Cycle of Seven Songs fo r
Voice
and
piano.- - -Engl ish tr by Edward Agate , rev . by
Serg ius
Kagen,
New
York
City :
In t e rn a t i o n a l
Music
Co. ,
1951.
7/23/2019 Aga Wu Pitch Organizational v 5
5/37
MUSSORGSKY S
NURSERY
27
Song 1
n examinat ion
of
the poem
and
t he de r ived musical
outer
form of
t h i s
opening
song
shows t h a t it i s ch a rac t e r i zed
by
c l ea r ly
organized poin t s
of a r t i c u l a t i o n .
These
can
be ob
served in
Example
1,
which
se t s
out
the
main
p i t ch
r e f e re n t i a l elements of the
song. In
t h i s and the examples
t h a t fol low,
I
have used an
adap ta t ion of
the
hie ra rch ic
nota t ion se t
fo r th
by Fe l ix
Sa lze r .
For a summary
of
these
nota t iona l
p r in c ip l e s ,
see Fel ix S a l z e r ' s A Glossary o f
the
Elements of Graphic
Analys i s ,
in the
Music
Forum
1 (1967;
p . 364).
I
should perhaps mention t h a t
there
are many
depar tu res
(sometimes
fundamental) from au then t i c
Schenker i
an nota t ion as wel l as t h a t
of
the neo-Schenker ian school
in
g en e ra l . C r i t e r i a
fo r
segmenta t ion include completeness o f
poet i c thought ,
caden t i a l
ac t ion
(accomplished j o i n t l y
by
the
normal
i n c rease
in
the
ra t e
of harmonic
change, rhythmic
dece le ra t ion ,
and
a con t ro l l i ng top-vo ice s t ru c t u ra l
d es cen t ) , and r e p e t i t i o n .
In c o n t r a s t to
the musical
outer form
however ,
the ac tua l
syntax i s anything but s t ra igh t fo rward . In
f ac t ,
p a r t
of
the
c l a r i t y
in the a r t i c u l a t i o n o f
the outer
form
de r ives ,
i r o n i c a l l y , from
the
mixed
tona l
syn tax , a mixture
of
func
t i ona l
and
non-funct iona l
tona l
procedures
t h a t i s
u l t i ma t e l y subsumed by the former .
Throughout t h i s
paper , an
important
d i s t i n c t i o n
i s
made
between func t iona l and non-funct iona l tona l p rocedures .
Func t iona l
r e fe r s
to those
re l a t ionsh ips pos tu la ted by
the
hie ra rch ic
tona l
sys tem,
des ignated conven t iona l ly
by
Roman
numerals
represen t ing
degrees of
the s ca l e .
Non-funct ional
r e fe r s to
those
procedures
t h a t
do
not
demonst ra te any
such
r e la t ionsh ips . t i s p o s s i b l e however ,
to
speak of tona l
cen t e r s def ined
by
e i t h e r procedure . The problems
a s s o c i
a ted with t h i s d i s t i n c t i o n
are
discussed by Arthur Berger in
h i s a r t i c l e Problems
of
Pi tch
Organiza t ion in
S t r a v i n s k y . l l
The
remarkable s i m i l a r i t y between
t he
a n a l y t i c a l i s sues ra i sed
by
the
music
of Strav insky and
Mus
sorgsky i s no mere co inc idence , as wi l l become ev iden t in
the
course of
t h i s s tudy .
I t
would
seem,
then , t h a t
a
s tudy
o f
pi t ch -o rgan iza t iona l
procedures
in
t h i s
song
should con
s i d e r ,
fundamenta l ly ,
the
na tu re
and
func t ion of the above
mentioned
poin t s
of a r t i c u l a t i o n , as wel l as the means of
achieving foreground
con t inu i ty
between these poin t s . The
f i r s t cons idera t ion
i nev i t ab ly
t akes other paramet r ic a c t i v
i t y ,
notab ly rhythmic , in to
account
(mostly
middleground
l lpe r spec t ives on
Schoenberg
Benjamin Boretz and
Edward
T. Cone
1972) ,
pp.
123
-15 4
and St rav insky , eds .
(New York; W.W. Norton,
7/23/2019 Aga Wu Pitch Organizational v 5
6/37
Example 1. Song I
Pitch
Struct
a.
Mm. 1-13.
mm.
1 3
6
8 10
12
13
~
-
'IIIp IB
_
\ \
r>
--
LJ
l
~
f'>..
I
I
- ..
.
.
-w IIiF'
\ ' - ~ ~ r
r ~ ~ t 1 r ~ . ~ ~
. 'Z
; .. -
"
~
-T \ . . . : o ~
~ ~ r
L.
L . ' r ~
,
[J _
,
1 \-
Bb: lV
v
I
b.
Mm. 14-23.
mm.
14
18
19
20 22
23
- ~
I IIIIBIII8JII
I ~ I
>
, -1=- 1 _
"
G:
9 q ~ -
iiII........
__
..JV
J . I . ~ ~ A
.--...
4-
...
-
~
I
7/23/2019 Aga Wu Pitch Organizational v 5
7/37
c. Mm. 24-41.
mm.
25
30 34
36
38
39
dII
__ .........
.. _
.. _ ..
; .,.
it
U e
i ~ r ] ~ ~ , ~
' lc.tr-'
1 G-1
-- ~ l
oJ>
...
iv I iv I
d.
Mm. 42-53.
mm. 43
44
45
49
51
........
-
-I11III -
--
.....-::
t_
-
/l' . ..---;:..
~ .
,,-1 .
18
A
/P--';:
111fT
41 Iff
4Jij
~ +
-i
-
)
~
>
-
/
I III l ...
...
"Idii
-
J1I1IIII
;-
-10
-.......-
~
41
V I
53
;;:
7
~
,
,
---
)
7/23/2019 Aga Wu Pitch Organizational v 5
8/37
30
INDIANA THEORY REVIEW
processes) , while
fo r the second
cons ide ra t ion ,
an examina
t i on of
the
motivic process i s sugges ted .
Let
us exp lore
the impl ica t ions of these
cons ide ra t ions ,
beginning
with
Ex
ample lao
The opening dyad
of uni t 1 ,
Gb_Bb, i s
presen ted , f i r s t in
i so la t ion
(no t i ce
the
e f f e c t
o f
temporal expans ion
crea ted
by the fe rmata) , and is then p a r t l y absorbed by the psuedo
func t iona l i ty of the next
two
ba rs . Bb i s then i so l a t ed for
emphasis by means
o f two,
unisonic (mul t i -oc tave) , met r i ca l
ly prominent s ta tements
in mm.
6 and 8. Bb fu r the r
gene ra t e s , by s tepwise ascen t , the f i r s t
high
poin t
in
the
p:Cece
F
5
in m. 13, the a t ta Inment o f which
serves
to con
c lude the f i r s t
s t ru c t u ra l
un i t of the song. Example la
t hus
shows t ha t mm. 1-13 a re a r t i c u l a t e d by
a
se r i e s
o f
re
f e r e n t i a l
elements ,
each of which con ta ins or cons i s t s o f
the i nva r i an t p i t ch
c l a s s
(pc) Bb,
presen ted with
increas ing
func t iona l
s t a tus .
12
A
complete
break
of
syntax
occurs
between
uni t s
1
and
2,
re su l t ing s i g n i f i c a n t l y in the displacement of Bb.
The two
s t ru c t u ra l
uni t s are t he re fo re
jux taposed .
Example
lb
d i f
f e r s from the
preceding uni t
by the way t
i s
in t roduced : a
fu l l
t r i a d D major) , which a l so serves to
c lose of f the
uni t
a t m. 24. Of p a r t i c u l a r
i n t e r e s t
here i s the
dual
t rea tment
of the
D-major
sonor i ty . In
m. 14, t
marks
a
di s junc t ion with the previous un i t , but does not
genera te
any
kind
of
harmonic
progress ion . I t s use
i s
in f ac t t ona l
ly non- func t iona l . (See
a lso
the lack of rhythmic pro
gress ion between mm. 14 and 18.) In the second h a l f o f m.
18
however ,
an unequivocal
harmonic
progress ion begins ,
culminat ing in the decep t ive D major t r i a d in mm. 23-24.
The progress ion can
be
descr ibed as decep t ive because of the
behavior of the s t rong func t iona l s ix - four chord in m.
22,
which
i n p l i e s an
au then t i c cadence in
Bb. The
fo l lowing D
major
chord
i s then heard as an app l ied
dominant
of the sub
mediant which i t s e l f
does not occur .
This
t rea tment o f
the
t r i a d
is tona l ly func t iona l . In the second s t ru c t u ra l un i t
of the
song,
coherence or l a rge- sca le a r t i c u l a t i o n i s
achieved by
a
respec t ive
non-funct iona l and then
func t iona l
t rea tment o f a
t r i a d i c sonor i ty .
The t h i r d
phase
of the
s t ru c t u ra l
process
(Example
lc)
div ides in to th ree p a r t s ,
mm.
25-30
3
,
30
3
-36
2
and 36
3
-42 .
12 In
hi s ana lys i s of the tonal
s t r u c tu r e
of
Schumann's
Dich te r l i ebe ,
Arthur Komar d es c r i b es
the
funct ion
of pc
B
with in the
f i r s t
f ive songs in s imi l a r te rms. His , however,
i s a macro con tex t , i . e . from one song to the nex t ,
whereas Mussorgsky 's i s a micro one , i . e . with in the same
song. (See hi s an a ly t i c a l essay in Robert Schumann,
Dichte r l iebe
New
York:
W.W.
Norton,
1971) ,
pp.
63-94.)
7/23/2019 Aga Wu Pitch Organizational v 5
9/37
MUSSORGSKY S
NURSERY
31
In
the
f i r s t
of
these
subsegments ,
the
ch i ld
asks
to
hear
the s to ry of
a ce r t a in
king
and queen.
In the
second, he
speaks
separa te ly of the k ing ,
while
the queen
engages
h is
a t t e n t i on in the
t h i r d .
But
for the r e t en t ion of
pc
A between uni ts 2
and
3,
the
e f f ec t
would have
been
one
of
apparen t
jux tapos i t ion ,
thus
pa ra l l e l i ng the procedure between the f i r s t
two
un i t s . The
f i r s t
phase
of
the process
represented in Example
l c
con
t a ins
the
most
t r ad i t i ona l
harmonic -syntac t ica l
procedure
in
the
song
so
fa r -harmonic
motion
by
descending
5ths , Bb-Eb
Ab-Db. The
poin t
of a r r i v a l , Db, i s then prolonged by means
o a
p e ~ ~ b ~ ~ w e e n
mm. 28
3
and
j b ~
The s e c o n ~ pfiase i s
in
t roduced by
an in t e r rup t ion
of
the func t iona l process
by
segments of
the whole tone
sca le
on
Db
(C). This
whole
tone
s imul t ane i ty f i r s t
occurred in m. 17 as par t of the non
funct ional
opening of the second
s t r uc tu r a l
un i t of the
song.
The
cross
re fe rence
thus
provides
an added
element
of
assoc ia t ion
between
those
two
sec t i ons of the song.
This
pc
then
con t ro l s
the
r e s t of
the
phase. The or ig in
of
C in m.
36
may thus be explained
with
re fe rence to i t s t o n a l
funct ional
environment in m. 30,
i t s
absorbt ion in to a sym
metr ica l formation
a t m.
30
3
,
and i t s neut ra l
( i . e .
unison) occurrence in m. 36. The t h i rd phase of un i t 3 i s
a l so charac t e r i zed
by a tona l - func t iona l
progress ion
in a
br i e f
C
major,
which
leads via
F to Bb in the next
s t r uc tu r a l uni t -another c i r c l e
of
f i f t h s progress ion . The
dif ference
here ,
however, l i e s in the foreground, which i s
obscured by
non-chord tones ,
modal
interchanges and
a
punctuat ing bass cons i s t i ng of adjacent
ha l f
s t eps . The
source of
t h i s
ha l f s t ep motion
may be
t r aced to m. 13 where
a
descending chromatic
sca le
marked
the conclus ion of the
f i r s t s t r uc tu r a l uni t . The t h i rd
s t r uc tu r a l
un i t thus un
fo lds in
th ree
s tages .
I t proceeds from
the tona l
func t iona l
environment of
Db,
redef ined
as a
non- func t iona l
but r e f e r en t i a l Db, to C
as
dominant of the dominant of
the
home key Bb,
thus
crea t i ng
a
harmonic
overlap
with
the
next
se l ec t ion .
The
l a s t
s t r uc tu r a l
un i t
u t i l i z e s
a convent ional harmonic
scheme,
leading to
a f i na l ,
de f i n i t i ve ges ture by means
of
which
Bb,
the
key
of the
p iece ,
i s
given the
necessary
rhe tor i ca l emphasis . Example
ld
shows t h i s harmonic
framework.
Of i n t e r e s t i s
the way
in which Bb i s
t r e a t e d . At
mm. 44
3
, t provides a
unison r eso lu t i on to
the
l a rge
dominant of
mm.
43
3
-44
2
Then,
in
m. 46, t
suppor ts
the
wrong chord
( in
s p i t e
of
the
implied
dominant- tonic
suc
cess ion ,
Bb ac tua l ly
suppor ts the submediant
chord
which
func t ions here as a s ubs t i t u t e t on i c ) . Next, in m. 49,
though
presented as
the root of a f u l l chord , Bb i s
con
s t rued
as pa r t
of
an upper-voice ascen t .
I t
i s therefore
s t r uc tu r a l l y i n f e r i o r to the f ina l occurrence in m.
51
(echoed
in
m.
53) .
Bb thus
rece ives
progress ively grea te r
7/23/2019 Aga Wu Pitch Organizational v 5
10/37
32 INDIANA THEORY REVIEW
s t ru c t u ra l and rhe to r ica l weight in the l a s t eleven measures
of the
piece .
This procedure
t he re fo re
balances t ha t of the
f i r s t s t ru c t u ra l uni t of the song
where
Bb
was
presen ted
with increas ing
func t iona l
s t a tus . n
add i t iona l f ac to r
t ha t
emphasizes
the congruence of the s t ru c t u ra l processes
in the
f i r s t
and
l a s t
uni t s
of the
song
i s
the
p a ra l l e l
motiv ic process . This i s discussed below with re fe rence to
Examples 2 and 3.
To summarize
our
observa t ions on Song
so
f a r : the
an a ly t i c a l
procedure took
two
forms- the i d e n t i f i c a t i o n o f
p c ' s
o f
p r i o r i t y by var ious
processes
of s i g n i f i c a t i o n in
cluding phrase posl t i on ing , d u ra t i o n a l or accen tua l
prominence,
e t c . ( i . e . non-funct iona l
but tona l proces
ses) ,13 and the i d e n t i f i c a t i o n of t ona l ly func t iona l ton ics .
The f a c t , however ,
t h a t s imi l a r ges tu res a re
used
to
a r t i c u l a t e the
two
kinds o f procedures serves a unifying
purpose
in the
song.
n a l t e rn a t i v e process t h a t cu t s
across
the func t iona l /
non-funct iona l dichotomy
and
lends
uni ty
to the
whole
song,
i s the motiv ic s t ru c t u re ,
an
example of which i s given in
Example
2. Because of the l im i t a t i o n s of space, t has not
been
p o s s i b l e
to d i scuss
the motiv ic s t r u c tu r e o f
the
e n t i r e
song (except by genera l i za t ions , based
on
what
i s ana lyzed) ,
nor to presen t i n t e r r e l a t i o n s h ip s between motiv ic c e l l s in
the
idea l
visua l
se t t i n g .
14
In i t s
s imples t
form, the
technique of
melodic
organ iza t ion cons i s t s
o f
a process
o f
v a r i a t i o n
invo lv ing , among other t h ings , expans ion or con
t r a c t i o n of con tour , rea l or con tex tua l t r anspos i t ion ,
and modal r e i n t e rp re t a t i o n . Example 2 shows how contour i s
manipulated
by i n t e rva l l i c
modi f ica t ion
between success ive
segments . Thus
between a - I
and a-2 , in te rva l c las s ( ic) 4
i s
expanded to ic 5;
s imi l a r l y ,
with regard to b- l and b-2 ,
excluding the i nva r i an t elements , the respec t ive spans of
t h e i r
t o t a l pi t ch con ten t a re i c ' s 4 and 6 ,
t hus
re
presen t ing an expansion.
Subuni t s
a-3 , a -4 , a-5
and a-6 are
a l so
based
on a - I ;
they
are in fac t , subse t s of a - I ,
i s o l a t ed ,
and
used
as the bas i s
of
an ex tens ion . In
gene ra l , t h i s process of
l i n ea r
ex tens ion takes the fo l
lowing
form:
13Arthur Berg e r ' s te rminology. See
Pi tch Organiza t ion .
14See
the an a ly t i c a l pre sen ta t ions
as Nicholas Ruwet and Jean- Nat t i ez ,
t e r ' s ana lys i s
o f
Debussy 's Syr inx in
I n t e r n a t i o n a l Congress
on
Semio t i c s
1973.
Berger , Problems of
o f semio log i s t s such
for example, the l a t
Proceedings of
the 1 s t
of
Music,
Belgrade ,
7/23/2019 Aga Wu Pitch Organizational v 5
11/37
MUSSORGSKY'S
NURSERY
33
STAGE: I
2 3
4
PROCESS:
Statement
Var ia t ion
I so la t ion of
one
Var ia t ion
of
or two elements
s tage
3
of
s tage
2
I t i s thus a process of progress ive
l o s s
of i den t i ty for the
genera to r
of paren t segment.
IS
Example 2 prov ides an -
l u s t r a t i o n
of the process . Thus,
a - I co n s t i t u t e s
s t a t e
ment, while
A-2
i s
v a r i a t i o n .
a-3
r epre sen t s the
i so l a
t ion
o f
the d e s c e n d i ~ ges tu re of a -2 , while a-4 var ies t h i s
descen t
by i n t e rva l l i c expansion. a-S and a-6
are
fu r the r
var ian t s
o f
a-3 . With a-6 , the process
comes
to an end.
Once comple te , a
new
pa ren t segment i s in t roduced and sub
j ec ted
to e i t h e r
the
same
process or an adap ta t ion t he reof .
Another example of
t h i s
process
can
be
seen in Example 2,
beginning
with
b- l .
n
impor tant
macro-organ iza t iona l
pr inc ip le thus emerges
from
these
observa t ions : a
r e f e re n t i
a l process a r t i c u l a t e s
the e n t i r e
melodic
span
of the
song,
and thereby provides an impor tant counterpoint to the
p i t ch
a r t i c u l a t i ve procedures descr ibed above (Example 1) .
Another example should c l a r i f y the process
even f u r t h e r .
The vocal
l i n e
of the l a s t ten measures of the song i s given
in Example 3 ,
as
wel l
as
a summary o f i t s p i t ch
content .
In
l i ne 1 , x-I co n s t i t u t e s the
genera tor ,
x-2 a modal v a r i a
t i on o f x - I ,
x-3
the i so l a t ion of the descen t in x -2 , and
x-4 a t r anspos i t i on of x -3 .
Clear ly ,
we are
no
longer
deal ing
with
the kind of themat ic manipulat ion assoc ia ted
with
Haydn
or
Beethoven, nor
with the popular themat ic
t rans fo rmat ion
assoc ia ted with the
music
of Berl ioz , Lisz t
or Wagner where the background func t iona l he i ra rchy i s never
in doubt . Mussorgsky however, exp lo i t s the
elements
of
a
given mot iv ic
un i t r a the r
sys tema t ica l ly -an almost
c e l lu l a r
approach to p i t ch
organ iza t ion .
This
i s
prec i se ly where he
d i f f e r s
from
other nin teen th cen tu ry
composers-in
the almost
mechanica l
prec i s ion
with which the themat ic process un
fo lds .
Example 3 a lso shows t h a t underneath the apparen t sur face
d iscon t inu i ty , the re e x i s t s
a
s imple pro to - s t ruc tu re con
s i s t i ng
of a s tepwise
ascen t
from
Bb
to
F
followed
by
a
skip
15
A
s imi l a r
t echn ique ,
opera t ing
over
the
span o f an
en
t i r e composi t ion is
descr ibed
by Leonard Meyer in h i s
Emotion and
Meaning
in
Music. The
piece used i s the second
o f
Chopin 's
p r e l u e s ~ o r
piano , op
28. There
i s a lso
some
s i mi l a r i t y between t h i s technique and Schoenberg 's
developing va r i a t ion
which
he
discusses
in
connec t ion
with
h i s
own ear ly music and t ha t o f Johannes Brahms. (See My
Evolu t ion ,
in
Musical
Quar te r ly
38, no.
4
(1952)
:364.)
7/23/2019 Aga Wu Pitch Organizational v 5
12/37
Example
2.
Song 1, Motivic
Structure.
a . Mm 1-13
mm 1
-
r Q. ..
3
r
2 i
4 ~ 3 T 1
- - a< : i - : l
6
b-1
\ 2
9
i
I
13
b- 1
:\
b. Mm 9-13, Underlying Structure.
5
i
I
I
b- 3
)
7/23/2019 Aga Wu Pitch Organizational v 5
13/37
MUSSORGSKY S NURSERY 35
Example
3)
.....
'
,)
l
r
-
'
-
l
'
.......
1.f )
r
I
:r
M
,
-::t
)(
L
( )
r
( 1\
L
.......
-
N:
'