MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 57

Between Modernism and Postmodernism:

Strands of Continuity in Collage Compositions
by Rochberg, Berio, and Zimmermann
c. catherine losada

This article discusses a group of pieces that can best be understood as musical collages: the third
movement of Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia (1968), the first movement of George Rochberg’s Music for
the Magic Theater (1965), and the last movement of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Musique pour les
Soupers du Roi Ubu (1966). It demonstrates that chromatic complementation and a concurrent sys-
tematic process of chromatic saturation provide the logic behind the harmonic, formal and voice-
leading content of these pieces, thus establishing an unexpected link between these works and
their serial predecessors.

Keywords: Berio, Rochberg, Zimmermann, collage, Postmodernism, quotation, chromatic comple-

mentation, chromatic saturation, Sinfonia, significant gap, gap-fill

n the last forty years the extensive use of musical single composition.2 Thus, it poses the most stimulating

I quotation and juxtaposition of contrasting styles has cre-

ated an unprecedented level of heterogeneity in the mu-
sical language. The musical collage,1 in particular, explicitly
subverts the concept of unity by juxtaposing various frag-
mentary quotations from different musical styles within a
I would like to thank Ellie Hisama, Philip Lambert, Andrew Mead,
Catherine Nolan, Philip Stoecker, Joseph Straus, and the anonymous
readers of Music Theory Spectrum for their helpful feedback on earlier
drafts of this article.
1 In this article, my usage of the phrase “musical collage” refers to reper-
toire (written mainly since the 1960s) that conforms to the definition of
collage found in Burkholder (The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians, 2nd ed, s.v. “Collage”): “The juxtaposition of multiple quota-
tions, styles or textures so that each element maintains its individuality
and the elements are perceived as excerpted from many sources and
arranged together, rather than sharing common origins . . . Elements in
questions for the analyst: What is the relationship between
the disparate elements in a collage? What are the structural
implications of combining such a variety of disparate ele-
ments? Finally, what theoretical tools should be used to ana-
lyze music with such diverse musical idioms? This article ad-
dresses these questions within the context of concrete
analytical findings. It discusses a group of pieces that can
best be understood as musical collages: the third movement
of Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia (1968), the first movement of
George Rochberg’s Music for the Magic Theater (1965), and
a collage differ in key, timbre, texture, meter or tempo, and lack of fit is
an important factor in preserving the individuality of each and convey-
ing the impression of a diverse assemblage.”
2 Kramer (1995, 12) defines the concept of unity from the twentieth-
century modernist perspective as the condition that all parts in a compo-
sition have “to be related not only to the whole but also to each other.”

57
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58 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)
the last movement of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Musique
pour les Soupers du Roi Ubu (1966).
With its unprecedented power to elicit explicit referential
connotations, this music brings to the forefront the dialectic
opposition between referential and absolute meanings in
music,3 as well as the conflict between formalist and expres-
sionist approaches to analysis described by Leonard Meyer.4
Coupled with the difficulties that the incorporation of dis-
parate materials poses to the analytical process, the level of
referential determinacy has created a tendency for analytical
work on this repertoire to be limited in scope, focused on a
description of the main constituents and the referential con-
notations of these works.
Many analyses of Sinfonia, for instance, have confined
themselves to a listing of sources (an essential first step in
any such analysis), coupled with tentative phenomenological,
semiotic, or psychological conjectures regarding the motiva-
tion and effect of their combination.5 George Flynn (1975)
takes this approach to the extreme. He emphasizes the po-
etic effect of the heterogeneous musical surface and explicitly
rejects any technical approach to Berio’s music, claiming that
“in listening to Berio’s music the listener need not chase tone
rows, intervals, durational patterns, or otherwise discover
3 Meyer (1956) states that absolutists are those that “insist that musical
meaning lies exclusively within the context of the work itself, in the
perception of the relationships set forth within the musical work of
art,” and that, on the other hand, referentialists contend that “music
also communicates meanings which in some way refer to the extramu-
sical world of concepts, actions, emotional states, and character” (1).
4 Meyer (1956) explains that “the formalist would contend that the
meaning of music lies in the perception and understanding of the musi-
cal relationships set forth in the work of art and that meaning in music
is primarily intellectual, while the expressionist would argue that these
same relationships are in some sense capable of exciting feelings and
emotions in the listener” (3).
5 Hicks (1981–82), for example, deals exclusively with the referential im-
plications of the practice of quotation with a particular emphasis on
textual relationships in Sinfonia.
and keep track of precompositional production plans. Such
denotative activity can only damage the listener’s primary,
poetic responsibility to the music” (393).6 Although analyti-
cal approaches that concentrate exclusively on the referential
and expressive aspects of these works can address important
aspects of the composition as an artistic product, they fail to
identify the importance of the choice of a particular excerpt
from a composition as opposed to another and imply that a
musical product can be created where the relationship be-
tween its constituent elements is primarily defined by criteria
other than specific technical associations.7
My study, following Meyer, posits that “in musical experi-
ence the same stimulus, the music, activates tendencies, in-
hibits them, and provides meaningful and relevant resolu-
tions for them” (1956, 31). It thus attempts to provide a
discussion of the quantifiable elements of these works, which
so far have not been systematically analyzed. Isolated techni-
cal aspects of collage compositions have been discussed
mainly within the context of a particular piece.8 Generally
6 Similarly, Dixon (1992) and Ringer (1966) focus for the most part
on how Rochberg’s music reflects the composer’s ideological preoc-
cupation with the reevaluation of the musical past and his new aes-
thetic of stylistic pluralism, thus bypassing a technical discussion of his
music altogether. A technical approach, in this context, refers to an an-
alytical methodology that seeks to describe patterns and structures that
result from the purely musical elements of a piece (such as pitch,
rhythm, duration, dynamics, texture etc.)
7 Though this is certainly the case for many Dada compositions or works
that rely heavily upon chance (many works of John Cage, etc.), it could
hardly be applied to a work such as Sinfonia, where almost every single
pitch and its placement are so carefully controlled.
8 Osmond-Smith’s (1985) excellent study of Sinfonia identifies the quo-
tations contained in the piece and describes isolated technical elements
(such as the sharing of common pitches, harmonic basis or melodic
shapes) that associate many of the disparate components. Like
Osmond-Smith, Budde (1972) and Altmann (1977) present isolated
examples of ways in which disparate quotations are connected in
Sinfonia, within the context of a discussion of the piece in more general
terms. Danuser (1988) examines connections in Rochberg’s music and
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 59
between modernism and postmodernism
speaking, the technical connections are discussed in a limited
fashion, noting isolated relationships between materials,
and the underlying large-scale processes are never clearly
addressed.
Other approaches to this repertoire have been constrained
in different ways, by concentrating, for instance, on a single
composer’s output.9 Only recently has the practice of bor-
rowing been scrutinized from a wider perspective. Peter
Burkholder has been instrumental in this respect, setting up
a useful typology of musical borrowing that crosses different
time periods and styles.10 Likewise, works that incorporate
multiple quotations have been subjected to scrutiny as a uni-
fied body in the work of Lisa Brooks Robinson (1994), who
traces the influence of Mahler in several collage composi-
tions.11 Although isolated technical aspects relating to the
elucidates similar relationships in Zimmermann’s and Berio’s music
(Danuser 1990, 402-03; from Tillman 2002, 78–79).
9 Such is the case with Adams’s (1983) study on R. Murray Schafer,
Klüppelholz’s (1981) study of the music of Mauricio Kagel, the insight-
ful discussions of the music of Zimmermann by Kühn (1978) and
Kiesewetter (1985), and the discussion of continuities in the music of
Thomas Adès by Roeder (2006).
10 See Burkholder 1994 and his two entries in The New Grove, s.vv.
“Collage,” “Borrowing.” Similarly seeking a broader outlook, Metzer
(2003) has focused on how the referential implications of the practice
of musical quotation extend over a variety of different styles. He studies
the role of quotation as a cultural agent in a variety of twentieth-
century repertoires, including the music of Ives, Duke Ellington and
Bubber Miley, Schoenberg, Berio, Rochberg, Sandra Bernhard and
Stockhausen, among others.
11 The works Robinson analyzes include the final movement of Lukas
Foss’s Time Cycle (1959–60), the first movement of Rochberg’s Music
for the Magic Theater (1965), the third movement of Berio’s Sinfonia
(1968), and the second movement of Schnittke’s Fourth Concerto
Grosso/Fifth Symphony (1968). Applying an approach that blends refer-
ential and technical analysis, her analyses of the individual pieces ex-
plore intertextual associations, various structural procedures such as ex-
pansion, integration, and defamiliarization (a term that refers to the
concept of art as a process through which perception is complicated
59
musical function of the quotations with respect to the collage
context into which they are introduced have been described
by all these analysts, there has been no attempt to describe
the large-scale structure of these pieces or to trace structural
features that span different compositions.
The present study will address both of these concerns. By
emphasizing technical aspects over referential implications
of the practice of collage, it will describe techniques for link-
ing disparate elements and features of the musical language
that transcend foreground events and that are also common
to a variety of different compositions written in this style.12
I will demonstrate that the heterogeneous surface of these
pieces does not reflect a simplistic rejection of deeper con-
nections, but instead is governed by a multitude of associa-
tions that create unconventional structures and relationships.
Taking these relationships as its basis, I will outline a struc-
tural model that does not simply ignore the contrasts in the
musical language, but instead embraces these contrasts as fun-
damental building blocks,13 thus simultaneously subverting
and transcending traditional notions of unity. Furthermore,
this article will demonstrate the intimate relationship
and prolonged) and motivic techniques. The only link between the
processes she describes in her analyses of these different pieces is the
reliance on Mahler: “Many of the procedures applied to the appropri-
ated material represent an exaggeration or intensification of procedures
and techniques found in the works being quoted and/or in other works
by Mahler” (1994, 49).
12 Following Meyer (1956, 33) this study assumes that “the disagreement
between the referentialists and the absolutists is . . . a result of a ten-
dency toward philosophical monism rather than the result of any logi-
cal incompatibility.” Thus it does not seek to undermine the referential
approaches to these works, but rather to provide an alternative and
complementary methodology that yields interesting insights into the
musical language.
13 In this way this study responds to Kramer (1995, 12), who calls for an-
alytical approaches that will embrace, rather than deny the postmod-
ernist aesthetic of diversity of these works.
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60 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)
between these structures and the formal and dramatic struc-
ture of the pieces, thus uncovering surprising sources of uni-
fication and continuity.14
The findings contained in this article shed new light on
two of the most provocative issues of the postmodern de-
bate. The first relates to the applicability of the concept of
unity as a necessary characteristic of a musical language (and
how it can be imposed on a given musical structure when it
is heard or analyzed).15 The second relates to the dispute re-
garding the prevalence of continuity or discontinuity be-
tween modernism and postmodernism.16
Some authors have defined postmodernism as existing in
opposition (either as a reaction or resistance) to modernism
while others question the idea of a break asserting that the
word postmodern itself is “useful in implying links with
14 The term unification implies the existence of cohesive relationships
among all parts, the term continuity implies a stronger condition where
the temporal aspect is essential to the structure of the relationships.
Kramer (1995) has defined discontinuous music as music that is
“‘episodic in nature’ and ‘lacking in development’” (23) however, this
characterization really only denies the existence of one kind of continuity.
15 Kramer (1995) argues that “there is always a handy analytical method
available to demonstrate how (if not that) the music coheres. All we
need do is try hard enough, bend the piece or the method sufficiently,
or ignore disunifying factors, in order for the piece to come out unified.
Both listening and analyzing create as well as discover unity. But is that
unity really in the music?” (15). Also “[i]t is all too easy to project the
perceptual unity of listening back onto the stimulus. The postmodern
aesthetic, however, encourages us to separate the two, by conceiving of
the text-the music-as autonomous . . . the listener’s perceptual unity/
disunity is not identical to the music’s textual unity/disunity.” An analy-
sis of these collage works, which maintains sensitivity to this perspec-
tive, will contribute to a refinement of this discussion.
16 Kramer (1995) states that modernism includes “the progressive and
often atonal music composed after approximately 1909” (20). Jameson
(1988) adds that “modernist aesthetic is in some way organically linked
to the conception of a unique self and private identity, a unique person-
ality and individuality, which can be expected to generate its own
unique vision of the world and to forge its own unique, unmistakable
style” (17).
modernism.”17 One of the main arguments that this latter
group invokes (Kaplan 1998, 3) is that resistance is a funda-
mental feature of modernism and that most features typically
associated with postmodernism have been found in earlier
periods, and most notably in modernism proper ( Jameson
1988, 26–27).18
A useful concept in understanding the postmodernist
bent of these works by Berio, Zimmermann, and Rochberg,
is the concept of pastiche. Frederic Jameson (1988) invokes
pastiche as one of the most significant features or practices in
postmodernism (15). He distinguishes pastiche from parody
by clarifying that parody “capitalizes on the uniqueness of
these styles and seizes on their idiosyncrasies and eccentrici-
ties to produce an imitation which mocks the original”
(15–16) while pastiche “is a neutral practice of such mimicry
. . . without the still latent feeling that there exists something
normal compared to which what is being imitated is rather
comic” (16). The juxtapositions endemic to the musical col-
lage associate the music with pastiche, as opposed to parody,
since the very multiplicity of references makes a single norm
impossible to establish. The meaning of the work doesn’t de-
pend upon a single reference point, but instead upon the ef-
fect of their combination.
The musical surface of these works purposefully throws
into question both the notion of individual style and the
notion of an underlying commonality between the different
elements, two fundamental aspects of modernism.19 Thus, in
17 Foster (1983) is a scholar who sees postmodernism as anti-modernist;
Kaplan (1988, 1) is one who questions a break between modernism and
postmodernism.
18 Jameson (1988, 15; 28) and Kaplan (1988, 3–5) go on to discuss the con-
cept of postmodernism as being related to the new social/production/
consumption contexts that arose in the new 1960s, as much as to the
content of a work of art in itself .
19 Harvey (1989, 45) posits the “rejection of meta-narratives as one im-
portant factor that sets (postmodernism) apart from modernism.”
Kramer (1995, 21) argues that the great meta-narrative in music is or-
ganic unity. Thus, the rejection of organic unity, which the surface of
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between modernism and postmodernism
concrete technical terms, it seems that these collage works
were conceptualized as a reaction to modernism (and are thus
theoretically allied to a postmodernism of reaction). The
findings described in this article reevaluate this assertion,
demonstrating that the links to modernism are as important
to the structure of these works as the elements of resistance.
chromatic saturation and the significant gap
Although it has not traditionally been discussed in refer-
ence to this repertoire, the relationship between aggregate
completion and musical structure is essential to many other
styles of composition. These include atonal works in addi-
tion to pieces that incorporate twelve-tone compositional
techniques and even more specifically pieces that exploit
combinatorial relationships of various types. Charles Rosen
(1975) has stated that “the saturation of musical space is
Schoenberg’s substitute for the tonic chord of the traditional
musical language. The absolute consonance is a state of
chromatic plenitude” (47–48; quoted in Straus 1995, 230).
This view attaches special significance to the moment where
the musical space is fully saturated and invokes the concept
of expectation in this context, which is in accordance with
Webern’s remarks on aggregate completion: “In short, a rule
of law emerged; until all twelve notes have occurred, none of
them may occur again. The most important thing is that
each ‘run’ of twelve notes marked a division within the piece,
idea, or theme” (1963, 51).20
The principles of chromatic completion and gap-fill pro-
cedures in more recent music have been discussed at length
these collage works invokes explicitly, is another aspect that has earned
them the designation of postmodern.
20 Various theorists have recently argued for the significance of the mo-
ment of presentation of the complete chromatic in classical works by
Haydn, J.C. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and others (see Baker 1992;
1993, Burnett and O’Donnell 1996 and Burnett 1998).
61
by Straus with reference to the melodic process of Ruth
Crawford (Straus 1995, 8–16; 41).21 These principles are di-
rectly applicable to this study. In the compositions by Berio,
Zimmermann and Rochberg which are examined in this
study, the disparate quotations that are juxtaposed or super-
imposed are related by chromatic complementation.22 The con-
cept of chromatic complementation postulates that the pitch
collections presented by the different quotations interact
with one another not on the basis of their similarity or inter-
section, but on the basis of their difference and the manner
in which they combine to create progressively larger collec-
tions. Thus, disparate elements are brought into relationship
with one another in a manner that seeks to build upon,
rather than vanquish the dissimilarities between them. The
complementation relationships result in a process of chro-
matic saturation, in which the musical space is completely
filled in through the appearance of each one of its con-
stituent members. In these pieces, the musical space consti-
tutes a pitch (in the case of Berio’s and Zimmermann’s
pieces) or pitch-class (in the case of Rochberg’s piece) subset
of the chromatic collection. The different elements that con-
tribute to the process are not necessarily presented simulta-
neously, but must be bound by common membership in a
given musical structure (for example a phrase, or a larger for-
mal section of a piece). The conjunction of chromatic com-
plementation and a concurrent systematic process of chro-
matic saturation provides a model for the harmonic, formal
and voice-leading content of these pieces.
21 Straus introduces many concepts that are relevant to the current discus-
sion, such as the process of chromatic completion as an element with
cadential function and as a factor than can create connections across
sectional boundaries. He also provides embryonic examples of other
procedures that involve chromatic completion and gap-fill, including
processes that structure the pitch organization on various levels (estab-
lishing a sense of hierarchy), that provide large-scale connections be-
tween formal sections, and that exploit the full aggregate.
22 This idea resonates with Roeder’s (2006) discussion on the importance
of voice-leading parsimony in the music of Thomas Adès.
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62 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)
The expressive potential of such a model is realized
through the significant gap: in which the musical space is de-
marcated implying that it will eventually be saturated.23, 24
This concept extends Meyer’s (2000) essentially melodic
concept of gap-fill25: “The relationship is one in which the
incompleteness created by a gap implies subsequent com-
pleteness through a fill; and, generally speaking, the larger
the gap, the stronger the sense of incompleteness and the
implication of fill” (163). According to Meyer, “the mind...
expects structural gaps to be filled; but what constitutes such
a gap depends upon what constitutes completeness within a
particular musical style system” (1956, 44).26
To arrive at what constitutes completeness within this
musical style I will invoke Meyer’s concept of a “sound
term,” which he defines as “a sound or group of sounds
(whether simultaneous, successive, or both) that indicate,
imply, or lead the listener to expect a more or less probably
consequent event” (1956, 45).27 One of the ways in which
23 Meyer (1973, 110) defines an implicative relationship as one “in which
an event—be it a motive, a phrase, and so on—is patterned in such a
way that reasonable inferences can be made both about its connections
with preceding events and about how the event itself might be contin-
ued and perhaps reach closure and stability.”
24 To emphasize the sense of process and the dramatic potentiality of the
explicit delineation of the space to be filled I have chosen the terms chro-
matic saturation and significant gap (as opposed to the more neutral term
gap-fill and the more goal-oriented term chromatic completion).
25 Significantly predating these authors, Riemann (1895, 18–19) explicitly
invokes the “filling up” of a gap as an important determinant of melodic
structure and harmonic progression. In the context of harmonic progres-
sion, he especially recommends the use of steps of a minor second.
26 Although Meyer’s concept of gap-fill does not invoke chromatic spaces,
in the following discussion I will demonstrate how his concept can be
extended beyond the tonal realm in a manner that is consistent with his
methodology.
27 Meyer (1973) asserts that “most of the time a pattern can be fully com-
prehended and its internal relationships analyzed only by seeing what fol-
lows from it” (113). Meyer also points out the dangers of implied events
resulting from statistical probability, given the fact that the realization of
the practice of collage composers differs from Crawford’s
practice lies in that the boundaries of the operative tonal
space are often clearly stated, and the space itself is subse-
quently emphasized through various means. Rochberg’s
Music for the Magic Theater, for instance, incorporates a
multitude of twelve-tone lines throughout the work, while
Berio’s Sinfonia makes extensive use of the chromatic
cluster as one of the work’s most important gestural com-
ponents. Through these and other devices, the beginnings
of all three pieces discussed in this article establish the
filling in of chromatic space as a crucial “sound term” for
the piece.
For instance, two of the most structurally important
sections of the third movement of Berio’s piece,28 the intro-
duction and recapitulation, start with the quotation of con-
trary motion chromatic lines from Schoenberg’s Fünf
Orchesterstücke, Op. 16, No. 4 “Peripetie” (presented here in
Example 1) and a chromatic cluster from G3 to E5 that ver-
ticalizes and saturates the space opened up by the first two
chords of the same piece (given in Example 2).29 Above this
cluster, there is another layer, which consists of notes from
an implication can be significantly delayed. To circumvent this danger
he urges that it is necessary to stipulate “as precisely as possible what
the antecedent events are understood to imply. For the more precisely
the organization of each parameter in the consequent event is specified,
the less likely that event matching those specifications is the result of
statistical distribution” (117). Thus, the clarity of presentation of the
sound terms employed in these pieces and the exact coincidence of the
realization of the implications with important structural moments in
this piece are essential aspects of this analysis.
28 The ways that Rochberg and Zimmermann establish the “sound term”
will be discussed later.
29 Berio clearly distinguishes the separate components of Chord A and B
through reference to Schoenberg’s original instrumentation. As in
Schoenberg’s original, Chord B is given to the brass and Chord A is
given to the strings, while the percussion, strings and woodwinds chro-
matically saturate the gamut.
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between modernism and postmodernism 63

 3       
    
Trumpet in C 1  8     

3  
 
  
    
 
Trumpet in C 2  8 
 A B C
3 
   
Trumpet in C 3  8 

example 2. First three chords from Schoenberg’s
 Fünf Orchesterstücke, Op. 16, no. 4 “Peripetie”
      
3
Trombone 1  8
 speaking seem to be incomplete, particularly if the fragment
3        occurs in the earlier parts of the total work” (1956, 129).
Trombone 2  8
 Furthermore, “a shape or pattern will, other things being
equal, tend to be continued in its initial mode of operation”
3       
Trombone 3
 8 (1956, 92).31 The ensuing quotations, with their complemen-
 tary pitch contents and the continual reappearance of chro-
matic clusters continue the process of chromatic saturation.
example 1. Chromatic scales from Schoenberg, As we have seen, the filling in of chromatic spaces is op-
Fünf Orchesterstücke, Op. 16, no. 4, measure 2 erative in serial music, the music of Crawford and even some
tonal music. However, differing from tonal works and in
the C Major/minor scale (the tonality of the Mahler Scherzo) contrast to Crawford’s music, where chromatic completion
and extends to the pitch E7 (Example 3). The beginning of results from a continuous melodic process, the element of
the third movement of Sinfonia thus establishes the system- tonal juxtaposition is of paramount importance to the
atic filling in of chromatic pitch space as an axiomatic sound process of chromatic saturation in these collage works. The
term (both through the use of chromatic scales and chro- complementary pitch/pitch-class relationships between the
matic clusters).30 quoted passages create tonal contrasts that call into question
Meyer states that “the existence of both similarity and dif- the structure of the tonal space which will be employed in
ference between musical events is a necessary condition for the work, thus emphasizing the significance of the process
patterning of any sort” (1973, 26). The juxtaposition of a clus- and the moment of its saturation. Through this process, the
ter and a more open texture at the beginning of the piece pre- presentation of the complete chromatic in these works has a
sents an incomplete pattern which establishes a structural gap.
Meyer also states: “Once a sound term has been established as 31 Elsewhere he states: “The law of good continuation (which he applies
a coherent, though not necessarily as a complete or closed mainly to melodic processes) is relevant and applicable to other musical
unit, then part of the series taken by itself will, generally process as well—e.g., harmony, instrumentation, texture, form and so
forth. Any aspect of the musical progress governed by probability rela-
tionships, whether these relationships are products of learning or the
30 As will be discussed later, these pieces also invoke this sound term by result of relationships created within the context of the particular work,
referring and responding to the normative structures of modernism. establishes preferred modes of continuation” (125).
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64 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)
  
 
  
 
 Represents a chromatic cluster
 
 within those boundary pitches
 
 
example 3. Significant gap from E5 to E 7 through reduction of the opening sonority in the third movement of Berio, Sinfonia
completely different effect than it has in a piece where the
chromatic material is fundamentally integrated into the
main tonal fabric.32 Thus, the compelling expressive strength
of the structural gaps is unique to this repertoire. As Meyer
states: “A structural gap, then, creates a tendency toward ‘fill-
ing in.’ And if this tendency is delayed, if the completion of
the pattern is blocked, affect or the objectification on mean-
ing will probably follow” (1956, 134). Much of the expressive
content of Sinfonia, for example, results from the incorpora-
tion of contrasting quotations which invoke different tonal
universes and the occasional reemergence of Mahler’s
Scherzo, events that interrupt the process of gap-fill.33
The process of chromatic saturation in these pieces is
non-serial and takes different forms along a continuum of
complexity. The discussion of the movement from Berio’s
Sinfonia will demonstrate how the technique can operate in
pitch space and serve to articulate large-scale formal structure.
The discussion of the other pieces will show that the tech- 34
nique is more widely applicable. Rochberg’s Music for the
Magic Theater will illustrate how the same technique functions
in pitch-class space and how significant gaps can define
32 Baker (1993) states: “Chromaticism may serve to enrich, expand, sur-
prise, and confuse, but ultimately, as both Schenker and Schoenberg
agreed, its purpose is to confirm the tonic” (259).
33 Meyer (1973) writes: “Only when a pattern proves to be problematic do
we tend to become consciously aware that it is implicative” (114).

Significant Gap from E5 to E7




 

voice-leading on a local level. Zimmermann’s Musique will
demonstrate how the expressive potentiality of the signifi-
cant gap can be exploited.
berio, sinfonia
The techniques of chromatic saturation are adapted to
pitch space and include every pitch of the composition in the
third movement of Berio’s Sinfonia, which, as Peter
Burkholder tells us, is considered by many the prototype of a
musical collage (New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians, 2nd ed, s.v., “Borrowing”). This piece is loosely
modeled on Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. The explicit corre-
spondences between the third movements of both pieces are
striking.34 The outer form of the third movement of Sinfonia
for the most part conforms to the structure of Mahler’s
However, it is possible to extend the concept of modeling beyond the
third movement. Both pieces are in five movements and borrow from
numerous musical sources. Furthermore, there are explicit connections
between the corresponding movements. For instance, the fourth move-
ment of Sinfonia begins with an overt reference to the fourth movement
“Urlicht” of Mahler’s Symphony. The four voices state the two opening
pitches of the solo alto line in the same register. Furthermore, the con-
ceptual organization of the fifth movements of both pieces is closely
related: both pieces contain extended quotations from the previous
movements, a feature that Berio develops within his collage aesthetic to
incorporate simultaneous layering of previously presented material.
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 65
between modernism and postmodernism
Scherzo. The latter is utilized like a cantus firmus throughout
most of the piece, and provides the underlying rhythmic and
durational framework for nearly all of the remainder, even in
the absence of actual thematic presence. Quotations are gen-
erally layered over the Scherzo so that they coincide with or
even emphasize important subdivisions. Thematic reference
to the Scherzo at the points of subdivision, through a resur-
facing of the dominant thematic material (the reprise), is
prevalent. Thus, the apparent discontinuity of the surface
contrasts of the piece is somewhat abated by the clarity of
the underlying ABACABCA formal structure of the Scherzo.
Within this framework, however, the thematic material of
the Scherzo is fragmented so that it sometimes disappears al-
together from the texture, while at other times it is juxtaposed
with other fragments. On top of this, commentary from the
composer is added, in the shape of added layers, clusters,
chromatic lines, distortions of the thematic material, numer-
ous fragmentary and stylistically distinct quotations from the
repertoire, and even occasional deviations from the dominant
temporal framework (especially through two large insertions
during the course of the piece). The commentary tends to pe-
riodically obliterate the tonal language of the Scherzo and the
sense of process implicit in its thematic organization on a
foreground and middleground level.
The voices participate in this process by creating varying
degrees of distance from the musical surface through an array
of techniques that range from yelling to singing, with many
intermediate stages, including the rendition of fragments of
solfége. Furthermore, they explore the gamut of distance be-
tween composer, performer, audience, and philosophical
commentary in a theatrical fashion, alternately being an inte-
gral part of and commenting off-handedly on the piece. This
commentary often deals with surface details, such as words or
titles that clarify the particular quotation that is being heard
at that time. For example, the reference to “chamber music”
during the quotation of Hindemith’s Kammermusik (rehearsal
A14, measure 23), to a “violin concerto” (being played in the
other room) during the quotation from Berg’s Violin Concerto
65
(rehearsal C14, measure 56), to “Daphne et Chloe” under-
neath the quotation of Daphnis et Chloe (rehearsal D23, mea-
sure 88) and many other instances. However, the text ranges
the gamut from surface irony to philosophical questions. The
climax of the piece is introduced by a text by Berio that ques-
tions the very significance of the work of art: “And when they
ask, why all this, it is not easy to find an answer. For when we
find ourselves, face to face, here, and they remind us that all
this can’t stop the wars, can’t make the young older or lower
the price of bread . . .” (Berio 1968, Home Forum Page). In
fact, one of the most important roles of the voices is how they
comment on the most important structural idiosyncrasies of
the piece. In this way, the voices explicitly refer to processes
intrinsic to the act of composition.
Though the present discussion will not attempt to deal
comprehensively with the text, it will refer to ways in which it
is intimately linked to both the structural and dramatic content
of the piece. One of the most significant instances of textual re-
currences in the piece is that of the vocalists’ fragments “Where
now?” “When now?” and “Keep Going” which are overwhelm-
ingly associated with sectional divisions and especially the im-
pending reprise of the initial scherzo material and the simulta-
neous resurfacing of Mahler’s Scherzo.35 In the passage that
35 “Keep Going” appears for the first time in the middle of the first state-
ment of the initial theme (measure 17), where it signals the impending
continuation of the phrase. It appears later in the piece overwhelmingly
related to the reintroduction of the Scherzo material. For instance, it in-
troduces the second section of the initial scherzo (W′, rehearsal C18
and C21, measures 60 and 63), the impending return of the initial
theme in that section (rehearsal D22, measure 87), the scherzo reprise
after Trio I (rehearsal G13, measure 143), Trio II (rehearsal R22, mea-
sure 368), and at the end (rehearsal EE1, measure 550). The other three
occurrences refer to impending or aborted attempts to return to
Mahler’s thematic material: after the theme that acts as an interruption
in the initial scherzo (rehearsal D12, measure 77), at the beginning of
Trio I (rehearsal E7, measure 102) where the soprano attempts but is
unable to reestablish Mahler’s text) and to introduce the transition to
Trio II (rehearsal J4, measure 199), cementing the struggle between
Mahler and Stravinsky that occurs at that point.
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 66
66 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)
corresponds to the second scherzo reprise (rehearsal S, mea-
sure 375), this association is exploited in an extremely com-
pelling fashion, which demonstrates the integral role of the
text to the structure and dramatic content of the piece.
Having established a pattern of correspondence between the
emergence of Mahler’s thematic material and the occurrence
of the scherzo reprise, Berio breaks with both expectations
for a highly effective dramatic effect. During the retransition
that precedes the passage, the reintroduction of the scherzo
reprise is prepared through the gradual reemergence of mater-
ial from the Scherzo (beginning at rehearsal R11, measure 358,
but especially after rehearsal R23, measure 369), by means of
the descending chromatic motive that introduces the scherzo
reprise (rehearsal R28, measure 374) and the simultaneous ap-
pearance of the text so frequently associated with the reestab-
lishment of Mahler’s text (“Keep Going,” rehearsal R22, mea-
sure 368). However, Berio obliterates the scherzo reprise with a
wrenching quotation from the drowning scene in Wozzeck,
which carries the tension build-up far beyond its original
bounds. The effectiveness of this moment lies in the listener’s
expectation of a decrease in tension (through the reestablish-
ment of the Scherzo) and the substitution for a quotation that
not only maintains, but also increases the tension gradually
and steadily to a level almost beyond endurance. A literal bat-
tle between Berg and Mahler ensues, represented by the voices
urging alternately to “Stop” and “Keep Going.”
The reliance on Mahler’s Scherzo therefore constitutes
only one layer in the analysis: the “outer form” of the piece.
In spite of the numerous ways in which Berio emphasizes
the characteristics of Mahler’s piece, there are also important
structural moments unrelated to the Scherzo. The most
important example on the large-scale level is the inserted re-
capitulation immediately preceding the climax of the move-
ment, a move that has no basis in Mahler. This divergence
36
from Mahler’s scheme is extremely significant to the struc-
ture of the piece, as will be discussed below.
On a localized level, the interplay of disparate elements,
musical languages, and musical styles (including that of
Mahler’s Scherzo) creates pitch associations that encompass
and interact with the dimly perceived tonal vestiges of
Mahler’s piece. As a result, they create a formal structure of
their own, which subsumes the structure of the Scherzo. The
relationship between these disparate elements thus consti-
tutes yet another layer of analysis, that of “inner form,” which
is of primary concern in this analysis.
The conflict between these two formal aspects is never re-
solved in this piece. Instead it is an integral aspect of its ex-
pressive power. The different quotations in Berio’s piece
throw the tonal space of the piece into doubt, thus creating
ambiguity. Of course, “the longer doubt and uncertainty per-
sist, the greater the feeling of suspense will tend to be. The
stimulus situation creating doubt and uncertainty must, of
course, be progressively intensified if suspense is to be main-
tained or increased” (Meyer 1956, 28). The Mahler Scherzo
serves such a role. It periodically emerges and temporarily
simulates resolution of the tonal conflicts established by the
piece. However, this feeling of resolution is subverted every
time as the Scherzo disappears from the musical surface,
yielding to more tonal contrasts which heighten expression
as they urge towards resolution.
The apparently disparate musical layers are related in a
variety of ways, including pitch relations of exclusion (which
become a paradoxical source of unity through the concept of
chromatic saturation in pitch space).36 Excerpts interact with
one another to saturate specific pitch-space chromatic
gamuts. This relationship is significant because for the most
part the quotations are presented unaltered and untrans-
posed. In this view, the pitch content of a given quotation,
and the manner in which it complements the chromatic con-
tent of the excerpts surrounding it, determine the exact
Significantly, the concept of chromatic saturation is related to one of
the most characteristic techniques of the musical text on which the
movement is primarily based. Chromatic proliferation constitutes an
essential feature of Mahler’s developmental and variation techniques in
the figuration of the Scherzo.
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 67
between modernism and postmodernism
choice of the quotation to be used and its placement at any
point throughout the movement. This structural model thus
offers an explanation for the choice of quoting a particular
excerpt from a composition.37
Examples 4 and 5 demonstrate how chromatic comple-
mentation works on a foreground level. Example 4 presents
two excerpts that are juxtaposed in Berio’s piece. The circled
pitches in the oboe and flute are abstracted in Example 5 in
order to explain how the quotation from Berlioz’s Symphonie
Fantastique at rehearsal E12–E13 (measures 107–08), provides
two previously unheard pitches, A5 and B5, which registrally
connect the space opened up by the preceding excerpt from
Debussy’s La Mer.38 Through the saturation of a given
gamut, each section of music is governed by a sense of struc-
tural completion, the weight of which coincides with the
functional importance of its formal boundaries. Although in
37 As I stated earlier, other authors, such as Osmond-Smith, have offered
compelling explanations as to why a specific piece is referred to at any
given time in the composition. These explanations are based on the ref-
erential connotations obtained by quoting from a specific piece at any
given time, and how they relate to the text or dramatic content of the
piece. However, they often fail to identify why a specific excerpt from a
given piece is chosen as opposed to any other.
38 The columns in Example 5 represent measure numbers. The rows in
the example represent pitches laid out chromatically in pitch-space,
with the lower pitches appearing at the bottom and increasing by a
semitone with each successive row. The numbering system that I have
used is that in which C4 represents middle C; the shaded areas repre-
sent the measure where a specific pitch first appears in the excerpt and
the patterns indicate which quotation provides the particular pitch. The
layout of Example 5 is similar to the charts that Bernard employs to
graph his operations in pitch space (see Bernard 1981; 1986 and 1987).
It is also similar in some ways to Clendinning’s Range Graph (see
Clendinning, 1995, 236). The difference between my example and
Clendinning’s graph is that while her graph includes only pitches actu-
ally sounding at any given time, my graph focuses on the first appear-
ance of a particular pitch and then graphs that pitch as something that
remains in effect conceptually throughout the rest of the section, even if
it is not actually sounding.
67
nearly every section there are pitches that do not constitute
part of the foreground saturated gamut, these pitches be-
come integral to gamuts at higher structural levels.
Example 6 demonstrates the process of chromatic sat-
uration of the Trio I excerpt that contains the material of
Example 4, subdivided into its initial two subsections. The
initial subsection (rehearsal E6–E15, measures 101–10) pre-
sents a fully saturated gamut from E3 to C6. Significantly,
the F3 that is provided by the misquotation of Mahler at re-
hearsal E9 (measure 104) provides the only appearance of
that pitch in this section, suggesting that Berio uses distor-
tions of the original material not only to signal the degree of
distance from it at the given moment, but also to adapt it to
his structural scheme. The pitches outside of the chromati-
cally saturated gamut in the lower register outline the pitch
boundaries of the middleground structure (D2) and the
background structure (E1) respectively, while the gap created
by the missing C6 in the upper register signals that the sec-
tion is not yet completed.39
The following subsection complements this scheme in
significant ways. The chromatic scales that appear within the
second subsection (rehearsal E15–E25, measures 110–20)
both emphasize the gamut of the initial subsection by reiter-
ating the pitches E3 and C6 (Example 7), and saturate the
middleground gamut it outlines in the lower register (down
to the pitch D2). Simultaneously, quotations from Ravel’s La
Valse (No. 19) provide the C6, missing in the first subsection,
and outline a middleground upper boundary (a significant
gap) to the pitch A6. The eventual saturation of the gamut
39 The importance of outer boundaries, which are stressed in my analysis
and which represent the lowest and highest points attained in the
course of particular passage are essential aspects of Bernard’s approach
to the music of Varèse; many of his structures depend upon “total space
occupied over a period of several measures” (Bernard 1981, 10).
Clendinning (1995, 252) also remarks on the importance of outer
registral boundaries that are conceptualized as operating over a whole
section of music in her analysis of Lontano.
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 68

68 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

Debussy, La Mer II, 19 Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique II, m. 122

          
104 3      
Flute 1 & 2  8
 
     
3         
    
Oboe  8 
 
3     
English Horn
 8   
    
3     
Clarinet 1 & 2  8        
 
        quasi niente

 3  
Pont.
 
Violin I
 8  
 

3    

     
Violin II
 8  
 

3     
Viola  8   
 alla punta 
3     
Cello  8       

3 pizz.        
Double Bass  8 


example 4. Berio, Sinfonia, III, r. E9–E15 (measures 104–10) excerpt, in concert pitch. Copyright ©1968
by Universal Edition A.G., Vienna. © renewed. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of European
American Music Distributors LLC, sole U.S. and Canadian agent for Universal Edition.
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 69
between modernism and postmodernism
104 105 106 107 108
C6
B5
B
5
A5
G5
G5
example 5. Chromatic complementation in the oboe and flute lines, r. E9–E13 (measures 104–8)
up to this new upper boundary pitch provides structural
completion to the whole section that contains this excerpt
and introduces the first scherzo reprise. Although local sec-
tions of music saturate gamuts, the combination of struc-
turally linked local sections is required to achieve the satura-
tion of a middleground significant gamut. Thus, rarely does a
local section contain a chromatic gamut equal to that of the
section as a whole.
Through the significant gap, the pitch organization
reaches a high level of sophistication. The expectations of
completion achieved through the presentation of a specific
pitch or the saturation of a given gamut permit the concep-
tualization of distinct structural levels. These structural levels
are based on a hierarchical system intimately connected to
pitch space and range. The premise is that smaller saturated
gamuts tend to organize foreground events while larger
gamuts constitute background structures. The dramatic role
of notes in both registral extremes, which will be discussed in
what follows, supports this conceptualization by positing that
significant gaps which extend into registral extremes have
more dramatic potentiality, and thus more of a structural
weight when they are filled, than gaps within the middle
range. The system offers an explanation for large-scale
69
Debussy La Mer II, no. 19
Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique II, m. 122
coherence in terms of pitch content and elucidates the struc-
tural import of the different sections of the movement.
The interaction between the pitch structures and the for-
mal organization of the third movement of Sinfonia on a
large scale demonstrates both the depth of the formal re-
liance on Mahler’s Scherzo and the importance of the in-
serted recapitulation, which constitutes the major formal
deviation from it. The graph in Example 8 summarizes the
structures formed by chromatic saturation and the significant
gap and their function on three different structural levels.40
Example 9 provides a key to the notation in Example 8. The
ABACABCA formal structure of Mahler’s Scherzo and the
inserted recapitulation constitute the main subsections in the
large-scale pitch organization of the movement. The signifi-
cant gaps and chromatic gamuts within these sections consti-
tute pitch relationships that substitute for the obliterated and
transcended tonal language of Mahler’s Scherzo in creating in-
nate links that give depth as they interact with the superficial
structures created by thematic recurrence. Simultaneously, the
40 Each level emphasizes the operative boundary notes of progressively
larger sections of music.
MTS3101_03 4/21/09 2:30 PM Page 70

70 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120
A6 C
4
G
6 C4
G6 B3
F

6 B3
F6 A3
E6 A 3
D
6 G3
D6 F
3 A
C
6 F3
C6 E3
B5 E3
A

5 D3
A5 D 3
G
5 C3
G5 B2
F

5 B 2
F5 A2
E5 A2
D
5
G2
D5 G 2
C
5 F2
C5 E2
B4 E2
A

4 D2
A4 D 2
G
4
C2
G4 B1
F

4 B1
F4 A1
E4 :
D
4 F1
D4 E1

Mahler's Scherzo Debussy, La Mer II, no. 19

Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique II, m. 122 A Altered Mahler quotation

Ravel La Valse, no. 18, m. 7

Ravel La Valse, no. 18, m. 10

Debussy, La Mer II, no. 24 m. 2 Chromatic Lines in Keyboard

example 6. Chromatic Saturation of Trio I excerpt, r. E6–E25 (measures 101–20)

MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 71

between modernism and postmodernism 71

113
3   
 8
 
Piano
 
3 
 
  
 
  

 8 
       
  
 
 
 
3  

 8   
  
 
E. Harpsichord

 

 38  
    
 

 
 
 
    
  
 
116
  
  
    
 

     
Pno. 
    

 
   
   
 
 
     
   
 
       


E. Harp. 
    


example 7. Berio Sinfonia, III, r. E18–E24 (measures 113–119); range E2–C6 with gaps. Copyright ©1968
by Universal Edition A.G., Vienna. © renewed. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of European
American Music Distributors LLC, sole U.S. and Canadian agent for Universal Edition.

pitch structure of the piece emphasizes the dramatic outlines
of its large-scale directed tension spans through chromatic
expansion of the boundaries.
Formally, the background graph (extracted as Example 10),
illustrates how, in this view, the complete saturation of the sig-
nificant gap from E7 to A7 constitutes a dominant structure
of the piece. The systematic presentation of each of the en-
compassed pitches as background upper boundary notes,
culminating with the presentation of E7 as the background
upper boundary in the recapitulation of the movement, com-
pletes the process of saturation.
The pitch E7 appears briefly during Trio I (B) in a chro-
matic scale that saturates the background gamut to the
boundary pitch A7. Similarly, it constitutes part of a chro-
matic scale in the second scherzo reprise, which saturates the
gamut to the boundary pitch F 7. Not until the reprise of
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 72

72 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

Intro. A B A trans. C
Initial Scherzo Trio I 1st Scherzo Reprise Trio II
w w' x z




(  ) ( )  
   








 
  ()   
(
)   ( )            ( )
 
()
 ( ) 


  
     
 ()     
    

 
 
 
   
    
     

 
 

233
I 1 2 11 19   230 255
 33 45 57 58 62 74 98 101 104 140 146 181 188 210
 
228 266 308 342
 
 ((  ))          
( ) 

  
  ( 
 ) 
 
 
   
         





( )
(  ) 




  

(  )(
)





II

 
  (
)

     (

 )  

 


A
G


  
( )  


III


 (
 )(  )
  

 

example 8. Structures formed by chromatic saturation and the significant gap in the third movement of Berio’s Sinfonia
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 73

between modernism and postmodernism 73

trans. A B C RECAPITULATION C (cont.) A

2nd Scherzo Reprise Trio II Reprise Final
Trio I x CLIMAX Reprise

 

     (
) 

 (  ) 


 
 (( ))(
)
  
 
 
   

395  568
I 357 375 413 423 
457 488 496 502 559 575

   (  )  

 
     (
 )


 

 

( ) 


II


(
)

 

F F E

 


 


III




example 8. [continued ]
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 74

74 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

a) b)

 
 
 Represents a space that is staurated by
 

 Represents a simultaneously
all pitches within a section. The space is  sounding chromatic cluster
outlined by the boundary pitches D
3

 from G3 to E5.
 and B
5.  

 
 

c) d)
E

A




Moment when gap is filled Missing pitch
(  ) 
E
Missing pitch appears
Significant Gap



 
 
 
 
 
 

e)
Chromatic Extension of the boundary notes
A

 A 






 

example 9. Key to the notation in Example 8

MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 75

between modernism and postmodernism 75


A
G F F E

 ( (
 ))    

m. 1 101 146 210 375 423 457 488 568
A B A C A B C <RECAP> A
Initial
Trio I 1st Scherzo Reprise Trio II 2nd Scherzo Reprise Trio I Reprise Trio II Reprise Recapitulation Final Scherzo Reprise
Scherzo

example 10. Large-scale upper register significant gap (level III of Example 8)

Trio II, where it contributes to saturate the gamut to the
upper-boundary pitch F7, does the pitch E7 appear indepen-
dently of a chromatic scale. By this time, its appearance con-
firms the existence of large-scale scheme through which the
gap from E7 to A7 (first extended by a semitone to A7), is
gradually and systematically filled in by successive chromatic
pitches appearing as background upper boundaries (G7 from
the first scherzo reprise through Trio II, F7 during the second
scherzo reprise, and F7 during the reprise of Trio I and Trio
II). This scheme reaches its culmination in the recapitulation.
At this point, the gap from E7 to A7 of the beginning is re-
stated, but is immediately followed by the pitch E7. This
pitch thus takes up its post as the background upper bound-
ary through a literal semitonal extension of the previously
operative E7 and the significant gap from E7 to A7 is finally
saturated on a large scale.41
Meyer says that “a feeling of harmonic completeness
arises when the music returns to the harmonic base from
which it began or moves to one which was in some way
implicit in the opening materials” (1956, 150). The recapitu-
lation of this piece achieves both levels of completeness as it
first restates and subsequently fills the significant gap that
was presented at its beginning.42
Foreground and middleground details highlight the E to

A gap. For instance, throughout the first section of the move-
ment, which corresponds to the introduction and the initial
presentation of the scherzo (A), the gap from E7 to A7 is
filled with the exception of the pitch E7. Thus, the significance
of the appearance of this pitch and the concurrent saturation
of the initial gap are established and replicated on a fore-
ground level. Throughout this section, the registral and pitch
specific structural gaps are emphasized by textural and coloris-
tic treatment. The A7 initially appears as a sustained harmonic
that is separated in color and texture from the main body of
the piece. Beginning with the music at rehearsal A20–A24
(measures 27-31), the sonority expands chromatically into a
harmonic cluster that progressively absorbs the pitches G7,
G7 and F7. Thus, the gap is further emphasized by color and
texture considerations. When the gap is finally filled later in
the piece, these textural distinctions disappear as well.
The background lower boundary notes also emphasize
the essential structural function of the recapitulation. In the
opening section of the movement, a gap from F1 to C1 is set

41 Significantly, as can be seen in Example 11, there is a parallel sym- 42 “The law of return appears to operate most effectively where the given
metrical process through which the middleground boundary notes sound term is left incomplete. Since the sound term is a Gestalt which sets
rise chromatically from C7, C7, D7 and finally reach the E7 of the re- up forces toward a particular kind of closure, the only way it can be closed
capitulation. is by repeating it with a new and more final ending” (Meyer 1956, 153).
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 76

76 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

 ( (
)) 
   
 


m. 1 101 146 210 375 423 457 488 568
A B A C A B C <RECAP> A
Initial Trio I 1st Scherzo Reprise Trio II 2nd Scherzo Reprise Trio I Reprise Trio II Reprise Recapitulation Final Scherzo Reprise
Scherzo


8 
 (
 )(  )
 
F1
C1

example 11. Large-scale significant gaps, upper and lower registers, with parallel motion from the middleground upper boundary pitches

up. This gap remains unsaturated until the transition to the
second scherzo reprise (which is an important structural
boundary in Mahler’s Scherzo, signaling the moment when
all the main components of the movement have been pre-
sented). The gap is finally filled in by the presentation of the
pitches D1 and E1 (Example 11) in the four measures that
precede this important juncture,43 where the reprise of the
scherzo is subsumed by a quotation from Wozzeck, as was dis-
cussed above. In the recapitulation, this structural process is
presented in a condensed form by an F1 to C1 chromatic mo-
tion in the bass (Example 12), which constitutes an important
gesture that connects the recapitulation to the reestablishment
of Mahler for the climax of the piece and the reestablishment
of C1 as the principal lower boundary note.

43 The lower boundary pitch of a given gamut is often reinforced through  3

its appearance as a bass note at the distance of an octave. For instance, in Cello
 8   
 

the initial section of the piece (Section A), the background lower bound- 
ary note C1 is reinforced through the foreground lower boundary note 
C4, and the implication of middle-ground lower boundary pitches C3 3
 
 
and C2, by chromatically dense spaces above them. Similarly, large-scale Double Bass   8   
 

and middleground upper boundary notes are often separated by an oc- 
Sounds an octave
lower than written 
tave from the foreground sectional gamuts that they contain. For ex-
ample, throughout the first subsection of the initial scherzo (W), the
upper boundary notes of the clusters are E6, an octave below the example 12. Gesture that connects the recapitulation with
middle-ground upper boundary pitch E7. Likewise, the second section of the reestablishment of Mahler for the climax of the piece,
this initial scherzo has an upper boundary pitch A6, an octave below the r. AA13–BB1 (measures 500–2). Condensed filling in of the
background upper boundary pitch A7. Similarly, the first scherzo reprise
Lower Register Significant Gap from F 1 to C1. Copyright
presents a foreground upper boundary pitch G6, which is an octave
below the background upper boundary pitch, G7. Bernard (1987, 65;
©1968 by Universal Edition A.G., Vienna. © renewed. All
1994, 234) and Clendinning (1995, 240–41) discuss the similar role of Rights Reserved. Used by permission of European American
octave doublings in the music of Varèse and Ligeti, within the context of Music Distributors LLC, sole U.S. and Canadian agent
analytical models that are based otherwise based on pitch space. for Universal Edition.
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 77
between modernism and postmodernism
Immediately following the recapitulation (rehearsal
AA1–AA14, measures 488–501), the harmonic rhythm of
the movement slows to an unprecedented degree as the
process of saturation of a gamut extends over larger portions
of music. As in other sections of the piece, the text com-
ments on both the structural and dramatic content of the
piece in a very explicit way. The increasing disintegration of
the texture, which leads to the final dissolution of the mo-
mentum, is accompanied by the text “He is barely moving,
now, almost still” (rehearsal EE7, measure 556). The sense
of completion achieved by the recapitulation is illustrated in
the timing of the saturation of its gamut. The outlined C1-
E7 gamut is not completely saturated until the final scherzo
reprise. Thus, the recapitulation provides large-scale closure
to the piece as it fulfills the structural expectations set up by
the pitch structure of the initial sections, while it introduces
boundary pitches of a gamut whose gradual saturation coin-
cides with the ending.44 In this way, the recapitulation clari-
fies and resolves the large-scale structural implications of
the piece in a manner that is analogous to processes that
occur in tonal music. The realization, during the recapitula-
tion, of implications set up at the opening of the piece
(often reiterated in fact by the restatement of the material
from the opening) is an important device (Meyer 1973,
143–44).
Each of the structural background boundary notes A7 and
C1 is expanded by chromatic motion of two semitones in the
corresponding direction during the course of the piece. The
pitches B0 and B0 extend the gamut of the piece as a whole in
the lower direction as do the pitches A7 and B7 in the upper
direction. With the exception of the pitch A7, none of these
pitches function as middleground or background boundary
notes. Thus, it is only by viewing the piece as a whole that
they fit into the pitch structure of the piece and achieve their
45
44 Meyer’s apt discussion of how “conjunct and disjunct patternings, and
their interactions, generate implicative relationships on different hierar-
chic levels” (1973, 131) supports this argument.
77
function. The range from B0 to B7 constitutes the total chro-
matically saturated gamut for the piece, and this gamut would
provide the ultimate reduction of the background structure of
the piece. Since these chromatic extensions of the background
gamut have no middleground function, I shall examine their
significance to the background structure of the piece.
Significantly, the appearances of these background chro-
matic extensions of the gamut correlate to important goals in
the directed motion and spikes in the dramatic contours of
the piece. The gradual build-up of tension that occurs from
the beginning of the piece through the initial appearance of
Trio II is accompanied by the chromatic extension of the
background upper-boundary note from A7 to A7. The tem-
porary dissolution of built-up tension during the course of
Trio II, which leads the piece to its nadir point, is accompa-
nied by a large insertion of material and the chromatic exten-
sion of the lower-boundary pitches by two semitones to the
pitch low point of the piece.45 The text—“if this noise would
stop there’d be nothing more to say . . . the show is over; all is
over, but where then is the hand, the helping hand . . . it’s a long
time coming”—makes explicit reference to the dramatic
function of the music at that point. Finally, in a move that in-
creases the significance of these chromatic extensions, imme-
diately following the structural completion achieved by the
recapitulation in Berio’s piece, the climax is reached through a
quotation of Mahler’s climax, which extends the upper-
boundary note for a final time from A7 to B7, the highpoint
of the piece. Evidently, the dramatic contour of the piece is
emphasized by its pitch structure through the concept of
chromatic extension.
The most striking element of the movement’s pitch orga-
nization involves the distinct structural levels possible to
achieve by means of the significant gap. Thus, though on a
The B0 appears in the contrabassoon as part of the cluster (rehearsal
M15, measure 269). The B0 appears in the same instrument at the
local climax created by the Ravel La Valse quotation (rehearsal O9,
measure 303).
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 78

78 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

Intro A
Initial Scherzo
w w'
E
C (missing pitch)

Significant Gap


(  ) * Arrival of Missing Pitch C7


II


 
m. 1 11 19 31 33 42 43 57 58 62
Themes a a b a




( ) (  ) 







 

     

  
 

 


I 

 
 ( ())
     
  (
  ) 
  
 
  

example 13. Middleground significant gap: Initial section of the opening scherzo

background level the structural pitch organization of the
movement is defined by the gap from E7 to A7 and the ex-
pectation of the saturation of that gap through the presenta-
tion of the pitch E7, as described above, the subsections within
this music also demonstrate completely organized pitch struc-
tures that compellingly illustrate the correlation between
structural completeness and the saturation of a significant gap.
For instance, as I discussed with reference to Examples
1–3, the first subsection of the initial scherzo (W, measures
1–61) is governed by a significant gap in the higher register
that is presented in the first chord of the movement
(Example 3). The final saturation of the gap from E5 to E7,
with the presentation of the pitch C7 (in a quotation in the
solo violin from Berg’s Violin Concerto at rehearsal C15
(measure 57), coincides with the high point that prepares the
ending of the first half of Section A of the Scherzo (Example
13; Example 14 provides the Berg excerpt). The manner in
which the excerpt arpeggiates up to the pitch C7, thus subtly
reaching into the upper register as the section ends, makes the
choice of this excerpt particularly satisfying to the listener. The
saturation of the initial significant gap of the movement coin-
cides with the end of the first major subsection. The E7 is the
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 79

between modernism and postmodernism 79

* Pitch C7

   
55 ! ! ! ! 
!    
  
3
 

Solo Violin
 8  
 

! ! !
 ff

example 14. Sinfonia, III, (measures 55–58). Quotation from Berg’s Violin Concerto (I, measure 169). Copyright ©1968
by Universal Edition A.G., Vienna. © renewed. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of European American
Music Distributors LLC, sole U.S. and Canadian agent for Universal Edition.

upper boundary note of a significant gap operative in the
middleground structure.
The graph in Example 8 suggests a correspondence be-
tween the saturation of a significant gap and important
structural boundaries that continues throughout the move-
ment. As in the example discussed above, it is often the case
that the particular missing pitch is presented by a quotation
that is inserted towards the end of the section.46 The correla-
tion between structural completeness and final saturation of
a gap through the presentation of a specific pitch thus
46 Other examples abound; for instance, in the second part of Section A (W′,
rehearsal C20–E5, measures 62–100), the Ravel La Valse quotations and
Mahler Scherzo material open up a gap to A6, which is filled by the pre-
sentation of F6 within the quotation from Debussy La Mer at rehearsal
E2 (measure 98) in the last few measures of the section. Similarly, the
beginning of the piece can be even further divided through the con-
cept of the significant gap. At rehearsal B5 (measure 37), the
Hindemith excerpts expand the cluster that appears at B (measure 33)
in the upper direction. Except for the C7, they eventually saturate the
space up to the D a major seventh above the previous limit (D7, see
the foreground graph of Example 23). Thereby, the upper register
space opened up by the first sonority of the piece is for the first time
partially subjected to chromatic saturation. The reference to and par-
tial saturation of the initial gamut coincides with the end of the repeti-
tion of theme a in the Mahler Scherzo and introduces the section of
contrasting material.
demonstrates the essential technical role of a particular ex-
cerpt and its placement within Sinfonia.
The compelling structural power of this system is demon-
strated by the existence of sections where more than two lev-
els of structure occur simultaneously. The most important of
these sections is the passage starting at rehearsal I7 (measure
188) that achieves the transition between the first scherzo
reprise and the second trio. True to its nature as a transition,
the passage both literally provides structural completion to
the previous section while it sustains a significant gap that is
to be saturated in the next section.
As the graph in Example 15 (which is extracted from
Example 8) shows, the first scherzo reprise (starting at re-
hearsal G16, measure 146) presents three different boundary
notes, G6, C7 and G7. These boundary notes are forcefully
stated and emphasized by the chords that end the scherzo
reprise (quoted from Stravinsky’s Le Sacre). The most local
gap, which achieves completion in the transitional section
that follows, is the gap up to G6. The saturation of this gap is
achieved by the presentation of the pitches that are missing
from the scherzo reprise, B5 and F6, as the last pitches in the
transitional section; thus, the transition can be seen as a struc-
tural extension of the scherzo reprise, which culminates when
the gamut to the upper boundary of G6 is finally filled.
Above it, the middleground gap up to C7 is initially re-
ferred to in the last chords of the scherzo reprise. This C7 is
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 80
80 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)
G
 
G
   
(  ) 
C

 ( ) 

m. 146 188
A (Scherzo Reprise) Transition
example 15. Middleground upper register significant gap: First scherzo reprise and transition
emphasized as a sustained note (which is quoted from
Mahler’s Scherzo) throughout the transitional section that
follows. The gap it outlines is literally and immediately filled
when it becomes the upper boundary of the chromatic clus-
ter that occurs at the beginning of the second trio. The final
gap presented in this first scherzo reprise is that up to the
pitch G7, which constitutes the background upper boundary
for this whole section through the second scherzo reprise.
Thus, the chromatic saturation of a given gamut provides
the motivation behind the combination of excerpts that do not
otherwise relate in an obvious way through motivic or pitch
similarities. The gamuts and boundary notes of these chords in
adjacent sections interact to create important structural rela-
tionships that emphasize the formal and dramatic structure of
the piece. Because of the emphasis placed on pitch-space, the
methodology employed in this analysis relates in interesting
ways to analyses that have dealt with other works that em-
ploy pitch space as opposed to pitch-class space systemati-
cally to delineate structure. These include works by Varèse47,
47 As is evident from previous references, many of the analytical premises
of the current approach overlap with those that Bernard has developed
to approach the music of Varèse (1981; 1986 and 1987). The emphasis
on pitch space, as opposed to pitch-class space results in the following
assumption: “If the vertical dimension is to serve as the primary scale of
reference, then the partitioning of vertically defined space will take on
crucial significance” (Bernard 1981, 3). Moreover, “criteria of absolute
size and distance, in the vertical sense, must form the basis of structure”
(Bernard 1981, 4). My approach distinguishes itself from Bernard’s in
210 308 342
C (Trio II)
Lutos awski48 and Ligeti,49 among others. The previous dis-
cussion implies that the emphasis on pitch space, as opposed
to pitch-class space relationships is a crucial characteristic of
much twentieth century music, and especially of music that
that instead of employing the operations of projection, rotation, expan-
sion and contraction (see Bernard 1986, 218), which take symmetry as
one of their fundamental characteristics, it emphasizes the full satura-
tion of the pitch space as a fundamental aspect of structure.
48 Stucky 1981 and Rae 1999 have discussed how the completion of chro-
matic aggregates disposed in pitch-space assumes an important struc-
tural role in Lutos awski’s late period (Stucky 1981, 114). These aggre-
gates create harmonic fields that articulate the formal structure through
contrast (see for instance the discussion of harmonic structure in Jeux
vénitiens by Stucky (1981, 134–41) and Rae (1999, 79–84). In other
cases the full presentation of the aggregate can serve as a climactic goal
point, constituting the culminating point of a process (Stucky 1981, 114,
119). Furthermore, these aggregates can be disposed as chromatic clus-
ters that are gradually filled over a section of music in ways that are remi-
niscent of those discussed in the current study (Stucky 1981, 121–22).
Thus, both Lutos awski’s music and Berio’s these processes the involve
pitch-space relationships are capable of creating large-scale relationships.
49 Ligeti himself has commented on the importance of pitch space in his
output: “It is no longer primarily the intervals that constitute the struc-
ture but relationships of density, distribution of registers and various
displacements in the building up and breaking down of the vertical
complexes” (Ligeti 1958, 5–6, quoted in Bernard 1987, 208). Bernard
notes the importance of “volumes of sound of varying density according
to schemes based on vertical span and symmetrical considerations”
(Bernard 1987b, 220) in Ligeti’s output from 1965 to 1970. He also
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 81
between modernism and postmodernism
was composed after the late 1950s, an idea that will be taken
up again at the end of this article.
rochberg, music for the magic theater
Rochberg’s Music for the Magic Theater is modeled on
Mozart’s Divertimento in B flat, K. 287: the first and second
movements quote extensively from this work. The first
movement constitutes a prototypical example of a musical
collage. It is composed of numerous successive short sections
of music that are set off by textural, stylistic, tonal juxtaposi-
tion or rests from the surrounding components. These sec-
tions correspond to fragmentary quotations from a variety of
pieces, interspersed and superimposed with original com-
mentary by the composer (sections of music that are newly
composed and relate in a myriad of ways to the quotations).
The layers of commentary incorporate a broad range of
styles and textures, from freely atonal lyrical passages in the
solo flute, to strident, hocket-like passages in the upper
woodwinds and brass that are aggregate based and thus em-
ulate twelve-tone rows (but are not used serially). Likewise,
the distinct musical languages of the incorporated quotations
(from Mahler, Mozart and Varèse) contribute to a highly
disjunct musical texture. Furthermore, though quotations
and commentary recur in different guises throughout the
piece, there is no distinct formal scheme in the recurrence. A
notes the importance in this music of voices based on their spatial
positions-that is, on their literal functions as upper and lower bound-
aries of occupied pitch space” (Bernard 1994, 231). Bernard considers
these pitch space relationships to be more essential to the way the
music is perceived that the inaudible technique of “micropolyphony”
which Ligeti described as his compositional process (Bernard 1987b,
209). Clendinning (1995, 229–30) makes a similar point and labels
Ligeti’s technique by the term microcanon. Similarly, in this analysis of
Berio’s piece, the tonal contrasts of the different quotations are sub-
sumed by relationships created by upper and lower boundaries in
pitch space.
81
general effect of discontinuity and fragmentation results
from the successive juxtaposition of very distinct textures and
musical languages.
In this movement, the technique of chromatic saturation is
for the most part realized in reference to pitch classes and does
not operate in the realm of actual pitch space (as it does in the
other pieces discussed in this essay). It plays a primary role in
enhancing the sense of structural completion of many sections
throughout the piece, in creating links between sections, and
most significantly, in clarifying pitch relationships between
superimposed and juxtaposed disparate quotations, thus func-
tioning on a multitude of levels of musical structure.50
Gap saturation procedures also influence many of the
voice-leading tendencies of this work. Glenn Watkins notes
that the disparate elements in this piece are unified by their
mutual use of the [012] chromatic trichord.51 The concept of
gap saturation and the use of the chromatic trichord are
strongly related because the chromatic trichord is the prototyp-
ical filled gap. The expectations created by the pervasive use of
this trichord enable the composer to use the outer pitch-classes
as a gap with strong voice-leading implications that are realized
at the moment that the gap is chromatically saturated.
The movement is generally composed of numerous short
and contrasting sections separated by rests or distinct breaks
in the rhythmic momentum from the surrounding music.
The most straightforward examples of chromatic saturation
in this piece involve cases where aggregate completion artic-
ulates formal units. Example 16 presents a reduction of the
first section of the movement (the introduction). It consists
of original material by Rochberg and is clearly articulated as
a separate entity by a fermata rest in all instruments except
the first horn, which sustains the pitch C through the begin-
ning of the following section. As the example demonstrates,
50 Lambert (1997, 17; 81–88), discusses the importance of this technique
in the music of Ives.
51 According to Watkins (1994b), this feature was first pointed out by
Rochberg himself.
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82 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

Act I: in which the present and the past are all mixed up and it’s difficult to decide or to know where reality is
!
/= 144–152 0 4 = 72
 7   5
 16

'
   
Woodwinds 31z
7 ! 5
  16

   
(
0
31z ! stab the air 5
 7 ' 70   , + 70 , + 70
1  16
Horn ff 31z 6 1 31z 6 1 31z 6
7 ! 70 5
2   16 *
 .  , +  , + .
 ) (
ff 31z 31z 6 1 31z 6 1
 7  #  ' ! 5
+    
Trumpet in C  16
*
ff !
,  ' 
7 5
Trombone
 16

   
ff 31z
7 ! 5

   
Tuba   16
-
31z 8
! 



 5
7
    
Piano
 16  ,
Complete the aggregate
ff ffff
! brilliant, make piano ring
   

    5
7

     .
  16  ,   
Strings 88 floating, veiled, barely perceptible
 7 ! 5

 .
 16
-   
88 floating, veiled, barely perceptible
Pitch classes in order of appearance
7 8 E 1 2 0 9
4 3
T
6
5

example 16. Music for the Magic Theater I. Aggregate completion in the introduction to the movement
(newly composed by Rochberg). Score in C.
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 83

between modernism and postmodernism 83

Beginning of quotation from

Rhythmically free hocket-like passage in the woodwinds and trumpets Mozart, Divertimento K. 287, I
mm. 6–24
11 over sustained notes in the cello and bass 12
5 5 5 “Allegro”

 


34 
Tpt.

Fl.
0 Ob. Bsn. Cl.
ca.

ca.  
 
1 3

 1–2"
6
1/2–1"


ca. 1"
7 8
poco 1 6 : 8 Completes the aggregate
poco 1 8
 5 5 5  7 (  ) 3
  ( )

4 
( )
8 Cello and Bass
Pitch classes in order of appearance
0 4 8 2 3 6 T 9 1 7 5
E

example 17. Music for the Magic Theater I (r. 11–12), reduction. Chromatic saturation as a link between highly contrasting sections.

the presentation of pitch-classes E and A within the last
chord of the section completes the aggregate, thus signaling
closure of the formal unit. The elements contained in this
isolated section are set off from those in adjacent sections
through the sense of structural completion thus achieved.
The occurrence of this structural process at the beginning of
the piece and in other sections (see, for instance, rehearsal
nos. 9–10), establishes a sound term for this piece. In other
words, it imbues the process of chromatic saturation with a
functional role that is exploited throughout the rest of the
piece.
For instance, chromatic saturation of the aggregate func-
tions as a link between adjacent sections. This is the case
when a single pitch is withheld and provided at the appropri-
ate place in the following section. Example 17 demonstrates
this process. At rehearsal 11, a hocket-like, rhythmically
free passage in the woodwinds and horn is followed by a
quotation from Mozart’s divertimento. The only withheld
pitch-class in the rhythmically free passage is pitch-class F,
which appears prominently as the first and uppermost pitch
of the tonal quotation that follows.52 The function of ag-
gregate completion in this example is to structurally link
these adjacent sections of music which feature strong con-
trasts of texture, instrumentation, rhythm, meter and pitch
organization.
One of the most important usages of chromatic satura-
tion in this movement occurs in the sections which feature
the superimposition of commentary over a quotation.
Example 18 presents a reduction of the music at rehearsal
52 Numerous other examples of this occur in the piece. For instance, the
quotation from Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, IV (measure 14) that starts
a couple of measures before rehearsal 2 and is played interspersed with
commentary through rehearsal 3 presents all pitch-classes of the aggre-
gate but F. F is withheld throughout this section and finally occurs
prominently as the fortissimo first note of the Varèse quotation at re-
hearsal 4. Similarly at rehearsal 20, all the pitch-classes of the aggregate
are presented between the Mozart Divertimento I (measures 60–66)
quotation and the added layer of commentary with the exception of
pitch-class G, which appears prominently as the first pitch-class of the
next section, a rhythmically free lyrical passage in the solo flute.
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84 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

  Completes the aggregate

    

 

 
 
   7 Interpolated layer of commentary
Piano &
Woodwinds 
 6  1 espr.

12
“Allegro” 4 = 144

3        
Violin I 
4 (  )   
8 dolcissimo 1 6

3 
Violin II 
4+    (  )    

8 dolcissimo 1 6

3+    (  )    
Viola
;
4 ,
8 dolcissimo 1 6

3  +

4 
Cello &
Double Bass    
1 
Mozart quotation is suspended Mozart quotation resumes

Pitch classes in order of appearance

5 3 2 0 4 9 1 E 6 8
7 1
T

example 18. Music for the Magic Theater I (r. 12). Aggregate completion relates the Mozart Divertimento I (measures 6–9)
quotation and the interpolated layer of commentary.

12. The F major triad from Mozart’s Divertimento, K. 287 is
literally suspended as an arpeggiated figure in the piano and
woodwinds is interpolated. This figure complements the
pitch-class content of the quotation. The presentation of the
complete aggregate with pitch-class A both ends the inter-
jection, and creates a feeling of arrival that prepares the re-
sumption of the quotation.
Example 19 demonstrates how aggregate completion
plays a major role in the interaction of disparate layers at re-
hearsal 13. This time both layers are superimposed. The
lower layer continues the tonal quotation from Mozart’s di-
vertimento, while the upper layer presents piercing pitches in
the woodwinds and trumpets. These pitches generally occur
in a higher register than those in the underlying quotation,
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 85

between modernism and postmodernism 85

Notated break in the music coincide

(F) (G) with aggregate completion
0 < 0
0 0
13  0

Piccolo

3 shrill 3 33 3
0  0
 0
Oboe

3 shrill 3 3
 0 0  0
Added Commentary

Clarinet

3 shrill 3 3
0 0 0
  < 
Bassoon

 
3 shrill 
 3
 0 0 0
<
0
Trumpet in C
 
3 piercing 3 3 
3

34  + +  + +   + -     + 
Horns 1 & 2
 -         
 6



3  ,            
=   
            =
     
+ + + +  
Violin I
 4        
(1)
Mozart Quotation

=    =


34 + +             + +
Violin II
  -                        
(1) 6
     
Viola

3 
;
4    6           
+               +     
(1)

3 + +  + + +  + - 

4 
Cello &

-   -         
Double Bass
       
(1) 6
Pitch class in order of appearance
6 8 T E 0 1 3 4 5 7
9 2

example 19. Music for the Magic Theater I (r. 13). Aggregate completion relates the Mozart Divertimento I (measures 9–24)
quotation to the strident superimposed commentary. All pitch classes are provided by the added commentary,
except for pitch-class B , which is provided by the ostinato bass and the Mozart melody line.
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 86

86 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

9
  

 ,
5 + 45
8  8
0 ! 8
31z
 5 
8 +

45 
-
8


 ()  


example 20. Music for the Magic Theater I (r. 9). The chromatic gap created by the presentation of pitch-classes D, E  and C
is saturated by the subsequent presentation of the pitch-class C .

but occasionally infiltrate the texture of the quotation. The
ostinato B bass note (and tonic) of the Mozart quotation
complements the pitch content of the superimposed com-
mentary.
The layer of commentary presents every other pitch-class
in the aggregate. Except for the initial gap between pitch-
classes 6 and 8 (F and G, a gap that is restated before the
appearance of the final pitch-class of the aggregate, G) all
the pitch-classes are presented in ascending chromatic order.
Thus, the placement of the B as both melody pitch and bass
note of the Mozart quotation, appearing between the pitch-
classes A and B in the commentary, temporally synchro-
nizes the two layers. The moment of aggregate completion
(with the appearance of the G) is emphasized by a break
and a change of register in the layer of commentary as it fades
out and allows for a complete reemergence of the Mozart
quotation.
Significantly, this layer of commentary recurs in an almost
identical form at the end of the second movement of the
piece (at rehearsal 57). Here it appears above a completely
different tonal quotation (from the sixth movement of
Mozart’s Divertimento, measures 25–32), which exhibits
contrasting meter, rhythmic and textural qualities, but which
is also organized over a pedal B bass note. The completion
of the aggregate in this instance is followed by an even
clearer break than in the first movement. These examples
interpret aggregate completion as the logic behind the spa-
tial juxtaposition of the tonal quotation and the layer of
commentary that appears above it.
Besides aggregate completion, other instances of chromatic
saturation occur in this piece. Gap saturation of the [012] mo-
tive determines many foreground voice-leading tendencies.
It elucidates the connection between the straightforward
motivic renditions of the chromatic trichord in the quota-
tions and the thematic chromatic collections of the more
atonal passages. Example 20 shows a typical instance. At re-
hearsal 9, the pitch-classes D, E and C create a chromatic
gap that implies the following pitch-class, C.
This same technique is operative in Example 18, where
the successive occurrence of pitch-classes G, F and A implies
the pitch-class A, which (as was stated earlier) is needed not
only to saturate the gap, but also to complete the aggregate,
thus emphasizing the structural role of this final pitch in the
commentary, which serves to reintroduce the suspended
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 87

between modernism and postmodernism 87

m.66 m.80 m.96

A B A B A B A B′ A′ B′ A′ B′ A′ A

Stockhausen Dies Irae

Berlioz Main Theme

Stockhausen

Wagner

Wagner
Berlioz

X (Intro) Y X

example 21. Musique pour les Soupers du Roi Ubu VII: Marche du Décervellage. Formal scheme.

Mozart quotation. Similarly, in Example 19, the G that sections of music, comprising materials from Berlioz’s
completes the aggregate appears after a restatement of the Symphonie Fantastique and Wagner’s Die Walküre respec-
F-G gap that initiated the section.53 tively. Example 21 tracks the two sources through the move-
ment. The first 65 measures of the piece (which constitute
zimmermann, musique pour les soupers du roi ubu, an introduction) feature the alternation of introductory ma-
viii, marche du décervellage terial from both pieces. The section labeled A in Example 21
(measures 1–24, 27–30, 35–42, 50–65) comprises material
The last movement of Zimmermann’s Musique pour les derived from the introductory timpani roll of the fourth
Soupers du Roi Ubu exploits the implications of an unsatu- movement of Symphonie Fantastique superimposed over a
rated gap for dramatic purposes. Broadly speaking, the relentless ostinato chord from Stockhausen’s Klavierstücke
movement is composed of the alternation between two IX. The B section (measures 25–26, 31–34, 43–49) is com-
posed of quotations of the introductory semitonal oscilla-
tion theme from Wagner’s Die Walküre. The introduction
53 The sections of music in the movement that are organized by twelve-tone ends with the appearance of the main theme from Wagner’s
collections (such as the pitches in the woodwinds at rehearsal 15) provide
piece at measure 66.
a challenge to the analyst because the numerous resulting twelve tone
lines are not apparently related by any of the standard transformations.
The appearance of this main theme initiates the main
Significantly, it is the motivic content that governs the structure of these body of the movement. It features the superimposition of all
ordered collections. The pitch-classes come together to begin, expand, or previously juxtaposed sources (including material derived
fill in versions of the [012] trichord or chromatic expansions of it. from Berlioz, Stockhausen and Wagner) from measures
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 88

88 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

Wagner, Die Walküre, Dritte Aufzug, m. 20

4  = 84 73             ,               ,
  9  + + +  + + +         
Piccolo
 8
ff !

            ,   
 9                   ,
 + + + + + + +
Flute 1  8
 ff
                  
 9                  ,     ,
 + +  + + + +
Flute 2
 8
ff
            ,                    
 9         ,           
Oboe 1  8  + + +
ff !
 9                      
         - + + +            - + +
Oboe 2
 8          
ff
 9    
8  + + +       + + +
English Horn
  -                  
ff
          ,
 9                     ,
Clarinet in B
1  8  + + + +     + +
ff
 9     
Clarinet in B
2 8                    -        , + + +               

ff !
     
 9  + + +                                     
Bass Clarinet   8
ff
Trumpet in C  9  
 8 -         
Trombone
French Horn               
    
               Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique V, m. 186
0 0
 9     
Bassoon
+ +  
  8  +
French Horns
Four Double Basses   
Bass Tuba   31z    31z 6
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  9  < -  < -   ' 0 +  ' 0
Timpani 1   8 <  < <   <  <  < < -  < -  <  <  <  <   < -  < -  <  < - -

 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00
Timpani 2   8  <  < < -   < -  <   <  <  < < -  < -  <  <  <  <   < -  < -  <  <
+
( - +
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
                                               
 9

           
           
           
           
Piano 1  8
           
           
           
           
                                       
Stockhausen, Klavierstück IX

example 22. Musique pour les Soupers du Roi Ubu VII, measures 73–79. The ending of the main theme of Wagner’s
Die Walküre and the juxtaposition of material from all three sources prepares the entrance of the main theme
from Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique. Copyright ©1967 Bärenreiter-Verlag, Used by Permission.
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 89

between modernism and postmodernism 89

Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique IV, m. 62



 
80
          ,                ,                  ,         
@
Piccolo

! ! ! ff

  
               ,                 ,                  ,    

@
Flute 1  !
! ! ff
                                            

  
+ + +
@
Flute 2
 ! ! !
ff
         ,                 ,                  ,         
  

@
Oboe 1 
! ! ! ff
            

@  
Oboe 2
              -              -              - 
ff
            

-             -             -            
@ 
English Horn
  
ff
               ,                 ,                  ,   

@   
Clarinet in B
1 
! ! ! ff
  ,                ,                  ,                 

@
Clarinet in B
2
   
! ! ! ff

 + +                            + +         
@ 
Bass Clarinet  

! !


Trumpet in C

@  
Trombone
French Horn        
  
ff

Bassoon
 0 0 0 0
@   
   

French Horns
   
     ff +
Four Double Basses
Bass Tuba
    31z 6    31z 6    31z 6    31z 6
0 0 0 0
  +  ' 0 - +  ' 0 - +  '0 - +  '0 - +
@ + 
Timpani 1  
 
3ff

 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00
@ +  .
Timpani 2   
( -
+
( - +
( - +
( - +
( -

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ff
                                   
 
           
           
           
@ 
Piano 1 
  
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

  

 ff
31z

example 22. [continued ]

MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 90
90 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)
70–75. At measure 76, coinciding with the end of the main
theme of the Wagner quotation, the process of layering
reaches its highpoint with the introduction of an additional
layer of material, the quotation of the Dies Irae as it appears
in the last movement of Symphonie Fantastique.54 This quo-
tation prepares for the ensuing full texture quotation of the
main theme from the fourth movement of Symphonie
Fantastique in measure 80. The appearance of the quotation
from Symphonie Fantastique, thus fulfills the expectation set
up from the very beginning of the movement by the timpani
drum roll55 and delayed by the various interjections of mate-
rial from Die Walküre.
The movement continues with an alternation between
full-texture quotations from both pieces. At measure 96, the
material from the four opening measures of the piece returns,
intensified by the addition of an organ pedal, added dou-
blings in the piano, percussion instruments, and an enhanced
dynamic content. It is incessantly repeated without variation
until the piece ends, without reaching closure.56 The two
most striking structural moments of the piece thus are the
section of music from measure 76 to measure 79 (represented
in Example 22), which presents a spatial juxtaposition of ma-
terial from the three sources used in the movement and intro-
duces the subsequent quotation of the main theme of the
fourth movement of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique (which
54 The accompaniment to the quotation of the Dies Irae clearly draws from
the original source (especially in terms of rhythmic content because of
the emphasized upbeats). However, in terms of pitch organization the
accompaniment notes are drawn from the Stockhausen chords).
55 The timpani drum roll is almost identical to that which initiates and is
prominently repeated at the beginning of the fourth movement of
Symphonie Fantastique.
56 The exaggerated repetitions that begin and end the movement have
been discussed by various authors, such as Kühn (1978) and Kiesewetter
(1985) as references to the decline of the Academy. During this move-
ment, entitled the March of the Brain Crushing, the Academy (under the
reign of usurpators) is brought to an end as it disappears through a trap-
door. The dramatic trajectory of the work doesn’t seek to convey finality
at the end, but rather to pose a challenge to the artist.
occurs at measure 80), and the final section of the piece,
which restates the material from the opening.
The following discussion explains how chromatic satu-
ration determines the structural function of the various sec-
tions in the movement. Example 23 presents the first four
measures of the piece, which establish the chromatic filling
in of a pitch space as an axiomatic sound term for the piece.
Example 24 illustrates the gap created by the newly com-
posed double bass figure with respect to the pitch range set
up by the Stockhausen chords and the drum roll from
Berlioz. Of note in terms of the establishment of the sound
term is the fact that the piece begins with an insistent repe-
tition of the first four pitches of the double bass line shown
in Example 25, F, G, A, B (a gapped chromatic scale).
The meandering chromatic ascending motion of the double
bass figures that underlie the initial A section, begins the
process of filling in the gap set up by the opening material,
a process that is continued while the pitch space is ex-
panded during the ensuing quotations from Wagner and
Berlioz.
The B section (beginning on the upbeat to measure 25,
provided in Example 26) is initially related to the opening
material through chromatic complementation.57 As
Example 27 demonstrates, the first few notes of the Wagner
quotation initiate the process of filling in the pitch space
outlined by the opening. However, the quotation immedi-
ately proceeds to expand the range in the upper register.
The subsequent alternation between the two sections con-
tinues the process of chromatic saturation of the opening
pitch space and expansion of the pitch space in the upper
register. It is significant that some of these pitches are pro-
vided by rearrangements in registral space of the Stockhausen
chords from the opening and the progressive chromatic
ascent of the newly composed double bass line. Both of
57 The pitch convergence on F and G between the two quotations creates
a harmonic pedal point that ties the two contrasting sections together
harmonically, in spite of the otherwise distinct pitch content.
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 91

between modernism and postmodernism 91

Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique IV, m. 1

 !
A = 84 ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Timpani 1  @
             .
             .
6 sempre
! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Timpani 2  @             
.
    
.

               
 @                

Piano
6 sempre

   
 @



   

   

   
  
   
   
   
Stockhausen, Klavierstück IX
Added material

@  +
  

+  +
  

+
Four Double
Bases
: :

example 23. Musique pour les Soupers du Roi Ubu VII, measures 1–4. Copyright ©1967 Bärenreiter-Verlag, Used by Permission.

these are elements that also contribute to intensify the dra- through measure 76 (Example 22). This is an important
matic direction of the piece. structural moment, as was discussed previously. The main
Example 28 shows the F1 to D7 pitch space outlined and theme of Wagner’s piece ends, and all of the materials that
almost completely saturated by the material presented had previously been juxtaposed are simultaneously presented
in order to introduce the quotation of the main theme from
the fourth movement of Symphonie Fantastique. As Example
 
28 demonstrates, the pitches that have not been presented
thus far are C7, B6, B5, B3, E2, and A1. Clearly, the pitch-
class B gains special significance by its absence in many reg-
 




 isters. In fact, B4 is only reached in measure 76 as the final
 pitch of the main theme of Die Walküre in the trombone,
trumpets and horns (see Example 22).58

example 24. Gap created by the contrast in registral space

between the material from Berlioz and Stockhausen on 58 This A is thus a convergence point that is essential to the transition
one hand, and the added material on the other between the two excerpts.
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 92

92 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

 
 
  
 
   
 
 
  



 

 

 

 

 




example 25. Ascending, discontinuous chromatic line in the double basses that underlies A section throughout the introduction.
First four notes (F , G, A, B ) create a gapped chromatic scale.

 ,

21 A = 84 Wagner, Die Walküre, Dritte Aufzug, m. 1
 9 
. @ + .
@     8  +
Flutes &
Piccolo

 9   
Oboes &

@    . 8                                     @  , + .
English Horn
   
 9   
 @    . 8                                     @  , + .
   
Clarinets

Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique IV, m. 1 ff

 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !  9  @ ! ! ! !
Timpani 1 @

         .
       
            8 , + + + 
      
6 ff 
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !  9 , @ ! ! ! !
  @         . + + + 
Timpani 2
                     8       

                 9  @    

@     8 + + +    , + + +
                  
Piano 6 ff 1
  9 
@

   

   

   

    8 . + - + + + @

   

   
   
   
    
  

   
Stockhausen, Klavierstück IX

Four Double @  +  
  +  +  
  +   98   @ 

Basses 
Added material

example 26. Musique pour les Soupers du Roi Ubu VII, measures 21–25. Presents the juncture between the end of the first A section
and the beginning of the first B section. Copyright ©1967 Bärenreiter-Verlag, Used by Permission.
MTS3101_03 4/26/09 4:10 PM Page 93

between modernism and postmodernism 93

example 27. Chromatic complementation relates the material from the B section (measures 24–25, drawn from Wagner’s Die Walküre),
to the material from the A section.
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 94
94 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)
Gamut outlined by Gamut is saturated by the quotation
mm. 1–76. from Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique
at m. 80.
 (
 )

(
 )

 


 (
)

 () 
 (
 )
example 28. Pitch space outlined and almost completely
saturated by the material presented through measure 76
With the important exception of A1, all of the missing
pitches are presented in the ensuing full texture B Major
quotation of the main theme from Symphonie Fantastique.
The B6 and C7 are provided by the quotation from Berlioz
only because Zimmermann adds a piccolo part to the origi-
nal instrumentation. Thus, the chromatic saturation of a
given pitch space organizes the juxtaposition of these two
themes at a critical structural moment.
Example 29 illustrates how the quotation of the Dies Irae
from measures 76–79 opens up a new significant gap down to
the pitch C1. This new gap is filled only with the presenta-
tion of the pitches C1, D1, E1 and F1 as part of the organ
pedal that is sustained over the last section of the piece. This
organ pedal, which is added over the recurring material from
the opening of the piece, thus provides the exact pitches that
fill the structural scheme. The two main structural moments
of this movement are organized by the concept of chromatic
saturation of a given pitch range in the upper and lower regis-
ters respectively.
The concept of the unsaturated significant gap reflects the
aesthetic content of this piece, by embodying the perceived
lack of closure. The only pitch that does not appear in the
Significant gap created by Gap filled (and expanded) by
the Dies Irae in mm. 76–79. the organ pedal that sounds under
 the return of the opening material
at the end of the piece (m. 96).



   } (  )  
example 29. Significant gap opened up by the quotation
of the Dies Irae (measures 76–79). Gap is filled only
with the last sustained chord of the piece.
structural scheme described above is A1. The absence of this
pitch throughout the movement results from a significant gap
that is set up from the very beginning of the piece. The first
four measures of the movement (given as Example 23) feature
the repeated figure 〈F, G, A, B〉 in the double basses. This fig-
ure, which was apparently newly composed by Zimmermann,
comprises a chromatic structure with a gap created by the ab-
sence of the pitch A1. The significance of this explicit state-
ment of the gap is sealed by the reappearance of this material
at the end of the movement. Throughout the concluding sec-
tion, it is incessantly repeated until the piece ends, thus con-
tributing to the aesthetic lack of closure that is crucial to the
dramatic structure of the piece as a whole.
absolutism/referentialism;
formalism/expressionism; unity/disunity;
continuity/discontinuity
Critical comments from Berio, directed at the “formalism
and escapism” of the twelve-tone composition school in
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 95
between modernism and postmodernism
which he was trained, have led to analyses of his music that
outline very generally the aesthetic and dramatic effects of
the composition.59 These analysts seek to emphasize Berio’s
“fundamental preoccupation with poetic and dramatic clarity
and his concomitant rejection of musical ‘systems’ meant to
be discovered, discussed, and heard as such from the lis-
tener’s point of view” (Flynn 1975, 420). Significantly, the
composition of Music for the Magic Theater also coincided
with Rochberg’s aesthetic rejection of the dominance of the
twelve-tone school.
It is the mechanization of the twelve-tone system to
which these composers objected; the use of the system with-
out a deeper preoccupation with underlying links and the
subjection of the artistic imagination and its product to rou-
tine processes of composition and analysis.60 The task of the
analyst, likewise, is not merely to extract pitch patterns, but
to understand the relationship of these patterns and the
structures that they form to the dramatic content of the
work. Rather than discredit the interpretations that have
been reached through the careful study of the textual rela-
tionships and extramusical associations, these analyses seek
59 “Shuffling notes with the illusion that one is dealing with the forma-
tion of music is like using words like ‘peace’ and ‘freedom’ in speaking
about Vietnam without touching the underlying relationships that con-
stitute the real and horrifying meaning of that rotten war . . . A theory
cannot substitute for meaning and idea: a discrete analytical tool can
never be turned to creation by dint of polishing and perfecting it. It is
the poetics which guide discovery and not procedural attitudes; it is
idea and not style” (Berio 1968, Home Forum page).
60 “What I’m against is the use of serialism in the abstract sense . . . it be-
comes a sort of immobile, static world revolving around itself ” (Berio
1976, 548). “Never has the composer come so dangerously close to be-
coming an extraneous or merely decorative figure in his own society”;
they occupy themselves with “the assembly-line production and collec-
tion of well-made, cleverly musical objects” (Berio 1968, Home Forum
Page).
95
to shed further light on these relationships by demonstrating
how technical elements function within the structure of the
piece to contribute to its dramatic content.
The structures that arise are not merely formalistic, but
carry a much deeper connotation. The technique of chro-
matic saturation and the significant gap is a process that ad-
heres to an implication-realization model which is capable of
controlling all levels of the musical structure (Meyer 1973,
110–12). It can be viewed as analogous to tonal harmonic
progressions in that it also embodies the Aristotelian princi-
ple that the “Imperfect by nature strives for the Perfect”
(Dalhaus 1986, 126). The process complements the poetic
and dramatic content of the work in creating a pattern of ex-
pectation that transcends mere formalism. Thus, the com-
poser’s goal of contributing to the “invention and elaboration
of patterns of expectations . . . creating modes of condition-
ing and perception” (Berio 1968, Home Forum Page) is
clearly realized.
The analytical findings in this study shed light upon
methods by which composers can draw connections between
materials derived from distinct sources on many different
levels. These intricate pitch relationships cannot be uncov-
ered using conventional theoretical tools. Furthermore, this
study shows that similar techniques are used in works that
span wide stylistic gaps.61 Each one of the pieces examined
in this article presents an entirely unique sound world and
the contrast between the sonorous qualities of the differ-
ent pieces is remarkable. It is striking that they share sim-
ilar technical aspects. It is also significant that many of
these techniques result from a new emphasis and systematic
61 This should not be taken to assert intentionality. As Meyer (1973) put
it: “Knowledge of the composer’s intention is unnecessary because a re-
lationship is a relationship whether it was expressly devised by the com-
poser, resulted from the orderliness of stylistic syntax, or in rare in-
stances was the result of chance” (75).
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 96
96 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)
exploitation of the spatial dimension that the collage aes-
thetic brings to the fore. This concern with the spatial di-
mension and relationships that occur particularly in pitch
space is common to many composers (such as Lutos awski
and Ligeti) beginning in the late 1950s and perhaps should
be considered one of the most important stylistic trends of
the latter half of the twentieth century.62 In these collage
pieces in particular, we can see that chromatic complementa-
tion and the careful control of saturation in pitch space con-
vert juxtaposition and layering, which often convey a sense
of randomness and shapelessness, into essential components
of the formal structure.
Significantly, it is not the underlying structure that moti-
vates the relationships, but the nature of the relationships,
the contrast between the disparate components in itself,
which consolidates the structure of the pieces. Thus, this
study does not seek to demonstrate that these apparently
disjunct works of art are in fact necessarily governed by an
all-encompassing unity. Instead, it proves that total disjunc-
tion is not a necessary by-product of the incorporation of
materials from diverse sources in a work of art.
The manner in which these diverse materials are incor-
porated into a given work traverses the spectrum in the
level of disjunction. The interaction of disjunction and
unity in these works is essential to their conceptual process.
The postmodernism of these works lies not in the way that
they deny traditional notions of unity, but in how they call
62 Bernard (1990, 1987 and 1994) discusses the essential role of the spa-
tial dimension in understanding the musical structures of composers
such as Varèse, Bartók, Carter, Ligeti and Messiaen. The music of sev-
eral of these composers directly influenced many of the musical devel-
opments of the 1960s. Lutos awski has noted how his “greatest con-
cern at present is pitch and the development and enrichment of
methods and procedures connected with it. This, I believe, will be clear
to anyone who will compare my latest compositions with works written
in 1961” (Stucky 1981, 123; quoted in Marek 1976, 4–5).
it into question. Thus, in these works, composers do not
necessarily defy the idea of unity, but instead critically en-
gage in the postmodern debate over the function of unity
in music by making it an essential aspect of the expressive
content. As Rochberg puts it: “Pluralism, as I understand
it, does not mean a simplistic array of different things
somehow struck together in arbitrary fashion but a way of
seeing new possibilities of relationships; of discovering and
uncovering hidden connections and working with them
structurally; of joining antipodes without boiling out their
tensions” (1984, 241; quoted in Berry 2002, 239). Similarly,
Meyer states:
The lack of distinct, tangible shapes and of well-articulated modes
of progression is capable of arousing powerful desires for, and expecta-
tions of, clarification and improvement. This aspect of musical structure
and expression is one which as unfortunately received but scant atten-
tion from music theorists, aestheticians and critics, who . . . have con-
tinually construed ‘inevitability’ to mean unequivocal progression . . .
The fact of the matter is that some of the greatest music is great pre-
cisely because the composer has not feared to let his music tremble on
the brink of chaos, thus inspiring the listener’s awe, apprehension, and
anxiety and, at the same time, exciting his emotions and his intellect
(1956, 161).
In fact, the juxtaposition of surface disjointedness and
underlying structural organization can be interpreted as
yet another level of disjunction, one which permeates the
very core of this repertoire. It embodies the nature of the
relationship between the borrowed material and the con-
text into which it is introduced. “The conflicts and tensions
between the two principles of collage and control, and
more generally of heterogeneity and unity, run through the
history of twentieth-century music. Indeed, it is these con-
flicts, not a work’s ideological cohesion, that make twenti-
eth-century music so fascinating” (Heile 2002, 288.) Thus,
through the use of chromatic complementation, collage
composers were able to resolve what Max Paddison calls
Adorno’s “modernist dilemma” on both a concrete and an
MTS3101_03 4/16/09 6:46 PM Page 97
between modernism and postmodernism
abstract level: “How to construct a unity which does not
conceal the fragmentary and chaotic state of the handed-
down musical material, and yet which does not simply
mirror fragmentation through identification with it, but
which is able to embody, negate, and transcend it” (1993,
158).
In approaching this music, most writers have focused on
how it diverges from the earlier twelve-tone practice found
in the music of these composers. I posit that in spite of the
aural contrasts, these pieces constitute an extension of the
musical language found in their earlier style.63 The concept
of aggregate completion and the systematic exploitation of
chromatic saturation in pitch space constitute a concrete link
between the serialism of the modernists and the postmod-
ernist practice of quotation. This connection is not apparent
from the musical surface of these works, which eschews con-
ventional serialism.
Meyer’s discussion of musical style provides a framework
within which this music can be characterized as postmodern
and contextualized within the broader discussion of post-
modernism summarized at the beginning of the article.
These pieces react to by obscuring (but thus tacitly invok-
ing) the “sound terms” of the modernist style, thus calling
upon both the idea of reaction and continuity between
modernism and postmodernism. Meyer emphasizes that “it
is clear that one style system may presume knowledge of
other styles which do not become overtly realized in a sta-
tistical sense” (1956, 46). Furthermore, “what represents a
satisfactory filling of a gap will depend upon the repertory
of tones prevalent in the modes of a style” (Meyer 1973, 8).
In other words, once the total chromatic (which originally
was exploited for expressive purposes) had been established
as a norm, it was necessary for composers to come up with
63 Morgan (1991, 412) discusses relationship between the composers’ ser-
ial background and the manipulation of quotations in more general
terms, without demonstrating specific technical correspondences.
97
means of imbuing it with tendency tones and expressivity.
To use Meyer’s words: “Deviation, originating as expression,
may after a time become normative, and when this occurs it
is necessary either to invent new deviations for the sake of
aesthetic effect or to point up those already in use” (1956,
65). Also, “should all tempered tones of a system become
structural points (norms), then new tones, tendency tones,
would have to be introduced into the system so that mean-
ingful relationships would exist within the tonal system”
(1956, 134).
The subtle and versatile role that chromatic saturation
plays in the dramatic and large-scale structure of these
pieces from the 1960s thus demonstrates the unique place
that they occupy in the development of music in the latter
part of the twentieth century, as they constitute both a re-
sponse to and an outgrowth from the serial practices of the
1950s. In these works, these composers were able to tran-
scend their own frequently voiced objections to the mecha-
nization and overwhelming dominance of the twelve-tone
school of composition, while maintaining and refining,
rather than negating, some of its principles. The strands of
continuity referred to in the title of this article exist both
within the pieces themselves (concretely realized through
the technique of chromatic saturation) and between the
modernist and postmodernist trends that these pieces
bridge.
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Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 31, Issue 1, pp. 57–100, ISSN 0195-6167,
electronic ISSN 1533-8339. © 2009 by The Society for Music
Theory. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission
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ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/mts.2009.31.1.57