Pitch Class Consciousness

Pitch-Class Consciousness
Author(s): Paul Lansky

Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Spring - Summer, 1975), pp. 30-56
Published by: Perspectives of New Music
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/832082
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PITCH-CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS
PAUL LANSKY
While it is no longer unusual to notice that Schoenb

foundly affected our musical frame of mind, it is alw
consider how it has done so. As his challenge to tr
sumptions has encouraged depletion of our stock of n
normative questions, it has consequently increased act
between composition and analysis. Now more than
are influenced by our compositional experiences, a
tions are inspired by analytic observations, as rules
about, pieces seem to resupply our inventory. Thou
state of musical being there have been certain problem
The complexion of a musical concept is very differen
is viewed as a compositional apriority, than when c
of describing musical sense. By its nature, the forme
jected to interpretation and transformation to cla
value, while a main purpose of the latter is specifi
process. The identification and definition of a mus
a pitch class, for example, descended neatly from the
tone system where it is axiomatic in the definition
twelve-tone relations. Though the idea of pitch class,
tave equivalence, certainly predates Schoenberg, it
definition is significant, especially in that it facili
definition of musical concepts which do not have
precedents, concepts such as "collection," "normal
"inversion," "intersection," "interval class," etc., all of
central to our compositional as well as our analyti
compositional use of such concepts places them in
preted position with respect to a composition sinc
make pitch, rhythmic, and timbral assignments, or "
of which constitutes only one of many possible choic
* 30 *
gory, or concept. He thus interposes a significant lev

these concepts and his music, a level which is likely t
tant aspect of the structure of his composition. It
consider pitch-class related and generated concepts as
preted, or abstract, aspects of musical syntax. The an
concepts without the interposition of a method of in
straction, may therefore have the effect of posturing
ideas as full-blown structural objects. It is hard to im
micized pitches of a composition can be so meaning
pitch-class abstraction to suffice in an explanation of
cance.
It is not my intention here to cite various transg

respect, but rather to extend a few (mostly famili
tinctions in order to broaden the context of pi
related concepts, and to do so in the context of
opening passage of Vergangenes, the second of
for Orchestra, Op. 16. I will attempt to show that
if, and if so, how, pitch-class configurations are
passages, and how such passages may usefully be v
of pitch-class configurations. I hope it is eviden
that the property of a pitch as a "representativ
least in the context of Op. 16, a complex and many
the qualities of this property are so subtle and mu
to observe that a pitch is a member of a pitch clas
to consider how it is a member of a pitch class.
In the following discussion pitches will be specif

pitch class form" (8ve.pc) used in computer syn
integer part of the number represents the octave
with 8.00 as middle C. The first two digits after
cate the pitch-class [mod 12], i.e., the number o
The pitch 8.01, for example, denotes Db above
seven semitones below middle C, and so on. The
lent to 9.00, 8.13 to 9.01, etc. The 8ve.pc notation w
denotations: first, to describe intervals in pitc
T(-.09), for example, refers to the transposition of
down 9 semitones, or, .09 simply describes an inte
tween two pitches; and second, the sum of two
used to reference symmetrical pitch relations (thi
fully in context below).
1 Howe, Hubert S., Jr.: Music 7 Reference Manua

College Press, 1972, p. 60.
* 31 0
PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC
The italicized, lower-case pitch-letter names2-of

text-are to be understood as denoting specific instan
composition, rather than pitch classes, and the p
where necessary, by 8ve.pc notation.
Pitch classes, mod 12-the classes of pitches related
one or more octaves, twelve semitones-will be de
0 through 11. The integer 0 will be understood to
C, and include the pitch-class C in any other pitch
m is a divisor of 12 (mod 1,2,3,4,6, or 12). Upper-
often be used to denote pitch classes. I will use the s
notation-a compact, order and transpositionally n
class collection, in numerical order beginning wit
smallest possible intervals3-to conveniently refer
of pitches and pitch classes; the normal form of a co
to its inversion. Brackets will be used to enclose a normal form list. The
normal form of a pitch collection is simply an analogously constructed list
"transposed" to the "0" octave, again assuming pitch-inversional equiva-
lence. (This will be used only when it is necessary to distinguish between
different pitch "versions" of a pitch-class collection.) The collection
(c?,f?,g), (7.01,7.06,8.07), for example, has a pitch-class normal form of
[016], and a pitch normal form of [.00,.05,1.06].
2 Enharmonic equivalence will be assumed only since an examination of different

versions of Op. 16, as well as different transpositions (by transposing instruments)
of the same lines, seemed to imply by different but enharmonically equivalent spell-
ings, that Schoenberg assumed enharmonic equivalence as well.
3 For an algorithm to derive normal form see the article by Hubert S. Howe, Jr.:
"Some Combinational Properties of Pitch Structures." Perspectives of New Music,
Fall-Winter 1965, p. 49.
* 32"
Schoenberg: VERGANGENES, Op. 16, No. 2
A compositional notion (or apriority) that is com

music and pervades his writing, is that the progre
composition is dependent on elaboration, transform
development of small-scale musical ideas. This we
"motivic unity" is especially helpful in examining his
there the sense of "motivic" may usefully be extende
any set of contextual relations we may wish to consid
dependent on it as a means of observing and under
of an "atonal" composition.4 For present purposes, thi
things will be twisted slightly so that we view this ide
of interpretation. In this twist our small-scale musica
essentially "uninterpreted" idea, a source for music
ing the course of a composition ideas derive from, or
ideas, which in turn trace their origin back to w
willing to call a "germ-motif." " The initial idea co
"interpretations" (properties), only some of which
those which are will subsequently inflect our underst
the context of the composition, so that what was prev
tained now becomes an explicit part of the picture.
4 See the discussion of Op. 15 No. 1 in Benjamin Boretz: "Meta-Variations,

Part IV: Analytic Fallout (II)." Perspectives of New Music, Spring-Summer 1973,
pp. 175-188.
5 "From Bach I learned ... [t]he art of developing everything from one basic
germ-motif and leading smoothly from one figure into another." From an article
"National Music", quoted in Josef-Rufer: The Works of Arnold Schoenberg. The
Free Press of Glencoe, N.Y., 1962 (tr. Dika Newlin), p. 147.
* 33 0
II.
Vergangenes -Yesteryears
Auaute6 J0.
Piccolos III _
Flues, II 11
OboP II, II_ _,_
English Horn
Cainets I. 11 in A
Basu Clainc in BI 1P
III IV_
Ham in F
con wd. pp--
Tnviomp 1liI n 8
con n id . A IV
VIIM I
Xyi.phon.e
vionawr
I Swo IfSo
Vwim l __ __
Violonclli
C90sod.
Dou.bk a 3
Ex. la Vergangenes
* 34 *
u b
rPoommonmoo
ux In
J.s0 141
ib . 1I
1.
, .-.......................... .
....
4P
:-. _.
" _. i 1
--Rona ...
No, pp ...........
f I. IIV
Tr. .11 i
ZPu
4 PP
p,,,v Z==.. .=--- .pp
cel.
Tim. IUl
IIe. IV I~ ~~~~~~PC_ o 4"-i 1 ' '""

0? a
v]. If I _
- i. I-.-
Ex. la (cont.)
* 35 *
II
Vergangenes
Mabi8ge Viertel
Pianoforte I =p
Miiige Viertel_
Pianoforte II
Viertel etwas langsamer
E-J ] 1Viertel etwas langsamer

-".
. . . - .. . . ...p pp ... . pp,.
Ex. lb Vergangenes (Webern's two-piano transcription)
* 36 *
Providing a Source
In the first two measures four [016] trichords are p
transpositional and inversional equivalence-all have
[.00,.05,.11]-by uniform duration between their relati
by timbral identity-each is played by cello, oboe, a
vcl.
trichord 1 2 3 4
Ex. 2
There are three specific and straightforward properties of pitch trans

position and complementation among these trichords:
1) Trichords 3 and 4 are transpositions at T(-.01) of trichords 1

and 2, respectively.
2) Trichords 2 and 4 are "inversions" of trichords 1 and 3. They a
not only "inversions" in the pitch-class sense, such that each pitch class i
each trichord has one complementary pitch class in its inversionally
lated trichord, and all the sums of complementary pitch-class numbe
between any two inversionally related trichords are the same, mod 12, b
these are also pitch inversions and this creates several important musical
relations. First, the succession of intervals formed by registrally adjacen
pitches in trichords 1 and 3, reading from bottom to top, .05,.06, is
versed in trichords 2 and 4. Second, the pairs of complementary pitc
in trichords 1 and 2, for example, (gg,gb), (d,c) and (a,f), are "sym
metrically arranged" around a "center of symmetry," db, 8.01, mean
that the number of semitones between db and the top note of any dy
among these pairs is the same as the number of semitones between db an
the bottom note of the same dyad. The sums of the 8ve.pc numbers
each of these three pairs of pitches is 16.02 (8.08 + 7.06, 8.02 + 8.00
7.09 + 8.05), and these three dyads are thus members of a "sum class
of all dyads whose 8ve.pc numbers have this sum, i.e., are symmetrically
disposed around db, 8.01. We will denote the inversional relation between
pitch trichords 1 and 2 by this "index of complementation" as I(16.0
The number 8.01, which (pleasantly) denotes the first pitch played by th
oboe in m.2, and is the center of symmetry of the sum class 16.02, will
known as the sum reference of that sum class. Trichords 3 and 4 are in-
versionally related at 1(16.00) with sum reference 8.00, equal to the l
pitch played by the oboe in m.1. Here we pair the pitches g and f,
* 37 0
(8.07 + 7.05), db and b, (8.01 + 7.11), and ab and e (7.08 + 8.04).

Finally, trichords 1 and 4, and 2 and 3 are inversionally related at
1(16.01). Since this index is odd, the sum reference is a dyad (unordered)
of interval .01, c,db, equal to the two middle pitches played by the oboe.
Here we pair the pitches g?,f (8.08 + 7.05), f,ab (8.05 + 7.08), g,gb
(8.07 + 7.06), e,a (8.04 + 7.09), d,b (8.02 + 7.11), and c,db (8.00 + 8.01).
This final inversional relation is, in a sense, more "background" in that it
unfolds over a larger time span, interrelates in one manner more com-
ponents of the foreground than the inversional relations within mm.1-2,
and we can only hear this relation once the entire two-measure span has
been completed.
When we hear relations of "sum" or "inversion" within this passage
we are able to associate pitches as complementary by virtue of the per-
ception of equal-sized semitonal spans formed with respect to the center
of symmetry, or sum reference. We know, for example, that the dyads
(8.08,7.06) and (8.02,8.00) are in the same sum class by the intervallic
identities (8.08 - 8.01) = (8.01 - 7.06), and (8.02 - 8.01) = (8.01 -
8.00), as well as (8.08 - 8.02) = (8.00 - 7.06), and (8.08 - 8.00) =
(8.02 - 7.06). Therefore, to focus upon properties of "sum" here is to
perceive semitonal spans between pitches, and is to associate a dyad with
other dyads which do not span the same number of semitones but which
are similarly symmetrically related to the same central point or points.
To focus on properties of interval, on the other hand, is again to perceive
semitonal spans but is also to associate dyads with other dyads which span
the same size semitonal space, members of the same "interval class."
3) There is a subtle "crossing" of properties 1 and 2 as the outer

voices in all trichords form an interval of .11, thus constructing an inter-
vallic identity among these complementary configurations.
Preliminary Elaborations
The seven-note bass clarinet and horn tune, beginning in m.2, reaches
back into the four-trichord succession, lifting some apparent, and some
not so apparent, properties:
1) The tune contains two inversionally related [014] trichords: b,c,eb

(6.11,7.00,7.03), and its 1(14.08) ordered form a,ab,f (7.09,7.08,7.05).
As in mm.1-2, there is a succession of two trichords related as pitch in-
versions but they now are unfolded linearly. While in mm.1 and 2 we
could not construe intervals within trichords as "ascending" or "descend-
ing" with respect to time since, obviously, they were generally struck
simultaneously, the complementary intervals within these inversionally
related [014] trichords can be so construed and this produces a contextually
* 38 "
new meaning for the concept of complementation: comp

vals have complementary directions, in time. Even thoug
of complementary pitches in mm.1 and 2 allows us to
mentary directions by reading one trichord from botto
ing its inversion from top to bottom, the choice of "dir
these chords is, as far as I can see, arbitrary in that
complement. In mm.2-3, however, the addition of the di
order to interval makes this association much more e
pretable as a linear unfolding of a previously vertically
It will be useful therefore to differentiate between two kinds of observa-
tions of intervals: order-dependent intervals, and order-independent in-
tervals, or absolute intervals, since the latter can most simply be construed
with respect to the absolute difference of their pitch numbers, denoting
only their semitonal spans. While relations between configurations of pitch
classes or pitches with respect to absolute interval is a determination
without respect to order, this is not to say that order is indifferent but only
that, for one reason or another, I am measuring interval without con-
sidering time or any kind of order. Though this relation evokes fewer
specifics of a musical passage, there may be any number of contextual
bases to give meaning to the specific order of pitches, and absolute interval
can function as a basis of identity from which such specifics may usefully
be explicated. Absolute intervals will be listed between vertical brackets,
e.g., the absolute interval formed by 8.02,8.01 is 1.011; and absolute values
of pitch-class intervals will be denoted (in brackets) by the integers 0
through 6.
2) The collection formed by joining these trichords is a pitch-class

transposition of the hexachord collections formed by the pairs of trichords
in mm.1 and 2.
m.1 m.2 mm.2-3

(Ab,F,D,C,A,F#) (G,
T(0) T(11) T(3)
Here, however, the inversional
posed around the pitch sum re
in mm.1-2. (See Ex. 3.)
m.1 m.2 mm.2-3
036] [0361 Ex. 5k3I

Ex. 3
* 39 0
This transformation interprets pitch properties i

expression of sum relates top pitch to bottom pit
sized by pitch-class identity between the top in m
m.2), in mm.2-3 this third hexachord fails to be a p
the previous two only because the outer pitch-clas
been switched (as indicated by the arrows) result
delineation of [014] trichords.
3) The ga,f,a line in the cello in m.1 is an octav
cyclic permutation of the a,ab,f (7.09,7.08,7.05) tr
three measure phrase, whose end is articulated by th
beat of m.4, ends with T(-1.00) of the opening l
It is especially apposite that these two dyads expr
"background" sum of mm.1 and 2, reiterating the
top dyad in m.1 (8.08,8.05) and the bottom dy
which first expressed the pitch sum of 16.01. (See E
(8. 05 + 7. 08)
m. I m. 3
(8.08 7. 05)
Ex. 4
Thus the same kind of "middleground," "outer-inner" pairing

express 16.01 in mm.1 and 2 (trichords 1 + 4 and 2 + 3) sprea
pitch-sum property over an even longer time span as we pair "firs
last," and "second with second-to-last." The motivic significanc
(Ab,F) pitch-class dyad is heightened by the fact that it is the onl
common to all three hexachords, and in each case forms an in
-.03, strengthening the assertion of this pitch-class intersection t
pitch-interval identity.
4) The [014] trichords which now occupy the "foreground
contained in pitch-class transposition (as [.00,.03,.11] trich
mm.1-2, in less explicit, or more "middleground" shape (r
mm.2-3 by absolute pitch-class interval), by the following partitio
Ab F G E
D C DmBB
A F# Ab F
m.1 m.2
* 40 0
In mm.1-2, the four-note tunes in cello and trumpet

as consisting of two overlapping [.00,.01,.04] trichord
and (a,f#,f), (a,ab,f).
5) The pitch-class shape of the transpositions of
chords is a [014] trichord: T(0) in m.1, T(11) in
mm.2-3, and the sequence of sum references is 8.0
thus three levels of [014] trichord in these measu
(pitch-class collection) level, determined by the trans
chords (but articulated in pitch form by the sum ref
ground," or implicit, level, formed by the partition o
mm.1 and 2; and a "foreground" level in mm.2-3,
explicitly stated. This final level interprets pitch pro
levels in that it borrows one non-duplicated absolute p
each of its progenitors (they have 1.081 in common),
relations from pitch-class relations in a way which fo
ences among the three manners of interpretation
trichord. (See Ex. 5.)
m.1 (mm. 1-3 sum references) m. 2
Ex. 5
Extending Elaborations
The db, 7.01, in m.3, which has not been mentioned, initiates ano
interpretive path away from mm. 1 and 2.
A linear property of the opening trichord configuration is that the f
and last pitches of each line form a dyad which is internally divided in
two dyads of intervals one pitch semitone smaller than the interval of
outer dyad. (See Ex. 6.)
The cello and trumpet span a dyad of interval -.04, divided into
inner dyads of -.03, and the oboe spans a dyad of interval -.03, div
internally into two dyads of -.02. Between the two inner pitches the i
terval formed is similarly 1.011 smaller than the intervals of the
dyads. The "passing" eighths in the oboe and trumpet in m.2 simil
divide -.02 and -.03, as well as form another [016] trichord with
cello's g, 8.07. Finally, each voice spans an interval 1.021 smaller than,
contained within, a dyad in the first or fourth trichord. (See Ex. 7.)
*41 4
-.04
-.03 -.03
".02"
-.03
-.02 -.02
-~It * 0- .01 rv T
.ob.02
Ex. 6
VCl. o. tt.
Ex. 7
These properties can be interpreted then to describe a motivic process of

intervallic expansion, or (equally) contraction: pitch intervals are asso-
ciated with pitch intervals one semitone larger or smaller. (One semitone
is, significantly, also the transpositional difference between m.1 and m.2.)
The unexplained db enters the story at this point. Together with the first
and last notes of the horn and bass-clarinet line, of which it is the middle
note, it forms a [026] trichord: an intervallic expansion, by one semitone,
of the [014] trichords straddling this line, in exactly the sense I have just
described. This relation is emphasized by the note b, 6.11, common to
both trichords. (See Ex. 8.)
m.2 m.3
.01
.02
Ex. 8
* 42 4
Here .01 is associated with .02, and .03 with .04. These
as absolute intervals, precisely those, and only those,
mm.1-2, thus constructing a new "motivically filt
between pitch dyads at a highly specific level.
Elaborating Extensions
This new trichord was embedded as a [.00,.02,.06] co
in the hexachords formed by joining trichords 1 and
in exactly the same way that the [014] trichord appea
chord, in mm.2-3, symmetrically straddling the s
[o26 [o261
trichords (/ 1#4) 2#3

Ex. 9
Also, this new trichordal extraction constructs a rhythmic para

mm.1 and 2 in that it again associates outer elements (b and f, t
1 and 4), and middle element(s) (db, trichords 2 and 3). Finally
ab,f,a form of a [014] trichord in the cello in m.1 partitions the he
of m.1 into a [014] and [026], (d,c,ft), trichord. (The eb,db,a fo
[026] trichord in mm.2-3, [.00,.02,.08], is 1(15.03) of the (d,c,ff)
in m.1, articulating another kind of pitch reference for this [026]
class trichord.)
Connecting Phrases
The second phrase of this passage from mm.4 to 9, consists of a u

tune (at first in flute, English horn, and clarinet, until m.6 when b
relieves flute) and three accompanying chords. A break between the
and second phrase is articulated by the silence at the start of m.4 a
the unequivocally explicit, unaccompanied statement of a [026] t
f,a,b, which connects several interpretive threads begun in mm.1-3
1) The most immediate relation between the phrases is the

transposition of f from 7.05 to 8.05, and subsequently the associ
a,ab,f in m.3 with its "expansion," f,a,b, in m.4. In terms of
pitch-interval these two trichords are in exactly the same rel
b,c,eb and b,db,f in mm.2-3, and f,a,b now articulates a "retrog
a,ab,f under "expansion," as the two trichords meet at the sam
class, rather than begin at the same pitch.
* 43 *
2) There is now a succession, over the phrase b

grade-inversionally related trichords: b,db,f and f,a,
its RI(15.10) form, 8.05,8.09,8.11), perhaps comb
sional and the metaphoric retrograde relations al
trichords at this juncture. As in relation 1) the trich
classes in common.
3) The combination of the two trichords (b,db,f and f,a,b) constructs

octave relations in the same way as did the octave doubling of d and a in
m.1: 16.02,8.021 in the trombone and oboe, and 16.09,7.091 in the bassoon
and trumpet, forming a two-octave span "framing" a one-octave span.
4) The difference between these two "octave" configurations is ex-
plicated by the motivic process of intervallic expansion (see Ex. 10).
w / X l -o ?
Ex 10
A1~ul of--Q2w
S1.07r 1.0Lo ,,
Ex. 10
This is, as before, a linear unfolding of a previous ver

What is more significant, however, is that the "doubling
the downbeat of m.1 is now interpreted by the current
interval expansion, thus retroactively affecting the pitch-
"doubling."
Developing Elaborations
The sequence of interlocking relations continues to unroll as the f,a,b
trichord in m.5 is now followed, after the repetition of a, 8.09, in m.5, by
its ordered pitch inversion, d,bb,ab (at 1(17.07), 9.02,8.10,8.08). Two
[026] trichords are now doing exactly what two [014] trichords did in
mm.2-3, thus articulating a shift into the domain of [026] trichords by
making an analogy with its source.
The hexachord formed by a combination of these two [026] trichords
can be partitioned into pairs of pitch inversionally-related [014] and [016],
as well as [026] trichords, and the [014] and [016] trichords are pitch
transpositions of those collections embedded in the hexachord of mm.2-3,
thus maintaining the effect of the "outer" pitch-class representative switch.
(See Ex. 11.)
* 44 *
mm. 2-3 mm. 4-5 mm. 2-3 mrm. 4-5
10149 (r14J [016) [016)
Ex. 11
Since the pitch classes F,Aj,A are common to both hexachords (a

hexachord of m. 1 as well), while the second hexachord contains
B,C,Eb, then by using the handle of [014] trichords the process
vallic expansion is expressed between pitch-class hexachords for
time.
A A
Ab -1 Ab-F
21 141 121 i l 13
B Bb
mm.2-3 mm.4-5
Between complementary p
lute pitch-class intervals
smaller in the new hexacho
tactic aspects are brought
We have now shifted into t
in terms of intervallic expa
trichords, a relation empha
chords. But, the fact that
terms of absolute pitch-cla
specifics of pitch and order
any more specific, as a m
or perhaps as a "backgrou
from specific "foregroun
special interpretation, deriv
other words, the musical
relatively abstract relations
Elaborating Developments
The repetition of the a,
(8.09,9.02) leap into relief
* 45 ?
tom two pitches in trichords 1 and 4 in mm.1-2

responding linear dyads span complementary interva
temporally expanding the pitch inversional-successio
folded the [014] and [026] trichords.
m.l m.2 m.3 m.4
li - .03,
-.04
Ex. 12
The Hinear hexachord of mm.4-5 is embedded in a transposition

the pitch-class hexachord pair of mm.1-2 in a significant way. Le
suppose that we were to take the pitch-class hexachord of mm.2-
(B,C,Eb,A,Ab,F), list it as a transposition of m.1, partitioned into [0
trichords, and follow it by its T(11) form, as m.2 follows m.1. The
hexachord in mm.4-5 may then be extracted from this pitch-class c
figuration by the same partition formerly used to derive [014] trichords
mm.1-2.
B Ab Bb G
F (Eb E) D
CDA B 3>Ab
And, the stated linear order of the hexachord, except for the repeated a,
is derived by reading in counter-clockwise direction from the pitch-class F,
adding a cyclically permuted "flavor" to the new hexachord with respect
to [014] trichords. A pitch source for this extraction is provided by
T(1.00) of the hexachord of mm.2-3 and T(2.00) of the proposed
T (-.01) transposition of that hexachord. A motivic basis for this deriva-
tion can be found in the T(1.00) and T(2.00) transpositions of the
pitches b and f in mm.2-4.
7.11 8.08 8.10 9.07
8.05 8.03 9.04 9.02
8.00 8.09 8.11 9.08
Here, then, the specific ways in which pitches repr

motivic significance. (See Ex. 10.)
* 46
Developing Developments
As the tune continues into mm.6-9, with bassoon
references to, and interpretations of, previous mater
mentary. The pitch-class succession Cb,Gb,D,C,Ab
tained in a transposition at T (6) of the hexachord
DB
Ab Gb
Eb C
The pitch succession, gb,d,c,ab (8.06,8.02,8.00,7.08), however, takes sig-

nificant steps along the "interpretive trail." Once again, as between the
first two phrases, there are two retrograde-inversionally related forms of a
[026] trichord: gb,d,c and d,c,ab (8.06,8.02,8.00, and 8.02,8.00,7.08).
This is the first possible extraction of [026] trichords from the initial hexa-
chord (where they are [.00,.02,.08] trichords), a relation reinforced by
tetrad pitch-class intersection with m.1. As at the interlock of mm.3-4,
these complementary trichords have two pitch classes in common, but
unlike the earlier instance they have two pitches in common, the same
notes in fact. These collections are inverted at 1(16.02), creating the first
reappearance of the sum class expressed in m.1. The pitch succession d,c
also occurs in m.1 but the pitches gb and ab are derived from m.1 by
switching outer pitch-class representatives, as mm.2-3 is derived from
mm.1-2, and is thus a pitch transposition of a tetrad collection in mm.2-3.
This again is a linearization of a vertical configuration (Ex. 13).
m. 1 m. 6
Ex. 13
(The three possible absolute intervals in a [.00,.02,.06] trichord have

been articulated by pitch-class repetition and intersection between paire
trichords: 1.061 by F and B in mm.2-4; 1.041 by F and A in mm.3-4;
1.021 by C and D in m.6.)
A similar set of relations and interpretations is then formed by the ne
four-note succession, ab,e,d?,a (7.08,8.04,8.03,7.09); now there are
note-overlapping forms of a [016] trichord, inverted at 1(16.00), the sum
of m.2: ab,dt,a and e,dt,a; and, this four-note succession is bounded
* 47 0
either side by c, 8.00, the sum reference of 16.00. T

"retrograde counterpoint" of relations. We have succ
ther back in terms of the history of trichord deriv
then to [016]-and have been moving forward in
16.02, then 16.00. The pitch shape of these [016] tric
transposition of the shape of mm.2-3 ([.00,.01,.06] ra
as in mm.1-2), derived by switching outer pitch-c
the initial hexachord, as now articulated by the firs
in relation to m.1.
The reference back to the [016] trichords is put into greater relief by
another kind of pitch-class consideration. One property of a [026] trichord
is that all its pitch classes, mod 12, are in the same pitch class, mod 2 (ex-
tending the notion of pitch class to include any symmetrical partition of
the chromatic pitch set, i.e., every nth pitch, in ascending or descending
chromatic order, is a member of one of n pitch classes, mod n) ; in other
words, it is built out of the members of one "whole-tone scale." The two
[016] trichords we are considering have two pitches in common, (extend-
ing the interpretive process of the beginning of the measure) : d# and a.
These are brought into relief in the context of this tune in the following
way: except for the cb, 8.11, at the end of m.5, they are the first repre-
sentatives of pitch class 1, mod 2, since the a, (8.09), in m.5, and are the
last in this pitch class until the g, 7.07, in m.8. The "shift" into the do-
main of [026] trichords has thus constructed a syntax in which pitch class,
mod 2, can be said to articulate reference and transformation: the modu-
lar interval, 1.021, a motivically important interval as part of the [026]
trichord, is thus defining a contextually new partition of musical space.
(Adjacent intervals in the [.00,.01,.04] and [.00,.01,.06] trichords are odd
-between "whole-tone scales"-while in any [026] trichord they are
even-within a "whole-tone scale.") Though this is syntax at a high level
of abstraction, it is once again made motivically interesting by its ability
to "back-up" foreground relations.
Embedded within this "mod 2 domain," however, there is a "mod 3
domain." In mm.6-7 the pitch succession eb,a,c, (bb),c,f#, disturbed only
by the bb in m.7, outlines a "diminished seventh chord" or a mod 3 par-
tition of the semitonal space," and, immediately preceding this there is a
reference to a "mod 4 domain" as the pitch succession c,ab,e forms a [048]
or "augmented triad." What is special about this is that in the realm of
the modular interval 1.021, we now have references to the modular inter-
vals 1.031 and 1.041, articulating in a new way the concept of intervallic
expansion-as a "modular expansion"-at precisely that point in the
piece at which we first refer back to the musical context which prepared
6 I thank Claudio Spies for this observation.
* 48 4
the motivic notion of intervallic expansion, and in

nificant use of 1.031 as a modular interval, in the
mm.1-2. (In mm.4-5 alternate pitches in the tune,
"diminished seventh" collection, perhaps subtly ref
and back.)
The next pitch succession in the tune refers back even more specifically.
The pitch collection (bb,c,fF,g), (7.10,8.00,8.06,7.07), is a transposition
at T(-.02) of the pitch collection (c,d,g#,a), in m.1. Since many of the
important transformations that have occurred between these points
altered the original interpretation of pitch class by pitch-class representa-
tives, this specific transposition emerges as significant. An interval of
-.11 formed by the startling leap from ft to g, 8.06-7.07, is not only the
first and largest such leap so far, but also the first linear interpretation of
the cello's upbeat g#, 8.08, which forms an interval of -.11 with the
trumpet a, 7.09, occurring on the downbeat of m.1. (A similar metric re-
lation-"upbeat-downbeat"-also obtains between f# and g, as between
ga and a.)
The motivic power of this pitch succession and transpositional relation
to m.1 is even greater as a result of its trichordal pitch-references. It con-
tains a [026] trichord, bb,c,f#, a [014] trichord, bb,f#,g, and a [016] tri-
chord, c,f5,g. All three trichords are, of course, pitch transpositions of
collections in m.1 (in pitch normal form: [.00,.02,.08], [.00,.03,.11], and
[.00,.05,.11]), thus effectively "switching back" outer pitch-class represen-
tatives. But, they have become motivically-relevant partitions of a hexa-
chordal transposition of m.1: the [026] trichord is derived by the parti-
tion used in m.6, the [014] trichord by the partition of mm.2-3, and the
[016] trichord by the partition implied in m.1.
[026] [014] [016]

F D F D# F D#
C Bb C BCBb
G E GE E
"m.6" "mm.2-3" ..m.1"
These pitch-class relations are explicated in terms

pitch-class representative switch" of mm.2-3 so th
class references have considerable intelligibility as
tory of trichordal derivation to this point. The w
pitch-class relations now differ, or pitch relation
lations, have become part of the process of motiv
return to the original pitch form throws this
relief.
* 49 *
Another Path
The chords which enter on the last beat of m.4, the second beat of m.7,
and the first beat of m.8, trace another path through our "interpretive
grove." The first chord has 6 pitches, the second, 5, and the third, 4, all
including the pitch of the tune at the moment of the chord's attack. The
residue of this "trimming" process (while durations increase) is a [0148]
tetrad, stated alone on the downbeat of m.8, and contained, in pitch-class
transposition, in each previous chord.
T(0) T(8) T(6)

b
e c
c)# )a g
a f eb
f . db , cb
m.4 m.7 m.8
A [0148] pitch-class tetrad ha

it occurred in m.3 as db,a,a
of linearizing vertical occu
tetrad can also be specifically
chord in mm.4-5, as part of
rived in the partition of the
C AA B Ab
C BE F E
# ttBb C gA
There are several interesting pitch and pitch-class aspects of this chord
progression:
1) A pitch-class transposition of each chord is contained in each
previous chord.
2) There are three pitch transpositions of an "augmented" or [048]
trichord: f,a,db in m.4; db,f,a in m.7; and b,eb,g in m.8.
3) The trimming process is accomplished by removing the next-to-
lowest pitch in each chord and replacing it by the appropriate pitch-
class transposition of the top pitch of the previous chord.
4) This next-to-lowest pitch-class representative in each chord then
appears at the top of the following chord.
5) The pitch-class transpositional sequence is in the shape of a [026]
trichord: T(0), T(10), T(6).
* 50
So, just as the hexachords in mm.1-3 unfolded along a

trichord, here, in the domain of [026] trichords, the tun
chords unfold along a [026] pitch-class trichord, furth
status of this trichord as a syntactic basis of the second
as each of the three opening hexachords contained two
[036] trichords, so here, in a phrase based on an interv
the opening, there is now a similar, but pitch-class, expa
[048] (or "augmented") trichords. The fact that these [
the bnly subcollections of the three chords to occur as ex
positions, along a motivically important [.00,.02,.06] tr
5.11, in the bass), increases their significance as subcollec
lation to mm.1-2. Furthermore, since [048] is to [036] as [
in terms of intervallic expansion, where there were form
collections of pitch classes, mod 3, there are now equivale
pitch classes, mod 4, along the analogy of [014] to [026
"modular" interpretation of intervallic expansion.
T(0) T(11) T(3) T(0) T(8) T(6)

8 7 11 11
5 4 8 4 0
2 1 5 1 9 7
0 11 3 9 5 3
9 8 0 0 7 10
6 5 9 5 1 11
m.1 m.2 mm.2-3 m.4 m.7 m.8

mod 12
becomes
2 1 2 3
2 1 2 0 0
2 1 2 1 1 3
0 2 0 1 1 3
0 2 0 (0) 3 2
0 2 0 1 1 3
mod 3 mod 4
And, the heavy saturation of the cho

terpoints the heavy saturation of
Finally, the bass notes in this chord p
retrograde of the b,db,f trichord in m
the whole process of intervallic expan
As the second phrase concludes in m
the a, 7.09, combines with bb and e
* 51 *
at T (-.11) of the opening trichord in m.1. This tr

interprets the startling -.11 leap from m.7 to m.8, w
prets the largest absolute interval of each trichord i
the first and last [016] trichords of this passage o
7.09, the sum reference of the outer a's in m.1: (
order of entrance of different notes of the trichord
entrance of parallel notes in m.1: formerly ga, then
a, reiterating in yet another way the motivic associa
pying complementary order positions.
Interlocking Parts
The two phrases of the passage we have consider
lock" through the association of their lowest notes: t
in mm.1-3, and the f,db,cb, (6.05,6.01,5.11) in mm
sequence contains a [014] and a [026] trichord, ov
absolute interval and pitch-pair they have in commo
d f db cb
m.1 m.4 m.7 m.8
The beginning of the next section (Viertel etwas langsame

back to the pitch-class sum structure of mm.1 and 2. The pitch s
and 16.00 are transposed here to 18.02 and 18.00 so that the s
ences are transposed up an octave, to 9.00 and 9.01.
9.06 9.06 9.07 9.04
1 (18.00) (18.02)
8.06 8.08 8.07 8.10
The pitch-class F#, repeated

for the duration of this sectio
turn to the opening material.
in m.8, (g-a), and to the T(.02
m. 1, highlighted by the isolati
Stepping Back
Since the preceding picture of evolving and developing interpretation
is one in which pitch relations are viewed as inflecting and interpreting
pitch-class relations, a pitch-class picture of this passage will look a lot
simpler, as it is largely an uninterpreted picture. The following pitch-class
discussion should be viewed as an abstraction of the preceding pitch dis-
cussion, which, in turn, may be an interpretation of this pitch-class discus-
* 52
sion. What is most interesting about the following

that as it is highly uninterpreted, it is possible to con
interpretations which may cast light on less obviously
more "background," aspects of the syntax of this passa
The pitch-class picture will be constructed in th
dimensional cyclic-array.7 The starting point, or orig
box consisting of the trichordally partitioned hexa
shown in the lower left hand corner of the array. Th
mension, of the array is generated by successive "d
semitonal, transpositions (left to right) of this box. T
mension, is generated by the transposition of the hex
T(4), and this hexachord is thus shown above the b
second measure, so that this dimension is generate
transpositions (bottom to top) of the boxes in the
"generating" interval of the x dimension is thus 11, a
sion, 4, mod 12.
(y)
E Db Eb C D B Db Bb
2 Bb Ab A G Ab F# G F
F D E Db Eb C D B
C A B Ab Bb G A Gb
1 F# E F Eb E D Eb Db
C# At C A B Ab Bb G
G# F G E F# Eb F D
O D C Db B C Bb B A
A F# Ab F G E F# Eb
0 1 2 3 (x)
Each box is located b
The transpositional
the interval betwee
transpositional levels
As evident from ou
(0,0), m.2 from (1
merely to perform t
7 For a study of the co

Affine Music, Princeto
Atonality, third editio
analysis see John Roge
ter Symphony," Persp
pp. 209-231, and Benj
(I)," Perspectives of N
* 53 *
This transpositional sequence, T (0), T (11), T (3),

rive the hexachord of mm.4-5 from a combination o
form, (2,1), as described above. The Cb,Gb,D,C,Ab
in mm.5-6 is derived from box (2,2), again T(3) o
(2,1). In mm.6-7 the sequence now changes sligh
succession E,D#,A,C, together with the Db,G, (6.0
panying chord, is derived from box (1,2), T (1) of
restored as the Bb,C,F#,G succession in mm.7-8 i
which is T(3) of (1,2) and T(4) of (2,2). The final
is contained obliquely in a combination of (3,0
directly in (3,1), which would be the next step in th
positions after (3,0). This ambiguity is resolved by th
tion and common-tone relations. The pitch-class succ
can be derived from (1,1), (2,1) or (2,2), thus hel
path through these three locations by common-tone
the unique dyadic intersection of these three hex
mm.1-3, between (0,0), (1,0), and (1,1) ). The repe
thus produces a special association of B and Ab
mm.1-3, and facilitates this common tone link. Simi
C in m.7 is derived as a common tone between (1
The succession of chords in mm.4-9 traces anoth
array. The chord in m.4 can be derived from
(This is described above as part of the complementar
partition used to derive the tune in mm.4-5.) An
with the combination of (1,1) and (2,1), used to
mm.4-5, thus establishing some basis for the octave
A between the chord and line in m.4. The next chord is derived from
(0,0) and (1,0), T (8) of the previous two locations, by a similar extrac-
tion, but omitting the analogous pitch class Ab in (1,0). Finally, the
chord in m.8 is derived in the same way from (2,0) and (3,0), and thus
meets the other path, traced by the linear aspect of the passage. We can
now show the shapes of the two paths by listing an integer representing
the relative transpositional level for each box in the first path, and for
pairs of boxes in the second path:
Path 1:
(0,0),(1,0),(1,1), (2,1), ( 2,2), (1,2), (2,0), (3,0),((3,1)
1 I II II1 I
0 11 3 2 6 7 10 9 (1) [014]
5 I
* 54 *
Path 2:
((0,1),(1,1) ),( (0,0), (1,0)),( (2,0), (3,0))
1 I
0 8 6 [026]
The transpositional le
overlapping [014] tric
end of the passage. Fro
ured so highly in th
"background," or abst
Reference has elsewh
ment.8 The hexachords
titioned into inversion
two [016], two [014], or
has not figured in ou
(F,Ab,C) in m.1. The "
ble by the sustained D,
chord formed by trich
used to derive the tune in mm.4-5 is the hexachord which contains the
[0148] tetrads accompanying the tune. This [014589] hexachord contai
three possible partitions into discrete [037] trichords. Even so, the preva
lence of (D,F,A), or "D minor," trichords in mm.1-5 seems more sati
factorily viewed as a by-product of motivic interactions than as a struc-
tural determinant. "Triads" form a kind of oblique syntactic background
in this context, having no real structural or motivic significance, but colo
ing nevertheless, (as [037] trichords) the overall intervallic "feel" of t
passage. In terms of motivic derivation there is nothing much in the pas
sage in the way of explicit foreground models to imbue such oblique
contained "triads" with motivic significance. An attempt to do this woul
have to rely on external models, or normative assertions, and only succee
in obscuring and contradicting the sense of the passage, at least as it has
been described here. This would seem to reinforce Boretz's point that
"... motivic musical language had 'grown up' independently 'inside' th
tonal superstructure in Mahler and Schoenberg" and the "superstruct
...had actually become a 'dichotomous' rather than 'concomitant
aspect." 9
8 Craft, Robert: "Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra." Perspectives on

Schoenberg and Stravinsky, eds. Benjamin Boretz and Edward T. Cone, Princeton,
N.J., 1968, p. 14, and Jan Maegaard: Studien zur Entwicklung des dodekaphonen
Satzes bei Arnold Schoenberg (II). Copenhagen, Wilhelm Hansen, Musik-Forlag,
1972, pp. 242-51.
9 Boretz: "Meta-Variations, Part IV: Analytic Fallout (II)," op. cit., p. 177.
* 55 ?
It seems likely that an analysis of the entire move

an expanded pitch and pitch-class syntactic basis, jus
concerning the second phrase of the opening pass
the syntactic basis of the first phrase. While man
clearly part of our present picture, an overall "
would have to include a lot more, if only to explicat
texturally and intervallically different sections. I
clear from the preceding discussion that the ways in
sent pitch classes, and the ways pitch classes abstrac
ined in order to describe any kind of musical sen
that if one steps back into abstracted considerations
spect to such concerns, an understanding of the
uniqueness will continue to be suppressed in fav
which at best evoke a vague sense of what a piece m
in common with some other pieces, but not what
by itself.
* 56 ?

Pitch Class Consciousness

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Pitch Class Consciousness

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Pitch-Class Consciousness

Author(s): Paul Lansky

While it is no longer unusual to notice that Schoenb

gory, or concept. He thus interposes a significant lev

It is not my intention here to cite various transg

In the following discussion pitches will be specif

1 Howe, Hubert S., Jr.: Music 7 Reference Manua

The italicized, lower-case pitch-letter names2-of

2 Enharmonic equivalence will be assumed only since an examination of different

Schoenberg: VERGANGENES, Op. 16, No. 2

A compositional notion (or apriority) that is com

4 See the discussion of Op. 15 No. 1 in Benjamin Boretz: "Meta-Variations,

IIe. IV I~ ~~~~~~PC_ o 4"-i 1 ' '""

Viertel etwas langsamer

E-J ] 1Viertel etwas langsamer

. . . - .. . . ...p pp ... . pp,.

Ex. lb Vergangenes (Webern's two-piano transcription)

There are three specific and straightforward properties of pitch trans

1) Trichords 3 and 4 are transpositions at T(-.01) of trichords 1

(8.07 + 7.05), db and b, (8.01 + 7.11), and ab and e (7.08 + 8.04).

3) There is a subtle "crossing" of properties 1 and 2 as the outer

1) The tune contains two inversionally related [014] trichords: b,c,eb

new meaning for the concept of complementation: comp

2) The collection formed by joining these trichords is a pitch-class

m.1 m.2 mm.2-3

m.1 m.2 mm.2-3

036] [0361 Ex. 5k3I

This transformation interprets pitch properties i

Thus the same kind of "middleground," "outer-inner" pairing

In mm.1-2, the four-note tunes in cello and trumpet

m.1 (mm. 1-3 sum references) m. 2

These properties can be interpreted then to describe a motivic process of

trichords (/ 1#4) 2#3

Also, this new trichordal extraction constructs a rhythmic para

The second phrase of this passage from mm.4 to 9, consists of a u

1) The most immediate relation between the phrases is the

2) There is now a succession, over the phrase b

3) The combination of the two trichords (b,db,f and f,a,b) constructs

This is, as before, a linear unfolding of a previous ver

mm. 2-3 mm. 4-5 mm. 2-3 mrm. 4-5

10149 (r14J [016) [016)

Since the pitch classes F,Aj,A are common to both hexachords (a

tom two pitches in trichords 1 and 4 in mm.1-2

m.l m.2 m.3 m.4

The Hinear hexachord of mm.4-5 is embedded in a transposition

8.05 8.03 9.04 9.02

8.00 8.09 8.11 9.08

Here, then, the specific ways in which pitches repr

The pitch succession, gb,d,c,ab (8.06,8.02,8.00,7.08), however, takes sig-

(The three possible absolute intervals in a [.00,.02,.06] trichord have

either side by c, 8.00, the sum reference of 16.00. T

6 I thank Claudio Spies for this observation.

the motivic notion of intervallic expansion, and in

[026] [014] [016]

"m.6" "mm.2-3" ..m.1"

These pitch-class relations are explicated in terms

T(0) T(8) T(6)

A [0148] pitch-class tetrad ha

So, just as the hexachords in mm.1-3 unfolded along a

T(0) T(11) T(3) T(0) T(8) T(6)

m.1 m.2 mm.2-3 m.4 m.7 m.8

And, the heavy saturation of the cho

at T (-.11) of the opening trichord in m.1. This tr

m.1 m.4 m.7 m.8