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AN ANALYSIS OF MUSICAL TIME IN SELECTED WORKS

BY GEORGE CRUMB
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A thesis submi tted to the Graduate Facul ty

of McGill University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
~
for the degree' of Master of Arts

by
JOHN MacKAY

Thesis supervisor: Paul ••• Pe(iersen

Faculty of Music ..
McGill University August 1979
Montreal, Quebec

~C) John MAcKay August 1979

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'ACmOWLEDGEMENT

The author qratefully acknowledqes the co·operation

f
r of C.F. Peters Corporation and Belwin ~lls Publishinq .,
Corpora tion for their permiss ipn ta reproduce the various
excerpts referred to in this study. A special note oi
"'' '
.th&n:ks il owed ta Georqe Crumb for his ,personal co~+
,
• rt \ ication offer1nq both ,the encouragement of his interest
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\ in this thesis as well ae valuable advice in the a.leotien

1 of compositions for deta!led &nalysis. ,

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c ABSTRACT

The approach taken in this study of musical time

is based o,n the differencea between various .contemporary
cOl}.ceptions of' muical forro and the distinction made in·
current theoretlcal writings between objective and
,-
"sUbjective musical experienc~. A discussion of the
"

basic elements of George Crumb's musical language explores

.. ,

his integratio~ of tonal and timbral materials and discusses

a number of important influences on his music trom both 1
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traditional and avant-garde, styles. As found in the afl.alysis
of selected works ("No piensam en la lluvia ••• ", Madrigals
( Bk. l, Echoes of Time and the River, Dream Sequence, Lux
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, ,

Ae te rna , an.o Music for a Swnmer Evening) much o,f the unique

effect of Crumb' s music can, be understood in ternis of his

control of the clarity of formaI patterning apd hls structuring
of long range rhythmic devel-opment. 'The conclud1ng discussion
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compares and contrasta Crumb' s music with that of tw,o other
contemporary American composers.
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ABREGE l'
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Cette étude de temps musical prend

'fil'
comme '~int d~
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départ premièrement, la différence considérable qui existe
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entre les diversea' conceptifons contemporaines de la forme
, ~ '~
musicale, et en deuxieme temps, la distinc~ion entre les
1

eXpériences subjectives et objectives de ~a musique qui

1
est o~servée géné~alement chez les theoridiens du vingti~me .
siècle. Un aperiu des 'lé~nt8 fond~tauX de la langue
musicale de George Crumb porte sur l'intéiration de divers
,
materiaux de tonalité et de timbre, ept met an relief un
nombre dtinf~uences sur sa musique qui viennent des styles

( et traditionels et avant-gardes. _Comme il est'demontré dans

les ana~yses 'des ouevres charactéristiques ("No piensam en
la lluvia ••• ", Madrigals Bk. 1, Echoes of Time and the
.»t .,....) - ~
1 •
River, Dream~S~quence, Lux Aeterna, et Music for a Summer
Evenin~')
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une""grande partie de l'effet esthétique de l'a musique
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de George Crumb peut s'expfiquer par sa manière de contrôler.
la clarité du dessein fo~l èt par ,sa façon de structurer
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succession des longues durées. En terminant, la musique

,. de George
,
Crumb est m4se
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en parallèle a~c celle de deux
f autres composite~rs Américains actuels.

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( i TABLE OF CONTENTS
page ...
ACKNOWLEDGE~NT •••••••••••••••••••••••• ii J
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ABST~CT ••••••••••••••••••• e' •••••••••• iii

ABREGE • ~ ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
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TABLE
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OF· CONTENTS •••••••••••••••••••••• v
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LIST OF EXAMPLES •••••••, ............... . vi

LIST OF TABLES ........................ vii

, CHAPTER 1: Introduction and Preliminary

( .
Considerations in the Analysis

of Musical Time ............ 1

Introduction .... .....

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Preliminary Considerations
in· the Analysis of Musical- , f
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,, TilDe ••• , •••••••••••••••
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CHAPTER II: Crumb' s Musical Lanquaqe •• 14

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CHAPTER III: Analysis of Selected Wo~ks ~ 63 •,
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CHAPTER IV: Summary and Pe"rspective •••• 121
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BIBLIOGRAPHY ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 137
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-t:J.rl'ISCOGItA.PRY ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• , 140
LIST OF SCORES ......................... 141
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LIST ot EXAMPLES
Page
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EXAMPLE I: -No' piensan en la lluvia, y se han
dormido." (They do not thin~ of the
rain, and they've fallen asleep) •• 33

EXAMPLE II: ClQsing Episode of 'Fr~zen Time' •• 77

EXAMPLE III: Flute Circle Musie'and Cloaing

Episode of •Remembrance of tfl'ime' •• 78
•
EXAMPLE IV: The Clarinet and Flute Process-
ional of 'Remembrance of
'l!ime' ••••• 83

EXAMPLE V: Opening Echo complex from 'La'st 1

Echoes of Time' .................. ~
86
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LIST OF TABLES

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TMlLE 1: For.mal Outline of'Cancion
de Jinete' ................... 22

• TABLE II: Outline of Principal Passages

of 'Echoes of TilDe and th,

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River' ! •••••

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, TABLE III: Lux Aeterna - Long Range

Patterning'of Phrasing and
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.( Duration ................. 105

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TABLE IV: Structural Outline of Music f
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for ! Swnmer Evening: ••• Il • • • 111
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A TABLE V: Schematic Diaqram of the "l';J,
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Durat10nal
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Patterning in the
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Starry Night' ............... 11't-
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( CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS

IN THE ANALYSIS OF MU~ICAL TDŒ

INTRODUCTION

In discussing 'recent developments in contemporary art !

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music, ~y theorists and composers have focussed attention 1
on the 'influence of 'new and changing concep~ioqs of musisal
, 1
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time. The ûnp~eoedented vol~f writing on this subject
over the last twenty five or thirty 'Years is indioativ-e
of both the ,considerable preoccupation 'with musical time
demonstrated by many composers and the general significance
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of this perspective in the understanding of corttemporary

music. A number of theoriats (Gisèle Brelet, Suzanne K.
( 'al

Langer, Leonard Meyer, Eugene Narmour, and Jonathon Kramerm

, "
to name a few) in 1Itudying music in terms of fom and
temporal experience offered important insights in·
~ave
•
stylistic and esthetic analysis. Similarly, composers, in
adaptinq different conceptions and formal treatments éf musical
time, have arrived at new and interestinq experienoea for
Il contemporary audiences.

The music of George Crumb, for

Q
~ number of reasons - i,ts
uni~e esthetic effect, i ts notable public success and also
the relatively \lit~e theoretical consideration it ha~
" 'received to this point, provides a very fittinq subjact for
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an analysis of musica~ time. The pr~ncipal abject of., this ..

stuày will therefore he to present a geheral discussion
of Crumb's style and to look in detail at a few works in
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whieh certain conceptions and treatments of musical time
, were of
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~ârticular concern to the composer.
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As il background for this.study, ~is in~roductory chapter 1•
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will be given ta a review of certain fundamental concepts 1
co~cerning musiçal experience. These will be discussed in
relation to t~e basic elements of formal analysis as an
approach ta the ~escription of récent contemporary music.
~ The second chapter will consiat of an account of Crumb' s
. musical language and some of' the major influences on his
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.atyle., with an emphasis on those features wnich reflect his
general conception and treatment of musical time. This
ia followed in chapter three ~ a relatively detailed ,
.ana,lysis of Crumb' s Echoes of Time and the Ri ver, and more
general observations on seme other warka recommended by the
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composer wbich illustrate interesting features of formal .J

organization and. temporal experience in his music. In the

., f~nal chapter, a general summary and conclùsions will be

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If made regarding Crumb' s style and these will be related to

'1 recent developments in the music of some o~r contemporary

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PREL~INARY CONSIDERATIONS IN THE ANALYSIS OF MÙSICAL TIME
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,In the study of musicaJ... time,' it is possible', to post\f'late

two very qeneral and apparently fundamental aspects of

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musical awareness - the objective, unquestioninq acceptance
of events as they oceur in time, and the subjective antic-
"
ipation of future events. ~~ important formulation of this(

duality of musical experience has been expressed by Igor

StravinSky in his Poetics of Music and'is largely based
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on the philoaophy of Pierre

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Souvtchinsky. Il i'

"Mr. Souvtchinsky thus presents us with

two kinds of music: one which evol véS
par.llel to the process of ontologica'l
time, embracinq and penetrating it, inducing
in the mind of the listener a feeling of .
euplroria an~ so, to speak, of dynamic calm.
The second kind ~uns ahead'of, or counter
( ta this process. It is not,~elf-contained
in each momentary ',tonal unit. It disloeà.tes
the centers of attraétion and gravity and
sets itself up in the unstable, and this
fact makes it particularly adaptable to
the translation of the composer's emotive
impulses. AlI music in which the will tô
expression is1dominant belongs te the
second type."
A further elaboration of this view of mUsical 'time has been (
made by Georgè Rochberg in his artiele"The N~ ItIi,age of .
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- Music" where he discusses the difference in the esthetic
nature of what he tèrms the 'temporal image' of music
(musical experience based upon th"e subjective anticipation,
·of évents) and the 'spatié4 image' of music (musical experience
@ based largely upon a more passive, objective acceptanee of eve~ts).

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19or ,Stravinsky, Poetics., of 'Mûsic (Cambridge Maas.,
Harvard University Pre~i, 1947) p.3l.
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"Music dominated by the temporal image

and music'dominated by the spatial image re-
flect completely opposite attitudes and
stances toward reality ••• the former tends
toward the subjective utterance of the in-
dividual while the latter leans toward an
objective projection in which the composer's
energies are focussed beyond himself and
tht lyrical flow of,his inner personal
states. Subjective man ... views existence
as change, himself and history at the cen-
tre of a process of becoming ,For him life
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is an experience no matter what the nature

of its content, in which ncthing stands
still, nothing lasts and the future bec~ns.
However, when man seizes on the present 10-
ment of his ~xperience as the only ,real time,
he spatializes his existence, that rs-he
fills his perception with objects which take
on solidity and completeness - a state of
permanence •. His world is no longer on~ of
time and çhange alone~ it is a world of space
in which time and change.are modes of motion.
In the new music, time as duration becomes a
dimension of musical space. The new spatial
( image of music seeks to project the permanence
of the world as cosmos, as the eternal présent.

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It is an'image 0f music which aspires to Being,
not Beooming. 2 Il

- -.l'~~sential diffeJ;etl,ée between the sense of

,

"becom~~" in
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Rochberg 1 s ' 1 tempo ra limage' and tha t of "be ing Il as soc ia ted

,
'wi1;h the spatial image can be related in more, préc.ise theore-
tical terms to the extent to which perceivable and predictable
patterning is involved in the musical forme Put very simply,
the subjective interpretation and anticipation of events is
,
characteristic of tne experience of music in'which there is
perceptible form of patterning being manipulated by the .;

composer. Jn these styles, the musical future is of interest

1
l c) 2.Georg~ Rochb~rg, "The New Image of Music," Perspectives
of'-New,Nusic., 1:11 (Fall, 1963),P. 9 - 10.
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to the listener because it is partially implied in the incom-

pIete patterns of the present moment, and is therefore partially
predictable. An unquestionin~, objective acceptance, or as
Stravinsky has described it, a sense of 'dynamic calm' can be
observed in music which presents a minimum of apparent inten-
tional organization. In such music, it is the enduring quality J

of the present momènt which is the centre of musical interest.

1
The musical future in this case is either too highly predictable 1

or too highly unpredictable to engage the listener in any sense

of subjective anticipation.
This general perspective on musical experience and musical
forro is particularly useful in the description of much of the
stylistic development which has taken place in western art music
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during this century •• In the traditional tonal styles of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries which would be the prime
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exarnple of the 'temporal image' of music, the listener's recog-
nition, either conscious or unconscious, of an abundance of
.
formal patterning in melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, dynamics
etc. is a principal aspect of the esthetic experience. 3 Any
.
3. The historical oriqin of the fundamental idioms and
patterns in traditional styles is often very complex, but
ultimately t~ be found in ~USiC'S association with elernents of
real life experience, i.e., the dance, ritual ceremonies,
lyrical, dramatic and narrative forms and even literary
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programs. The very general conception of musical experience

as a type of image or'metaphor' of real life e~erience is
found in Sasil de S6Iinco~~'s article 'Music and Duration' and
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, is further developed by Suilnne Langer in Feelin, and Form.
As will he seen shortly, much of the diversity 0 twentieth
century music can he related to the emergance and acceptance
of different conceptual models for musical form, but since

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sense of 'becoming' or 'goal direction' in this music

depends upon the listener's interest in the completion of
these elements of formal patterning. With the eventual
disintegration of the fo~al predictability which character-
ized the tonal language of the nineteenth century, the 'general
character of musical tim.e beca me less intrinsically "
~oal oriented. Various forma of observable continuity were
nevertheless"derived in the non-tonal style~through reference
and association with different extra-musical forms. Such
would be the case in Schoenberg's atonal music dramas as it has
been traditionally with song and operatic forros. Similarly,
the ne~:-classicist reliance on academically defined "fOJi:IDs
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and the emergeance of a spatial, architectural conception of
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forro in the music of Webern and Varèse can be regarded as
important compositional frameworks for the exploration ot
new tonal resource'. In terms of musical time, therefore,
much of the musical interest in traditional tonal styles
can be understood as the creati.on of plausible discontinuities
within established idioms and patterns, a view held by many
theorists with analytical perspspectives as different as those
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of Schenker and Leonard Meyer. 4 Conversely, much of the interest
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this relates to Langer and de Selincourt's notions {which deal

prirnarily with traditional forms} in only thé most general
way, their work will not be brought directly into this
discussion:
4. Without going into any detail on the differences~d .
c) similarities between these two perspectives, the~general
view of musical time asa manipulated continuity is expressed
in their selection of terminology such as Schenker's 'prolongation'
 7

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in twentieth century styles wou1d appear to be in the creation
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of a convincing continuity using musical materia1 for which no
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previous1y we11 estab1ished musical patterning has existed.

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Of the extra-musical models or constructs previous1y
mentioned, the spatial-architectural conception of form'intro-
duced in the music of Webern and va~èse has received widespread
attention and e1aboration among modern theorists and composers.
With the e1imination of any observable reference to traditiona1
harmonie direction in their music, both Webern and Varèse
cu1tivated different e1ements of • spatial , patterning; Webern
with his predilection for geometric syrnmetries in pitch and
ti~e, and Varèse with his representation ofshifting sonic masses
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of harmony and timbre. 5 This more 'visual1y' inspired
concept~on of form was further developed in the music of
Iannis Xenakis (Metastasis) where~there is a high1y sophis~cated
...
translation of the static spatial dimensibns of physica1
objects (height, length and depth) into the sonic dimensions
of pitch and time. Similarly, a type of graphie, spatial

i['

or 'interruption' or Meyer 'successive deviation' or 'the law 1,

1 of g.ood eont:b.nuationl(the latter term borrowed from Gestalt
psychology) •
5. Although it is necessary in this discussion to pass
briefly over the ~rincipal feature of individual styles,
a particu1arly valuable reference for othis aspect of Varese's
music can be found in his own description of the way in which
he conceived Integrales in ~ Poeme _F;l~_ct~on!g~e I.e CO;t"busie~/
Les Cahiers Forces Vivres, pg. 192. -
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model of musical forro emerged in the music of bath Ligetti
(Atmospheres, Voluminaland Stocfbausen (Gruppen)whdre
serialized timbraI and texturaI characters (each having ",j

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a more or less.static, directionless formaI organization) ,
are juxtapjosed much like the colours and surfaces of 1
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abs~ract painting. •
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These later works of Xenakis, Stockhausen and Ligetti, t

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in which there is a conscious translation of spatial images
4-)
into musical forro, are characterized by an absence of any
suggestion of moveme~t or direction, basic elements of
experience which were still present te a degree in tüe rhythmic
,
gestures of Webern and Varese, and which were among the
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principal features of the more traditional styles.

As Rochberg has pointed out concerninq the 'spatial'

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image of music, the central interest in the musical
experience is not in the fulfillment of long range goals, ,
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but in the more instantaneous perception of isolated forms
,
between which there may be a greater or les~er degree of
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continuity. The difference in degrees of internaI patterning
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between styles which are essentially 'spatial' in their
...
conception can be observe? in comparing the above works~of

6. Again, a valuable account' of this can be found in the

composer's own words. See Ligetti's "Metamorphoses of
() M~sical Form" in die Reihe, volume VII pg. 15.

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Xenakis and Ligetti with works of Boulez (Structures l et II)

and Cage (4'22"). Ligetti and Xenakis present isolated
L passages which have 'an observable~~lal coherence either in
texture, timbre, gesture or a
logic in The more an ti tele-
ological wcxks of Boulez and Cage, either by the imposition
~-.aü.Y__~",,~trary determinants of form (as in
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Boulez) consc~~us negation of intentional coherence (

(as i of Cagets music~ no perceivable

,
coher patterning emerges in the music at aIl. Forro in
.
these styles has only hhe most superficial long range,
unity which is understood as a duration ~ arbitrarily or
fortuitiously related events'. It is ~nteresting to not.
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Leonard Meyer's observation on the s~nse of static, direction-

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less time of this music.
"If only unique particulars, not the causal
connections between them are real, then no event
presumes or implies the existence of any other
event., If events,are without implication, it
mak~s no diffèrence in wha~ temporal arrang~ment
they are experienced or described. The worl4
is to aIl intents and purposes without directed
time. Moreover, even though the existence of
oausation be admitted,-' humaii time 1s without
direction when attention is foousae9 exclusively
on the,uniqueness of particulars."
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The general situation in coatemporary music is that

there exists a wide diversity in conceptions of musical forro

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7. Leonard Meyer, Music, the Arts and Ideas, (Chicago:
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( and in the way in which continuity and discontinuity can be

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understood by today's audiences. As Jonathon Kram~r has observed

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in a recent article, the different conceptions of time and
.
eXRerience i'n today' s music often reflect signifieant social and
cultural attitudes. Y
. "1 have written elsewhere about the cor-
relation between discontinuous life styles and
contemporary art. ,Since writing that article,
l have found lt increasingly difficult to exper-
ience mus ical con'tinui ty comfortahl y. There is
something artificial, something otherworldly,
about the idea that one musical event can actually
progress to another. Even listening to the Most
innocently linear tonal music involves sorne sense
of contradiction. The conflict is not in the
music; the conflict is between how the music
uses time and how a contemporary listener understands
time. Rec~n+: T'Q'isic that deals with time in new
ways has sought to solve this conflict and in so
doing it has struck rve centre in our culture.
( l refer ta antiteleolog al mUSi~(e.g., sorne works
of John Cage), which pr sent s~at c, endless Nows:
to process pieces (e.g , sorne wor s of Steve Reich)
that move inexorabl hrough weI defined gradual
changes (ls this a ~esperate attempt to recapture
continuity?) and to moment farrn pieces (e.g., 'sorne , \
works of Karlheinz Stockhausen) in which the music
consists of 'a succession of self contained sections that
do not relate to each other in Any functionally
implicative manner. However, composers of moment
fo~ pieces have not given ~p continuity entirelYi
that would be a fiction, because implication fs
still possible and-the discomfort of continuity
can he used positively. But implication is now
10calized becau~e it has become but one possibility
within a largè".'Universe~ continuity ia no longer
part of musical synt~, but rather it i5 an optional
procedù:çe.: , tt must bb created or denied anew in
each piece, and thus it is the.material and not 1 ·
t,e language of the music." 8

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8. r Jonathon Kramer, "Moment Form in Twentieth Centuty Music,"
Musical Q~lu'ter1y, (LXIV) (1978), p. 178-179.\
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( Kr remarks are an interesting ref1ection of the

, / uence which the 'spatial' image of music has had in the
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genera1 listening habits of contemporary audiences. At the

sarne time, however, Kramer points to the interesting P?ssi~

. .
exists in contemporary music, of creating iso1ated
within what he views as the qlobal1y static
nt of musical t~e which has pervaded contemporary
This latter observation will be of further relevance
study of Crumb's particular treatment of musical time •
iven thestylistiDdiversity~hich
. has emerqed in the recent
qarde, the analysis of musical time and esthetic
ience within indiviaual styles has an important place in
, .'
iscussion of contemporary music, as it has general1y
(
various perspectives in contemporary music thegry
current perspectives in music theory, however, the
analysis of musical time mûst be pursued within we11 defined
limitations., Ultimate1y, any type of observable formaI
patterning or implication of patterning many be relevant
to an individual's experience of a work since this will provide
~~

a basis for the subjective anticipation of events. Careful

considèration must be given to limit the discussion of pattern-
inq te firstly, those elements which are perceptually within
the grasp of a listener in a normal listeninq situation, and
secondly, those elements which are relevant to the, generally
accepted stylistic understanding of the music.
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This can be carr~ed out wi thin a tradi tional A\ierarch-
ical approach to analysis, focus~ing attention on different
. ?
'levels' of mean1ng and structure from the shortest signi-
" ficant gesture to the elements of long range unity. An

account of the basic aspects of form~l organization or \

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'musical language' will be ~ken as a basis for the analysis

of mu~ical time since this is the source of patterning and
"
predictability in a style. Although it is intere,ting to
uncover various hidden structural devices which reflect the
odeta~l
. of a composer , s conception of form, the central object
of this study will be the nature of the communicated effect
of a'style as it results from the elements of musical language
and basic factors of musifai experience. The traditionai
,
features of structural~~~gn,will therefore be discussed.
\

wherever possible in terms of their perceived effect and the

nature
1
of their signïficance within the hierarchical form and
within the particular 10gic of continuity of a work.
To these ends, this study will draw upon the approaches
to stylistic
, and formal analysis developed in the work of
Leonard Meyer (Emotion and Meaning in Music, Music, the Arts
~and Ideas), Jan La Rue (Guidelines for Style Analysis) and
Eugene Narmour (Beyond Schenkerism). La Rue's work delipeates
fundamental parameters of perceived form in music, as weIl as
basic common idioms which are found in respect to these
parameters in a wide variety of styles ~d periods. Althou9h
little specifie reference will be made to La-Ruels 1 Guidelines,
 13

\
his' genera1 approach to detai1ed ana1ysis '1il1 be strong1y
ref1ected in this study. In addition to the st~listic ~nd
structural elements of the more detailed ana1ysis, cértain
findings in the perception of rpythm and duration (more speci-
fically some of those which Paul Fraisse tias presented in î
The Psycholoqy of Ttme) will be referred to in order to objec-
1
tif Y certain claims made in the course of the study regarding
pattern predictabi.,(ity, Leonard Meyer's writinqs (an important
r
î
1
1

extension of which is found in Eugene' Narmour's'Implication-

Realization mqdel for analysis) will receive more specifie
,. reference since they relate d~rectly te the description of
1.

esthetic experience derived from the recognition and expectation

of formaI patterning in bath traditional and avant-garde styles.
( , '
~

f
1
1
1
'.

'.'
 - ~~~ -- ~~ ~-~-- ~-~ --------------~--------- -
......

14

( ,
CHAPTER II: CRUMB' S MUSICAL LANGUAGE

...
Much of 'the response which Crumb's music has enjoyed
,. ,
over the last fifteen years can be attributed to his unique 1
1
l
and convincing combination of typical elements of the avant-
l
garde with very fundamental and traditi?nal elements of 1
1
musical,patterning and effect. In generai terms, Crurnb's 1
style integrat~s very coloristic and often richly connotative 1
.
1

son~c (tonal and timbraI) imagery with a formaI elegance

which is readiIy apparent in the use of various terrns of
repetition and Iyricai dramatic gesture. As will be seen in
the followinq di$cussion, the unique quality of musical tirne

( in Crurnb's style can be related to both the isolated effects

, .p
of these b~sic elements and their role in the 'type of I~rger

meaning which Crumb creates over a whole composition.

It is interesting to relate the initial development of
Crurnb's style to an often citèd rernark which Schoenberg made
concerning his own-~rst attempts to establish formaI coherence
in his music in the absençe of any traditional functional
harmonic organization.
nA little while later, l discovered how to
construct longer forma by following a text or
1
i
poem. The difference in size and shape of its ,
parts and the change in character and mood were
mirrored in the shape and size of the composi-
tion, in its dynamdcs and tempo figuration and
accentuation, instrumentatioh and orchestration.
Thus the parts were differentiated as clearly
as they had formerly b~en by the tonal a~d structural
( functions of harrnony."

--
t,
 15 1
,
l '
! >

( , In his discussion of Schoenberg' s -,music, Charles Rosen notes

\ ......
a very essential connection between the formation of Schoen-
berg's a~onal style and the prevalent esthetic' ideals expressed
~--' )
1 -",/...r

in the poetry of ~ra~le, Heym, and ,to an extent in Stefan

, 1
;, :~'
George. IO An analysis of Crumb's style point~ to·a.simila~
, 11'
development and growth"of musical language from Crumb's associ- \
ation of his music with the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca.
The formative influence of Lorcadis plainly evident'in the
1
!
~

structural sense that in the several Lorca settings that Crumb

.
ha~ made, the text serves as a primary'element of linear
organization. ll On a more ~undamental creative level, however,
Crumb has also reflected in his music important aspects of the
forrn.and style of Lorca 's poetry.
(

Lorca's qeneral approach was decidedlv anti-intellectual.

Refusinq tovbe restricted to symbolist, ultraist or surrealist
dogmas, he partook freely~of aIl o~ these influences i~ a
poetry which ia openly lyrical and~ in i ts fonnali simplici t.y
-1
often suggestive of traditional popular styles.

9 Arnold Schoenberg, Stylé and Idea, (New,York, Philosophical

L ibrary) P. 106

10 Charles Rosen, Arnold ~choenberg (New York, Viking, 1~75) p. 14.

11 In more or less chronological order, Crumb.'s Lorca settings
include the following: Night Music l, Madrigals Bk. l, II, III,
IV, S6n s Drone and Refrains of Death, Niijht of the Four
, Moons, Anc e t Vo~ces 0 C ren.
J.
f
1
t

1
~
 Of ~

l'
1

. \

.' 1

'\ 16

( The principle content of Lorca's poetry reflects nis spiritual

communion with his immediate natural and social environment
(pre-faaçiat_~païn, eapecially ~dalusia and Granada) ~ lt's
widely ranging emotlonal,intensity is focussed on fundamen~al

psychic elementa of life usually ,in a primitive rus~ic setting.

Perhaps the best description of Lorca's influènce on,Crumb's
music can be found in Crumb,' s own words in his notes for the •
recording of Ancient Voicès of Children.

"Ih Ancient Voices of Children, as in my,earlier

Lorca settings, l have sought musical images that·
e~ance and reinforcè the powerful, yet strangely
haunting imagery of Lorca's poetry. l fee1 that the
essential meaning of this poetry is concerned with the
most primary things: life, death, love, the smell of
the earth, the sounds of the earth and sea.. These
"ur-qoncepts" are embedded in a language which is
primitive and si~rk, but which ig capable of infin1tely
aubtle n u a n c e . " ' .
Much of the.general atmosphere of Lorca's poetry ia immediately
"

compatible with the material with which Crumb was wot~ing in

0;.

the first pieces of his new style (Five Pieces for Piano,
E1even Echoes of Auturnn, Four Nocturnes and Niqht Music l. The
rich and etherea1,sonorities, the sudden expressionisti~ _
outbreak of dramatic tension, the isolated 1yrical figures, and,

AiICl·"f " , .
12 George Crumb,vVo~ces of Chi1dren, (New York, Nonsuch
Records, 1971, a-71255r notes, ,on record cover.
,

'.
 ,
-- ....-.----"'"

• ,
f.
-1

simplistic rep~titio~s aIl have significant parallels i~ Lorca's

poetry. In addition, much of the Lorcan gypsy worla is evoked
(especially in the lyrical settimqs) in purely musical,
connotative terms: for example, the suggestion of tr,aditional
folk instruments (guitar. or guitar immitations, flute and
drumming) the immitation of tradit~onal Spanish musical styl~
f (the bolero "Dance of~the Earth" of Ancient voices of Children,
v
the flamengo like', 'cadenza appassionate' of Songs, Crones
and Ref'~a.in8 of, Dea th) and the immitation, of the And&sian
'canto j9ndo' (a wildly emotional vocalization and lament which
,--. , 1~
. ... ..

is very common in the ru~tic Spanish folk tradition) in a

number of vocal works .

(
Of the very ~eneral features of Crumb's style mentioned
at the ~Pfriin~ of this chapter, bot~ the highly evocative sanie
, .
imagery, ~,nd the use of tradi tional elements of formaI
patferniJr ca.n be related explicitly to key~ elelllents of Lorca' •
. poetic style. Lorca's,rlch yet mov±ng imagery has received
i
much,att.ent,ion from critics for its. reference to a variety of
symbolic Archetypes. Howard T. Ydung has given' a valuable
. des~ription of this aspect of Lorca's verse which is strong-
,',
f
reflected in Crumb's mtisic.
., "One need think only o~ the roll of drums,
: tlle' blare of trumpets, or the wail of ~ slrl!n '1

: to real~ze that the re.ponse to such sounds is "

! universal. Lorca, in fact, seems to have ad~rat d
the Jungian idea of the arche type, t- that hidden
r • 1 l ,

"
.;
-, o
 ,1

,r
1,

18
o

( form or image sleeping in the b1ood,that

is quick1y released by certain objects, sounds,
or works of-art. Lorca, of coure~ knew nothing
of Jung, but he was weIl aware, as his descrip-
tion of the wai1ing dogs revea1s, that there
are terrors which date beyond the body, and that
there are subjectively known forms which art,
since its origins, has communicated by intuition,
or as he put it more poetically, by means of the
'mirror of the stars'. In his poetry, he tried
• to 'evoke such images as much as possible. His :,
lecture on the duende list~ a series of objects ,,
that'to him ultimately suggested death, and whether
or not each one connotes a similar feeling for
every reader, the implicatLon is, as Jung declared,
that these forms call for th from thel~nconscious a
reaction that is shared by mankind.
Prominent archetypal images in Lorca's poetry include "water"
(arnbivalentIy signifying a fear of death from drowning or
the life'giving force of the ocean), the wind (syrnbolic of
., spiritual presence) the moon (tradi tionally a goddess of
(
Iust and death), the vague impressions of certain colours

11
like green and orange (plant life, decay, and fire) as well
1>.
as the natural polariz.tion of l,ight and darkness. Crumb'~

vocabulary of sonic archetypes inc1udes an equa1Iy great variety

1. \
of s9und,s, sorne of which are easily identifiable as suggesting
,t 1

j
1 the wind or any of the extreme lyrical gestures (screaming 1
t \. ,
1

tt
or whispering} and others which havé more vague associations
but which are neontheless f9r~eflll ~n_ their effect, (ike. acute
,1
J
i high register ~ttacks (struck of plucked), sirenlike glissandi
in the strings, the muffled raar of the low "
regis~er piano 1,

1 f :.
\1
"
, -
'13. Howard T. Young, The Victorious Exaression. (Madison,
University of Wi$consin Press, 196 ), p. 20~ ,
 .....

19
,,

( strings (activated by the palm of the hand) , any of the

delicate bell or gong sounds or instances of timbres sustained
as drones. The esthetic effect of Crumb's use of this
material is such as Howard T. Young has described of the
symbolic archetypes in Lorca's poetfY. These 90unds and
gestures create a direct and intuitive response in the listener
by virtue of very strong and more or less universal associ-
)/
ations. As isolated events, they have subjective meanings
',..
in and of 'of themselves which are immediately memorable and

distinctive.
)

In addition to the strong archetypal elements of

Cr~'s imagery, rnuch of the effect of his rnaterial is felt
(
in its very distinctive connotative significance for western
1) •

audiences. This would include the rich variety of timbral

and tonal colorations such as the various evocations of
i
rustic Spanish styles mentioned earlier, other exotic:
evocations like the use of gong sound~, Chinesei~emPle blocks,
the '.mira, lujon, sitar, jew's harp, banjo, whistling as
\
weIl as the use of quotation from tonal and modal styles •
.' ,

"These elements which involve more stylistically Jd cultur~lly

learned associations
, contribute
, , to the sense of t eatric
and symbolic interaction'which ia often implicit in Crumb's .'
i 1

i
1 integration of disparate materials.
i

1
(

1
1.,
1.
i
 "-

20

A further important stylistic parallel between Orumb

,/
and Lorca caft~~een in their integration of the archetypal
and connotative effects of their images into a larger ~orm

and meaning. The poetic framework within which Lorca presented

his
.
imagery varied in the ~ourse of his work from the~ simple
repetitive, song-like styles to the more vague and tenuous
patternings ~f his ultraist or surrealist infl~~nced poetry.
Even in his treatment of the more abstract and spontaneously
organized styles, there remains a consistency of poetic and
thernatic logic which was often abandoned by the more dogmatic
artists of this time. ~

"Lorca certainly utilized the surfealist

manner~ first in his odes around 1926, and certain
of the Gypsy Ballads, such as the "somnambu1 istic
( Bal1ad". We must note that Lorca declared that
he never quite surrendered to the unconscious
, and even his surrea1ist poems have a 'poetic
) logic '. In actual fact, ..".ince by definition
the unconscious remains \tnaccessible to the
conscious mind, no dne can utilize the uncon-
scious de1iberate1y, but the poets have been
able to work with the syrnbols of the unconscious.
What Lorca means by 'poetic ~ogic' seans to be
that whereas sorne surrealists tended to utter
massive incoherence, his surrealis. poems
general1y have a thematic' development. The
outstanding feature of his surrealist poems
is that iiey seem to have corne from a dream
state. "
One of the cen~ral.features in much of Lorca's poetry
is the combinatiofÎ'
o ..,..r
of a clear and elegant formaI patterning
__ _

with the symbolic depiction of a spontaneous psychic awareness.

14. Carl Cobb, Federico Garcia Lorca (New York, Twayne,

( 1967), p. 43.

.J
 21

( As will be discussed Iater in more detail, Crumb's music

demonstrates a comparable variety of patterning from s~ple

quasi traditional repetitive forms ta the more dream-like

'j+

stream of consciousness' passages where,despite the generai

rhythmic freedom and spontaneity,there is still a perceptible
thematic and gestural organization. f In terms of their organi-
zation of esthetic effect, both Lorca's poetry and Crumb's
music present a balancing of the subtle spontaneous insight
with a sen~e of long range form and patterning.

This general parallelism in style can be found in

virtually any of Crumb's settings of Lorca texts, but the
·Cancion de Jtnete" (Song of the Rider) from Songs, Drones
(
and Refrains of Death is particularly worth taking as an
example, (see the schematic s.umma~ ,table l, page 22~23 and
tranlation orf the tegt, page.. 24 )., wi tl:).out going into any great
detail, it can be seen that the torca poem consists of a
very simple juxta~osition and sequencing of images and~
\.
expressions. A certain 'stream of consci~ness' effect is
created in the discontinuity in the succession of ideas
r
J
(shifting from the questions to the Iittie horse to spontaneous
visions of the violence associated with the death of the rider) 1
1
and also in the irnagery itself-ïn 'the mixing of the features
of the horse and rider with those of the night ("In the black
moon bled the mountainside", nThe night spurs its black flanks

( J piercing with stars. n ) Crumb's setting captures much of the

22
1
f
f ''''',

TABLE I: FORMAL Oun.INE OF 'CANeION DE JINETE'

"En la luna negra

de los bandoleros,
\ cantan las espeuUs • I l

drumming pa ttern stacatto chorde arpeggiation

(tambourine» luj on) (electric harpsi- (hpschd.)
chord)
;,
~, Il las duras espuelas 1
deI bandido inlIlovil i
que perdito la riendas."

drumming pa ttern stacatto chorde arpeggiation

(cro tales ~ tam tams, (hpschd.) (hpschd.)
FDo. ~s strings,
c.b .. ) 1
~ arpeggiation glissando
df'umming pattern incisive high register
gui tar figure (hpschdt) (guitar
( timbales)
hpschd. )

"La noche, espolea

sus negros ijares
clavandose estrellas."

drumming patte;rns incisive guitar glissando

(crotales t tom toms figure (guitar, hpschd.) j
tambotirine, cb. luj on) 1

"i'y el cuerno"
..., "largo"
3
~ .-:-" ", Donde .:llevas tu jinete muerto?"
'eb. tremolo glissando \ }
!
"
Abbreviations: hpschd. - harpsichord glsp. glockenspiel
ch. - contrabass vbph. - vibraphone
pno. - piano guit. - guitar
 ....

~.~ . __ .. ~-

23

( 1

"Caballito negro
~ Donde llevas tu j inete

glissando
muerto?"

repetitive tntenvallic
,
(hspc.hd. vbph.) patterns
(hp~chd., cb., guitar)

1
"Caballito frio 1
\ ;Que pèrfume de flor de
cuchillo!"
1

• glissando repetiti»e intervallic

(guitar glap.) patterns (hpac.hd. t c.b. t guitar)
"En la luna negra sangraba "Caballito negro. ;'"fiOnde
el c.ostado de Sierra Morena. l' i!levas tu j inete muerto?"
( drumming, gui tar glissapdo repetitive intervall1c
figures, hpschd. (hpschd., glsp.) patterns (cb. hpsc.hd.
chords guit.)

"Caballito frio
,L
1 Que perfume de flor de cuchillo!" ";un grtto!"
En la luna negra,
"J
fepetitive 'Cadenza appassionata' climactic chard
intervallic. . . . ( two ' drUDlllers)
patterns

short "de la hoguera. ft "caballtto negro."

repetitive
pattern

, 1
 1
-. 24
'..,

SONG OF THE RIDER, 1860

In the b1~ck" moori

of the highwaymen
the s purs e ing •
Little black horse.
Whither with your dead rider?
• •• ~The hard spurs '
of'the motionless bandit
who lost his reins. '
Little cold horse.
What a 'seent of the flower
of a knifè!
In the black moon
bled the moun tains ide
of Sierra Morena.
Little black horse.
Whither with'your dead rider?
1 • ,

The night apurs

( its black fLanks
piereing with stars.
Little cold horse. \

What a seent of the flower \

of a knifel~ . \

\
In the black moOh,
a shriek! and the long
~.' hom of the bonfire.•
Little black horse.
Whither with your dead rider? , j
1

Translation by
(oStepqan Spender and
J .L. Gili

"

( )
 25

mystery and subjacent violence of the poem, in a very straight-

(
forward word painting which can be heard in a driving rhythmic
pulsation (the drumming patterns immitative of the horse's
"
gallop) developing through a wide spectrum of percussive
\.
timbres. Similarly obvious immitations are made by the
baritone of the horses neighing and the 'scream' (line (22 of
the text). One particularly striking effect in this pi\ce
which can be directly related to the imagery of the text is
a recurrent high and incisive attack in the guitar suggestive
of the 'piercing knife' image. The 'piercing' figure arises
,
similarly in the subsequent song, ~Cassi~a of ~e Boy_ Wo~d!!d_by'
.
th~ W~t~r~ in association with "his heart pierced through by
the dark thrust of water." Again. in this piece, the reflection
(
of Lorca's imagery ~s felt quite directly in both a type Of\
musical 'water' image (a slowly oscillating legato figure) ~iCh
pervades the opening texture, and i~ the evocation of the
'wind'and 'nocturnal murmurs' of the text in whispered speech
and whispered melody.

)1

In addition to the tonie elaboration of Lorca's imagery,

there is a noti.ceable re f~ctian of the cyclic form of"Cancion
\

de Jinete"in the accompaaying and incidental music. The long 1

range periods defined in the text by the repeti~ion of ~èy .. 1

phrases and images is also seen in Crumb's.~e-iteration of 1.

•
musical material8. The sense of a repeating Meditative rhythm
which 8eems to control the appe~rance of ,the various poetic
 ••
26

i\

( and musical images, also creates another ûnportant effect in

this passage in the immediate predictability which arises
within the repeated material 4 Subtle changes in the text
('Li~ttle black h~se' becoming 'Little cold horse.') and
deviations in Crumb's musical images (apparent mostly in
chahges of instrumentation or in the inclusion of additional
effects) create interest in detail of the material as the larger
rhythm unfolds. One further aspect of .the deviation in the

) recurrent materials of this passage is the graduaI dramatic

and dynamic development which reaches a climax in the 'cadenza
appasionata' and the chard at ";un grito!" and which dies away'
in a s~ries of isolated pianissimo phrases and gestures.
This particular element of Crumb's music will be discussed
later in more detail.

In addition ta the influence of Lorca's poetry, an

important musical precedent for the 'stream of consciousness'
element of C~IS style can be seen in the music of Charles
lS
Ives. Rosalie Perry, in Charles Ives and the American Mind
relates the stream of consciousne~s style in Ives t~ the
influence of the American transcenden~list literary tr;dition
î
! 1 (ThOre~ Emerson and Whitman) and the analytic interest in

r the subconscious and memory which grew

of Freud, William James and Carl .rJung.
out of the writings,
She qites the fOllowing

(
15. See pages 40 - 55 in particular.
.p
)
 27

~~e t~ical 'stream of consciousness' idioms of Ives:

the use of tunes or effects for which lis~eners would have
specifie associations or memories, the contrast between
metric and non-metric rhythmic organization, rhetorical
devices signifying diff~rent psychological states, the
simultaneous representation of diyerse elements in a continu-
.-
.
ous complex of sound, as the use of theatric or programma tic ~
l

suggestions as part of the general conception and form of

a work.

1
Virtually aIl of these general featu~s are to be found
in Crumb's music. As already mentioned, ~e use of quotation
,--
and materials ~hich have clearly understood connotati~
"(
is an important part of the sense of symbolic psychological

.
representation in Crumb's music. Similarly the contrast of
metric an~ nonmetric rhythmic organizatioQs and superpositions
~ \

of a diversity of material in a type of /montage' can be

interpreted in Crumb's music as in Ives' as representations
of different psychological states of awareness. This is again
quite straiqhtforward. In Crumb's music, for\ftxample,
different emotional characters (like 'mechanico' or 'with a
sense of destiny') which can only be represented in metric
.1
,
1
notation are often juxtappoaed with typically nonmetrie 1

character s. (i.e. spontaneoua outpourings of frenzied

emotian or the slow and floating dream like evocations
where one event 8eems to flow freely one into the next) •
~
 28

The contrast in crumb's music of passages of a simple

succession of events with those which consist of a complex

'"
of superimposed events May also have a 'stream of conscious-
ness' significance as representations of simple linear and
expanded, complex senses of awareness. Additionally, in
mu ch of Crumb's music, there is an underlying dramatization
in the interaction of the performers and the succession of /
,
various psychological and emotional states. This emerges
overtly in spoken fragments, and in the integration of simple
theatric gesture15into the work. 16 Nightof Four Moons (for
alto, alto flute, banjo, 'cello and percussion) and Ancient
Voices of Children are two good examples of this latter
feature. In each case, a rnode~t theatric gesture occurs at
the end of the work, but acquires interesting symbolic meaning
from previously, implied musical dramatic relationship between
players of the ensemble. In Aneient Voiees of Children , the
soprano on stage is joined by the boy soprano who ~inally

emerges from his position backstage, suggestive of a mother

being joined by her child. In Night of Four Moons aIl players
except the 'cello exit one by one, strik:i!'ng as they leave,
an antique cymbal which is identical in pitch to a high note
~

16. The example of an underlying theatriciz~tion in Ives'

music to which Perry draws particular ~tention is the
Second String Quartet, but an interesting continuation of this
stylistie element of American composition which bridges the
gap between Ives and Crumb and his contemporaries can be
( seen in the music of Elliot Carter and in particular his
Second String Quartet.

"
 • •
"
Il

29

sustained by the 'cello.

•
The departed players then play
a type of Mahlerian lullabye ('Musica Humana') which alternates
with the 'cello's eerie modal glissando melody ('Musica
;"
Mundana'). Crumbs own description of the ending of Night ,
of Four Moons is worth noting.
"The epilogue of the song (Through the
sky goes the moonl holding a child by the
hand") was conceived as a simultaneity of
two musics: "Musica Mundana" '( "~sic of the
Spheres") and ",Musica Humana~'Music of
Mankind") performed offstage by the singer,
alto flute, vibraphone and banjo. The off-
, stage music is to e1t\erge and fade like a
distant radio signal. The Ft tonality oft
the "Musica Humana" and the theatric gesture
of the preceeding processionals recalls the
concludip,.gl~ages of Haydn's "Farewell"
Symphony. \
f'
It should be stressed, however, that the 'stream of
consciousness' idiom does not dominate the 'qnificance of
Crumb's music. It is rare that anything more than an
isôlat~d programma tic meaning is to be found in C 's

music in relation to either the theatric gestures Or t

succession of different episodes within a work. As will be
seen later in more detail, one of the central features of
Crumb'~ style is his combination of these el~ments of 'stream
of consciousness' with the implication of abstract,
formaI organization.

The integration of a great diversity of material within ,'

( 17. Georqe C:;rumb, ~i9ht of Four Moons (New, York" Columbia

1974, M -32739 , notes on record cov~r.
 -~

.,

30

one form can also be understood as a general stylistic

tendency in the development of western art music. In
cornmenting on a remark made co him by Grpsvenor Cooper,
Leonard Meyer notes the significance of the communicatio~

of a ~ype of abstract,"' all-embracing or 'monumer(tal'

stylistic Imàge in wes~ern music. , ,

" As my col;teague Grosvenor Cooper hàs

pointed out, one of the salient idea~ of
Western culture and a hallmark of " r

"gre.atness" in Western art at 1eas( since

the Renaissance, has been that of monumentality.
To capture and conununicate a sense of the "'
scope and magnitude of creation - the variety ..... '
and 'iilUl tipI-ici ty of things', composers as well as
·artists' and writers have found it appropriate
to bring together a wealth of diverse materials,
often pl~cing these in sudden and ~io1ent ,
juxtapositfori'. (One ,need on1y think of a •
Bach ~assion, a Beethoven symphony" or" a "
play by Shakespeare.) One way.ot combining
and uniting contrasting ideas into a coherent 1
who1e, reconci1ing seemingly incompatible
events, is to subsume them on some higher
order - to e~ody them within a hierarchica1
s ttucture • n
The type of musical 'moriumenta1ity' which Meyer describe~
/
and which e1sewhere Joan Kunse1man-Cordè,s has shown to be
a very prominent feature in contemporary American avant-
garde musi~ 19 is o1ear1y ref1ected in Crumb's notes for~the
Voiçes of Chi1dren~
.
:1

18. rT~~~~~~~~~~I~d~e~a~s. (Chicago,

12-313.

(,
.'
 Î_.
1
_ •• _ ... _~
,
__ ,. _ _ _ ""I!"'t--

1
t
31

• •
r
i

"In composing Anciènt Voices of Children-,

-, l was' const:ious of an urge te> fuse various '.
unrelated stylistic elements. l was intrigued
with the idea o.f jux taposing the seemingly
ineongruous: a suggestion of Flamenco ,with ~
Baroque quotation •••• or a reminiscence of
"
Mahler with a breath of the Orient. It later'
occurred to me that both Bach and Mahler ~
, 'drew upon Many disparatè sources in their own 20
. music' withC?ut sacrificing "stylistic~purity". .
Turning now to some of the more detailed features~f

.C~umb' s
, musical' language, ·ït is, convenient ta "diseuss
~ \). ..,
. \

formaI patterning in his style in terms of three traditional

levels of analysis: 'detail' (the shortest perceivable
el~nts of meaning), inter.mediate syntactic forms (of which
there may b~ man y , depending on the length
. and complexi ty of
'

the music) and ,long r~ge patterns or fo~, (the general uni ty .
.
(
.
over a whole composition) •. These tnree~levels will serve here
,
aS,a generai basis x?r ~ description of Crumb's music, and
the principles'of organizati~n which:wo~ld appéar ta constitute
'- .' . ,

a type. of ',musical language' •. The. iinalysis of musical time-

~ , • ' -! ~

in this study will al~b he concerned'with the inte;action and

effect of these l~veis Qf patterning, and how they contribut~

,<
aiong with the extra-mu~'ical elements which have jus.t been
i,discussed., in the general musical image.

The orCJ,aniz'àtion of detail in Crumb' s music is generally

, ,
:a.ssim11at~d in ~e styles' of severa! prOl1\inent .contemporary
American com~er.' including crumb~
. "

20 • George Crufub,
Anc'iént Voices" of'., ChUldren, (New York,
(
~~UCh l\èÇC)~dS: 1971.em:
not~s ,on reCO~d cover.
 ,....-- - - --~-"""""'-

32

'"'~
( ,
aceomplished through the combination of short rhythmic,
and harmonie gestures into longer sequences or complexes.
\

In this sense, Crumb's control of the basic campositional

elements Of harmonie and melodie continuity bears a notice-
able similary to that of the early free atonal styles of
S~hoenberg and Webern.
"As in several of my other works, the
musical fabric of (Music for a) Summer Evening
results largely from the elâboratian of tiny
cells inta a sOft af mosaic design. +his time
hallowed technique seems ta functian in much
new music irrespect~ye of style as a primary
structural modus.~
'l'he rale of this aspect in Crumb' s musical langu"age
in ·the effect of his music can be studied very clearly in

!,.. (
an analysi of one of his shorter pieces. "No piensan en la
lluviëi, y e han dormido." (Magrigals, Bk.l, number two)
is a ·parti for this purpose because it
\

,j demonstrates the combination of the small cellular units

or gestures into bothlonger sequences and complexes. (See
score on pages 33 and 34) •
1 ...
)

.
..
\ /

The nature 9~ the rhythmic organization in "NO piensam •.• "

is qui~e free and straightforward. The opening cristalino
'~tonat;on' and the 'molto delicato' copsist very simply
of sequences of articulated gestures, i.e. the long syllabic
\ ~hords of the intonation, the raindrop-like staccato pitches
","

() 21. George Crumb, Music for a Summer Evening, (New York,

Nonsuch Records, 1975, 71311), notes on the record'
eover. c'
---------0- ~------ -- ~-- -- ---~._- - ~-_ .. _-~

____,. _._
. ... ~--J! ~~~'U;{........,~~~~""'i - ... - .( ~

.-...
"--",'
~

EXAMPLE 1: No piensan en la Iluvia, y se han dorm ido

(They do not think of the rain, and they've fallen asleep)
(r,.t4 Ii"0
Molto dt!liu.to If. CCl 6"]
s.-

f'
"...rh-
~ ~ 3
:1) ........wO'*1!J.k!y'f'
~jD 3Sip (1'r~~o
,-- ••
P.d
-=
::::;;;0-
- -
I..:;:-....
r.: ---
l1- PP'"
- -
J

1
- 1____ •
.-.-
........ 1"1

1
....
.• 1'• .1. _ •• _ • _-ppp
1

•• _(INI''''';J-)
]

~!
II~
_
i ~~,F
.~

f •• ,......I.
~ 1 . ..... ,

:T! A
1 -tII.--
_ra tïâ~ 1 ,.;.~.I
Co"t..Io.u W=f::5E!!~ri_. ,q.",;.I;=:t '-i4s±
PD
....

~' -- ~r'~' !'(:Pp ,l, .. ,.,., ............"

(tl •• __.,...)

Rain-death music I.

s.,.....
---- Tempo ulol"tClm.nt. mttron_ico; d.Ii,..tiasimD
.~
--- ~ k-'-. t \
" ..!il
ppp (J-r.' [./'. loi ~ ....".. (f'U~'" 1
., " ,
et)
~_ _ (la ...."") .---.~
·-_illt.·
.. ,,/0...)
-:-:--+-.. .,

~
"".""'~
:, v:c=::::::;:
!'.
lE
-~ •••~
t,_"••.•I.,o.t

di2ii ._~~~
1.. -

~ ~" (~ ~ ==dr
\ '~,:r'~' ~ ~1f (~?: s~
••,.. ••• II"-.. ,) Irh.)

-:fiii p;:
-; 1
r eL '~ [ 1::
,_,~~! é1i' . .~.'ri;' ~jji' !ll~. o. .~ lN

of: f 'r f.it f ',\il'! II ft

lN

Ë ~bt Cg:! [ r
,.u ..~. 't, ~ .~ )t
*' '.r"._,.r ". . ., ........,tt .'rr..... u•..'''''r *~~ n. \ .1 ".~..,~... f~, ~ J"" c...... ~ ....

..
VI\".'''-''' h.,IIft.... d .rl "..~oHC. ~,.t.e;,., 1h te .. al Il.. 1. M.. t .....,
,I.. t .... 4 ,Ir." .. , p'." • '" .. "_",If' ... ~ ...";1 'hl. k ..........e. ...... , t... (I)
" ............ f_J ...... I.l
•• & "H
'
- ~ .... ~ "'!J'" ~~~~r"" ... ~l_'t
.,~;~; ~::
h .. _R

_________ r-- __ 111..-. __

.II
 = e ~ 4
~ -'"~- '";;'" -.... ,- ...
-._~""--
.1

s""_~

('~)
rt~
~ .·
~~-~~'_11 !!Î!:fo ~-r:..

p
(St •• o ,..l)

c..t.." ...i
~~~~
~ 5fr--;!
~~
~ ~
Y:;$
f ;.- - _.J
............
W'·

1tF"~~'l ru
Cri.t.h"o PI"

~ If.

,_,:!,'éé,
nJ
$.,.-
~
•
(~;J _
r •
(~~'
·.;.
f
h' . , - M
ca::a
f
" ~ .• , •.

v,~ ...."-
~i!ttfth[1B
(:-,),oqqo; !;::.--~
!. !.

c_t..ko' ~~ fi-$
~

r;"_- f"k

VI!.,.'" M I,J \;uJ. 1t r

ffi ,
} ! j il - l' -
'~'t!Bf1 .. ·1'I.,ft: J••1to .... :. JI ~ .~..Il
\« ......t.....ll~"
Lo :.(•• ~.\.I, .~.,

...") Th, ~ ~k..........,,"-IL"'~' J•• t... t,

W
.ta.

.........J" ,-..I..,.J
c...t..."""

.. ..
~~,,~,t_~~ !tw.**~-------:~-~~~

'"
 35

,
( 1 (forming overlapping echo-like intervallic patterns between
the soprano and vibraphone) and the series of vibraphone
(and contrabass) arpeggiations. 'Rain Death Music l'presents
a complex of raindrop-like activity which fprms a graduaI
rise and fall in harrn~ic and rhythmic density and recedes
into the simpler texture with the entrance of the soprano. A
certain structural layering of rhythms and temp~s can be
observed h~re
•
with ost.nato rhythms (in synchronous five
six~enth and four sixteenth measures) in the contrabass
and vibraphdhe (left hand), but with the free occurrance of
short stacatto gestures in sextuplet rhythm (vibraphone right
hand) the general effect is that of a single short complex
l~
of activity from which certain short isolated gestures will
(
momentarily protrude. The reduced texture at the end of
'Rain-Death Music l'creates a sense of return to the simplistic
succession of gestures i.e., the stacatto rain-drop-like
figures, the short melodic ornamèntation on 'lluvia' and the
vibraphone and contrabass arpeggiations (which suggest a short -
recall of the more extended texture of
p
'Rain-death Music l', but
fade into a legatto articulation with the melodic return of
the soprano on 'en la 1Iuviia'). 'Like Rain-Death Music r',
Rain-Death Music II'presents a 'raindrop complex' which
gradual~ builds in densi ty and rece des leaving the soprano t i

unaccompanied for the final 'y se han dormido'. In this passage

.'
as well as in the preceeding 'Molto delicato' and ~in-Death

( ) Music I~ the text has an important role ~n the general rhythmic

 \ 36
(

( and melodie organization since with the exeption of the orna-

ment on 'lluvia ' , it is treated sy1labieally and ereates
melodie grouping in aecordanee with its natural articulation
and intonation. The interesting features which 'Rain-Death
II'adds to the general rhythmic development is the accelerated
activity (~= 120) and the sense of rhythmic pulsation,
perhaps as if i t had begun to rain steadily as th e Iiliece
cornes to a close.

In looking at the harmonie and melodic structure of the

,
music, it is possible to see a control of intervallic tension
which has a significant effect in the succession of individual
events wi th in the piece. Wi thin the general rhythmic structure,
(
certain common aton~1 intervallic groupings are made to
predomi~te at different points. The fiirst two of the opening
'cristalino' chords, (F-Ft-G-Gt and B-C-Ct-D) for example, .
contain an equal predominance of the semitone between pitches.
The third ehord of the series (A-Bb-D-DtE)" is similar in its
1

semitone content, but is differeniated harmonically from the j

1

first two chords by the presence of the intervals of the

tritone and perfect fourth. 22 Although the analysis of

22. It must be admitted that the effect of the spacing of

a chord has a considerable effect in the general harmonie
,, tension. Pitch groups in close position or compact position
~ will not have the same auraI effect as if they are diffused
.
"

over a wider register. In this discussion, a general equi- '.

valence is assumed between primary intervals, (unison, seconds,

( i thirds, four th s , and tritone) and their inversions in order
" not to become too caught up in acoustic detail, but at the
same time, to establish an intuitively reasonable basis
 . -- - ~ - _."

37

! ,
( vertical and horizontal intervallic tension is not as simple
~, in the following more rhythmically complicated passages, i t
is still entirely possible to distinguish auraI groupings
(determined by adjacent pitches in melodic gestures, or in
sorne cases by the pitches on the individual syllables of the
text) which repeatedly emphasize certain interval relations.
The 'molto delicato' section, for example, begins with a
/ grouping (B-C-C#) which features the semi-tone relation.
Subsequent groupings, the Bb-E-A-O# (G# could also he included)
at 'piensam' the C-F#-B-E# at 'la lluvia' and the two
arpeggiations E-B-D#-A-D and F-B-E-A#-D# aIl combine the
tritone and semitone in structures which are identical to both

( the third chord of the opening intonation and the melodic

contour in the soprano which is outlined by aIl of the three
chords of this sequence. 23 It is worth noting that this subtle

for describing the succession of the basic musical materia1.

A similar type of harmonie analysis has a1ready been proposed
by Eugene Narmour in Beyond Schenkerism (see pages 158-162)
where the vertical intervallic content is noted in detail and
discussed in terms of musical time, as harmonie process or
movement from relative consonance to relative dissonance.
23. In the interest of avoiding an overly structural approach
to the musical form, a detailed set theoretic analysis
will not be presented here. It should be noted that the
principal intervallic groupings isolated in this discussion
refer to a number of possible set forma. The 'semitone' group-
ing8 in which there i8 a predominance of the semitone, and
to a less~ extent, the whole tone, refer to groups like
B-C-Ct, or B-C-Ct-D or transpositions of them. The 'semitone
p1:us tritone' groupings refer to any groups for.med by the
alternate superposition of tritones and fourths or tritones
and fifths such as~c-G-c" C-G-ct-Gt, C-G-Ct-Gt-D or C-F-B,
C-F-B-E, C-F-B-E-B. Bere there is a more or less equal
predominance of the semitone, tritone and fourth or fifth.
 ....

38 .

( coherence in the intervallic tension is· contradicted in two

'~
places in this section with interesting effects. The repeti-
tion of the E#-G# creates a deviation in harmonie coloration
,
from predominance of ~emitone and tritone', as does to a certain
extent, the major third of the vibraphone arpeggiations (A-G#-
c- F#-E#) before the beginning of 'Rain-Death Music.I'.

While the'semitone' groupings and 'semitone plus tritone'

groupings may be found in the opening of'Rain-Death Music
r~ (in the pitches of the contra bass ostenato, and in
numerous ways in the vibraphone patterns they are spread over
a very wide register abd wi à superposi tion of the v~rious f
patterns, no recognizable harmonie tension ia heard until
(
the texture thins out. With the re-entrance of the soprano
and the text, the superimposed 'semitone plus tritone'
tension returns (sarne pitch content as in the pppp vibraphone
1 •

arpeggiaticin of the preceeding section, but aomewhat different

reqistration) and is again fully evident in the vibraphone
and contrabass arpeggiations, and short soprano reiteration
before the omament on' 'lluvia' •

. The soprano ornamentation on 'lluvia' in 'Rain-Oeath Music

~
1
,
r'accentuates a type of wbole-tone relationship between
1

J pitcpes (A-G-C' and O-C-FI would be melodic figures within

different Whole' tone scales) and as such consti tutes a mom-
entary harmonie coloration, which suggests something of the
1
1
~
 "
,

39

( ,
spontaneous Andahsion 'canto'. The coLoristic and evocative
aspect of Crumb's control of harmony and pitch organization
becomes more pronounced in later works (Lux Aeterpa, Black
Angels, and the Makrokosmos Volumes I, II, and III) where
there js alarger scala monumentalist organization of. tonal
connota.:tions.

The reiteration of the cristalino 'intonation' is in

the first two chords, identical in harmonie ten-sion to the
opening but in a more compact spacing. The third chord, in
addition to occurring on a different syllable also presents
~ ~

a very slight harmonie deviation in that the contrabas~

,~

-( harmonie E. does not fit into the 'semitone plus tritone'

grouping of the other pitches. Although'Rain-Death Music II'
is very active and harmonically unstable, it is still possible
to see a progression from harmonie groupings which emphasize
the semitone (GiA-Bb , B-C-Ci, G-F*-F etc.) ~ those which
involve the'semitone plusitritone' structure. As in ~ain-
,
( Death Music I~ this latter intervallic grouping predomina tes
i
. ,i in the Melodie line.

In addition to the transposed recurrence of certain

intervallic groupings, there is a distinctly noticeable
recurrence of the tritoneB -F in the high register of the .. .\ ~

.,'~ '
~
vibraphone which lends a slight suggestion of tonal 'return' i
l"

( ) or patterning. The points at which this particular interval

 -- -- - -- -------- -~~--~--~- -
....

40

7'

aqd registr~tion occur are also fairly significant in terms

-~-
of the general form and gesture , of the piece, namely in 'the
arpeggiation at the close of the 'molto delicato' section and·
at the end of the 'rain drop' complex of 'Rain-Death Music Il
and in a similar position toward the end of 'Rain-Death
Music II'. i
i

From this very brief discussion of C~umb 1 S treatment 1

of the traditional' compositional elements of intervallic
tension, it can be seen that the transposition of small cellular
units providea a feature of immediate "low level" coherence
and differentiation in the succession of individual rhythmic
gestures. The long range repetive form of the piece is reflec-
(
ted only to a limited extent in details of pitch and harmonie
tension, i.e., the intervallic similarities in the different
statements in the text, in the 'cristalino' intonation and
in the recurrence of the high register e-~ in eaeh of the
three major passages. The type of patterning that dominates
the immediate succession of gestures in this~piece anft j
,
.!
generally in Crumb's cellular intervallic organization
ia essentially one of harmonie coloration in whieh a certain
consistency of harmonie tension is established (in this case
!
~ the semitone and'semitone plus tritone' g~oupings) and certain
1

figures and more complex textures provide momentary deviations

from the predominant tensions •
."
(
 41

Much of the particular esthetic experience in this style

can be studied in terms of the principal types of pattern
closure which will be perceived by a listener as a work
progresses. Certain types of pattern closure in Crumb's
work are qui te straightforward and need not be discussed in
~

any detail. The opening 'intonation' for example, terminates

in a very obvious closural gesture - 'the diminuendo al
niente'. Another intuitively apparent indication of
clos ure and articulation lS the amount of time left between
successive gestures such as the three second pauses (before
'mol to delicato' and before the return of the cristalino
'intonation')or the fermatas or short pause indications. A
1
n~ural closure arises in the 'molto delicato' section from
f
, 24
simple rhythmic pulse and the slow tempo, upon which are super-
imposed'tne articulatiQn ~ the words and phrases of the text
and the patterning of intervallic symmetries between the soprano

\ 24 •• Research by the eminent French psycholoq!st, Paul Fraisse

has indicated some possible guidelines "for judgements
of the perception of events in sequence. fraisse- sugqests
generally (see page 123 of The PS*Choloçy of Time, transe by
Jennifer Lei th» that even ts whic follow. at a cléser interval
Chani.7 seconds will ten4 to b~ heard as a single coherent
flow. At approximately .7 seconds between each event, they ,
1
t
will be heard as individual events in direct succession, and
,1 at inte,~als of more than .7 seconds, the impression'is that
t of isolated occurrences. The individual stacatto pitches ?
of the 'molto delicato' section occur at abou~e every
", second, which ia faster than the succession of the 'cristalino'
1
( tones, but still slow encSugh to create the general impression
1
1 of isolated events rather than a unified flow.
1

!
t
 1

42

ana vibraphone. 25
The subsequent vibraphone arpeggiations create an
interesting forrn of melodic closure in their departure and
return to a specifie piteh, the D natural in the first of
these, and the F natural of the pppp arpeggiation whieh
is recalled '-'(E# tremolando) before the beginning of 'Rain-Death
Music 1: As already mentioned, 'with the constant re-iteration
of the t' natural in that register, ~t becomes a point of long
range melodie return in the accampanying music.

An important point in the general prbgress~on of the

piece is reached at the reiteration of the text in'Rain-
Death Music I~~ince this is the first strong indication of a
repetitive linear patterning. The return of the text in
(
the sarne general melodie setting creates bath immediate and
long range expectations based upon what Leonard Meyer has termed
'successive eomparison', or the anticipation of repetition.

25. Webern' s concise~5 of gesture and the depiction of

'crystaline' intervallic symmetries which were mentio~ed
briefly in the first chapter are strongly reflected in Crumb's
music. As in Webern's music, this feature af meladic design
lends an additional formaI elegance to the rhythmic definition
of the individual gestures. As an aside to this discussion
,, of Crumb's style, it is interesting to note some possible
indications of the logic by which elements af Webern can
be combined wi th the more spontaneous and mysteriaus over-
tones of Lorca. Crumb, in his notes for the recordinq of
Ancient Voices of Children quotes the followinq excerpt from
Lorca's'Theory and Functlon Ouen de , which Lorca explains his
conception~ of the ~reative impulse: "This 'mysterious power
that everyone feels but that no philospher has explained'
is' in fact the spirit of the earth •••• AlI ane knows 19 that
i t bu~s the b'lood like pOwdered glass, that i t exhausts,
that ie-rejects aIl the sweet geomety one has lèarned ••• "
( (my italics).
 .... ...,

• 43

( , "Reiteration i8 the basis of what may be

called the principle of successive comparis~n.
A given pattern establishes an intra~opus norm,
a base for expectaticnwithin the particular
piece. Subsequent deviations from the pattern,
occurring in repetitions, give ri se to affective
or esthetic responses because they function to
arrest or in~~bit the tendency toward precise l
repetition. t
In addition to the sense of ~evelopment which arises from ~
the new setting of the textual meLodic line (in a faster
~empo and more active accompanying material) an internal 1
;

deviation is heard in the repetition of 'no piensam' and the ~

unexpected leap to the high A natural in the melodic ordering
of this three note celle Other features of 'deviation~

from the previous setting of the text can be noted in this

section such as-the ornament on 'lluvia' (a change from l
1

(
the,predominantly syllabic setting of the text, and as
noted earlier, the addition of a new harmonie color) and
the repétition of 'en la lluvia' before the return of the
cristalino intonation which creates a type of balance with
the earlier repetition of 'no piensam' •

. An interesting long range patterning of texture is

evident in both'Rain-Death Music l and II~ These passages
each begin with one player who is in turn joined by the
others, gradually building therhythmic and harmonie density
of the sound, and then as the vibraphone and the contrbass

26. Leonard Meyer, Emotion and Meaninr: in Music, (Chicago:

University of chicago Press, 1957 , p. 152.

!
î
1
~'
1
•
 44

,
\ '

become" silent, the texture reduces ta a soprano solo, thus~

tr-acing a type of long ran ~ textUlial form or shape ( ta use

laRue's term). The repetitive alternation between ensemble
and solo textures or between different soloists is an
important forro of patterning in Crumb's music which will be
discussed later in more detail. In the 'Rain-Death Musiè
l and II'~f this piece, the short soprano solos may be
regarded as closural features in the patterning of texture •
In terms of the progression of the"piece, a greater sense of "
'i} ,

closure is fel t in". terms of texture at the end of 'Rain-De'ath

\ ~

Music II'because this pattern of texture has already been,

established in the pre,ceeding 'Rain-Death Music l'. As noticed
, . 1

earlier, a short texturaI reiteration of thè longer gesture

(
of 'Ra in-Dea th Music l'. is apparent in the vibraphone and 1
cont~abass arpeggiation and sop~ano "re-entry before the
ret~ of the 'cristalino' intonation •. lt ia interesting ta
reflect upon the isolated pppp vibraphone and contrbass
arpeggiation of the 'molto delicato' section as a possible
foreshadowing of these longer mo{e ~omplex ·textural gestures.

J" With the- repetition of 'en la. ,!luvia' at the en,d of

~,n-Death Music l'! a very strong p~int of closure is reached
(the diminuendo, rita~dàn~o, and pause) but the incompleteness
of the text may for sOlJ'8 listeners be a source of anticipation
over the· thr-ee second pause. In any. case, the return of the
'cristalinoro intonation comes as an awaited contipuation and

•
 --- ~

'.
45

,
oreatès bath 'an ~diate ,predic:ftLbility in the sequel1ce of
(
ii;s gestures '(an antie;ipated rèpetition of the opening
1.
sequen:c~l' as well as certain impli.cation for the long 'range
design'.. It is ,interesting to note tbe deviatiŒl\which is
"
"
compôsed into this reoiteratïon" - a -'simple change in the order
-
" '

of the mysterious
,
syllables apd a much softer dynamic,levél,
.a.s ,if it were a faint echo of the dpening intona,tion. As
"

~ teturn to the distinctive opening material, the 'crist~lino'

:re-iteration raises expectations .as to wh~ther this is a

·,fortuitous repetition or whether it has a significance as part
1
of a possible fôrmal symmetry which may be revealed in the
, ,
following passage.
~,
\
( ~-:;

(
'Rain-oèath Music ~I', ~h,iCh ~oes follow has, as already
mentioned, the same general tfl:ttrat C~~)Dtour which was
.
o ' ,
. previously heard in 'Rain-Death Music

the straightforWard trea~nt of the text of

'l'~ and it
,

thê
i~ ,a return to
~,mol to
. -
,delicato' section (excep,t that:it is amid a greater,density of
events and at a f~st~r tempo),. The closural logic of the
.. ..- • 0 •

end of'Rain-Death Music II'and of the'whole piece can be

, /

understood in tenna of the- return to tb! soprano solo texture,

perhaps a slight similarity in final gesture to that of the
" 1
.' _' f
- 0

.f repetition of 'en la lluvia' of the preceedipg section,

i . . ' 21
1 - the slight slowing .down ~n the final glissanqo of this g~sture ~
J ..
~d in the meaning of the text.'
1
(, T

27., It is ipteresting to nqte"€hat in the combination with

'the fact.drs of closure a.t t.b.is poiIft, the - ihtervai
•
 'JJ
t
Q ,1
46 ~
e>
f
f' I~

!
,1
Thé last of these factors, the text, has a very significant
( ) i
1
role ~n the overall directio~ of the piece.~ The antecedant
line 'no piensam en al lluvia' gains emphasis in its varied
..,.
reiteration in'Rain-Death Music I~ but in the fourth
statement (a total of two fùll statements occur in'Rain-
Death Music ~ the more or less exact repetition creates a
sense 0f ,28
saturat~on or an expecta t '~on 0f h
cange wh'~o h
focusses interest on the anticipated consequent line ('y se
h~ dormido') which is emphasized from its having
. been ~

d ~layed
,iJ
and from the fact that ~t f"
const~tutes the f~nal

1 moment, of the piece.

f
f'i 1

!
After the ending of the piece has become apparent,
~ ; (
j the listener can reflect upon the long range design. A certain "

!i underlying elegance emerges in not only the~various formaI

:1
!
l ' ~
'I~
reiterations but also in the âurational patterning of the
1 principal passages. The following is the length of the "

t ~-
J
~ pass~ges which wou}.d most likely bè'èiistinguished by a listener: i
. 1
the opening crista~ine 'intonation' seventeen
delicato' - about twenty-four seconds, 'Rain-Death Music
se,onds,'~olto

l'~out
i
j
Il

fifty seconds, the reiterated intonation seventeen seconds ~

1 (

andtRain-Death Music II'about twenty-one s~conds. The

conte~t of closing qesture ls not ~ne of the predominant

sonorities of the piece (i.e. either th~ f&emitQ.n~ or -tri.t:one
and semitone" qroupinqs) and as such creates a sense of subtle
harmo~ic devlation and Qpenness in the ending. ;&f;
.F~
t '''':tr~
\"'\.
28. See Leonard Meyer, Emotion and Meanin~ in Mùsic, p. 135. , r ~ J~

() \ " .

\ -~ •
4

1 , 1
0
 J
47
f
i
j
approxima te equivalance'in the duration of the'Rain-Death 1
,
1
( i
II' and the 'molto delicato 1 passages is reinforced by the·
fact that th~y both follow a statement of the'cristalino'
intonation and they both present stacatto syllabic treat-
ments of the texte The central 'Rain-Death Music l' is
considerably longer than the 'molto delicato' and the 'Rain~

Death II'and also contains, in comparison to.these passages,

a noticeàble effective elaboration of the textual melodic
line. The more inqnediately tangible aspects of the long range.
1•
,
design are of coursethe cyclic re~etitions of the text,
the recurrance of the 'cristalino' intonation and possibly
the detail of the recurrent high register B-F ineach of the
three principal passages. As n&ted here more subtle
(
recurrances will be heard in'the textur~velopmentof'Rain­
Death Music l' and'Rain-Death Music II'and bebween'Rain-Death
J
1
Music II' and the 'molto delicato' section in duration and the' J

treatment of the text. Added to this is a type of ,~evelopment

throughout the three principal passages in terms of activity

and dynamic level, i.e., 'Rai~-Death Music II' ~s the
.~

softest and most active as if in imitation (as').mentioned

earlier) of an increasing steadiness in the rain and the
i eventual fa1ling asleep. The result in terms of musical
1 .time is simlar to what will be seen in certain of Crumb's
1
1 "longer pieces. A central re~etitive process (in this case the
r-
i ( ,
repetition of the text) generally de termines the larger
~imensions ofhthe work, and provides a basis for lower level
 48
1
Î

1
1
ex~ctations. Superimposed upon, or coincidental with this
( i
however, are the other recurrances in gesture (the intonations)
or texture or pitch, which irnply the presence of other
processes, and which contribute added dirnen~ons to the basic
formaI design.

In looking more generaIIy at Crumb 1 s music, i t can be

noted that the patterning of reiterated material into longer
repetitive sequences is a very important aspect of his treat~

ment of musical time. This could be seen only to a limited

exten t in 'N 0 piensam eX: la Iluvia' but is quite prominent
..
in 'Cancion de Jinete~ of Songs, Drones and Refrains of
Death. Very abstractIy, if W,X.Y, and Z are individual
( gestures or passages played by a particular player, many pieces
and passages of Crumb's music would have W X y Z WX y Z
W· X Y Z or something like this as their basic formaI design.
In terms of musical time, the essential interest in this
[
"Î
type of cyclical organizationiis both in the immediate and long
range predictability and the sense of process or development j
which is derived throuqh any deviation in the similar
segmen ts. An extension of this cyclic organization of

materials can be seen in Crumb's more complex passages. Very

typically in Crumb's music, textures of increased density
and complexity are derived throuqh a simple superposition
of different cycles of events •as in the Many instances of
'circle music' or the occasional instance of isorhytrum.
 49
,
1
î
!
)
( The latter of these idioms (found in Madrigals Book IV, r

number one, -La Noche Canta ..•• " and in 'My th , of Music
for a Summer Evenins) ia in keeping with the general concep-
,
•
tion of the forro of the,med~vil isorhythmic~motet. Notated
....
in a strict tempo, it consists of a superposition of two se'par-
ate parts each repeating a rhytnffiic structure of different \
duration. The superposed rhythmic cycles contain easily
discernable gestures but are too long to be easily recognized
i
as repetitive patterns (seven and ten measures in 'La Noche
1
,

Canta ••• ' and seven and thirteen in 'My th') especially since
they are heard together, and in both cases, a third part
,
enters independently with different material. Because of the
[
distinct timbraI and gestural quality of the events within
(
the individual lines, tbe listener is aware of a type of
repetitive process, which rernains unpredictable because of the
texturaI complexity, unfolding evenly and steadily in obedianèe
to the hidden internaI logic. The isorhythmic forrn of 'My th ,
is particularly deceptive to the ear since both cycles are
internally symmetric, creating further repetitions within the
individual isorhythrnic 1ines.

,
'Circ1e music' by contrast is composed as a rhythmically
\

t free and spontaneous superposition of material usually result-

lng in a denser complex of events. The technique divides
the ensemble into separate groups of performers, ~ach group

( independentl~playing a series of fragments, leaving a few

 50 1
11

seconds between each. 29 In most instances, a staggering

(
of the enlfies of the different groups creates a graduaI ,1 -
!
rise and fall in the complexity of the sound, andin addition, 4,

the sense of superirnposed cycles becomes more apparent when

1
the separate groups play the sarne material as in Echoes of
•
Time and the River and Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death,
creating a type of immitative exchange. In terms of musical
1
tirne, circle music, like isorhythm creates a flow 0). events
in which interesting effects arise in the spontaneous jux- 1
~
tapposition and overlapping of gesturès often in a 'stream
of consciousness' or dream-like ambience. As·can be imagined,
circle music presents no sense of directed succession or
predictability (except perhaps vaguely in the general rise
(
and fall in-the density of the overall texture, and again
perhaps when the circle music is slow and long enough that any
'echoing' of material could be recognized and anticipated)
and as such , it often provides a structural and dramatic
contrast to the more rhythmically strict and directed passages.
As of yet, in only one of Crumb's pieces, Oream Sequence,
:J-- '.
1

doeJ the circle music form the predominant~organization of

the who).e work.

f 29. The fragments of each cycle of material are ârranged on

the page in the form of a circle, hence the name. This
l would not appear ta have a sub8tantral role in the musical
j effect, but it doea provide a graphie negation éf the
tradi tionally Llinear conception of time whieh i8 'implied in
eonventional notation:. This i8 particularly appropr,;iate
to the :sense of suspended direction that i8 communi~ated in
( -
the various passages of eircle music. "
 51
1
() 'As seen in 'no piensam en la lluvia ••. ' the 'echo' is 1j
a common image of repeti tion in Crumb' s music, and is an
obvious source of 'successive comparison'. The 'echo' is
treated in Crurnb's music much as it occurs naturally-
faintly and at a greater or lesser delay after the original
material. It thus creatœ atype of larger rhythm as seen in
sorne circle music where the echo overlaps with the
pas~ages
•
preceeding material or in certain less complex passages which
consis~~f a simple succession of two or three echoes of a
given figure. The 'echo' is a fairly common poe tic image in
Lorca 30, and as a musical effect it embodies many of the
\
mystical and supernatural overtones which are at the he art· of 1:
1~

Crwnb's style.

Another very important aspect of Crumb 's treatment of

repetition and of musical time in general, is the simulation
of ritualistic experience. Like the 'echo' this can ~
1inked with the evocation of the mystical and supernatural
in Crumb's music and is an appropriate setting for many of

30. Alice Pol1in~s A Concordance of the Plays and Poems of .

Federico Garcia Lorca cites seventeen occurrences of
'eco' or lecos'. one example which wou1d be particularly
in keeping with tPe tone and evocation of ecumb's music lS
found in 'Prelude' from the 'Canciones'.
"El viento esta amortajado -The wind is enshrouded
a la largo bado el cielo at length beneath the skYe
Pero ha dejado flotando But it,has 1eft floating
sobre los rios sus eoos." upon the rivers, its echoes."
 52

the exotic sounds of Crumb's music (especially the sounds

( 1
of ritualistic connotation like the gong, or temple blocks
or chanting etc.). In terms of esthetic effect, the element
of ritual is charcterized by a rigid adherence to pattern ,

and tliérefore an, absence of affective deviation. Meyer notes 1

1
the following concerning ritual in primitive music. l
"Much primit.ive music is intimately .t
connected wi th 'ri rualistic observances
and magic ceremones, and it is probably
fo this reason that it often tends to be
le subject to variation. The religious
i
~

sanc 'ons impo.ed upon primitive art and the

commun nature of the primïtive ceremonies
prohibit ative deviat~ïn on the part of
individual pe ers~n

The isorhythm in 'My th' from Music for a Summer Evening,

although its general sequence of events may be unpredictable
( to a listener, is a good example of rigid adherence to pattern
and the exact, ritualistic repetition of individual gestures.
Further examples of Crumb's treatment of ritual will be
discussed in the analyses of Echoes of Time and the River
and Lux Aeterna, but it can be noted here that the simulation
of ritual in Crumb's music has the effect of minimizing the
possibility of any subjective anticipation of events. Because
of the exact repetition and uniformity of perceivable patterning,
there 1s no doubt created with respect to the completion of
an ~deviating ritualistic pattern. The _+istener can only
accept any higher ordering of ritualistic events such as for
!
~ 1
31. Leonard Meyer, Emotion and Meanin~ in Music (Chicago:
University of chicago Press, 1957 , p. 213.
( , /

1
 '1
'.".
"

f
i
1
1
( example, the number of exact repetitions of a particular
sequence as being arbitrarily predetermined and beyond his
capability of prediction.

l
The many instances of numerological patternings of
repetition (i.e., exact repetitions of an element seven, 1
eleven or thirteen times) can be taken as an extension of the
element of ritual in Crumb's music. Black Angels is the
most notable example of this where the numbers seven and
1 !

thirteen are to be found in almost aIl aspects of formaI

organization; the number of notes in 'specifie rhythmic
figures, the number of ~petitions of a figure within a move-
f
ment', the number of movements in the work and even in deter-
(
minants of pitch structure (the perfect fifth consisting of
seven semitones and the minor ninth of thirteen!). Other
works exhibit numerological patternings as weIl (as in the
number of bars in the isorhythmic cycles of 'Myth') but only
with the mo~t obvious repetitions ~which are sometimes even
mentioned in program notes or in titles such 'as the 'Fivefold
Galactic BelIs' in Music for a Summer Evenin~ could the act
of counting become a significant ele~nt of prediction and
expectation in the experience of the music.

In the large scale organization of Crumb's music, and

! ,~ " t
i~,;
at certain inter.mediate levels, it is possible ta distinguish 1(..,'~J'

( two additional aspects of formaI design. Very simply, these .".,

"'q"
 54
f
i

are the long range

. growth and decay in dynamic level and
,

dramatiç intensity, and the succession of mutually isolated

events in symmetric arch forms. Forms of dynamic growth
and decay are self evident in the low level crescendi and
dimuendi of individual lyrical lines, but exarnples of extrem-
ely long dynamic gestures extending over who1e pieces are
worth noting. In Music for a Summer Evening, 'The Awakening'
is conceived as a five minute crescendo in dynamics and
activity. In the same work, 'The Advent' containe two such
gestures (of about a minute and a half each) and thefinal
'Song of Reconciliation' is composed as an extended (eight
minute) dynarnic growth and decay. Over whole works, i t is
entirely possible to hear (and observe in the score) a
(
general intensification ~n dramatic activity, reaching a climax
u,sually after the half way point and falling off towards the
end, often in many of Crumb's warks, in a long extended fade-
/

out. '1'lïIS' arehetypal pattern of dramatie intensification and

release has been referred· ta in the history of western literature
as the narrative eurve, and appears te have become deeply rooted
in Many traditional musical forms as weIl, as Barney Childs
has noted in a recent article.
"The Western European intellectual and
cultural tradition has seemingly found Most funda-
mental a basic structural organization of a
work of time art, what might be ealled a
narrative curve. 'Greek trage4~the 'classie'
short story, the television cr1 drama,'
the Romantic tone poem, furnish xamples of
this organization, which pres~ly ia..held to
( exist as a styl~zed reflection of how the
 55
.. ......

'j

,!
1

tradition views life itself • • . . • . .

Material - characters, musical sound,
whatever - introduced along with
elements of question or tension -
archetypally pe~baps, as in the Renaissance
tragic drama, of disordering an ordered
universe: actors, relationships, and
responses increase irreqularly in comple~ity J\
and intensity: a high point or relevation \
or climax or catastrophe or denouement is 1,
reached; resolution or relaxation or 'falling
action' follows: conciuding gesture or comment
is made - again archetypally, the renewai of
cosmic order, of 3~urse altered from the
original order." '
A number of Crumb's works, especially longer ones, trace a
very noticeable 'narrative curve': Echoes of Time and
the River, Eleven Echoes of Autumn, Lux Aeterna, Songs, Drones
~

and Refrains of Death, and the Makrokosmos Volumes l and II.

The general dramatic progression and in particuIar, the
( positionin9 of the climax in these works can aiso be related
.
to a principle of structural organization also found in the
music of Bela Bartok in which points the key dramatic and
structural importance cecur at the golde_n mean of duration
within the work or movement. 33 Of the pieces mentioned:,
significant golden mean occurrences can be found in the
following: in Makrokosmos II, the 'cadenza appocaliptica'
at the beginning of the eighth of the tweive zodiac pieces;
in Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death, the 'cadenza

32. Barney Childs, -Time and Music, A Composer's View,-

Perspectives of New Music, XVI (1977), p. 195
33. For a full description of the presence of this elemènt
in Bartok's music, see Emo, Lendvai. Bela Bartok~
An Analysis of his MUsic, p. 17-26.
t

( 1
!
1
 appassionata' breaks out in the Middle of the third of four
56

,
,1
1
1
movements~ in Echoes of Time and the River, the climactic
• Collapse of T ime' occurs in the Middle of the third movement;
and in Lux Aeterna, the point of maximun activity and
registraI expansion is found in the seventy second of the one
hundred and sixteen bars of the piece.
l

The term 'arch fo~' has been used to refer to a symmetric ~

1
succession of events about a central point or event. Generally
speaking, the final event of the arch form recalls or can
.l
l

be related ta the first, the second last to the second etc.

but it has been used in a looser sense in referring to any
recall or repetition of opening material. Bath instances of
'arch form' are common in Crumb's style, and on different
levels of organi'zation: over whole works, within individual
movements, or even within individual passages. In Crumb's
music, because of the wide variety and distinctive character
of musical material, arch forms defined by the succession of
timbraI or gestural characters become clearly implied to the
listener. 'Low~levelt arch forms can be neard in Five Pieces
for Piano and Black Angels in the succession and exact
repetition of individual gestures. One of the Madriqals
(Book IV number one, 'lPor que naci entra espejos?', nWhy
was l born between these mirrors?") is a very qood example
of Crumb's predilection for arch form symmetries since it
consists (as a reflection of the title) of mirro~ patterns both
( \ f>I m Î'Îrrrr" pCt~ S /-- c; ,'1..
 ~)
·57
,
1j

in the lar~e form and in the individual ohraRe~. The lOOst

( 1
structurally imposing of Crumb's arch symmetries can be found
in Black Angels (thirteen pieces, aIl intricately symmetric
about the seventh) and Night Music l (seven pieces symmetric
about the fourth) where there are obvious relations and
correspondences between individual movements in instrumentation, ,
and thematic material. In pieces Iike Echoes of Time and the
River, and Music for a Summer Evening, only very general
similarities in the form of events and movements can be
construed by the listener as arch symmetries, and in pieces Iike
Eleven Echoes of Autumn and Songs, Drones and Refrains of De a th',

the arch form is only vaguely imP1ied in the reiteration of

certain distinctive timbral/thematic material.

From the' obsèrvations made to this point 1 it.is possible

to sketch an outline of the general tendancies of organization
which can be regarded as Crumb 1 s musical languacJe. On a
fundamental stylistic level, Crumb's music' combines elements
of 'stream of OOnaçiousness' style with various types of traditional
repetitive re-iterative patterning. Much of the immediate
evocation and effect of Crumb's music - the use of archetypal
sonic gestures, of subtle timbraI coloration, the suggestion,

i of a type of mystic prtmi~ive spiritualism, the wide range

t of emotional in-tensi ty, and the use of simplistic. fOJ:mal

design can be related to its asso~~ation with the poetry of
t
. l (
Garcia Lorca.
 - - --~--------------~--~~

58 J
J
î

In looking-~t traditiona\ levels of musical analysis

(
it is possible to find, as one would expect in Crumb's music,
34
a type of simplisfic hierarChiŒalOrganization. Individual
'low level \' ~estures are clearly ~rticulated and organized into
in~ermediate syntactic forros, which in turn are clearly
differentiated and articulated and in their succession,
constitute a long range shape within the work. Generally 1
speaking, the nature of the individual gestures in Crumb's l1
music varies with the diversity of material, but needs little
explanation since it is based on familiar stylistic influences
(lyrical gesture and movement, a text, the duration of
percussion sounds, etc.) and is ~pprehended intuitively in the
rhythmic articulation of a piece. As seen in "No piensam in
(
la lluvia ••. " within intenœdiate syntactic forms, the element of
~
intervallic tension often acts in Crumb's music asvtraditional

34. The term 'hierarchical~ particularly in this context

requires sorne explanation. Hierarch1calorganizations
are very simply those in which smaller ~it$ constitute a
single larger unit, a number of which in turn constitute
a still larger unit. The standard western calibration of time
into seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years etc.
would be a good example of a hierarch~alorganization,
certain divisions of which are more or less arbitrary and
conventional, and others which can be related to important
natural phenomena. Musical structure can similarly be
hierarchicany concei ved in that the larqest formaI uni ts may
be subdivided (again arbitrarily or perceptually) into smaller
uni ts. The qeneral hierarchrcal conception of musical time,
however, ia that the details of a work can be re1ated in some •
way by a listener to the meaning of the whole work. In this
sense the meaning of the en tire composi tion ia more than the
l sum of i ta parts since i t invol vas the succession in which
l! the constitutuent,:events occur. (For an interestinq discussion
of the concepts of hierarchial organization in music of the
avant garde see Leonard Meyer in Music, the Arts and Ideas, p.
1 ( , 164). '!'he par-ticular stylistic quality of musical €iîDë Whic:h
will he di.cussed here i8 related tO the means by which hier-
archicàl orderings of evants cm be underatood by the listener.
 ,
-----,.....--~

59

, source of aural coherence and articulation in the success-

ion of individual gestures. In terms.of the gene~al conception
of Crumb's music, the use of'typ{cal atonal intervallic
patterning would appear ta be a basis ta which other harmonie
8 ~~
and timbDal co~ratiQns are added or upon which theYJmade to
.intrude within the type of eclectic 'monumental' corobination
of materials which Crumb devise~.

Since the formation of individual 'gestures' would appear

l ,
to follow from the basic premises of Crumb's style ~d his
various 'borrowings' which have aiready been outlined, the ,
main interest in this analysis of musical time can be focussed d
• F.
on the sequencing and combination of the fundamental gestures
(
into a longer forme To this p~int, two important and very
general aspects of the intermediate organization of Çrumb's
music have been discussed: the simple linear succession of ... :1
t
events and the event complexe The linear sequencing of events
becomes quite audible in Crumb1s music from the juxta~osition

of highly contrasti~ and distinctive material, and from

subse~ent sequemtiai repeti tians. An internaI predictability
'. is derive9 in Crumb's style as in simple traditional styles,
•
1
\
from thè repetition of such sequences, and, as seen ta a /'
f

,i"
1

~
·Iimited extent, so far in the discussion, different types of.
Longer range musical procesSlSfre ~lied i~ the na~ure of the
-1

- J\;'

resamblence and diffepence in'the·recurrent mate~als. It is

( ) . 'interesting ta add to this s~ remârks whicb Leonard Meyer
..
. .'
. ....
 ,r
60 l
r
f•
has made regarding the effect of the more obvious formaI
. ., !
i
repetition~ in traditio~al styles.
8While l was working on this part of the book,
l happened to go to a concert of traditional
tonal music and was struck by the number of phrases
and sections ba,sed "'tlpon ~ i tbe'l' li ter ~J or sequential
1. repetition (e.g. A-A, A-A-B, or A-A-B) * How is it
possible to get away witb-such obvious, even blatant
redundancy? l suspect the MOst important reason
is that because the, repetition is embedded in a
/ hierarCbical context, it is only partly perceived
in teDnS of the model from which it derives. Mostly
it ia underatood as a part, a building block,
in the organizationof a more extensive, higher
,
levei structure. Perceptual attention is directed
,1 not to the redundancy relationship itself, but
,g,
toward the whole extent of whtch the r,epetition
\ ' is a part. The redundant element is heard as
be~onqinq to a proS!SS - as Ieading tQward some
more remote goal. 'Il". •
-~ ~ ~"'!>
In~ddition to th~ sense of pr~cess or development
( whiçh aris~s in successive deviations, the more literaI an~

sequential repetitions in Crumb's music, as ln traditional

1
styles, focus interest on.the long range hierarchy."'" The more
exact nature of some af the long range hierarchies in Crumb's
music will be discussei ~n the following chapter.

The event camplex,

, in either strict or free- rhythmic

, notation; is generally heard in Crumb'~ music as a rich and

flowin~ texturaI unity fram which isolated events emergé
. . ,
. momentarily in an apparently spontaneous ardering. In contrast
t
to the timple sequenc~s of events in which tbere is often

35. Leonard Meyer,' MUSic, the Arts and Ideas, 1(Chicago, The
University of ChIcago Press, 1967) p. 313. ,
()
.
"

"
 _ _ _ .... ,~ ...i""

61
1
CT an observable long range ot~ering, the circle music, or any 1
of the passages which consist of a superposition of different
cycles of material, present a complex and relatively
unpredictable flux of events which often forms a longer range
texturaI gesture in the graduaI rise and fall in the density of
activity.
•

'l'wo important long range forms or idioms which can be

distinguished in Crumb's-music are the arch forro and narrative
ft ~
curve, both of Wh1Ch can be regarded as formaI archetypéS, in
western music and both of which May also be found in Iower levels
of patterning in the succession of isolated gestures, and in the
general drarnatic and dynamic' developmen t of activi ty ~ The sense
.
,
(
of long~ange hierarchy in Crumb's music can be clearly seen
in the fact that almost aIl of his works consist of a number
1
l
of distinc~ly different shorter pieces OT episodes which, in their ,1
,j
succession, imply a ,type of lon~ range arch forrn or narrative
curve (of ten both) • Each of the shorter sections in turn has
1

its own patteming as a linear succession of events or as an

event complex, either of ~hich may also form a type of midd~e

range dynamic gesture (Le. a type of dynamic growth and/or

recessim within the shorter episodes). ,Bath the long range arch
'form and the narrative curve may be ,!oesely regarded as goal
~irected forma aince they'establiSh an Ob.~rv~le rel:tion
between 'the instantaneous present and the fructure of the
~ ,l,
(
) \ "
',' ,
 te

62

() whole work and create a basis -if only a vague and tenuous
one (as ls often the cas~._in Crumb' s music) for the anticipation
of future .. events.

1
1
1,

1 (
1
i
1

"
"

/
 f;
63

CHAPTER III: ANALYSIS OF SELECTEO WORKS

/
In discussing the general features of Crumb's musical
j
language, it was seen that his particular treatment of musical i
J
time embrances a number of familiar if not archetypal formaI j
organizatio~s: successive varied reiteration, exact 1
ritualistic repetition, the event complex, and longer range forms
in the succession of individual passages ~d in the general 1
~
1
dynamic growth within the work. In his combination of these ,
~

particular idioms with his seiction of basic musical material,

Crumb derives unique and interesting organizatio~s of musical
experience. The discussion turns in this chapter ta a more J
( detailed analysis of cru~'s treatment of musical time in
four selected works, Echoes of Time and the River, Lux Aeterna,
Dream Sequences, and Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos
III) .

Echoes of Time and the River is in Many ways a significant'

~
work in Crumb's output. It is the first of his established
style to use the full orchestra, the first ta make consistent
use of theatric gestùre, and it would also appear ta he among
the first of Crumb's works in which there is a'strong simulation
of ritual experience. In addition:th~se features there is ~
fil'
suggestion of a possible pe~sonal meaning for the composer ~il:
,>'!~••,
.
i

in the s~lection of material such as the chanted and whispered "

(
phrases, 'Montani semper liberi' ("MoUDtaineers are always free")
 64

the motto of Crumb's home state, West Virginia, and 'los

arcos rotos donde suffre el tiempo' (the broken arches where
time suffer~a fragment from Lorca's Gaecela de la Terrible
Presencia, both of which Crumb claims in the notes to be
intimately connected with the sense of the music. This is no
douht an important aspect of Crumb' s conception and realization
of the composition, but it should be. stressed, as Crumb
has himself in the notes, that the work is not programmatic,
and the listener is led to experience any hidden structural
meaning in purely musical terms ~ith, lit~ - knowledge of a
hidden meaning.

(
-~
It is interesting to note at tli'e outsetof
\ ~~~,l
~he~iS,
sorne comments which Crumb makes in the perfo~ance notes
regarding the theatric aspect of the work and its poetic
evocation).
"The 'river of time' is an ancient metaphor
which interprets time as a continuity without
beginning or end. l have further implied the
concept of continuity by structurinq a number J
of 'processionals' into my score. These . 1
processionals, conceived as both visual and
sonic events, are executed by small bands of
percus~ionists and wind p!~yers who must
-- perform while marching."
Thus in the ti tle of the work, Crumb has implied a type
of temporal order, and has drawn upon a rich resourPe of
association for the intrepretation of the musicai material.
37 - ,---
As Rosalie Perry has observed, the river ls a common
(
36. George Crumb, EchOes of Time and the River (New York,
Belwin Mills, 1967), p. 1.

37. Rosalie Perry, op. ci t. p. <C8.

 -
____ • _ _ _ ~J""f1-ui~

-,
65
f
f,
() image of time among the American tr~scendentalist writer~ 1

and is very prominent in one of Ives' musical visions,

'The Houseatonic at Stockbridge' from Three Places in New
England. Further poetic associations that may be evoked by
Crumb's choice of title and also by choice of musical
materials are reflected in the verv tenn 'stream of consciousness'
which has already figured prominently in the discussion of
Crumb's music to this point. It should be noted that the
processionals 40 not act in any way as a direct spatial
depiction of the river of the title, but as Crumb has indicated
in his notes, they reflect the general cominq and passinq
of events in time, often with very interestinq premonitions,
( recollections, and interactions between players, which are
dispersed over the extended performance space of the work.

, The titles of the individual movemen~s are equally

,1
evocative and serve to orient the listener's experience by 1
~

poiting to certain states-hf time consciousness which can be

related to the musical forme The image of ~rozen time' for
_~xample i8 reflected in a number of ways in the opening movement.
It i8 heard perhaps almost too ~iterally in the brittle crist-
aline chiming(antique cymbals in fifths) of the' percussion
proces8ional and further suqqested in a 'frozen' qesture
.
assumed by a gr~up of .antique cymbal players ~t ~e back
right o~age who (once halfway through the openinq
processional and once after the percussionists have reached

"
 ( ,
their places onstage) strike a resounding chord at which
point the music and processional are momentarily halted.
A further impression of 'frozen time ' which is created in this
movement is falt in the silence which separates the principal
passages as if they were mutually isolated in time.

The title of the secdnd movement 'Remembrance of Time '

would appear to be lfeflected only in the final sequence wi th
a recall of the opening chiming timbre (from 'Frozen Time')
which is superimposed upon a serene and haunting reminiscence
-(

of the final line of the Negro spiritual "Were You There When
They Crucified My Lord?" (in harmoniés in the violins, and
•
( barely recognizable beca~e of the segmentation of the

, melodic line into a number of shorter ~;stures)

1 ,t
L

.
•

In the third movement, however, there ernerges an observable

succession of events which is directly suggested in the title.
The 'Collapse of Time ' ~ depicted in a gradually building
ostenato crescendo (as the brass players arrive in their pro-
cessional and the woodwinds leave) which erupts climactically
in a recurrence of the strinq's glissando complex of 'Frozen
Time' (See 'Outline of the Principal Passages of :Echo~s of
"
\_ Time and the River, page 69) as if time were repeatin itself.

An e~am;nation of the score in this movement reve

an aven more elaborate realization of the image of t~~ title.
\

\
 ,
"

67
f

( From the opening of the movement to the' beginning of the ost.;nato 1

is a continually echoed rhythmic, textual gesture, krek tu dai',
1
whispered loudly by all of the strings with high piercing
1
piano chords and low gong sounds at the opening, but
gradually being attenuated until it is merely faint low
1
the seven fo~d, repetition
. .
register piano cluster. and a slight tam taro stroke. Through
of the ost.nato rhythm,this graduaI 1
fade-out is reversed in the registration of the piano chords 1
î
and the mounting . 'crescendo of 'krek tu dai l , reaching the
climax with the return of the piano chords to their registration
of opening of the movement. Certainly wi th the graduaI build
up of sounds in the brass and strings, these details would go
unnoticed by the listener, but the general rev~sal of the
(
'krek tu dai' diminuendo would be quite apparent in the
huge çrescendo and the eventual shouting of this phrase at the
climax. The point at which this reversaI begins is significantly
the temporal golde~ mean of the whole work, reflecting a
combination of the narrative curve and arch structure in the
large scale mus'ical, dramatic forme In terms of musical time,
the height of the ostenato is also the point of highest

('
anticipation in the work. The sudden 'relapse' into .the string

,
glissando complex at this point may be taken as a musical
representation of discontinuity which will be discussed later.
1
f ....,
l~~ 10;>
~ :I-~"" ....

The idea cf a 'collapse' of time receives further , ...

J,; { " ,

( .) elaboration in the rhythmlC freedom of the éircle'

 - ---- ---- .~-------- -
........

- -------""-'-"''11

music which is echoed among the brass players onstage and

68

1
j

t- offstage and which is based almost entirely on recalled material

f
1 from earlier in the work.
1

!
'Last Ecl'{oes of Time 1 (the fourth movement) ,as the title
implies, continues the retro9~ded thematic direction of
the music, recalling isolated elements from many previous
passages in the work in two elaborate echo complexes whibh are
followed by the concluding processionals.

__~he difficulty in any analysis of musical time is that ,

the actual musical experience results frpm a simultaneous

f!
awareness of the different levels of formal process. Verbally, J
( 1
theorists are limited to discussing one aspect of form at a
-time, unless.they are prapared to resort to ahighly subjective,
event by event description of a work. The approach taken here
will be to give a general listing of timings and structurat
descriptions of the main passages as a reference to the large
scale duration 'and succession. The most suitable parameters
for the discussion of detail in this work, theatric, dramatic
development, texturaI design, and the hierarchy of rhythms, ,
and durations, will he analysed and related individually in
terms of their respective roles in the general esthetic effect.

!
As indicated, in the outline{Table II page 69), the work
( ) beqins wiith a slow ritualistic processional (even the foot -
"
,'.
,
ateps are qiven in a specifie pattern) in which a group of
 ~ .
- ____ "'.~~~.._."'Y1....,. ....... ij .. 1>... "i>RJF''''~·'_'~,"""," .... __ r"... ,.". ... ~ ......., .. '" "\ 00; ~...- .... . . , . . - ....... ",>1r'~

~ ~

-- """
#

TABLE II: OUTLINE OF PRINCIPAL PASSAGES OF 'ECHOES OF TIME AND THE RIVER'

(timings based upon the sco~e and recording of the work by

~he ~ouisville Orchestra Under Jorge Mester)

Clock Time Duration Structural ?escription

1 Frozen
Time ' 0:00-1:10 70" - two superimposed cycles of material resulting in
a ~omp1ex succession of recurrent timbres and
gestures during which the processiona1 percussion
group cornes part way onstage - interrupted by the
'frozen' chord gesture
1:10-2:13 68· - repetition of the preceeding complex with subtle
a1terations 3

- percussion processional~joins onstage percussionists

'<l 2:13-2:25 12" - resonance of low piano strings followed by ~hostly

bel1s"- a diminuendo sequence of piano harmonies

(,25-3.22 57" - two successive complexes of intense overlapping

glissando lines in the strings - fading out to
temolo glissandi in the basses

3.22-3() 12" - low resonance plus "ghost1y bells"

l3:34-4:40 66" - mandolin leaves stage eChoing arpeggiando figure in
a. ~ow sequence with echoes of the glass chimes and
atremolo melody on the piano strings

• 1 Remembrance
of Time'
4:40-5:47 67" - simple sequence of events: exchange of short gestures
between pianos and harp - pitch bending figure C7\
(vbph) sound of wind and whispering of Lorca fragment <0
(by brass players onstage) against trilled background
~
ambience

"1 L .
-~~z!.':'::,!; ~~r, ~8t lMk..w:~~- ~ -.-
""'" _~ __ 7'!"" __ .... k,-. ..___ ._...--1. . . . . . Y"1I .....
.........,...,,~--....~-"'"'- -~~ -
- - _·_~ ......_-~'l:lAt

J
 - " a
.._---
-~----~~-_._~,-_ - ~ -------
~ ------
"1

Clock Time Duration Structural Description

- repetition of the above sequence with subtle

alterations
5:47-6:20 33" - continued trilled ambience - reiteration of 'wind
sound', 'bending' figure -short complex of
glissando harmonies in basses during which the brass
players leave stage - followed by 5
6:20-7:20 60" - against t~illed background ambience, echoing of
'bending' figure and then of tremolando figure
between flutes, clarinets and offstage horns during
which flutes and clarinets file onstage in a
processional and take their.place in front of the
-) pianos

7:20-8:10 50" clarinet circle music - exubèrent complex of activity

- echoing in successive entries of clarinets culmin-
ating in a wildly running solo passage which is
immitated and superseded by a running passage in the
low register of the piano

8:10-8:30 20" - low register piano cluster followed by a rapid

drumming'pattern, on tambourine (placed upon piano
)
strings) and the intense chordâL entry of strings
subsiding in a gradually accelerating trill and
glissando
8:30-9:20 50" - f1ute circle music - repetition of that of clarinet
- culminating similarly in solo passage which i8
immitated in low register of piano
9:20-9:50 25" - sequence of events: low register piano clU8ter -
rapid drumming pattern on tambourine - stark, slow .....,
o
rhythmic fi~~fe echoed between pianos (o~ tambourines)
-f0110wed by 5' re-echoing of rhythmic figure (in pno.),
-r;-r
5 l

•• -~l:i~~{~~
'.-:,s..~,r(J"'_
'f~.~ ___ "';.*~"" . . . / .. M . . . . . . . . . .- _ ....

-- - ... _,_ ... ~~_

~
............... ~-

---~-~
"
 _ ....._ _ _ _...._ _...._ _ _ _ _ .~~. w~ __ ~~_.

------.
-- _____ ~l
~

~,.

t>

9:50-10:50 60" - slow echoing of a high cristaline chiming

(vibraphone and glockenspiel) against
segmented reminiscence'Jof negro spiritual in
strings. \
"
'Collapse of
Time'
10:50-11:50 60" - sequence of events: "krek tu~dai!" chanted twice
- (seven second tam tam and low register piano
resonance on 'dai' on each repetition) followed
by a short segmented xylophone solo against
trilled background ambience (sleighbells) -
trilled ambience is then sustained through a
high'rustling in the strings (bepind the bridge
carpeggiations) and 'wind sound' (flutes, clarinets
and percussionists)

Il:50-12:50 60· - sequence of events: "krek tu dai~" (once) return of

trilled background ambience - a recall of the
tremolo and 'bending' figures in the clarinets -
a further echo of~rek tu aaf - echo of c1arinets
by the echoes of krek tu dai

12:50-13:20 30" very slow ostenato rhythm in percussion and pianos

repètitions of a three role figure in brass and
"krek tu dai" in strings - graduaI build in intensity
and comp1exity during which the clarinets and flutes
leave the stage in a processional and are replaced
by two brass groups

13:20-13:50 30" string g1issando complex - similar te that of

'Frozen Time' - fading out into a solo bass treme10
glissando

13:50-15:30 1'40" brass circle music - flux of mate rial overlapping ....j
figures - seme noticeable repetitions - complex ......
dies out as each group finishes its material with
the ringing of a finger cymbal

• ~ , i
,,'''-,
.~M .. .7r. j
-"""fi,..j!: ',lrr,'/".
- • "40' ;.,.-':t-'\ •
M' .J:I~J!'""",,:j;.t"lil<.........~~~- ""."~"-~,,,, ", .. ~ ~~"""- ......... "'-"
-- , • ~':'''''_10000''""""",",'' .6 rt~."""'''' . . "" ,.,...... ~.41
.........- - - - ---:- ~.~'-~
 ... Q

j _ _ .,...,....~ ___ . . . . _ _ _ _ _ _~T _ _ _ _ ...... ' _ _ _ " " _. ._ _ _ _ _ . . . tl'X _ _ _ ~_,.._ . . . . . . . . ._ ... ""~_ ....

------""""" ,
.0,
,
'<..-'
J
,
~

-
('\
!(

- ,
• Las t Echoes
of 'l'ime'
15:30-16:55 - echo complex intricate superposition of isolated
phrases and gestures

16:55-18:00 echo complex simi1ar to preceeding passage

slight thematic Alterations and changes in pitch
l'
andiinstrumentation J

• 18:00-20:05 2'0~" processiona1s which the groups and then i~ bra~s

percussion groups leave the stage - superposition
of the repeated materials of the processiona1
players and whistled portmento ostenato among
strings

...

" \'

•
~
N

.J
 ,.

73

percussionists from offstage gradually take their place.> beside.

Ct
the onstage percussionists. Without making.a commitmènt .as
to the iRtended interpretation (some listeners
• . 1>
May see the
event as purely ritualistic, or others might sense a theatric
~ ,
in teraction of 'beckoninq' or 'searchi~g out. and finding' in the
an tiphona 1 exchange between " the onstage
.
and offstage pèrcussion-
ists) it can be seen that the theatric movement of. the players
is a goal directed event, bearing a natural implication which
raises the question, as ta where the processional group is going,
and a clearly recognizable and logical realizatidn in their
arrival baside their counterparts onstage.

Subsequent processional movement~ such as the seemingly

( o
early departure~of the mandolin at the end of 'Frozen Time"
and the brief appearance of some brass players who leave after
whispering a Lorca fraqment, can only be accepted as unforsee-
'.
• able occurrances in the general ritualistic, 'streamof conscious-
ness' order of events. They do, however serve to éxpand the
meaainq of the perfo~ce space, an~ further develop the sense
of a tra~sitory stage presence. Not only do players at this
point appear to be able to come onstage from the 'beyond',
n but it is also possible for them -to return offstage from the.ir
positions onstage. The movement offstage is a natural and
traditional suggestion of pattern closure which gains in sig-
nificance as the work pro9resse~.

-"
 ~-~, -~-~----, ....
./

1
74

w .•
<
With th~ ~rocessional entranc~ of the olarinets, and flutes,
()
. . a further :i,.nteraction i .... impli~d ~ tn., the echoing _, of a 'pi tch
. \

..
.~:~~:li.:~: (~:l~::::: :::~:a~ter t~:r:~h:r::b:~_ ~
~

phone,.to the clarinets and/lutes as'they come on stage (w~lking

~ the' sarne rhytrun ,as ',th~ bending figure) and the h~rns who
-<:)
echo the· figure from a·dist~nce offstage·(see example 4, page 83)
1 •

t . I~
The departUre of the w~odwinds during the ostenato of the
1

'dbllapse of Tfme' and ~heir rePlacementfbesiderthe two pianos

- onst~ge" h~S an ioberent. spatial ;Lo~id- and~p.ication of -repe-

....
_ . titive Vrocess arid formaJ.. synnnetry.
, 1 ,
It> s~oulçl be noted that
.,
\ .~
~
'~

r the drama~ic exchang~ between th~ presence offstage and dnstage

i
ia.. not: limi ted to the pt'ocessionals •. Offstage" brass players t
~. ' "
,
1 .'
make promineilt interjections at var:hous points'C;f the.plece,. 1
~
#- Ci ; •
They . ar~ heard alm~at aj a '. foreshadowing Ca low regist~glis- '1
. ~~ , \ " r
! (
sando figure) in the opening moments o~ the piece, and alse
"0 : ... , l " ~ 1/ ~ ) !
j, ..
during the circla musies'Qf the flutes and clarinets in the
at br"':.·
~

:;o~rance"Of lY't!c'~llarlY ~
...__
cirele mu.ie of
TilDe'.

the 'c,ollapie of Time', the offstage preserice

the end ;'fkthe' i
~ ,

'1 - ..
~ • /' j •
ia heuie in the f'inal fairlt- eçboing of a finger cymbal chime
".
•f
~ ,,""'. .
.. ,
.whi~h 8ucc••• ively· tarminates each' cycle of the circlé music. \,
.
'\
~

r
, . ' t • <

..
d.

10 ,~he 'Laat_Ech~a' of Time' bring8 othe theatric d~elopment

"
• 1
of ~e
-
work to a merninqful conclusion, creating a type of arch
1\, ,
l'' r-,
~

for.m and aymmetric balance in the order of evénts. The ~ve-

"
, .'
(-") p\ f
ment begins with an echo complex in which antique qymbal players
l

,
'" , \ 1./
'"
f
.. . !
,-+';'"
.. 1.. •
 75

(woodwind ~ayers who had left the stage during,the 'Collapse

Cl
of Time') come ta the front left edge of the stage and rec~de

offstage again after their echo of the opening chimes. This

,'~ may pe seen téYsymmetrically balance thè'presence of the cymbal
....
players who were at the back)right?f the stage during the
opening processional. A further sJatial symmetry can be seen
'"
in ~e departure of the brass groups who cross·paths and pro-
ceed in opposite directions offstage. Finally the percussion-
~ ists retrace their steps of the opening processional, bringing
the work full circle and restoring the spatial order whiç~ ex-
isted at the opening.

The strinqs, alt?0uqh they do not participate in Any of 1

( ~ .
the pro~essionals, have a very important theatric and dramatic
d
if ' (j
.
identity •. Not unlikè the chorus of a Greek tragedy, they are
stationary,
. onst~qe. be~re the d~amatic açtion beqins and after
it has ended. Their intense qlissan~o complex would appear
.... ta be a focal point of the dramatic action, qiven in isolation
,

/ )

in the openinq movement and as a

, •
, o .
1
eul~inatinq point in the flaw
of events in the 'Collapse of Time'. The st~ings similarly
G ~ •

, have' an . important role in the qeneral dramat\.c momentum in their

• R

intense impassionéd e~try after the clarlnet circle music in

,- .
'~embr~ of Time', their serene reminisce~ce of the neqro
sViri~ual at the ~~d of 'Rememberande of Time', their portenteous
} . . - : .
whisperinq df the pbonetic fr~qment 'krek tu dai' in' Cbllapse
. .- ~{(> .
of Ttme' and?in ~eir qentle whistling of a.po~t~~to figure ..., l , 1

.• ,f

"--
 76

and the oscilating fourths at the close of the work.

1 ~ 1
1
1

~ 1
As can be imagined from the title of the work, the ~cho'

or more generally~ various instances of repetition, recurranêe 1

and reiteration are to be found in all ±evels of structure from

the sequence of isolated events to the succession of longer pas- . ,
1
sages. E~amples of immediate·echoings are seen in both short ~
j

gestures (see example-2, page 77, the piano string tremolo

\. melodies).and longer lines (as in the circle music, example 3, t1
,
page 78) thus creating a momentary blurring in the short over- i\
1
lapping gestures or a more extended complex texture in ,the
(
superposition of longer passages. The most readily apparent \
eChoing is heard 1'n simple repetitive sequences of gestures 1#
11,
( 1
(see examp1e 3, page 7B~. the echoing of the glockenspiel and
, .

~ibraphone fifth's) which at a slow tempo give rise 1;0' a more

l
~
~

predictable, :-hytrunic sense of rei tera tion • The sense of echO - li

..... ')

1 repetition can also be understood in th~s piece in the ~ediate }

t
l
l', repetition of whole passages of materia1 (as i~the opepinq ".
~

two processional cycles of 'Frozen Time' and the two edho com- \,
j
f .'
plex~s which begin 'Last ECh~S of Time ') but t:h:ese d? not !tave
the same acoustic semb1ance of a real ec~ (i.e. the reiterationa
..re:.:; fainter and leas distinct) as do .Je shorter range repeti'
l
\ tions. The othef repeti tian type whic:h' ia heard in this l(ork
can be referred to as a • return 1 1 or more simply a rec:urrance
of materia1 aft~ there has been a ,ignificant departure from it. 38
---' ~ -}

() 38 See Leonard Meyer, Emotion and Meaninq, pg. 152:

1

--
--- .. - -~--~~....,....---.---------~,----------~------~--~---- •

77

( ,

.J l ~L ~

.
~
"'
j 01

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li(i ~if . .J

/~ Il ~% ~
e.. ..:
~

~-~ Ij \1 ~l .J 1 .l-
J f
.41 1:- 1 l t
" , 'f ,..,"
l
'S

~J "J 3
...J (jj
(.....1
,lA
..\-' .L
t~~ J
~

flll ~ti l ~l !"rl ~

Il]
Jl1 1G ~tI~
~l
! J -~ {

~ J 1 '.1 ~

.
.~ 1111 .
1
l
po
~
~ .1,
1 :t..e Il~
-- il [U,c.1
~

~
1 , ~
I~
. (r
1

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,
t
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-
l':;"
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~

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~~ W~~ ~}
1

f ~:
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1

it~ ~l r 1
li"
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~

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C.i ~
1
 EXAMPLE III: FLUTE CIRCLE MUSIC AND CLOSING EPISODE OF "> ...
• REMEMBRANCE OF TlME' .
...

; ~"!:~
.. l~(... ' - r'(~--) I*t
.=;~~ "''''€1Jt.
~m~é~Pf~jjyj~-
~~~§r~crj·-!§J,
\.

-'f"
~~ ~

- ~
........

()
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.-- "'

1-
-----

~
&~ =
ca, IFI~""--

,=4- -
-
1
'='11: - =

1-= ,t''''ifr(u! il: 1=?!Er

.~~1.r--'~
__ -~IIliI~~~~~L~L
- ft' :c-'I!! ,:~~a,::~~

t
r:~& - rr:~'=;::

q== wr riE;::
-J - \
\,
. 1
l '-.l

'" I~.::-' ~~,.-

co

'~f) 'i~41_1 .
il
~

,~,L. . . ~ ~.i
.

~
~ ~ FJ:lP i
51_ ri· .........)=-__
~L 11 l q'J •

l'l=::-'-' ~
1

, ,1
( l'_.....,..,fi·,. ..... ,~--
JJIk
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~.' _i ~ v....,.::._(f._~ . . AIL._ f'!1

78 .

1
1

1
i
1

! •
1

. ,
 "
79

This will be seen most effectively in the long raqge thematic f

1

( ) and 'texturaI development, but can also be obser~ed within in-

1

dividual movements. The str~ng glissando complex at the climax

is a good example of. a long range retur~'because
,
of the signif-
~

icant amount of material and time which has intervened since

its first occurance in 'Frozen T~me'. A retu~ over a shorter
f .
time span is seen in the recurrance of the 'ghostly bells' ~n

'Frozen Time' (heard first directly before the ~tring glissando

complex and then again directly after it) which implies a f~pe
"
11
of low level arch form in this movement.

The principle of successive comparison"figures prominently

1
in the experience of the shorter range echoes, particularly
j
( in a slow tempo and a relativély simple texture where the list~er

can grasp any details ~deviation

"
in the successive reiterations.
, ~

It is interesting to nqte the length of the periods between '

,
reiterations in these passages - at the end of 'Frozen Time',.
\

twelve $econds between successiverglass chime reiterations

l,
( , ,
(see \~ample 2, page 77), six seconds between re~terations
of the~pitch btnding figure" in 'Rememberance of Time' (~age t.

5 and 6 of score)! eight seconds between antique c~a1 chimes

àt the end of 'Remembrance of Time' (see examp1e' 3, page 78, a
0
>1

faint' echo of the antique cymba1 in the vibraphone is a1,so heard

midway between each of the antique ~al \chimes), around five
... " 1

seconds between echoes of the 'krek tu dai' figure in 'Col1apse

{
()
.. .,
of, Time' pefore the o,tenato, and tan seconds between reitera-
.
tions of a11 figures, (inc1udinq the antique cymÏ)al chiming &9ain)

, . \
 80

in the opening echo complexes of 'Last Echoes of Time'. In

() "
the opening percussion processionals of 'Frozèn Time' and the
X
closing ~ocessionals of 'Last Echoes of_Time', it is possible
to notice the sarne slow pacing of reiteration'but because of the
superposed ~ycles of material (in the different processional
groups) no overall regularity of pacing emerges. The 'Frozen
Time' processionals are nevertheless good examples of successive
comparison because of the rich though unpredictable echoing of
the antique cymbal chiming in the different cymbal pitches of
the onstage and ~ocessional groups and in the different timbres
introduced in, th~ gongs and vibr~phone. The an~ cymbal
iSla particularly US~f~ ~instrument in this type of context
fo~ both its long and interesting resonance period (when struck
v
c' ~fz) and its ability to penetrate the more complex texture.~

In addition "to the opportunity

')
which these slower pacings
give to the listener ta 9rasp the timbraI subtleties of the sounds,
{
r \
they create a unique effect in purely rhythmic terms. Referring
aga in to material which Paul Fraisse has prese~ted in !h!
Psychology of Time, it can be seen that the slow rate of reitera- w
tian in these passages -makes thei., repetitive sequential organ-
ization harder to grasp perceptuÀlly. F~aisse cites experiment-
ation (see pages 89 and 90) that demonstrates that with more
. ' .f
than two seconds between oècurrances, sounds are not generally
~
judgeci",to be within the SaDIe 'perceptual span' meaning that
they do not fprm a sense of 'tempo' or rhythmic succession.
 ---- --_.-.,..,.~

81

Similarly, with two or more seconds between successive stimuli,

it becomes increasingly difficult for a listener to apprehend
1
l'
,.'
more than three stimuli. (That is, to remember, without count-
ing while listening, hoy many stimuli were heard.) Although
it is difficult to relate unconditionally this information~to

the more complex context of Crumb's music, it can be seen that

1
the cyclic repetitive nature of these~passages wil~ not be fu11y
grasped without sorne 'stretching' of tpe perceptual span.
The effect of this is, as in muqh of Crumb's patte~inq, a
1
strong implication of sequential design in the repetition of the 1
indivfdua11y distinctive gestures, but because of their slow
pacing ~e a~tual simple repe~tive processes are not a; obvious
ho the listen~r as they are ~ the score • . 1

cL~ted
(
Robert p,"MOrgan 'has vt;ry appropriately on the
~lement of slow rhythmic pacing in Crwmb's music.
"Perhaps Most impressive, however, is Crumb's
extremely sensitive ~dling of the slow rhythmic
pacinq. l know of no composer writing toaay
who i5 able to present such a sparse and atten-
uated- sonorous in\ë~ge wit17.out prod9cing a corres-
pondinq sense of forma1 disruption.' By various'\
means - most, particularly, 1· think, by the span-
ning and connecting of temporally dis10cated .
segments through very simple" even obvious timbra1
.. ':1
and registraI associations so as to point the
ear'to the 1arger relatiQnships - he is~le to
keep the motion of the,piece under control.
Indeed, one of the most interesting aspects
of Crumb's mùsic is juBt the tension that arises
from havinq to wait over such-l~nq3,pans\ for inter-
rupted ideas to be taken up aqain.

, "

~ 39 Robert P. Morqan, iecords in Review, (1975, ~g. 117.

• . .
\
'\
~
 ._-- ~

82

In connection with Morgan's remarks it can be noted that

()
much of the clarity of the sequential patterning is due to
the juxta~osition of hig~y distinctive materials. Repetitions' 1
1
of individual gestures ar~-~en made to stand out by their Jl .
contrast with the other mater/~ls in their immediate context.
/

The nature o~ the deviations in'these graduaI reiterative

...,
processes is generally an extended decrescendo, but in many
instances, c.tianges of instrumentation or position of the sound
within the performance space create additional subtleties.
-,
and deviations. One good example of this is seen in 'Remembrance
of Time' in the clarinet and flute ~rocessional where'the pitch
bending figu~e is echoed between the flutes, clarinets and
( offstage'horns'. (See example 4, page 83) A type of 'fooled'

, expec'tation can also be seen in this passage in that the horn

does not echo the trertlolo figure 'of the flutes .and clarinets in
the second ~equence, but instead re~echoes thé pitch bending
figure of the earlier sequence. J

j
It should be noted that certain instances of reiteration
..
'\n Echoes df Time and the River present no deviation at aIl
/1>

.and so do not imply a longer 'l'ange process.. This is the case

in the open~ng of 'Frozen Time! where amid the ~omplex.echoings
(

in the go~~ and taro tams, and between the different pitches
~

of 'anti~e cymbals, thex:eiè. the undeviating regularity of the

sfz attacks in,the antique cymbals which creates the sense of
() ~ ,
a static,,. ritualistic, undevelopinq success'ion of events.
• r

,1
 .. •
83
)

:.
,'J

,,'rt,
1,
À

~
' ~ 11

11 ~
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lir
kj
"~ j :' 'f
j

,Jl
t" ;
t
,

• l
fi
.H
'J ~

lt
l'
'., ,
~Il
1:
l 1

( i'"
.. 'u,
"

t
r
1,.:f JJ
,r

I~
, -1
r·l . "\
lI~i
tli
ffu
'1 1

~ti 1~ ~
'ld
61

,....
,

! </
"

~;~,.
.,

il;.,'
,~
'
'\l't.,

"<

J'..: "
... '-,
 -- -~-- - _...... -~

84

() The repeti tion of longer passages has an importan"t,. role

thaugh somewhat different effect in this work. Each of the four i
1

movements begins with a passage or sequence of material which

1
is followed immediate1y by a slightly varied reiteration of ~ j

the whole passage or sequence. Additional reiterations of

longe r passages ar~ seen in 'Frozen Time 1 in the inunediate
repeat of the string glissando complex'and in the clàrinet
9
and flute ci~le • music of 1 Remembrance of Time 1 • In the se
\
last two passages, there is yery little noticeable deviation
between the first statement of the-material and the reiteration,
other than the obvious one in the case of the circle music
that i t is heud first in the clarinets and then in the flutes.
( \
Slight changes in instrumentation oeeur in the reiteration'of
the opening processional music of 'Frozen Time ' and of' the
,
operiing eeho complex of 'Last Echoes of Time ' , but because of
the length and comp1exity of these passages, successive comp-
fi

arisons would only -arise in the listeninq situation

in terms of the general features of texture and the more
distinctive gestures within these complexes.

The openinq echo complexes of 'Last Echoes of Time' is

parti c ular1y worth notinq as an example of the control of pacing
:Ir>
,~'and texture which ia developed in th~8 work ~ The passages 1 •
'1.
~.
'\
,
';
divide the orChestra !Dto six qroups. three of which consist· ~

of a percussiénist and one th~rd of a11 the strinqs, and the

other ~ee consistinq of a perc~ssionist. a ~Vmbal p1ayer

. )
A,"
,-...,
 85 ,
1
1

.
(at the side of the stage) and a flute or clarinet (offstage).
The first of the percussion and string grPups and the fi
of the percussion and wind groups begin simultantously ,
after one measure (ten seconds) their material is echoed
by one of the similar groups, gradually bui]ding up a
rich texture of isolated events which thins out as each of the
groups completes i ta four bars of material. As can be seen
in the score (example S, page 86) and heard in a performance,
these pa~sages present a rich pos~ibility of successive
comparison in the ~choing of material between the groups of
players. Between the two echo complexes (each lasts about
a minute and a half)" the noticeable change may be heard in
(
the pitch of the antique c~als (from et-G' to F-C)
(
and in the portamento figure which i9 in the clarinets and
flutes in the first complex and in the violins in the second.
In the opening repetitions of 'Remembrance of 'l'ime' and of
- .',--
Il

'Collapse of Time', the longer range successive comparison

becomes more clearly possible because these passages consist
of a simple texture and straigh~orward sequences of e~nts.
1'" ~
Two instances of an apparent interruption in the longer
range sequence of material can he .,en in '~rance of Time'
•
and in the openin~sequences of 'col\ap~ of Time'. ~can
be seen in the outline of the principal passages (page 6~)tthe
f'

clarinet and flute circle musi~rFassages are more or less

identiiCal, and

r in the Sanie

,.
waYi with a
JI
s~lo passage ~Ch.
•

\'
 b. ~-
..,
EXAMPLE V: OPENING ECHO COMPLEX FROM 'LAST ECHOES OF TlME'

~
oè
IV. Last Echo€s of Ti,me
, {::.c~~)
d'

J ~2;1'
1 ~'-",dL4:. _ kA,,)
"'--. _ l "'4' ,l,"
r ...,... ;,.vfp/w.
h,""","" _ 5" _ _ , _

;~~§xt~~~~c~~~~·~~.~4S~~~~'§~~'§.§c~a~i§ft~~~.:~m~e~!~J~.§~~c~..~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~7~~~~ c:.s:.."
... ...,
~~.
.
caz; ,. . . . .

l""""x. .5-==-- , ..,.

.... -.r.
',--
\ i

-
• t,.- -
\
~t~~
)~

--
(1".1.-) A,,~,....:(~.)
\ '"f.,t'r
t?

.-:
...
............. MoL 1'..... t_ (loft IoMtv) 00",.
(:)
11- • .-"-~ .....
~",f"" _ _" " ' ' '

,- -"
,.",.,.
,
" l'F'P

PFPf• ....."

~
""
.::-_(wIt~ GISf'o ~ ppp rWo.ly

~
.
{;.s..,1'irt C_ ':'~
..."'-~ Jo -
: • ",..a-...,
Tf'
. . .--r
.,.~ ~
PP-
~-i7. ~ "'""' Q)

~ [.P=. .
::.

- ---
m
~~. pp~' ::-- -,
. . u
J... ........
-.
L - - ~

.,"
....,
:.
1"\. s-II~ i~~ik (Mp-,Iota. '",.~ --- ~

",
;Ck ,

--
""'- :;;'.Lo' .-,.
- \
_- .
1',

,1' ...;->. :&.-.: f'!I-='-- • "!"""-'!Z~·

..
~

~.

e
.. :::;.
.. $-"::' ~ , .... . ~;r_ Y1o<.L ....~ 1- .
.t
'tI'

4
~ .. ... i' ..... - """lt.
. 1
.-- ,-
h'"
.'1: h
1

!'
't-. \" ""• .: ~t
~ • .N.::~~S Vc,Jw.
":"
Ill:c
'~
~.
""'-" ::.:.: ......... :.:.:..
........' "',: "1 m !t "SE'_ '1,\
1 .. "''\.
...... ~
~~:~(:.~-
(JII"+1WS (-/ '"'jp =-- r -'r..-te ~,..MI .. "!!
- ~

"
.... "'_ c

)
. . . . 4-

~, ~~~ ,...~ pp
• ......1.,,:-1:'_

""
#j

t
........ 'IIIoo.L ...... ..L'.....-"'T"'I ""'-Ir. ..
...
. :;, 1"
.
r:
~I~ s:~.
.!

~
.~

'VlIC&.~: !l---.F ....

~~., .... ~t~-
-r"I "c. .... 1 l-t;'"
01

.,
.... • ;Jo ~
U

- \
~-" '"""'" "." :::!: "",~
~~
'
') 1
~ ,
, w.. "'"
..â.IIii.. • .-.~.~L_ ._._~ ~ - '- ~ ""-- ".- .- ~~,
. 1 r-I~--:'- . _~_7 . t '
 ..

86

,
-,
,
,

,
,
...-"J
l'
"ll--j~
~-1Ir '-"'

3J""W,V.., ,

•
 'l'

.t
87 ,,
)
f

,
( ia immi tat~d in the low piano regiefter, and is followed by
a low cluster and a rapid drumming pattern on the tambourines.
Where the clarinet c~rcle music'continues into the intense
chfrdal entry of the strings, a startling deviation from this
sequence (which would predict'a repeat of the intense chordal
strings pâsaage after the flute circle music) ia felt after

- the flute circle music in the stark rhythmic figures (identical

to the footstep pattern in the opening procesaional of 'Frozen
Time') echoed by the pianos. A return of the strings _is
/-
eventually found in the 'remembrance' of the negro spiritual""", 0

in the final passage of this movement. In 'Collapse of Time··, ~

,';'"

a lop.ger range interruption or deviatfon is fel t after th'e

return of the 'krek tu dai' chanting. Where' a continued
(
, repeti tion of the o!i>ening cycle ',of mate~ial would predict
the reitération of the 'high rustling' and wind sound, there
aris~s a recall,by the clarinet: of ita tremolo and 'bending'
figures (echoes by the flutes) and the further attenuated
echoes of 'krek, tu dai'.

These instances of anrparently continuol1B pat~ern

beinq \in te rrupted and replaced by another form of process, as
\ . .
well as the much more common instances in the work where one
section simply ends and another quite different one beqins .
can be regarded as changes in process which create a momentary
discontinuity~40 The in~erruPted or discontinue~ocesses

40. See Leonard Meyer, Emotion and Meaning in Music, pq. 93

for his explanation of process reversal In traditional
styles.
 \

/
88 '
. , ~

À
fi. ~~
( 1 in Echoes of Time and. the Rive'r cao be exp~ained in terms of
•
the "general:episodic dramatic and thelriatic developmen,t of the
work which ~ill be discussed shortly, but fhey have the
important efféct of creating an uncertainty and an interest
in how the momentary interruption or discontinuity will fit
into'the long range design.

JV'
Another interesting feature of the succession of longer
passages i8 seen in their durations. The total time for the
COMpOsition (baSed~ the recording by The Louisville
Orchestra conducted by Jorge Mester)4l is about twenty minutes
and fifteën seconds. Within this time span, it is possible

( to hear (and see) twelve clearly defined passages of between

p
fifty and seventy seconds. (see the duratioœ in the outline
42 '
of the principal passages), and from the score, it can be
noted that the echo complexes of 'Last Echoes of Time' are
intended to be seventy seconds each but because the first
is extended into a short ep!sode (' a distant music' -played on
....
the piano, ~dolin, celeste and harp) and the second extends
directly into ~ final processionals, they do not fit into

41.
r
Echoes of Time and the Rive~. The Louisville Orchestra
J
J'O.t;"qe Mester Cond. (Louisville Orchestra first edi~on
records. 1971 LS?U).
42. In othis analysis of long range d~ration, thé ostenato
and the followinq string qlissando complex are taken
as one duxation because of th~ long range dynamic and textural
gesture (rise and fa11) which they forme ll
n
 , )
. 1 ~

r J ~

·1 89 1
~

~ !
1
j
1

~
( this long range durational pacing. Jhe two prolonged sections,
~

the brass circle music and the final processionals occu~

at :~portant point~ in the long range dramatic des~ - after

the climax in 'Collapse of Time', creating a relief from.the
regularity in the succession of passages, and at the end of
the work as a type of final elongation and closure.

Generally in Crùmb's music, it ia possible to distinquish

three different texturaI and rhy~ic t~es: the slow
succession of isolated events, the succession of separate
events but with some overlapping and irregularity due to the
fact that these passages consiat of a superposition of two l
indepe~aent cycles of material, and thirdly, the type of event
.
'complexes which is derived from the superposition of a number
~
of cycles of material. As mentioned in the second chapter,
these three types can be regarded as differing de~fees of ~
~
horizontal density which Crumb controls by straightforward
./ • • f.

contrapuntal means. The opening texture of the work in 'Froz~n

Time' is the type of complex sequence derive~ from the super-

•
~

position of two cycles of activity (thé onstage and processional i

f
percussion groups). After the reiteration 0f this texture, 1
there ia the juxtapposition of the simple sequence of the . f
1

'ghostly bells', ~e intense string glissando complexes,

the return of the 'qhostly bells' an~ the closing texture ~
..
which consiats of simple reiterated sequences of the mandolin .',
,
procesaional. The simple sequencing of events is resumed in the

1 L
~i
,
 \

90

( opening of 'Rem8mbrance of Time' with an interesting trilled

• background c~loration ahifting between the various timbres,
but with the arrival of the flutes and clarinets onstage,
~ tb~s is int~rrupted by the dense and pulsating clarinet circle
music complexe The 'texture of this passage increases quickly, 1
in density with the entrance of each of the clarinets in
turn, reaching a peak of activity and then subsiding as ~he

pl,ayers complele their cyc~s activi ty. ~ollowinq th!a is

al
- ,.
\ the relativèly quiCk succession
, of longer range events and
textures discussed earlier involving the short intense string
entry, ~e return of circle music texture and the sudden halt
of activity in the stark rhythmic figures drummed by the

( pianists. The last episode of 'Remembrance of Time' presents

a return to the opening texture of the work with the clearly i
ringing antique cymbals and the quiet sliqhtly overlapping
1
i
1

lyrical gestures in the strings.

The opening of 'Collapse -of Tiroe' similarly presents a

.
type of textural and timbral return in the succession of e~ents

aqainst the trilled, bac~ground ambience (as in the opening of

~. RemeDlbrance 'of 'rime') '. From this point of the work to 1:I\e
"-

end, however, there are no ~re abrupt textural changes and thi'
longer passages create gradual ebb and flow in the density of
avanta. The textural 'build of the- oatenato of 'Col!apse of ;.(
) ,
t~
. "
Time t beqins almost imperceptibly, extencUnq riqht from the lov 1 ~.:/ J

(
piano"re.onance. which
.
accompany the laat echoe. of 'krek tu
,
 --.,

\
91

( dai'. The eventual build of the ostenato is carried over in

, "
the intensity of the return of the string glissando complex
whidh in turn thins ~ut gradually to a solo contrabass
..
glissando tremolando l thus completinq an eleqant lo~ger
range dynamic and textural ge8ture in the gradual ris~, and fall
in the'density of act1vity. The solo ~ass ia followed by a
'lolo horn which begtns th~ brasa 'cirele music. Again in th!s
p~e there is a gradual growth andlreceasi~n in compl~xitY
as\eaCh group in turn begins and completes its material. In
terme -<Jf the long fange development of the work, the brass
circle music can be taken as a type of arch form c~rreapondence
v,
in texture and rhythmic character with the circle music
( complexes played by the flutes and
l'j.
clarinets in 'RSmembrance
of Time'.

The last· ringing of the finger cymb~ls (heard.alone

offstage) at the end of the brasa c~~cle muaic i_ follpwed,
after a short paus~by the lQudly resonant antique ~ymbal
.
, chimes of 'Last Echoes Qf Time' and the two "extended echo
complexes of th!. movement each riainq in a very delicate ~

complex1ty of events and ~ading direct}y into the ftnal

proeessiona!s: The final procession~la in t~r general
texture are' simil~r to the preceeding acho complexes aince
., • t
, t

thëy present , comparable diveraity of material in Buperlmpoaed

,
1 •
êycl•• and continue the portamento figure in, a type of mèlodic
( )
oatenato al:ternating iM&tW:een ~ho.ru.e8 of wh_tlera in the -
 92
, t
(1
i

strings and the vibraphone. As the procesaional playera

( f'
leave there is the final thinning out of the texture to the
oscillatin"g fourths among decreasing numbers of,(;~~ringtilayerS
which in turn fades to an unvoiced whistle an~ finally to
,
nothing.

f' •
The general line of development whicp.,'Echoes of T,ilne and
,1
the River presents in terms of texture, ls an interesting oq~.
. . P
The opening movements of the work in 'Froz~n Time' 'and 'Remem-
t
{,

brance of Time' present an articulated succession of events

~4 • r
and passages o,f contrasting material. Beg'inning with the
f 1
oatenato of '~ollapse of Time', few~r articulated sections
, .
are apparent and the work progresses
,
in 10n9 textural gestures'
consisting or a gradual rise and fall in the density of
activity. In terms of the thematic development, the longer
..,
textural gestures from the brass circle music to the end of the
piece present in short gestutes, isolated references to the
• i

materiàl and events which formed the more articulated succession

of the first part of the work.
1

tli~ Rive~ COmpl~

~
Thematically,o Ech6es of Time and is very
. /
not in terms of the development of themes, but in the quanti ty ,
,
1
of recurrent figures and the ,scope of their interëCtLon.
figures however, are" worth discu8sing in some detail because
C~rtain
,1,
they are' made to stand out .in the general texture and so have
a ~reater influence in the temporal direction which ia sensed
in the introduction of new material and the recall of mate rial
 J
1

~
\
()
\!
~ 93
1
{
!
)

1
~

( previously heard.. As mentioned in the introd'l,lction to this)

analysis,'Echoes of Time and the River is composed,as ... a kind
of 'disrupted' arch form in which there is a sudde~return
of previous material (the string' glissando complex) at the
.climax of the piece in 'Collapse of Time', followed by a mo~e
general recall of short gestures wi~in the extended complexes
of the brass circle music and 'Last EChoes of Time'. A
,
possible conJecture could be made here as to whether Crumb
made a type of translation of the Lorca fragment 'los arcos
rotos don de suffre el tiempo' into the general formal design
of the work. This is suggested in the various elements of arch
fo~ development of the processiQnals, the disintegrated return 1
of earlier materials and the appa~nt discontinuity in 'the
recurrence of the string glissando complex which as ,Crumb has
. "
implied in his title 'collapse of Time', represents a type
of psychological relapse at the dramatic focal point of the
43 .
work.

43. The sudden recall of the string'glissando comg+ex at

the height of the ostenato of Collapse of Ttme creates
an interesting musical and emotional discontinuity since the
sense of anticipation and qradual arrival Df the slowly building
ostenato is followed by an event which has already happened
at the beqinning of the work. Where this miqht be an expected
type of return in a traditional sonata form, it is definit~ly
unexpected in'this context and evokes muoh of the sense of temp-
oral nonlinearity and 'disruption of the title of this movement.
Another interestinq ~ipulation of the expectations inv6lved
in familiar musical forma, will he studied in the discussion
of 'Music for a Starry Niqht' from Mus1c for a Summer Evening.
In this case as well, there is an undeJ;lylrig poetlc meanIii'g
which can be related to the nature of the succession of ,
events.
t
1
1
f
 •

94

i It is interesting to note in the general thematic

"

direction of 'the music that 1 the long range thematic recall '
begins gradually while new material is still being introduced.
"'

The first instance of what could be ~onsidered a lo~ger range

return is heard after the stark rhythmic figure (drummed echo
by the ~ianists) tow~rd~ the end of 'Re~rance of Time'
where the chiming' fif1=hs and a subtle suqgestion of the
strings glissanpo material of 'Frozen Time' are heard'aqainst
('

segmented version of the neqro spiritual. In 'Collapse, of'

Time' there is a return of the trilled backgro~d ambience
~
(as in. the openi:ng ~f • Remembrance of Time' both of these pass-
\

ages a4e marked 'as from afar')' and also a pos~ible thematio

(
correspondence can he .noted here hetween the short hàrmonic
, ,
.
glissando comp~ex in the basses in the beginni~g of 'Remembrance
, • .' r
of Time' and short complex of behind the bridge arpeg~iations

in the violinsain the b~gi~ning of 'Collapse of.T1IDe'.' The

~ .
'"
.
sense of a tex'tural
,
thematic return is further· brought into
focus by the '~ound of the wind" which iEi superimposed upon
~both of these passages.

Fur,ther details of the general thematic reversal of this

movement include the clarinet and flute echoings before the
1 / '
ostena~, the return during the oatenato of the segmented
xylophone material (from the solo at. the beginning of the
è

movement), the recall in the brasa at the he!ght of the ostenato

of the strings accelerando trill figure in the 'Remembrance of

1 j
1
f
 -- - ~ -- ----..- - --------~---,.7-~-

," \
i

f
Q,f Time' (after the clarinet citble music) ,,~d a passing return
t

(
of the pi~ists' slow stark rhythmic f~~e (from the end
,of 1Remembrance of Time 1) heard in gli~~dOB in the timp~i " .
against the qradually
.~ ..
subsiding string glissando complex r
'

• ~s mentio~ed earlier, the brass çircle music recalls a

, \

variety of"materials in~luding ~e 'bending figure', and a

fraqment from the flute_anQ_clar~~e~cir~~e music.
-
At the énd o~ the work, after the whistled portamento '
ostenat0 44 , wheœthere-nas--been a-continued reflection on pas-t
(/

~ material, it i8 intere§tinqto note-that there arises what is

i'\
essentially new ànd different-rnateriàl.

The oscillatinq fourth figure taken up (in wh~stlinq)

by strings had been heard previously

th~
- .
only in passinq in
• •
the 'p1ccolos at the end of the second echo complex, as such
t;he
"
~ffect c~eated is a type of open endinq, as if the work
were still progressing thematically at the close.
,-
"'

, Without qoinq into all of the intricacies of the work,

:1 a few examples can be chosen to ~llustrate the correspondance . ; ,

"'

t,etween the thematic and theatric dramatic elements of the

1

44. The 'portamento' figure, upon closer examination suggests

a certain thematie development. It has the,; same rhy\:hmic
form as the 'bending' figure of the 'Remembrance of Time", but
instead ot the mournful descendinq quarter tone, of the 'bendinq'
figure, it has the more serene major second as in the seqment~
.
1
ed portamento gestures of the strings in their reminiscence of
."Were"you there when they crucified my Lord?" at the" end of,
"

( 1 !teJDeJDbrance of Time'.

1
1
 "
96

work. The orchest~a is treated essentially as fçur s~parate \

the~tric groups: the strings, the percussion and pianos,

,,
the woodwinds and the brass, each apparently with its o~
• 0
"', .
thematic matetial which is echoed within the'members of '.
each group and also to a certain more limited extent'among
members of the other groups. For example, in the opening
measures of 'Frozen Time', the presence ot the brass 1S re~~
,;
,
l'

remotely from back ,s~ge în a low register gli~sando figure.

This is reflett~d onstage by tn6 timpani:at th~ beginning'
of the second cycle of this,processional. When the brass enter
in their proc~ssional in 'Collapse of Time', they repea~-

edly echo· (off stage and onstage) a short figur~ which

1·
bears the same intervallic contour of their opening glissando ,
~
1·
premonition and similarly this motive figures prominently in
~

their circle music. A readily apparent tbeatric thema;tic Ci,

interaction has been observed earlier iI;l the eChoing of the

'pitch bending' figure in the 'Reme~rance of Time' but also
at the end of this movement an interesting themàtic trarisfer
is heard in the echoing of the perfect fifth of the percussioD
. '

'chiming in isolated g.estures in ~e strings .\. The 'fifths'

gesture is later·taken ~p by both the strings and woo~winds

in 'Last Eehoes of Time' and in fact one o~ the last sounds,~f

the work is a faint chord on the open' strings of the violin.

in harmonies. Another very subtle and interesting detail
whieh reflect~the interaction of the 'strings with the pro- .'
cessional groups ia that~_wht the ~er~u~~ion groups first
( ,
cOJDe cnto the stagé at the oPf!'ning ot the "'ork, chanting

..
'IIJ
 -..---- .........

97

, ,
,
'Montani semper liberi' 1t ia as a question which is'echoed
,
in affirmation by the strings. 'In the processional at the
., \.
, . end of the work"it can be seen th~
,
the pe~ussionists
Il
~
(repeating more or less the same cycle of mate~i~l as in
\,
their op,ning processional) have chanqed their intonation
of 'Montani semper liberi' that of the affirmative. The
to
Iv
departure of each of the processional groups at the end of the
work is a~companied by a type of farewell reiteration of the
-#
low~muffled roar fro~ the piano, a shouting of 'krek tu dâi'
and a ,chlminq of antique. cymbals in the strings. A detailed
examinat!on of the score reveals'more such theatric thematic"
IY '
implications, but these will suffice to illustrate the general
na ture of the musical ,image wh!ch is conveyed, and which
domina tes the experlence of the work. ."
If ft is possible to descr,ibe Varèst! 's treatment "f musi,çal
t~ in terms of an interaction of spatially conceived timbraI
-1
!
and tonal symbols, then a fitting description can be made of the
o i '\
coneéption
,
of time' presented in Echoes of Time and the River
. 1 .
and in much of C~'s music, as an interaction of psychic
symbols ~r spnic arohetypes. As seen in the discussion of the
various significant elements of design in E'choes of Time and (
Î

the River the work presents a type of composite image combining

the illusion of ritual form in the deliberate and solemn
pro~~Bsionais with the 'stream of consciousne.s' imp\ication
1

of the musical materials as weIl as the implied theatric

., . .
 ......
...
~---------
-~-~------~--~-

- - '

., 98 '

interactions be~en players, and thè mor~ abstract sense- of

,
. musical development in the shorter and longer range repetJ,. tions
! "

., and 'textural gestures." Th'" impression of t:emporal order

.
j created in-Echoes of 'lime and the River can be understood
1 1

in terms of a slowly evolving process which involves a unique

balance of predictability and unpredictability. As in MOst
.
) of Crumb' s wo~ks, the essential form of ECho&s of 'rime .and the
River is a series of episodes in which there is the implication
ot a long range unitY - either a narrative curve or arch forme 1
:1
~
~
Among the lower level episodes of 'Echoes of Time and the River,
.-

,
it wa,.s seen that predictability arose gradually, and in diffe~nt l'

ways - the very slow rhytrumic periode defined ~'the sequential ...,

reiteration of distinctive materials, the slowly evolving

(
o
~ .l
textural and dynamic growth and recessi~ns, and alao in the '1/
"

, immediate repetition of longer

Echoes of Time')
~d often more complex passages
(such as the opening ecomplexes of 'Frozen Time' and 'Last
where a certain predictabili ty emerges' in the
r~

repetition. In
"

remembering the theatric element of this work,

1
i
it can also be noted that a very obserVab~e predictability
t'
within the individual episodes, i8 deri veti from the\ directed
\,
.qtion of. the processionals. ,

In terms of the 0verall design, one of' the important

effects of the observable ~epetition of ·low~level'events

1

or episodes is the ~lication of a.higher o»dering. (As noted

t @, - ~
! in Leonard Meyer' s remarka at the close of the second chapter l
1

! '(

o
"

, ,
 r
'(,

99

( ;
paqe 60). One of the characteristic features of the
orqanization of Echoes of Time and the River is the unpredic-
.
tability which is felt in the succession of the lonqer episodes.
To a larqe ~t~nt, this eleme~t 0) unpredictability in the
succession of lonqer episodes is absorbed into the qeneral
1" evocationof mystery and .ritual, but as the work progresses,
parzicularly after the climax in 'Collapse of Time', a certain
y ~
regul'ari ty arises in the duration of the lonqer passages and a
, ... certain long range sense of closure is derived from general
dynamic direction of the music, suggesting a type o,f narrative
curve, and the qeneral thematic recall suggesting a type of
arch forme Perhaps the most tangible expression of a type
( of s~tric arch form closure is felt in the final processionals
as the brass and percussion groups leave the stage. The very
_,~~al implicatio~ in the lower level repetitive patterninq
-,,~
, ~ t
o:r a typel of hiqher level design is therefore realized in this
.p~ce. The exact nature of the hiqher level meaning is complex,
ttQ.
• J
as already men tioned., involving the theatric, thematic logic
as weIl as the more purely musical processes (i.e. processes of
.',
repetit~on and dynamic and texfural growth) and the str~ng 1
symbolic archetypal nature of-Crumb's musical imaqery.
c;:~
1
1
"r~se of a hiqhlv evocative musical imaqerv deserves a
, • @
•

further cO\NDênt in rp.scect to_~~> role in the ~ualitv of experience

in his music. As noted. in the second chapter, the archetypal and (J

(
~orinotative images which-arise w:i:thin the various formaI 'pattern-
, ~

inqs of Crumb's music'have stronq associative meaninqs themselves The

, l'
 t 100

juxtapposition and contrast of these images in both the immediate

".
succession of events or in the succession of longer passages
(i.e. the long range discontinuities or interruptions) creates
a unique tension and interest as ta how such fundamentally
evocative and contrasting images are brought together in
a higher order of meaning. This, combined with the pacing
of events and passages discussed in this analysis creates
a sense of suspense in Crumb's music.

Alfred Frankenstein's remarks on this particular quality

\
of Echoes of Time and the. Ri ve'r are worth noting.
"Throughout the entire score, the big orchestra
is handled as a series of chamber ensembles,
( percussion, winds, strings, and such unusual
additions.as a mandolin - each group handlad
separately and most quietly against a background
of total silence. What happens primarily in
this music is a sense that something is gotng
t5 happen; there ara a faw loud brassy gestures
here and there, but they do not really qualify
as avents; the real event hasn't come off when
the music runs out at the end of its twenty
minutes. But you sit fascinated throughout.
Crumb has co~jur!~ time perhaps more SU~SSfUllY
than he knows." ..,
In all fairness to Crumb's work, however, it has been
l
evident in this discussion that there is a noticeable climax j
in thej work in 'Collapse of Time' which has b,oth an interasting
compositional or1gin and a distinctive musical effect. It
!
~,

~ .
should be noted also that Frankenstein's comMénts refer only ta
the recarded performance 8r the Louisville Orchestra ~d do

45. Alfred Frankenstein, -Records in Review, 1971, pg. 142.

"
\
 ..
1 (
101
... ,
,

( .
not take into account the role which the a tric gesture plays
in the overalÎ meaning of the work. Crumb is quite correct
.... .
when he mentions in the notes ta the score that the processionals
imPly a type of continuum. When the processional players
have all left the stag~ at the end of the'Last Echoes of
\

, Time', it is not as if the music has ended, but rather as if

it has depart~d to be continued somewhere e~e. Similarly
"
the implication of ritual or of distance, remoteness, or
sounds coming 'as from afar' which is common in Crumb's music,
is vividly reflected in the use of the extended performance
space. In addition to this, there is an added spontaneity
i~ the musical phenomenon of sounds coming from performers who

are not visible to the audience and an added expectation that

, arises in the entrance of players from offstage during,. the

course of the mu~c. Tsadeus Kowzan has made sorne interesting
observations on this aspect of what he calls the 'spectactular-
ization' of music in the recent avant-garde,
"Yet i t must be recogni,zed that, despi te
appearances, they (instrumental theatre pieces)
are not directed to a sholarly elite but to a
wide public, and they reflect certain aspi~ations
and anxieties of our time. Artistic productions
in which real movement is used to the fulle~t
extent tend to hold to the maximum the attention
of the spectator of the spectator or ·listener,
ta capture him entirely, to absorb him to
the greatest degree, and to make him a
participant. ~ey may even provide him with
a ,catharsis." .

46. Tsadeus Kowzan, ftMusic and the Plastic Arts: In Conquest

of Time and Space," Dioqenes LXXIII, (1971), p. 19.
 102 1

!
1

Echoes of Time and the River in its depiction of the coming and
passing of events by the coming and going of the processional
players \,Tould certainly fit Kowzan' s description. The resul t
is both a more cIearIy delineated formaI patterning and a
heightened attention on ~he performance not only for the
information in the music but in the performers themsel ves /.
their movements and positions.

Crurnh's creation of 'larger rhythms' in the succession

of events is very plainly apparent in Dream Sequence for piano,
percussion, violin, 'cello and two offstaqe glass harmonicas.
I~this work, the two glass harmonicas sustain a high soft
( drone throughout while the other instruments perform a long
circle music in three groups - the percussionist, the pianist
and the viol in and 'cello as a duo. The work progresses as a
'"
circle music creating a long sequence ~f isolated v\pions,
freely succeeding and overlapping with each other, aIl at an
extremely soft dynamic level. As the work progre.ses, one i8
very likely to become aware of a 'larger rhythm' in the interval
of entry of the individual groups. The percussionist leaves
from five to $even seconds between each of his fragments, the
piano between seven and ten, .nd the violin and 'cello, betwe~n

benand thirteen seconds so that while the performers play

independently of each other, creating a"fluctuating pattern
in the success~on and overlap ofevents, there is an
approximate reqularity with which each efthe parts enters.

)
 103 .f
~

j 1
( 1 Even larger repeti tive cycles can be seen in the design of
the work in that each of the circle music groups repéats its
sequence of material over and over until the violin and 'cello
have completed ~ree cycles of their material. The violin
and 'cello parts are particularly interesting because of the
different mood designations of the individual fragments, {in
~er:
- _-L nervously,"" m~sterloso,
,111 • • If f4.. •
~angu~d
1 y,(1 II·breath'~ng,
- ." tif rag il e,
If

" l' l' " " ,., JI II

nervously, semplice, un poco mechanico and breathing), like
short emotional episodes against the delicate and subtle,
but essentiafly calm background in the other parts. In
listening to the work one is particularly aware of the violin
and 'cello episodes perhaps because of the larger interval of

( entry between episodes and the distinctive nature of their

material. The reault ia that as one continues to listen to
the work, one becomes more in tune to the violin and lcello's
interval of entry as a type of-long range meditative-rhythm.
,
The work' ends as it begins, with the sound of the glass~
harmonica, but an added coda episode i8 included with a short' •

excited out-break in the piano softening into a 'cicadeL

"

drone' 4 7 (the strings in a short frtgment of )~i9h sul ponti-

cellotre~lo
,r
plus sustained harmonic before the final fade out
of the glass harmonica.

47. The sound of the cicada (a cricket-like insect found

commdnl~ in Spain) is a prQminent image in Lorca's poetry
symbolizing the natural energy and warmth of the sun, sinee it
emits its high pitched drone in reaction to the sunlight.
 104

1
1
Dre am Sequence ies both the stream ot conscious-
ness, dream-1ike evoc and his use
cyc1ica1 occurrence. The underlying
cyclical o~anizati time is very apparent' in the graphie
layout of the score, because the individual cycles are
so long and becatise results from three simultaneous
cycles, the listener subtle suggestions of the larger
ecurrence of certain distinctive gestures.
Even thoug~ this work ia essentially meditative in character,
a marginal reference ie seen to the long range linear patterning~

which is characteristic of Crumb' s s,tyle •• i'pis is evidenced in 0 l,

thé solo drone of the glass harmonica at both the beginning

and end of the work, a type of ldhg range textur~l return,and
the emerqence of adynamie high point towards the end of the
~ l
work in a series of high register piano cho rds which lead
eventually into the coda. The principal event, however, is the
long static flux of visions in which the listener can explore
the free association 01 materials ~d the larqer rhythmic structure.

Lux Aeterna for soprano, bass flute (and soprano recorder),

si~ar, and two percussionists is another qood example of Crumb's
control of the 'larger rhythm' within a work. It progresses
1
as an alternation between two different musics not unlike that
at the end of Niqht of Four Moons. The first music in which .'

" '
'Lux Aeterna' text is set, consists of a number ot elements
includinq the slow chiming of simple melodi~ whole tone diads
 ~ q:

--------------_.~-------.~~~~~-. ---/- - . ---_. --- -.,.... "--' . ---~~"..,."

..--....
,
<:
--..
--
t""...
""-
- A

t
TABLE III: LUX AETERNA - LONG RANGE- PATTERNING OF PHRASING AND DURATION

"'- Phrase Lengths Duration

number of
. C10ck Time
~

bars
• Lux Aeterna' 1-7 8-13 14-21 22-28 29-35 26-41 41 3'05·
/
(7) (6) (7) (1) (7) (6) ,
~
• Masked Dance· 42-48 ~
7 1'17·

• Lux Aeterna' 49-62 63-75 27 2'02·

(14) (13).
,
tMasked Dance' 76-80 5 5' S·
,
• Lux Aeterna' 81-86 87-9~ 13 1'00· /
(6) (71

~Masked Dance'

• Lux Aeterna"
(7) ,
94-96

97-1-{) 3 104-1.08 109-112

3

16
3' 3·

1'13"
(\
(5) (4)
• Masked Dance 1 113 1 11"

'Lux! • 1 15"
1-"
o

l
Ut
="
J,
....~

~~-:;. -"---
r~~~--~~~~~~~~~"- ......~
- I~~~t~~~:~- 1-:~~t'4~'~-_ '-
------. .-WMM~'C.·~~
 J. 106

/
!
(
(crotales placed upon timpani membranes,> and very long
melis~tic, quasi improvised melodic lines (mostly whole tone
in pitch structure with some chromatic embellishment) in
J.
the flute and soprano. The alternate music (or refrain)
is enti tled fi Masked Danc~: Elegy for a Dead Prince", and
•
consists of a sitar drone on F with a simple repeti~ive

but rapidly ornamented line

.
in the soprano recorder, $~milar

to the Indian accompanied melodic styles (pallavi etc.).

As seen in the summary of the principal du~atio~s (Table III,
page 105), the duration 01 the·alternating sections become
~ressively shorter, the 'Masked Dance' by two measures
r
on each,~iteration and the 'Lux Aeterna' section by
fourteen at least over the first three statements of this
section. As 'mentioned in the previous chapter, the work
traces a narrative curve in terms of complexity and activity
.
reaching a high point at rneasure seventy-two which is very "
close to the golden mean point in the entire duration of
the work. Lux Aeterna therefore has a very tangible long
range patterning in the general dynamic contour and in the
successive durations of the ~efrain, which dwindles to one
measure at the olose of the work.
1
Individually, the 'Lux Aete rna, sections form very
elegant long and slowly developing lines both in the lyrioal
,
1
!,

1
'\
,1
 - ----.......
r

107
:;
f1
part~ (f1ute and soprano) and in the percussi~
, ,
gestures.
The percussion gestures (antique cymba1s a~e placed on
a timpani membrane, the tension of which is ..shifted after
the antique cymba1 is struck causing a fluctuation in
the resonance of the antique cymbal) formmg a type of
~

recurrent mot~o figure con\isting freely of two

whQ1e tone diads, one ascending, the other descending
or both ascending or both descending. The continuously
chanqing figuration of the diads, which arise also in the
other instruments, creates a type of spontaneous floating
pattern deviation. Especially when it is given in the
antique cymbals and from five to eight seconds elapse
between pitche~ an int~esti~g tension is created in the
listener's having to~it to see which way the diadic
•
pattern will unfold. As with simi1ar antique cymba1
figures in 'Echoes of Time and the River', or the return
of the 'cristal'ino' intonatlion in "No piensam en la
lluvia ••• ", the distinctive return of this material delineates
much of the longer periodic movement in the first two
t

'Lux Aeterna' sections.

1
1
1
!
The scor~ea1s a certain numerological ordering
,"
in the metric duration of the extended melodic lines of
 108

\,

'Lux Aeterna' sec~ions into ·phrases of seven and thirt-

een measures. This would only bé apparent to the l1stener\
in terms of a certain longer regularity in the phrase
length, but it can be regarded as a type of compositional
device which is:derived from the ritualistic conception
and presentation of the work. An interesting detail which
creates a very strong and audible suggestion of the ritu-
alistic order i~ the single occurrence in each of the
'Lux Ae te rna , sections ofacristaline ~hord (tubular bells
and crotales) to whicn the soprano reacts with a signif-
icant maLadie gesture. In the last three of the 'Lux
Aeterna' sect~ons the tubular bell and crotale chord occur
at numerologically ~lgnificant points in the score ( the
d

thirteen~·bar of 'the se~ond section, the seven bar of

the third section, and the thirteenth bar -of the fourth.
In the first section the chord falls on the thirty-third
bar) and provides a recurrent focal point for a long range
successive comparison in each of'these sections. This
particular gesture will most likely be understood by
the listener as a ritualistically imposed event but its
recurrenc~ aiso reflects intèrestinq aspects of the large
forro of the, work such as the general dynamic growth,
(the chord oceurs first as sffz, then in the'second
section sfffz, then pp in the third and pppp in the fourth)
 ----------------------------------------------~~

109

. '

J ( •
and the prominent dyadic pitch pattern. (the uppsr pitches
of the crotales over the four occurrences trace the
....
.... . . 'i
melodic'diads ABf E~, ~~ke the diadic whole tone patterns
-in the 'Lux Aeterna' _sections 1 •

Certain other repetitive details in 'Lux Aeterna'

and 'Masked Prince' sections become apparent tOlthe
1istener ~~ become a source of predictability and affective '.

~eviation as the vork progresses. One of these is the whole

tone melodie patte~ (ct Di F or B et Di F which leads
.....
into the F drone in each of the 'Masked Dance' refrains.
It is interesting to note the hesitation with which this
.,
pattern is completed in the transition ta the final single
.pl
bar reiteration of the refrain. Simi~arly' it can be'

noticed that a single is'olated harmonie r natural in the

.
si tar in each recurrence signif' a the end of eaoh of' ohe
'Masked Dance' sections. ~~tail of extreme long range
des~gn is found in, the ~ the "Lux Aeterna' s~tions
'.,
where there is a réca l of the trilled cymbal (on the
i
timpani membrane) and bowed ,tam tam soriorities of the open-
ing section, creating i~olated suggestion of a long range
arch forme 1
1
!
The interesting sense of temporal arder in 'Lux - '

'.
,'.
Aeterna' results much as in the Madrigal "No piensam en la ~r

tH'

• \
 110

lluvia ... " studied in the previous chapter, from a basic

,repetitive cyclic organization, (the alternation between

- the 'Lux Aete~'

, '

there
, and
'
'Masked Dance sections)', in
"t
evolv~ add;~ional
~''"'''
,
which
long range processes - the narra-
tive curve and the process of the shortening'of the duratfons
of the alternating sections. As in "No piensàm en la liuvia
•.• " where (with the repetition of 'the high B-F in the vibra-
phone), there is t~e suggestion "of a type cyclic melodic !
process, a similar sense of1 tortal return is fel t i'n Lux
Aeterna in the recurrence of the soprane? s whole tone melodic
line rising to the F of the drone in the tMasked Dance" section.. .
and in the recurrent F natural harmonie at the end of
the 'Masked Dance' sections. Like 'the return of the 'cristaline'
in tonation in the short Madrigal, the repeated chords in
the 'Lux Aeterna' sections create a sense of another very slow
evolving process in connection with the long range direction
of the music.

-.;

Music for a S~r Evening 'CMakrokosmos'III) for two

~
f
1
amp l ~, f'~e d . /d
p~anos an t wo " .1S
percuss~on~sts, Crumb' s 1ongest !

composi tion to d,ate and as the subti tles s,uggest, i t

, i
j

crea tes an episodic repreaentation of a conception of

spiritual,cosmic order. The work co~prisas an arch form in
five movement~ a~ indic~ted by the fOllowing timings and

short descriptions of the structural character of each'of

1
 , .
III
,
r
,
l · the movemen ts •

TABLE IV: STRUCTURAL OUTLINE OF MUSIC FOR A SOMMER EVEN~NG

'I. 'Nocturnal Sounds' 5' 17 Il very long range , gradual,.

(The Awakening) dynamic and texturaI .
crescendo
.,
II •. 'Wanderer Fantasy' 5'12" sequentiai aiternation of
,materiai between players 1
j
~pIi~d arch forro return (
at end l
III. 'The Advent' 4'10" two 10n9 crescendo gestures
in an ostenato rhythm f<>llowed'
by an echo sequence of differen~
materiai
'W
'Byron for the Nati- 3'50" responsive segments between
vity of the Star players - two longer range
Child' repetitive cycles .(at different
pitches) and a third in~olving
a type of echo over~ap between
players
IV. 'My th' 4'57" sequentiai succession of
gestures; underlying isorhythmic
\ structure
.7't4 V. 'Music for a Starry-
Night'
Introduction 4'2Q" dramatic1sequence of materials
'Song of Reconcili- 7'40" long range dynamic and texturaI
ation' growth (ostenato rhythm) very
~ graduaI fade out.

seen in the structural outline of the piece, there

nsiatency in the pacing of episodes with the four
c'

ta e minute durations, leading to the extended seven

1 ~"
rf minute 'Song of Reconcilliation'.
"
f
t
1 • #
 o li

-"._,~"~----
1

-- -
__ J .....
,

a, 1112

( ,,
• \
;
The placement of a long extendéd movement at the end of
the work '''18 found in many of Crumb' 8
.
wo~ks as a type of long
range closural gesture. In this work, as in the concluding
'Music for the End of Time' in Vox Balanae, the ,'Song of
•
op ReCOnCillia~' ha. a 'poetic .ignif.icanc~·'. a. a.type of
spiritual contemplation of the eternity of time.

The long range arch form 9f this work is apparent. only

. te a very limited extent in the recall'Q.( thematic materia1'

but it can be sensed quite'clearly in the very long dynamic

gestures of the opening and c108ing pieces, and in cè~tain
•
more tenuous correspondences between Wanderer F~tasy and

1 My th! Although -My th' is isorhythmic and'Wanderer - Fantasy'

la essentia11y a sequential exchange of passages between
, perfo1rs, both create the impr~s8ion of a dynamically
statis 'rogression of blocks of 'material in contrast to
,1
the lon~ dynamic gestures. A:O a~onal corresponden~e
can be se en in the fact that'W~-FantaSY consists
~tly of an interaction between'the two pianists
and MYtn
4
is almost ~xclusively for the two percussionists.
The 1 Hymn for the Na ti vi ty of the Star Child" makes
.
use of the short reiterated Gregorian chant~like figura
upon which a repeated fifth figure from the end of the J

introduction of this movement in1:rudes in each of the three

sequences of the hymne Wj,th 'BYJI!Il for the Nativi<ty of the
( ,

a
 p
* •

,
113 ,-
J
:1

(
Star Child' as the centre of the arch f~, it can be seen
how in Music for a'Summer Evening, Crumb again,in juxta-
.posing a series of only vaguely related episodes,
creates a sense of underlying poetic and formaI. organization .

•
It is wo~th looking in detail at one passage of Music
for~ s~er Evening as àn example of this particular sense
of underlying poetic and formal order which Crumb creates.
'Music for a Starry Night begins with a sequence which fsatures
D •

the contrast between wide,ly"" different styles not unlike ~

Aeterna or the end of Night of Four Moons. The two styles

"
~,
in this case are the mysterious,atonal sonorities typical
(
of Crumb's style (particularly prom~nent among these is a
1
cascading figure recurring ritualistically unchanged with
tne direêtion of IIfantastic, oracular") and a quotation ..l.
~

from Bach, Well Temper~d Clavier, Volume II, Fugue Number "
E~ght. The passage progresses as summarized in the schematic
diagram (Table V, page Il.) in a succession of individual
\
events which create a type of larger rhythm ~heir relative
dùration (the predominance of six, seven and eight~second

durations) and the imp~i~tion of a type of cyclic forro

0\

in their recurrence. It is interesting in light of Crumb's

<\.

numerologicai dev~ces to note the fivefold occurrence of

the cascadirig 'arpeggiation in correspondence with the
fivefold galactic bells of the fOllowing'song~ Reconciliation~ (
( 1

,
..
 ~
-- - ~ .------
t~

t ft
./
,-
(

TABLE V: SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF THE DURATIONAL PATTERNING IN THE INTRODUCTION

TO'MUSIC FOR A STARRY NIGHT'

opening chordal 'cascading 'cascading chordal gliss over

triplet + arpeggiation' arpeggiatiqn' tripl-et Cin echo) low pno. 1
resonance + repeated note strings +
'1"T"t ~
figure resonance
7" 6" 6' 6" 6 7" 8"
~ ""'--
Bach ~cascading mid-register mid and gliss over
quotation ,arpeggiation" trill lower low pno.
register stings +
trill resonance
"striving but falling"
! •• r;-t
24" 6 . 5" 3" 5" 4' 6" )
~
,Bach chordal
1
i
"cascading
_J\ ~

·cascading gliss over

quotation " triplet arpeggiation' arpegg ia tion" low pno.
(in echo) strings +
"striving but falling n + repeat'ed resonance
Ti""l
note ~i tlJ,re
r.-t
....,
22" 4'- y,,- 15" 4" 6" 6- 6" 6"
;::;;-r::t:= ~
\0
~
Bach ~
qUQtation 0:.-
",.

.---.------.
,. striving, attaining! " 13
-
24"
"
,

l \,
i
""
• ..........__~~~----~~~~~~~--------------
;:Ji_U
<'

. .w..w~'_' ~_~~_ .-,. "-,' =--~"-"-- - -- - ---~::'_~\rf>'~

•
't"~]."..,~;' '.'
t -~
 115

(
At the be~ning of the passage, Crumb presents a
-~

quotation fram Rilke, "Und in den Nachten fallt die schwere

Erde aus allen Sternen in die Einsamkeit. Wir alle fallen.
ctnd~doch ist einer welcher
. dieses Fallen un~ndlich
,.
~anft

in seinen Hiinden hal t" (' And in the nights the heavy earth
1 A

is falli~ from aIl the stars down into loneliness. We

-.
are aIl falling. And yetthere is One who holds this falling
endlessly in His hands.") which is directly reflected in
the music in the downward cascading arpeggiations in the pianos
and in the upward 'striving' but 'failing' of the Bach
quotation. The quotation enters very surrealisti~allY as a
";\
type of nostaigic recollection, amid the 'roar of distant
thunder' (the glissando over the low register piano strings)
and in its first two occurrences, as indicated in the score,
it's melodic line rises but descends at the end. The third
oècurrence of the quotation however 'strives' ta a clear
cadential point into Fi major at which, by aIl imaginable
tonal expectaions, the Et must rise to Ft.
\
(:!rumb has even
marked 'attaining' at this point in the score, and the
thirteen second, pause leaves the listener hanging in anti~i-

pation Qf sorne ~ort of ' resolution of the Ei. The resolution

f
~
occurs i.6 >.~ark~le way. The Ei 1 transposed \)P. an actave
III
and transfigured with the addition of the crotales on the
sarna pitch, becomes the first of three pitches (Et, Dt, Bt)
in a slow and gently descending chordal f~re (seven seconds

1
\.. €
 ..
116

( on each chord) which is the first of the 'Fivefold Galactic

BelIs 1 of the' 1 Song of Reconcilliation'. From this' point
the 'Song of Reconcilliat~on' extends to the end of the work
",..
in a very long an d graduaI dynamic swell and fade-out.
, ,

It is interesting to note in1connection with the key

pi tches 0 f this passage, that i t is part of a conception
of tonal centres on Of and Fi which Crumb has exploited
earlier in 'The Advènt'. In 'The Advent', it is seen in
the opening crescendo gestures as weIl as the sequences
of "Byron for the Nativity of Star Child" ~ich centre on Dt
and fi but in the Bach quotation, it is a case of melodic
( ~ ris"ing from D# minor tonality and never quite attaining
Fi major.
p

Much of the unforgettable·effect of the introductory

passage of 'Music for a Starry Night' is felt in the suspense
\ .
of ~he longer rhytbms and juxtap~ositi~ of the disparate
&lements but perhaps the most striking~ature is the doubt
and expectation that arises at the crucial 'attaining'
..l,.
,, point of the fina~ occurrence of the quotation as to how
!
1
1 ,
the Ei will be meaningfully resolved. The solution is
!
i ""
t startling and revealing, ,a negation of the traditional
J
t structural, emotional tendency of the tonality in the
l
quotation, but the indication of a hiqher meaninq in which
,
1
( the Et has an ~legant ppetic and structural meaninq, as i t
1

1
f ,
 117

( !
is repeated over the closing epi80de of the work in the
IFivefold Galactic Bells l • Similar to the depiction of
the ICollapse of Time' in Echoes of Time and the River,
th1s in troductory passage to 'Music for a Starry Night' is
a good example of Crwnb 1 s organization of the temporal and
emotional qualities of different musical materials within
an underlying poetic design.

Although the four worka discussed in this chapter

present widely different variations in Crurnbls treatrnent of
lon~ange design, it has been possible~to isolate in this
discussion important aspects of Crumb's general organization
/ of musical e~erience.

, AlI of the works studied (and indeed aIl of Crumb's

•
works in general) consist of ~ succession . of shorter
episodes in which there emerges a type of long range form
or process. In Echoes of Time and the River, Music for a
Summer Evening, and Lux Aetema, the e~sodic quality of the
•
general design i8 quite transparent. In Oream Sequence
it ia less
, immediately obv~ous, but nonethelesa present amid
the general flux of materials of the circle music., In aIl
cases, closely associated with th~e~iS~diC organization
of material ia a type of long rang~ pac1ng. This could
be noticed most rigoroualy in Lux Aeterna in the gradual
(
 118

f
!

( f
shortening of the durations of the alternating sections r
but an important longer range pacing was also observed in
Echoes of Time and the River (the relative consistency of
the fifty to seventy second duration in the successià: of
episodes) and Music for a Summer Evening (the succession
of four to five minute p~eces Ieading to the seven minute
'Song of Reconci1liation' at the end of' the work). In

\• Dream Sequence a simi1ar though much shorter pacing becomes

apparent ~ the ten to thirtet~ second interva1 of entry ~
betwèen the vio1in and 'ce110 episodes thus creating a type
of vague and meditative longer rhythm during the extended
~
Il .,

circle music flux of events. 1

(
In iso1ated passage within the works discussed, it was
possible to notice and study Crumb's treatment of very slow
rhythms in the sequential repetition of distinctive timbra1
and gestural materials. Instances of this abo'und in Echoes
of Time ~d the RiVer, but it was also observed in Lux
Aeterna (the slowly unfolding diadic patterns) and in M~sic

for a Sumner Evening (in\Music for a Starry Nigh~ in the

abundance of six to eight second durations and the distinc-
tive, repetitions of the oascading arpeggiations and the
t
!r ./'
c~-Î
, Bach quotation). Much of the effect of such passages cou1d
'\ , • he understood in terme of the clarit;.y of the repeti tions ,
f \
t 1
but very slQ.lpace of the sequential \atterni~q which causes
1 ( \ "

'\
 p ZN. q

{
1
'~
119
!1
( 1
the listener to wait and ex tend the normal perceptual
span in order te grasp the suspected patterning as it unfolds.

The four warks âiscussed in this chapter exemplify in

their diversity the general conceptual freedom with which ï
Crumb determines the large scale farro and meaning in his
music. Each expresses a different type af poétic represent-
,
ation. In Echoes of Time and the River it is the ritual and
states of time consciousness involved in a type af continuum
and theatric dramatic form. Music for a Summer Evening
presents isolated,visions of a cosmic order, wnich despite
the lack of thematic repetition between movements imply
a type of mysterious underlying arch form in their succession.
Lux Aetenna alternates between two essentially meditativ~ . ~:
but contrasting styles in a very gradual process which evo~ ~ "
much of the ritual and sense of tem~aral expansion in the ,
~
!
title. In 'Dream Sequence iJ the sense of poetic representation
f
is very straightforward, in the static drone of the glass
harmonica and the pianissimo flux of episodes. It is interest-
ing to note that both Lux Aeterna and Dream Sequence present
.
over their long range organization ~ro~esses which have
been noted to occur within individual episodes in Crumb's
music: circle music and the alternation between two
distinctly different styles (as in the 'Musica Humana!
aiki. the "Musica Mundana' at the end of the Niqht of Four
( 1
Moens) •
 •
120

r
(

Ve~allY in the works studied, however, Crumb's

Î

two common ~dioms of long range unitYr\the narrative curve

and the arch form are in evidence. The narrative curve
is found quite distinctly in both Lux Aeterna and Echoes
'-
of Time and the River, and the suggestion of arch form is
an important aspect of the overall unity in Echoes 0 Time
and the River and Music for a Sumner Evening.
Dream Sequence where the central organization of material is
(
a complex flux of materiall there is the suggestion of arch
,~

form in the solo drone of the glass harmonica at the beginning

,:J and end of the work, and a slight implication of narrative
1:
curve in the short dynamic outburst of the piano which
( subsides into the pianissimo coda •
..

•
( ,
l'

~
) :~

121

(
CHAPTER IV: SUMMARY AND PERSPECTIVE

It has becorne generally apparent in this study that

Crumb's style combines important elements of what 'can be
described (using Rochberg's terminology) as the 'temporal'
and 'spatial' images of music, or modes of experience which
are dominated respectively by the subjective ant~cipation
and objective acceptance of musical events. !n the dis-
cussion of the general features of Crumb's musical language,~

it was seen that one of the principal points of interest in

his style is the integration of a variety of musical materials
and types of formaI organization (both traditional and
avant-garde) within a larger hierarchical design. Much of
the fundamental nature of Crumb's combination of a diversity
of materials can be understood in terms of the association
of his music with the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca.
This is evident both in Crumb's rich and highly evocative
sonic imagery which reflects the drearn~like awareness and
mysterious primitive spiritualism of Lorca's style, and in
Crurnb's use of obvious repetitions which suggest more
simpl~tic popular forms. In term: of -fttuslcal time f Crumb' s
musid, like Lorca's poetry, combines the more spontaneous
and tinpredictable stream of consciousness effects with
the implication through various forms of retum and
repetition of a long range formaI design.
 122-

( .l
In further exploring Crumb's musical language, it
could be seen that certain relatively ~pIe compositional
idioms figure prominently in the basic predictability and
quality of musical time within individual passages or
..-
episodes. Very generally, the nature of bath lower level
and longer range patterning in Crumb's music relates to two
~

basic musical and perceptual forces, the sense of dynamic

form and continuity (the lyrical and dramatic gestures,
the longer range crescendi and djmint,fendi and the narrative IJ.."1
curve) and the sense of an ordered sequence of differentiated
units (the repetitive or reiterative patternings or the
arch forro). The repetition of distinctive materiaI~or
\.
gestures in Crumb's music creates both an isolated predicta-
bility within the repeated material or passage, and an
implication of a longer range sequential patterning which can
~

be~iscovered by the listener. It was hoted generally

th~~the very slow pacing of events in sucH sequential repe-
<
titions in many passages had the effect of allowing the
"
listener time to grasp the rich timbral nu~ce of Crumb's
j
sounds, but also made the longer range sequential organization
.. less readily apparent" causing the Iistener to 'extend his
.1
normal perceptual span in order to fully apprehend the f
1
i

sequential design.

I~
 )

- 123
... • 1-

The nature of the repetition in such sequentially

'" much to do with the. sense of temporal
organized passages has
direction in :individual episodes. Exact, undeviatinç repetitions
create the impression of a stat~c, undeveloping succession.
GraduaI processes, are implied through varied reiterations
"-
or deviations in recurrent events. A number of dif~rentl

types of graduaI processes were seen in Crumb's music

involving simple melodic, harmonie or rhythrnic developments
or theatric interaction between players (i.e.,'echo'
responses etc.) or processes of graduaI dynamic growth
or decay.
\

A further suspension of the sense of directed time is

found in Crumb's music in the more complex passages which
result 'from the super~ositionofdifferent
'V
repeating cycles
of material. In the case of two cycles evolving simult-
aneously, (as in 'Myth'of Music for a Summer Evening or
the opening processionals of 'Frozen Time' of Echoe~ of
Time and the River) the resul t is a simple sequence of
events with obvious recurrences but with an unpredictable
orderfug. In the case of more than two superimposed
. ...
cycles of material as in the instances of circle music,
the effect is that of a complex texture of )overlapping
events and in which certain figures or gestures spontaneously
-.

1___-.-
 .
- .

~. ~
, ,
t .. 124 'r

,f"

protrude and are noticed by the 1istener. The general

sense of complexity and unpredfctability in the occurrence
of events in passages of circle music is often accompanied
y
by isolated instances of repetition and a sense of direction
in the graduaI ri se and fail in texture as the individual
parts enter and in turn complete their cycles of material.

In addition to these basic mode::; of organization,

certain other common traditional types of passages like
(

the ostenato rhythms, the drone, various lyrical styles

and even instances of quotation or irnrnitation of tonal
or modal styles, arise in Crumb's musjc, each having its
l
own unique stylistic temporal quality which is integrated
into a larger rneaning.

Crumb's music, therefore, presents a type of composite

image in which a type of larger scale process is implied in
the succession of episodes of distinctively different
materials ana organizations. In the second chapter, .,

it wa~ noted that very commonly in Crumb's ~usic, the success-

ion of episodescreates the impression of long rarqe arch forrn
or narrative curve. The 4 longer works studied in chapter 3,
dïd, with differing degrees of clarity, reflect the presence
~ .
of these longer range idiorns, but in addition, much of the "

great diversity in the form of.these pie ces can be attributed

\,
 l
1 -125
-~

1
l
1
(
to the presence of othe~ long range processes of
development which are linked to different evocations and
poetic associations involved in the individual works. As
with the ~rocesses observed in the formaL"organization of
individual episodes, the sense of long range direction
~ ~

is dependent upon the clarity and predictability of the

..
process. Exact and undeviating repetitions of larger
episodes create a sense of static undeveloping forro ,
as do the juxtae'-"
.Iosi tions of apparently unrelated
, episodes.
"'-
The sense of a longer range process in Crumb's music arises
very simply from the creation of notice able differences
and noticeable relationships between episodes. The clarity
of long range design is therefore, one of the key features
in the analysis of the particular global quality of musical

time in,the four works studied in chapter three. Despite

. the considerable differences in the long range design of
these works a common feature among them (besides the
reference to arch form and narrative curve) is the integral
role of the pacing of, the longer duration in the long range
organization and effect.

Dream Sequence, as noted in the lower level episodic

instances of çircle music, exemplifies a type of static
medi tati ve process - static in that· i t exists on a consistent,
.., \
ppp or p,ppp dynamic level and that the indi vidual episodes

\
 126

( :
which arise spontaneous1y are more or 1ess unrelated.
,
The actua1 process of Dream Sequence i9 obvious in the
score - the simultaneous superposition of three repetitive
separa te cycles of material, but in the listening
experience the very gradual process is only sensed in the
regular interval of entry of the vio1in and 'cello episodes
.
and in certain noticeable but unpredictable repetitions of
distinctive gestures within the extended flux of materia1.

A more readily apparent long range process is evident

in Lux Aeterna in the eventually predictable and ritualistic
alternation between the 'Lux Aeterna' and tMasked Dance'
sections. Integrated into this simplistic process however,
is the very subtle and interesting long range development in
the gradual shortening of the duration of the alternating
sections, and the tracing of a long range narrative curve.
As in the slow pàced sequential repetitions in 'the lower level
organization of Crumb f s music, the unique
, -
e,tfect of Lux
Aetema can be seen il the very transparent organization of
extremely long durations into the gradual process. The listener
is free to take in the spontaneous details of the individual
episodes but must stretch his perceptual span to take in
the longer range process.

1
1
 127

f
( l
Echoes' of Time and the River and Music for a sununer
/

Evening have the very gètteral similarity that they present

in their successive episodes radically different formaI
organizations and temporal qualities. In Echoes of Tirne and
the River, this was seen ID_the juxtaJL,0sition of slow and
transparent echoing sequences with mo complex unpredictabJe
circle music passages. MUsic for a S r Evenin present's
the contrast of very lohg and predictab e dynamic gestures
with episodes which feature a more se~ntial and dynamically
static organization. Because of the extreme contrast in
the nature of the individual episodes, the global sense of
sic for a Summer Evenin is that of a static
(
successi , but as note9 in the analysis, despite the absence

, of themat'c return in this work, there is the strong

implication of an underl y ing arch forro in the textura! and
gestural correspondences between the first and last episodes
and between the sec,9nd and fourth. This can be contrasted
to Echoes of Time and the River where the arch form is strongly
,.
implied in the ~~neral thematic return but it is not evident
in terms of the texture and organization of ~e,individual
'A ~ ~

episodes.

A further interesting point of simi!arity between the

treatment of musical ti~ in these two works can be : ......
,'

(
-
, .'
noticed in their involvement of strongly 'goal directed '
 .. ,_0 _ .. _r ~,~>

128
(

1
,-'
;

,
episodes (the ostenato of the 'Collapse of Time ' and the Bach
quotation in 'Music for a Starry Night l') in a larger
poetic meaning thus using the 'discomfort' of continuity
(ta refer back to Kramer's remarks cited in the first
chapter) 'within a Iarger contexte

Echoes of Time and the River is the most complex of

the works discussed in this study and i the roos1res ls+wrt ta
any categorization in tenns of any one specifie type of
long range pro~ess. The ieneral succession of episodes
in this work is ritualistic and unpredictabIe, but the
episodes themselves in their succession are highly implicative
of a long r~ge meaning in tenns of the~various elements
of texturaI and thematic return and in tenna of the proc-
essiona1 movements and apparent theatric interactions-between
the p1ayers. In the analysis, it cou1d be seen that
intimate1y connected with the particu1ar treatment of the
long range arch form and narrative cu~e of this work
are the poetic images of static 'frozen' time, a 'col1apse '
or temporal dis~ontinuity and the notion of the 'river of ,-
time l as a continuum without beginning or end. Much of the
sense of time as an end1ess continuum is implied in this
work in the ending where despite the elements of closure
A

(the general thematic return and the departure of 'the

processionals) there i8 an element pf openness and
( ) \

\
 125

y
( \

continuity in the introduction of new thematic material

and in the fact that there has been no suggestion of arch
form return in terms of the texturaI organization of the last
movement.

~
.
In placing Crumb's music in perspective with other
sty1es of the avant-garde, two interesting comparisons
can be made. As mentioned in the second chapter, Joan
o
Kunselman-Cordes has discussed Crumb's music along with that
of several other contemporary American composers as a reflec-
tion of sorne of the features of 'monumentalism' which is
characteristic of the music of Charles Ives. Among these
composers, the 'stream of consciousness' narrative-dramatic

, ~ .
concept10n of musical form i9 found significantly in George
Rochberg's Music for the Magic Theatre (1965) in which there
1 is a thematic and theatric treatment of this musical time
similar to the poetically conceived organization of materials
which was se en in Crumb's Echoesof Time and the River and the
'Music for a Starry Night' of Music for a Summer Evening.
Rochberg's eomments on MUsic for the Magic Theatre reflect
much of the sarne general conceptions of time and form
that was discussed in connection with Crumb's music.
"Even though other composers (Varese, web~,
Mahler, Beethoven) aré quoted, my primary / .'
interest was not in a raw or literaI presentation
 130

of a variety of sources, but rather in the

projection of an almost cinematic series of
shifting ideas and levels which nevertheless
combine in an inevitab1e fashion, despite
sharp combinations and paradoxes to produce
a tota~unity. In its cornbinations
of the pa st and present, of seemingly acci-
dentaI, unrelated images whose placement in the
stream o'f time obeys no apparent 10gic, the
work partakes of the state of dreaming - whether
asleep or awake; and -like aIl dreams, i t
becomes a fantasy, a fiction of the mind, non-
theless d:!al." 4 8
~ While this is not the place for a detailed analysis of this
work, ft is of interest to note sorne similarity in the
compositional idioms involved in this work with those of
Crumbls style. The juxta~osition of disparate elements
in subtle tranSŒions or sharp cont+asts is intimately linked
to an underlying theatric narrative meaning which Rochberg
has made explicit in the study score in the following
introductions to the three acts of the work.
Act 1: ' - "in which ·the present and past ar~
aIl mixed up •••• and it is difficult to dec1de
or know where reality is."
Act II: - "in which the past haunts us with its
nostalgic beauty ••• and calls to us from the
deeps and inner spaces ~ heart and mind •••
but the past is aIl shadow and dream -
insubstantial ••• and we donlt hold on to
it because the present is too pressing."
Act III: - "in which we realize that only
the present is really bad ••• because it is
aIl we have, but in the end it too is $hadow 49
and dream and disappears - into what?P

48. George Rochberg. Music for the Magic Theatre, (New York;
Desto C.M.S. Records, f975 OC-?444;J -notes on record cover.
49. George Rochberg, Music for the Magic Theatre, (Bryn Mawr
Pennsylvannia; Theodore PressIer, 1965).
 131
{

Similarly, the intera~tion of musical theatric entities

( is po~trayed as was observed in Crumb's music, in the pacing
of the succession of episodes as well as their occasional
superposition and in various correspondences in pitch and
instrumentation sorne of the various materials. Another
interesting feature in this work which lS also found in
several of Crumb's pieces is the dramatic and poetic signifi-
cance of an extended passage or piece within a work. In
Cnumb's music, this was often observed in the final movement
or passage of a work (as in the 'Song of Reconciliation' of
Music for a Summer Evening or the 'Music for the End of Time'
or Vox Balanae) but in Rochberg's Music for the Magic Theatre
,
it i~ the second act,(consisting almost entirely of a rework-
"
ing of Mozart's Divertimento K. 287), which constitutes a
,
simil~ly extended duration, representing the captivating
beauty of the music of the past.

In relation to Crumb and Rochberg's theatric or 'almost

cinematic' u~of contrasting stylistic materials it ia inter-
esting to make note of an observation made by Jonathan Kramer
on the role of this element in what he feels to be a 'global
staticism' in contemporary music which is achieved through
the juxtap~osition of highly contrast~e musical materials
and organizations.
"My aS~firtion that staticism is relative to
context is supported by stylistically eclectic
music such as William Bolcom's Frescoes, some of
the music of Peter Maxwell Davies, George
1• ~
50. See footnote 14 of ~hapter one.

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t~
( , l-;,
)
0cherberg,s Third Quartet, or to go back
source, severaI works of Ives such as the two
~ano sonatas, putnam's Camp or parts of the
Fourth Symphony. In aIl of these pieces,.
the
.
\

there are tonal sections alongside nontonal

passages. Tonali~y is heard as a possibility of
the particular composition, but surely not as its
universe of discourse. The result is that the
tonal sections are rendered static by cogrrast
with the various non tonal surroundings.
Although Crumb's music presents the sarne contrast of highly
distinctive and apparently unrelated materials which are
characteristic of the moment forro pieces which Kramer discusses,
it does not represent the sarne static and directionless
global context which Kramer ?bserves of this music. Similarly,
in comparing Crumb's music with Rochberg's Music for the Magic ,
1

Theatre it can be noted that Rochberg's work makes interesting

. ~I
use of a theatric program, but presents an essentially non-
directed image whereas Crumb's music makes more perceivable
reference to long range musical processes and idioms of
coherence in the juxtapposition of materials, and apparently
less systematic use of the theatric program.

presencefin Crumb's music of both the grad~al

:;l
proce and the allusion ta ritual experience invites a
ore contrastive comparison with the music of Steve Reich.
In much of Reich's mus~c (Four Organs, Drumming)a slow and
gradual process evolves through repetitions of simple tonal

51. Jonathon Kramer, "Moment Fom in 'l'Wentieth Century

( ,
Music," The Musical Ouarterly, (1978), p. 183 - 184.

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patterns, which systematically beco~ transformed in w~ys

which become high1y predictable to the listener. Reidh's

own comments on the gradua1 process of his music are
particularly worth noying:
ing to an extremely graduaI musical
opens my ears to it, but it always
farther than l can~ear an-a that
interesting ta listen ta that ,
process again •.•.• l begin' ta perceive
the minute details when l can sus tain close
ention and a-graduaI process invites my sus-
ained attention •. By "graduaI" l rnean extremely
graduaI: a process happening so slow1y and
gradually that 1istening to it resembles watching
a minute hand on a watch - you can perceive i t 52
moving after you stay with it for a while."

arison, the ~ery s\ow rhythms of Crumb's ~sic

"f. "
rly tend towards dimensions which extend farther than
and simi1arly put an emphasis upon the
unique and subtle qualities of sound which Crumb creates in
his music. In ter.ms of a longer range process Lux Aeterna
and Dre~m
,
Sequence present the 1istener with a sense of
slow movement which can on1y be felt with sustained close
attention much like the more mechanical and undeviating
p~ocesses of Reich's music. A valuab1e generai observation
on the recentinterest in graduaI musical processes has been
made by Roger Reynolds in his description of what he terms
the "close perspective" of musical experience.

52. Steve'Reich, writings About Music, (Baflfax: ,Press

of thè Nova Scotia College of Arts and Design 'Publication ",
( , 1974), p. 11.
 s:::::;:c:a •

134

"In the visual rnetaphor, the close perspective

would involve the relative enlargement;of event
size and the consequent slowing down of the whole
process of receiving and evaluating cornponen~
i terns in a succession. The huge color field'
canvases of pain ter Mark Rothko are often seen
deliberately hung so that it is impossible to
step back far enough to gain sufficient physical
distance-to takè in the whole at one glance.
Unable to register instantaneously the
proportions or color balances of the whole
in the ways a painting is usually apprehended,
the viewer is forced to se arch visually and store
impressions in time with a perhaps capriciQUS
but nonetheless specifie chronology. One has this
feeling in La Monte Young's "The Tortoise,
His Dreams and Joumeys n and in sorne of the llJusic
of Terry Riley and Steve Reich where an extremely
close perspective i8 used .•• The pace of evolution
in these works is slowed down to a degree that
"events" as rnusicians normally think of them
do hot seem to exist .••• Slight" normally 53
"unimportant" deviations will assume a new status."

The interesting feature of contrast between

Reich's music and what could be considered 'process pieces'
in Crumb's style (Lux Aeterna and Dream Sequences) is the
apparently opposite nature of their rnu~al materials -
Reich's use of mechanical unifQrm objective sounds and
Crumb's use of a lyrica~ richly subjective and connotative
imagery.

53. Roger Reynolds, Mind MOdels, (New York, praegar, 1975)

p. 207-208.
,~~
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c)
 135

-
( ~
, In conclusion, a few remarks can be made regardipg
the relative merits of the perspective of 'musical time'
in the analysis of contemporary music. The approach taken
in this study has very simply been to give an account
of the basic elements of style and structural procedure
which can be taken to constitute a given musical language,
and then ta analyse specifie works in terms of the particular
,elements which give rise to the subjective.anticipation of
events (i.e. a sense of process or development) and those which
contribute ta an objective acceptance of events without
anticipation. Given the great variety of musical languages
in contemporary music, this perspective,as pursued here (and
notably elsewhere in the writings of Meyer, la Rue, Narmour,

, Kramer etc.) offers a viable middleground between the

extremes in the
tian of
anal~sis of musical structure and the descrip-
esthetic effect. It is particularly suitable
for the discussion of styles like that of George Crumb
which create a new cantext for traditional formal organization~
;J
resulting in a distinctively different sense of tônal arder
in music.

In studying the esthetic effect and sense of musical

procesaes in individual warka, it has also been possible
to relate certain findings in experimental psychology

(particularly those presented by Paul Fraisse in the

(

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1
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Psychology of Time) regarding the fundamental per-ceptua~

tendencies and the very basié~abi1i ty to associa te even ts

;Ln sequence. These findings and further research in this
are~ can be of particular interest in the study of musical
~

\.i' tirne from a more compositional view point since they offer
sorne insight in objectifying the perceived effect of certain
musical pr~s.

One final advantage which can be suggested in pursuing

and developing the perspective Of musical time is that it
provides a basis for the description of the nature
"'" of the accessibili ty of different styles to the:il:r audiences.
The particular musical logic by which continuity and dis-
continuity is unders~ood in Crumb's style can be related to that
of comparable but divergent styles like those of Stev.e
• Reich or George Rochberg in developing a more general under-
standing of the stylistic directions and tendencies which
are of influence in contemporary art ~usic.

i
1. ( )
 !

137

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Borwick, D. "The instrumental theatre pie~: An intro-

duction ta forrn and analysis." Woodwind World and
Brass, XV, 4(1976), 35-36.
Brelet, Gisele. essai d'une estheti ue
nouvelle de a muslque~ ParlS: Publlcatlons
Universitaires de France, 1949.
Chaterjee, Margaret. "Toward a Phenomenology of Time
Consciousness in Music," Diogenes, LXXIII (Spring
1971), 49-56.
Chatman, J. "Crumb's Madrigals Book III, a linear analysis,"
In Theory Only, II (Dec. - Jan., 1975-1976), 55-79.
Childs, Barney. "Time and Music: A Camposer's View,"
pers~ectives of New Music, XVI (Spring and Fall, 1977),
194- 19. ~

Cobb, Carl. Federico Garcia Lorca. New York: Twayne

Publishers, 1967.
Cogan, Robert, and Escot, Pozzi. Sonic Design. Inglewood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1976.
Drew, James. "Information, Space and a New Time Dialectic, n
Journal af Music Theory, XII (1968), 86-103.

, Erickson, Robert. "Time Relations,"

VI l ( 19 63), l 74 -19 2 .
Emery, Eric. Temps et Musique. Paris:
Journal of Music Theory,

Editions L'Age d'Homme,

1975.
Fraisse, Paul. The PSYChOIOg
Leith. London: Eyre an a ofSpottiswoode,
Time. Translated by
1964 •
Jennifer

. Fraser, J.T. ed. The Voices o~ Time. New York: George

Braziller, 1966.
Frankenstein, Alfred. "George Crumb: Echoes of Time and
the River," in Records in Review. Great Barrington
Mass.: Wyeth Press, 1972.
Hall-Lewis, Robert. "George Crumb" Night Music l,"
pers ctives of New Music. II (Fall -Winter 1 1963),
15
142- 1.
.
Kowzan, Tsadeus. "Music and the Plastic Arts: in Conquest
of Time and Space," Diogenes, LXXIII (Spring 1971),1-15.
 138

Kramer, Jona thon. "Mul tiple and Nonlinear Time in Beethoven 1 s

Opus 135," pers~ectives of New Music, XI, 2.(Spring-
Summer 1973), 12 -143.
"Moment Forrn in Twentieth Century Music,"
Musical Quarterly, LXM (197B), 177-194.
Kunselman-Cordes, Joan,. A New Arnerican Development in Music:
Sorne characteristic features extendin from the le
o C ar es Ives. Unpub ~s ed Ph.D. d~ssertat~on,
Louisiana State Univ~rsity, 1976.
Langer, Susanne. Feeling and Form: A theoxyof Art, New York:
. Scribner, 1953.
,ed. Reflections on Art. New York: Jopn
-----H~op~kr~~i-s~p~r-ess, 1958.

La Rue, Jan. Guidelines for Style Analysis. New York:

W.W. Norton, 1970.
Lendvai, Erno. Bela Bartok: An Analysis of His Music.
London: Kuhn and Averi1, 1971.
Ligetti, Gyorgi. "Metamorphoses of Musical Form, " die
Reihe, VII (1960), 3-22 •
•

Meyer, Leonard, B. Emotion and Meaning in Music. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 1956.
Music, the Arts and the Ideas. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1967.
Moews, Robert. "Music for a Surnrner Evening," Musical
Quarterly, LXII, (1976), 293-302.
Morgan, Robert, P. "Crumb, George," in Records in Review,
Great Barrington, Mass.: Wyeth Press, 1975.
Narmour, Eugene. Betond Schenkerism. Chicago: university of •
Chicago Press, 977.
Ornstein, Robert. On the Exterience of Time. Baltimore,
Md.: penguin Books, 19 9.
Perry,' Rosalie. Charles Ives and the American Mind. Kent,
/'
Ohio: Kent university press, 1974.
Pollin, Alice, ed. A Concordance to\ the Pla~s and Poems 'of
Federico Garcia Lorca. Ithaca, N.Y.:ornell university
Press, 1975.
 139

Reich, Steve. Writin~s About Music, Halifax, N.S.: Press

( of the Nova Scot1a College of Arts and Design Publications,
1974.
Reynolds, Roger. Mind Mode1s. New York: praeger, 1975.
Rochberg, George. "The New Image of Music," Perspectives
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Rosen, Charles. Arnold Schoenberg. New York: Viking Press,
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Schoenberg, Arnold. Style and Idea. New York: Phi10sophica1
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de Selincourt, Basil. "Music and Duration," in R:ef1ections

on Art. edited by Susanne K. Langer. New York: John
Hopkins Press, 1958.
Smithers, Howard, E. "The Rhythmic Ana1ysis of Twentieth
Century MusIc, n Journal of Music Theory, VIII (1964),
54-88.
Stockhausen, Kar1heinz. "Structure and Experientia1 Time,"
die Re ihe, II, (1956), 64 -7 5 .
f
Stravinsky, Igor. Poetics of Music in the Form of Six
Lessons. translated by Arthur Knode1 ,and Ingof

, DaRI. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,

1947. '
Varese, Edgard. "Le Paeme Electronique Le Corbusier," ~
• Les Cahiers Forces Vivres. Editions de Minuit, 1958, 192 •
Wernick, J. "Crumb, George;" in Dictiona~ of Contemporary
,.
Music. edited by John Vinton. New Yor: H.P. Dutton
and Co .. , 1974.
Wolf, Christian. "Movement," die Reihe, II (1956), 61-63.
Young, Howard, T. The Victorious Ex ression. Madison:
university of Wi'scons1n Press, 964.
,
1
Xenakis, Iannis. ,Musique-Architecture. Tournai: Editions
Castermann, 1971. _,
..

( , ,"
 140 ,
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D~SCOGRAPHY

Crumb, George. Ancient Voices of'Children. Jan de Gaetani,

mezzo~ "Michael Nash, treble; Contemporary Chamber
Ensemble, Arthur Weisberg cond. "Nonsuch 'l12.S5, notes
'by the composer.
Echoes of Tinte and the 'River • Louisville
Orchestra, Jorge Mester cond. Louisville LS 711.
Lux Aeterna, Dream\ Sequence, Four Nocturnes.
Jan ae Gaetani, soprano; Penn Contemporary Players,
Richard Werniçk cond. Aeo1ean Chamber Playera, Lewis
Kaplin dir'., Lewis Rosenblith, violin;. David Hagen;
piano. Columbia Odyssey Y 35201.
, Madri*als, Bk. s I-.IV. Elizabeth Suderberg
soprano, David S rader percussion, Felix Skowronek
flute, Pamela Vokolek harp, W. Ringer Warner double
basse Tournabout TV-34523. '
.Night,of Four Moons, Vox Balanae. Jan de
Gaetan!, mezzo 1 The Aeolean ChaInber Players. Columbia
~~2739, notes by the composer~

Musiç for a Summer $veninSë Gilbert Kalish,

James Freeman pIano, Raymond Des Ros s, Richard

RO~;::;::;~~:;;;'~~~~;;;e;;;:~;;ar~:~:;;~er.
Co • Desto C.M.S. Records, OC 6444 01975, notes by
the composer.
o
o
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'."
, ,'
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 ........ JN"'"

'. 141

LIST OF SCORES
,
',--J
J Boulez, Pierre structures Vol. 1; for 2 pianos, 4
~ands. London: Universal, 1955
Cage, John 4'33"; New York: Thenmar Press 1967
Crumb, George Ancient Voices of Childreni for ~oprano,
bby soprano, oboe, mandolin, harp, e1ectric piano,
percussion. New York, C.F. Peters Corp., 1971
Crumb, George Black Angels: for electric string quartet.
~ New York C.F. peters Corp., 1971
Crumb, George Oream Sequenée ~ Imaaes II) for, piano',
, percussion, viOlin, '~ello an two offstage glass
_ harmonicas. New York: C.F. Peters Corp., 1978
Crumb, George Echoee of Time and the River (Echoes II): ,,/
four processlonals for orchestra. Melville, New
York: Belwin Mi1ls Publising Corp.· 1968
Crumb, George Lux Aeterna; for soprano, alto flute,
sitar, two percussionists. New York: C.F. Peters
Corp. ,1972
Crumb, George. Madrigals Ba"ok 1; New York: C.F. Peters
Corp., 1972
Crumb, George Music for a Summer Evening; (Makrokosmos
III) for two amplified otJIp;r:anos and percussion (two
players). -New York: C.F. Peters Corp., 1974
Crumb, George Night of Four Moons; for a1to( alto f1u~e,
banjo, ce1lo, percussion. New York: C.F. Peter&
Corp., 1970 li!

Crumb, George Songs, Orones, .and Refrains of Death;

for baritone, electric quitar, electric contrâbass,
e1ectric piano, percussion. New York: C.F. Peters
Corp., 1971
,~

Ives, Charles 'l'hree Places in New Enilandi\.. an orchesitra

set. Bryn. Mâwr., pa •., T. Press' el! 'Co., 1935
Liqetti, Gyorgi Atmospheres; for full orchestra without
percussion. Urilversal, 1971
•

~'" .' ,

"
1
 - po e ' ... 5

...
a

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142
t,
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\ Ligetti, Gyorqi Volumina; for organ. Frankfurt H. Litoff

1968
Rochberg, George MUsic for the Magic Theatre; for a chamber
en semble of fifteen players. Bryn Mawr, pa.,T. Press-
1e= Company. lif72
Stockhausen, Kar1heinz Gruppen: for three orchestras. London
Universal, 1963
Xenakis, Iannis Metastasis; for full orchestra. London,
Boose1y and Hawxes, !§67 '

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.~
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excerpts fram these scores photocopied ~ith permission

* of the publisher.