Brower "Pathway, Blockage, and Containment in Density 21.5.'

Pathway, Blockage, and Containment in "Density 21.
5"
Author(s): Candace Brower
Source: Theory and Practice, Vol. 22/23 (1997-98), pp. 35-54
Published by: Music Theory Society of New York State
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41054301
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Pathway, Blockage, and Containment in Density 21.5
Candace Brower
twentieth-century work has inspired more metaphorical description than Edgard Varèse's
Density 21.5. Theorists have ascribed to it "energy," "impulse," "urge," and "climax," de-
scribing it as "holding back," "surging forward," "breaking out," and "shooting off in new
directions."1 Such evocative language offers a refreshing antidote to the formalities of set-theoretic
analysis, suggesting that the work, despite its abstract title, expresses dynamic, even human, qualities.
But it also presents us with new questions: how do we bridge the gap between metaphorical descrip-
tion and theoretical explanation? What does it mean to claim that the melodic line has an upward
urge, or that one note pursues another, or replaces another as a goal?
Mark Johnson's The Body in the Mind provides a conceptual framework within which such
questions can be meaningfully addressed.2 Johnson suggests that we find meaning in our world in
part by mapping image schémas - patterns derived from our embodied experience - onto patterns in
more abstract domains. Such features of our embodied experience as force, motion, pathway, con-
tainment, blockage, and balance provide a rich store of image-schematic structure that can be mapped
onto music, giving it metaphorical meaning and coherence. Music particularly lends itself to this sort
of mapping, since changes in intensity, duration, and pitch translate easily into changes in physical
force and motion. These changes can then be interpreted at higher metaphorical levels by mapping
them onto image schémas like those shown in Figure 1 .
This article has three aims: (1) to outline a theoretical model, applicable to both tonal and atonal
music, that can be used to guide the mapping of musical patterns onto such image schémas; (2) to
apply this model to Density 21.5, a work with both tonal and atonal features; and (3) to show how
earlier metaphorical descriptions of this work provide empirical support for the model, suggesting
that the model can help to clarify and refine metaphorical insights reached through intuition.3 The
analysis will focus on the opening seventeen measures, a section of the piece that has been noted for
its particular musical cohesiveness. As the analysis will show, this cohesiveness can be explained by
mapping the passage onto an image schema for goal-directed motion, resulting in its interpretation as
a series of goal-directed actions, culminating in the attainment of the climactic G in measure 17.
36 Theory and Practice
Figure 1: Image schémas from Mark John
CONTAINMENT DIVERSION
v F3 (J/////À
BLOCKAGE REMOVAL OF RESTRAINT
BALANCE CENTER-PERIPHERY
The image schema that underlies the model, an elab

Figure 2.4 The essential features of the schema are:
motion is directed, (3) the pathway or trajectory of
This image schema is subject to further elaboration o
tions that give rise to more extended inferences, and
tions. Because entailments add structure and detail
mapping process and ensure its metaphorical coheren
into account in the analysis of Density 21.5 are listed
Figure 2: Image schema for goal-directed motion.
force of propulsion Q ^ginni

O
pathway/trajectory Q goal
Most important, we infer the existence of an agent who carries out the action and w
to take place. From this basic inference come many others involving our understand
cular tension gives rise to motion, how motion is carried out in the presence of ext
how the reaching of a goal may require repetitive action or the overcoming of obsta
6 suggests that there are two distinct types of goals, reflecting the basic human nee
activity, and challenge on the one hand, and for rest, security, and stability on the o
move through life in cycles in which the attainment of one type of goal is followed by
other, reflected in music by wavelike patterns of stability and instability, tension an
parture and return.
Pathway, Blockage, and Containment in Density 21.5 37
Figure 3: Entailments of the image schema for goal-directed motion.
(1) We attribute the force that propels motion to an agent who wills the action to take plac
(2) We experience the action as strong or weak depending upon the strength of the propel
(3) We expect motion to follow a pathway leading to the goal.
(4) We expect tension and speed to remain constant or increase until the goal is attained.*
(5) We expect attainment of a goal to be followed by relaxation and the slowing or stopping
(6) We expect goal states to be maximally or minimally stable within a local context.
(7) We interpret the action as a whole as effective, ineffective, or partially effective, depen
whether or not the goal was reached.
(8) We expect ineffective or partially effective actions to be followed by similar ones of

greater strength.
(9) We assume actions to be carried out under the influence of other forces, including g
inertia, which may enhance, inhibit, deflect, or block motion toward the goal.
(10) We infer that blockage produced by external forces may be overcome by repeating
increasing the propelling force, or by seeking alternate pathways of motion.
*Under some circumstances, we may anticipate motion slowing in preparation for stopping
goal is reached.
Some dimensions of the musical mapping are carried out at such a visceral level that w
be conscious of their metaphorical nature. For example, we instinctively map loud and so
tension and relaxation, increasing and decreasing pitch onto rising and falling motion, and
duration onto changes in the rate of motion.
More problematic are notions of force, goal, and pathway. What causes us to hear for
music? How are goals of motion defined? What constitutes a pathway of melodic motion
attempting to apply these concepts to Density 21.5, it will be useful to consider how they
applied to tonal music and how these concepts can be extended on the basis of Johnson's the
argue that Density 21.5, while not tonal in the traditional sense, makes use of many of the
of metaphorical expression. Várese himself claimed that all music is tonal in some sense, sa
"we feel a tonality whether or not we deny its presence. It is not necessary to have a tonic wit
and fifth to establish a tonality...."6 By making more explicit the metaphorical underpin
common-practice tonality, we can better understand how Density 21.5 represents in som
outgrowth of that tradition.
MUSICAL FORCES
For an explanation of forces in tonal music, we turn to the work of Rudolf Arnheim, Ste
and Fred Lerdahl.7 Arnheim describes a tonal melody, not as a series of discrete to
trajectory of motion carved out by a single tone in musical space. According to Arnheim,
is experienced as arising from impulses originating within the tone itself, and carried ou
influence of magnetism and gravity. Magnetism he equates with the pull of a tonal cen
gravity he describes as a downward force that either reinforces or opposes the pull of the
The power of any tonal center is overlaid by the downward pull of the gravitation
vector.... A downward move toward the tonic is reinforced by the gravitational pu
An ascent toward the upper base of the octave pits the upward pull of the tonic
against the downward pull of gravity. More specifically, the leading-tone effect
produced by a half step, for example, is directed toward its base of resolution, eith
upward or downward, but this local dynamic is either strengthened or opposed by
the magnetic pull dominating the structure as a whole.8
Larson elaborates on Arnheim's model, invoking a third force of inertia, reflecting t

for melodic motion to continue in the same direction.9 He also attributes the force of mag
three members of the tonic triad, each of which is understood to exert a pull on the unstabl
either side. He explains that just as the attractive force of a physical magnet increases wit
so does the pull exerted by stable pitches on their unstable neighbors. As a result, we ex
attractive force as either strong or weak, depending upon whether the pitches are separa
step or whole step. Thus, in a major key, we experience a strong pull from *) to Î and 4 t
a weak pull from Ì to 1 and ê to §.
Lerdahl models the attractive force of a tonal center not as a magnetic, but as a gravitatio
accounting for the differing degrees of attraction for half-step and whole-step resolution
of Newton's inverse-square law (the gravitational attraction between two masses is invers
tional to the square of the distance between them). According to Lerdahl, the attractive f
on an unstable pitch depends not only on its melodic proximity to the stable pitch that
tonal "anchor," but also on its perceived stability in relation to the anchoring tone. He ac
the perceived stability of each pitch in terms of its harmonic proximity to the tonic, w
reflects the depth of its embeddedness within a five-tiered tonal pitch space, shown in Fi
Figure 4: Lerdahl's five-tiered model of tonal pitch space.
level a: C (C)
level ¿>: C G (C)
lévele: C E G (C)
level d: C D E F G A B (C)
level e: C EW> D B E F FI G At A B'> B (C)
My own model of melodic forces draws upon the work of Larson

to reconcile their differences in light of Johnson's theory. It preser
forces of inertia and gravity, while offering a new explanation for the force that Lars
tism. It attributes the pull of the tonic, not to an external force such as gravity or ma
internal forces that arise as a result of our bodily experience of, and need for, balance
Johnson, balance is one of the key elements structuring our physical experience, givin
and coherence. We first learn about balance through the balancing acts of our o
experience the body as maximally balanced, stable, and relaxed when the gravitation
upon it sum to zero, that is when its weight is evenly distributed around its central a
in this distribution will cause the force acting on one side of the body to temporarily o
its opposite, resulting in a tensing of muscles and an impulse to move so as to restore
Johnson explains that the image schema for balance learned through these balancin
consciously applied to patterns in other perceptual domains. He cites Arnheim's desc
visual forces brought into play in the image of a disc contained within a square, as sho
5a and 5b:
"Wherever the disk is located, it will be affected by the forces of all the hidden
structural factors. The relative strength and distance of these factors will determine
their effect in the total configuration. At the center all the forces balance one an-
other, and therefore the central position makes for rest.... In general, any location
that coincides with a feature of the structural skeleton introduces an element of
stability, which of course may be counteracted by other forces."11
Figure 5:
a. b.
According to Joh
balance schema on
repose, and to the
explain the force
play in listening t
tonal center, and a
This model also ex
proximity to a st
position that allow
tendency to move
ing the change in t
from one stable p
forces acting on ei
position. Once the
outweighs that on
again to the lower
overall direction o
to the higher position. In a similar way,

(i.e., Í), is felt to be pulled strongly down
neighbors (i.e., % is felt to be pulled wea
(i.e., ^), is felt to be pulled upward.
Figure 6:
stable '
This model also h

strong and weak
balance schema (s
both schémas, as s
to the center of gr
distance away from
the central tonic,
move back toward
Figure 7: Image-
ERY schémas).
y, - "~ïevel e
/ yS^ levei d s. X
i " i
unstable ^ - stable ^ unstable
It is important to recognize that the musical force

way by the laws of physics, even though they find th
physical forces themselves that we map onto music,
Johnson says, we gain an understanding of forces, n
experiencing them directly. External forces give rise
mind. Our bodily motion in response to external fo
that make us want to move in a particular direction.
It is also important to remember that when we map structure from the physical world
we adapt its features to those of the musical domain, some aspects of which - like the c
of pitch space - have no direct counterpart in the physical world. For melodic forces
enced at all requires a leap of the metaphorical imagination. Even though the constrain
the structures of the physical world and those of the human body promise a fairly
intersubjective agreement, the products of such imaginative leaps may vary from on
even one listening - to the next.
MUSICAL PATHWAYS
For an explanation of pathways in tonal music, we can turn to the writings of Heinrich
Schenker notes that the stepwise, diatonic descent of the fundamental line can be related t
rience of moving continuously by step along the most direct route to an intended goal:
Since it is a melodic succession of definite steps of a second, the fundamental line

signifies motion, striving toward a goal, and ultimately the completion of this course.
In this sense we perceive our own life-impulse in the motion of the fundamental
line, a full analogy to our inner life.13
We can gain further insight into the nature of musical pathways by considering their
counterparts. Pathways are a familiar and pervasive feature of our spatial world, serving t
important points within it. They tend to have certain properties such as smoothness, st
solidness, and predictability. They are pre-existent and of relatively fixed position, being
structed or worn over time through repeated motions from one point to another. Because p
designed to facilitate goal-directed motion, we associate them with intentionality, both in
struction and in their use.
The diatonic pathway traced by the fundamental line exhibits many of the properties that we
associate with physical pathways: it is relatively smooth, straight, and predictable, and it facilitates
stepwise motion toward 1, the most stable position within tonal pitch space. Furthermore, it is pre-
existent in the sense that it is a product of tonal convention, like a groove worn in memory from the
tracing and retracing of its familiar pattern.
Just as we infer the presence of a diatonic pathway from the repeated traces of stepwise diatonic
motion, we can infer alternative pathways from chromatic and arpeggiated motion. In fact, Lerdahl
suggests that arpeggiation represents nothing more than stepwise motion carried out in "triadic space."14
Arpeggiated and chromatic pathways both exhibit properties that make them likely alternate routes
for melodic motion. What stepwise chromatic motion lacks in stability, it makes up for in increased
smoothness, while the opposite is true of arpeggiation. In fact, Arnheim argues that arpeggiation is
the ideal pathway for melodic ascent, saying, "It is the most secure way of rising through the space of
the scale: on the triadic steps the motion is safely grounded at each stage of action."15
The mapping of musical pathways onto physical ones yields insight into another important aspect
of melodic organization, namely, the relationship between underlying and surface melodic motion.
This can be explained metaphorically by distinguishing between a pathway and a trajectory of me-
lodic motion. In pursuing our goals in the physical world, our course of motion may sometimes
diverge, intentionally or unintentionally, from the pathway laid out for it. Yet even when our motion
veers away from this pathway, we remain conscious of its continued existence and its purpose in
leading us to a particular goal; as a result, we want to return to it. In a similar way, when the trajectory
of a melodic line departs from the pathwa

ity and tension accompanied by a desire
departures as follows:
In the art of music, as in life, motion

disappointments, and involves great d
and in short, retardations of all kinds
ground an almost dramatic course of
It is just this distinction between a pat

for the most surprising event of the ope
downbeat of measure 1 1 .
These two features of our embodied understanding of tonal melody - forces and pathways - can
be schematized as in Figure 8. This figure provides an image-schematic representation of the forces
of gravity, inertia, and tonal attraction, stable and unstable pitches, and possible pathways for melodic
motion in a major key. Pathways are represented as arcs leading from one scale degree to another.
The normative, diatonic pathway is shown in bold, its pitches marked with solid horizontal lines;
arpeggiated and chromatic pathways are shown as larger and smaller arcs, respectively. The vector on
the right represents the constant downward pull of gravity, while the solid and dotted curved arrows
represent stronger and weaker forces of tonal attraction. The vector on top shows the contribution of
the force of inertia, either upward or downward, in accordance with the established direction of me-
lodic motion. The relatively stable pitches of the tonic triad appear as "platforms," with the widest
platform supporting 1, and successively narrower platforms supporting §, 3, and 3, showing their
stability in relation to that of the tonic.17
Figure 8: Image-schematic representation of forces and pathways in a major key.
force of inertia: ^¿7 / y^J^^T £ f°rce of

ascending
r descending ^"^-^ ¿^ .^-
° ¿^ /""V-T^ .^- --^JaPJ^^i
m¡ ~^' £ 7^:/ ëldVllJ
pathways of r ° riC^'É^r a '
melodic motion: ^ - 3^^^^p" a 5^*-_-^y
( 1 ) arpeggiated
(2) diatonic
(3) chromatic
force
attraction:
of
' ' u-"/ ' ' ' U U"
'
strong ^^^f
weak s^^
MUSICAL GOALS
From Figure 8 we might infer that "platform" pitches are likely to be interpreted as
virtue of their stability, leaving intervening pitches to be interpreted as steps along a path
from one goal to the next. Yet further reflection reveals that the tonal stability of an event
not enough to identify it as a goal, though its stability may contribute to our experience of i
For, as entailment 6 reminds us, in everyday life we alternately pursue opposing states of
instability, tension and relaxation. In tonal music, this is reflected in motion leading aw
tonic followed by motion leading back to it, motion toward the apex of a musical phrase
motion toward its cadence.
As in the case of musical pathways, we can gain greater insight into our experience of musical
goals by considering how we experience their metaphorical counterparts. Goals are anticipated events -
imagined future states - toward which actions of the present are directed. Since goals must be imag-
ined before they can be pursued, goals, like pathways, tend to be predictable. It is our capacity to
forsee such events that underlies entailment 7, which suggests that we evaluate the effectiveness of a
particular action on the basis of whether or not an intended goal was reached. This suggests that we
may interpret some motions as having ended without having reached a goal at all.
Our goals are also focal points that shape our experience of motion before, during, and after their
attainment. As we near a goal, we often move toward it with increased speed, energy, and anticipa-
tion. Upon reaching the goal, we are likely to pause momentarily, both to hold on to the moment of
attainment and to rest before starting motion toward the next goal. The way goals govern the rhythmic
shape of our actions in the physical world influences our perception of goals in music as well. As
captured by entailments 3 and 4, we expect tension and speed to remain constant or increase until a
goal is attained, and to be followed by relaxation and the stopping or slowing of motion. As a result,
we tend to identify melodic goals with turning points between tension and relaxation and with notes
of relatively long duration.
ANALYSIS OF DENSITY 21.5
Now that we have a rudimentary model of forces, goals, and pathways in tonal music, we
a position to consider to what extent the model applies to Density 21.5. In listening to a tonal
we can refer to our internal map of tonal pitch space with its familiar pathways and expected
allowing us to interpret a melodic line as following or diverging from those pathways, and atta
failing to attain those goals. In listening to a post- tonal work, on the other hand, we must wait f
work to create its own space, to plot out its own pathways, and to establish its own goals. Rep
whether overt or hidden, plays an essential role in this. First, repetition allows us to retrace steps
earlier, making it easier to predict where the melodic line will go and how it will get there. Se
enhances our experience of melodic motion as goal-directed, since actions, once repeated, com
seem less capricious, more willful and deliberate.
Just such a set of predictable pathways and goals is laid out for the listener in the first sev
measures of Density 21.5, allowing its sounds to be mapped more precisely onto the image-s
for goal-directed motion. The first seventeen measures can be divided into six phrases, each
preted metaphorically as a completed action, as shown in Example 1.
Example 1: Phrase units corresponding to
jf..'r¡T"i írTT- i n
Phrase 1 ^ n J }''4_r'^___jJ A |M J J i
phrase 2 $JM_J^ U ^j! J tfJ^ J
Phrase 3 |^TL^ ^ ~T~P ^f ^Y Í' 1^7^^
phrase 4 ^ ? / Tf f p [j p" flf

wf subito ^^' jffî
phrases ff Plf ^ f L ji ^f '[j ' M
Phrase 1 begins with a three-note motive, F-E-F1, described by Marion Guck as a "tight ball
energy;" and by Jeffrey Kresky as energy "tightly compressed into an initial kernel."18 When
analyze the motive image-schematically, we find many features to support this characterization. T
motive is contained within the first beat, its motion coming to an abrupt halt just as it begins,
kinetic energy seemingly absorbed into the swelling tension of the following crescendo. Its chroma
cism, narrow range, and abrupt change of melodic direction translate into tautness and containme
while the placement of the fast-moving sixteenth notes beginning on the downbeat suggests a stron
force of propulsion.19
The repeated Ff-Ct in measure 2 provides momentary relief from the tension of the openin
motive, conveying stability through its regularity and the emphasis on the consonant falling four
Yet the very act of repetition implies that the action of this phrase is incomplete, and that there i
need for further action. Here entailment 8 comes into play. Ineffective or partially effective actio
tend to be followed by similar ones of equal or greater strength.20 As a result, when FI is replaced
G in measure 2, we feel that the melody was headed there all along, and that the sustained Ft in
measure 1 was only a catching of breath, a first stage within an overall ascent.
Jean- Jacques Nattiez describes the G as a polar note, implying that we feel a pullin
to the G.21 What might cause us to interpret the Fit as a leading tone and the G as
number of rhythmic features of the passage support this interpretation. The length o
metric stability convey arrival, while the rest reinforces our sense that the motion of
complete. Yet the G is approached by dissonant tritone, making it appear unstable in c
the preceding FI. Furthermore, the G is accompanied by a crescendo, as if to suggest t
continued expenditure of energy to maintain this new, unstable position.
Having identified the G as the goal of the melodic ascent of the first phrase, we might
it is meaningful to interpret the motion leading to it as having followed a pathway. T
model suggests that we should look for stepwise motion, interpreting each divergen
momentary departure from the underlying pathway or as motion in another voice. It is th
model that appears to underlie Kresky 's interpretation of the initial F as splitting off to
and a lower pathway, as shown in Figure 9.22 But while hearing an upper pathway is
ported by half-step connections in the upper voice, we find little support for hearing a
in the descent by half-step and minor third in the lower voice.
Figure 9: Kresky's interpretation of phrase 1 of Density 21.5.
^ Ft-
An alternative reading of the openin

voice, finding instead a single ascending
stable pitch into a dissonant chromatic
opening F provides a burst of energy
motion. The Ctt, by contrast, stands ap
never leads directly to or away from it, t
These two parts of our image-schematic
fixed Ctt, give rise to a higher-level m
tainer. This metaphor clearly underl
wedge."23 In this proposed reading, ho
from a central pitch as represented in
bottom of the container remaining fixed
Figure 10: Image-schematic representat
c £ resistance
c force?f £ wof ceiling
propulsion -^ G V
"^^^^ -^ FI|J#] ceiling
QNE^^^^^/Fexpansion force of
r^ / ' / gravity
n floor
n
I ' J I
I '/ 'l V 't V
container
Phrase 2, which is represented image-s

of phrase 1 in condensed form. The G is
ing or hesitation suggesting that motion
first phrase. A second ascent to the G,
desire for continued expansion. When f
motion descending along the E-Ftt-G path
ascent as having been blocked, allowing t
Figure 11: Image-schematic representati
i resistance
z? G |of ceiling
^^^ J»L^f0 G blockase
^^^S^^^^^Y force of
P^^. / gravity
I
The closing leap

shown in Figure
A to Bk The Bk
goal. But the acc
suggests that th
of continued asc
notes, this arriv
arrival on the J%
Figure 12: Image
^^¿? y% resistance
-""^ CJg vof ceiling
^""*"^^ A
G ^^^^M(C'
^^^^ JUL ['j) gravity
o
By this p
tation of
a pathwa
pathway
ing moti
to under
directed
of the m
Figure 13: Image-schematic representation of forces and pathways in octatonic pitch spac
force of inertia:
d5 r» ascending
y - - ^^^^^ Bl> *^'^ descend
pathways of Cf/ ^^^ .^^*"_ii^Ñr ^^

melodic motion: 4 /^ fó-.j/^ff ' A
(1) arpeggiateci
(2) octatoniG
(3) chromatic
forces of tonal
attraction: ^J(
stable pitches = CI, E, G, Bl>, Dt
stable sonorities = tritone, o7 chord
Figure 14: Diminished-seventh chord as unstable sonority in tonal pitch space.
d5
forces of tonal
[ipr ■ F
Q
attraction: '
strong '^f
weak sjzj
Figure 13 represents octatonic pitch space as similarly organized by forces of gravity, inertia, and
tonal attraction, stable and unstable pitches, and pathways for melodic motion. It suggests that, as in
tonal pitch space, we experience some pitches of the scale as more stable than others, and that we hear
unstable pitches pulled to their closest stable neighbors. Yet there are important differences in our
embodied experience of these two spaces. In tonal space, our experience of stability, balance, and
tension corresponds closely to our experience of these properties in the natural world, due to natural
correspondences in tonal music among such basic musical oppositions as low vs. high, consonant vs.
dissonant, stable vs. unstable, and tonic vs. nontonic.
Within the tonal system, those intervals that are acoustically most consonant are also treated as
most stable. As a result, we are able to map consonance onto stability and dissonance onto instability
in a consistent fashion. Furthermore, because the tonal system is based in part on the overtone series
(i.e., Schenker's "chord of nature"), we naturally map the tonal center onto the lowest position in tonal
pitch space, analogous to the fundamental. As a result, the downward pull of musical gravity rein-
forces our orientation toward the tonic, causing us to experience the tonic as both center and ground.
In an octatonic setting, on the other h

natural correspondences, causing us to lo
favor of a feeling of equality and balance.
ity in an octatonic setting, with the sym
primary structuring interval. Whereas in
series reinforces our hearing of low pitch
the inversional symmetry of the scale neg
sense of tonic as ground. Furthermore, no
"natural" center, since platform pitches f
pattern.
The symmetrical arrangement of stable pitches within the scale subverts the power of any one of
them to exert a stronger force of attraction than any other. As Kresky notes with respect to the ascent
in Density 21.5, "no arrival in this persistent upper-line climb seems like an achievement - or for that
matter, a shortcoming.. .each seems as convincing and sufficient as the prior, in need of no further."25
Only the Ct/Dt stands out as more stable than the others by virtue of the role it plays within the piece
of establishing the boundaries of the container within which melodic motion unfolds.
The differences between these two pitch spaces become particularly striking when we consider
how the diminished-seventh chord is heard in each of these contexts. In a tonal context, we hear the
diminished-seventh chord as highly unstable, due to its acoustic dissonance and its location with
respect to the tonic triad, which causes us to associate a strong force of tonal attraction with three of its
members, as shown in Figure 14. In the octatonic context shown in Figure 13, on the other hand, we
hear the diminished-seventh chord as stable, due to its inherent symmetry and its alignment with the
symmetrical structure of the scale, allowing us to hear each pitch as exerting a pull on its lower
neighbor.
In Figure 13, the pitches E, G, Bl>, and Dt, are shown to exert an upward pull on the pitches a half-
step below. But the other four pitches, Df, FI, A, and C, form an equally stable diminished-seventh
chord, and within a defining octave bounded by one of its pitches, could be heard as exerting a down-
ward pull upon their upper neighbors, thus reversing the relation shown in Figure 13. Whereas in the
case of the diatonic scale, we can identify the major mode as more stable than the minor, due to its
closer resemblance to the overtone series, neither form of the octatonic scale is inherently more stable
than the other. We can identify the pitches of one diminished-seventh chord as more stable than their
neighbors only in the context of a work in which they are treated as goals and as points of structural
orientation.26
When we reexamine the events of the first three phrases of Density 21.5 in light of Figure 13, we
observe that the resting points marking off the ascent from the low Ot to the high Dt correspond to
platform pitches. Thus, we can make sense in retrospect of Nattiez's interpretation of the G of the first
phrase as a polar note and of the Fit as a leading tone to the G. Although the G is felt to be unstable
when first attained, the subsequent retracing of the steps of the octatonic scale and the emphasis on the
structural intervals of the diminished fifth and minor third help to stabilize the G, allowing it to serve
as a new base from which melodic motion can continue its upward climb.
Consistency of melodic behavior in the first three phrases also gives rise to expectations in the
phrases that follow. Phrase 4, which is diagrammed image-schematically in Figure 15, begins by
reiterating the closing C-Dt of phrase 3 not just twice, but three times in an accelerating rhythm. Thus
we expect motion eventually to continue along the projected octatonic pathway shown in Figure 15.
When motion finally does break through the ceiling of the Dt, thus escaping the containment of the
octave, Cl-Dt, it abruptly veers off to land on a chromatic, triple-forte IX The resulting 3-note motive,
DkC-Di, recalls two similar events: the Dt-C-Dt that ends phrase 3, and the F-E-FI th
piece. Our recollection of these events plays an important role in how we interpret the
gest arrival so far. Whereas previously, the three-note motive ended on the weak part o
ends on a downbeat, reinforcing our perception of the Di as an important arrival. Yet t
of the chromatic, highly unstable I> for the closing Dt of phrase 3 causes us to hear t
goal, but as a disruption, a veering away from an established path of motion. Várese m
of our familiarity with the octatonic tracings of the first three phrases to heighten our s
tion, like a master story teller who introduces a surprising event just when its outcom
certain. At the same time, because the Dt-C-Di strongly recalls the opening F-E-FÏ, the
an air of inevitability, as if the seeds of chromatic subversion had been there all along
Figure 15: Image-schematic representation of phrase 4.
projected pathway
(octatonic)
v e resistance
disruption
ijf
Bl> ^-^ ^çÍ^HI "^ force of

Z^00^ ^-^ "^ w gravity
LJ
Phrase 5, represented image-schematically in Figure 16, can be interpreted as a reaction to this

sudden sidestep, a dizzying display of motion flailing in all directions accompanied by an intense
outpouring of energy that attempts to regain both equilibrium and lost ground. Its trajectory of motion
carries us mostly along an arpeggiated pathway by tritone first downward and then upward, before
regaining equilibrium on the E, an octave higher than our expected goal. If we examine Figure 16
closely, however, we notice a hidden ascent by half-step, carried out by two chromatic shifts, marked
with asterisks, which close the gap between the D of measure 1 1 and the E of measure 13. Thus we
hear beneath the flurry of surface activity an underlying ascent along the chromatic pathway shown in
Figure 17. The shift to half-step progression allows us to accommodate the disruptive Di, in retro-
spect, as a step along this chromatic pathway.
Figure 16: Image-schematic representation of trajectory of motion in phrase 5.
E ¿a - <
D .
^ 'A
D-
at IIaLl*1 Al ^
Figure 17: Resultant motion along chrom
actual pathway gva. . . .

(chromatic) c_ resistance
rî'' ^ ^0 ^ - actual goal of ceiling
™JjS^*'] (8va) *
Bl,
ij"" ^gravity
Phrase 6 picks up where phrase 5 left off, but an octave lower
opening motive, as Figure 18 shows. Only now it is the initial p
chromatic upper neighbor and octatonic lower neighbor alterna
for ascension. These two pitches, DK and R, are repeated without
shifting the motive up a half step to regain the E and Ft of our
the melodic line slips downward by half-step and octave to Pi b
octave. Finally, in a last triumphant leap, the melody ascends ov
G.
Figure 18: Image-schematic representation of final chromatic ascent in phrase 6.
8va- •
_. Q resistance
F^^?^g< - final goal v of ceiling
S^ffchromatic force of
^ pathway]] V gravity
Looking back over the events that led us to this lofty pinnacle, we can see how tightly everything
fits together from a metaphorical standpoint. As Kresky says of this portion of the work, "Every note
makes sense... in that it fits into a more or less precisely understandable gesture contributing to an
overall unfolding story."27 It seems fitting to ask whether Várese might have had such a story in mind
in composing Density 21.5. He once said of his music that "there is an idea, the basis of an internal
structure, expanded and split into different shapes or groups of sound constantly changing in shape,
direction, and speed, attracted and repulsed by various forces. The form of the work is the conse-
quence of this interaction."28 This statement suggests that Varèse's compositional method was in fact
guided by metaphors of force and motion. But while we find signs of metaphorical expression through-
out the piece, the impulse that appears to motivate the initial climb of measures 1-17 gives way to less
clearly defined impulses in later sections. Only in measures 54-56, toward the end of the work, are we
given the opportunity to retrace the steps laid out in the first 17 measures, as shown in Example 2.
Here, the melodic line reaches upward from Ctt as far as the Bt, then abruptly drops down to O to
launch a last, triumphant ascent. Yet our sense of triumph is tempered by the sudden shift in our tonal
bearings. The displacement of the earlier CU by O moves the lower registrai boundary down by half-
step, while the diminished and minor intervals of the octatonic scale expand to form the augmented
and major intervals of the whole-tone scale.29 Did Várese intend a last-minute escape from the narrow
octatonic world that he himself constructed at the beginning of the piece, and which he recalls in
measures 54-56, through this sudden intervallic and registrai expansion? If so, why low
our metaphorical container, thus depriving us of our earlier sense of tonal grounding?
escape from the narrow universe of the octatonic scale only to enter a musical unive
confining, namely, that of the whole-tone scale?30
Example 2: Várese, Density 21.5, m. 54 to end.
^ > -
-=- ff
j,Pi
Johnson's th
end, each of u
imagination. Y
intersubjecti
Johnson's the
clarify, enric
allowing us to
NOTES
1 . Marion Guck offers the most overtly metaphorical description of this work in "A Flow of Energy: Dens
21.5," Perspectives of New Music 32 (1984): 334-347. Others who incorporate metaphorical language i
their analyses of this work are Jeffrey Kresky, "A Path Through 'Density'," Perspectives of New Music 3
(1984): 318-333; James Siddons, "On the Nature of Melody in Varèse's Density 21.5? Perspectives of N
Music 32 (1984): 299-316; Jean- Jacques Nattiez, "Varèse's "Density 21 S: A Study in Semiological
Analysis," Music Analysis 1 (1982): 243-340; and George Perle, The Listening Composer (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1990).
2. Mark Johnson, The Body in the Mind (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987).
3. This model is further developed in "A Cognitive Theory of Musical Meaning," Journal of Music Theor
forthcoming.
4. George Lakoff refers to this as the source-path-goal schema, as does Johnson in his later writings. Se
Lakoff, Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987); and Johnso
Moral Imagination (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993).
5. This list of entailments expands upon those Johnson provides for the path schema, while focusing on
implications that specifically govern the mapping of this schema onto music.
6. Michael Sperling, "Várese and Contemporary Music," Trend 2/3 (1934): 127-8.
7. Rudolf Arnheim, "Perceptual Dynamics in Musical Expression," The Musical Quarterly 70 (1984): 295-
309; Steve Larson, "On Rudolf Arnheim's Contribution to Music Theory," Journal of Aesthetic Education
27/4 (1993): 97-103; Fred Lerdahl, "Calculating Tonal Tension," Music Perception 13 (1996): 319-363.
8. Arnheim, "Perceptual Dynamics," p. 299.
9. Larson defines musical inertia as "the tendency for musical motion to continue in the same fashion,"
making it analogous to the resistance to change in the velocity and direction of a physical object.
10. Lerdahl's model of tonal pitch space, derived from Deutsch and Feroe's alphabetic coding model, find
empirical support in Krumhansl's experimental data on the perceived relatedness of tones. See Lerdahl,
'Tonal Pitch Space," Music Perception 5 (1988):315-350; D. Deutsch and J. Feroe, "The Internal Repre
sentation of Pitch Sequences in Tonal Music," Psychological Review 88 (1981): 503-522; Carol
Krumhansl, Cognitive Foundations of Musical Pitch (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990); and
Krumhansl, "Perceptual Structures for Tonal Music," Music Perception 1/1 (1983): 28-62.
11. Arnheim, Art and Visual Perception (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974), pp. 13-14.
12. According to Johnson, superimposition of image schemata is one of the ways in which we attain a more
complex metaphorical understanding of the domains to which they are applied.
13. Schenker, Free Composition, trans. Ernst Oster (New York: Longman, 1979), p. 4.
14. Lerdahl, 'Tonal Pitch Space," p. 321.
15. Arnheim, "Perceptual Dynamics," p. 301.
16. Schenker, Free Composition, p. 16.
17. The diagram in Figure 7 elaborates upon Arnheim's Figure 1 in "Perceptual Dynamics." In
be more stable than 8, 1 have added a sixth tier to Lerdahl's model of tonal pitch space, refle
intuition that the lowest position within tonal pitch space - like the earth's surface in phys
represents a maximally stable location.
18. Guck, "A Row of Energy," p. 335; Kresky, "A Path Through 'Density'," p. 320.
19. While meter itself is nonfunctional, the performer is likely to take the notated meter into ac
projecting different qualities of strength for notes in different metric positions.
20. Repetition should not always be taken to convey dissatisfaction with a lack of goal attainme
since actions may be repeated for other reasons as well.
21. Nattiez, "Varèse's 'Density 27.5'," p. 251.
22. Kresky, "A Path Through 'Density'," p. 320. Guck also interprets this passage as two voice
from the initial F|. See "A Flow of Energy," p. 335.
23. Guck, "A Flow of Energy," p. 335.
24. Perle, The Listening Composer, pp. 1 1-12.
25. Kresky, "A Path Through 'Density'," p. 324.
26. Pieter van den Toorn, in The Music of Igor Stravinsky (New Haven: Yale University Press, 19
out that twentieth-century music includes many examples of the alternative ordering of the
noting that Stravinsky favors this ordering in his neoclassical works.
27. Kresky, "A Path Through 'Density'," p. 325.
28. Várese, lecture, Princeton University, 1959, in Contemporary Composers on Contemporar

Schwartz and B. Childs (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967), p. 203.
29. Carol Baron points out the whole-tone derivation of m. 56 to the end, observing that the fin
are a retrograde of four of the six pitches that end Debussy's Syrinx. Baron argues that Váre
Debussy as a model in composing Density 21.5, noting similarities in the openings of these t
well. See Baron, "Varèse's Explication of Debussy's Syrinx in Density 21.5 and an Analysis
Composition: A Secret Model Revealed," The Music Review 43/2 (1982): 121-134.
30. Kresky and Siddons puzzle over this passage as well, commenting on its lack of cohesiven
son to the large-scale ascent with which the work begins.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arnheim, Rudolf. Art and Visual Perception: The Psychology of the Creative Eye. Rev. ed. Berke
University of California Press, 1974.
Baron, Carol. "Varèse's Explication of Debussy's Syrinx in Den

tion: A Secret Model Revealed." The Music Review 43/2 (19
Brower, Candace. "A Cognitive Theory of Musical Meaning." J
Guck, Manon. A Flow ot Energy: Density 21.5: Perspectives
Johnson, Mark. The Body in the Mind. Chicago: University of
Kresky, Jeffrey. "A Path Through 'Density'." Perspectives o

Lakofr, George. Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things. Chicag
Larson, Steve. "On Rudolf Arnheim's Contribution to Music T
(1993): 97-103.
Lerdahl, Fred. 'Tonal Pitch Space." Music Perception 5 (198
Nattiez, Jean- Jacques. "Varèse's 'Density 21 S : A Study in

243-340.
Perle, George. The Listening Composer. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.
Schenker, Heinrich. Free Composition. Translated by Ernst Oster. New York and London: Longman, 1979.
Siddons, James. On the Nature of Melody in Várese s Density 21.5. Perspectives of New Music 32 (1984):
299-316.
Sperling, Michael. "Várese and Contemporary Music." Trend 2/3 (1934): 124-128.
Van den Toorn, Pieter. The Music of Igor Stravinsky. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983.
Várese, Edgard. Lecture, Princeton University, 1959. In Contemporary Composers on Contemporary Music.
Edited by E. Schwartz and B. Childs. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967.

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Pathway, Blockage, and Containment in "Density 21.

Figure 1: Image schémas from Mark John

BLOCKAGE REMOVAL OF RESTRAINT

The image schema that underlies the model, an elab

Figure 2: Image schema for goal-directed motion.

force of propulsion Q ^ginni

Figure 3: Entailments of the image schema for goal-directed motion.

(3) We expect motion to follow a pathway leading to the goal.

(8) We expect ineffective or partially effective actions to be followed by similar ones of

Larson elaborates on Arnheim's model, invoking a third force of inertia, reflecting t

Figure 4: Lerdahl's five-tiered model of tonal pitch space.

My own model of melodic forces draws upon the work of Larson

to the higher position. In a similar way,

This model also h

It is important to recognize that the musical force

Since it is a melodic succession of definite steps of a second, the fundamental line

of a melodic line departs from the pathwa

In the art of music, as in life, motion

It is just this distinction between a pat

Figure 8: Image-schematic representation of forces and pathways in a major key.

force of inertia: ^¿7 / y^J^^T £ f°rce of

ANALYSIS OF DENSITY 21.5

Example 1: Phrase units corresponding to

phrase 2 $JM_J^ U ^j! J tfJ^ J

Phrase 3 |^TL^ ^ ~T~P ^f ^Y Í' 1^7^^

phrase 4 ^ ? / Tf f p [j p" flf

phrases ff Plf ^ f L ji ^f '[j ' M

Figure 9: Kresky's interpretation of phrase 1 of Density 21.5.

An alternative reading of the openin

Figure 10: Image-schematic representat

Phrase 2, which is represented image-s

Figure 11: Image-schematic representati

The closing leap

Figure 12: Image

pathways of Cf/ ^^^ .^^*"_ii^Ñr ^^

Figure 14: Diminished-seventh chord as unstable sonority in tonal pitch space.

In an octatonic setting, on the other h

Figure 15: Image-schematic representation of phrase 4.

Bl> ^-^ ^çÍ^HI "^ force of

Phrase 5, represented image-schematically in Figure 16, can be interpreted as a reaction to this

Figure 16: Image-schematic representation of trajectory of motion in phrase 5.

Figure 17: Resultant motion along chrom

actual pathway gva. . . .

Figure 18: Image-schematic representation of final chromatic ascent in phrase 6.

Example 2: Várese, Density 21.5, m. 54 to end.

8. Arnheim, "Perceptual Dynamics," p. 299.

14. Lerdahl, 'Tonal Pitch Space," p. 321.

15. Arnheim, "Perceptual Dynamics," p. 301.

16. Schenker, Free Composition, p. 16.

21. Nattiez, "Varèse's 'Density 27.5'," p. 251.

23. Guck, "A Flow of Energy," p. 335.

24. Perle, The Listening Composer, pp. 1 1-12.

25. Kresky, "A Path Through 'Density'," p. 324.

27. Kresky, "A Path Through 'Density'," p. 325.

28. Várese, lecture, Princeton University, 1959, in Contemporary Composers on Contemporar

Baron, Carol. "Varèse's Explication of Debussy's Syrinx in Den

Kresky, Jeffrey. "A Path Through 'Density'." Perspectives o

Nattiez, Jean- Jacques. "Varèse's 'Density 21 S : A Study in

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