Modes and Pitch-Class Sets in Messiaen: A Brief Discussion of 'Premire Communion de la Vierge' Rosemary Walker Music Analysis, Vol.

8, No. 1/2. (Mar. - Jul., 1989), pp. 159-168.

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ROSEMARY WALKER

MODES AND PITCH-CLASS SETS IN MESSIAEN: COMMUNION A BRIEF DISCUSSION O F 'PREMI~~RE DE LA VIERGE'

The following discussion concerns the relations between tonal, modal and chromatic elements in the eleventh movement of Vingt Regards sur Z'EnfantJdsus. 'The Virgin's First Communion' is a descriptive piece representing various aspects of the Annunciation and the Nativity and apparently inspired by a painting showing the Virgin kneeling in contemplation. The overall layout of the eighty-bar movement is straightforward: a contemplative opening section based on a fragment of the T h h e de Dieu (the God-theme), a series of variations on the theme, and a coda which returns to the opening material. The chordal God-theme is the principal cyclic element in Vingt Regards; in No. 11, only the first four chords of the theme are used. Messiaen articulates the music unambiguously by the traditional compositional means of varied tempo, register, contour, dynamic and rhythm. Fortunately, therefore, one of the most problematic aspects of pitch-class set analysis is avoided, for I consider my segmentations to be uncontroversial. Majorlminor tonality makes a number of appearances in Vingt Regards, not least in the eleventh movement, where a Bb major triad seems to be prolonged throughout and the composer resorts to a dominant-to-tonic cadence (see Ex. 1). However, the actual pitch array in 'Premiere communion', as in all the other movements of the Vingt Regards that sound more or less 'tonal', is mostly derived from one of the Modes of Limited Transposition. Messiaen has affirmed that his system of modes was among the first elements of his harmonic language to develop (Samuel 1976: 23); the modes and the harmonies derived from them were codified in Technique de mon langage musical, published shortly before the completion of the Vingt Regards in 1944. As is well known, Messiaen specifies seven modes in all; the first of these is the whole-tone scale, the second the octatonic collection. The term 'limited transposition' is the composer's own, applying to the symmetrical properties of each mode in which the original pitchclass content is replicated if the mode is transposed beyond the limiting levels which characterize it. The initial pitches are not intended to be 'tonics' or 'finals': no pitch class takes precedence over any other in this respect, and the modes can begin on any degree or their pitch classes appear in any order.

ROSEMARY WALKER

Example 2 shows Mode 2 in its three possible transpositions. For Messiaen, one of the prime attractions of the modes (particularly Modes 2, 3,4 and 6) is that they enable him to work with a rich palette of sonorities that have colour associations entirely personal to him (see Bernard 1986: 45-7). Keys themselves do not seem to correspond to specific colours in his theory, which is quite forthright about the exterit to which tonality and modality interact, as the following quotation shows: 'There are tonal passages in my works but they are precisely blended with these modes which colour them and finally they have little importance' (Samuel 1976: 23j. The piece to be examined here is mostly in Mode 2. In this mode, B ,F and b D occur together only in the second transposition, which must therefore be the transposition of choice for a B tonality. If the matter were as simple as that, b there would of course be no further need for theorizing about the pitch content. However, Messiaen's pitch arrays are often modally impure. 'Premiere communion' exhibits a variety of material within its pitch structure: there is material based entirely on one transposition of Mode 2; but there are also passages in which non-modal pitches appear, as well as a contrasting section at a noticeably quicker tempo than the rest of the movement in which the mode becomes indiscernible because of the degree of chromatic saturation. I propose to employ the apparatus of pitch-class set theory to examine the modal and nonmodal pitch collections, exploring the possibility of association between the two with the intention of explaining the extra pitches that are introduced at certain points in the piece.The suffixing of the symbols A and B to certain sets follows the approach of Larry Solomon, in which separate labels denote inversions, thus allowing inversion between sets to be treated as a relation rather than an equivalence (Solomon 1982). Major chords, for example, can be distinguished from minor, as can the dominant seventh from the so-called 'half-diminished' chord. Those collections which are not suffixed with A or B (8-28, for instance) are inversionally symmetrical. Ex. I

MODES A N D PITCH-CLASS SETS I N MESSIAEN

Ex. 1 cont.

Reproduced by permission of Editions Durand S.A., Paridunited Music Publishers Ltd

ROSEMARY WALKER

Ex. 2

.M o d e 2ii
M o d e 2111

The octatonic Mode 2 is set 8-28 in Forte's numbering. It is important to stress that the distinctive qualities of the colour modes (that is, Messiaen's Modes 2, 3, 4 and 6, which are equivalent to sets 8-28, 9-12, 8-9 and 8-25 respectively) derive partly from the fact that there are no inclusion relations among them. Therefore, it should be possible with pitch-class sets to determine the modal identities of Messiaen's music, particularly in sections where the mode is incomplete or contains extraneous pitch classes - the only limit to the potential for explanation here being that the modes do have various subsets in common. Moreover, absolute pitch is crucial in Messiaen, for precise colours are attached not only to the different modes but also to different transpositions of the same mode. The mode is disposed in a variety of ways in 'Premi&re communion': apart from providing the God-theme (see Ex. 4), it is used to form an anacrusis and resolution gesture, in repeated-note figures, in grace notes and in cadenza-type figuration which, typically, tends to follow the scalar order of the mode. Purely modal sonorities occur first in bs 10-15, then at 17-19. In the latter segment, the change from second to third transposition of Mode 2 coincides with a new motivic gesture (a brief quotation from an earlier work of Messiaen - the opening movement of La Nativite' du Seigneur). Four pitches are held invariant between the second and third transpositions of Mode 2: D, F, G# and B. Messiaen highlights this feature in bs 13-15 (see Ex. 3). Modal qualities become more difficult to interpret when not all the pitches of a chord or passage belong to the same transposition of a mode. In b. 1, the righthand arabesque, which Messiaen describes as 'rapid melodic festoons evoking the designs of stalactites in mysterious grottos' (Messiaen 1944b), adds three pitches (C, D# and F#) to the eight of Mode 2 (second transposition) in the left hand (see Ex. 4): the total pitch content yields the near-aggregate, set 11-1. In Chapter 17 of Technique de mon langage musical, Messiaen emphasizes that his modes may 'borrow from themselves in their different transpositions' (1956: 65): thus the most obvious interpretation of the foreign pitches is that they are borrowed from either the first or, more likely, the third transposition of Mode 2. Although any extra pitch can always be explained as a transpositional 'borrowing', this theory of Messiaen's, which may well represent his compositional method, does not explain why each particular choice is made and its effect on the pitch structure.

MODES A N D PITCH-CLASS SETS IN MESSIAEN

Ex. 3

Reproduced by permission of Editions Durand S . A . , ParisNnited Music Publishers Ltd.

In applying set theory here, it becomes obvious that Messiaen is working not only with the master set 8-28 but with various other large sets too: in particular, 7-31, 10-3 and 11-1, all of which are sub- or supersets of 8-28. The harmonic repertoire is littered with trichords, particularly 3-1 lB, but these are bound to appear. This also applies to most tetrads and pentads in the piece. Moreover, collections of cardinal 6 are so rare in Messiaen that the issue of hexachordal

ROSEMARY WALKER

Ex. 4
Trbs lent ib=so)

Reproduced by permission of Editions Durand S.A., Parismnited Music Publishers Lfd

connectedness, crucial in classic Fortean theory, does not arise, nor can the possibility of a 'nexus' set. Rather, the fact that Messiaen tends actually to use large pitch collections enforces an analytical focus on sets of cardinality 7 and above. There is no case for discussing sets in terms of their complements, for absolute pitch remains a crucial factor within the pitch organization: although Messiaen deliberately uses invertible pc collections, for him the function of absolute pitch in defining colour is comparable to its function in defining key. Set 7-31 has an important role to play in this movement, not least because it is the largest octatonic subset. It first appears in b.2 (Ex. 5a). The justification Ex. 5

Reproduced by permission of Editions Durand S.A., Paridunited Music Publishers Ltd.

164

MUSIC ANALYSIS

8: 1-2, 1989

MODES AND PITCH-CLASS SETS IN MESSIAEN

for taking this collection in isolation is that Messiaen himself does so at the end of the piece (Ex. 5b). Transformations of 7-31A and B also appear horizontally in the cadenza-type passages (Ex. 5c), and the inverted form generates the total pitch content of bs 39-41 (Ex. 6). Why Messiaen should present Mode 2 (in second transposition) minus one pitch (G) in this segment cannot be regarded as an arbitrary question. All the subcollections of this pre-ecstatic passage are triads and dominant sevenths. This overall sonority cannot be achieved by a partitioning of the complete eight-note mode, but only by the exclusion of one pitch to form the largest subset (the smallest superset of 8-28, 9-10, does not have a high profile anywhere in the music). Ex. 6

Reproduced by permission of Editions Durand S.A., Paridunited Music Publishers Ltd

One of the most opaque passages from the point of view of pitch is bs 43-72, which abandon the serenity of Bb major and modal sonorities in favour of dense chromatic collections (see Ex. 7). This kind of juxtaposition of modal and nonmodal material in Vzngt Regards has provoked criticism, not least from Boulez, who only recently remarked of the work:
For [Messiaen] there is no problem in two worlds coexisting - a very complicated world, very atonal and sometimes very aggressively so without any polarisation of any kind; and then you find beside that the kind of relationship even Debussy would not have written any more. For me it is rather strange. I don't see the coincidence very much. (Boulez 1986: 168)

ROSEMARY WALKER

The pitch structures from b.43 seem to be designed for maximum variety of sonority. Sets of cardinal 8 are prolific: the upper D is harmonized variously in 8-21,8- 12A and so on. Parsing the non-modal section in pitch-class sets enables associations with earlier modal material to be revealed; for instance, 4-18, 3-5 and 4-Z29A, the only subsets of 8-28 here, are highlighted in self-evident ways. Of the six possible sets of cardinal 10, there is only one noteworthy example in Ex. 7

Reproduced by permission of Editions Durand S.A., ParislLTnited Music Publishers Ltd

MODES A N D PITCH-CLASS SETS I N MESSIAEN

this piece. Significantly, it appears in the non-modal passage, at b.53, where the pitch-change is suspended for four bars to emphasize a rhythmic device. The combination of the two verticals forms set 10-3, echoed at pitch in b.61. The missing pitches are C# and E, but the C# is reintroduced directly at b.57 and both C# and E are the boundary notes at the start of b.59. The fact that 10-3is a superset of 8-28 and of no other colour mode is of the essence here; for although 10-3 appears within a section that overtly disregards modal sonorities, the underlying control of 8-28 is unmistakable, and this demonstrates the explanatory force of interpreting the near-aggregate, not as a mode with randomly 'borrowed' additional pitches, but as a superset with explicit and unique modal content. In his brief notes to the work, Messiaen discusses his 'chords of transposed inversions' in the chromatic passage. This indicates their general importance to him, but their specific formations are revealed by examining set relations. In a three-bar segment (bs 58-60), collections of 7-20A and 8-20 alternate, the combinations in each bar forming larger sets of 10-3 (b. 58), 11-1 (b.60) and the total chromatic (b.59) (see Ex. 7). There is a clear link between this three-bar segment and the horizontal aggregate in b.42 - not least because the first seven notes in b.42 are a transformation of 7-20A (see Ex. 8): Ex. 8

Reproduced by permission of Editions Durand S . A . , ParistUnited Music Publishers Ltd.

In the eleventh movement of Vingt Regards there is a clear interaction not only between modal and tonal elements but also between the modes and chromatic structures. The application of a rather simple set classification can account for pitch collections that do not conform to the exclusive Mode 2 presentations. Messiaen is a most meticulous composer, and without doubt there are no random gestures in his control of pitch organization: every detail counts. This is why any exploration of pitch structure in his music, particularly those pitch components outside the modes, is so inherently compelling.

ROSEMARY WALKER

REFERENCES Bernard, Jonathan, 1986: 'Messiaen's Synaesthesia: The Correspondence between Color and Sound Structure in His Music', Music Perception, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Fall), pp.41-68. Boulez, Pierre, 1986: 'Boulez on Messiaen: Pierre Boulez in Conversation with Roger Nichols', Organists' Review, No. 3, Vol. 7 1, No. 283, pp. 167-70. Messiaen, Olivier, 1944a: Technique de mon langage musical, trans. John Satterfield, 1956 (Paris: Leduc). -1944b: 'Note de l'auteur', Vingt Regards sur Z'Enfant-Je'sus (Paris: Durand), trans. Susan Bradshaw (sleeve notes to CSD 3680-3681; SLS 79312). Samuel, Claude, 1976: Conversations with Olivier Messiaen, trans. Felix Aprahamian (London: Stainer and Bell). Solomon, Larry, 1982: 'The List of Chords, Their Properties and Use in Analysis', Interface, Vol. 2, No. 2.