shostakovich and “playing out” · “blues on the corner," chorus 4 . mccoy tyner 1i ......
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SHOSTAKOVICH AND “PLAYING OUT”
centric set theory and polyoctatonicism in the 7th string quartet
Dmitri Tymoczko Princeton University
WHAT IS A SCALE?• A container?
– A delimiter of musical possibility?– The musical field of play?
• Or something more superficial?– Generated at a deeper level by the tonic note?– A byproduct of chords?
• An ancient metaphysical argument … … perhaps better viewed as a question about style.
– In Debussy, perhaps, scales are like containers.– In Shostakovich they may play a more superficial role.
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SHOSTAKOVICH: GENERAL• In Shostakovich’s later music, we often find
– Clear tonal centers– Strongly emphasized fifths– Clear thirds, either major or minor.
• However, scales are more elusive.– The music does not always confine itself to familiar scales.– Neither does it embrace complete chromaticism– Certain recurring scale-like configurations are important.
• Plenty of diatonicism
– These scale-like configurations sometimes seem subservient to their component subsets
• In particular, octatonic subsets
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SHOSTAKOVICH: GENERAL• Moreover, we find motives subjected to both
chromatic and scalar transformations (inversion, transposition) that suggest something set theory in a centric context.– There is a continuum between more and less tonal.– In this sense the music is “polystylistic.”– But see GOM, chapter 5.
• Scale not as skeleton but as clothing• Similar to some other broadly tonal styles that
respond to atonality.– Jazz
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7TH QUARTET AS CASE STUDY• Written after a visit to the west and exposure
to avant-garde music (1960)• Three movements without pause• Fairly systematic use of octatonic fragments
– But complete octatonic scales are rare!
– Similar techniques appear, in a less consistent way, in contemporaneous pieces such as the 8th and 9th quartets.
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FREE USE OF OCTATONIC SUBSETS
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Quartet no. 7, opening of the last movement
Melodic and harmonic 023 trichords
FREE USE OF OCTATONIC SUBSETS
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Quartet no. 7, opening of the last movement
Scales are not prominent
FREE USE OF OCTATONIC SUBSETS
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Quartet no. 9, first movement
Melodic 023 trichords against bass 02 dyads
NOW FOR A SYSTEM
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Suppose you fill the span from root to fifth with an octatonic scale.
Q: how can you continue upward to form an octave species?
THREE POLYOCTATONIC MODELS
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THREE POLYOCTATONIC MODELS
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“Altered scale” (seventh mode of D mm.) with added fifth and leading tone
THREE POLYOCTATONIC MODELS
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“Harmonic altered scale” (seventh mode of D hm.) with added fifth and leading tone
THREE POLYOCTATONIC MODELS
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Models 1 and 2 share nine notes and are related by inversion
THREE POLYOCTATONIC MODELS
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OCTATONIC FRAGMENTS SOMETIMES EXPAND BEYOND THEIR LIMITS!
MODEL 2 EXAMPLES (7TH QUARTET)
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MODEL 2 EXAMPLES (7TH QUARTET)
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MODEL 2 EXAMPLES (7TH QUARTET)
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MODEL 1 EXAMPLES (7TH QUARTET)
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MODEL 1 EXAMPLES (7TH QUARTET)
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Melody and accompaniment consistently model 1.
MODEL 1 EXAMPLES (7TH QUARTET)
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USING 10-NOTE SCALES• Individual octatonic fragments are isolated
both registrally and temporally– That is, lines tend to “inhabit” their two octatonic
parts sequentially, rather than mixing notes from different octatonic fragments
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MOVEMENT 2 TONAL PLAN
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Insert annotated movement 2 score here
SECTION A. mostly D model 1, with model 2 in violin 2
vln 1: D model 1
e continues octatonic fragment by one note
vln 2:D model 2
D model 1
POWERPOINT: http://dmitri.tymoczko.com/shostakovich.pptx
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Insert annotated movement 2 score here
SECTION A. mostly D model 1, with model 2 in violin 2
vln 1: D model 1
e continues octatonic fragment by one note
vln 2:D model 2
D model 1
POWERPOINT: http://dmitri.tymoczko.com/shostakovich.pptx
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Insert annotated movement 2 score here
SECTION A. mostly D model 1, with model 2 in violin 2
vln 1: D model 1
e continues octatonic fragment by one note
vln 2:D model 2
D model 1
POWERPOINT: http://dmitri.tymoczko.com/shostakovich.pptx
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Insert annotated movement 2 score here
SECTION A. mostly D model 1, with model 2 in violin 2
vln 1: D model 1
e continues octatonic fragment by one note
vln 2:D model 2
D model 1
POWERPOINT: http://dmitri.tymoczko.com/shostakovich.pptx
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Insert annotated movement 2 score here
SECTION B. Cs model 2
ef dorian: subset of d model 1
d model 2
transition
continues oct. fragment
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Insert annotated movement 2 score here SECTION B. Cs model 2
ef diatonic: subset of d model 1
d model 2
transition
continues oct. fragment
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Insert annotated movement 2 score here upper fragment extends down
SECTION A´. D model 1
CODA. D octatonic (model 0)
shift to D model 1 (Cs tonal center. still section 2)
n.b.!
upper fragment extends down
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Insert annotated movement 2 score here
upper fragment extends down
SECTION A´. D model 1
CODA. D octatonic (model 0)
shift to D model 1 (Cs tonal center. still section 2)
n.b.!
upper fragment extends down
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Insert annotated movement 2 score here
upper fragment extends down
SECTION A´. D model 1
CODA. D octatonic (model 0)
shift to D model 1 (Cs tonal center. still section 2)
n.b.!
upper fragment extends down
SUMMARY OF OPENING OF M. 2
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OPENING OF M. 1
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NINTH QUARTET, OPENING
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NINTH QUARTET, 2ND THEME
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In the repeat, the viola melody shifts down by major second, landing on Ds and creating an approximate B major sound.
McCOY TYNER 1
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“Pursuance,” chorus 4
Uses pentatonic subsets rather than octatonic.
McCOY TYNER 1
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“Pursuance,” chorus 4
Similar dialectic between “inside” and “outside”
McCOY TYNER 1I
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“Blues on the corner," chorus 4
McCOY TYNER 1I
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“Blues on the corner," chorus 4
McCOY TYNER 1I
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“Blues on the corner," chorus 4
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SPECULATIVE IDEA• Is Shostakovich using octatonic fragments to
try to approximate something like the phrygian mode? Or the altered scale?
• Is McCoy Tyner doing something similar with pentatonic scales?
• What about, more generally, using chords of one type to try to “imitate” or match some other scale?
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SPECULATIVE IDEA
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S Sensation Something (2014)
SPECULATIVE IDEA
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S Sensation Something (2014)
CONCLUSION• In previous work I have discussed one strand
of twentieth-century tonality in which scales act as containers:– An expanded range of scales and modes which
contain an expanded range of chords– Debussy, Stravinsky, earlier jazz
• A second tradition emphasizing a dialectic between “inside” and “outside” notes.– Controlled deviations from diatonicism– Scales are more superficial– Mahler, McCoy Tyner, rock harmony
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CONCLUSION
Two major strands of twentieth-century tonal thinking. What are the others?
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Thank you!���
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