Toward a Theory of Timbre: Verbal Timbre and Musical Line in Purcell, Sessions, and

Stravinsky
Author(s): Robert Cogan
Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Autumn - Winter, 1969), pp. 75-81
Published by: Perspectives of New Music
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 TOWARD A THEORY OF TIMBRE:
VERBAL TIMBRE AND MUSICAL LINE
IN PURCELL, SESSIONS, AND
STRAVINSKY
ROBERT COGAN

TIMBRE, of all the parametersof music,is the one least considered.

It lacks not only an adequate theory,but even an inadequate one. Its
obscurityis in part notational,in part analytical- and in each respect
historical.While every musician knows that the compositionalact of
fixingand notatingthe timbralfeaturesof a workis comparativelyre-
cent (1750 is a convenientdate, as a norm),the peculiarityof timbral
notation has not been recognized. Its usual notation indicates not
timbres,but ratherthe means- particularlytheinstrumentalmeans-
used to achieve them. (This is analogous in manyrespectsto lute and
guitarnotationof pitchesbased on instrumentalfingerpositions.Can
one imagine the problemsforthe theoryof pitchrelationsifall pitch
notation were based on instrumentalmanipulation,rather than on
the resultingsounds?) Thus timbralnotationnot only followedcen-
turies afterpitchand rhythmnotation;it has also remained one step
furtherremoved fromits essentialterritory - the nature of timbre-
than those other notations (however questionable and inadequate
they may be).
Timbral analysis is even more recent than timbralnotation.The
essentialformulationsof Helmholtz date from 1850-80. Chapters V
and VI ("On the Differencesin the Quality of Musical Tones" and
"On the Apprehension of Qualities of Tone") of his On theSensations
of Tone have provided the basis for all subsequent theoreticalcon-
sideration of timbre.These later studies have been undertaken by
acousticians,engineers,linguists,physicists,and psychologists(among
others); rarely, if ever, by musicians. To be done with accuracy,
timbralanalysisrequires sophisticatedtechnologyof a kindwhichhas
existed for less than fiftyyears. Even the observationsof Helmholtz,
remarkable for their period, contain inaccuracies due to technical
limitations.
Helmholtz showed that timbre (which he called Klangfarbe,ren-
dered as qualityby his translator)depends principallyupon the num-
. 75-

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 PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC

ber and relativeintensityof the sounding partialsof a fundamental.

Thus timbralanalysisrequires measurementand considerationof the
overtone spectrumof a sound. This is a matterrequiringboth tech-
nical and conceptual delicacy. In fact, the crude, specious use of
the overtone phenomena by composer-theoristsfrom Rameau to
Hindemith,by pure theoristssuch as Schenker (despite much other
admirable work), and by engineers such as Olson has in itselfmade
more difficultthe proper use of these phenomena to illuminate
timbre.(Helmholtz was highlyaware of the danger of inappropriate
generalization from the overtone series and took considerable, if
insufficient,pains to avoid it in his own work.)
This brief paper will not supply a theoryof timbreas a whole. It
does intendto show thatusingtimbralinformationnow (and forsome
illumi-
years) available, certain aspects of music can be significantly
nated-that it is possible to make a beginning toward the musical
analysisof timbre.
I
Languages are timbral systemsof considerable complexity and
subtlety.They consist of a varietyof attacks (consonants) and su-
stained timbres (vowels and some vowel-like consonants). The
acoustical nature of language sounds has been studied more thor-
oughly than any other group of timbres.A section of Helmholtz'
Chapter V is named "Vowel Qualities of Tone"; even during his time
a number of others were workingintensivelyin this field(including
Melville Bell, father of Alexander Graham Bell). Since language
timbrehas been so greatlystudied, and since language and its tim-
bres are components of many musical works,it is a useful starting
place for consideration of interrelationshipsbetween timbre and
other musical features.
The basis of the timbral analyses in this paper are the spectro-
graphic analyses of R. K. Potter,G. A. Kopp, and H. G. Kopp in
VisibleSpeech (Dover Publications, originally published in 1947).
Example I reproduces spectrographic analyses of the vowels of
English. (The analyses were obtained by filteringand measuringthe
partialsof each vowel. Potterand the Kopps used a filterwitha band-
widthof 300 cycles,which resultsin the suppressionof some minute
details, but shows most clearlythe concentrations
of vibratingpartials
for each vowel. Such analysiswas done in the range between 70 and
3,500 cycles,where the great bulk of vibrationenergyand variation
in structureare concentrated.)It is the second bar fromthe bottom
in each spectrographwhichmoststronglycharacterizesvowelsounds,
due to its strengthand variabilityof position. Potter and Kopps
S76

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 TOWARD A THEORY OF TIMBRE

............
...9..
.. :

eve ~ t .t. at ak fath.r ....b.t oot

....b.y

Schematic Representation of the Spectrographs

!i~i~iiiii~i..........ii

i eve) r (it) a (hate) ? (met) to(at) an(s)

.. . . . . .
? ...........
...... .., :!~ii~i~~iiiiiiii~ll

...........
a(fa ther( )e) ....Ex. . (put) i
iboot

4 (u) a(bout) 4 (church) a (chureh)

(Genera A a) (lsltern)

77 -

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 PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC

refer to the concentrationof partials representedby thatbar as the

hub.
It is clear fromtheseanalysesthateven when the fundamentalpitch
of vowelsis identical(as in these spectrographs),vibrationsare set up
which vary in intensityin differentfrequencyregions, depending
upon the specific vowel. The overtone spectrum of each vowel
emphasizes differentpartials and differentregions of partials.The
hub of each of the various vowels- theirpoint of greatestintensity -
is different.(An analogous situationobtains for various instruments,
of course.) While a vowel may be modifiedsomewhatin various con-
texts,it does not lose itsindividualstructureand identity,even when
unvoiced, as in a whisper (nor do differencesof sex, range, or pro-
nunciation affectthese partial-concentrationpatternssignificantly).
The vowelscan be arranged,then,in a scale according to the relative
height of their hub; one mightrefer to this,as Helmholtz did, as a
scale of brightness (the term is irrelevantfor our purposes; it is the
ordering which is important).(See the vowel order under "motionof
the vowel hubs" in Exx. 2, 3, and 4.)
Only the diphthongspresentambiguities;theirpatternsare chang-
ing ratherthan fixed.However, the change in any diphthongis as de-
fined and constantas the structureof any other vowel. They are no
more unanalyzable or arbitrarythan other timbres.
II
Does the nature of vowel timbreaffecttheir usage by composers,
for example, in text settingsfor voices? One senses that the answer
is yes, yet this intuition is never tested. Musicians have analyzed
textual settingsin a varietyof other ways. Reese showed thatGrego-
rian chant frequentlyrises foran accented syllable(particularlyin the
example he chose, "JubilateDeo"; Music in theMiddleAges,p. 166).
It has often been suggested that words of semanticimportanceare
placed prominently,at high, or occasionally low, points. Symbolic
analysisis not unknown.Of these onlythe firsthas to do withthe na-
ture of sound, yet even that has to do with the rhythmic-dynamic
structureof words ratherthan theirtimbralstructure.
It is perhaps ironic that in the art of "sound and time,"in Stra-
vinsky'sphrase, so littlenoticehas been given to sound. For the most
part one has been contentwith"pure musicalanalysis"of vocal music,
the purityderivingin part froman assumptionthatthe timbralques-
tion does not exist.
Examples 2, 3, and 4 constitutethe bulk of thisstudy.They present
phrase-by-phraseanalyses of "When I Am Laid in Earth" from Pur-
cell'sDido and Aeneas,portionsof Sessions' "On the Beach at Fontana,"
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 TOWARD A THEORY OF TIMBRE

and Stravinsky's"Full Fadom Five" from the ThreeSongsof William

Shakespeare. The analyses consistin each case of the vowel spectra of
the texts,fromwhich is extractedthe line of hubs. This line of hubs
representsthe essentialacousticalmotionof the textper se, a motion
which,accordingto the successionof vowels,progressesthroughvari-
ous frequencyregions,highand low,as charted.(The consonantspro-
vide only briefinterruptionsand articulations;as such theyare less
crucial.) The line of hubs is then compared withthe linear motionof
the voice melody; particularlyinterestingaspects of thiscomparison
are detailed in commentaryin the boxes below the linear graphs.
Examples 2-4 should be considered in detail. The followingserves
only as a summaryof what is revealed in them.
PURCELL. The phrase apexes of itsrisingprincipalline coincide with

high-spectrum(bright)vowels: the "e" of "laid" and "may,"the "i" 's

of "re-(member)me." Descending motions of the melodic line into
the inner voice lead into or coincide withlow-spectrum(dark) vowels:
the "3" of "earth"; the "6" of "wrongs"; the "A" and "a" of "trou-
ble"; the "a" of "ah"; the "o" of "for-(get)."The apex of the entire
piece is on the prolonged, stressed "i" of "me," the highest vowel
spectrumin English.Textual repetitionsreiterateand intensifythese
timbral-linearcorrespondences: the repetitionof the high-spectrum
"laid" (m. 3) and the later multiplerepetitionsof the high-spectrum
"re-(member)me" are crucial in creating the apex of the principal
timbral-linearstructureof the piece. Likewise,the contrastinginner-
voice descent,mm. 6-8 of the voice melody,depends upon the repeti-
tion of the low-spectrum"no trou-ble,"just as the concluding linear
descent depends upon the repetition(and prolongation!) of the low-
spectrum"ah for-(get)."
SESSIONS. The verbal timbraldesign is characterizedby prevailing
high-spectrumsounds contrastedwithan accented end-timbre(in 11.
2 and 3) of marked low-spectrumquality: "groan" and "stone." The
structureof the melodic line is parallel. In addition,innumerablede-
tailed correspondences are to be found: the linear apex coinciding
withthe highestvowel spectrum,the "i" 's of "sen-(ile) sea"; the set-
ting of "numbers each," etc. In fact, omittingunstressed syllables,
the details of timbreand line agree almost entirely.
STRAVINSKY. The line reproducesnot onlymanyspecificdetails
of the timbralcontour, but also its general angularity.Particularly
interestingis the treatmentof the word "his." What is usually taken
as Stravinsky'smannered and idiosyncraticway witha textturnsout
to be an exact correspondence of settingwithtimbre.His treatment
of the diphthong "ai" is interesting:when the verbal timbrerises to
the beginning of the diphthong, he considers it high; when it de-
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 PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC

scends to its beginning,he considers it low. This exaggeration of

its ambiguityadds furtherangularity(completelyconsistentwith
the nature of the textand its setting).
Special attentionmust be given to the last fragment,"ding-dong
bell." Here the timbre-the verbal onomatopoeia-is everything;
meaning (in the semanticsense) and syntaxdisappear. The musical
settingis a settingof almostpure verbal timbre,drained of its usual
semantic-syntactic aspects. The melodic design, indeed, shows pre-
cise timbralcorrespondence.But there is yet a furthercorrespond-
ence. Example A shows spectrographsof "ing" and "ong." In each

ing ong
Ex. A

case the ending "if" (ng) has the effectof continuingthe structure
of its precedingvowel,but in greatlydiminishedintensity.
This agrees
strikingly withStravinsky'ssetting:

ding dong
III
Examples 2-4 have not been presentedto settleand close the issue
of timbreand itsrelationshipto othermusicalparameters,but rather
to open it. These examples have not been speciallyselected froma
large number of samples; theyare, rather,almost the firstworksto
be viewed in thisway. The correspondencesseem consistentand im-
portantenough to indicate a possible fruitfuldirectionof intensive
questioningand research.
It is obvious thateven where verbaltimbreis an importantfactorin
the determinationof the total musicalstructure(as it seems to be in
these examples),itis not a sole determinant.There willbe cases where
timbreis slightlyrelevant,and those where color derives fromop-
posing the purelytimbralimplications."Music is thesum of totalscat-
tered forces,"wrote Debussy, one of the great timbralcomposers
(as another paper will show). The role of analysis is technically
(and accurately)to reckon thatsum; thiscan onlybe achieved by the
.
80.

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 TOWARD A THEORY OF TIMBRE

precise appraisal of all of the forces,includingthe timbral.With the

innovationsof Debussy, Schoenbergian Klangfarbenmelodie, and elec-
tronic freedom-of-synthesis, composition has moved through the
sound barrier. It is leftfor theoryto follow.
The organizationof verbal timbreadds a thirddimension to lan-
guage structure,already defined in termsof semanticmeaning and
verbal rhythm.The aesthetic uses of these timbralpossibilitiesare
hardly known. Even more than withrhythm,the timbreof words is
a point where language and musicbecome almostone. The questions
raised (the scaling and structuringof timbre,and the relationships
between timbralstructureand other dimensions of both language
and music) point to a new crucial and deep level of analysis (and
composition!), one whose implicationsand consequences are hardly
foreseeable,yet,even at this stage, immenselysuggestive.
New England Conservatoryof Music

.81
.

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Vowelspectra:

Vowels:( e al a e a e

Text: { When I am laid, am laid

i-

A5-
a-
U-
2-

G-
2

Wa
F-

I
j"
vl_-

Thehighest vowel
stressed ofthe verbalphraseinte s
co,,andhub,the"e" of "laid",coincideswiththe
ofspectra
stressed
apexes,B6 andC,ofthemusical
phrase.

(Thesectional
repetitions
areomitted.)

When I am laid, am laid

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Vowelspectra:
-

Vowels:( e a0 i e o A a

Text:( may my wrongs cre - ate no trou - ble,

0-
U-
U-

S G-
F-

SD
C-- r-

E
"0 F-
G-

Thenewmelodic apex,D, coincides Melodicdescent

coincides
withlow- Therepetitionof "notr
withthe returnto high-spectrum spectrum vowel,"o" of "wrong". oflow-spectrumvowels"
vowelquality,the "e" of "may". abandons
largely itsuppe
apexes BI-C-Dfora low
terminology)region-Aa
magnifiesthevowelcon
oushigh-spectrum)andli
linevs.inner-voice
line.)

may mywrongs cre- ate no trou ble,

may my wrongs - cre- ate no trou ble,

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Vowel spectra:

Vowels: ( i i i E i

Text:( Re - mem- ber me, Re - mem-ber me,

R' o* - mmB

a-

u--
U

QG
0
-
F-
,a D

"' c-1
C -

E: F-

"Remember me" repeats

thehighest
voweltimbre,
"i", at itsbeginning
and Againan inner
end. Thishightimbre
coincides
withtheabruptreturnto theupper-lineD. tolow-spectr
Therepeated
D'sparallel
andintensify
therepeated
"i's".

Re - mem - berme, Re - mem - ber me, But

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Vowelspectra:

___

Vowels:( ai e i e a i A a

Text:( my fate, Re - mem - ber me, but ah!

D-
-

A-

" G-
F-

0 F G4

Thehigh-point oftheentire
melodic octavedescentis
The finalfilled-in
withthestressof
line,G, coincides joinedtotheprolonged
largely low-
thehighest vowelspectrum,
possible spectrumvowels"A,a, o".
"i" ofme".

my fate, Re - mem - berme, but ah!

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 mm. 1-11

Vowel spectra:1

Vowels:{ I aI a a I a e

Text:( Wind whines and whines the shin - gle, The cra -

i-
C-

A-
0-
G-
U-

G-

oF-
Dl-

Ce -

The single vowel "I" of "w'ind" and "shin-(gle)",and the pitch C join to fix a The abrupt drop of vowe
pitch-timbral plateau at both ends ofthephrase.The mid-phrasespectrumdescent the melodic line. Not on
is paralleledin a generalizedway. match; many details-for
vowels "e" ("crazy") and

Wind whines and whines the shin

Wind whines and whines t
the shin The cra
ogle, -

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Vowel spectra:

Vowels:{ a i a i a 3 i I a aI I

Text:( A se - nile sea num- bers each sin - gle slime - sil vered

i-

0 aG
- 0
uU-
G-
-

o
G- F-
6
c

E6 -

C,-

Abrupt riseto double-stress of thehighest Thisph

vowel-
spectrum, sea". Thevowelaccent
"i" of "se-(nile) thispar
bythewideleapto themelody
is paralleled high- point;in
point,Gb-F,whichis maintained throughoutthe of thel
soundings of"i". (ThehighF returns withthe"i" high-s
of"each"at theendofthemeasure.)

r. ----2,

A se - nile sea_ num-bers each sin - gle slime - sil - vered-

sto

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 m.1 mm.2

Vowel
spectra:
_

Vowels:{ v a aI a a a a

Text:{ Full fa - dom five thy Fa - ther lies,

a-
1)-

u-

C-
Db
A
" Ab-

FZ.
S E6-

The parallelismsof vowelspectrum and melodiclineare mostexact

if one regards the vowelsof theaccentedsyllables:"fa-(dom), five,
lies". The dipthong
Fa-(ther), "al" is ambiguous-its in "five"
setting
corresponds half,in "lies" to its lowerhalf.
to its higher

ull fI -omfi th te ls i"

F,
Full fa - dom five thy Fa - ther lies, Of

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Vowel spectra:i

Vowels: o a a a a I

Text:{ Those are pearles that were his eies,

o CA-
a-
0s0
a-
U-

DI,-

.4
F

Those are pearles that were his eies,

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