Octatonica Van Der Toorn

Society for Music Theory
Stravinsky and the Octatonic: The Sounds of Stravinsky

Author(s): Pieter C. Van Den Toorn, Demitri Tymoczko
Source: Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Spring 2003), pp. 167-202
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Society for Music Theory
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/mts.2003.25.1.167 .
Accessed: 26/08/2013 00:11
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
University of California Press and Society for Music Theory are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve
and extend access to Music Theory Spectrum.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
the pitch-classes of selected passages (usually rehearsal num-
bers), and assigns sets or scales accordingly. “Overviews” or
“summaries” are then constructed by stringing together
≥olloquy: the resultant set or scale labels. See his “overviews” of the
Introduction and “Augurs of Spring” in The Rite of Spring,
Stravinsky and the Octatonic which were his Examples 10(a) and (b) respectively (p. 83).
The Sounds of Stravinsky The focus is entirely local and without regard to continu-
ity or any larger train of thought. The sets or scales are the di-
pieter c. van den toorn atonic “(trivially),” the octatonic, and the whole-tone (p. 69).
The harmonic minor and various modes of the ascending
melodic minor are featured, and often in novel ways. The au-
thor’s intent is to show a great variety of sets and scales, ap-
Dmitri Tymoczko’s “Stravinsky and the Octatonic: A parently as evidence of the “heterogeneous” character of
Reconsideration” (Music Theory Spectrum 24 [2002], 68–102) Stravinsky’s music (p. 84).
has left me more convinced than ever of the validity of the Curiously, however, the octatonic and whole-tone cate-
octatonic or octatonic-diatonic approach to sizable chunks of gories, although invariably referred to as “scales” in the au-
Stravinsky’s music, chunks that include the four works to thor’s account, are never treated as such analytically. Passages
which the author refers explicitly, The Firebird (1910), of octatonic or whole-tone content are labeled “octatonic” or
Petrouchka (1911), The Rite of Spring (1913), and the Sym- “whole-tone,” without further elaboration. So, too, the same
phony of Psalms (1930). Tymoczko has sought to puncture categories, assigned to speciéc passages, are never repre-
this approach in various ways in order to demonstrate that sented in musical notation, with pitch letters, numbers, and
the octatonic set and its uses play a much smaller role in the like. And the reason for this is clear, it seems to me, even
Stravinsky’s music than Arthur Berger, Richard Taruskin, or if it is never spelled out by the author. By avoiding musical
I have maintained. The problem, however, is that the ap- notation in these cases, the author is able to avoid the details
proach itself is ignored. Tymoczko makes no mention of the of analysis, above all, the messy details of priority, segmenta-
(0, 3, 6, 9) symmetrical structure of the set, the issues of pri- tion, and vocabulary—details that would ordinarily be of
ority that ensue, Stravinsky’s octatonic vocabulary, the inter- concern in any determination as to scale or referential order-
val orderings (scales) implied by that vocabulary (Models A ing. These same concerns would normally guide a study of
and B), the intersection and interaction of these scales with Stravinsky’s octatonic uses as well, above all, one would
various diatonic scales, distinctions between Russian and think, a “reconsideration” of those uses.
neoclassical works, the three transpositions—in short, all And the author’s diatonic labels, even when accompanied
that made the octatonic and the octatonic-diatonic a com- by speciéc pitch-classes, are no different in these respects.
pelling analytic-theoretical rationale in the érst place. It is as They, too, are assigned with little or no consideration of
if the author had conéned his reading of the relevant materi- priority or segmentation. The methodology is not unlike
als by Berger, Taruskin, and myself to a handful of pages. instances of pitch-class set analysis, but with an important
What Tymoczko offers is not an analysis but a new label- qualiécation. Even the most superécial exercises in set-
ing service, one based almost entirely on the pitch-class identiécation are obliged to confront issues of grouping or
counts of selected blocks or sections of material. He adds up segmentation, subsets and their recurrences. Rarely if ever in

168 music theory spectrum 25 (2003)
the author’s treatment of The Firebird, The Rite of Spring, and posed atop a E-major triad (spelled F b), involves all the
much of Petrouchka does the discussion venture beyond re-
#
pitches of the G melodic minor scale, and no others” (p. 78).
hearsal numbers, total pitch-class counts, and the assignment In other words, the actual sound of these two superimposed
of sets and scales. triadic entities is of little consequence.2 The two segments
Questions of priority are never raised. Priority is assigned do not count. What matters is the total pitch-class content
occasionally, but without criteria or deliberation. With the and the assignment of that content to one of the non-
possible exception of the Petrouchka chord and sections of diatonic modal scales.
the Symphony of Psalms, Stravinsky’s melodic and harmonic
#
At the same time, the priority assumed by G in this lat-
materials are ignored.1 This includes the extraordinary vo- ter assignment, surely questionable from any standpoint, is of
cabulary of (0 2 3 5) dorian tetrachords, triads, “dominant no concern either. Tymoczko fails to apprehend, in succeed-
sevenths,” and 0–5/6–11 vertical spans that égures so promi- ing passages at rehearsal 14, 16, and 23+3 (see Example 2),
nently in The Rite of Spring—indeed, in Stravinsky’s Russian-
#
the frequent substitution of G for G and C for B, substitu-
period works generally. As a consequence, register, instru- tions that tend automatically to render the E b dominant sev-
mentation, and chordal disposition are ignored as well. No enth and the D b –B b –E b –B b ostinato, along with the E dou-
mention is made of the three transpositions of the octatonic bled in the bass (the only doubling in the chord), of greater
set (Collections I, II, and III), of the two possible scales or persistence, stability, and, in just these respects, priority.
interval orderings, and of the explicit ways in which these
#
Above all, the substitution of (C E G) for (E G B) at re-
scales interact with various diatonic scales in Russian and hearsal 14, 16, and 23+3 (with E often retained in the “bass”),
neoclassical works. yields one of the truly crucial octatonic relationships in The
Omissions of this kind can make for some very bizarre Rite of Spring, of particular prominence in the “Augurs of
readings. The opening bassoon melody of The Rite of Spring, Spring” and the “Ritual of Abduction”; see the succession of
quoted here in Example 1(a), is assigned to the C-major blocks in Example 2, all culminating with the chord that
scale. And the “Augurs of Spring” chord at rehearsal 13, opens the “Ritual of Abduction” at rehearsal 37+2. Example
#
shown in Example 2, is labeled “G harmonic minor.” “We 3 reproduces the analysis of this opening passage of the
may not hear [the chord] as ‘minor’ in origin,” the author “Ritual of Abduction” in van den Toorn 1987, p. 155.3
writes, but “the sonority, an E b dominant seventh superim-
1 Brieèy and without reference to a speciéc passage, the author refers to 2 See, too, the author’s assignment of the melodic minor scale to re-
(0, 1, 3, 4) as “the octatonic scale’s signature . . . tetrachord” (p. 80), hearsal 35 in the érst tableau of Petrouchka. “The passage does not par-
showing its possible connection to the harmonic and melodic minor ticularly sound like it is in minor,” the author writes (p. 73), but, evi-
scales. However, next to the (0, 2, 3, 5) Dorian tetrachord, (0, 1, 3, 4) dently, the pitch-class content is the required one all the same.
plays only a very slight role in The Rite of Spring and in Russian-period 3 Notice that the segmentation and analysis in Example 3 does not begin
works generally. Only with neoclassical pieces such as the Octet (1924) with the octatonic scale (as Tymoczko implies, p. 82), but with the (0,
does the (0, 1, 3, 4) tetrachord and the semitone-tone scale it implies 2, 3, 5) Dorian tetrachord. Complete or incomplete, and nearly contin-
come to the fore. See the discussion of these matters in van den Toorn uously operative throughout the whole of The Rite of Spring, the
1983, 48–52, 261–70, van den Toorn 1995, 143–8. My concern in this Dorian tetrachord is shared by the octatonic and diatonic sets, often
response is primarily with the érst three of the Stravinsky works cited; serving, by way of this neutrality, as the principal connecting link be-
the third movement of the Symphony of Psalms is not treated in the tween the tone-semitone ordering of the octatonic scale and various di-
cited texts by Berger, Taruskin, or myself. atonic orderings, often dorian. See van den Toorn 1983, 100–24.

colloquy 169
Help! Is this on the level? Has analysis been reduced to octatonic implications are further underscored when, at re-
a counting game? And is this what a scale is—another un- hearsal 3+1, the extension is transposed down a minor third
ordered pc set? # #
to A–G–F –E–D (see Example 1[c]).
Heard and understood, Stravinsky’s music is generally as- Meanwhile, the dorian tetrachord is also transposed to
sumed to be structured in some fashion. Not all pitches or within Collection III. Initially incomplete in terms of C –
#
pitch-classes are heard and understood to be of equal weight, # # #
F –D , E is added a few bars past rehearsal 3; the G , non-
to assume the same role or function. Some are clearly sub- octatonic at this point, anticipates a form of diatonic inter-
sidiary, while others are grouped in different ways. Groups vention which is as yet incomplete and not fully formed.
are formed which are repeated, transposed, and transformed. Crucial here is the 0–11 dissonant vertical span between the
Shown in Example 1(a), the opening bassoon melody, upper C of the bassoon fragment and the lower C of the
#
divided into four phrases, admits to at least three main # # #
C –F –D unit. In its most complete realization, the span
segments: contains (or is articulated by means of ) two tritone-related
dorian tetrachords. Less completely, the upper of these two
1. A descending C–B–A motion, common to all four
tetrachords, complete or incomplete, is often made to stand
phrases, and resembling a passing motion involving a
in a éxed, polarized opposition to a lower pitch number 11.
minor third;
Throughout much of The Rite of Spring, such is the nature of
2. An (E G B) triad, shared by phrase A and its subse-
the octatonic “sound.”
quent repetitions, attached to B as the passing tone;
The above-noted relationships in Example 1 represent a
3. The dorian tetrachord (D C B A), common only to
segmentation of a larger musical whole. There are a few ad-
phrase B, and consisting of the descending C–B–A mo-
ditional lines not included here, subsidiary and accompani-
tion and a descending fourth, D–A. The grace-note G is
mental for the most part, some conforming to the octatonic
clearly subsidiary to the A and (D C B A) tetrachord at
implications drawn, some not. But the idea here has been to
this point, the latter quite clearly articulated integrally.
present the opening rehearsal numbers as continuous, the
None of these segments implies the C-major scale. A sev- two leading fragments in turn as part of a musical narrative.
enth pitch-class is missing, and, as far as scales are con- Despite the juxtaposition of blocks, the cutting and pasting,
cerned, the articulation is contradictory as well as incom- as it were, lines connect in various ways, and the Introduc-
plete. Although the melody is a subset of the diatonic set, tion is heard and understood as a single train of thought.
insufécient evidence exists for a judgment call along more Rehearsal numbers are not the endings and beginnings of
determinate lines. different pieces, with the music organizing itself anew at
In contrast to the melody and the C-major scale, how- each turn.
ever, the three segments just noted are full of implication and # # #
The next appearance of the C –F –D segment is at re-
consequence insofar as the Introduction and The Rite of hearsal 6; The reader should consult Tymoczko’s Examples
Spring as a whole are concerned. As shown in Example 1(b), 6(g) and (h); Example 4 reproduces my own analysis in Stra-
the bassoon melody is immediately followed at rehearsal 1 by vinsky and “The Rite of Spring,” p. 149. Transposed to F–B b –
an extension of the descending motion C–B–A. B b is added G and hence to within Collection I, the fragment, still ini-
as a passing tone between C and A; it replaces B in the repeat, tially incomplete as a dorian tetrachord, is superimposed over
yielding the octatonic succession C–B b –A–G–G b. Only B a lower B sustained in the bassoon. Crucially, the octatonic
resists the octatonic Collection III at this point, and these context is transposed as well. The original interval span,

A A1 B A2
solo ad lib.
Bn. I
(a)
3 3 5
1
3
Bn. I
(b)
3 3
3 3 3
E. Hn. 3
6
(c)
Bn.
5 poco più 3 3
example 1. The Rite of Spring, opening bassoon melody, extensions.
C–(F # , D # , C # ), reading down, is transposed to (B b, G, bor note to the lower B), the diatonic implications of this
F)–B. The only difference here is that it is the upper of the embellishment are clearly subsidiary to the main octatonic
octatonic scale’s tritone-related dorian tetrachords that is forces at work.4
contained within the 0–11 vertical span, not the lower. But why should this be? Why are the principal octatonic
And so the octatonic “sound” of The Rite of Spring, intro- segments at rehearsal 6, F–B b –G, (G, F, E, D), and the B
duced tentatively at rehearsal 3, is further underscored at sustained in the bassoon, singled out in my own analysis as
rehearsal 6. A new fragment in the alto èute transposes the indeed principal (see Example 4)?
(0 2 3 5) dorian tetrachord from (B b, A b, G, F) to (G, F, E, The answer here is that the three segments are singled
D) and (E, D, C #, E)—in other words, along Collection I’s out by Stravinsky himself. In two subsequent repetitions of
(B b, G, E, C # ) symmetrically deéned path. The octatonicism
of these transpositions is reinforced by the C # –D span sus-
4 Tymoczko quite rightly complains about the deletion of this grace-
note A from the musical quotation accompanying the analysis of
tained in the èutes and bassoons. And although a non- Example 3 (p. 82). Although clearly subsidiary, the diatonic implica-
octatonic (non-Collection I) A embellishes the alto èute tions of this grace-note might have been included in the analysis of
fragment at points (érst as a grace-note and then as a neigh- Example 3 as a form of intervention at this point.

colloquy 171
3 3
16
“Augurs of Spring”
Fl.
3 3 etc.
13 14
Strings E. Hn. Obs.
etc. etc. etc.

Bns. Vla.
() () ()
3 3
23 +3 25 27
Hn. Fl.
example 2. The Rite of Spring. Analysis of rehearsals 13, 14, 16, 23+3, 25, and 27.
the passage at rehearsal 7, he conénes the repetition accord- writes (his italics, p. 82). But the modiéed repeats of the pas-
ingly; see Example 5. Only the grace-note A lies outside sage at rehearsal 6 (see Example 5) are ignored all the same,
Collection I in these repeats, implying, ever so slightly, an as is the persistence of the given octatonic transposition,
interacting diatonic reference, one that remains incomplete Collection I. (Recall the author’s refusal to recognize speciéc
and indeénite at this point. transpositions of the octatonic set, anything beyond the label
Indeed, a more securely fastened octatonic framework itself.)
would be difécult to imagine. Nonetheless, Tymoczko stakes And the repeats of Example 5 are immediately followed
his claim in the following terms: the Introduction “contains by another Collection I passage at rehearsal 8 (see Example
not a single measure of incontrovertibly octatonic music,” he 6); (G, F, E, D) in the alto èute, although eventually a part

37 +2 “Ritual of Abduction”
Tpts. etc.
Hns.
Timp.
0–5 [
(025/035/0235) ]
tetrachord
0–5/6, 11
interval span
[ ]
0, 3, 6, 9
[ ]
(0 2 3 5);
(( )
)
(
)(
triads, dom. 7ths )
0 2 3 5 6 8 9 11
0 2 3 5 7 9 10 (0)
D-Scale
Collection III D-scale on A
example 3. Analysis of the opening passage of the “Ritual of Abduction,” from van den Toorn 1987, 155.
of a more determinate diatonic framework, is one of six su- mactic block at rehearsal 10 (see Example 7), whose opening
perimposed fragments in the alto èute, piccolo clarinet, clar- measures pit the same Collection I orchestra against two di-
inets, bassoons, contrabassoon, and solo double bass, the atonic fragments in the clarinet piccolo and oboe-trumpet.
pitch-class content of which, excluding F # as a grace-note in The F–B b –G fragment reappears atop a B sustained in the
the clarinets and bassoons, is entirely accountable to “bass,” thus articulating the 0–11 vertical span in terms of
Collection I. Only the D # in the èute fragment resists the (B b, G, F)–B; crucial in this regard is the disposition of the
octatonic order. And this is eventually followed by the cli- E dominant-seventh in the strings, second inversion, with

colloquy 173
6
Fls.
Alto
3
3
3 3 3
3
E. Hn.
etc.
Bn.
0–5
(025/035/0235) (
)
tetrachord
0–5/6, 11
interval span
0, 3, 6, 9
3 3
(0 2 3 5);
triads, dom. 7ths
0 2 3 5 6 8 9 11
0 2 3 5 7 9 10 (0)
D-Scale
Collection I
example 4. The Rite of Spring, Analysis of rehearsal 6, from van den Toorn 1987, 149.
B doubled in the double basses. And with the dorian tetra- 5/7-cycle as well as the overlapping dorian scales shown in
chord, often (0, 2, 5) incomplete, as an intersecting connect- Example 7.
ing link, two diatonic fragments are superimposed over this And so the question arises: if the main superimposed
Collection I accumulation. Note that the diatonic articula- fragments at rehearsal 6 and at subsequent repeats of this
tion could have implied a éve-note segment of the interval passage refer to a single octatonic transposition (Collection

7 +3 7 +5
E. Hn.
Hn.
Bn.
3 3
example 5. The Rite of Spring, rehearsals 7+3, 7+5.
I), why infer a superimposition of three different diatonic den Toorn 1983, 44–6). All four passages are shown to be “of
scales, as the author does in his Example 6(h), the D har- substantial duration, relatively unimpaired by outside inter-
monic minor, the D melodic minor “centered” on B, and the ference, with the collection complete or nearly so” (p. 47).
G melodic minor, the latter “incomplete”? In fact, the au- “This, I submit, is not just wrong,” Tymoczko asserts, “but
thor’s “registral partitioning” in his Example 6(h) is mislead- wrong in a way that should make us suspicious of the under-
ing, suggesting, as it does, a succession of three scales, when, lying methodology” (p. 80).
far more problematically, the fragments from which these But the “methodology” is not just mine (or Berger’s, or
scales are inferred are superimposed. Taruskin’s, for that matter), it is Stravinsky’s as well.
Why infer a superimposition of three more diatonic scales Transcribed in Example 9 are two sketches from pages 5 and
at rehearsal 8: D minor, D mixolydian, and B melodic minor, 6 of Stravinsky’s sketchbook of The Rite of Spring.5 Both
the latter “in the seventh mode” (p. 75)? Why not show the sketches refer to the material at rehearsal 25 in the “Augurs
continuity between the blocks and passages at rehearsals 6, 8, of Spring” (see Example 2), and both are discussed in van
and 10 (my Examples 4–7) by singling out the role assumed den Toorn 1987, 180. The principal diatonic fragment, (C,
by the octatonic Collection I? And why not connect this B b , A, G, F), reading down, is superimposed over a tritone-
early train of thought, octatonic and octatonic-diatonic, to related ostinato, E b –G b –D b –G b , the latter another incom-
subsequent rehearsal numbers, such as those cited here in plete dorian tetrachord. Although never actually employed at
Examples 8(a) and (b)? No explanation is given for the rehearsal 25, the incomplete tetrachord is the inversion of
avoidance of these exposed continuities in The Rite of Spring, the prevailing ostinato, D b –B b –E b –B b ; the context is en-
or indeed for the assignment of as many as nine different di- tirely octatonic, Collection III, except for the pitch F. And it
atonic scales and modes, mostly superimposed, to the pas- is the non-intersection of this “diatonic F” that deénes the
sages examined at rehearsals 6, 8, and 10. nature of the octatonic-diatonic interaction: F conèicts with
Nearly all of the author’s examples suffer from the same the tritone of the octatonic order, G b , reading down, signal-
extreme isolation, lacking context as well as any attempt to ing the intervention of diatonic relations. At the same time
come to terms with the materials at hand. In my own The
Music of Igor Stravinsky, the passages at rehearsals 6, 8, 16–
18, and 22–4 are described as “explicitly octatonic” (see van 5 Stravinsky 1969.

colloquy 175
8
I
Fl.
3 6
Fl. c-a.
in G
Picc. Cl.
in D
dim. 3
3
poco più 3
3 3 3 3 3 3
Cl.
in A
3 3 3 3 3 3
Bn.
Cbn.
Cb. solo
example 6. The Rite of Spring, rehearsal 8.
(C, B b , A, G) of the main diatonic fragment is the shared thinking of this framework at the time, but to have been
connecting link. thinking of it along the speciéc lines traced above and, at
The vocabulary of these sketches, with its (0, 3, 6, 9) par- greater length, in van den Toorn 1983 and 1987. And to in-
titioning of Collection III in terms of (C, B b , A, G), (G b , sist, as Tymoczko does repeatedly, that the framework is
[F b ], E b , D b ), (E b , D b , [C], B b ), and its diatonic intervention “wrong” or is a “misinterpretation” (p. 68) is quite simply to
is unmistakable. Stravinsky appears not only to have been avoid the obvious, to bury oneself ostrich-like in the sand.

Ob., Tpt.
10
Picc. Cl.
etc. 5
etc.
Cl.
E. Hn. etc. etc.

3
Bns.
etc. etc.
Cb.
0–5
(025/035/0235) (
)
tetrachord
0–5/6, 11
interval span
0, 3, 6, 9
(0 2 3 5);
triads, dom. 7ths
0 2 3 5 6 8 9 11
0 2 3 5 7 9 10 (0)
D-Scale
Collection I D-scales on F and B

colloquy 177
64
Vn. 1
etc.
Tba.
(
) (
)
(a) rehearsal 64, reduction and analysis.
132 134
Tpts.
Bn. ()
[ ]
(b) rehearsals 132 and 134, reduction and analysis.
example 8. The Rite of Spring.

(a) p. 5
(b) p. 6
example 9. Transcription of Stravinsky 1969, pp. 5 and 6.
The author’s use of various diatonic or non-diatonic Diatonic or non-diatonic modal scales are applied infor-
modal scales is no different from his use of the octatonic. mally by Jazz musicians and theorists as well, of course, as
Given that these scales are made to embody little if anything the author notes. Typically, however, the application of these
in the way of a tradition or established practice, their assign- scales in Jazz circles evokes a tradition of some kind, a char-
ment by the author is virtually meaningless. Tymoczko acteristic sonority or harmonic use. The problem here, how-
ever, is that such uses postdate the three early Stravinsky
works to which the author makes reference. The “locrian # 2”
makes repeated reference to “the language of French Impres-
sionism” (p. 68), “Impressionist inèuences” (p. 69), and the
composer’s “French heritage” (p. 101), but in fact no evi- mode, assigned to rehearsals 6, 25, and 32 in The Rite of
dence is produced (1) that the inèuence of, say, Debussy’s Spring, seems to have come into existence among Jazz musi-
music on a handful of rehearsal numbers in The Rite of cians during the bebop times of the 1950s. Tymoczko him-
Spring and Petrouchka came (or comes) by way of these self may sense a meaningful connection between a few scat-
scales, or (2) that the materials to which these scales are tered rehearsal numbers in The Rite of Spring and, say, Dizzy
assigned connect in some tangible way to Debussy’s music. Gillespie’s music, but I personally do not. The larger point,
Nor is such evidence likely to materialize beyond a few iso- however, is that such connections, implied by the author, are
lated passages. Bear in mind the unique character of much never pursued or demonstrated.
of the material in question, the “Augurs of Spring” chord at Tymoczko should know, too, that the few occasions of
rehearsal 13 in The Rite of Spring, for example, to which the overt whole-tone use in The Rite of Spring and Petrouchka
#
“G harmonic minor scale” is assigned.6 are not especially “Debussian” in sound (as he implies, p. 73),
6
#
Repeated references to “G harmonic minor” in the author’s “overview”
and in fact owe far more to Stravinsky’s Russian predecessors
of the “Augurs of Spring” (see Example 1[b]) are misleading. They refer
than they do to Debussy or Ravel. In van den Toorn 1983,
exclusively to the “Augurs of Spring” chord and its repeats at rehearsals for example, the whole-tone set is listed along with the octa-
13, 14, and 18, and hence in no way to a larger connection or continuity tonic as a source of the chromaticism that accompanies the
to the movement’s remaining blocks and sections. supernatural element in The Firebird (p. 5); its role has been

colloquy 179
examined in several separate studies.7 The passage quoted in the “Dance of the Earth” and its principal (E b, D b, C, B b)
Example 10, taken from van den Toorn 1987, 118, is from tetrachordal fragment be demonstrated. The three scales as-
the overture to Glinka’s opera Russlan and Ludmilla (1842). signed by the author in his Example 12 are too èeeting and
It shows a descending whole-tone scale undercut somewhat abstract to be of any assistance in this regard.
by the major triads of an intersecting 6-20[014589]. (In ad- Brieèy for the record: the “abuse” to which the term
dition to the octatonic and whole-tone sets, the 6-20 hexa- “polytonality” has been subject in recent years (something
chord is also a set with a history among Russian composers Tymoczko bemoans, pp. 84–5) is entirely deserved, in my
of the second half of the 19th century.) And so the idea, view, and the more general terms introduced by the author—
mentioned by the author (p. 70), of a blunting of the whole- “independent auditory streams” or “independent tone-
tone quality by outside elements can also be traced back to centers” (p. 84)—are in no way equivalent. There is little rea-
practices in earlier Russian music. son why an analysis of The Rite of Spring or Petrouchka
So, too, in the “Dance of the Earth” of The Rite of Spring, should have to saddle itself with “polytonality” when “the
the use of a whole-tone scale as a basso ostinato is not fullest and most robust sense of tonality” (p. 84) is impossible
Debussian in sound or conception, but is highly individual to shake.
with respect to The Rite of Spring. More to the point, such an For Berger and myself, the special attraction of the octa-
impression of individuality could never have come from the tonic set lay not so much in its ability to circumvent concepts
two or so measures of the author’s Example 3(a), so entirely such as “polytonality” (as the author claims, p. 85), as in its
divorced are they and the three superimposed scales assigned ability to account in concrete pitch-relational terms for
to them from the actual context. something of the character or “sound” of Stravinsky’s music,
At rehearsals, 74, 75, and 76, Tymoczko fails to acknowl- its quality of “clashing,” “opposition,” “stasis,” “polarity,” and
#
edge: (1) the tritone relationship between F in the “bass” “superimposition.” Far from canceling or negating such
#
and the reiterated (C, E, [F ], G) triads from which the terms, subsumption of conégurations such as the Petrouchka
whole-tone scale in question emerges; (2) the points of in- chord by the octatonic set explained them further. Tymoczko
# #
tersection between this F (C, E, [F ], G) tritone relation- has both Berger and myself believing just the opposite, how-
ship and the given whole-tone scale; (3) the octatonic impli- ever, and managing to do so by cutting Berger off in mid-
cations (Collection III) of the same tritone relationship and sentence. He quotes from Berger as follows:
the introduction of the (E b , D b, C, B b) dorian tetrachord
Since the entire conéguration may now be subsumed under a single
in the horns; (4) the transposition of this tetrachord along
the 5/7-interval cycle to B b and F; (5) the derivation of the
collection with a single referential order, i.e., the octatonic scale, the du-
D b –C–B b /E b –B b outline of this tetrachordal fragment from

bious concept of “polytonality” need no longer be invoked.
the D b –B b –E b –B b ostinato and (E b, D b, B b , G) dominant However, Berger wrote the following:

seventh in the “Augurs of Spring,” as well as from the
Since the entire conéguration may now be subsumed under a single
C–B–A/D–A outline of phrase B of the opening bassoon
collection with a single referential order, i.e., the octatonic scale, the du-
melody (consult Example 11). Only by way of such connec- bious concept of “polytonality” need no longer be invoked; nor does
tions can something of the musical sense and motivation of such an interpretation make it impossible to acknowledge a certain
compound nature of this conéguration, since this can be done entirely
within the referential collection of the octatonic scale, by means of the
7 See, for example, McFarland 1994. partitions.

example 10. Glinka, Ruslan and Ludmilla, Overture.
In other words, the “compound nature” of the Petrouchka stitution of (G, B, D) for (C, E, G) actually draws the two
subcomplexes together under a single fold; by way of (G, B,
# # #
chord and the countless conégurations like it in Stravinsky’s
music (the polarized or superimposed quality of the “inde- D), (A , C , F ) and (C, E, G), although at times securely
pendent auditory streams”), is more fully explained by relat- octatonic in terms of Collection III, are joined by way of this
ing it to a (0, 3, 6, 9) symmetrically deéned partitioning of chromatic tendency-tone convention.
the octatonic set (see van den Toorn 1983, 64). The author’s Crucial here are the arpeggios in the piano at rehearsal 50
avoidance of these speciéc pitch-relational issues is part of and the tremolos at rehearsal 51. Both treatments are omit-
his avoidance of the octatonic or octatonic-diatonic ap- ted from the author’s account and “summary,” the latter
proach and analysis generally. which is his Example 12; for the passages themselves, see the
In regard to the Petrouchka chord itself, Tymoczko fo- present Example 12, reproduced here from van den Toorn
cuses on the non-octatonic (G, B, D) triad that substitutes 1983, 32. In sum,
occasionally for (C, E, G) in its interaction with (A #, C #,
F #). But he ignores accounts other than the tonally func-
. . . the peculiar disposition of the “chord,” the manner in which, as a
# # #
tremolo at No.51, its (A C F ) component in érst inversion precedes
tional or “polyscalar,” including my own in van den Toorn its (C E G) component in root position, allows F # to be heard and un-
1983, 64–6. Thus, of the two triadic subcomplexes of the derstood as something like a chromatic V-of-V tendency tone to the G
Petrouchka chord, (C, E, G) may often seem to assert prior-
ity over (A #, C #, F #). And this can be traced less to the dis-
of the (C E G) triad. But these, surely, are the limits within which the
conventions of tonal practice may be inferred, or within which such
tinction in chordal disposition than to the chromatic conventions may be said to interact with a partitioning of the octatonic
tendency-tone potential of (A #, C #, F #) in relation to both set. (van den Toorn 1983, 64.)
(C, E, G) and (G, B, D). Thus, as often happens in In fact, Tymoczko énds little evidence of octatonicism in
Stravinsky’s music, tonality imposes itself less by any genuine the Petrouchka chord:
functional deénition of a tonality or “key,” than by the bor-
rowing of the surface conventions of the repertory, here, the And is it even clear that the Petrouchka chord itself arises out of the
“octatonic complex”? There is surprisingly little in the music which
conventions of chromatic tendency: the third and éfth of
might tell us this: if we set aside appearances of the Petrouchka chord
(G, B, D) and the éfth of (C, E, G) are embellished by their
chromatic neighbors, F #, A # , and C # . And in place of an in-
proper—since this is the entity we are trying to understand—then we
note that in the entire second tableau, there are only four other measures
tensiécation of the conèict between the two subcomplexes of of octatonic material. (These are mm. 1 and 7, and the two-measure ca-
the Petrouchka chord (as the author would have it), the sub- denza that precedes rehearsal 59.) (p. 88; his italics.)

colloquy 181
= 50
3
12 + 8
13 “Augurs of Spring”
37 “Ritual of Abduction
75 + 5 “Dance of the Earth”

3 3 3
example 11. The Rite of Spring, some motivic connections.

49 Cls. 3 50
= 50 3 Pn.
3
3
etc.
51 77 = 80
Hns. = 108 Hns.
Tpts. etc. Tpts.

3 3 3 3 etc.
3 3
3 3 3 etc.
Str., etc.
Pn. Str.
() () () ()
example 12. Analysis of Petrouchka, from van den Toorn 1983, 32.
But the Petrouchka chord does in fact arise quite clearly the beginning of the érst tableau. Example 14 condenses this
out of an octatonic context. Had the author included the path from a lengthy illustration in van den Toorn 1983,
opening eight measures of the second tableau at rehearsal 48 77–81. It begins with the (D–E)(A–G) tremolos of the
in his account and “summary” (those that precede the érst opening bars and ends with the tremolos of the Petrouchka
appearance of the chord at rehearsal 49), he would have chord itself at rehearsal 51 in the second tableau; but it could
found sufécient evidence of just such an emergence. A con- have been extended into the third and fourth tableaux as
densation of these eight measures appears in Example 13; well. Notice how closely the diatonicism of the hexachordal
tremolo at rehearsal 2 approximates the Petrouchka chord:
#
the boxed-off areas refer to an explicit octatonic content
(Collection III), one that includes the opening G–C–G– B b (A ) and the (C, E, G) triad in root position are present
# #
F –E–D motive and the main harmonies, chords that are at this point; only D of the tremolo resists the oncoming oc-
either sustained or that initiate or end descending chromatic tatonic Collection III. Crucially, the distinction in disposi-
tion, with (C, E, G) of the Petrouchka chord in root position
# # #
motions. Signiécantly, the two octatonic pitch classes miss-
#
ing from the Petrouchka chord, E b (D ) and A, are very and (A , C , F ) in érst inversion, may be traced back to the
#
much in evidence in these opening bars, above all, E b (D ).
#
B b /(A )–C unit of the érst tableau at rehearsal 2. My own
In fact, the Petrouchka chord emerges from a much comments on these long-range octatonic-diatonic interac-
lengthier hexachordal path, one that may be traced back to tions are as follows:

colloquy 183
48
Fl. 3
3 3 3
example 13. Petrouchka, second tableau, opening. Encircled notes are non-octatonic.
= 138
O
Fl.
2 51
Hns. Pn.
etc.
example 14. Petrouchka, summary of Petrouchka-chord derivation, from van den Toorn 1983, 77–81.
[Retreating] to a somewhat more long-term, global, or continuously nomenon” (p. 88) relative to a hexachordal oscillation or su-
operative perspective, . . . it is illuminating to interpret Petrouchka as a perimposition at a background level.
piece in which two simultaneities oscillate or move back and forth (ac- Neither Berger nor I made claims as far as the second
cordion like, as so many have observed), a movement by no means lim-
tableau as a whole is concerned. In van den Toorn 1983, only
ited to Petrouchka [insofar as Stravinsky’s oeuvre as a whole is con-
cerned], but one which may nonetheless seem unusually conspicuous the opening section at rehearsals 48–52 and the section at
and persistent all the same. The two simultanities very often number six 76–8 in the third tableau are judged “securely octatonic”
pitch elements, three to each. Thus, in this global, number-of-elements (p. 64). Nonetheless, Tymoczko’s égures are as misleading
approach, the (0 2 3 5 7 9) hexachord of the érst tableau appears as just here as they are with The Rite of Spring. It is not true that,
one of several hexachordal sets or orderings. (van den Toorn 1983, 78.) were the Petrouchka chord itself to be set aside, “only four
other measures of octatonic material” would present them-
Had the author been willing to include Chapter 3 in The selves in the second tableau. If we include the Petrouchka
Music of Igor Stravinsky in his “reconsideration” of the octa- chord in our calculations (a much more direct way of proceed-
tonic approach, he would have found additional support for ing than the one proposed by the author), at least four
the idea of the octatonic set conceived as a “foreground phe- measures of explicitly octatonic content (Collection III)

56
etc. etc.
etc. etc.
example 15. Stravinsky, Danses Concertantes (1942), rehearsal 56.
would present themselves at rehearsal 48, six measures of Further, Tymoczko’s characterization of rehearsal 60 in
such content at rehearsal 49, and nine at 51 (the tremolos). the second tableau as (again) “Hexatonic, 6-20” is equally
Out of a total of thirty-nine measures in the opening section misleading. There are only six measures at rehearsal 60, and
at rehearsals 48–52, nineteen are inferable as explicitly octatonic. only two of these bars are “Hexatonic, 6-20.” The remaining
This is far from the whole of it, however. Omitted from four are devoted entirely to the Petrouchka chord. Moreover,
the author’s account and “summary” is the passage at re- in the tremolo at rehearsal 60, (D, F, A) is clearly subsidiary
hearsal 77 in the third tableau. And it is precisely this pas- to (A # , C # , F # ); the latter, retained by the Petrouchka chord,
sage that manages to secure the octatonic set in Petrouchka. is clearly the stabler segment. (Here again, omissions and
The two triadic subcomplexes of the Petrouchka chord are mischaracterizations of this kind are not easily dismissed as
transposed to the remaining and—at rehearsals 49–52— oversights, given the prominence of the excluded material.
#
missing (C, E b, F , A) symmetrically deéned partitioning el- Crucial evidence is withheld from the author’s “summary,”
ements of Collection III, namely, E b and A; see Example 12. and in ways that greatly distort the context of the Petrouchka
In other words, the passage at rehearsal 76, cited as chord.)
“Hexatonic, 6-20” in the author’s “summary” is immediately The “sophisticated,” “pluralist,” and “multifaceted” fea-
followed by éve measures of the Petrouchka chord, trans- tures to which Tymoczko refers in his concluding remarks
#
posed to (B b, E b, G)–(A, C , E) and hence to within (pp. 96–100) have been discussed at length by, among others,
Collection III. (Notice, in this transposition, the retention of Berger, Taruskin, and myself. The problem with his account,
#
B b (A ) in the “bass.”) Omitted passages of this kind are dif- however, is not that the four works in question are portrayed
écult to dismiss as oversights on the author’s part, given not as “pluralist,” but that they are portrayed as utterly incoher-
only the prominence of the excluded conégurations in the ent. Is it quite seriously the author’s contention that his ac-
score and in my own analysis in van den Toorn 1983, espe- count and “overview” of, say, the opening sections of The Rite
cially 32, 65, but also the central role they play in substanti- of Spring bear on experience? Is it his contention that this is,
ating the octatonic component. in fact, how the listener as well as the analyst make sense of

colloquy 185
this music? Bear in mind, however, that my complaint is not In my own The Music of Igor Stravinsky (van den Toorn
perceptual alone. The author’s account has little if anything 1983), the emphasis on the octatonic may have been drawn a
to do with the actual materials. It has little or no basis in bit too heavily where it concerns the composer’s neoclassical
perceptual, compositional, or historical fact. works—too heavily and at the expense of other important
A piece such as The Rite of Spring may be unsystematic in neoclassical concerns. But while this may be true with Stra-
the large, exhibit little in the way of an all-encompassing vinsky’s works of the 1920s and 30s, it is not true with those
outline in its transpositional path (see my analytical sketch of the 1940s. Stravinsky’s arrival in America and especially in
and concluding remarks on this subject in van den Toorn California triggered the octatonic imagination in new and
1987, 186–9). But this does not mean that the piece is dys- unexpected ways, as is evident in works such as Babel (1944),
functional, that it is disorganized or unintelligible. On the The Symphony in Three Movements (1945), the Ebony Con-
contrary, much of The Rite of Spring exhibits a remarkable certo (1945), the string Concerto in D (1946), and the ballet
continuity (even progress in places), a remarkable consis- Orpheus (1947). As a parting sample of this énal neoclassical
tency in its melodic and harmonic materials and in the refer- epoch, see the conéguration at rehearsal 56 in Danses
ential bases of those materials. The author has chosen to ig- Concertantes (1942), shown here as Example 15, so entirely
evocative is this of the Petrouchka chord some thirty years
#
nore this, including the nature of the octatonic content. And
it is therefore hardly surprising that the analytic-theoretical earlier; see, especially, the B b /A in the “bass.” I like to count
view that results should be insubstantial. Small wonder, then, this as an example of the composer’s “pluralism.”
the author’s sense of a lack of construction in Stravinsky’s
music, a lack of structure or “system.”
I cannot let pass the faddish buzz words that adorn the Octatonicism Reconsidered Again
énal pages of his argument, however—words to the effect
that, next to his own appreciation of Stravinsky’s diversity dmitri tymoczko
and “pluralism,” my own account is “essentialist” (p. 100).
Such words will excite today’s powers that be, I have little
doubt, those purveyors of trendy academic socio-babble, but
in reality they testify to his ignorance not only of the octa- My earlier article made two central claims about Stravinsky’s
tonic and octatonic-diatonic approaches to Stravinsky’s music. First, I argued that Stravinsky, like Debussy and
music, but also of the analytical process and its relationship Ravel, used the modes of the nondiatonic minor scales. To
to perception generally. this end I provided more than a dozen examples of such
Berger’s essay of 1963 is still something of a miracle to scales in Stravinsky’s early music, the longest of which rivals
me, a lucid oasis in what was at the time a mount of confu- in length and explicitness any of the octatonic passages in
sion and “polytonality.” I have criticized Taruskin 1996, but The Rite of Spring. My second claim was that Stravinsky’s
only in small ways (see van den Toorn 2000). The inèuence music is animated by a broad range of polyscalar superimpo-
of Rimsky-Korsakov’s music seemed to me too heavily sitions involving more than just the octatonic and diatonic
drawn by Taruskin in places, and there were a number of scales. I further suggested that scales in Stravinsky are some-
socio-political stands that seemed strained as well. Yet the times surface phenomena, produced by underlying superim-
depth and comprehension of Taruskin’s achievement is surely positions that do not conform to any single collection. Here
nothing short of spectacular. I provided several examples where it seemed to me that

focusing on scales (in particular, focusing on the octatonic tion III) would present themselves at rehearsal 48, six measures of such
scale) hindered real musical understanding. Finally, in the content at rehearsal 49, and nine at 51 (the tremolos). Out of a total of
course of making these positive points, my article raised sev- thirty-nine measures in the opening section at rehearsals 48–52, nine-
teen are inferable as explicitly octatonic.
eral methodological questions about Pieter van den Toorn’s
analytical procedures. I pointed out, for example, that any I claim that, besides the Petrouchka chord, there are only
proper subset of the chromatic scale can be decomposed into four other measures of octatonic material in the ballet’s sec-
octatonic and diatonic components, and I challenged van ond tableau. Van den Toorn responds that this is false, argu-
den Toorn to explain when such decompositions are musi- ing that if we count the Petrouchka chord, we énd more than
cally signiécant. Furthermore, I argued that the notion of four measures of octatonic material. This is logically inco-
“polytonality,” repeatedly dismissed as inconsistent by van herent. Further, van den Toorn includes in his count, not just
den Toorn, has a perfectly useful meaning, and that it can be éfteen measures of the Petrouchka chord (rehearsals 49 and
applied to actual music, Stravinsky’s included. Implicit in 51), but also several measures where almost half of the notes
these points was a challenge that van den Toorn reéne and are non-octatonic (see his Example 13). None of this shows
develop his critique of polytonality, a critique which he has that I have said anything false.1
carried out mainly by way of citations to Benjamin Boretz 2. Writing about the sixth mode of the melodic minor
and Allen Forte. scale, which Jazz theorists call the “locrian # 2” scale, van den
I am disappointed that van den Toorn’s long response Toorn says:
does not take up any of these issues. Instead, like a defense Diatonic or non-diatonic modal scales are applied informally by Jazz
lawyer with a weak case, he chooses to impugn the witness’s musicians and theorists as well, of course, as the author notes. Typically,
credibility rather than deal with the substance of the testi- however, the application of these scales in Jazz circles evokes a tradition
mony. I do not begrudge the aggressive tone of his reply; it is of some kind, a characteristic sonority or harmonic use. The problem
natural to become personally invested in one’s scholarship. here, however, is that such uses postdate the three early Stravinsky
#
works to which the author makes reference. The “locrian 2” mode, as-
And if I am right, then much of van den Toorn’s work is
misdirected. I am, however, concerned about the numerous signed to rehearsals 6, 25, and 32 in The Rite of Spring, seems to have
come into existence among Jazz musicians during the bebop times of
inconsistencies and misrepresentations in van den Toorn’s re- the 1950s.
sponse. For these muddy the intellectual waters, preventing
This confuses the name of a thing with the thing itself.
It is probably true that the term “locrian # 2” came into exis-
readers from making a reasoned choice between my argu-
ments and his.
I will not try the reader’s patience by enumerating all the tence in the last éfty years. However, the object, the mode it-
various ways in which van den Toorn manages to cloud the self, has been in use for nearly a century. In his “Étude com-
issues between us, but here are a few pertinent examples. parée des langages harmoniques de Fauré et de Debussy,”
1. Referring to my discussion of Petrouchka’s second
tableau, he writes: 1 It may be that van den Toorn wants me to include measures 2 and 8 as
octatonic. My original account did not include them, since no actual
It is not true that, were the Petrouchka chord to be set aside, “only four pitches are attacked in these measures. However, I am happy to con-
other measures of octatonic material” would present themselves in the cede the point, in which case there would be six measures of octatonic
second tableau. If we include the Petrouchka chord in our calculations material (other than the Petrouchka chord) in the scene. From the
(a much more direct way of proceeding than the one proposed by the standpoint of my larger argument, the difference between four and six
author), at least four measures of explicitly octatonic content (Collec- measures is not signiécant.

colloquy 187
François Gervais énds the mode in Debussy’s Pelleas. In my analysis of rehearsal 35 of Petrouchka, and rehearsals
“The Consecutive Semitone Constraint: A Link Between 32–6 of The Rite of Spring—were “near-incontrovertible.”
Impressionism and Jazz,” I provide two other examples of (For a justiécation of this claim, see below.) It was van den
#
impressionist use of the “locrian 2 mode,” both of which Toorn’s misreading of these explicitly melodic-minor pas-
predate The Rite of Spring. That article explicitly discusses sages that prompted my doubts about his analytical method-
the relation between the impressionist and Jazz treatment of ology. Under the circumstances, I am disappointed that he
nondiatonic minor scales, and suggests that the former may did not see ét to discuss either the doubts or the analyses
have inèuenced the latter.2 that prompted them.
3. Van den Toorn writes: Incidentally, van den Toorn is wrong to describe re-
In my own The Music of Igor Stravinsky, the passages at rehearsals 6, 8,
hearsals 16–17 of The Rite of Spring as “explicitly octatonic.”4
16–18, and 22–4 are described as “explicitly octatonic.” All four pas- Indeed this music is arguably not octatonic at all. Example 1
sages are shown to be “of substantial duration, relatively unimpaired by presents van den Toorn’s reduction of the passage, as it ap-
outside interference, with the collection complete or nearly so.” “This, I pears in The Music of Igor Stravinsky. Example 2 presents a
submit, is not just wrong,” Tymoczko asserts, “but wrong in a way that more complete summary. Van den Toorn’s analysis silently
should make us suspicious of the underlying methodology.” leaves out every non-octatonic element in the music—the
n
ostinato bass, the bassoon’s trilling C , and the blaring stacks
Van den Toorn quotes me completely out of context here,
5
misrepresenting my point. The sentence he cites refers not at of éfths in the brass and winds. Example 3 shows how these
all to his analysis of rehearsals 16–18 and 22–4 of The Rite of elements suggest two different diatonic collections. The
upper-register éfths, coupled with the bassoon trill and the
viola arpeggios, set the descending èute tetrachord (C–B b –
Spring, and only secondarily to his analysis of rehearsals 6
and 8. What I wrote was:
A–G) in a C mixolydian context. The ostinato éfths in the
Nevertheless, van den Toorn has analyzed most of these passages [i.e.,
low strings suggest an E b dorian reading of the English
most of the passages in Stravinsky’s early music that involve modes of
the nondiatonic minor scales3] as resulting from the combination of oc-
Horn égure. Example 3 further shows how the two scales
tatonic and diatonic materials. This, I submit, is not just wrong, but are almost completely separated in register: the only points
of overlap are the C-mixolydian notes C4 and D4, which lie
below the E b dorian D b4 and E b4. Finally, the second mea-
wrong in a way that should make us suspicious of the underlying
methodology. For Examples 5(a) [rehearsal 35 of Petrouchka] and 6(a)
[rehearsals 32–36 of The Rite of Spring] are near-incontrovertible in- sure of Example 3 represents the total pitch content of the
stances of modal use of the melodic minor scale; if even these passages passage as a gapped stack of éfths, with only a missing A b
can be interpreted as the result of “octatonic-diatonic interaction,” then
needed to connect the English Horn’s D b to the strings’ E b.6
we should rightly ask whether there is any music that cannot be under-
stood in this way.
The last sentence is the crucial one, I should think. While 4 Van den Toorn’s repeated description of rehearsal 18 as “explicitly octa-
my earlier article acknowledged that readers might not agree tonic” is a mistake. Rehearsal 18 is virtually identical to rehearsal 13, a
with all my analyses, I suggested that some of them—such as passage which van den Toorn does not describe as explicitly octatonic.
#
5 Van den Toorn 1987 continues to omit the ostinato bass, restoring the
2 At no point have I claimed that the locrian 2 mode entered jazz before stack-of-éfth chords only in the last two measures of rehearsal 17.
1940. 6 Harrison 1997 explores a similar passage in Milhaud that can be read as
3 Examples 5(a) and (b), 6(a), (b), (e)–(g), 7(a), and 7(b) in my original both a single stack of éfths, and as a combination of two different dia-
article. tonic components.

16
3 3
3 3
example 1. Van den Toorn’s reduction of The Rite of Spring, rehearsals 16–17.
Clearly, it is wrong to describe this (éfth-based) music as interpretations to be found in the response, but I will not
“explicitly octatonic,” where that description implies that the take up the reader’s time detailing them. Instead, I propose
music is “relatively unimpaired by outside [i.e., nonoctatonic] to turn to some of the larger, and more theoretically interest-
interference.” If blaring diatonic trumpets do not constitute ing, disagreements that separate the two of us.
substantial outside interference, then nothing does.
Van den Toorn also misreads me in a number of other, stravinsky’s scales
smaller ways. He seems to interpret my Example 12 as an at-
tempt to provide a harmonic summary of the sort found in My earlier article offered numerous examples to support
my Examples 10, 15 and 20. But this table only attempts to the claim that Stravinsky used the modes of the nondiatonic
chart the development of the Petrouchka chord proper, minor scales. I had expected van den Toorn to concede the
rather than summarize Petrouchka’s second tableau. Likewise, point, while challenging its signiécance. For example, he
van den Toorn interprets my assignments of nondiatonic might have argued:
scales in Examples 10, 15, and 20 (and in the example cap- 1) that Stravinsky’s use of the scales is relatively infrequent, and con-
tions throughout the article) as implying judgments about éned to his earlier works;8 or
pitch-class priority. They do not.7 There are many more mis- 2) that these scales themselves can be accounted for “at a deeper struc-
tural level” as combinations of octatonic and diatonic elements.
7 Here, I bear a good part of the responsibility for the misunderstanding. Instead, he chose a riskier path. He suggests that these
My assignment of diatonic scales in Examples 10, 15, and 20 does at-
scales do not appear in Stravinsky’s music, but are merely the
tempt to indicate pitch-class priority through the use of mode names.
My assignment of nondiatonic scales does not indicate pitch priority,
products of my overheated analytical imagination.
that issue being either unresolved or discussed in the text. The incon- Consider Example 4, which presents the melody of the
sistency results from the fact that there are no agreed-upon names for érst twenty-six measures of the The Firebird ’s “Infernal
the modes of the nondiatonic minor scales. I regret that I was not
clearer about this issue in the original article. 8 This is a point that I, in turn, am prepared to concede.

colloquy 189
3
16 Fl.
3 3 3 3
Cl.
3 3
Brass
Ob.
Vla. 3 3
Bsn.
( )
E.Hn.
Str.
EXAMPLE 2. The Rite of Spring, rehearsals 16–17.
Dance.” 9 Example 5 proposes three possible interpretations music.) Example 5(c) follows van den Toorn in analyzing the
passage as resulting from the combination of the diatonic
of this passage. The érst, which I favor, portrays the music as
# #
and octatonic scales.10 The pitches A, C, D , E, F , and G
involving the fourth mode of the E harmonic minor scale.
The second, shown in Example 5(b), suggests that the passage are interpreted as belonging to octatonic Collection III; the
pitches A, B, C, E, and G, are interpreted as belonging to
the A natural minor scale. (Again, the diatonic D n and F n
involves the traditional dorian mode plus one “non-harmonic”
D n . (The postulated diatonic D n does not appear in the
#
as well as the octatonic B b and C , do not appear in this
passage.)
9 The example omits the accompanying A drone and the punctuating
A–E orchestral chords. 10 See van den Toorn 1983, 18.

3 3
3 3 3 3
7 17
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
3 3
Str., Brass
3
Str., Brass
( )
( )
EXAMPLE 2. [continued ]
Readers may ask how we can decide among these inter- Ravel. Finally, the numerous examples that I provided in my
pretations. Following my original article, we might cite three original article provide a third sort of evidence. I hoped there
different considerations. First, the harmonic-minor interpre- to convince readers, by dint of sheer quantity, that the many
tation is more parsimonious than the others: it accounts for occurrences of nondiatonic minor modes could be attributed
all the pitches in the passage, and postulates none that do neither to mere coincidence nor (as van den Toorn would
not appear. Second, the harmonic-minor interpretation is have it) to incompetence on my part. Nevertheless, readers
supported on historical grounds: the harmonic minor scale is may still feel that these three types of evidence are not ab-
a familiar musical object, one that Stravinsky obviously solutely compelling. We may have reasons—for instance, van
knew; and he had available examples of modal uses of the den Toorn’s analysis of the entire Stravinsky corpus—to favor
non-diatonic minor scales in the music of Debussy and the less parsimonious interpretations given by Examples 5(b)

colloquy 191
C mixolydian
E dorian
( )
example 3. An analysis of the pitch structure of rehearsals 16–17 of The Rite of Spring.
example 4. The “Infernal Dance of King Kastchei” (melody only).
and (c). Is there anything more deénitive that can be said in exact.12) In order to express this fact, we need to treat the E
this regard? harmonic minor scale as a genuine musical object. Speciécally,
There is. We need the concept “scale” because we need we need to understand the scale’s E b as a fourth scale degree
the notion of scalar transposition to explain how this passage —as a D # —rather than a non-harmonic tone or a tone
works.11 As Example 6 shows, the second 8-measure phrase
of the melody shifts the corresponding pitches of the érst
12 The substitution of E b for E in this passage produces a subtle musical
pun. In measures 7–8 of Example 4, the E b produces an exact chromatic
phrase up by two scale degrees. (The one exception is the last
sequence: A–C–E–E b becomes C–E b–G–F #. But the diatonic sequence
eighth note of the third bar of the example, where the upper
melody would need an E n for the scalar transposition to be is destroyed, since scale degrees 1–3–5–4 are now answered by
3–4–7–6. What permits this subtle play between diatonic and chro-
11 I use “scalar transposition” as an alternative to the more typical “dia- matic transposition is the fact that two (acoustic) triads can be built on
tonic transposition,” since the underlying scale here is nondiatonic. the sixth degree of the harmonic minor scale.

a) The fourth mode of the E-harmonic minor scale. b) A dorian, with a non-harmonic tone. c) octatonic + diatonic.
( )
example 5. Three interpretations of the “Infernal Dance,” mm. 1–26.
belonging to a background octatonic collection.13 To do rehearsal 48, involves a scale—I hear it as B b natural minor,
otherwise is to forgo our ability to account for the paral- despite the low E b bass. We need the concept “scale” to explain
lelism, the transposition-within-a-scale, that links the two that the trumpet part consists of parallel second-inversion sev-
phrases of Example 4. enth chords: what makes these chords “parallel” is that they
What is therefore lacking in the analyses given by are all related by diatonic transposition; and what makes
Examples 5(b) and (c) is the sense that the resultant pitch them “seventh chords” is that they can all be expressed as a
collection has any unity or structure of its own. As analysts, stack of three thirds relative to the underlying (B b natural
we need to be able to say that E b is a step above C n , just as minor/E b dorian) diatonic collection.14 In much the same
B is a step above A. But this is not true of Example 5(b)’s way, we want to say that the viola part consists in a descend-
8-note collection. Nor is it true of Example 5(c)’s octatonic ing scale (a unidirectional pattern of notes, each related by
and natural minor scales. Furthermore, it is not true that ar- scale-step to the one that comes before it), and that the sec-
bitrary superimpositions of octatonic and diatonic elements ond time this pattern occurs it is doubled at the third (i.e., it
will produce a scalar resultant. Thus, even if we were to favor occurs in conjunction with its diatonic transposition).
an analysis along the lines of Example 5(c), we would need Without the concept “scale,” and its concomitants “scale-
to acknowledge that Stravinsky’s particular octatonic- step” and “diatonic transposition,” we simply have no access
diatonic superimposition is special precisely in that it has to these analytically obvious facts.
scalar qualities. This is tantamount to acknowledging that Likewise, I take it as completely uncontroversial that
there is an important level of description in which this music Example 7(b) involves two scales. The top four lines are in A
involves the harmonic minor scale, rather than the octatonic natural-minor; they are a chromatic transposition of the im-
and diatonic scales. mediately preceding Example 7(a). The lowest musical voice
Many of the same points can be made about the end of moves stepwise along the chromatic scale.15 Now consider
The Rite of Spring’s “Dance of the Adolescents.” I take it that Example 7(c). All the factors that lead us to see scales in
no one would question that Example 7(a), which occurs after
14 Note that the notion of a “third” itself involves the notions of scale-step
13 Note that Stravinsky consistently spells this “fourth scale degree” as an and scalar transposition.
E b. I do not take this to be a signiécant diféculty; what is important is 15 This stepwise chromatic motion is somewhat obscured by Stravinsky’s
how the note behaves, not how it is written. characteristic octave displacements.

colloquy 193
Scale
degree: 2 3 1 3 5 4 1 3 5 4 3 4* 7 6 3 1 4
4 5 3 5 7 6 (3) 5 7 6 5 7* 2 1 5 3 6
( )
example 6. Kastchei’s melody as scalar transposition.
Examples 7(a) and (b) are present here as well. There are polytonality and superimpositions
parallel seventh chords in the horns (and eventually, strings);
ascending stepwise runs in the viola and violins (eventually The second major point at issue concerns the disputed
doubled at the third, éfth, and seventh); and, most interest- notion “polytonality.” Van den Toorn has been very blunt in
ingly of all, there is octave-displaced stepwise bass motion of his attacks on this concept, describing it as a “real horror of
the sort found in Example 7(b). Here, however, the stepwise the musical imagination,” one that is “too fantastic or illogical
chromatic motion of (b) has become the stepwise melodic to be of assistance.” 17 But it is not clear exactly why he
minor motion of (c). (Such scale-to-scale transformations are thinks this. In large part, this is because he has never articu-
explored in Matthew Santa’s article “Deéning Modular lated his diféculties with the concept, preferring instead to
Transpositions.”16) Again, all of these notions—“parallel,” cite other authors—Benjamin Boretz and Allen Forte, whose
“doubled,” “seventh chord,” and “stepwise”—implicitly in- views on this question are by no means clear—rather than
volve the concept of transposition-within-a-scale. In addi- explaining his concerns directly.18 Arguments from author-
tion, we need the concept “scale” not just to explain the in- ity, however, can be made on both sides of this issue: while it
ternal consistencies of the passage, but also to explain how is true that some writers have dismissed the notion of poly-
this music relates to that of (a) and (b). For the parallel sev- tonality, a much larger group of theorists, including Arthur
enth chords in the horns in (c) are the same sort of musical Berger and Richard Taruskin, believe “polytonality” to be a
object as the parallel seventh chords in the trumpets in (a), coherent concept.19 Clearly, what is needed is not polemic,
just as the ascending scales (doubled at the third, éfth, and but a careful consideration of the underlying issues.
seventh) in the strings of (c) are the same sort of musical ob-
ject as the descending scales (doubled at the third) of (a). 17 Van den Toorn 1983, 63–4.
Van den Toorn would evidently have us forgo all of these ob- 18 The passages van den Toorn cites are Forte 1955, 137 and Boretz
servations simply because the scale in (c) is neither diatonic [1972] 1995, 244.
nor octatonic. To me this is plainly unacceptable. It is obvi- 19 See Taruskin [1987] 1990. Berger, in a personal communication, allows
that “polytonality” is a legitimate analytic concept, and even agrees that
ous that (c) involves a scale, and the analyst can deny it only
it is reasonable to provide a polytonal analysis of the Petrouchka chord.
at the cost of his own credibility. He continues to prefer the octatonic explanation, however. In this con-
text, I should mention that Berger has some serious reservations about
van den Toorn’s views. I regret that my earlier article overstated the de-
16 Santa 1999. gree of agreement between them.

Fl.
Vla.
Tpt.
Tbn.
Str.
example 7(a). The Rite of Spring, rehearsal 28+4.
Fl.
Ob.
Ob., E.Hn.
Str.
Hn., Cb.
example 7(b). The Rite of Spring, rehearsal 31.

colloquy 195
Fl.
Tpt., E.Hn.
Hn.
Vla., Vln.
Vc., Cb.
example 7(c). The Rite of Spring, rehearsal 32.
Unfortunately, such consideration is beyond the scope of pitch-relational terms for something of the character or “sound” of
this response. What I suggested in my earlier article, and Stravinsky’s music, its quality of “clashing,” “opposition,” “stasis,” “polar-
what I hope to argue at length elsewhere, is that the phe- ity,” and “superimposition.” Far from canceling or negating such terms,
subsumption of conégurations such as the Petrouchka chord by the
nomenon of auditory stream-segregation is crucial to ex-
octatonic set explained them further. Tymoczko has both Berger and
plaining polytonality.20 (Contrary to what van den Toorn myself believing just the opposite.
suggests, I offered the term “independent auditory streams”
not as a replacement for the notion of “polytonality,” but as a This is yet another misrepresentation. The question was
component in the explanation of the phenomenon.) It seems never whether van den Toorn’s analyses acknowledged the
to me that a reasonably èexible notion of “tonality,” coupled existence of superimposed pitch-centers, or multiple “polari-
with a clear understanding of the facts of auditory percep- ties.” Rather, it was whether van den Toorn correctly under-
tion, suféces to place the concept of “polytonality” on a érm stands the nature of Stravinsky’s superimposition technique.
footing. But this is a matter for another paper. Here, there are a number of related points that need to be
Instead, let me focus on the speciéc analytical issues. Van distinguished.
den Toorn writes: The érst has to do with the types of “polarities,” or super-
imposed pitch-centers, to be found in Stravinsky’s music.
For Berger and myself, the special attraction of the octatonic set lay not
so much in its ability to circumvent concepts such as “polytonality” Because van den Toorn is concerned to “explain” Stravinsky’s
(as the author claims, p. 85), as in its ability to account in concrete superimpositions in terms of the octatonic scale, he almost
always identiées contrasting pitch-centers that are a minor
20 Interested readers can view a summary of the argument at http://music. third or tritone apart. These are the intervals by which the
princeton.edu/~dmitri/polytonality.pdf. octatonic scale can be transposed onto itself, and music that

features such superimpositions can therefore be portrayed timbrally distinct from the octatonic material. As Example
(rightly or wrongly) as expressing the symmetry of an under- 9(b) shows, the pitch content of this layer consists of the
lying octatonic collection.21 The problem is that Stravinsky’s notes B b –C–D b –E–F–G. These notes comprise six of the
music contains superimpositions at many other intervals. seven notes of the fourth mode of the harmonic minor scale,
Example 8, which occurs at rehearsal 94 of The Rite of the very mode which we encountered earlier in The Firebird’s
Spring, involves éve-note minor-scale fragments that are a “Infernal Dance.” (Indeed, the harmonic-minor scale’s char-
major seventh apart. 22 This passage (which is not analyzed by acteristic half step–augmented second–half step pattern is
van den Toorn) is to my mind an extremely clear example of clearly articulated by the four highest pitches in the égure.)
non-octatonic polytonality. (One wonders: if Example 8 is While we may not have conclusive reasons for treating this
not explained by the octatonic scale, then in what sense does material as scalar, we can conédently declare that it is neither
the octatonic scale explain minor-third or tritone-related su- octatonic nor diatonic. This alone should convince us that
perimpositions? It seems that van den Toorn must forgo the van den Toorn’s categories are inadequate.
project of providing a single, uniéed account of superimposi- The énal analytical point at issue concerns the relative
tions in Stravinsky’s music.) priority of scales and superimpositions. I have argued that
The second analytical issue concerns the content of Stra- the appearance of scale-fragments in Stravinsky’s music is
vinsky’s superimpositions. Van den Toorn allows that Stravin- often a relatively unimportant musical phenomenon, the
sky’s music uses more than one scale at a time, but he limits mere byproduct of a more fundamental process of superim-
himself to just a few possibilities: the combination of octa- position. Example 10 demonstrates. Here, I have provided a
tonic and diatonic elements, and (more rarely) the combina- reduction of the érst forty-four measures of the third move-
tion of multiple diatonic, or multiple octatonic, collections. ment of the Symphony of Psalms. The reduction suggests that
By contrast, I think Stravinsky’s superimpositions involve a there are two independent musical processes in play: the
much broader range of material, including chromatic, whole- melodic notes, given by the closed unstemmed note heads,
tone, pentatonic, and the nondiatonic minor scales. Cru- consist almost entirely of pitches drawn from the C natural-
cially, I also believe that Stravinsky’s superimpositions often
#
minor scale. (The one exception is the strings’ low F , which
involve non-scalar elements. Example 9(a), from the end of can perhaps be heard as a chromatic lower neighbor.) The
The Rite of Spring, is perhaps intermediate between these harmonic material, given by the open noteheads, involves a
two possibilities. Measures 1–3 and 6–7 are completely octa- series of three major triads that ascend by whole step. It does
tonic, as are the bottom two systems throughout. But on top not take too much in the way of Fernhören (or controversial
of this is superimposed a contrasting layer, registrally and quasi-Schenkerian thinking) to understand this passage as a
uniéed gesture, superimposing a single C-minor scale with a
21 It was just this feature of van den Toorn’s analyses that led me to sug- series of triads foreign to that collection.
gest that for him, scales precede superimpositions: the nature of the octa- As can be seen from Example 10, van den Toorn consid-
tonic scale determines the types of superimpositions that he allows. So ers two passages in this music to be “explicitly octatonic.” The
while it is true that his analyses often portray the octatonic scale as
érst involves the four notes C–E b –E n –G, a “minor/major” 4-
growing out of superimposed pitch-centers, it is also true that he tends
17[0347] tetrachord; the second involves the éve notes
to consider only superimpositions that conform to the octatonic scale’s #
E–F–G–G –B. Two aspects of this identiécation are dis-
symmetries.
22 A similar superimposition appears at the beginning of Stravinsky’s turbing. First, the octatonic subsets in question are relatively
Concertino for String Quartet. small, and their identity as octatonic is open to question.

colloquy 197
octatonic + ?
octatonic octatonic
octatonic + ?
example 9(a). The Rite of Spring, rehearsal 194+2.

gapped scale fragment

(similar to B dorian with a raised fourth degree)
example 9(b)
(Remember that for van den Toorn, “explicitly octatonic” is place in the history of music. Van den Toorn has portrayed
supposed to imply that the octatonic collection in question is Stravinsky as a relatively isolated égure, an idiosyncratic
“complete or nearly so.” Four or éve notes do not form a composer whose peculiarly Russian syntax bears little resem-
“nearly complete” octatonic collection, even under the most blance to that of other Europeans. By contrast, I am offering
generous interpretation.) Second, and more importantly, it is a picture of the composer that is more open, one that links
not clear that the fact that these passages involve octatonic Stravinsky backward to French impressionism, and forward
subsets is musically relevant. Consider, for example, the rela- to the music of the many musicians who were inèuenced
tion between the allegedly octatonic material at 40, and the by him.
music which immediately precedes it. The F–G bass alterna- For example: van den Toorn has argued that the whole-
tion at 40 clearly grows out of the C–A b –D–G alternation tone music at rehearsal 100 of Petrouchka has little to do with
in m. 39; likewise, the E-major triad at 40 is directly related Debussy, preferring to see it as the product of an indigenous
to the D-major triad in mm. 37–9. Van den Toorn’s analysis Russian tradition that begins with Glinka.23 I énd this dou-
seems to suggest that we should take seriously the total ver- bly unconvincing. First, Glinka tends to use the whole-tone
tical sonority at m. 40, but not in the immediately preceding scale melodically, rather than harmonically, as van den
measures. I can see little reason for this, other than a prior Toorn’s own example shows.24 The Petrouchka music, how-
theoretical commitment to the centrality of the octatonic ever, follows Debussy’s practice, in which the whole-tone
scale in Stravinsky’s music. Here, such a commitment dis- scale provides the total pitch-content for an extended passage
tracts us from the more important, long-range processes at of music. Second, van den Toorn acknowledges Debussy’s in-
work in the music. èuence on The Firebird, including its several whole-tone pas-
In summary, I have argued that Stravinsky uses a much sages. 25 This suggests a rather unsatisfying story in which
broader range of superimpositions than van den Toorn allows.
Some of them involve polarities that do not suggest underlying 23 Taruskin also denies that this passage owes anything to Debussy, argu-
octatonicism; some involve elements that are neither octatonic ing instead that it represents Stravinsky’s attempt to capture the sound
nor diatonic; and still others produce scalar subsets as a rela- of a six-note equal-tempered Russian folk èute. See Taruskin 1996,
tively unimportant byproduct of deeper musical processes. 710.
Unfortunately, there is nothing in van den Toorn’s response that 24 In Example 10 of his response, the whole-tone scale serves as a bass
leads me to think he has considered any of these points. line for a triadic progression that includes numerous non-whole-tone
notes. This has long been recognized as the hallmark of Russian whole-
tone practice.
conclusion: stravinsky in history 25 Van den Toorn writes “Tymoczko should know, too, that the few occa-
sions of overt whole-tone use in The Rite of Spring and Petrouchka
The many disagreements between van den Toorn and are not especially ‘Debussian’ in sound.” I take this to concede that the
myself coalesce into two distinct pictures of Stravinsky’s whole-tone passages in The Firebird are indeed Debussian.

colloquy 199
m. 4 29 37 40 44
( )
vdT: vdT:
octatonic octatonic
example 10. Middleground polyscalarity in the Symphony of Psalms III, mm. 1– 44.
the Firebird ’s whole-tone music was inèuenced by Debussy, dition, an equally large body of evidence suggests indirect
but Petrouchka’s was not. Common sense, to say nothing of links between Stravinsky and jazz. Stravinsky inèuenced
Stravinsky’s explicit testimony, suggests that Debussy con- Hindemith, who in turn inèuenced many seminal jazz musi-
tinued to inèuence the language of Stravinsky’s second and cians. Stravinsky’s music was an important source for Slo-
third ballets. nimsky’s Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns, a book that
Van den Toorn’s rejection of Debussy’s inèuence is symp- Coltrane, among others, studied.27 Finally, as I have argued,
tomatic of his general tendency to isolate Stravinsky from Stravinsky was inèuenced by Debussy and Ravel, composers
the larger currents of twentieth-century music history. Par- who had an incalculable impact on the syntax of modern
ticularly instructive is his inability to hear any relationship jazz.28 To the extent that we deny, or fail to hear these rela-
between Stravinsky and modern jazz. There is abundant evi- tionships, we miss out on a crucial part of the history of
dence linking Stravinsky to jazz, including direct testimony twentieth-century music.
(from musicians such as Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Consider also in this context the consequences of van den
and Joe Henderson), explicit musical quotation (see Example Toorn’s rejection of polytonality. It is a historical fact that
11), and internal musical evidence (such as Example 12, many composers in the twentieth century took themselves to
which compares a fourth-based passage from the Rite of be composing polytonal music, and that many of these be-
Spring to a fourth-based melody by McCoy Tyner).26 In ad- lieved Stravinsky to be the inventor of the technique. Van
den Toorn is forced to conclude that this whole composi-
tional tradition is based on a misunderstanding. He would
26 For Coleman Hawkins and Stravinsky, see DeVeaux 1997, 449. Charlie presumably argue that later twentieth-century composers
Parker mentions both Hindemith and Stravinsky in Levin & Wilson misheard Stravinsky’s octatonicism as polytonality, produc-
1949. For Joe Henderson, see The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, s.v. ing music that had little do Stravinsky’s actual procedures. I
“Joe Henderson.” For an interesting discussion of a Woody Herman énd this view unpalatable. It seems to me that a passage like
quotation of Petrouchka, see Deveaux 1997, 360 n. 20. The Rite of
Example 13, from the end of Bartok’s Fifth String Quartet,
Spring quotation in Example 13 is taken from a 1949 recording of
“Cool Blues.” A transcription appears in Owens 1974, vol 2, 337.
may derive from passages like Example 8, above. In Example
Finally, note that I do not mean to imply that Stravinsky’s Rite of
Spring directly inèuenced McCoy Tyner’s Passion Dance, only that the 27 See Demsy 1991.
two musicians shared musical concerns. 28 See Tymoczko 1997.

example 11. Charlie Parker quoting The Rite of Spring.
a) Rite of Spring, R9 b) McCoy Tyner, Passion Dance
example 12. Fourths in Stravinsky and Jazz.
8, Stravinsky superimposes two different versions of a dia- Toorn. But it also means that my Stravinsky is much closer
tonic tune at the interval of a major seventh; in Example 13, to the one that had such a profound inèuence on the history
Bartok “harmonizes” a B b -major tune with an accompani- of twentieth-century music.
ment in A major. In my view, the similarity between these
passages provides a potential example of Stravinsky’s inèu- references
ence on later composers. Yet this sort of inèuence does not
sit easily within van den Toorn’s octatonic-centered frame- Boretz, Benjamin. [1972] 1995. “Meta-Variations, Part IV:
work. Indeed, by rejecting “polytonality,” and interpreting Analytic Fallout (1).” In Volume 1 of Meta-variations/
Stravinsky solely through the lens of “octatonic-diatonic Compose Yourself. Red Hook: Open Space. Originally in
interaction,” he has deprived himself of the resources to Perspectives of New Music 11.1: 146–223.
understand it. Bregman, Albert. 1990. Auditory Scene Analysis: The Percep-
Ultimately, these historical issues will be decided by the tual Organization of Sound. Cambridge: MIT Press.
theoretical community’s analytical conclusions about Stra- Bregman, Albert and Jeffrey Campbell. 1971. “Primary audi-
vinsky’s music. But it is also possible to let the historical tory stream segregation and perception of order in rapid
issues inèuence our choice of analytical procedures. Van den sequences of tones.” Journal of Experimental Psychology 89:
Toorn’s Stravinsky is a composer largely concerned with his 244–249.
own idiosyncratic musical technique, engaged in a cryptic Casella, Alfred. 1924. “Tone-Problems of Today.” Musical
process of octatonic-diatonic synthesis, a process that re- Quarterly 10: 159–71.
mained almost completely misunderstood until van den Cowell, Henry and Sidney Cowell. 1969. Charles Ives and
Toorn decoded it. My Stravinsky is a much less complicated His Music. New York: Oxford.
égure, a composer whose techniques are directly manifested Demsy, David. 1991. “Chromatic Third Relations in the
on the surface of his music. This may mean that I am, in the Music of John Coltrane.” Annual Review of Jazz Studies
end, a less original and sophisticated analyst than van den 5: 145–180.

colloquy 201
pizz.
example 13. Bartók, Fifth String Quartet, movement 5, mm. 711–20.
DeVeaux, Scott. 1997. The Birth of Bebop: A Social and Santa, Matthew. 1999. “Deéning Modular Transforma-
Musical History. Berkeley: University of California Press. tions.” Music Theory Spectrum 20: 220–9.
Forte, Allen. 1955. Contemporary Tone Structures. New York: Schoenberg, Arnold. [1941] 1984. “Composition with
Columbia University Press. Twelve Tones (1).” In Style and Idea. Edited by Leonard
Gervais, Françoise. 1971. Etude comparée des langues har- Stein. Translated by Leo Black. Berkeley: University of
moniques de Fauré et de Debussy. 2 volumes, special num- California Press.
bers 272–3 of La Revue Musicale. Stravinsky, Igor. 1969. The Rite of Spring: Sketches 1911–
Grout, Donald Jay and Claude V. Palisca. 1996. A History of 1913. London: Boosey & Hawkes.
Western Music. New York: W. W. Norton. Stravinsky, Igor, and Craft, Robert. 1962. Expositions and
Harrison, Daniel. 1997. “Bitonality, Pentatonicism, and Dia- Developments. New York: Doubleday.
tonicism in a Work by Milhaud.” In Music Theory in Con- Taruskin, Richard. [1987] 1990. “Chez Petrouchka: Harmony
cept and Practice. Edited by James M. Baker, David W. and Tonality chez Stravinsky.” In Music at the Turn of the
Beach, and Jonathan W. Bernard. Rochester: University Century. Edited by Joseph Kerman. Berkeley: University
of Rochester Press. of California Press. Originally in Nineteenth Century
Levin, Michael and Wilson, John S. “No Bop Roots in Jazz: Music 10: 265–86.
Parker.” Down Beat 16 (9 September): 1ff. ———. 1996. Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions.
McFarland, Mark. 1994. “Leit-harmony, or Stravinsky’s Berkeley: University of California Press.
Musical Characterization in The Firebird.” International Tymoczko, Dmitri. 1997. “The Consecutive Semitone
Journal of Musicology 3: 203–33. Constraint: A Link Between Impressionism and Jazz.”
Owens, Thomas. 1974. “Charlie Parker: Techniques of Intégral 11: 135–79.
Improvisation.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cali- van den Toorn, Pieter C. 1983. The Music of Igor Stravinsky.
fornia at Los Angeles. New Haven: Yale University Press.

———. 1987. Stravinsky and the Rite of Spring: The

Beginnings of a Musical Language. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
———. 1995. Music, Politics, and the Academy. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
———. 2000. “Will Stravinsky Survive Postmodernism?”
Music Theory Spectrum 22: 104–21.
Wessel, David. 1979. “Timbre Space as a Musical Control
Structure.” Computer Music Journal 3.2: 45–52.


Octatonica Van Der Toorn

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Octatonica Van Der Toorn

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Society for Music Theory

Stravinsky and the Octatonic: The Sounds of Stravinsky

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

example 1. The Rite of Spring, opening bassoon melody, extensions.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

etc. etc. etc.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

example 5. The Rite of Spring, rehearsals 7+3, 7+5.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

example 6. The Rite of Spring, rehearsal 8.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

E. Hn. etc. etc.

example 7. The Rite of Spring, rehearsal 10.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

(a) rehearsal 64, reduction and analysis.

(b) rehearsals 132 and 134, reduction and analysis.

example 8. The Rite of Spring.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

example 9. Transcription of Stravinsky 1969, pp. 5 and 6.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

D b –C–B b /E b –B b outline of this tetrachordal fragment from

the D b –B b –E b –B b ostinato and (E b, D b, B b , G) dominant However, Berger wrote the following:

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

example 10. Glinka, Ruslan and Ludmilla, Overture.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

75 + 5 “Dance of the Earth”

example 11. The Rite of Spring, some motivic connections.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

Tpts. etc. Tpts.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

example 15. Stravinsky, Danses Concertantes (1942), rehearsal 56.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

EXAMPLE 2. The Rite of Spring, rehearsals 16–17.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

example 4. The “Infernal Dance of King Kastchei” (melody only).

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

example 5. Three interpretations of the “Infernal Dance,” mm. 1–26.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

example 6. Kastchei’s melody as scalar transposition.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

example 7(a). The Rite of Spring, rehearsal 28+4.

example 7(b). The Rite of Spring, rehearsal 31.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

example 7(c). The Rite of Spring, rehearsal 32.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

example 8. The Rite of Spring, rehearsal 94.

example 9(a). The Rite of Spring, rehearsal 194+2.

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

gapped scale fragment

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM

This content downloaded from 189.251.74.152 on Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:11:39 AM