PRINCIPLES OF PITCH ORGANIZATION IN HEINZ HOLLIGER’S

CHACONNE FOR CELLO SOLO*

by Oğuz USMAN**

Abstract

With the call of the famous cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, twelve composers composed works to celebrate the 70th
birthday of the Swiss conductor, patron, and impresario Paul Sacher in 1976. These works were based on Sacher's
last name; in other words, they were composed according to the letters in his name, which correspond to the note
names in European languages forming a row of six notes. One of these twelve works, which are often referred to
as 12 Hommages à Paul Sacher, is Heinz Holliger’s Chaconne. The following article presents a detailed analysis
of the work’s second section, focusing on the pitch organization principles. Our analysis will also demonstrate
how this section relates to the other five sections of Holliger’s work. It will be understood that Holliger attains a
rich musical variety and organic unity through a number of limited and simple resources.

Introduction
In honour of the 70th birthday of Paul Sacher, who made great contributions to the music of the
twentieth century as conductor, patron, and impresario, twelve composers were invited by the
famous Russian cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich to compose works based on
Sacher’s name.1 The invitation was accepted by all composers, and the series of works which
is often referred to as 12 Hommages à Paul Sacher came to existence.2
These works, mostly dated around 1976, were composed on Sacher’s last name, i.e. on
the letters in his name, which correspond to the note names in European languages forming a
row of six notes called ‘the Sacher hexachord’. According to this, there are four letters which
directly correspond to the note names in German: A, C, H (the German name of the pitch class
B), and E; and there are two letters which do not indicate any specific pitch classes by
themselves: S and R. With an added E before, the letter S refers to the pitch class E flat in

*
This article is based on the chapters ‘Introduction’ and ‘Heinz Holliger: Chaconne for Violoncello Solo’ of the
dissertation titled Comparative Analysis of Five Works Written in Tribute to Sacher, which has been submitted by
the author to the Department of Composition and Conducting of the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University on June
2016, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree proficiency in art. It was originally written in Turkish
and published with the title Holliger’in Chaconne İsimli Eserinin Perdesel Organizasyonu in the Porte Akademik
Journal of Music and Dance Studies (Istanbul Technical University Turkish Music State Conservatory, Spring
2016, Volume: 13, p. 99-108). This translation of the article is, as of 23 February 2018, unpublished.
**
Lecturer in the Composition Department at the Istanbul Technical University Turkish Music State Conservatory.
oguzusman@gmail.com
1
The composers which were invited by Rostropovich were Conrad Beck, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Benjamin
Britten, Henri Dutilleux, Wolfgang Fortner, Alberto Ginastera, Cristobal Halffter, Hans Werner Henze, Heinz
Holliger, Klaus Huber, and Witold Lutoslawski (in alphabetical order according to the last names).
2
The manuscripts of all twelve works were published by Universal Edition with the title 12 Hommages à Paul
Sacher (see Beck et al. 1980). Ten of the twelve compositions, namely all works with the exception of those of
Berio and Henze, were performed by Rostropovich himself on 2 May 1976 in Zurich, Switzerland (Dunnagan
2011: 2, 62).

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German (ES); and with an added E after, the letter R refers to the pitch class D in Latin
languages (RE). (Example 1.)

Example 1: The Sacher hexachord (Forte number: 6-Z11).

Chaconne for Solo Cello, composed by the Swiss composer Heinz Holliger (b. 1939),
is described by Dunnagan (2011) as the combination of “Baroque variation techniques with
modern notation and extended cello technique” and regarded as a tribute to “Sacher’s
continuous efforts to align the old with the new.” Although Holliger uses 13/8 as the time
signature, he “does not consider traditional subdivisions of the bar [for example 3+3+3+4], but
seems to purposefully ignore them, creating an imbalance to the music.” (Dunnagan 2011: 45-
46.)
The pitch organization of the work shows a serial3 approach. In addition to the fact that
the whole pitch material, with a few exceptions, is derived from the Sacher hexachord, the work
is formally in connection with the hexachord, as well. However, the interaction between the
hexachord and the form has been kept much more simple and clear compared to the serial works
of the 1950s.
In the same way that the Sacher hexachord consists of six notes, the work Chaconne
also consists of six ‘sections’ which are separated off from each other by double bar lines.4 In
the same vein, each of these sections consists of six ‘phrases’ and each phrase, which covers
one staff in its entirety, consists of six ‘units’. Each unit contains the same amount of notes as
the number of the respective section; for instance, each one of the units contains one note in the
first section, three notes in the third section, and six notes in the sixth section.
In every phrase of the first section, having the characteristics of an ‘exposition’, the
Sacher hexachord is repeated in its original order, thus each unit of the section contains one
note of the hexachord. Since the analysis of the first section does not give any interesting results
regarding the pitch organization, this section has not been included in the following analysis.

3
Serialism, in general, is defined as “the systematic formalization of one or more musical parameters during
composition” (Cope 1977: 58. Also see: Boretz and Cone 1972; Morgan 1992; Salzman 1988; Simms 1986;
Stuckenschmidt 1969). According to Cavalotti’s definition, the term ‘serial’ refers to “the composition processes
that organize the different musical parameters (pitch, duration, volume, timbre) in a series so that every element
of the musical material has the same value within the context of the composition” [“Mit dem Begriff »seriell«
beschreibt man kompositorische Vorläufe, die die verschiedenen musikalischen Parameter (Höhe, Dauer,
Lautstärke, Klangfarbe) in einer Reihe (französisch »série«) so anordnen, dass jedes Element des musikalischen
Materials denselben Wert im Rahmen einer Komposition hat.”] (Cavallotti 2006: 13). A specific kind of serialism
is called total or integral serialism and refers to the serial organization of not only pitches, which is the case in the
twelve-tone music, but also of the other constitutive elements of composition like durations, dynamic, articulation,
octave register, and timbre (see Kostka 1999: 275). The American composer Milton Babbit’s (1916-2011) in 1947
composed work Three Compositions for Piano is regarded by Koblyakov as the first work in this sense (see
Koblyakov 1993: 109).
4
Because ‘chaconne’ is traditionally a variation form, Dunnagan calls these sections as ‘variations’ (Dunnagan
2011: 45).

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Analysis of the Second Section from the Point of Pitch Organization5
Giving the clearest view of the pitch organization principles of the work, the analysis of the
second section reveals an interestingly complex structure of the pitch organization. Deriving
from the Sacher hexachord, Holliger creates and organizes the pitches in three steps. In the first
step, the Sacher hexachord is transposed on the pitches of its own inversion6 (Table 1).7

Table 1: The transpositions of the Sacher hexachord (the first step).

Notice that the transposed rows are numbered from 1 to 6 in the table above. These
numbers will have a very important function in the following steps of the pitch organization.
Each one of the transpositions of the Sacher hexachord will be indicated by the corresponding
number.8

5
For the analysis of the work, the edition published by Schott Music has been used (see Holliger, 1976). The
octave register of the pitches has not been taken in consideration for the explanation of the pitch organization.
6
The term ‘inversion’ (German Umkehrung; French renverse), which is also one of the primary techniques of the
twelve-tone music, refers to the change of the direction of the intervals in a row. Thus, without changing the
numerical name and modifier, the ascending intervals become descending, and the descending intervals become
ascending (see Baur 2014: 294; Kostka 1999: 198-212; Kostka , Payne, and Almén 2013: 505-514; Leeuw 2005:
140; Wünsch 2009: 149-150).
7
The lower part of the table, which shows the transpositions of the hexachord, also appears in Antoine Bonnet’s
article on Pierre Boulez’ Messagesquisse, another work from 12 Hommages à Paul Sacher (see Bonnet 1987:
175). Wittingly or unwittingly, Boulez and Holliger have used the same table at a particular stage of the pitch
organization in their works.
8
The Sacher hexachord, which has been numbered 1 here, should also be seen as the transposition of the hexachord
on the first note of its own inversion, which is E flat as well.

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 In the second step, Holliger creates two-note groups which are characteristic of the
second section. For this purpose, he uses a simple but also effective technique: in every row,
each note is grouped with the next one, as shown in Table 2. After the last note, it goes back to
the beginning so that the last and first notes of the row form a group together. In order to
demonstrate this fact more clearly, the first notes of the rows have been written in Table 2 after
the last notes once again.9 Also notice that each group in Table 2 has been coded with two
numbers with a point in between. The first number indicates the number of the row, and the
second number indicates the number of the group. For instance, the code 3.5 refers to the fifth
group of the third row.

Table 2: The formation of the groups (the second step).

At this stage of the pitch organization, the composer is able to put the structure he has
planed for the section into practice. Since six phrases consisting of six two-note groups are
available, there is no obstacle to begin the composition process on this basis. However, because
the original order of the groups is maintained, beginning the composition process at this stage
would cause that the melodic contour of the Sacher hexachord become prominent and the

9
Grouping the notes of the row to create formations consisting of two or more notes is a technique which is often
used in the twelve-tone music. An example similar to the method that Holliger used in Chaconne is to be found at
the beginning of Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 4, Op. 37 (1936). Here the twelve-tone row is divided
into four groups consisting of three notes each, and these groups are simultaneously played by the second violin,
viola and violoncello as the accompaniment of a melodic line played by the first violin. When a group is repeated,
the octave register of one or more notes in the group are often changed. In the further measures of the work, each
of the three-note groups are played by just one instrument, successively this time (see Wünsch 2009: 157-158).
This is especially similar to the third section of Holliger’s work.

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phrases repeat themselves, even if they have been transposed on an other pitch. This is
obviously an undesirable situation for Holliger.
Since Holliger prefers to distribute the groups in a way that they do not follow each
other successively, he uses a third step to execute this. Instead of doing this distribution
randomly, he systematically achieves his goal, holding to the approach he carried out so far.
For the distribution of the groups, a technique which will be called ‘the diagonal
distribution’ in this article is used. As the basis for this technique, the empty table symbolizing
the six phrases consist of six units each is repeated four times to build a square. After that the
groups of the rows, in order and beginning with a unit in the left bottom table, are placed
diagonally right upwards. Thus, every new group of the row is to be placed on the space in the
right upper corner of the former one. (Table 3.)

Table 3: The distribution of the groups (the third step).

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 Notice that three units have been circled in Table 3. These three units show the conflict
between the notes which should have been used according to the structure and the notes which
have been used in the final score. The pitches and their codes on the left side indicate the notes
in the final score, while the pitches and the codes given in parenthesis on the right side indicate
the notes which should have been used according to the structure.10
The distribution of the first groups of the rows is done in a similar way. First, the group
with the code 1.1 is placed on the first unit of the first phrase in the table upper right. To
distribute the first units of the other rows, the diagonal distribution is applied contrariwise (left
downwards) and by leaving a line empty in between (Table 4).11

Table 4: The distribution of the first groups of the rows.

10
Because the pitches used in the final score can coincidently correspond to the group codes given in parenthesis,
there is a question mark (?) after the codes.
11
In the score, there are different pitches (namely those of the group 2.3) in the unit where the pitches of the group
2.1 should be according to the structure.

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 At the end of the third step, the pitch organization of the section has been completed and
the structure shown in Table 5 has been achieved. The units in which the notes of the structure
do not correspond to the notes in the final score have also been marked in this table.

Table 5: The pitch organization of the second section.

Overview of the Pitch Organization of the Remaining Sections of the Work

In each one of the remaining four sections, the pitch organization is carried out in three steps,
exactly like in the second section. The Table 1, which is achieved through the transposition of
the Sacher hexachord on its own inversion in the first step, serves as the basis of the pitch
organization in all the remaining sections. However, the application of the second step is
slightly modified. The formation of the groups, which resulted in two-note units in the second
section (see Table 2), involves as much notes as the number of the respective section so that the
number of notes per unit increases gradually throughout the work. For instance, three successive
notes are grouped together in the third section, while five successive notes form a group in the
fifth section. As is the case with the second section (see Table 3 and 5), there also are some
conflicts between the structure and the score, appearing from place to place.
The main difference in the pitch organization of the sections appears in the third step,
i.e. in the distribution of the groups so that they do not follow each other successively. Although
the technique used for the distribution differs from section to section, it remains the same that
the result is achieved systematically. The distribution technique of the third section is a good
example for this difference (Table 6). Unlike that of the second section, the third section’s
distribution technique is not applied to the rows on an individual basis. It is a much far-reaching
method in which all the rows take part together.

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 The number of the row which the group belongs to (in bold) and
the number of the group (in parenthesis)

Phrase 1st Unit 2nd Unit 3rd Unit 4th Unit 5th Unit 6th Unit

1 1 (1) 2 (3) 3 (5) 2 (2) 3 (4) 4 (6)

2 4 (1) 5 (3) 6 (5) 5 (2) 6 (4) 1 (6)

3 3 (3) 4 (5) 5 (1) 4 (4) 5 (6) 6 (2)

4 6 (3) 1 (5) 2 (1) 1 (4) 2 (6) 3 (2)

5 5 (5) 6 (1) 1 (3) 6 (6) 1 (2) 2 (4)

6 2 (5) 3 (1) 4 (3) 3 (6) 4 (2) 5 (4)

Table 6: The distribution of the three-note groups in the third section.

Being shown by thick lines, the Table 6 is divided into six parts to show the principle
of the distribution more clearly. The vertical division take place through the partition of the
table right in the middle so that there are three units of every phrase on each side. And each one
of the horizontal divisions contains two phrases. Thus, there are six rectangles, containing six
units each, in the table.
Notice that the row numbers (written in bold) follow each other successively within
these rectangles.12 In the rectangle on the upper left corner, which contains the first three units
of the first and second phrase, there are the groups of the rows 1, 2, and 3 in the first phrase,
and the groups of the rows 4, 5, and 6 in the second phrase. In the rectangle on the upper right
corner, which contains the last three units of the same phrases, there are the groups of the rows
2, 3, and 4 in the first phrase, and the groups of the rows 5, 6, and 1 in the second phrase. Also
notice that the first row numbers of the rectangles, namely those on the upper left corner of each
rectangle, are arranged from 1 to 6 successively.
The numbers of the groups (given in parenthesis) are organized in a different way. On
the left side of the table, there are only the odd numbered groups (1, 2, and 3), and on the right
side of the table, there are only the even numbered groups (2, 4, and 6) of the rows. One
arrangement of the group numbers is used in two successive phrases (i.e. the phrases 1 and 2,
3 and 4, and 5 and 6 have the same arrangement of the group numbers), and the change of the
arrangement, which happens every two phrases, take place by shifting the first number of the
former arrangement to the last position within the same phrase and the respective side of the
table.13

12
The succession is continued by returning to the first row after the row 6.
13
For instance, the arrangement 1–3–5, which is repeated in the first two phrase, becomes 3–5–1 in the third phrase
by shifting the first number (1) to the last position, and 5–1–3 in the fifth phrase by shifting the first number (3) to
the last position one more time. This principle is also valid for the even numbered groups on the right side of the
table.

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Conclusion
It was seen that Holliger masterly used the serial techniques and created a net of nested
organizations. The particles of the pitch organization are connected to each other so tightly that
the whole pitch material, which is achieved through the applied processes, would be changed,
even if only one note in the Sacher hexachord replaced with another one. The work’s great
integrity becomes possible only because of the simple principle on which the techniques used
for the derivation of the pitches from the Sacher hexachord are based. On the other side, through
the mosaic structure obtained via more complex methods used for the distribution of the pitch
material, it is prevented that the melodic contour of the Sacher hexachord becomes prominent.
Because this structure is obtained via different ways in each section, the work’s aural world
gains diversity.
Even though the composer creates a mechanical system and constructs his music within
it, there are also deviations from the system, albeit rarely and for a short time. It is thought that
these deviations are musical preferences of the composer in the particular passages rather than
mistakes. The existence of these deviations reveals that the composer gives precedence to the
final aural result over the structural background, if need be.

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