the has the effect of from

it?byTheory
deviating
Selected examplesfuzzy transposition
from Joseph purging
Straus, “Voice Leading in Set-Class Space,” Journal of Music 49/1 (2005): 45–108.
the prevailing Tb that one recalcitrant voice creates a harmony that is
slightly less chromatic. This progression thus conforms to both laws?it
is a smooth move toward a less chromatic harmony.
The succession of chords in -3"
Example 3 consists of OFFSETtwo separate ges
tures, each supporting a melody
im.
tornThe
that ascends (+1, +4).39 first melodic
[0123]

unit, E-F-A, is transposed 1r

up four semitones onto the second, Gt-A-Cf.
The accompanying dyads, however, generally move downward, in con
V ? I
trary motion.40 The chord that concludes the first gesture, El?-Bl?-A, is
^p
transposed down a semitone to become the bottom three notes of the four
Offset from [0123]: 5
note chord that ends the phrase, D-A-Gf-Ci The Clt atop the cadential
chord, creating the first four-note chord in the passage, l0134 arises as part of the
4-15 4-7
[0146] [0145] terms, however, it can be
ascending melodic sequence. In voice-leading
thought of as a slightly fuzzyF? *Ti xfrom -G the bass El? in the preceding chord.
In this sense, the bass Et> splits, D? simultaneously
-E moving down a semitone
onto D (in parallel motion with the tenor and alto voices) and down two
^G#
(pitch-class) semitones onto Ci Alternatively, one might imagine the Cl5
of the final chord as emerging G' from an implied Eb5 atop the previous
chord. In either interpretation, the progression is r4-i5^ *Tn with an offset of 1.
L0146,
In pitch-class space, the progression (1) is maximally uniform, deviating
from a straight transposition by only one semitone. In set-class space, the
Example 1.Webern, Six Pieces for Orchestra op. 6/1, m. 1
progression thus represents a smooth move from set-class 3-5 [016] to
set-class 4-8 of[0156], in l.34The theoretical
interval class conformity
with the Law of Atonal Voice Leading.
model suggests that this progression
smooth moveof(in accordance with the Law
Because of theis avagaries Voice Leading) semitone dis
of Atonalthis
intercardinality space, single
in the direction of greater chromaticness (pushing against the Law of
placement involves two semitones of
Atonal Harmony), and the musical surfacegreater offset from the
bears that out to a significant maximally
chromatic tetrachord,
degree. [0123]. The progression is thus a smooth (set-class)
Example 2 explores the cadential piano chords that conclude one of
the first phrases in the first movement of Crawford's Violin Sonata (the
chords are arpeggiated in the actual music). As arranged in pitch space,
the chords are arranged in two registral pairs, as in the progression dis
cussed in Example 1. The two lower lines both descend by semitone,
while the two upper lines descend by large leap, eight semitones in the
alto and nine in the soprano.35 It is also possible, however, to interpret the
progression as a single transformational gesture, with the minor sixth in
the left hand in the first chord moving up one pitch-class semitone onto
the minor sixth in the right hand in the second chord, while the major
sixth in the right hand in the first chord contracts slightly as itmoves onto

85

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Example 3. Schoenberg, Five Orchestral Pieces op. 16/1, mm. 1-3

87
Selected examples from Joseph Straus, “Voice Leading in Set-Class Space,” Journal of Music Theory 49/1 (2005): 45–108.

r-s
00
00

(2)

(5)
*T0
(1)

4.
Example
Ruggles,
"Lilacs,"
mm.
1-2
Example
Piano
Piece 7. Schoenberg,
op. 11/1, mm.1-3 and9-11