AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE SONATA IN C FOR CELLO AND PIANO ay BENJAMIN BRITTEN Prosented by Charles August Saker To fulfill the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts Performance and Pedagogy (Violoncello) Thesis Director: Dr, michael Collins Eastman School of music of the University of Rochester August, 1965VITA The author was born in Hollywood, California, on Sep- tember 28, 1931, Mast of his early life was spent in Los Angeles, where he was graduated from Eagle Rock High School in 1949, His piano study began at the age of nine and con- tinued for several years after the commencing of his cello study at the age of twelve. While in high school he was the first cellist of the Los Angeles All-City High School Orchestra and first cellist of the Burbank Youth Symphony, with which he also appeared as soloist in 1949 Mr, Baker earned the Associate of Arts Degree, “Cum Laude," from Los Angeles City College, the Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees as well as the Performer's Certifi- cate in Violoncello from the Eastman School of Music, In addition to being active as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles, he served as first cellist of the Eastman Phil- harmonia under Or, Howard Hanson while a student at the Eastman School, As a professional cellist, he has appeared as soloist with the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra and with the Southern Illinois Sinfonetta, He has served as cellist in the United States Air Force Symphony Orchestra of washington D, C., and in the Rochester Civic and Philharmonic Orchestras, He was also first cellist of the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, Forthe past two years he has been a member of tha Lyric String Quartet of Young Audiences Inc., of New York, N.Y, His callo teachers include Georges Miquelle, Gabor Rejto, and Stephan Datak, Ouring 1960-61, he filled a leave-of-absence position at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, where he met his wife, Martha, He was employed as a cello instructor at the Eastman School of Music during 1964-65 while completing his Doctoral studies, Mr, Baker has recently signed a contract for the posi- tion of Assistant Professor of Violoncello and Chamber tlusic at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas, where he will assume his new duties in September, 1965,PREF ACE +... true analysis works through and for the ear, The greatest enalysts (like Schenker at his best) are those with the keenest ears; their in- sights reveal how a piece of music should be heard, which in turn implies how it should be played. An analysis is a direction for a performance. In this era of the twentieth century, an age in which technical proficiency is frequently considered the ultimate achievement of the performer, the lack of attention given to the content of the music itself is often evident, The tenor of the ensuing study was provoked by the author's re- luctance to accept the performance of music on a purely technical and emotional basis, For it is the conviction of the author that a truly artistic performance is based not only on technical ability and emotion, but also on a sound understanding of the music as well. Such an understanding may begin with a knowledge of the constituent elements of style and a concept of their subse quent meaning and applicetion to performance. The follow- ing outline, based on the premise that the chief elements of style are melody and rhythm, undertakes to show a rele- tionship between style and parformance le, T, Cone, “Analysis Today," Problems of Modern Music, ed. P. H, Lang (New York, 1960), p, 36, itI, Elements of Style A, ilelody 4, formal organization (form). 2. tonal organization (tonality) 3, textural arrangement a, homaphony {heznony. b. polyphony (counterpoint), 8, Rhythm--the setting of melody 1, metric basis (meter), Il, Application of the elements of melody to performance A, Formal organization 41. phrasing (intelligibility) 2, contour (sense of movement both towards and away from points of climax), B, Tonal organization 4, color (varied between bright and dark by modality, polytonality, and polymodality), III, The control of melody in performance A, Tempo (faster or slower), 8, Dynamics (louder or softer), 4, balance of dynamics (to achieve a proper relationship of the melody with regard to the texture), It is the desire of the author that the following study, based on the above approach to performance, may contribute to a better understanding of the Benjamin Britten Sonata in for cello and piano, The author wishes to express his sincere thanks and appreciation to Dr. Eugene Selhorst and to Dr. Michael Collins for their patient guidance and assistance in the preparation of this analysis, The author would also like to give credit and thanks to his wife, Martha, for the at- tractive appearance of this book, titPREFACE... LIST OF FIGURE! LIST OF CHARTS CHAPTER =I, CHAPTER II, CHAPTER IIT. CHAPTER IV, CHAPTER =. CHAPTER VI, CHAPTER VII. CHAPTER VIII, APPENDIX . . BIGLIOGRAPHY TABLE OF CONTENTS Se eee ee ee eee BIOGRAPHY 2... eee eee INTRODUCTION. wee ee eee OIALOGO ... eee ee ee Introduction ,. 2... Section-by-Section Analysis Performance... .... SCHERZO-PIZZICATO » 2... Introduction .... 2. Section-by-Section’ Anelysis Performance... ee eee EIN G G6 50000000 Introduction «. 1... Section~by-Section Analysis Performance... ee. ee MARCIA. eee ee ee eee Introduction . . . Section~by-Section Analysis Performance... ee eee MOTG PERPETUD 2 wee ee ee Introduction . 2... Section~by-Section Analysis Performanco... ++. + SUMMARY 6 6 ee eee ee ee di vi 44 14 25 65 86 86 96 126 139 139 146 169 178 178 182 199 203 203 214 226 233 240 246LIST OF FIGURES Figure ooo nood pod Figure 2. 5666505008 66646 Figure 3.62 wee eee eee ee we 42 Figure 4... eee eee ee ee eee 7h Figure 5S... eee eee eee ee . 88 Figure 6.2.6. ee eee ee ee eee ee 89 Figure 7. eee eee er eee wee ee 94 PR Uooq0gnaeuqad0n ee 7 Figure Ge. eee eee eevee see ee 98 Figure ec ee eee 99 Figure ee ee ee 106 Figure ee ee ee ee see ee 106 Figure : ee tia Figure : : : ae ite Figure . eee eee ee 115 Figure 5 ec ee ee. 128 Figure . eee wee ee 135 Figure : ee Boogo wt Figure . eee eee ee 147 Figure . eee eee ee 143 Figure : Boe ee 107, Figure : ee ae 107, Figure 5 foo Re i621 Figure . eee ee 176 Figure : ec Roos ae 10) Figure Figure Figure FigureLIST OF CHARTS Page 144 153 157 179 191 206 210 211 1 Chart, Chart 2 Chart Chart 3 4 Chart 5 Chart 6 Chart 7) Chart 8 ee Chart Chart 10 214 228 237 Chart 11 viCHAPTER I BIOGRAPHY We cannot tell the story of music, art, or science, or ethics, or philosophy, or religion, and leave creative personality out, The coming of a great person is tha most influential event --Harry Emerson Fosdick Benjamin Britten, the youngest of four children of a middle class family, was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England, on November 22, 1913, His father was a dental surgeon, his mother an amateur singer with the Lowestoft Choral Society. At a very early age, Britten began to play the piano and com- pose, His viola study began at the age of ten with Audrey Alston who, two years later, introduced him to the highly pro- fessional, international musician, Frank Bridge, It was Bridge who was his principal teacher in composition during his most formative years and who was, according to Mitchell, "the biggest single influence on his musical life in many ways."1 By the time Britten was fourteen, he had composed ten piano sonatas, six string quartets, three suites for piano, one oratorio, and dozens of songs. As a scholarship student at the Royal College of Music when he was sixteen, he studied compasition with John Ireland, rode REgSNOLD Sealey Settee. GSeEDESSE Of ie works ‘but continued private tutoring with Bridge on the weekends and holidays, At the Royal College of fiusic he was rether a failure as a student, The attitude of most of the students was amateurish and folksy and Britten declared: "That made me feel highly intolerant. "2 He left the Royal College of Music in December, 1933, but not before his first published composition, Sinfonietta for chamber orchestra signaled the official beginning of his career as a composer, He was now eighteen and his technique was already highly developed, "but still he was whetting his tools. "3 In 1935, he joined the General Post Office Film Unit, producing incidental music for sixteen documentary films, This position plus other diversified composing assignments led Britten to say the following in 1939: "It is not a bad thing for an artist to serve all sorts of different people... it 0d is not a bad thing for an artist to have to work to order Depressed by the rapidly darkening political situation in Europe, Britten left for the United States in the summer of 1939, This trip was in the nature of a trial, with United States citizenship the end in view, While in America he 2c, Reid, "Back to Britain with Britten," High Fidelity Magazine 1X (December, 1959), 74 3p. Ewen, The Sook of Modern Composers (New York, 1950), 518, 4 Mitchell, op, cit., p. 53.gained in maturity as a composer, his works showing a more consistent sensitivity and depth, However, he suffered from mental perplexities and personal tension, He returned to Europe in April, 1942, realizing that for better or worse he was a European, England, of course, was now involved in World War II A pacifist of prewar standing, Britten was granted uncondi- tional exemption from militaty service on the grounds that in the cultural field he was devoting his energies fully to the national advantage, He continued to compose vigorously along with filling many engagements as a concert pianist and accom- panist, He has concertized widely in Europe as the accompa- ist of his good friend, the tenor, Peter Pears. In 1947, he moved to his present home in the village of Aldeburgh, where he and his friends have established an annual music festival of distinctive character, It is small and inti- mate in scale, but has world-wide attraction because of the international bigh regard held for Britten and the quality of music-making that takes place each year In addition to the scholarship at the Royal College of Music, Britten has won numerous other prizes and distinguish- ing awards, His Spring Symphony won first place in the choral music category of the New York Music Critics Circle Award for 1950-51, He was elected as an honorary member in the Nation- al Institute of Arts and Letters at the joint annual ceremo- nial on May 22, 1956, in New York City. In August, 1964, thefirst Robert 0, Anderson Aspen Award in the Humanities cons sisting of a cash prize of $30,000 was bestowed upon gritten, This award was presented as a tribute to "the individual any- where in the world judged to have made the greatest contri- bution to the advancement of the humanities, "® The list of Britten's acknowledged musical compositions consists of over seventy major works, The instrumental works include symphonies, concertos, and chamber music, The choral works include operas, requiems, cantatas, anthems, and songs, His first big successful composition for orchestra was Variations on a Thema by Frank Bridge written in 1937, The Sinfonia da Requiem premiered by tha New York Philharmonic on March 29, 1941, The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1945), and the Divertimento for Chamber Orchestra (1952), are among the better known works for orchestra. His recent Symphony in D for Cello and Orchestra seems destined for equal fame. His first venture in chamber music produced the Fantasy Quartet for obos, violin, viola, and cello in 1932, Noteworthy among his other chamber works are the two string quartets (1941 and 1945); also, Six Metamorphoses, after Ovid, for oboe solo (1951), Peter Grimes (1945) marked the beginning of an opera career of great promise, It has been said that Britten is the Stimothy Green, "High Honor for a Shy Genius," Life LVII (August, 1964), 41,first significant Gritish composer of operas since Purcell,6 Some other operas include The Rape of Lucretia (1947), The Begoars Opera (1948), The Turn of the Screw (1954), and Cur- lew River which was premiered at his own festival in Alde- burgh in 1964, Amang the works for chorus, A Ceremony of Carols, (1942), Rejoice in the Lamb, festival cantata (1943) Festival Te Deum (1945), and the previously mentioned Spring Symphony for soloists, chorus and orchestra, have all contri- buted to elevate Britten to the position of a highly reputa- ble composer of choral music. His most significant recent composition for soloists, chorus, and orchestra is the brood- ing War Requiem in which Britten expresses his personal pro- test at the futility of war Britten's regular annual pattern since 1948 is always to have a new opera in progress and in the meantime squeeze in other compositions plus the acceptance of a limited number of engagements as conductor, pianist, and lecturer, He loves Aldeburgh and works unceasingly for the Aldeburgh Festival. The ideal existence, as he sees it, is to live quietly by the sea, surrounded by friends and untroubled by the cries of critics or the clamor of the public, He is a shy person who is very reluctant to see the press, and interviews are few and far between, Part of the reason for this reluctance is that he still feels he has important work ahead of him, He 6T, Baker, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians Revised Nicolas Slonimsky, (Sth ed.; New Yark, 1958), p. 212.feels that he is still in midflight--and is therefore not yet ready to be “summed up."7 TGreen, op, cit., LVII, 42.CHAPTER II INTRODUCTION The Sonata in C for cello and piano, Op. 65, by Benja~ min Britten, was inspired by the playing of Mstislav Rostro- povich and is dedicated to him, The Sonata was planned while the composer was on @ holiday in Greece during the autumn of 1960, and wes written in Aldeburgh during the following De~ cember and January, The premiere was given at the climax of the Aldeburgh Fastival on July 7, 1961, by Rostropovich and Britten, who together made a recording of the work shortly afterward for London Records, doosey and Hawkes published the Sonata in 1961, with the solo cello part edited by Rostropovich. The Sonata is in five movements: Dialogo, Scherzo-Piz~ Zicato, Eleaia, Marcia, and foto Perpetuo, The over-all form is, in some respects, suggestive of thet of the suite: the five movements are individualistic and characteristic, two of them being cast in the form of the dance with trio Although the movements are thus not those of the older conventional sonata, they are, however, related and unified into a higher design, This unification is accomplished in several ways, the most apparent of which would be the tonality of the constituent movements, The reader will be aware that tonality in the music of so progressive a composer as Britten Ulgoes far beyond the neatly circumscribed key-system of the 18th century with its conventional functional harmony, This is not to say that Britten entirely avoids the latter; when appropriate to his purpose he does not hesitate to employ it, sven exploiting it in close juxtaposition te non-functional treatment, While the tonal center of 2 movement by Britten is not so immediately evident as in the case of an 18th century Piece, it is nevertheless present and operative. Analysis of the five movements of the Cello Sonata reveals the follow- ing key sequence: Dialogo) c Scherzo-Pizzicato) A Elegia, D minor Tv, (marcia ab v. (Mote Perpetuo) ct The attributes of variety and unity are apparent in this se- quence of keys, Such a scheme, involving thought transcending individual movements, is a definite indication of sonate unity, The title "sonata" seems further justified by the uni- fied formal design of the work, The overall arrangement is that of the arch type. According to Whittall, aritten "favors the arch-shape, which places most significance at the center, in those compositions which have more positive endings,"2 This is highly applicable in the case of the ‘1Beginning in D tonality the movement avoids C tonality until the final measure of the movement. 2a, Whittall, "Benjamin Britten," The Music Review XXIII (1962), 314-316,prasent work, for the middle movement--the Elegia--is the most significant, and the final--the lively Moto Perpetuo-~ is certainly positive, Regarding the Elegia the following has been said by Wood: The Eleoia communicates one of the most germane, and therefore satisfying, moods in Sritten's music: that shared by the final movements of both the Noc~ turne and of Winter Words, and to be found again in the Holderlin Fragments, the mood of unassuageable "sadness for things’--not uncharacteristic of the best English music, if one thinks of Purcell's viol Fantasias and Elgar's Cello Concerto, The laraa~ mente return in the Elegia (high cello, bunched Piano chords low down, tremolando in the right hand) is real Thomas Hardy music. While arch-shape and sonata are by no moens synonymous torms, nevertheless the unification, the thought or design transcending individual movements, that are characteristic of the arch form saem in no way incompatible with sonata unity, at least in the broader, modern sense, 4n additional factor that helps to relate the movements one to another as well'as to a higher unity is the extre- ordinary importance attached, in each movement, to ths inter- val of the second--major or minor, melodic or harmonic, Ad~ mittedly, this preoccupation with the interval of the second is a general characteristic of Britten's musical style, appear- ing in works other than the present one, Nonetheless, as used in the Cello Sonata it does tend subtly to interrelate the 3H, Wood, “@ritten's Latest Scores; The Cello Sonata," The Musical Times CIII. (1962), 165.10 movements, in a way that would perhaps not be se appropriate in a suite, Regarding @ritten's use of the interval of the second, the following quotation is of interast: The sound of the alternating ninths and sev- enths, derived from the main motiv fof the Sinfon- ietta], is mast typical of Britten, One is imme- diately reminded of such passages as the ritornello of the women's ensemble in Peter Grimes, or in the opening of the 1st String Guartet, In the later works, the ninths or sevenths are often inverted, that is, narrowed down to intervals of the second. They Frequently result from such close melodic strands, as in the theme of the variations [from the Sinfonietta]. I should like to call this dis- covery of Britten's "the sonority of the second." Composers before him have indulged in the exploi- tation of the interval, but Sartok and others used it mostly for its stridency, In @ritten’s music the second has bacome beautiful end tender--"2 new sound symbolizing 2 nau personality," as Schoenberg in hig Hapnonielehra, defined similar events of the past, The analysis of the sonata is covered in five chapters, i.a., one chapter per movement, The format of each chapter consists of three parts: 1) and introduction; 2) a section- by-section analysis; and 3) an application of the analysis to performance, The above chapters are followed by a con- Glusion chapter presenting a summary of the analysis and its application to performanca, The introduction to aach chapter of the analysis in- cludes the following itema; 1) a list of the details of form, tonality, tempo, and meter; 2) a general description of the 4e. Stein, Orpheus in New Guises (Landon, 1953), p. 147.1 elements of form, tonality, unification, thematic contrast, rhythm, and dynamics; 3) a preliminary application of the above items to performance; and 4) an outline of the form of the movement, Follawing the introduction the analysis proper is done on a section-by-section basis in which each section of the form is analyzed individually for elaments of form, tonality, melody, harmony, counterpoint, and rhythm The analysis of form includes not only a description of the part form and periodic construction of the thematic sec- tions, but also a description of the sectional construction of transitions and development sections, And because the purpose of the analysis is to provide a direction for per~ formance, the phrase structure of the periods is also indi~ cated, The analysis of tonality covers not only its means of establishment and modulation, but also its relationship or non-relationship to form, Also described are its coloring elements of modality, polytonality end polymodality. The explanation of melody covers the elements of con- tour, doubling, and actave transposition, The term ‘on= tour," referring to the line of the melody, is analyzed in two senses: 1) its up and down movement as it moves both towards and away from points of climax; and 2) its means of movement--conjunct and disjunct, The term "doubling" refers to those situations where the main melodic lings is12 duplicated in tote either above or below, And finally, the term "octave transposition" refers to those cases where seg- ments of a single meladic line appear in transposition et different octave levels. The analysis of harmony includes a description of the different types of chords, their motivation, and progression. The different types of chords are identified according to their respective intervellic construction. The term "moti- vation" refers both to the means of sustaining the sound of chords and to the methods of giving them a rhythmic value. The term "progression" refers to the means of movement from one chord to another chord, The contrapuntal analysis lists the number of voices of the texture and describes their various uses in imitation, canon, and mirror, Also explained are the various rearrange- ments of the thematic material in inversion, retrograde, and retrograde-inversion. And finally, a few additional devices are listed such as stretto and rhythmic augmentation and diminution, The analysis of rhythm covers metrical variation, super- position of rhythm and mater, and nonaccentual rhythm, The term "metrical variation" refers to the change from one meter to another meter, It is mentioned only in those few sections of the analysis containing a change of meter, The term "superposition of rhythm and meter" applies to the re- lationship of the rhythm to the meter, 6.9., compound rhythm13 superimposed over simple meter and vice versa, It also re- fers to syncopation, And lastly, the expression "nonaccentual rhythm" is in reference to those areas in which the regular metrical accent is replaced by other means of stress. The section on performance is based to a large extent on the raquirements of the music as revealed in the section- by-section analysis. It also takes into consideration the various terms and markings found in the score, And lastly it uses as a point of reference the recorded performance of the Sonata by the composer and Rostropovich, The final portion of the section on performance is de~ voted to special effects and technical recommendations. Listed under special effects are such items as the tremo- landi and glissandi of the piano and the harmonics and the muted effect of the cello, Technical recommendations are centered largely around the touch and pedaling of the piano, and the fingering and bowing of tha cello. Also included under cello technique are a few items of @ more specialized nature, i.e,, the choice of string and type of left-hand vibrato for the proper coloring effect. Especially relevant to a specialized cello technique are the very unusual and difficult pizzicato requirements af the Scherzo-Pizzicato,