Society for Music Theory

Interval Cycles as Compositional Resources in the Music of Charles Ives

Author(s): J. Philip Lambert
Source: Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Spring, 1990), pp. 43-82
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Society for Music Theory
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/746146
Accessed: 09/09/2009 05:30

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucal.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the
scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that
promotes the discovery and use of these resources. 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
Interval Cycles as Resources
Compositional
in the Music of Charles Ives
J. PhilipLambert
Studentsof the music of CharlesIves over the past 20 years
have made convincingargumentsfor elevatinghis musicalquo-
tations to a level of structurefar above that of the musicalsur-
face. Dennis Marshallprovided a seminal definitionof the is-
sue, asking whether borrowed materials are part of the
surface-level "manner"or are more integratedinto the "sub-
stance"of a composition,1and analystshave since affirmedthat
Ives's quotations are more than tidbits of musical Americana
added to enhance the nationalisticflavor.2Recently, J. Peter
Burkholderhas identifiedand definedspecifictechniques,such
as "modeling"and "paraphrasing,"that Ives employsin incor-
porating borrowed material, supporting the assertion that
'Dennis Marshall, "Charles Ives's Quotations: Manner or Substance?"
Perspectivesof New Music6/2 (1968), 45-56; repr.in Perspectiveson American
Composers, ed. Benjamin Boretz and EdwardT. Cone (New York: Norton,
1971), 13-24. Henry and Sidney Cowell addressthe same issues in CharlesIves
and His Music (1955; reissuedwith additionalmaterial,1969;repr. New York:
Oxford UniversityPress, 1975), 147.
2Somerepresentativestudies are Gordon Cyr, "IntervallicStructuralEle-
ments in Ives's FourthSymphony,"Perspectivesof New Music9/2-10/1 (1971),
291-303; ChristopherBallantine, "CharlesIves and the Meaningof Quotation
in Music," Musical Quarterly65 (1979), 167-184; StuartFeder, "Decoration
Day: A Boyhood Memoryof CharlesIves," MusicalQuarterly66 (1980), 234-
261. For a typicalopposing view, see KurtStone, "Ives'sFourthSymphony:A
Review," Musical Quarterly52 (1966), 1-16.
"Ives's reworkingof existing music is the single most central
technique in his process of creation."3From this perspective,
much of Ives's music responds favorably to close analytical
scrutiny,and the incorporationand integrationof quotationsis
revealed to be a vital organizingforce in a musical language
breakingaway from tonality.4
While Ives may have been a supremepractitionerof musical
borrowing,however, he was also a composerof complexinter-
ests who refused to be confined to a single compositionalpos-
ture. His methods of achievingmusical unity without tonality
may have relied heavily, and successfully,on "modeling"pro-
ceduresconcentratedon existingideas, but they also embraced
attemptsat developing a more abstractlanguage,independent
of any structuralframeworkthat borrowedmaterialmightpro-
vide. Workswithoutmusicalquotationsmay receive some uni-
fying contributionsfrom textual or other extramusicalfactors,
but they might also pursue a structuralpurityborn of relation-
3J.Peter Burkholder," 'Quotation'and Emulation:CharlesIves's Uses of
His Models," MusicalQuarterly71 (1985), 20. See also Burkholder," 'Quota-
tion' and Paraphrasein Ives's Second Symphony,"Nineteenth-Century Music
11 (1987), 3-25.
4RobertMorgandiscussesIves's quotationsin this light in "RewritingMu-
sic History: Second Thoughts on Ives and Varese," Musical Newsletter3/1
(January1973), 8-12.
44 Music Theory Spectrum
ships defined contextually within the available resources.
While a single broadly defined process may characterizethe
creative evolution of an Ives composition, the organizational
problems posed by the individualapproachesand solutionsin
variousworks are numerousand diverse.5
Indeed, it is in the works without quotationswhere Ives's
compositionalobjectives are most overt, his searchfor organi-
zational alternativesmost consistentlyapparent.These works
generallyseparatethemselvesfromthe mainbody of his music,
distinguished by their searches for components of abstract
structureand by their attention to technical detail. Ives gives
many of them titles such as "Study" or "Exercise," making
clear that his compositional purpose is to work out technical
problems.6He also refers to works of this type as "memos in
notes," a phrasethat alludes to their unrefinedstate as well as
the very private nature of his perspective on them.7 These
pieces are, in fact, "experiments"in musical organization-
musicalincarnationsof ideas about structurethat may receive
theirformulationonly in the courseof composingthe work. Al-
together Ives's experimentalworksform a distinctivesubset of
his music, serving as a forum for the isolation and exploration
of specifictechnicalissues.8
5Burkholderfeels that Ives's "workingout of technicalproblemsand his
creationof musicalanaloguesto texts and to programmaticconceptionsfollow
the same patternas his elaborationof borrowedmaterial,"andthat the process
common to these activities would be the basis of a "unifiedview of Ives's ap-
proachto composition"(" 'Quotation'and Emulation,"20, n. 36). Testingfor
this hyphothesiswill come as each compositionalareais subjectedto thorough
investigation.
6Forexample, the piano pieces that fall in this categoryare entitled "Stud-
ies." Similarly, the song Soliloquy is entitled "A Study in 7ths and Other
Things." Also typicalis the subtitle to Chromdtimelodtune: "Ear-Study(aural
& mental exercise!)."
7CharlesE. Ives, Memos, edited and with appendicesby John Kirkpatrick
(New York: Norton, 1972), 64.
8Ives'smemoirs describe an active influenceof his father on these experi-
mental attitudes, althoughthe reliabilityof Ives's accounthas been questioned
Central to the issues under investigationin Ives's experi-
mentation is his focus on intervallicconstructionsas primary
structuralcomponents. Even in his earliest compositionalef-
forts, the intervalprovidedthe meansfor constructingunortho-
dox but orderlymelodic and harmonicstructures,often based
on standard types of formations employing atypical units of
combination. Ives recalls, for example, his father'ssuggestion
that "If one can use chordsof 3rdsand make them mean some-
thing, why not chords of 4ths?"9Ives took these and similar
suggestionsto heart, leading to his well-knownexperimentsin
"quartal"harmony, such as the piano accompanimentto the
song "The Cage," and other instances of intervallicsatura-
tion.10Analysts have also noted more complex approachesto
intervallicstructure,such as a systemof permutationsof a cer-
tain intervallicprofilel and a processof shiftingfocusfrom one
interval or group of intervalsto another over the course of a
by MaynardSolomon, "CharlesIves: Some Questionsof Veracity,"Journalof
the American MusicologicalSociety 40 (1987), 443-470. Solomon speculates
that Ives exaggeratedhis father'sinfluenceas part of a mourningprocessthat
includedan idealizationof his father'smusicalinnovationsand a realizationof
some of his father's musical aspirations.Solomon discusses importantissues
about the Ives biography,but his views remainas questionsthat are left unan-
swered; any substantiationof his thesis will come only after extensive non-
speculativescrutinyof the availableevidence.
The conventionalview of Ives's debt to his father'sexperimentalattitudes
is describedby J. Peter Burkholder,CharlesIves: The Ideas behindthe Music
(New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1985), 45-50. The author
makes a useful distinctionbetween "experimental"and "concert"music, em-
phasizing the private nature of the former as opposed to an attitude toward
concertworksthat encouragesrevisionand refinement,ostensiblyleadingto a
publicpresentation.
9Ives,Memos, 140.
10Soliloquy,the "Studyin 7ths," is anotherexample.
"Cyr, "IntervallicStructuralElements in Ives's FourthSymphony."Cyr's
observations establish a link between the intervallic constructionsand the
structureof many of the tunes quoted in the symphony.

work.12In maintainingan activeinterestin alternativesto struc-
tural conventions, Ives took the interval as his primary re-
source, and the evolution of his experimentationcenters in
large part on this element of musicalstructure.
This orientation,combinedwith an ever-presentconcernfor
maximizingpitch-classvariety, develops finallyinto an aware-
ness of the size and characterof repetitiveintervallicstructures,
viewed as cycles, andtheirpotentialfor compositionalexploita-
tion. Many of his experiments, including those exhibiting
higher degrees of technical sophistication,are centered on in-
tervalcycles as contributorsto a contextuallydefinedharmonic
language and a unified catalogue of developmental devices.
Ives thus allies himself, spiritually,with his contemporaries:
Berg's "master array" of interval cycles, as described by
George Perle, and the role of cyclic structures in early
Stravinsky as explained by Elliott Antokoletz, demonstrate
similarapproachesto intervallicconstruction.13As an alterna-
tive to traditionalcompositional resources, the intervalcycles
12Nors S. Josephson, "Charles Ives: Intervallische Permutationen im
Spatwerk," Zeitschriftfur Musiktheorie9/2 (1978), 27-33. Josephson'sstudy
encompasses works of various types from all periods of Ives's compositional
career.
13GeorgePerle, "Berg's Master Array of the Interval Cycles," Musical
Quarterly63 (1977), 1-30; Elliott Antokoletz, "IntervalCyclesin Stravinsky's
Early Ballets," Journalof the AmericanMusicologicalSociety34 (1986), 578-
614; Marianne Kielian-Gilbert, "Relationships of SymmetricalPitch-Class
Sets and Stravinsky'sMetaphor of Polarity," Perspectivesof New Music 21
(1982-83), 209-240; Menachem Zur, "Tonal Ambiguities as a Constructive
Force in the Languageof Stravinsky,"Musical Quarterly68 (1982), 516-526.
Cyclic intervallicrepetitions are also central to the studies of Bart6k by Erno
Lendvai, The Workshop of Bart6k and Kodaly (Budapest: Editio Musica,
1983)and by Elliott Antokoletz, TheMusicof Bela Bart6k:A Studyof Tonality
and Progressionin Twentieth-Century Music(Berkeley: Universityof Califor-
nia Press, 1984). Another composerfrom this period who workedwithinterval
cycles is KarolSzymanowski(1882-1937); see Ann K. McNamee, "Bitonality,
Mode, and Interval in the Music of Karol Szymanowski,"Journal of Music
Theory29 (1985), 61-84.
IntervalCycles as Compositional
Resources 45
form a viable system of internallydefined pitch relationships
and suggest fertile means for musical development and trans-
formation.
The descriptionof Ives's incorporationof intervalcycles in
the followingpages cites evidence frommusicwrittenat various
stages in his composingperiod, primarilyincludingworks that
are of the experimentaltype, though not exclusiveto this cate-
gory. The discussioncenters firston cyclicrepetitionsof single
intervals, and then on alternatingrepetitionsof two different
intervals,or combinationcycles.Each topic includesdefinitions
of terminologyand establishmentof analyticalmethodology.A
final area of discussionillustratesparticularcompositionalap-
plicationsof cycles, generallyin largermusicalcontexts.
CYCLES.
SINGLE-INTERVAL A linear pitch-class (pc) presenta-
tion translatesto a segmentnotated as integers (C = 0) sepa-
rated by commaswithin angled brackets.14The adjacentinter-
vals, or ordered pitch-class intervals, form the INT of a
segment, notated as integers (1-11) separated by dashes and
enclosed in angledbrackets.15Example1 illustratesthe applica-
tion of these notations to a violin line from Ives's Largo Riso-
luto No. 1 (1906).16An INT containingexclusiverepetitionsof
14Theterm segmentis used here as definedin Robert D. Morris, Composi-
tion with Pitch Classes:A Theoryof CompositionalDesign (New Haven and
London: Yale University Press, 1987), 37, 64. Morris defines segments of
pitches (pseg) and pitch classes (pcseg). A segment is orderedby definition.
15Anordered pc interval, or directedintervalin Milton Babbitt'sterminol-
ogy, is calculated by subtracting(mod 12) the first pc from the second. See
Morris,62 and John Rahn, BasicAtonal Theory(New York: Longman,1980),
25-27. The term INT is defined in Morris, 107.
'6Dates of composition are those given by John Kirkpatrickin The New
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 6th ed., s.v. "Ives, Charles E."
These dates are primarilybased on evidence from Ives's scores and memoirs,
although the reliability of these sources has been questioned by Solomon
("Questions of Veracity"). Until Solomon's questions and speculations are
subjected to further analysis, Kirkpatrick'sdates representthe most accurate
informationavailable.
46 Music Theory Spectrum
Example 1. Largo Risoluto No. 1, mm. 24-25, first violin.
3 25
A I4
I
-I-
J
>I
r rL )- ^
,>
^ 6.- _
3
Y
L3L I i
pc <4, 9, 2, 7, 0, 5, 10, 3, 8,
INT <5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5>
a single intervalgenerates a segment that is cyclic in that it re-
turnsto its point of origin;the repetitionof interval5 in Exam-
ple 1 is an interval-5cyclethat generatesthe returnof pc 4 at the
downbeatof m. 25.17The numberof pcs generatedby the cyclic
repetitionof a given intervalis the cardinality,or CARD of the
cycle, which totals 12 in Example 1, a completionof the aggre-
gate. The familiarcyclic pitch-classstructureshave CARDs of
12 (interval-1, -5, -7, or -11 cycles), 6 (interval-2or -10), 4
(interval-3or -9), 3 (interval-4or -8), or 2 (interval-6).The or-
der of presentationof the pcs generatedby a cycle may be indi-
cated by italicized integers representingorder position (op),
extendingfrom 0 for the initialpc to CARD-1for the last.
Ives's interest in cyclic structuresoriginates with the in-
stances of chromaticand whole-tone scales appearingin music
from various stages of his life. In his Memos, he describesan
early, father-influencedexercise in which he played the chro-
matic scale with octave displacements,creating"widejumpsin
the counterpointand lines."18Ives's chromaticscale presenta-
Notes in brackets in musical excerpts are correctionsof misprintsin the
published score, confirmedthroughcomparisonwith the originalmanuscript
(housed in the Ives Collection at Yale).
17Morrisdefines a cycle (pcyc and pccyc) more generally to apply to any
reiterative segment, regardlessof whether an intervallicrepetition occurs in
the INT (pp. 37, 65). The resultingintervallicsuccessionis the cyclicINT, or
CINT(pp. 40, 107).
18Memos,44 (and musical example). Kirkpatrickrecalls that "Ives told
George Roberts [one of his copyists] that his father had him do chromatic
scales with each intervala minor 9th" (Memos, 44, n. 5).
tions often take this form, bringing the scale, and thus the
interval-1 or -11 cycle, to its completion in a melodic setting
I ,^ that either reverses directions frequently, producing linear an-
gularity, or moves in the same direction to cover a large regis-
3I tral span. The early sketch shown in Example 2a employs the
1, 6, 11> <4,...
"wide jumps" technique in a melodic line with direction
changes, establishing a displacement pattern in the first mea-
sure that is duplicated a fourth higher in the second.19 Example
2b gives a portion of the piano part to the song Soliloquy that
employs the unidirectional approach, stating scale segments
first with interval 1 (pitch interval 13), and then with interval
11. The second arpeggio (mm. 4-5) presents six pitch-classes
that are not stated in the arpeggio of the previous two mea-
sures, leaving only pc 0 absent from the upper voice of the
passage.20
Ives's best-known incorporations of the whole-tone scale
are in the Finales to the Second String Quartet (1907-13) and
Fourth Symphony (1909-16). Both works conclude with thick,
layered textures of repeated figures above reiterated whole-
tone scales, producing an arrival point of stability that repre-
sents a kind of resolution of the many musical and extramusical
conflicts that have previously been prevalent.21 The beginning
19Thesketch appears in Charles Ives's hand in George Ives's Copybook.
See John Kirkpatrick,A TemporaryMimeographedCatalogueof the Music
Manuscriptsand Related Materialsof CharlesEdward Ives 1874-1954 (New
Haven: Libraryof the Yale University School of Music, 1960), 214, Cat. No.
7A2. The paginationof the Copybookis Kirkpatrick's.The catalogue(p. 214)
lists the probabledates for Ives's sketchingsin the Copybookas 1890-93. This
scale setting reappears on p. [71] of the Copybook in a short organ work
Kirkpatrickcalls "BurlesquePostlude"(Kirkpatrick,Catalogue,219, Cat. No.
7C6). Ives uses the scale in canon, precededby chromaticlines in contrarymo-
tion.
20Similartechniquesappearin Overthe Pavements(1906-13), mm. 81-92,
piano, and in four worksnamed by Kirkpatrickin Memos, 44, n. 5.
21Ives'stitle for the finale of the Quartetis "The Call of the Mountains,"
indicating that the "4 men" personified by the instrumentshave concluded
their "Discussions"of the firstmovement and "Arguments"of the second and
 IntervalCyclesas Compositional
Resources 47

Example 2. "Widejumps"treatmentof the chromaticscale. parts contribute to a minimizationof temporal qualities, sup-
a. George Ives's copybook, p. [68]. porting the projection of an ethereal, spirituallytranscendent
qualityfor the conclusionto the work.22
Two basic features of the chromaticand whole-tone scales
are relevantto Ives's pitch structuresin general. First,the com-
pc<0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 10, 11, 1, 0> plete uniformityof intervalsizes in the scalesis a desirablechar-
acteristicthat Ives exploits to highlightthe effects of repetition,
b. Soliloquy, mm. 2-5, piano. as at the end of the Second Quartet, and to create a consistency
A A of pitch structurefrom intervallicsaturation.Applied to other
intervals, repetition may generate pitch materialsthat are less
attractiveowing to their tonal connotationsand low cardinal-
' 4 A1 ity; this may be true of the repetitions of intervals3 and 4 or
I"'18 18
1> 18
^^ IL ^ 18 theirinverses, and of interval6. However, intervals5 and7 pro-
i\if
vide rich resources for harmonic saturation and have been
widely used to ensure nontraditionalconstructionaluniform-
upper-
voice v
va- - J loco 8va ity.23Ives views his song "The Cage," for example, as "a study
pc: <1, 2, 3,
4, 5> < 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6> of how chordsof 4ths and 5ths may throwmelodies awayfroma
INT: < 1-- 1- 1 - 1> < 11-11-11-11 - 11> set tonality," noting that "To make music in no particularkey
has a nice name nowadays-'atonality.' "24
The second influentialfeatureof the scales, as for any of the
cycles, is their insurance of pitch-class variety, or non-
of this section of the Quartet, shown in Example3, is anchored repetition. Ives's concern for avoidance of pc repetition allies
on the repetition of the scale in the cello, forminga seven-beat
ostinato that is noncoincidentalwith the one-measurepattern
in the viola, the ten-beat ostinato in the second violin, and the 22Thesefactorsdemonstratethe "spatial"qualitiesof Ives'smusicobserved
fragmentof the tune "Bethany"in the firstviolin, all of which by Robert Morgan, "SpatialFormin Ives," in An Ives Celebration:Papersand
supporta tonal center of D (see bracketsin Ex. 3). The absence Panels of the Ives CentennialFestival-Conference,ed. H. Wiley Hitchcockand
of rhythmic variation in the whole-tone presentation in the Vivian Perlis (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1977), 145-158. Morgan
cites, among other factors, "fragmentation"and "the simultaneouscombina-
cello, the lack of intervallicvarietyin the cello's repeatedmate- tion of two or more independent, though related musicalcontinuities"as con-
rial, and the avoidance of metric correlation with the other tributorsto spatial effects, both of which would apply to this passage in the
Quartet.
23Thisis the intent of Schoenberg, for example, in the chapter entitled
have now walked "up the mountainsideto view the firmament!"(Kirkpatrick, "Chords Constructed in Fourths," in Theory of Harmony, trans. Roy E.
Catalogue,60). Ives describesthe Finale to the Symphonyas "an apotheosisof Carter (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978), 399-410. See also
the preceding content, in terms that have something to do with the reality of "Chords by Fourths," in Vincent Persichetti, Twentieth-CenturyHarmony
existence and its religiousexperience." See CharlesE. Ives, "TheFourthSym- (New York: Norton, 1961), 93-108.
phony for Large Orchestra,"New Music Quarterly2/2 (January1929):[ii]. 24Ives,Memos, 56.
 ,

48 MusicTheorySpectrum

Example 3. Second StringQuartet,thirdmovement,mm. 123-126.

Adagio maestoso 125
8va .. .-----------
-- - -, 3 3 3
, Otlt -a It9Rt -e iff: -&
i I I I I Ir I I I
v
ff

ff a n_ I
EXtt

3 - ,,--_ 3 ---
r-----3 - 3-- -- 3 -

ir i rIT T i
ff I I

fl-I
F T' t?- F t
dJu
I --4 I
a rI. f4w
I
-E- -.
ff

him with his friend CarlRuggles, who is saidto have advocated The union of intervallicuniformityand pitch-classvariety
statingat least "seven or eight differentnotes [pitchclasses]in a may yield a plan of organizationfor melodicor harmonicstruc-
melody" before introducinga repetition.25The composeris as- tures. In a brief sketch that Ives gives the title Song in 5's, for
sured of maximal pitch-class variety, without repetition, in example, chords of stacked fifths are related throughassocia-
chromaticcompletionsand in structuresbased on intervals5 or tion with a generating interval-5 cycle.27The sketch, tran-
7, such as the melodic line illustratedin Example 1. Methodical scribedin Example 4, consists of four sonoritiesconnected by
generation of the aggregateis also possible in a complementa- an upper melodic line that is itself a whole-tone pentachord,a
tion of the other cycles, such as, for example, a combinationof combination reminiscent of the juxtaposition of chords in
pitch classes from "odd" and "even"whole-tone scales.26 fourths with a whole-tone melody in "The Cage." The pitch
classes in the lowest voices of chords1 and 2 connectto the up-
per voices of the ensuing chords as continuations of the
2sHenryCowell, New Musical Resources(1930; repr. New York: Knopf, interval-5cycle indicatedbelow the score. Aggregate comple-
1950), 41-42. See Steven E. Gilbert, "The 'Twelve-ToneSystem'of CarlRug-
gles: A Studyof the Evocationsfor Piano,"Journalof Music Theory14 (1970),
68-91.
26DaveHeadlamdefines this type of complementationas an "extension"of 27Kirkpatrick,Catalogue,226, No. 7E38. The compilerdoes not suggest a
an interval cycle in "The Derivation of Rows in Lulu," Perspectivesof New date for the sketch. It appears within materials relating to the "Thoreau"
Music24/1 (1985), 203. movement of the ConcordSonata, which was composed around1910-15.
 IntervalCycles as Compositional
Resources 49

Example 4. Song in 5's. scale, eventually stating an augmentedtriad on each of the 12

chord 1 2 3 4 possible roots.29
Because each pc representationof an interval-4cycle is sym-
metricallysituatedwithinone of the whole-tone scales, the lin-
:s .n7 : e ear whole-tone presentationmay be viewed as a gradual"un-
folding" of alternate members of the interval-4 cycles.
d 3
'
bI: b6 Correspondingly,the augmentedtriadsbuilt above each scale
[7]
step alternateappearancesas notated below the score in Exam-
ple 5: cycles I and III alternatein the initialdescent (mm. 1-4)
chord: 1 2 3 and cycles II and IV alternate in the subsequentascent. Each
2, 0, 5 5, 10, 3, 8, 1 1,6, 11, 4>
cycle exhibitsa complete rotationof its verticalarrangementto
pc<9, 7,
exhaustthe possible augmented-triadroots and thus the aggre-
INT <5 - 5 -5 -5 . . . 4
gate. Cycle I, for instance, moves from pc <0,4,8> in m. 1 to
<8,4,0> in m. 2 and to <4,8,0> in m. 3. The passagethus be-
comes saturated with cyclic formations from the horizontal
tion is achieved in chord 3, followed in the final sonority by a
whole-tone cycles (interval-2or -10) and their supportof verti-
repetition of pitch classes from the latter partof the cycle. cal interval-4cycles undergoingregularpatternsof rotation.
In the early choral work Psalm 54 (1894?), a bidimensional
The excerptfrom Psalm54 in Example5 is typicalin thatthe
projection of repetitiveintervallicstructuresexploits the circu-
purewhole-tone saturationin the lower voices providesa cyclic
larityinherent in the materials,achievinga more extensive ex- frameworkfor a process of embellishmentin the uppervoices
position of cyclicideas than in similarpassagesfromthe Finales that introduces pitch classes from outside the prevailinghar-
of the Second StringQuartet and FourthSymphony.Example
monies. The cycle thus serves a role that mightbe fulfilledby a
5 is a reduction in short score of the first of the seven verses,
diatonic scale or scale segment in a tonal context. This ap-
which exhibits a patternof half-note chordsin the lower voices
embellished by added notes in the uppervoices. This same ar- proach is also evident in Ives's music as an embellishmentof
repetitiveintervallicstructuresthat do not reachcycliccomple-
rangement is used in the setting of verse 2 (mm. 7-13) and
tion, includingpassages based on seconds, fourths, or fifths as
againin the setting of the finalverse (mm. 44-57) withthe roles controllersof linear motion.30
exchanged (half-note chords in the upper voices, and so
forth).28The upper embellishments(circledin Ex. 5) decorate
a lower-rangeprojection of augmentedtriadsrooted on notes
of the descending whole-tone scale, completingan octave de-
29Thepassage is describedsimilarlyin H. Wiley Hitchcock,Ives:A Survey
scent at the downbeatof m. 4. The projectionof the triadsthen of the Music (London: Oxford UniversityPress, 1977; repr. New York: Insti-
reverses direction and shifts to the complementarywhole-tone tute for Studies in American Music, 1983), 29-31. The chords could also be
viewed as resulting from three whole-tone scales moving in parallel major
thirds.
28Verses3 through 6 are set in a contrastingcontrapuntalstyle employing 30See,for example, the embellishmentof an interval-5sequence in the first
double canon. movement of the Second StringQuartet, mm. 28-33, firstviolin.
50 MusicTheorySpectrum

Example 5. Psalm54, mm. 1-6.

Save me, O God, by thy
[Largo maestoso]

I III I III I III

name, and judge me by thy strength,

I II IV II IV II IV

I. <0, 4, 8> II. <1, 5, 9> III. <2, 6, 10> IV. <3, 7, 11>

Embellishment techniques also help interpret passages
where, unlike the Psalm54 excerpt, the underlyingcycle is less
explicitly stated within the texture. An elaboration of an
interval-11cycle, realized as a descendingchromaticscale, oc-
curs in the passage from Ives's Study No. 20 (1908?) given in
Example 6a, spanning eight bars and reachingcompletion in
the bass registerfour octaves below its initialpitch. The chro-
maticdescent beginswith the C#6 in beat 1 of m. 6, statedas the
top note in an instance of 3-5 [0,1,6].31This trichordappears
31Set-classlabels throughoutthis articleare those of Allen Forte. See The
Structureof Atonal Music (New Haven and London: Yale University Press,
1973), Appendix 1(179-181).
beneath several of the scale steps, combiningthe intervalsof a
fourth or fifth plus a tritone to accompanythe participantsin
the chromaticdescent.
The circled notes in Example 6a follow the descent of the
scale down a fifth in the right hand to F#5 in m. 8. Singularly
absent from the scalar unfolding is pc 9, which occurs as the
bass grace note in mm. 6-8 and as the pedal startingin m. 1 of
the Study.Example6b summarizesthe descentplusthe accom-
panying3-5s, incorporatingthe missingpc 9 in its appropriate
position and actualregister.When the line transfersto the left
hand in m. 9, two scale tones are stated simultaneouslyas part
of a 3-5 and are subsequentlyreiteratedin the bass of m. 10
(the reiterationis enclosed in bracketsin Ex. 6b). The remain-

Example 6. StudyNo. 20, mm. 6-14.
a.
a. tem~
tmpo pnmo
06
- "
l^^r ,^1 dlJ
-'
J l^
-TI
der of the descent is accomplishedby successivetranspositions
of a three-beatpatternin the left handthatincludesthis reitera-
tion and comes to rest on the 3-5; the firststatementof the pat-
tern is m. 10 through the first beat of m. 11, bracketedbelow
the score in Example 6a. Since each three-beat unit is trans-
posed down a half step, the descent continues with each new
transpositionlevel, as highlightedby the stemmednotes in Ex-
ample 6b. After arrivingat C#2 on the thirdbeat of m. 13, the
pattern returns to its original pitch level, with mm. 14-17 re-
peating mm. 10-13 exactly.
The adjacent intervals forming the 3-5s beneath the scale
tones, as notated in Example 6b, reverse their positions in the
course of the presentationfrom 7 above 6 at the firsttwo scale
tones to 6 above 7 in m. 7 and in mm. 9-13, portrayingthe final
left-handtrichordsas mirrorsof the firsttwo in the righthand.
These trichords, which also include chromatic intervals be-
tween the outer notes, provide a consistent characterfor the
Resources 51
IntervalCyclesas Compositional
1 14i 2 13
'^n^ rK ^n
^
n i ,J ,~ I I i ,
steps in the chromaticline, contributingto the associationof
pitches that are registrallyseparatedas part of a unifiedstate-
ment of the cyclicpitch source.
Other embellishmentproceduresalter a sourcenot through
additionof notes surroundingthe cyclicunfoldingbut through
rearrangementof the pitch classes of the source alone. A cycli-
cally generated pc set is thus used as an unorderedcollection
that provides materialfor a melodic or harmonicsetting. With
cycles of cardinality12, the source providesa convenientpoint
of departurefor aggregateconstructions;Ives typicallyretains
featuresof the source so that the originsof the materialare im-
mediately apparent.A principaltheme in the RobertBrowning
Overture(1908-12) employs a displacementof a single pitch
class within the generationof an interval-7cycle, producingan
aggregate ordering and an INT of <7-7-2-7-7-7-7-7-7-11-8>.
One transpositionof this theme, for example, is an alterationof
<3,10,5,0,7,2,9,4,11,6,1,8>, a strictrepetitionof interval7, to
52 MusicTheorySpectrum

Example 7. Three-PageSonata, derivationof left hand, ceive emphasisat the beginningof m. 79 fromthe repetitionof
mm. 77-79. pc 8, matchingthe repetitionof pc 2 in m. 77; this reinforcesa
less direct connectionwith the source cycle in the latterpart of
a. source
interval-5 op 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 the pattern.
p
cycle -- Ives's most extensive and most systematicallycomprehen-
?t0 t
cycl
4:0 ? b"o to f lo o sive employment of single-intervalcycles occurs in the early
pc 9 2 7 0 5 10 3 8 1 6 11 4 choralwork Psalm 24 (1894?).34The setting of each of the ten
verses is based on a mirroringof inversionallycomplementary
cycles that makes possible a gradualregistralexpansionor con-
b. left pc 9 2 7 0 5 6 1 4 10 8 3 8 11 traction, simulatinga registral"wedge"between lines moving
hand,
mm
mm. 77 3 r 3- .-- 78
7 ---3 r-- 3 79
----- 3- in contrarymotion. Typically,a mirroringof a given cycle will
--
77-79 Ir , provide the pitch-class source material, or "model," for the
KI . r
verse, while the actualpitchrealizationmay employ octave dis-
- --
INT <7-5--5 5--1-7-3- 10-7-5-3>
placementsto obscurea literalregistralenactmentof the wedge
shape. In the pitch-classmodel, the graduallinearchangespro-
duce gradationsof verticalintervalsizes and a consistentsym-
produce <3,10,5,7,2,9,4,11,6,1,0,8>, accomplishedby mov- metricalaxis, while octave variationson the patternin the mu-
ing pc 0 from op 3 to op 10.32 sical settings disrupt the vertical intervallic regularity and
A pitch-classsuccessionin Ives's Three-PageSonata (1905) mobilize the axis of symmetry.
employs a more extensive reorderingin an aggregateconstruc- Verse 1 of the Psalm, for example, is basedon the mirroring
tion while still retaininga displayof elements of its intervallic of intervals1 and 11 outlinedin Figure1. This chromaticwedge
source. Example7a displaysthe interval-5cycle that servesas a expandsthe verticaldistancesbetween voices in incrementsof
point of departurefor the aggregateof Example7b (the finalpc two from 0 to 24. Ives's realizationof the model, however, em-
2 of m. 79 begins a repetition of the pitch-classmaterial).33Af- ploys the "widejumps"technique(see Example2), so that the
ter five pitch classes drawnwithout variationfrom the source, cyclic model determines only the pitch-class content of the
the line presents pc <6,1>, or a reversalof sourceops 8 and 9, voices involved, not a pitch-specificregistralpattern.Example
followed by pc 4, which is the finalnote in the source, and then 8 is a two-stave reduction of verse 1, illustratingthe octave-
pc <10,8,3,8>, a rearrangementof ops 5, 6, and 7. The INT displaced cycles of intervals 1 and 11 in the outer voices, sup-
notated below Example 7b illustratesthe presenceof interval5 ported by chromaticlines in the inner voices. In the first two
andits inverse7 withina sequencethat also includesintervals1, measures, the octave displacementsare themselves mirrored:
3, 6, and 10. Withinthis intervallicvariety,intervals5 and 7 re- both sopranoand bass shiftto outer octaves at the firstchordof
m. 2, emphasizing the word "Lord's." Because both voices
32Thisoccurs in the cello, mm. 50-52. The firstpresentationof this theme
(bassoon and trombone, mm. 46-49) has some pitch inaccuraciesthat prevent 34Asis the case with Psalm 54, Ives probablyworkedon Psalm24 with his
aggregatecompletion, probablythe resultsof copyingor calculationerrors. father around 1893-94, though no specificrecollectionof a collaborationap-
33Inthe original, this line is doubled an octave lower. pears in Memos or elsewhere. (See Memos, 47.)
 IntervalCycles as Compositional
Resources 53

Example 8. Psalm24, verse 1, two-stavereduction.

The earth is the Lord's and the ful- ness there-of, the world and they that dwell there - in.

1i 2 3 4 6 ^

^OF^^r .. -
Figure 1. Pitch-class model of Psalm 24, verse 1 (mm. 1-6).
int. 1
cycle: 10 11 0
12 3 45 6 789
int. 11 0
11 10 9 8 7 6
cycle: 5 4 3 2 1 0
vertical
distance: 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 44

shift, the symmetrical axis remains stable (at C4). Subse-
quently, in m. 3, the sopranoemploysthe octave leap while the
bass continues its half-step descent, avoiding pitches in the
lower part of the bass register; this shifts the axis upward(to
F#4) for the firsttwo beats of m. 3. The unmirroredshiftscon-
tinue in the remainderof the verse, continuallymovingthe axis
and unpredictablyvaryingthe sizes of the verticalintervals.
Similarproceduresgovern a mirroringof intervals2 and 10
in verse 2, initiatinga verse-by-versepatternof progressivein-
creases in the intervalsizes of the cyclic model that culminates
with a cycle of interval 7 mirroredby 5 beginning in verse 7
(mm. 35-44). This is followed by a rapidreductionin interval
sizes in the final two verses, with several cycles used in each
verse, concludingwith an interval-1source in the final phrase
(mm. 53-57, not mirroredin the bass voice). Thus the overall
structureof Psalm 24 is based on a wedge-like expansion and
contractionof intervalsizes that is reflectedin the cyclicpitch-
class model of each verse.35
Ives's interest in maximizingpitch-classvariety is naturally
relevantto a systematicexplorationof cycles such as Psalm24.
Intervals1 and 2 are sourcesfor verses 1 and 2, intervals5 and7
control verses 5 and 7, respectively, and interval 3, despite a
low cardinality (4), is used (with pc repetitions) in verse 3.
Rather than employing interval4 (CARD 3) in verse 4 and in-
35HitchcockdescribesPsalm24 similarlyin Ives:A Surveyof theMusic, 31-
32.
54 MusicTheorySpectrum
terval 6 (CARD 2) in verse 6, however, Ives introducesvaria-
tions in the scheme that promote greater pitch-classvariety.
The pitch-classmodels for verses 4 and 6 are based on alterna-
tions of intervals:verse 4 alternatesintervals3 and 4 (mirrored
by intervals 9 and 8), and verse 6 alternatesintervals5 and 6
(mirroredby 7 and 6). Cyclicrepetitionsof thistype, essentially
combinationsof two single-intervalcycles, representa fruitful
areafor furtherinquiryinto the more sophisticatedexperimen-
tation of Ives's later years.
The idea of a "combination cycle," or
CYCLES.
COMBINATION
a cyclic alternation of two intervals, presents itself early in
Ives's works as, for example, a combinationof major and mi-
nor thirds (intervals4 and 3). In addition to their role in the
pitch-classwedge materialof verse 4 of Psalm 24, these inter-
vals combine to form chordsof "stackedthirds"in organworks
fromthe 1890s,includingan interludefor a churchservice36and
organpartsfrom the cantataTheCelestialCountry(1898-99).37
These structures realize a suggestion from Ives's father, re-
called by Ives in his Memos: "If two major or minor 3rds can
make up a chord, why not more?"38While Ives'schordsexhibit
different distributionsof the two intervals, some, such as the
sonoritiesin the Introductionto No. 7 in TheCelestialCountry,
employ a strictalternationbetween the two intervalsto gener-
ate a large, regularlystructuredchordwithoutpitch-classdupli-
cations.39Ives's exploration of other intervallic alternations
raises questions about the gamutof possibilitiesfor these types
36Transcribedin Henry and SidneyCowell, CharlesIves and His Music,35.
Kirkpatrick(Catalogue, 107) gives the probabledate for the interludeas 1892.
37See,for example, the Preludebefore No. 2 andthe Introductionto No. 7.
38Ives,Memos, 47. See also related recollections,33 and 120.
39Anotherinstance occurs in Psalm 90, m. 2. The stacked thirds of m. 2
recurthroughoutthe work to serve as partof a "harmonicleitmotif"system, as
described by Donald Grantham, "A Harmonic 'Leitmotif' System in Ives's
Psalm 90," In TheoryOnly 5/2 (1979), 3-14.
of structures,their ability to generate pitch-classvariety, and
their contributionsto Ives's compositionallanguage.
The alternationof intervals4 and 3 in Figure2, a "4/3"com-
binationcycle, can be viewed as a combinationof an "A set" of
pitch classes in the even-numberedorder positions with a "B
set" in the odd-numberedpositions. Both the A and B sets in
this case are generatedby cycles of interval7, whichis the sum
(mod 12) of the two alternatingintervals.Conceptually,the A
and B sets constitutean "overlay"of a cycle with itself at a par-
ticularinterval:the 4/3 cycle overlaystwo interval-7cycles at a
distanceof interval4.40ViewingIves'sintervallicalternationsas
combinationcycles assumes a transpositionalequivalencebe-
tween the combinedcycles, and encompassesanypossibletwo-
interval alternation.41In general terms, x + y = n (mod 12),
wherex andy are anytwo alternatingintervalsoverlayingcycles
of intervaln. The possible values of x and y for a given n are
defined by the operatorcycles TnI (see Table 1). For example,
where n = 7, as in Figure 2, the possible values of x and y are
indicatedby T7Icycles:
x/y = 0/7, 7/0, 1/6, 6/1,2/5, 5/2, 3/4, 4/3, 8/11, 11/8, 9/10, or 10/9.
A simple exchange of the x/y values, as in converting9/10 to
10/9, has only a subtle effect on the presentationof the two al-
4This approachbears similaritiesto that of Elliott Antokoletz, in TheMu-
sic ofBela Bart6k, in which interval-1cycles are combinedin orderto explain
symmetricalpitch constructions,thoughhis studydoes not extend the concept
to encompass combinationsof other cycles. Along these same lines, the com-
positionalsystem of George Perle outlinedin Twelve-ToneTonality(Berkeley:
University of CaliforniaPress, 1977) combines cycles of every interval, but is
primarily concerned with inverse-related cycles and their compositional
applications.
41Theconcept may be naturallyextended to encompassmore than two in-
tervalsin alternation, thus possibly involvinga combinationof several cycles.
Ives rarely uses such a sequence, and the present discussionis limited to two
alternatingintervals.Morris'sconcept of a cyclicINTwould applyto cyclicrep-
etitions of any type (CompositionWithPitch Classes,40, 107).

Figure 2. 4/3 combination cycle.
op: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
B set: 4 11 6 1
(pc)
A set: 0 7 2 9 4
(pc) I
PCL = 8
first repetition
ternating intervals, but may more significantlyinfluence as-
pects of the pitch-classsuccession.
Where n is even, the presence of a singleton cycle indicates
that x = y, expressing a single-intervalcycle as an alternation
of two identicalintervals.If n = 10, for example, x/y can be 5/5
or 11/11in additionto 0/10, 1/9, and so on, because5 and 11 are
the singletons of the T1oIcycles. A subdivision of this type
within an interval-5cycle (x/y = 5/5) is apparentin Example 1,
where Ives highlightsthe underlyinginterval-10cycle through
accentuationand registralassociation.
Though a combinationinvolvinga CARD-12 cycle will con-
tinue to op 23, Ives is typicallymost concernedwiththe number
of pcs prior to repetition, the "pitch-classlength" (PCL) of a
combinationcycle. The PCL of the 4/3 cycle illustratedin Fig-
ure 2 is 8, because eight pcs (op 0-7) are statedpriorto the first
repetition:pc 4 at op 8 is a repetitionof the pc at op 1. Thus, in a
numberingof order positions that begins with 0, the op of the
firstrepeated pc will correspondto the value of the PCL.
The value of the PCL is a functionof the CARD of the over-
laid single-intervalcycle and of the content of the A and B sets.
For combinationsof cycles of CARD 12, the pitch classesof A
and B will always be the same, allowing a variety of possible
PCL values. Overlaidcycles with cardinalitiessmallerthan 12,
however, exhibit either complete equivalence of pitch-class
content between the A and B sets or complete nonequivalence.
IntervalCycles as Compositional
Resources 55
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
8 3 10 5 0 7 2 9
11 6 1 8 3 10 5
The combinationwill be termed "reiterative"where the pitch-
class content of A and B is the same, or "nonreiterative"where
the pitch-classcontent of the A and B sets is different. Mem-
bershipof any combinationin one of these two categoriesis dis-
played by the x/y values: if x and y are multiples(mod 12) of n,
the combinationis reiterative,andif x andy arenot multiplesof
n the combinationis nonreiterative.The four CARD-12 cycles
(n = 1, 5, 7, 11) generate only reiterative combinationsbe-
cause all possible x/y values are multiples(mod 12) of the n val-
ues, while the other cycles may or may not generatereiterative
combinations.For example, where n = 2, reiterativecombina-
tions resultwhen x/y = (multiplesof 2) 0/2, 2/0, 4/10, 10/4, 6/8,
and 8/6, but nonreiterative combinations result when
x/y = (non-multiples)1/1, 3/11, 11/3, 5/9, 9/5, and 7/7. In the
case of interval-2cycles (and interval-10),a nonreiterativecom-
bination produces aggregate completion from combiningthe
odd and even whole-tone collections.
Prediction of the PCL in nonreiterative combinations is
achieved by doubling the CARD of the n-cycle: PCL =
CARD(n) x 2. That is, the numberof pitch classes in both A
and B together totals the numberof uniquepitch classesin the
segment. PCL predictionfor reiterativecombinationsentails a
more extensive calculationprocedure.Everypossiblecombina-
tion of a cycle with itself, and thusevery PCLvalue, is displayed
in a comparison of a constant A set with each rotation of
56 Music Theory Spectrum

Table 1. Valuesfor x/y andPCLin combinationcycles.

[x/y, PCL] [etc.]
n R=0 R= 1 R=2 R=3 R=4 R= = 5 R=6 R=7 R=8 R=9 R = 10 R = 11

1 0/1, 1 1/0, 2 2/11,4 3/10,6 4/9,8 5/E

3,10 6/7,12 7/6,11 8/5,9 9/4,7 10/3,5 11/2,3

2 0/2, 1 2/0, 2 4/10,4 6/8, 6 8/6, 5 10/,4,3

*1/1,12 3/11,12 5/9,12 7/7,12 9/5,12 11/3,12

3 0/3, 1 3/0, 2 6/9, 4 9/6, 3

*1/2, 8 4/11,8 7/8, 8 10/5,8
*2/1, 8 5/10,8 8/7, 8 11/4,8

4 0/4, 1 4/0, 2 8/8, 3

*1/3, 6 5/11,6 9/7, 6
*2/2, 6 6/10,6 10/6,6
*3/1, 6 7/9, 6 11/5,6

5 0/5, 1 5/0, 2 10/7,4 3/2, 6 8/9, 8 1/'4,10 6/11,12 11/6,11 4/1, 9 9/8, 7 2/3, 5 7/10,3

6 0/6, 1 6/0, 2
*1/5, 4 7/11,4
*2/4, 4 8/10,4
*3/3, 4 9/9, 4
*4/2, 4 10/8, 4
*5/1, 4 11/7, 4

7 0/7, 1 7/0, 2 2/5, 4 9/10, 6 4/3, 8 11/8,10 6/1,12 1/6,11 8/11,9 3/4,7 10/9,5 5/2,3

8 0/8, 1 8/0, 2 4/4, 3

*1/7, 6 9/11,6 5/3, 6
*2/6, 6 10/10,6 6/2, 6
*3/5, 6 11/9, 6 7/1, 6

9 0/9, 1 9/0, 2 6/3, 4 3/6, 3

*1/8, 8 10/11,8 7/2, 8 4/5, 8
*2/7, 8 11/10,8 8/1, 8 5/4, 8

10 0/10,1 10/0, 2 8/2, 4 6/4, 6 4/6, 5 2/8, 3

*1/9,12 11/11,12 9/1,12 7/3,12 5/5,12 3/7,12

11 0/11,1 11/0, 2 10/1, 4 9/2, 6 8/3, 8 7/4,10 6/5,12 5/6,11 4/7, 9 3/8,7 2/9,5 1/10,3
*rowsprecededby asteriskslist nonreiterativecombinations
 IntervalCycles as Compositional
Resources 57

Table 1 (cont.) the first pc repetition occurs in the B set, repeatingthe ini-
TI Cycles tial pc of the A set.

T1I (0-1) (2-11) (3-10) (4-9) (5-8) (6-7)

4. Casel: PCL = R x 2. Case2: PCL = (R' x 2) + 1.
T2I (0-2) (1) (3-11) (4-10) (5-9) (6-8)
T31 (0-3) (1-2) (4-11) (5-10) (6-9) (7-8) Figure3a executes these four steps in calculatingthe PCLof
T41 (0-4) (1-3) (2) (5-11) (6-10) (7-9) the 3/2 combination.At step 1, R = 3, because OMABois 3: pc
T5I (0-5) (1-4) (2-3) (6-11) (7-10) (8-9) 9, the firstpc of B, occursat op 3 in A. R' is 9 for step 2, because
T61 (0-6) (1-5) (2-4) (3) (7-11) (8-10) 3 + 9 = 0 (mod 12). Step 3 determinesthat case 1 applies, and
T7I (0-7) (1-6) (2-5) (3-4) (8-11) (9-10)
T8I (0-8) (1-7) (2-6) (3-5) (4) (9-11)
step 4 calculatesthe PCL as 6. The firstpc repetitionoccursjust
TgI (0-9) (1-8) (2-7) (3-6) (4-5) (10-11)
afterthe sixth pc in the segment, at pc 9 in the A set, whichfirst
TloI (0-10) (1-9) (2-8) (3-7) (4-6) (5) occurs at the beginningof the B set.
TllI (0-11) (1-10) (2-9) (3-8) (4-7) (5-6) Figure3b gives anotherrotationof the same pitch-classma-
terialswith the four-stepPCL calculation.The value of R, cal-
culated at step 1, is 9 and its complement, R' in step 2, is 3. In
the (pitch-class equivalent) B set; CARD different rotations step 3, case 2 applies, so the PCL is calculatedto be 7 in step 4.
are possible. The PCL of a specificcombination,therefore,is a The firstpc repetitionoccursjust afterthe seventhpc in the seg-
result of the number of rotations of B with respect to A. The ment, at pc 6 in the B set, which firstoccursat the beginningof
calculation procedure for the PCL begins with the establish- the A set.
ment of order position indicatorsfor the A set, or, in Morris's Where R = 0, meaningthe orderingof A and B is identical,
notation, the order mapping of segment A, OMAA.42The the initial pc repetition occurs at its earliest possible position,
OMAAis numbered from 0 through CARD- 1, as shown be- the beginningof the B set. The PCL, therefore,followsthe case
low the A set of the 3/2 combinationcycle in Figure3a (n = 5), 2 conditions, where the first pitch class of A recurs in B to
for comparisonwith OMAB,the order mappingsof B with re- define the PCL. At step 4, either R or R' can be insertedin the
spect to A. A four-stepprocedurecalculatesthe PCL: formula, because both values are 0.
1. Determine R = OMABo.In other words, R is the A set or- Where n = 0, meaning x and y are mod 12 complements,
der position of the firstpitch class of the B set, showingthe the calculation procedure does not apply, since, technically,
numberof times B has been rotated with respect to A. this indicates an overlay of cycles of interval0. For example,
2. Find R', defined as the mod(CARD) complement of R. x/y = 5/7 defines the segment <0,5>. The PCL is 2 where
n = 0, except for x/y = 0/0, where the PCL is 1.
R + R' = 0 (mod(CARD)).
Figure4 calculatesPCL values for two reiterativecombina-
3. CompareR and R'. If R (and R') OandR < R' (Case ), tions of interval-3cycles. The CARD of this cycle is 4, requiring
the firstpc repetition occurs in the A set, repeatingthe ini- referenceto the mod 4 complementpairslistedon line a. In Fig-
tial pc of the B set. If R (and R') = 0 or R > R' (Case 2), ure 4b, the x/y values are 3/0, producingan earlypc duplication
that can easily be observed by inspection, or can be derived
42Morris,115 (DEF 3.13). The OMAAis a mappingbased on the segment through the four-step calculation procedure, as listed to the
A such that OMAAs-os. rightof the segment. The value of R is 1, whichis smallerthan
58 MusicTheorySpectrum

Figure 3. PCL calculations.

a. 3/2 combination cycle.

B set: 9 2 7 0 5 10 3 8 1 6 11 4
A set: 6 11 4 9 2 7 0 5 10 3 8 1
OMAA: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

1. R = OMABo = 3
2. R' = 9
3. R 0 and R < R' (case 1)
4. PCL = Rx2
PCL = 3x2
PCL = 6

b. 9/8 combination cycle.

B set: 3 8 1 6 11 4 9 2 7 0 5 10
A set: 6 11 4 9 2 7 0 5 10 3 8 1
OMAA: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

1. R = OMABo =9
2. R' = 3
3. R > R'(case2)
4. PCL = (R' x 2) + 1
PCL = (3 x 2)+ 1
PCL = 6+1
PCL = 7

its mod 4 complement, 3, requiringthe case-1 PCL calculation
shown at step 4. The PCL is 2: both the A and B sets state only
one pitch class before a duplicationoccurs.In Figure4c, differ-
ent dispositionsof the same A and B sets demonstratea case-2
calculationand a PCL of 3.
Once the pitch-class succession of an entire segment has
been established, rotational operations applied to the
segment-that is, to the combinationof A and B sets, not just
to the B set alone-can result in exchanges of x/y values and
variablePCLs. The values of x andy for any completesegment
 IntervalCyclesas Compositional
Resources 59

Figure 4. PCL calculations for smaller cardinalities.

0 1 2 3
a. mod 4 complements:
0 3 2 1

b. B set: 8 11 2 5 1. R OMABo = 1
A set: 5 8 11 2 2. R' 3
OMAA: 0 1 2 3 3. R 0 and R < R' (case 1)
4. PCL Rx2
PCL 1x2
PCL 2

c. B set: 2 5 8 11 1. R OMABo = 3
A set: 5 8 11 2 2. R' 1
OMAA: 0 1 2 3 3. R R' (case 2)
4. PCL (R' x 2) + 1
PCL (1 x 2) + 1
PCL 2+ 1
PCL 3

beginning on a member of the A set exchange positions for a
segment startingwith a B set member. In Figure4c, for exam-
ple, x/y = 9/6 for the original segment <5,2,8,5,11,8,2,11>
and for rotations that begin with other membersof the A set,
but x/y = 6/9 for a single rotationto <2,8,5,11,8,2,11,5> or to
a segment beginning on any other member of the B set. This
distinctionbetween x/y exchanges in reiterativecombinations
is reflected by the PCL. Obviously, the PCL is not variablein
rotations and x/y exchanges within nonreiterativecombina-
tions, where the PCL is alwaystwice the CARD. However, ro-
tations of reiterativecombinationsexhibit one of two PCL val-
ues, with a differenceof 1, dependingon whetherthey beginon
a member of the A set or a member of the B set. The original
segment in Figure 4c and any rotations to A set membersex-
hibitPCLsof 3, while all rotationsto B set membersshow PCLs
of 4. In essence, an exchangeof x/y values in a reiterativecom-
binationcycle increasesor decreasesthe PCL by one.
Table 1 summarizesx/y values arisingfrom combinationsof
interval-ncycles and the resultingPCLs. The possible values
for n are given by the cycles of TnIshown separatelyin the ta-
ble. Rows in the chartlist differentcombinationsof the same n-
cycles in both reiterativeand nonreiterativecombinations(the
latterindicatedby asterisks).Columnsrepresentdifferentrota-
tions of the B set with respect to the A set. For reiterativecom-
binations,R = 0 in column 1, indicatingthat the orderof the A
and B sets is identical, R = 1 in column 2, meaning B is one
60 MusicTheorySpectrum
rotation of A, and so forth. For nonreiterativecombinations,
the firstcolumn lists the combinationswith the smallestvalues
of x and their subsequentreadingsafter rotationsof B. In the
rotations of interval-3 cycle combinations, for example, the
first nonreiterativex/y combinationis 1/2, listed at the begin-
ning of the row that includesrotationsof B to produce4/11, 7/8,
and 10/5. A thirdrow then completesthe listingsfor n = 3, be-
ginning with x/y = 2/1, the next smallest availablevalue of x,
and includingB set rotations to generate 5/10, 8/7, and 11/4.
The chart omits values for n = 0, where x/y are mod-12 com-
plement pairswith PCLsof 1 (x/y = 0/0) or 2 (x/y = 1/11,2/10,
3/9, 4/8, 5/7, 6/6).
With regardto pitch-classcontent, the rows in the chartas-
sociated with each value of n representthe differentpitch-class
collections that are possible from the indicatedcombinations.
The number of rows for each value of n correspondsto the
numberof differentcollectionsthat can be generated:two rows
are listed for n = 2 or 10 because there are two whole-tone
pitch-classcollections, three rows are listed for n = 3 or 9 be-
cause there are three interval-3 or -9 collections (diminished
seventh chords), and so forth. In every case, combinationsin
the first(reiterative)row can generate CARD(n) unique pitch
classes, because A and B are pitch-classequivalent,while com-
binationsin any subsequent(nonreiterative)rowscan generate
(CARD(n) x 2) unique pitchclasses, becauseA and B are not
equivalent. Assuming, for purposes of illustration, that the
pitch classes of the A set are the same for each row, the pitch
classes of the B set are increased by one in successive rows.
Where n = 3, for example, a pitch-classrepresentationof row
1 could read as follows:
R=0 R=1 R=2 R=3
B set: 0369 3690 6903 9036
A set: 0369 0369 0369 0369
x/y = 0/3 3/0 6/9 9/6
Row 2 could then appear as a combinationof the same A set
with a B set of pc values that are one greaterthan the previous
row. The B set at R = 0 would be <1,4,7,10>, rotated as fol-
lows:
R=0 R=1 R=2 R=3
B set: 1 4 7 10 4 7 10 1 7 10 1 4 10 1 4 7
A set: 0369 0369 03 69 0 369
x/ = 1/2 4/11 7/8 10/5
Similarly,row 3 could begin with the B set <2,5,8,11>, or val-
ues one greater than <1,4,7,10>, rotated to generate the re-
mainingx/y combinations.
Complementaryn values containinversevaluesof x/y: every
x/y in Table 1 correspondsto anotherx/y that is its mod 12 in-
verse. These inversepairsexhibitthe same R values and do not
differ in PCL. For example, n values of 5 and 7 generate the
inverse x/y values of 1/4 and 11/8, both generatedfrom R = 5
and exhibiting a PCL of 10. Because interval 6 is its own in-
verse, all inverse pairs for n = 6 are containedin the same six
rows of the chart.
Certainly, if pitch-classvariety is a primarycompositional
aim, many of the combinationcycles in Table 1 may be of lim-
ited value. Combinationsof intervals4, 6, or 8, for example,
cannot generate a PCL greater than 6. This does not mean,
however, that the smallerPCLs are withoutcompositionalap-
plicability.Indeed, the set-classtypes of manyof the combina-
tion cycles, regardlessof the size of theirPCLs, are some of the
most common pitch-classstructuresin Ives's music, as in the
musicof other composersof his era. In the interval-6combina-
tions, for example, the nonreiterativelistingson the secondand
sixth lines of Table 1 produce4-9 [0,1,6,7], a basic element of
Ives's music at every point in his development.43Otherfamiliar
43Seefor example, the combinationsof half-step related tritones in Ives's
Second String Quartet (first movement, mm. 27, 37 [vln. 1, via.], 38 [vln. 2,
 IntervalCycles as Compositional
Resources 61

Example 9. Musicalapplicationsof combinationcycles.

a. Second StringQuartet, second movement, mm. 17-18, firstviolin.

I 4, -I LeIn
7
A 17 L^-tt-_ L_ -f
W II
PI r[ m -
I -
. fr
- LI;I f* F- Itrll
I=I '='l
PCL= 12

Bset: 6 11 4 9 2 1 4 9 2 7
A set: 0 5 10 3 8 1 0 5 10 3 8 1 (n = 5)

x/y = 6/11

b. Overthe Pavements,mm. 18-22, clarinet(concertpitch).

18
l8 .. 20 _p.. 21 22
, .

,d LJ I- V I LJ - IL Fi'i
i I i I
I I 1
x/y = 4 / 7 (n= 11)

Bset: 3 2 1 0 11 10
A set: 11 10 9 8 7 5
[7I 6
PCL =9 \
1st rep.

structures in the table include the whole-tone subset 4-25 values in reiterativeand nonreiterativecombinations.Among
[0,2,6,8] on the third and fifth rows of the interval-6combina- the more common largerstructuresis the octatonic collection,
tions, and 6-20 [0,1,4,5,8,9], one of the all-combinatorialhexa- 8-28 [0,1,3,4,6,7,9,10], derivedin nonreiterativecombinations
chords, on the second and fourth rows of the interval-4or -8 of intervals3 or 9. For combinationsof the CARD-12 cycles,
combinations. every possible PCL value (1-12) is available(see Tab. 1), pro-
When he uses these combinationsto project cyclicinterval- vidingmaterialfor some of Ives's most frequentcombinations.
lic repetitions, however, Ives typicallyfavors the larger PCL In the violin line fromhis Second StringQuartetgivenin Exam-
ple 9a, for example, Ives employs the 6/11 interval-5combina-
cello]). In TheStructureof Atonal Music, Forte cites six examplesof this tetra- tion to complete the aggregatethroughprojectionof the maxi-
chord in music of Webern, Scriabin,Stravinsky,and Berg, includingthe well- mal PCL. The segmentis repeatedbeginningon the fourthbeat
known extensive usage in Webern'sFive Movementsfor StringQuartet,Op. 5 of m. 17, following the arrivalof the twelfthpitch class, so that
No. 4 (p. 27). This set classis George Perle's "y"cell in his analysisof Op. 5 No.
the cycles in the A and B sets individuallydo not continuepast
4 in SerialCompositionandAtonality,5th ed. (Berkeley:Universityof Califor-
nia Press, 1981), 16-18. Lendvai's study of Bart6k also focuses on this tetra- their midpoints. However, since A and B are literal comple-
chord, identifyingit as one of the repetitiveinterval"models"commonin Bar- ments, the reiterationmight be viewed as a continuationof the
t6k's pitch language. individualcycles with the relative order positions exchanged:
62 MusicTheorySpectrum
the pitch classes of the initialA set complete an interval-5cycle
with the pitch classes of the reiterationof the B set, and vice
versa.
The clarinetline from Ives's Over the Pavements(1906-13)
given in Example 9b projectsa PCL of 9 from a combinationof
interval-11cycles in a 4/7 alternation.Similarto the extraction
of interval-10cycles from the 5/5 cycle in Example 1, the gener-
ating interval-11 cycles in Example 9b are registrallyassoci-
ated, in the mannerof a "compoundmelody." In mm. 18-21,
each note in the combinationcycle is of three sixteenths'dura-
tion, and this durationalconsistencyis abandonedwith the ar-
rival of the final element of the PCL, pc 7 in m. 22. After this
point, the durationsare shortenedand the A and B sets do not
continue to their individualcycliccompletions.
As with single-intervalcycles, combinationcycles may pro-
vide skeletons for patternsof embellishmentover largermusi-
cal spans. This can generate an unsystematic type of
embellishment-as is the case for the interval-11cycle of Ex-
ample6-or a frameworkfor sequentialrepetition.In Ives'spi-
ano work Rough and Ready (1906-07), for example, the ten-
note sequential pattern bracketed above the excerpt in
Example 10 occurs in six transpositionsrelated by descending
whole-steps.44Accents and slurs highlight the first and sixth
sonoritiesin each sequentialunit, projectingan alternatingde-
scent of even and odd whole-tone scales among the upper ac-
cented notes. Since the overlaydistanceis 3, the resultis the 3/7
combinationcycle, a nonreiterativewhole-tone combination.
In the sketches for his UniverseSymphony(1911-28), Ives
begins to catalogue the possibilities for combination cycles,
44Kirkpatrick,Catalogue,96 (Cat. No. 3B16ii). This work, the full title of
which is "Rough and Ready et al. and/orthe JumpingFrog," is the second of
the Five Take-Offsfor piano, as named by Kirkpatrick.It is transcribedin Al-
bert Lotto, "ExperimentalAspects of the Completed Short Piano Pieces of
CharlesIves" (D.M.A. thesis, Juilliard,1978), 112-118.
amassing pitch materials for his "Universe ... in tones."45
Sketch page 3038, as numberedby Kirkpatrick,lists cycles of
varioussizes and combinationaldistances,apparentlyin prepa-
ration for the musical settings of some of these structureson
sketch page 3036.46Example 11 literally transcribes3038, in-
cluding the composer's marginalnotations indicatinginterval
sizes and instrumentalspecifications,while excludingonly ex-
traneous markings-some of which apparently cross out
material-and erasuresor otherwiseindistinctnotations.In the
transcription,only bracketedmaterial,includingclef signs and
the numberingof the staves in the left margin,is not original.
Along the left side of the page, Ives writes letters "a," "b,"
"C," and "D" to subdividethe textureinto fourparts,although
the musicalnotations within the partsof the page correspond-
ing to each letter do not obviouslyalignas a score:the majority
of the notations are clearly the abstract pitch resources on
which each of the correspondingpartsare to be based.
Two groups of ideas on 3038 are not abstractcyclic struc-
tures. In staves 4 through8, roughlythe righthalf of the page
containsa melodic line with sustainedaccompaniment(in bass
clef, with bar lines interspersed) that apparently continues
fromthe end of staves 5 and 6 to the middleof staves7 and 8. A
second area of compositionalsetting appearson staves 11-13.
All other materialson the page are cyclicpitchrepetitions,usu-
ally notated in whole notes, often circled, and often accompa-
nied by an indicationof the intervalor intervalsthat constitute
the cyclicrepetition. In a few cases, Ives also makesnote of the
total numberof uniquepitch classes that is generated.
Includedamong the cyclicnotationson page 3038 are single
cycles of intervals10 and 11 at the beginningof staves 7 and 8.
Ives labels these, respectively, "all MIN 7" and "all MAJ 7,"
45Memos, 106; Kirkpatrick, Catalogue, 27 (Cat. No. 1A9). A
"Facsimile/Transcription" of the sketches is in preparationby Peer-Southern.
46Thesenumbersare the photostat negative numbersgiven to the rightof
each entry in Kirkpatrick'sCatalogue.
 IntervalCycles as Compositional
Resources 63

Example 10. Rough and Ready, mm. 8-15, righthand.

sequential
unit: 1 2 3 4 5 6

A A 15
A8 Et.Br^JrTr I 8 ^ ArT r1^2rrT^rrl Tr^ A^^A
A A A

ta A
1
13A 14
'"-" -K Ti PIMal

IMM"W 6"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!
J"
__-i
L
. - I iW
'lEWl I II;
@ |=I iU;; I

B set: 3 11 9 7
A set: 0 10 8 6

x/y= 3 / 7 (n = 10) PCL = 12

and allows octave transpositionsin the latter out of necessity
(see Ex. 11). On staff 8, immediately following the major-
seventh sequence, he begins a sequence of decreasinginterval
sizes that states only intervals7, 6, and 5.47The combination
cycles on the page display many of the possibilitiesfor higher
PCLvalues from combiningcyclesof intervals1,2, 3, 9, and 11.
Figure5 summarizesthe structureof all the cyclicformationsin
Example 11, giving their x/y, n, and PCL values. Partsa and b
of the figure illustrate combinationcycles found in the upper
half of the page, parts e and f show structureson staves 11 and
12, near the right margin, and partsg throughj correspondto
materialson the bottom two staves, in orderfrom left to right.
The cycles of intervals 10 and 11 on staves 7 and 8 are listed as
10/10and 11/11in partsc and d of Figure5, viewed as overlays
of interval-8and interval-10cycles, respectively.
47Ives uses sequences of descending intervals, similar to Fritz Henrich
Klein's "Pyramidenakkord," on several occasions. An early example appears
in his father's Copybook, p. [165] (Kirkpatrick Catalogue No. 7E77). See also
Tone Roads No. 1, downbeat of m. 12. See Fritz Heinrich Klein, "Die Grenze
der Halbtonwelt," Die Musik 17/4 (January 1925), 284.
The 9/4 cycle on staves 1 and 2 (Fig. 5a), the 5/8 combination
labeled by Ives "5E" on staves 11 and 12 (Fig. 5e), and the 6/7
structureon staves 15 and 16, near the center (Fig. 5i) all com-
bine cycles of interval 1 to project different PCL values. Ives
indicates, with the number "12," that the latter generates a
complete aggregatefrom an alternationof a "MIN5 [sic]"and
"Perfect5th."48The other two interval-1combinationscannot,
of course, complete the aggregatewithout pc repetitions, and
Ives continues the intervallicsequences only to the final notes
in the PCLs. On staves 1 and 2, the 9/4 combinationstops after
the seventh element (see Fig. 5a), avoidingthe continuationto
pc 0, which would reiterate the pitch class on which the se-
quence begins. The 5/8 combinationon staves 11 and 12 (with
registral shift) stops after the tenth element (see Fig. 5e) to
avoid reiteratingpc 5, firstpresented as the second element.
Interval-11combinationson the page, displayingx/y values
that are complementaryto those for interval1, presenttwo ad-
ditional PCL possibilities. The 4/7 combination at the right
marginof staves 11 and 12 (Fig. 5f) continues past the end of
48A perusal of the marginalia in Example 11 will reveal that Ives occasion-
ally mislabels the quality of intervals.
64 MusicTheorySpectrum

Example 11. UniverseSymphony,sketchpage q3038,literaltranscription.

Maj6 bassoon
[21

[2]

[4]

. , i --*?-1
A 6Maj
f^ /ft^^ ^^ u Mva3
[5]

-
---4P -3 -
[6] <^ r" ^f
-
@r0n - 0 |

[7] J .
M:L /5^ -J
r.W j/J 0

[8]

at]
ti4N alMAJ7
[9] 7

S--5E
[10]

3 horn
-nn
Tuba
43 6 W
M? / ?
[ 11 I
TJ, < ^ ^it 5$3,, ^ 1 y tf0
u /; <? /
trombone j 3 1

"
~; '
[ 12]

v ... (J tn t ..../M
[ 13]

\
^-^
'
p_4
;
L~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~broken
.^^^'
3rd
s by
6 2 Ma 2
[ 14] v61 ?
'r^*- .ro . _ "? ~~b
? "') 2-
ab"~MIN ;Min2
" t~
horn 2 - 0 - -o'-
b_ ..o_

^ 12
[ 15 1
[J?1 (o'0"^ ^?*'c /^
LV J
12 wm2 Mtaj -m "
r I A m2 Maj 2 . m3
[ 161

4th
9r
tF //
mm 5
1

4th
9:1
tv ite

min 5
Ma]3
Maj3
F ' \
9:~~~~~~~~~~~t,
#
9"- .'- 1,1
.i--~ .0 -tO-
""

" 4 Tuba
Tuba '\ - MIN
MIN5 Maj2 maj 2
3 Cor Perfect5 min 2 min 2
4 Ba etc. mi 3
 IntervalCycles as Compositional
Resources 65

Figure 5. Summary of cycles in Example 11.

a. Lines 1-2. f. Lines 11-12.

pc 0 9 1 10 2 11 3 pc 0 4 11 3 10 2 9 1 8
x/y = 9/4 n= 1 PCL=7 x/y= 4/7 n=11 PCL =9

b. Lines 5-6. g. Lines 15-16.

pc 0 5 2 7 4 9 6 11 8 1 10 3 pc 6 11 5 10 4 9 3 8 2 7 1 6 0
x/y= 5/9 n= 2 PCL = 12 x/y = 5/6 n = 11 PCL = 11

c. Lines 7-8. h. Lines 15-16.

pc 0 10 8 6 4 2 0 pc 0 4 9 1 6 10 3 7 0
x/y = 10/10 n= 8 PCL = 6 x/y = 4/ 5 n= 9 PCL = 8

d. Lines 7-8. i. Lines 15-16.

pc 0 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 pc 0 6 1 7 2 8 3 9 4 10 5 11
x/y= 11/11 n = 10 PCL = 12 x/y = 6/7 n= 1 PCL = 12

e. Lines 11-12. j. Lines 15-16.

pc 0 5 1 6 2 7 3 8 4 9 pc 0 2 3 5 6 8 9 11
x/y= 5 /8 n= 1 PCL = 10 x/y = 2 /1 n= 3 PCL = 8

the PCL at the ninth element to returnto pc 0, thus forminga
sonority with the same top and bottom note. In the lower left-
hand corer of the page, a 5/6 combination(Fig. 5g) presentsa
PCL of 11, followed by a repetition of pc 6 and the aggregate-
completingpc 0. Ives drawsa line to separatethe 11 members
of the PCL from the finaltwo notes, highlightingthe nonrepeti-
tive portion of the sequence, while he also notes that 12 pitch
classes are present in the entire formation, deemphasizingthe
single pitch-classrepetition.
The other combinationcycles notated in Example 11 and in-
cluded in Figure5 are nonreiterativecombinationsof other cy-
cles. Nonintersectinginterval-2cycles are overlaidon staves 5-
6 (Fig. 5b) in a 5/9 alternationthat extends to its PCL of 12.
Octatonic collections result from a 4/5 combinationoverlaying
interval-9cycles in the center of lines 15-16 (Fig. 5h), and from
a 2/1 alternationon staff 15 in the lower right-handcornerof the
page (Fig. 5j) overlayinginterval-3cycles. These combinations
complete a comprehensiveaccumulationof largerPCLs, rang-
ing from a PCL of 6 for the interval-10cycle to completionof
the aggregate by three others, and includingevery value be-
tween. Table 2 charts this accumulation, including the two
single-intervalcycles (Fig. 5c and 5d) notated as combinations.
Noticeably absentfromthe n values are cyclesof intervals5 and
7; combinationsof these cycles, of course, displaya patternof
66 MusicTheorySpectrum

Table 2. Summary of Figure 5 organized by PCL. sions of the combinationcyclesthatprecedethem, formingme-

lodic skeletons from the cyclic sources. These sketchingsdem-
PCL x/y n Ex. 11, lines: Fig. 5, part: onstratea compositionalapproachthat carriesthroughto other
6 10/10 8 4-5 c pages of the Symphony, as the combination cycles provide
sourcesof pitch-classmaterialfor subsequentdevelopmentand
7 9/4 1 1-2 a transformation.
8 4/5 9 15-16 h
CYCLES AS COMPOSITIONAL SOURCES.The linearizationson
2/1 3 15-16 J the bottom staves of the UniverseSymphonypage (Ex. 11) rep-
9 4/7 11 11-12 f resent a firststep towarda musicalrealizationof the cyclicpitch
structures.The 5/6 cycle notated in whole notes at the left mar-
10 5/8 1 11-12 e
gin (staves 15 and 16), for example, is immediatelyfollowed by
11 5/6 11 15-16 a series of darkenednote heads, with and then without stems,
g
that presentsthe notes of the cycle in order, except that the or-
12 5/9 2 5-6 b der of the thirdand fourthnotes (pcs 5 and 10) is reversed,and
11/11 2 7-8 d the penultimatepc 6, whichis a duplicationof the initialnote of
6/7 1 15-16 i the cycle, is omitted. In essence, then, the whole-notenotation
is an abstractexpressionof the pitch-classsource materialthat
is subsequentlyrealized, without rhythmicvalues, in a specific
PCL distributionanalogousto that for intervals1 and 11, and register. Presumably,each cycle notated on the page is to pro-
thus offer no unique contributionsto the PCL summary, al- vide source material of this nature in the composition of the
though they do display contrasting possibilities for x/y Symphony, in order that many musicalideas withinthe depic-
combinations. tion of a "Universe in tones" originatewith a predetermined,
The bottom three staves of Example 11 contain additional systematically conceived pitch-class structure. The cyclic
notations correlating to Ives's cyclic conception of the pitch sourcesdeterminea particularpitch-classsuccession,subjectto
structuresin the UniverseSymphony.Severalof these arecyclic slight order variations, as well as a uniformintervallicsucces-
sion and a specificpitch-classlength.50
repetitionsof differenttypes, includingan interval-3cycle plus
two addednotes (rightmarginof staff 14) andtwo instancesof a Ives's methods of realizing compositionalsources are not,
three-intervalalternation:repetitionsof intervals1-2-3and2-1- however, limitedto the simplelinearizationsshownhere andin
3 form octatonic subsets at the right marginof staff 16.49The Examples 1 and 9. In more complex incorporations,cyclic
other notes on these bottom three staves, mostly notated with structuresserve as sources for intermingledvertical and hori-
darkenednote heads, are linearizedand slightlyreorderedver-
50Similarly,Michael J. Babcock explores the circle of fifths as a composi-
49Belowthe 1-2-3 sequence, Ives indicatesthe alternatingintervallicpat- tional source for the "Thoreau"movementof Ives's ConcordSonatain "Ives's
tern "Maj2 / min 2 / etc," referringto the sequence directlyabove this but on 'Thoreau':A Point of Order," Proceedingsof theAmericanSocietyof Univer-
staff 15. sity Composers9 and 10 (1976), 89-102.

zontal ideas, potentially employingmore extensive distortions
of originalordering. The consistent set-classsubstructurethat
naturallyarises from an intervallicsequence may be preserved
and highlighted,while the underlyingintervallicrepetitionmay
be to some extent suppressed.A "sourceset" of intervalcycles
must exert unequivocalcontrol over pitch constructions,since
substantial order variations may obscure original structural
properties, and, indeed, largercycles are distinguishablefrom
each other only by their intervallicstructure,not by theirpitch-
class content. Still, the boundariesset forthby comprehensibil-
ity and fidelity to a source allow for ample compositional
freedom.
The overallunityprovidedby thistype of structuraldetermi-
nant appearsin works composed as early as the choralPsalms,
includingverses of Psalm24 thatfollow the excerptgiven as Ex-
ample 8. While the chromaticismof verse 1 of this Psalm is dis-
played in the outer voices only, cyclic sources in other verses
influencethe complete texture, so that an entirepassageis satu-
rated with a distinctive constructionalprinciple. In verse 2 of
Psalm24 (mm. 7-11), for example, the notes of the outer-voice
whole-tone scale also determine the pitch-classcontent of the
inner voices, with the resultthat the pervasivepitchresourceis
indeed a "scale," in the traditionalsense, that definesthe har-
monic language of the passage. With a small cardinality,this
source is easily characterizedby content, and thus requiresno
restrictionsof orderingto retainits integrity;notes for the alto
and tenor can be selected from any portion of the outer-voice
scale, without regard for their scalar ordering. The resulting
vertical structuresare whole-tone subsets formed by various
combinations of even-numbered intervals. Intervals 3 and 9
similarlyprescribethe harmoniclanguageof verse 3 (mm. 12-
16).
For cyclic structuresthat generate higher numbersof pitch
classes, this type of intervallicsaturationcannotbe achievedby
simple distributionof pitch classes from the source throughout
the texture. Because the source is distinguishedprimarilyby
IntervalCycles as Compositional
Resources 67
order-solely by order in the case of aggregatecompletion-
the process changes from a retention of pitch classes from the
source to a perpetuation of the intervallicadjacencies of the
source. Thus, in verse 5 of Psalm24 (mm. 22-27), outer-voice
cycles of ascending and descending perfect fourths are sup-
ported exclusivelyby quartalverticalities.Even when a source
may be less audiblyfamiliar,as in some combinationcycles, for
example, a certain type of intervallic structurewill be pre-
scribed, and this can be projected despite selected reorderings
and other distortionsof the source.
The structureof Ives's orchestral"tone poem" The Fourth
of July (1911-13) is based both on quotations of familiar
tunes-as is that of many of his longer orchestralworks-and
types of compositional calculationsassociated more with the
shorterexperimentalpieces. In recallinghis compositionof the
work, Ives writes of "a feeling of freedom as a boy has ... who
wants to do anythinghe wants to do" while at the same time
workingout "combinationsof tones and rhythmsvery carefully
by kind of prescriptions, in the way a chemical compound
which makes explosions would be made."51The network of
quotationsis indeed diverse, resemblingthe sort of "free asso-
ciation" Ives seems to describe, yet the choices of tunes are
hardlymade at random, and, as Dennis Marshallhas demon-
strated,the tune "Red, White, and Blue" (RWB) standsat the
structuralcore of the movement.52Both the tune quotations
and the pitch-rhythmcalculations contribute to a program-
matic depiction of a civic celebration, establishinga series of
musical interrelationshipsand extramusicalassociations that
help to portraythe multiplicityof the experience.53
51Ives,Memos, 104.
52Marshall,"Charles Ives's Quotations," 54-55. The following analysis
supportsMarshall'sobservationthat RWB is used as "both a melodic and har-
monic source" in the opening of the work.
53SeeMark D. Nelson, "Beyond Mimesis: Transcendentalismand Pro-
cesses of Analogy in Charles Ives's The Fourthof July," Perspectivesof New
Music22/1-2 (1983-84), 353-384.
68 MusicTheorySpectrum

Evidence of cyclic compositionalsourcesis prominentfrom Example 12. The Fourthof July, mm. 8-13.
the opening section of the work. Ives notes, in the marginof an a. Thirdand fourthviolins, cello, bass.
early score-sketch,that some "chordsin '[The] Cage' " repre- 9
l10o 11 J
- .
121 ,b, J13),t
sent the originsof the firstsection of TheFourthof July, appar- \ ^7 i -^ * d- i r iio r i -a d r i X

F - II
r
ently referringto the series of sonoritiesconstructedof fourths p " F F
and fifths in the stringsof mm. 8-13.54The sustainednotes in
the condensed score of this passagegiven in Example 12aform __
a cyclic unity of intervals5 and 7 (chordsa and c, respectively, 6^AI t X 0 X J , J
in the example) alternatingwith whole-tone sonorities (chord
b) in mm. 8-11.55Then in mm. 12-13 chords a and c are re- I
r
I
TL3--i
I I I
- Ff I II
r
1
rr I i
peated without the interruptionof chordb. The lower melodic a b c b a c

voice is mostly independentof the chords.The notationsbelow int.5: pc 0 5 10 3 8 1 6 11 4 9 2 7 int.2: pc 0 2 4 6 8 10

the score in the example trace chord a, beginningwith the pc 0
of the lower melodic line, throughthe first seven elements of
the interval-5cycle, connectingto chordc for the cycliccomple-
tion.56Chordc is constructedof fifthsand thus "inverts"chord
a; in effect, the cycle progressesupwardthrougha, connectsin
the upper register of both chords, and then progressesdown-
wardthroughc. The intervalsin chordb are also inverted(from
2 to 10), but the pitch classes do not change:both occurrences
of b state the five-tone whole-tone subset, as illustratedbelow
the score.
The lower melodic voice in this passagepresentsthe firstes-
sentiallycomplete statementof the firstphraseof RWB. Com-
54Kirkpatrick,Catalogue, 11. Ives indicates elsewhere the influence of
other works on The Fourth of July, including March and Overture1776
(Memos, 83) and The GeneralSlocum (Memos, 105).
55Ives'sassociationof quartaland whole-tone structurescalls to mindparts
of Schoenberg'sKammersymphonie,Op. 9 (for instance, mm. 1-3). Schoen-
berg's usages display the voice-leadingconnectionsdiscussedin his Theoryof
Harmony, 406.
56ArthurMaisel describes these cyclic completions as "mutuallyexclusive
collections" (that is, literal complements) in "The Fourthof July by Charles
Ives: Mixed Harmonic Criteriain a Twentieth-CenturyClassic," Theoryand
Practice6/1 (1981), 3-32. These collectionsassumeconsiderablesignificancein
Maisel's analysisof the work.
I I I I I b
a c b
b. "Red, White, and Blue," firstphrase.
INT <5 - 2-5>
parison of the lowest voice from Example 12a with the more
familiarversion of the firstphrasenotated in Example 12bcon-
firmsthat the former is rhythmicallyvaried, and only the first
note, the G anacrusis,is missing. In the bars precedingm. 8 a
motivic interplayinvolvingprimarilythe firstfour pitchclasses
of the tune (includingthe anacrusis)forecasts the later more
complete versions. Example 13a gives a condensed score of
these first seven bars, omitting only a chromaticneighboring
figureto C# that occurs in the second violins of mm. 4-7. The
third violin opens the work with a statement of the motive in
the key of Ct: G#-C#t-C#-D#-Gtin m. 1, extending to the
downbeatof m. 2, displaysthe intervalsuccession5-2-5 that is
the characteristicbeginning of RWB (see Ex. 12b). Example
13b isolates each motivic occurrence.In m. 2 the fourthviolin
answerswith a variantin which the centralintervalis replaced
 IntervalCycles as Compositional
Resources 69

Example 13. TheFourthof July, mm. 1-7, strings.

a. condensed score
vln. 2 +vln. 1
f2 Hr-3--- 3 --345 6 7

yin
vl 3

2
va.
vc.
cb.
cb.

b. motivic structure

ni
,I IJ t lT l
?.J7 J7

INT: <5 - 2 - 5> <5 - 10 - 5> <5 - 2 - 5>

with its inverse, and in mm. 4-5 an exact transpositionof the B set: 0 7 2 9 4 11 6 1 8 3 10 5
motive in the bass implies the key of B. A set: 7 2 9 4 11 6 1 8 3 10 5 0
In addition to its relationshipto the primaryquoted tune of [x/y = 5/2] n=7
the work, the 5-2-5 motive exhibits a repetitive intervallic
structurethat may be tied to more abstractpitchresources.The
firstfour pitch classes of RWB are situatedwithinthe 5/2 com- This version of the 5/2 combinationbegins with the four pitch
bination cycle, an overlay of interval-7cycles at a distance of classes of the motive as it appearsin C major, pc <7,0,2,7>;
interval5. Takingthe most complete statementof RWB, the C- any four-element segment beginningon an A set member is a
major version in mm. 8-12 (plus the missing anacrusis),as a version of the 5-2-5 motive. The small PCL (3) is, of course,
point of departure, a full expression of the intervallicalterna- apparentas a pitch-classrepetitionbetween the firstand fourth
tion would read: pitch classes in the motive.
70 MusicTheorySpectrum
While the 5/2 combinationcycle cannotbe viewed as a tone-
row-likesource set for this or any portionof TheFourthof July,
it can provide a logical backdropfor the pitchstructureand the
integration of the quoted tune. Consistent reference to the
characteristicintervalsin the combinationhighlightsthe impor-
tance of the repetitive intervallicstructuresin the pitch lan-
guage of the composition. Indeed, the two complete motives
from mm. 1-7 (Ex. 13) are linked as adjacenciesin the source,
in reverse order: pc <6,11,1,6> (mm. 4-5) immediatelypre-
cedes pc <8,1,3,8> (mm. 1-2) in the 5/2 combination:
Bset: 0 7 2 9 4 11 6 1 8 3 10 5
Aset: 7 2 9 4 11 6 1 83 10 50
(mm. 4-5Xmm. 1-2)
Further,the two alternatingintervalsindividuallyare primary
structuralcomponents. This is most obviously apparentin the
passage immediatelyfollowing the motivicinterplay,shown in
Example 12a, as chordstructuresbuiltfromcyclesof intervals5
and 2 (and their inverses). In the firstseven measures,each in-
tervaland its inverseare prominenteven apartfromexactrepe-
titions of the 5-2-5 motive: the continuation,for example, of
the initial motivic statement in the thirdviolin of m. 2 consists
of intervals10 and 7, and the violins sustaininterval2 through-
out mm. 4-7 (two muted violins continue sustainingthis inter-
val through m. 91). Whole-tone relationships are also pro-
jected by the pitch levels of the motivic statements in the
openingmeasures,as the second statement(vln. 4, m. 2) begins
a whole step higher than the initialmotive (vln. 3, m. 1), while
the version beginningin m. 4 is a whole step lower than that of
m. 1.
Cyclicpitch derivationsalso play an integralrole in In re con
moto etal (1913), a work for piano quintetin whichexperimen-
tation with complex methods of organizingpitch and rhythm
reaches a sort of saturationpoint. Amid a diversity of pitch
structuresderived throughcyclic and other means, this work is
structuredaccordingto repeatedprojectionsof a numberseries
that determines meter changes, phrase lengths, or rhythmic
groupings.In Memos, Ives gives the numberseries as "2-3-5-
7-11-7-5-3-2," a symmetricalarrangementof the five prime
numbers greater than 1; the various presentations of the
"Prime Series" (PS) are sometimes altered by stopping after
the midpointor by invertingthe orderto begin and end on 11,
placing2 in the center. Each occurrenceof the PS in the work
can be viewed as a "variation,"projectingan overall form of:
introduction,initial presentationof the PS, and the variations.
In commentingon the structureof the work, Ives implies that
only the PS represents an element of constancyin the work,
while the methods of projectionare constantlychanging;he re-
fers to repetitions of the PS as "cycles"that "grow, expand,
ebb, but never literallyrepeat."57
Prior to the first presentationof the PS, a one-measurein-
troductionin the stringsdisplaysthe cyclicoriginsthatwill simi-
larlycharacterizepitchstructuresin otherportionsof the work.
Constructedaccordingto a proportionalscheme of 4:3:2:1be-
tween the note values of the four voices (top to bottom), this
measure subdivides into the three aggregatesthat are boxed
andnumberedin Example 14. Each aggregateis derivedfroma
source interval-5cycle, following the op labels placed beside
each note in the score. The initial aggregateunfolds the pitch
classes in direct temporal succession, starting with ops 0-3
stated simultaneously, followed by op 4 on the next pitch
change (vln. 1), leadingto ops 5 and6 statedtogetheron beat 2,
and continuingin this manner to op 11 on beat 3 in the cello.
The two other aggregates contain slight disorderingsof the
57Memos,101. This view of the form generallycorrespondsto that of John
McLainRinehart, "Ives'sCompositionalIdioms:An Investigationof Selected
ShortCompositionsas Microcosmsof His MusicalLanguage"(Ph.D. disserta-
tion, Ohio State University, 1970), 48-61. See also UlrichMaske, CharlesIves
in seinerKammermusikfur dreibissechsInstrumente,KolnerBeitragezurMu-
sikforschung,vol. 64 (Regensburg:G. Bosse, 1971), 121-123.
 IntervalCycles as Compositional
Resources 71

Example 14. In re con moto et al, m. 1.

r-., 5 7 .10
vln.
3 4'"'1 2 3 4 5 7 10 3
,,f

A A ^ A A

mf 8 6 3
va. 1J
5 4I jJ .

) 11 7 1 8
aggregates: 1. 2. 3.

op 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
int. 5 cycle: pc 1 6 11 4 9 2 7 0 5 10 3 8

source, so that, for example, op 7 occursbefore op 6 in aggre-
gate 2 (cello and viola), and ops 9 and 10 occur before op 8 in
aggregate3 (vln. 1, viola, cello). In its customarycompositional
role, the cyclic source provides for structuralunity of pitch
combinationsand control over pitch-classturnover.
The initial presentation of the PS (mm. 2-6), immediately
following the one-measureintroduction,uses durationsto pro-
ject the "reciprocal"PS values, beginningwith 11 and shrink-
ing to 2 at the midpoint. These are measured in eighth notes
changingto sixteenths above the condensed score in Example
15; the final duration (m. 6) is nine rather than eleven six-
teenths. The pitch structureof each chordis based on the repe-
titions indicated below the score: chords "a, b, h, i" display
single-intervalstructures,and the others employ intervallical-
ternations. Toward the end of m. 2, and again in m. 3, two
notes of the chords are altered, temporarilydisruptingthe in-
tervallic scheme. Though the basic chord structurechanges
with each new duration,the intervalsizes do not projecta PS of
their own, as they might have done by formingchordsof elev-
enths, sevenths, fifths, thirds, and seconds, for example. How-
ever, the registralspan of the chords effects a general, unsys-
tematic contraction-expansionthat parallelsthe PS, reachinga
narrow point at the shortest duration:chord e spans two oc-
taves plus a fifth, in contrastto chords a and b (three octaves
plus a tritone) and chordi (four octavesplus a fifth). The size of
vertical intervals also reaches a maximumnear the end, with
72 MusicTheorySpectrum
Example 15. In re con moto et al, mm. 2-6, condensedscore.
J= 11 7
a. b. c.
combination
cycle: 55/5 7/7 7/6
interval10 in chordh and 11 in chordi representingan increase
over the vertical intervalsused in previous chords (intervals4
through9).
Several adjacentsonoritiesin this initialpresentationof the
PS are connected through a cyclic derivationalprocess resem-
bling the linkages between interval-5and -7 structuresin mm.
8-13 of TheFourthof July (Ex. 12a). First, the interval-5cycle
of chord a (Ex. 15) "wrapsaround,"or connects at the top, to
its inverse, the interval-7cycle of chord b, as between mm. 8
and 10 or 12 and 13 of TheFourthof July. Then the 7/6 cycle of
chordc similarlywrapsaroundto the 5/6 cycle in chordd. Lines
1 and 2 of Figure6 summarizethese connections,with brackets
and chord labels indicatingpositions of chords within the cy-
cles. Because two connected sonoritiesexhibit converseregis-
traldistributionsof pitch-classorder,the lowernotes in the mu-
sic are those of the outer portionsof the cycle as it is notated in
the figure, and the higher notes appeartogether in the center.
In line 1, chord a encompasses the firstseven elements of the
interval-5cycle and b spans the other five plus two repetitions
311i
= 2 3 5
d. e. f. g. h. i.
5/6 4/5 4/9 5/8 10/10 11/1 1
(pc 1 and 6, enclosed in parentheses). Line 2 illustratesa 7/6
cycle concludingwith its firstpc repetition(PCL = 11) at pc 6,
whichis the bass note common to chordsb, c, and d. The wrap-
aroundbetween chordsc and d includesa point of intersection
at pcs 8, 3, and 9, the upperthree notes of both chords.
Pc 0, whichwould complete the aggregateon line 2 of Figure
6, appears not in chord d but as the lowest note of the subse-
quent sonorityand of every chordfor the remainderof the pas-
sage. This impliedcontinuationof the cycle connectingchordsc
and d thus extends a wraparoundprocess that includes cyclic
linkagesbetween a and b and between c and d in the upperreg-
istersand common-tonelinkagesbetween b and c and between
c and d in the lower registers.With the arrivalof the pc 0 bass
"anchor"in chord e, subsequent chords do not wrap around
but continue the low-registercommon-toneconnections,with
some associationbetween adjacencies.Chorde, for example,
exhibits the 4/5 cycle notated on line 3 of Figure6, which con-
nects in the bass clef to four common tones of chord f. Thus f
begins identically to e on line 3 of the figure with pcs
 IntervalCyclesas Compositional
Resources 73

Figure 6. Cyclic relationships of simultaneities in Example 15.

bass a. sopr.
1. int.-5cycle: pc 1 6 11 4 9 2 7 0 5 10 3 8 (1) (6)
I

sopr. b. bass

bass c. sopr.
2. 7/6 comb. cycle: pc 6 1 7 2 I
8 3 91 4 10 5 11 6 [0]
d. bass \
sopr.
m
- - - - A'
bass - (e. sopr.
3. 4/5 comb. cycle: pc 0' 4 9 1 6 10 3 7
If. / /
f. (bass clef) / k v
/ /
/ //f. (top 6 notes)
4. 4/9 comb. cycle: pc 9 1 10 2 11 3

<0,4,9,1>, but then shifts to line 4, with pcs <9,1> overlap-
ping to become the beginningof a 4/9 alternationin the upper
register.
Other portions of In re, while by no means uniformlycon-
ceived, maintainsome degree of cyclicunderpinning.Common
to most of the variationsis the recurrenceof a sonorityIves calls
the "GritChord,"which is frequentlyused to articulatethe be-
ginningof a unit of the PS.58In variation1, for example, meter
changes project the PS, so that the beginningof each measure
signals a new PS unit.59Measures in this variationthat do not
58Ives,Memos, 101.
59ThePS determinesthe numberof beats per measurein variation1, begin-
ning with 6 meter (2 beats), (3 beats), 15(5 beats), and so forth. See Rinehart,
Ives's CompositionalIdioms," 50-51.
begin with the Grit Chord (GC) begin with its literal comple-
ment (GCC). Example 16 gives the opening of variation1, dis-
playing GC on the firstbeats of mm. 7 and 9 and GCC on the
first beat of m. 8 and on the second beat cl m. 9. The two
sonorities appear together in this type of pairing (without
change in pc content) in most subsequent appearances, the
only possible variable being the registral distributionof the
pitch classes of GCC.
In keeping with the cyclic natureof other structuralaspects
of the work, GC is formed from eight notes, in registralorder
from low to high, of the 7/6 combinationcycle beginningon pc
0. Upward stems in Figure 7 extract GC from a 7/6 cycle that
continues to the point of aggregate completion, one element
past the repetitionof pc 0 (PCL = 11). GCC (downwardstems
in the figure) then contains the remainingpitch classes of the
 \
74 MusicTheorySpectrum
Example 16. In re con moto et al, variation1, mm. 7-9.
inf
mf
c' b;o. . v
mf
) V-_- -I I model of chord succession, the broad outlines of which main-
mf [GC,GCC]
[GC] [GCC] [GC, GCC]
cycle, includinga pc 3 that GC omitsfromits otherwisecontigu-
ous extraction, and excluding the redundantpc 0. The cyclic
source does not determinethe registralorderingof GCC.
Portions of the variationsthat are not restatementsof GC
and GCC may further perpetuate a connection with a cyclic
sourcethroughconsistentrestatementof the primaryintervals.
Measure9, for example (Ex. 16), can be subdividedalmostex-
clusively into tritones (interval6), startingwith those that are
inherent in GC and GCC, and continuingthrough the struc-
turesin the remainderof the measure.Each circledandlabeled
dyad in Example 16 highlightsan occurrenceof a tritone be-
tween registrallyand/ortemporallyassociatedpitches. Follow-
ing the completion of the aggregatefrom GC/GCC, the dyads
reiteratepitch classes from the firstpartof the measure,effect-
ing a redistributionof those same intervals:dyadsf, h, andg are
pitch-classequivalentto a, b, and c, respectively.Figure8 plots
each dyad on the 7/6 cycle, includingthe three reiterations,the
tritone that occurswithin GCC (dyad d), and the tritonein the
second violin (dyade) formedfrompc 6 of GCC andpc 0 on the
next beat. This segmentationamasses five of the six available
tritones, avoidingthroughoutthe measurethe pcs 3 and 9 that
are inherentlyabsent from GC.
The most strikingevidence of intervalcycles in Ives's music
comes in the form of a compositional"model"that seems con-
tinuouslyto have occupiedhis interest.His earliestinspirations
towardthe structureof the model are suggestedby several ac-
counts in Memos of experimentshe conducted together with
his father, including, for example, recollectionsof chord suc-
cessions constructed from "3rds all and over, then 3rds and
2nds, then 3rds and 4ths, then 3rds and 4ths and 5ths, etc."60
Such patternsof gradualchange in intervalsize evolved into a
tain some degree of uniformityin a varietyof musicalcontexts.
Most generally, the model is comprisedof successiveverticali-
ties formedfromsingle-intervalor combinationcycles, withthe
sizes of the generatingintervalsgraduallyincreasingor decreas-
ing in established increments.The patterntypicallydisplaysa
symmetricalstructureby reversingitself followingthe arrivalat
a high or low point of intervalsize. If the numberof voices in
the chords remains constant-including octave doublingsfor
smaller cardinalities-the expansion-contractionprocess may
be displayedas a registral"wedge"shape outlinedby the verti-
cal span of each chord. If the chord voicingsare flexible, how-
ever, the process may occur within sonorities that exhibit no
significantchanges in verticalspan, only internalchangesin in-
tervallicstructure.
The prime-numberseries in In re con moto et al is a variant
of the model, with the pattern of change determiningaspects
other than intervallicstructure.Of course, the first setting of
the PS shown in Example 15 does exhibit a general patternof
intervallic change in support of the durationalpattern. The
60Ives, Memos, 120.
 IntervalCycles as Compositional
Resources 75

Figure 7. 7/6 combination cycle (portion), GC/GCC extraction.

GC: I I I I I (SC 8-29)

7/6: pc 0I 7 1 8 2 9 3 3 10 4 11 5 0 6
GCC: I I * I
(SC 4-29)
*repetition (PCL = 11)

Figure 8. Tritones within 7/6 combination cycle.

GC
I I I I I
GCC
I I I
a b c
rI II
7/6: 0 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 44 11 5 0 6
I I dI I
f h g d e

more standard version mixes cycles of single intervals with
closely associated combinationsto intensifythe gradualnature
of the process. This is displayedin the earlychoralworkProces-
sional ("Let there be Light," 1901)and in a broadersense in the
still earlierPsalm24, the beginningof whichis shown in Exam-
ple 8. The growthprocess in the Psalm, which is displayedin a
linear, not verticalform, is observablein the nonmodularsums
of the x/y values on which each verse is based, treatingevery
intervallic repetition as a combination cycle. The chromatic
scale of verse 1 is sum 2 (x/y = 1/1; 1 + 1 = 2), the whole tone
of verse 2 is sum 4 (x/y = 2/2; 2 + 2 = 4), and so on, compiling
the following progressionof sums in the firstseven verses:
verse: 1 2 3 4 5 6
combinationcycle: 1/1 2/2 3/3 4/3 5/5 6/5 7/7
sums: 2 4 6 7 10 11 14
Versions of the patternin other later works might add, for ex-
ample, a 1/2 cycle between 1/1 and 2/2 to fill in the gap between
sums 2 and 4, though, of course, some potential fill-ins(for in-
stance, 6/6) will have undesirablylow PCL values.
Includedamonglatersettingsof the model are an attemptat
integratingpatternsof pitch and rhythmin Overthe Pavements
(1906-13)61 and a programmaticassociation of the model's
"wedge" shape with a specific scenario in Tone Roads No. 3
(1915).62Nowhere is the model more pervasive,however, than
61See the bassoon, clarinet, and trumpet parts, mm. 81-92. (Rinehart,
"Ives's CompositionalIdioms," 44-46, 91-93.)
7 62Ivesdescribesthe scenarioin Memos, 64; the model is most noticeablein
mm. 24-26 but is present elsewhere in the piece in variantforms. Some other
occurrencesof the model are: CentralPark in the Dark (1906), mm. 1-10 and
subsequentrepetitions of the ten-barstringpattern;Soliloquy (1907), mm. 6-
7; Robert Browning Overture(1908-12), linearly in the upper strings, mm.
76 Music Theory Spectrum
in the song On the Antipodes (1915-23), which, according to
the composer, is based on a "chordal cycle for a symphony."63
The "chordal cycle" is an extensive intervallic contraction-
expansion pattern that occurs three times in the song, appar-
ently realizing ideas that were initially conceived for the incom-
plete Universe Symphony (1911-28).64 In both the song and the
Symphony, Ives expounds upon universal themes related to the
forces of nature and processes of life, and seems to regard the
intervallic model as a symbol of some of these cosmic powers.
The subjects of the composer's text for the song are the "antip-
odal" aspects of nature, described as paradoxical extremes:
nature is both "relentless" and "kind," nature is man's "en-
emy," but also his "friend," and so forth. The text concludes
that nature is "nothing but atomic cosmic cycles" revolving be-
tween the many antipodes, advancing a cyclic view of natural
evolution that is appropriately mirrored by the many cyclic
pitch constructions in the musical setting.65
Ives uses the "chordal cycle" at the beginning and end (the
"antipodes") of the song, and in the center. The first and sec-
ond statements, which are identical in pitch-class content, pro-
ject the structure outlined in Figure 9, progressing from perfect
fifths to a semitonal cluster in the center of the symmetrical pat-
tern and then returning to fifths.66The upper-case letter labels,
119-136, 312-330, 384-390; The Fourth of July (1911-13), m. 20. Some of
these are describedin NachumSchoffman,"Serialismin the Worksof Charles
Ives," Tempo 138 (September 1981), 21-32.
63CharlesIves, Nineteen Songs (Bryn Mawr, Pa.: Merion Music, 1935),
[52].
64See, for example, page q3039 of the Universe Symphony sketches
(Kirkpatrick,Catalogue,27).
65Forfurthercommentaryon the text, see Hitchcock,Ives:A Surveyof the
Music, 18-20, and Nachum Schoffman, "The Songs of CharlesIves" (Ph.D.
dissertation,Hebrew Universityof Jerusalem,1977), 233.
66Also, the final statement of chord A is preceded by a chord of stacked
interval 11s; this has been omitted from Figure 9 because it is absent from the
which generally adopt the composer's markings in the
sketches,67show that a complete symmetricalarrangementis
disruptedwhen chordI (3/1) is replacedby L (2/2) in the second
half. This does not, however, disruptthe regularprogressionof
sums from 14 to 2 and back, which skips only 8 and 12.68In-
deed, the varietyof sums portraysthe diversityof cycles used;
these range through most of the possible n values (omitting
only 0 and 8, inferablefrom the absenceof sums 12 and 8), and
includingthe wide range of PCL values listed on the bottom
line of the figure.The intervalsthemselvesaremostlythe famil-
iar structuresfound in other realizationsof the model, includ-
ing the circleof fifths(chordsA and D), cyclesof 7/6 and 6/5 (B
and C), and the half-stepclusterat the midpoint(K). ChordsE
and J are octatonic collections, and L is whole-tone. To main-
tain the regularityof changes in sums, the successioneven in-
cludes a less familiarstructurewith a PCLof only 4 at chordG,
a whole-tone subset (4-25 [0,2,6,8]).
The realizationsof this model at the beginningandcenterof
the song exhibit substantial variations in the ranges of the
chords and do not consistentlyproject the complete cycles of
final "crystallized"version of the pattern (mm. 28-34) and is not part of the
symmetricallyrelated series of sums.
Figure 9 reflects observations common to several analyses of this work:
Rinehart, "Ives's CompositionalIdioms," 71-86; Domenick Argento, "A Di-
gest Analysis of Ives's 'On the Antipodes,' " StudentMusicologistsat Minne-
sota 6 (1975-76), 192-200; Hitchcock, Ives: A Survey of the Music, 18-20;
Schoffman, "The Songs of Ives," 209-234; and Schoffman, "Serialismin
Ives," 28-29. By contrast, the emphasishere is placed on the cyclic natureof
each chord construction,not merely on its intervalliccontent.
67Kirkpatrick, Catalogue,210: q2908, q3048. Ives makesa distinction(with
superscripts)between separateuses of the same intervalsand does not use the
letter L.
68Thesuccession is provided with even finer gradationsin the version in-
tended for the UniverseSymphonyby the inclusionof chordswith quarter-tone
intervals. (Kirkpatrick,Catalogue,27: q3039.)
 IntervalCycles as Compositional
Resources 77

Figure 9. On the Antipodes, chordal cycle.

label: A B C D E FG H I J K JL H G F E D C B A
7 6 5 5 4 3 4 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 4 3 4 5 5 6 7
7 7 6 5 5 4 2 3 3 1 1 1 2 3 2 4 5 5 6 7 7
sums: 14 13 11 10 9 7 6 5 4 3 2 34 5 6 7 9 10 11 13 14
PCL: 12 11 12 12 8 8 4 6 6 8 12 8 6 6 4 8 8 12 12 11 12

each intervallicstructure.69Some of the changesare motivated
by registral concerns: the realizations generally outline
contracting-expandingwedge shapes, with the exceptionof the
centralcluster. Also influencinginconsistenciesare the choices
of pitch classes in the upper voice, which unfold the aggregate
with one repetition.70
The final realizationof the model, reproducedas Example
17 with chord labels added, maximizes the registral span of
each chord with pitch-classrepetitionsthat may extend beyond
the PCLs. Accompanying a vocal line that asks the climactic
textual question,71the four-hand piano part presents chords
structuredaccordingto the outline of Figure 9, except that I
and L exchangepositions. Unique to this realizationis the pc 0,
which, as the lowest voice of every chord (doubled by an op-
tional organ pedal), serves as the point of departurefor each
cycle in the pattern.
In addition, many of the sonorities exhibit or imply an
upward-directedcyclicreturnto the pc-0point of origin,similar
to the "wraparounds"in TheFourthof July (Ex. 12) and In re
69Thescore of these versions is reproducedin Argento, "A Digest Analy-
sis," 201-203 and Schoffman, "Serialismin Ives," 28.
70Thisobservationis made in Schoffman,"The Songs of Ives," 216-217.
71Thevocal line is divided into two parts, both of which produce aggre-
gates. See Hitchcock, Ives:A Surveyof the Music, 19-20. The aggregatein the
upperline is formed by adjacent [0,1,4] trichords.
con moto etal (Ex. 15). ChordsA and D, for example, are com-
plete interval-7and interval-5cycles that returnto pc 0 when
continued one step further,implyinga linkageto the bass note
of the ensuing verticality. The same is true of the 6/5 cycle of
chord C: the final upper interval 5 (C#6-F#6, m. 29 beat 1)
would be followed by interval 6 to return to pc 0. In other
sonorities the returnto pc 0 occurswithin the chord, either as
the upper voice or as a result of extensive repetitionof a small
PCL. Chord B (7/6) contains pc 0 in both top and bottom
voices, its only pc duplication.The arpeggiatedstatementof H
(PCL = 6) in m. 30 continues far beyond its firstpc repetition
(E! 3), cyclingthroughseveralpc duplicationsbefore returning
to pc 0 as the highest note. Chordsthat repeatwithinan octave
and that may therefore contain several instancesof pc 0 are G
(4/2, PCL = 4), I (3/1, PCL = 6), J (1/2, PCL = 8), and L (2/2,
PCL = 6); of these, only G contains pc 0 in the top voice, al-
though each includes pc 0 at last twice in inner voices. The re-
mainingchords are E (5/4, PCL = 8), whichcyclespast pc 0, F
(4/3, PCL = 8), which stops short of a return to the starting
point, and K, the four-octave semitonal cluster that includes
several instancesof pc 0, but with pc 1 in the uppervoice.
The series of cycles based on successivelysmallerintervals
that returnto the same pitch-classanchorprojectsthe idea ex-
pressed in the text of "atomic,cosmic cycles"as a "spiral"pro-
gressing inward from cycles of larger intervals to those with
78 MusicTheorySpectrum

Example 17. On theAntipodes, mm. 28-34.

3---- r-- cresc.
28 $hLargo maestoso , <29 _f-^ I 1 30
30 I r-3 - L_-

Man! we ask you! Is Na - ture noth-ing but a - tom - ic cos - mic cy - cles _____

loco" * f I

$n/ E--Ip
tt8 t=fft = S i I cresc.

maestoso
Largo

cresc.

' b
it"F -i lt"bi
d i 4
(Org. ad lib.)
(16' and 32' only)

(Org.Ped.) - _- -

[A B C D E F G H

smaller units of repetition. Figure 10 illustratesthis process,
which primarily reflects the changes in interval sizes-as
reflected by the sums-not the sizes of the PCLs or the cardi-
nalities of complete combinations.Chord A, cycle 7/7, forms
the outer layer of the spiral, and its returnto pc 0 after a com-
plete revolutioncoincideswith the beginningof the next mem-
ber of the chord succession, the 7/6 cycle of chord B, on the
next inner layer. Each successive layer correspondsto each
subsequentchord, followingthe processof gradualreductionin
sums, so that each member of the chordalcycle is represented
by one revolution in the spiral. The chordsspiral "inward"in
the firsthalf of the pattern, and then reversedirectionto return
to the outer layer at the conclusionof the chordsequence.
The overall form of On the Antipodesis furthertied to the
chordalcycle through a "composingout" process that distrib-
utes the sonoritiesinto the texture much as the interval-5cycle
structuresthe introductionof In re con moto et al (Ex. 14). As
explainedby Argento, the passagesbetween statementsof the
chord are entirely based on the structuresof the chordsthem-
selves, so that almost every aspect of the song is connected to
the cyclicpattern.72In the two measuresimmediatelyfollowing
the initial presentation of the chords, for example, the A, B,
and C sonorities accountfor most of the pitch materialsof the
72"A Digest Analysis," 198-200. Only mm. 14-17 are not derived from the
chordal cycle.

Example 17. (cont'd.)
L J K
accompaniment.Example 18 locates A and B in m. 5 and C in
m. 6 with indicationsof order positions withinthe three cycles
notated beneath the score. Because the registralplacementof
each pitch class generally correspondsto that of the original
chord sequence, these occurrencesproject a kind of varied ar-
peggiation of the source sonorities. Often, this producesa tri-
chordaldistributionof the chords,highlightinga singletrichord
type; any three adjacentpitch classes in the B and C chordsof
Example 18, for example, form a 3-5 [0,1,6] trichord, and
these are prominentlydisplayedin mm. 5 and 6, observableas
adjacentops. The remaining(uncircled)notes then fill out the
IntervalCycles as Compositional
Resources 79
measure with pitch-class reiterations, often recalling the pri-
maryintervalsof the source sonority.
Derivationsin the remainderof the song follow similarpro-
cedures, either continuingthe variedarpeggiationsor redistrib-
uting the source more extensively, while continuingto uphold
distinctivefeatures of each structure.These sources appearin
their originalorder (Fig. 9), so that the entire song projects an
expanded, elaborated macrocosmof the chordal cycle.73The
series of derivationselaboratesroughlythe firsthalf of the se-
73See Argento, "A Digest Analysis."
80 MusicTheorySpectrum

Figure 10. "Spiral"of combinationcycles. Example 18. On theAntipodes,mm. 5-6.

Allegro r-- 33 Andante

quence, chords A through K plus a return of J, between the 7/6) /)

p 0
pc 7
1
2
2
8
3
3
4
9
5
4
6
10
7
5
8
11
9
6
10
0
11
7
statementsof the chordalcycle at the beginningand midpoint,
and then elaborates the remainderof the sequence, chords L op 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
(6/5) C: pc 1 7 0 6 11 5 10 4 9 3 8 2
back to A, precedingthe final statement of the chordalcycle.
(The returnto A initiatesthe finalstatementof the chords.)Cy-
clic principlesthus permeate musicalrelationshipsin the verti- surfacefilled with antipodalcontrastsis a coherentdesignthat
cal, or chordal dimension, and in the horizontaldimensionas can be understood as "nothing but. . . cycles."74
the "cyclic"palindromicstructureof the chord pattern, all of The association, in On theAntipodes,of cyclicpitch deriva-
which extends from small to large structurallevels. By impart-
ing these qualities to the song, Ives likewise characterizesna- 74Quotedfrom the last line of the text (see Ex. 17). This interpretationis
ture as ordered and logical despite complexitiesand contradic- adapted from Hitchcock (Ives: A Surveyof the Music, 17-18) and Schoffman
tions that seemingly defy explanation. Below the complicated ("The Songs of Ives," 233).

tions with nature and naturalprocessesrealizesa philosophical
stance common to much of Ives's music and thought. Themes
related to nature, includingspecificpictorialimages and refer-
ences to abstractnaturalforces, appearwith familiarregularity
in the texts and concepts of his compositionsand in the philo-
sophical positions of his writings, ultimately connecting to a
line of Transcendentalistthinkingin whichnaturereflectsa di-
vine presence.75In the same specificway that a worksuch as On
the Antipodes displays an underlyingunity of cyclic pitch con-
struction,this view recognizesa cyclicunityin natureembodied
in planetaryorbits and the resultingcyclicpassageof time over
the course of a day or year, as well as in the "life cycles"of liv-
ing organisms. Ives meant to make his most extensive state-
ment on such natural laws in the UniverseSymphony, which
would "tracewith tonal imprintsthe ... evolution of all life,
in natureof humanityfromthe greatroots of life to the spiritual
eternities."76The cyclic structuresnotated on the sketch page
of the Symphonyshown in Example 11 above were intendedto
representthe "body of the earth," and subsequentmusicalre-
alizations of these structureswould then depict the formation
of the "rocks,trees and mountains"out of the initialrawmate-
rials.77As the Symphony evolves, the seminal function of the
cyclicpitch structuresparallelsa cyclicunderpinningfor natural
laws.
Implicitin this perspective,and an importantaspectof Ives's
cosmic musical metaphor, is a juxtapositionof the concepts of
evolution and revolution, for the concept of a cyclicrevolution
does not necessarily imply a complete and literal return to a
point of origin, exclusive of any evolution or growth. Rather, a
75Ives'sadherence to "Transcendentalist"beliefs, as expressed in his Es-
says before A Sonata, recognizes the importanceof nature along with other
centralthemes, thoughthese do not necessarilyform a coherent"philosophy."
See Burkholder, CharlesIves: TheIdeas Behind the Music, 20-32.
76Kirkpatrick,Catalogue,27.
7Memos, 107.
Resources 81
IntervalCycles as Compositional
cyclicallyconceived structureprovides an underlyingcohesive
frameworkwithinwhich nonrepetitiveelements may grow and
evolve, just as a time period such as a day can encompassvast
changes within its cyclic boundaries.78These principles are
clearly displayedin In re con moto et al, where virtuallyevery
measure participates in a pervasive constructional scheme
based on the Prime Series and articulatedwith the Grit Chord,
yet the methods of projectingthese unifyingthreads are com-
plex and diverse. Nature, accordingto Ives, despite its funda-
mental cyclic character,"loves analogy and hates repetition,"
and any musicalreflectionof naturalprocesseswouldtherefore
reconcile the necessity of growthwith the universalityof cyclic
return .79
Ultimately, Ives's cyclic pitch derivationsreflect principles
of pitch structure that are richly attractive to a composer
searchingfor nontonal methods of organization.Extramusical
considerations,such as points of action providedby a program
or scenario, might suggest a structuralframeworkin the ab-
sence of tonality, but would not providethe inherentand natu-
ral logic of the tonal system. With cyclic intervallicrepetitions
the techniques of pitch organization, including methods of
pitch-classexhaustion, are given a logical and naturalimpetus
from the varioussubdivisionsof the octave into equalpartsand
the extension of these principles to produce cyclic combina-
78AudreyDavidson makes this point in "TranscendentalUnity in the
Worksof CharlesIves," AmericanQuarterly22 (Spring1970), 35-44.
79CharlesE. Ives, Essays beforeA Sonata, The Majority,and OtherWrit-
ings, ed. HowardBoatwright(New York: Norton, 1970), 22. "Repetition"is a
frequent target of criticismin Ives's writings,especiallywhen referringto the
conventions of common-practicetonality. In his essay on quarter-tonehar-
mony, for example, he criticizes"the dragof repetitionin manyphasesof art,"
findingan absence of an essential "organicflow" (Essays, 115). The repetitive
natureof many of his compositionalexperiments,however, makesit clear that
he does not reject all forms of repetition;rather,he objects to easy relianceon
traditionalmusicalmaterials-repetition withoutinspiration.
82 Music Theory Spectrum

tions. Coupled with their analogies to forces of nature, the cy- ing compositional concerns for coherence through repetition and
clic procedures provide a fertile area for experimentation, and pitch-class variety. Ives experiments both with the familiarinterval
they constitute a central organizing principle for some of Ives's cycles and with cycles of two alternatingintervals, or "combination
most profound musical expressions. cycles." Musical usages include straightforwardcyclic presentations
as well as developments of cyclically generated structuralframe-
works. In his most sophisticated cyclic experiments, includingIn re
ABSTRACT con moto et al, On theAntipodes, and the UniverseSymphony,cycles
In the "experimental"music of Charles Ives, interval patterns and and cyclic principlesare centralto the musicaland metaphoricalsub-
particularintervallic combinationsoften serve as primarystructural stance, mirroringpervasive elements of Ives's attitudes toward art
forces. Particularlyprevalentare cyclicintervallicrepetitions,reflect- and nature.