What Is Symmetry in Music?

Author(s): Davorin Kempf

Source: International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music , Dec., 1996, Vol.
27, No. 2 (Dec., 1996), pp. 155-165
Published by: Croatian Musicological Society

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/3108344

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D. KEMPF, WHAT IS SYMMETRY IN MUSIC?, IRASM 27 (19%) 2, 155-165 155

WHAT IS SYMMETRY IN MUSIC?*

UDC: 781.1
DAVORIN KEMPF
Conference Paper
PriopCenje sa znanstvenog
University of Zagreb, Music Academy, skupa
Received: October 10, 1996
Gundulideva 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Primljeno: 10. listopada 1996.
Accepted: October 25, 1996
PrihvaCeno: 25. listopada 1996.

Abstract - R&sum=

Through the history of music - in various tions within a compositional wholeness; 2) The
musical forms and styles - it is possible to rec- so-called mirror symmetry, the mirror reflection
ognize some universal principles. One of them of a micro- or macro-formal structure around a
is symmetry, a specific aspect of repetition. There vertical or a horizontal axis, as well as vertical
are various ways of its realization in musical and horizontal axes simultaneously.
structure and form, as well as presuppositions Symmetry is mostly broken in various
of its application, concerning different ways. The main reason for small or strong
compositional systems and styles. Here are two violation of symmetry is the fact that the
basic ways in which symmetry is realized: 1) The mathematical and musical logic are not nec-
symmetrical arrangement of formal parts or sec- essarily compatible.

Music is the art essentially associated with the dimension of time. Its formal
structure may be defined as a specific articulation of time. The most important,
fundamental compositional principle, a kind of archetype of formal idea in music,
is repetition and variation (or varied repetition). Repetition requires contrast and
- vice versa - contrast demands repetition. Articulation of musical form can
hardly be imagined without some sort of identity.
Symmetry is a specific aspect of repetition. There are various ways of its reali-
zation in musical structure and form, as well as presuppositions of its application,
concerning different compositional systems and styles.

* Conference paper read at the 23rd ABI/IBC International Congress on Arts and Communica-
tions, San Francisco, U.S.A., June 30 - Juli 7, 1996.

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156 D. KEMPF, WHAT IS SYMMETRY IN MUSIC?, IRASM 27 (1996) 2,155-165

Regarding the dimension of time, there are two basic ways in which symme
try is realized. The first is in the domain of succession of formal parts or sectio
and appears as their symmetrical arrangement within a compositional wholenes
The second is the so-called mirror symmetry, that may also be applied to a micr
and macroformal structure. It is a matter of a closed system consisting of tw
parts. The second part is a mirror reflection of the first one. In other words, in the
course of musical time, after the imagined vertical axis, we are listening to t
retrograde version of the music that we have just heard in its original version.
As regards the first aspect, i.e. a symmetrical arrangement of formal parts, the
most important, wide-spread symmetrical pattern A-B-A, should be mentione
first of all. It appears frequently in various realizations, not only in music but a
in other arts like architecture, film etc. After the interpolated, more or less contras
tive middle section, the music of the opening section, reappears as a recapitul
tion. It is to be found in piano-miniatures and (art) songs, especially from the ep
och of Romanticism, in the three-part song forms of classical instrumental mus
in arias - first of all in >>da capo<< arias from the Baroque era, then in the three-par
formal variants of classical Menuetts and Scherzos that represent a kind of sym
metry in symmetry etc... The exposition, development and recapitulation of s
nata form follows the same formal pattern, but in a more complex and specif
way, associated with a dialectical process. The tonal, harmonic tension between
the first and second theme (T-D, thesis-antithesis), is overcome (after a develop
mental process of synthesizing) in the recapitulation synthesis, that belongs com
pletely to the tonic key. In the case of the so called >>subdominant recapitulation
(e.g. W.A. Mozart: Sonata Facile) the typical tonal disposition of exposition, toni
- dominant, remains, but the whole first part of >sonata allegro formn is bei
transposed, so that the recapitulation begins in the subdominant and ends in th
tonic key. A very similar procedure was already used by J.S. Bach within the fo
mal concept of his Two-part Invention No. 8, F-major. In such cases the symmet
is conserved, or, alternatively, there is only a small violation of symmetry, and the
symmetrical attraction between exposition and recapitulation increases throug
the tonal-harmonic interrelations:

SD
T T.
SD
Concerning the chorale tradition, with special regard to the polyphonic set-
tings of the ordinarium missae, a symmetrical formal disposition has often re-
sulted from the structure of the text. For example: Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison,
Kyrie eleison. Or >Hosanna in excelsis!<< - at the end of Sanctus, and after that
>>Benedictus que venit in nomine Dominic<, and then again >Hosanna in excelsis!<<.
In his Mass ofNotre DameGuillaume de Machaut follows the idea of symmetrical
ternary form A-B-A within the initial triple exclamation of >Sanctus(, as well as in
the 5th movement Agnus Dei - symmetrical around the center, so that the first
and third formal sections are musically identical. The isorhythmic structure, with
the same numerical proportions (taleae) represents a complex system of symmetries
by itself.

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D. KEMPF, WHAT IS SYMMETRY IN MUSIC?, IRASM 27 (1996) 2, 155-165 157

A literal recapitulation occurs infrequently. Usually there are certain modifi

cations by the reappearance of opening sections. In other words there are small o
strong violations of symmetry. Among many different possibilities here is a ver
special one: The first movement of Webern's Symphony op. 21. The opening four
part double canon in contrary motion, reappears at the end in another rhythmic
version, and with a two-part canonic appendix that closes the movement.
Larger formal complexes with more than three symmetrically distributed parts,
are mostly based on the A-B-A formal pattern. In his 7th Symphony Ludwig va
Beethoven extended the usual 3-part form of Scherzo (Scherzo-Trio-Scherzo) to
5-part form A-B-A-B-A by means of repetition of the second and third parts t
gether. As a matter of fact, this is the formal pattern of the classical rondo with tw
themes, in which the leading theme is repeated, alternating with the second. Her
are some other similar formal successions symmetrical around the center
Couperin's rondeau with couplets, a classical rondo with one theme with the fol
lowing formal plan: Thematic section - 1st episode - thematic section - 2n
episode - thematic section with a Coda, then a classical rondo with three themes
as well as a synthesis of sonata and rondo form A-B-A-C-A-B-A. (The letters,
course, represent the thematic sections.)
The latter 7-part formal type, symmetrical around the central section C, is
very strictly followed by Robert Schumann in his Aufschwung, No. 2 from t
Fantasiestiicke for piano op.12. The idea of rondo with one theme is used by Igo
Stravinsky in the Dance Sacrale from The Rite of Spring. A very free realization
a rondo-conception is to be found in Richard Strauss's tone poem Till Eulenspieg
etc... In the latter two examples there is a strong violation of symmetry.
The idea of rondo form with its symmetrical balance, was already anticipated
in mediaeval Gregorian chant. A symmetry may also be recognized in a >>rainbo
shape( of choral melodies.
Very similar to the idea of classical rondo with one theme is the idea of Ba-
roque >ritornello(, that mostly appears in opening movements of solo concerto
and concerto grosso. While the reappearances of the main, thematic section in th
course of a classical rondo do not leave the tonic key, in the Baroque >ritornello
they modulate to other keys, related to the tonic one. As they are usually varied
various ways, symmetry is broken in the domain of musical structure.
In the realm of the Baroque fugue, there are also interesting examples of
similar symmetrical articulation of formal structure. In the Fugue No. 7, F-mino
from the 1st book of Bach's Wohltemperiertes Kla vier, the main, thematic sections
are represented by the polyphonic developments of the chromatic subject, whil
the interpolated transitional sections are completely diatonic and based on the
>motive of joy( from Bach's cantatas.
Another sophisticated example of symmetrical formal construction is Bart6k
Piano Concerto No. 2, a cross between the Romantic virtuoso showpiece 'a la Lisz
and Bachian refined type of Concerto grosso. Here is the formal plan of the 1
movement, Allegro: A-B-A' C-A"-C' A'- (Cadenza)-B'-A(=Coda). The letters d
note sections corresponding in form or content. The piano cadenza - interpolate
between the 7th and 8th section - as well as the varied reappearances of particu-

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158 D. KEMPF, WHAT IS SYMMETRY IN MUSIC?, IRASM 27 (1996) 2, 155-165

lar sections, represent various aspects of violation of symmetry. Symmetry

also be broken by taking away a formal part, as is the case in the last movem
Allegretto from Mozart's piano sonata D-major, Kochel No. 576. Instead of a r
lar sonata rondo form its formal plan is: A-B-A-Development-B-A. The reason
this compositional procedure lies obviously in the similarity of the 1st and
theme.
There are also other possibilities of symmetrical relations. For instance in Bach
cantatas symmetry is sometimes realized only on the level of succession of
ruses, arias, rezitativos, i.e. various musical numbers, without repetition of
music already heard. In the 7-part formal succession of the cantata Hal
Gediichtnis Herr Jesu Christ the central No. 4 is a Chorale sung by a choir, N
and 5 are the alto rezitativos, Nos 2 and 6 are arias (tenor and bass), No. 1 is a chor
fugue (choir) and No. 7 is the Chorale >>Du Friedefiirst Herr Jesu Christ<< (Ch
An interesting example, how a succession of movements in a cyclic form
by arranged symmetricaly, is a five-movement bridge-form used by Bla Bart
his 4th String Quartet, or by Paul Hindemith in his 3rd String Quartet. Bart6k ma
have taken the model from Beethoven's C-sharp minor Quartet op. 131. The ou
pillar movements are connected by a cyclic principle, while the relationship
tween the second and fourth movements rests on the principle of variation.
Although a simple, immediate repetition of a musical phrase, sentence or
other formal section, that frequently appears in Classical and Romantic mu
especially in Mozart and Schumann - is immediately experienced as symmet
by a listener, the impression of binary symmetry is enforced, when the endi
i.e. cadences of two complementary passages are different, and possess cert
harmonic interrelation, as is the case in the Classical period anticipated in Bar
music and taken over by Romanticism. Paradoxically, such a violation of sym
try enforces - through the harmonic attraction - the coherence and unity of
two-part formal wholeness.
A specific kind of binary symmetry appears when the first of two comp
mentary sections begins with a tonic and ends with a dominant, while the se
one begins with a dominant and ends with a tonic. In the stratum of funct
harmonic relations, a mirror symmetry is already applied here. Here are a
musical examples: The two complementary two-measure phrases at the beginn
of Beethoven's Piano sonata op. 2, No 3 in C-major, as well as at the beginnin
Mozart's Piano sonata G-major, K6chel number 283. Similar formal-harmoni
terrelations applied to a polyphonic musical structure, appear in the exposit
of the C-major fugue No. 1 from Bach's Well Tempered Piano, with the follo
disposition of thematic entries: Dux-Comes Comes-Dux, T-D D-T. Three of t
four chief dance forms of the Baroque suite - Allemande, Courante, Gigue
composed according to the principle of binary symmetry, as well as a large numbe
of D. Scarlatti's sonatas for harpsichord. The dominant ending of the 1st and
beginning of the 2nd formal part are sometimes supstituted by tp (tonic para
As regards such a kind of bilateral symmetry in musical structure and f
that appears as a result of mirror reflection around an axis, first of all the m
symmetry around a vertical axis should be discussed. This aspect is most inte

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D. KEMPF, WHAT IS SYMMETRY IN MUSIC?, IRASM 27 (1996) 2, 155-165 159

ing regarding the dimension of time and musical consequences. As a representa-

tion of a movie in reverse, contrary direction may produce very strange happen-
ings and undesirable comical effects, or else the meaning of the text may be com-
pletely destroyed by reading it backwards. Not every composition or one of its
parts or fragments can be played backwards without disturbing the musical sense
without more or less terrible compositional and aesthetical consequences, espe-
cially in tonal music. What is it that makes an application of this compositional
procedure so extremely difficult and complicated in the realm of traditional, tona
music? First of all, the system of keys, the major and minor key, associated with
the principles of functional classical harmony that also partly determine the shap-
ing of a melodic line, then - in polyphonic music - the strict rules of treatment o
dissonance associated with metrical accents and rhythmical structure, etc. By them-
selves they represent a wonderful system of laws, symmetries, immanent logic
and aesthetical norms that should be respected and followed in a tonal composi-
tion. For instance a typical classical harmonic progression with regular succession
of functions would be T D/SD SD D/D D T. Its retrograde version T D D/D
SD D/SD T is not only unusual but impossible because it does not follow certain
fundamental laws of classical harmony. Or - what about the basic compositional
and aesthetical principle of treatment of dissonance on the accented beat, if the first
beat of a bar becomes the last and unaccented one?! A simple conclusion would be
that the theoretical and practical possibilities of application of mirror symmetry around
a vertical axis are very limited in tonal music. It is not surprising that the realizations
of such a mirror symmetry appear only sporadically in the history of tonal music, an
exclusively in a formal microstructure or short pieces or movements.
Here are a few examples from polyphonic and homophonic music: First of all
the well known Rondeau Ma fin est mon commencement (My end is my begin-
ning) from Ars nova, composed by Guillaume de Machaut for two tenors and
contratenor. After the vertical axis of symmetry in the middle, the whole second
part of the Rondeau is a literal retrograde repetition of the first one. Only the tenor
voices interchange their positions i.e. melodic lines: the 1st becomes the 2nd and
the 2nd becomes the 1st. It is interesting to mention that the original and retro
grade versions of such a piece are equal. (Another vertical axis may be put at the
end of the last bar and the whole composition may be performed backwards.)
The idea of retrograde imitation or canon is based on the same principle. It
appears in the 15th-century Renaissance vocal polyphony in the Netherlands, Ba-
roque instrumental polyphony in Germany, etc. - In his Musical Offering BWV
1079, among various canons, J.S. Bach wrote a two-part retrograde canon in C-
minor (Canon cancrizans BWV 1079.3a), using the theme of King Frederic the Great.
A beautiful example from classical homophonic music is Menuetto al Rovescio
from Haydn's Piano sonata in A-major (Hob.: Group 16, No. 26). Each of the 8-
measure sentences of its balanced ternary form A-B-A (Menuetto-Trio-Menuetto
da capo) is immediatelly repeated retrogradely. The result is a complex of interre-
lated symmetries.
Because of the reasons already mentioned in Bach's collections of fugues
Woh1temperiertes Klavier and Die Kunst der Fuge, there are no examples of fugue

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160 D. KEMPF, WHAT IS SYMMETRY IN MUSIC?, IRASM 27 (1996) 2,155-165

or their parts being symmetrical around the vertical axis. Even a retrograde
of a fugal theme is out of the question. Only exceptionally, and only in microform
structure or stratum, such a mirror symmetry can appear.
But in Hindemith's Ludus tonalis, the 20th century pendant of th
Woh1temperiertes Klavier, composed in a system of expanded tonality and
contrapuntal style with emancipated dissonance, the mirror symmetry divid
by means of a vertical axis in the middle of the 2nd development - the Fug
in F into two symmetrically interrelated parts, aesthetically and stylistically
sistent and coherent. The freely added contrapuntal lines at the end of the fu
can be observed as a musically justified violation of symmetry.
In the middle formal section Ricercar II of his Cantata, Igor Stravinsky
plies the mirror reflection around the vertical axis in the stratum of the m
line. All the intervals and rhythms of the theme are symmetrical around t
central dividing line.
It is understandable that in the world of atonality there are many exampl
mirror reflections in musical structure and form, especially in Webern's late
In the 1st movement of his Variations op. 27 for piano there are many >local<< ve
tical axes of symmetry. The 2nd part of the 1st movement of Symphony op.
symmetrical around the middle vertical axis. An interesting example of four-
double retrograde canon is the 18th piece Der Mondfleck from Sch6nberg's Pi
Lunaire. As the rhythms do not coincide the result is a kind of polyrhythm.
As has already been shown by Haydn's Menuetto al Rovescio, a symmet
arrangement of formal sections in the course of musical time can be comb
with a mirror reflection around the vertical axis or axes. Here is another ex
of such a synthesis: Alban Berg's Lyric Suite, 3rd movement. The outer polyp
sections are not only symmetrical regarding the ternary A-B-A formal conc
but also regarding an imagined vertical axis. In other words, the third section
literal retrograde recapitulation of the first one. Because of the interpolated f
composed homophonic central section the procedure may be denoted as a po
poned mirror.
A very important aspect of mirror symmetry in musical structure and form
mirror reflection around a horizontal axis. First of all in the polyphonic music. T
simple imitation or canonic imitation can be comprehended and experienced
sort of symmetry, because of the translation in pitch and time. This basic p
phonic compositional procedure is the starting point of a very complicated sy
of interrelated symmetries, mathematical proportions and geometric shapes i
exposition of the double fugue Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison from Mozart's
uiem. As the system is so ideal, and the polyphonic structure so plastic and t
parent, the effect of symmetry experienced in the course of listening to this mu
is very strong. As for the impression of symmetry and canonic procedure, a
canon and a Baroque sequence should be mentioned here, as well as a canon
employs invertible counterpoint (J.S. Bach: The Two-part Invention No. 2, C-
nor). In addition, here is an application of canonic imitation on a homophon
chordal structure (Orlando di Lasso: The Echo from Libro di Villanelle, Mor
et altri canzoni, Paris 1581.)

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D. KEMPF, WHAT IS SYMMETRY IN MUSIC?, IRASM 27 (1996) 2, 155-165 161

Meanwhile, a real mirror reflection around a horizontal axis of symmetry

means inversion. A melody is inverted when ascending intervals are made to de-
scend by the same degree, and vice versa. Its rhythmical structure remains the
same. Very rarely, the original and inverted versions of a theme or melodic frag-
ment appear simultaneously together - as can be found in the D-minor fugue
from the 1st book of Bach's Wohltemperiertes Klavier or at the end of the 1st move-
ment of Bart6k's Music for String Instruments, Percussion and Celesta. Usually
there is an imitative procedure that implicates a time distance ranging from more
or less close stretto imitation to habitual imitation, when the inverted theme enters
after the original one.
The imitative procedure may be associated with diminution or augmenta-
tion. From this point of view Bach's two-part Canon per Augmentationem in
Contrario Motu from The Art of Fugue is particularly interesting. It employs the
technique of invertible counterpoint in octave associated with the idea of a binary
canonic form.
Paul Hindemith divides his Fugue in Des from Ludus tonalis into two pro-
portionally balanced parts, applying the symmetry around a horizontal axis, so
that the 2nd part is a complete inversion of the first one plus a freely composed
cadenza. But there is only a small violation of symmetry there.
That the procedure of inversion, or mirror reflection around a horizontal axis,
can be applied to the whole polyphonic form of the fugue is proved by J.S. Bach.
His Art of Fugue contains two masterpieces of this kind. First of all this is the
4-part fugue entitled simply Contrapunctus inversus. The complete polyphonic
structure of the original fugue was firstly reflected around a horizontal axis and
then translated in time. That means that the original version of the fugue is fol-
lowed by its inverted version. A simultaneous performance is not possible.
Among many various examples of mirror symmetry around a horizontal axis in
the realm of atonal music here is a special one: The opening 4-part double canon in
contrary motion from Webern's Symphony op. 21. In the canonic pairing of the pri-
mary and inverted sets there is a symmetrical relation between the sets. The matched
sets as well as the whole tone-system are symmetrically deployed around the axis
note >a<<. But the resulting pointillistic, almost serial musical texture is very difficult
for a listener to follow in order to grasp the symmetrical conception or to hear the
separate tones - or small groups of tones - as a part of immanent lines or a complex
of dodecaphonic series used in the canonic compositional process.
The idea of mirror symmetry around a horizontal axis and the proportion of
GS (golden section) lead Bart6k to the formal conception of the first movement of
his Music for String Instruments, Percussion and Celesta. It is a freely composed
fugue with a series of imitative entries of the chromatic theme, arranged according
to a symmetrical pattern of ascending and descending fifths. The axis tone and
main tonal centre is >a<< and the climax tone and the most distant tonal region is E-
flat, attained approximately at the golden section.
Very interesting interrelations between the golden ratio that represents a dy-
namic principle and growth, and symmetry which represents a static principle
and stability, exist in the proportions of formal structure of Debussy's music, e.g.

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162 D. KEMPF, WHAT IS SYMMETRY IN MUSIC?, IRASM 27 (1996) 2, 155-165

in Images and La mer. It is not only an analytical abstraction. The dialogue

tween the dual elements of GS and symmetry at the beginning of the Dialog
vent et de la mer is musically very audiable.
The chordal structure may also be built according to the principles of sym
try. Concerning the classical harmony, there is a group of chords, whose int
structure is symmetrcal around an imagined or actually sounding horizonta
the diminished seventh chord, augmented triad, >>French sixth< etc.
Symmetry can be found in the harmonic system based on the interval of fou
used by Skrjabin, Schoenberg and others.
Of course, in the field of expanded tonality and atonality (whether fr
dodecaphonic or serial) there are numerous possibilities of composing the
cal, harmonic structure symmetricaly. Among many others, Joachim Blum
been very interested in these possibilities. His Sonata No. 3 (Protuberanzen
organ abounds in such symmetrical harmonies. The cluster-structures of Th
devoted to the victims of Hiroshima reveal that Penderecki spontaneously
the mirror symmetry.
A freely composed dissonant atonal harmony can be compounded by tw
more symmetrical chordal components. In Kelemen's string quartet Motion
are two interesting examples of such type (bars 219 and 229).
As regards an organized dodecaphonic-serial atonality, mention should
made here of the complex of symmetries applied to the vertical sound com
performed by strings in the 5th Variation of 2nd movement from Weber
Symphony op. 21.
Mirror reflection around vertical and horizontal axis may be combined in var
ous ways. In his percussion piece BallFall Donald Martin Jenni uses - as a s
ing point - the natural rhythmical succession of a ball falling. This basic m
appears both in original and retrograde versions as well as in diminutio
augmentation, associated with a multi-layered course of time. It is a kind of rhy
mical counterpoint of three separately articulated compositional strata, ac
cally determined by the choice of three groups of percussion instruments:
skin, metal.
A synthesis of both aspects of mirror symmetry, i.e. around a vertical and
horizontal axis simultaneously, is perhaps the most sophisticated way of the reali-
zation of symmetry in music. Almost automatically it is intergrated in the
dodecaphonic system. One of the four basic variants of a twelve-tone row is a
retrograde inversion of the primary set that can be transposed to all of the twelve
pitches of a chromatic scale.
The most complex system of symmetrical interrelations of various kinds in
the area of the 12-tone row is created by Anton Webern in the twelve-tone row of
his String Quartet op. 28, which is based on the 4-tone modus B-A-C-H.
One of the most complicated systems of various symmetries in dodecaphonic
musical structure and form, including the application of retrograde inversion, was
composed by Anton Webern in the 2nd movement Variations of Symphony op.
21. Its formal structure reveals a complex system of symmetries in symmetries.
The mirror reflections around the vertical and horizontal axes used in particular

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D. KEMPF, WHAT IS SYMMETRY IN MUSIC?, IRASM 27 (1996) 2,155-165 163

divisions of the 1st part of this composite double retrograde four-part canon a
symmetricaly interrelated with those in the second part.
Regarding the field of expanded tonality, a very beautiful example of applic
tion of simultaneous mirror reflection around both the vertical and horizontal axis
can be found in Hindemith's Ludus tonalis. The symmetrical conception of the
whole work culminates in symmetrical interrelations between the Prelude and the
Postlude. The Postlude is the Prelude played retrogradely and upside-down. The
horizontal axis >goes< through the tones of C and C-sharp, written on the second
ledger line above the staff (treble clef), as well as on the second ledger line below
the staff (bass clef). The succession of tonal centres of the twelve 3-part fugues,
linked by interludes, is arranged symmetrically around the first and main tonal
centre C. The last, 12th fugue is written in F-sharp. While the Postlude leads the
tonality back from F-sharp to C, the Prelude leads it from C to F-sharp. The final
low tone, great C-sharp at the beginning of the Preludium, becomes the high,
three-lined C-sharp at the beginning of the retrogradely inverted Postludium.
In the complete formal plan, the Postludium is a postponed double mirror. It
is understandable that in the tonal system of major and minor keys associated
with the laws of tonal counterpoint and classical harmony there are no such exam-
ples of realization of symmetry.
Although a diagonal symmetry does not have a great importance in the ar-
ticulation of musical form, it does appear sporadically, mostly in formal micro-
structure. Here is an example from Bach's music: The Two-part Invention No. 6, in
E-major. Both the subject and its countersubject are based on the idea of scale. The
beginning is characterized by )>motus contrarius<< between the subject and coun-
tersubject and the application of invertible counterpoint. The descending thematic
and ascending contrapuntal melodic lines cross in the middle point, the one-lined
tone oe<, diagonally.
This paper is a short survey of various ways of realization of symmetry in
musical structure and form, associated with polyphonic and homophonic music,
tonality, expanded tonality and atonality. Through the history of music - in vari-
ous musical forms and styles - it is possible to recognize some universal princi-
ples. One of them is symmetry. Its ideal or literal realization appears very seldom,
especially in tonal music. Symmetry is mostly broken in various ways. The main
reason for small or strong violation of symmetry is the fact that the mathematical
and musical logic are not necessarily compatible. The presence of symmetry,
achieved consciously or unconsciously, conserved or broken, guarantees nothing.
Only in traces of a genial creative act, there is an ideal synthesis of all components
relevant for great art.

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D. KEMPF, WHAT IS SYMMETRY IN MUSIC?, IRASM 27 (1996) 2, 155-165 165

Satetak

SIMETRIJA U GLAZBI

Glazba je umjetnost bitno povezana s dimenzijom vremena. Temeljni kompozicijski

principi su ponavljanje i varijacija (tj. varirano ponavljanje). Simetrija je specifi!ni aspekt
ponavljanja. Postoje razliciti natini realizacije simetrije u glazbenoj strukturi i formi, te
razlidite pretpostavke za njezinu primjenu u svezi s kompozicijskim sustavima i stilovima
kroz glazbenu povijest. Tu se prvenstveno misli na tonalitetnost, progirenu tonalitetnost i
atonalitetnost, te estetiCke implikacije na relaciji matematika (geometrija) - muzika.
Generalno uzevgi postoje dva osnovna aspekta realizacije simetrije na glazbenom
mikro i makroformalnom podruju:
1) simetrija u rasporedu formalnih sekcija, dijelova, ili stavaka - u cikliCkim oblicima;
2) zrcalna simetrija: zrcaljenje po vertikalnoj, horizontalnoj i dijagonalnoj osi simetrije,
ukljueujud i kombinacije kao 6to je retrogradna inverzija.
Idealna, tj. doslovna realizacija simetrije rijetko se pojavljuje, napose u tonalitetnoj
glazbi. Glavni razlog za manja ili veda odstupanja od simetrije leti u dinjenici da se
matematiCka i glazbena logika ne moraju nu2no podudarati. Simetrija sama po sebi ne
implicira umjetniCki doseg, tj. estetiCku vrijednost. Idealnu sintezu svih komponenata
relevantnih za veliku umjetnost dosegli su samo geniji.

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