From Uncanny To Marvelous - Poulenc's Hexatonic Pole

From uncanny to marvelous: Poulenc’s hexatonic pole
Author(s): DAVID HEETDERKS

Source: Theory and Practice , Vol. 40 (2015), pp. 177-204
Published by: Music Theory Society of New York State
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26477736
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From uncanny to marvelous:
Poulenc’s hexatonic pole
DAV I D HE E T DE RKS
In Poulenc’s mature style, chords in a hexatonic-pole relationship often appear right before an authentic
cadence, creating a progression that I label an “HxP-infused AC.” This article examines the functional
paradoxes inherent within this progression, using surrealist aesthetics as a guide for interpreting the
progression’s expressive associations. The HxP-infused AC can be interpreted according to multiple
tonal theories—Schenkerian, neo-Riemannian, and form-functional—but in each case, the progression
evokes functional categories that are normally opposed. The first movement of the Piano Concerto (1949)
simultaneously conforms to two normative tonal progressions that are not typically coincident—the
Schenkerian third-division model and the predominant–dominant–tonic model. The first movement of the
Cello Sonata (1948) simultaneously suggests opposed directions on an unconformed Tonnetz. The song
“Tu vois le feu du soir” (1938; text by Paul Éluard) features one of the composer’s most extensive uses of
the hexatonic-pole relation, and it concludes with an HxP-infused AC. The progression’s musical ambiguity
reinforces the text’s effect of the marvelous, a surrealist aesthetic ideal that seeks to challenge rational
modes of perception by unifying opposed states. Interpreting the HxP-infused AC as a marvelous event
highlights the contradictions in Poulenc’s music between the older genres to which he alludes and his
modern texts and sensibilities. Sensitivity to the potential expressive association of this progression will
enrich our understanding of his style.
Introduction
In the 1930s, Francis Poulenc developed a new, romantically tinged musical idiolect,
characterized by lyrical melodic lines and lush harmonies (Daniel 1982, 97–98). These
stylistic features recalled the musical language of the nineteenth century, but they were
filtered through his early twentieth-century sensibilities, incorporating rapid modulations,
contemporary texts for vocal pieces, and a sense of brevity and wit that highlighted the
gap between his own age and the ones to which he referred.
A recurring feature of Poulenc’s “romantic” idiolect is the hexatonic pole, a triadic
relation that is also associated with the late nineteenth century. But his use of the relation
is idiosyncratic: the hexatonic pole is often attached to an authentic cadence, creating
what will be referred to as an “HxP-infused AC.” This progression takes new expressive
associations that derive from Poulenc’s collaboration with surrealist poets.
When measured against standard interpretations of harmonic functions in a
cadential progression, the HxP-infused AC is paradoxical. Dualist theories of harmonic
function, Schenkerian theory, Caplin’s theory of formal functions, and Tonnetz models
all rely on diametrically opposed functional categories, whether they are tonic/dominant/
subdominant functions, classification of chords that lead to a structural V, or directions
on a Tonnetz. But a chord in the HxP-fused AC can be heard as belonging to opposite

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178 THEORY and PRACTICE Volume 40 (2015)
categories simultaneously. This treatment of the triadic relation is similar to surrealists’

technique of unifying diametrically opposed images in order to continually strain
readers’ ability to rationally categorize the world, and because of this new musical and
poetic context, Poulenc’s hexatonic pole has expressive associations that are distinct from
those of the nineteenth century. Cohn (2004, 285–286) argues that in late romanticism,
the hexatonic pole expresses the Freudian concept of the Unheimlich, or uncanny. By
contrast, Poulenc’s use of the progression is more aptly described by a related but distinct
surrealist aesthetic ideal: the marvelous (or merveilleux). Nowhere are these expressive
associations more clearly articulated in Poulenc’s setting of Paul Éluard’s “Tu vois le feu
du soir” (1938). A close reading of the harmonically marvelous effect of this song can
help us appreciate the potential expressive roles the hexatonic pole plays in Poulenc’s
other compositions.
Functional Ambiguity in Poulenc’s Hexatonic Pole
The hexatonic-pole relation is created between a major and a minor triad that share
no common tones and connect entirely by semitonal voice leading. Example 1a shows
an example: FM and Cƒm.1 The hexatonic pole strongly resists interpretation in terms
of diatonic tonality. This resistance stems from a unique property of the relation: each
triad contains the enharmonic equivalent of the leading tones (ß^6 and ƒ^7) of the other
(Cohn 1996, 20–21).2 The arrows in Example 1b show the leading-tone resolutions that
are effected by the motion between the triads. The FM triad contains C∂, which when
respelled as Bƒ is ƒ^7 in Cƒ minor; and it contains A∂, which is ∂^6 in Cƒ minor. The Cƒm triad
a) Example of a hexatonic-pole progression b) Bifocal leading-tonal resolutions in the hexatonic pole
Example 1
Hexatonic-pole progressions
1 In this article, major triads will be indicated by their root followed by a capital “M.” Minor triads will be
indicated by their root followed by a lower-case “m.” “MM7” indicates a major triad with an added major
seventh, Mm7 indicates a major triad with an added minor seventh (i.e., a dominant seventh chord), mM7
indicates a minor triad with an added major seventh, and ø indicates a half-diminished seventh.
2 The term “leading tone” is used in a broader sense than simply referring to scale degree ^7. It refers to the
dominant and subdominant functional agents, whose discharge to members of the tonic triad quintessentially
expressive their respective functions. The recognition of two leading tones is a facet of nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century dualist harmonic theories, and it was later revived by Harrison (1994, 49–55).

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David Heetderks — From uncanny to marvelous 179
a–c) Cohn’s convertible Tonnetz
d–e) Two representations of hexatonic pole on the Tonnetz
Example 2
The hexatonic pole on a Tonnetz
contains E, which is ^7 in F major, and it contains Cƒ, which when respelled as Dß is ß^6. The
progression therefore has a high potential for tonal ambiguity. In addition, while the two
leading tones are normally dissonant with each other, they are transformed into members
of a consonant triad within a hexatonic pole. As a result, the relation blurs the distinction
between consonance and dissonance (Cohn 2004, 317–319).
The hexatonic-pole derives its name from the two chords’ maximally distant
separation on a hexatonic cycle of alternating P (parallel) and L (Leittonswechsel or
leading-tone change) operations.3 Example 2a shows that these operations can be
modeled by a Tonnetz generated by perfect fifths, major thirds, and minor thirds. Each
point represents a single pitch, and the generating intervals are shown as line segments
parallel to the horizontal axis and two intersecting diagonals. Example 2b shows that
3 P holds constant ic5 in a triad and moves the remaining voice by semitone to form a triad of the opposite
mode, as in CM to Cm. L holds constant the ic3 in the triad and moves the remaining voice by semitone to also
form a triad of the opposite mode, as in CM to Em. There are several possible ways of defining the hexatonic
pole. Cohn (1996) defines according to the relative position of the two chords on a hexatonic cycle. Riemann
labels the relation a Kleinterzwechsel. But the hexatonic collection or Riemannian labels need not be invoked
for the definition.

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any three adjacent pitches that form a triangle comprise the notes of a major or minor
triad. Example 2c re-draws the graph to show the triadic roots, rather than the individual
pitches, using upper- or lower-case labels to indicate major or minor quality. The P, L, and
R operations can be graphically represented by a triangle flipping over one of its edges,
as shown by the labeled arrows in Example 2c. Traveling northeast or southwest yields a
hexatonic cycle created by alternating P and L operations. Example 2d shows that there
are two possible ways of arriving at a hexatonic pole: the pathway to the upper chord is
represented by the string of operations PLP, and to the lower chord by LPL. One could
imagine that these two pathways wrap around to reach a common destination so that
the Tonnetz forms a cylinder, shown in Example 2e, and the hexatonic pole represents a
motion to the antipode.
Poulenc’s harmonic style does not always feature the plain triads modeled by the
Tonnetz, and instead uses chords with added dissonances such as sevenths or ninths. But
these dissonant chords can be reduced to triadic subsets, thereby showing the consonant
relations embedded within the progression. Two methods of reduction are frequently
used for late romantic music: reduction to the unique consonant subset and reduction to
root, third, and fifth (Cohn 2012, 142–148).4
Example 3a
Wagner’s Parsifal, Act II, mm. 947–949 (adapted from Cohn 2012)
Example 3a shows an example of reduction to consonant subset: it reproduces a

portion of Cohn’s analysis of Wagner’s Parsifal, Act II, mm. 947–949 (2012, 146, Fig.
7.4b). Cohn argues that a hexatonic-pole relation occurs between the Cƒm triad that
occurs on the first three beats of the measure (the Cƒ is spelled as Dß) and the FM triad on
the last beat. The first chord in the boxed portion, which traditional theory would label
a Bßø7, can be heard as Cƒm with an added under-seventh. The minor triad is the only
consonant subset, and this hearing reinforces the motivic importance of the hexatonic
pole throughout the entire opera (Cohn 2012, 145–146).5 A similar relation occurs in
4 Both of these methods of reduction trace their origin to Rameau. Christensen (1993, 98–102) provides a
thorough account of Rameau’s view of dissonant chords.
5 Reduction to a consonant subset is similar to Hook’s (2002, 118–118; 2007, 5–25) “cross-type transformation,”

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the second boxed portion in m. 949. Cohn does not mention the low Bß in the bass part
in this measure, which transforms the Gƒø7 into an altered dominant chord, but this note
can be reduced out on the same grounds.
Hexatonic poles in Poulenc’s music can likewise be identified by reducing chords
to their unique consonant triadic subsets. Examples 3b–3e shows examples of embedded
hexatonic-pole progressions. The notes that form the hexatonic-pole relationship
are written in open noteheads; other notes are written in black noteheads. Tonnetz
representations of progressions c–e are shown underneath the score. In Example 3b,
the first CMm7 can be reduced to a CM triad. In Example 3c, an initial EßmM7 reduces
to Eßm, its only consonant subset, which forms a hexatonic-pole relationship with the
following chord. The EßmM7 in Example 3c is enharmonically respelled with an Fƒ, as
it is in the published score, emphasizing the double leading-tone motion from the first
chord to the next. Both chords lie within a single hexatonic cycle, and as a result, the
Example 3b–e
Embedded and mediated examples of hexatonic-pole progressions
which maps a Mm7 or ø7 to the unique major or minor triad that it contains as a subset, and vice versa. Hook’s
transformation establishes a homomorphism between groups acting on different chord-types. My method of
reduction, by contrast, is less formal. The relation between Mm7s and major triads, and ø7s and minor triads,
was a recurring idea in dualist theories of the nineteenth century, although the relation stemmed not from a
reduction to a consonant subset, but from “characteristic dissonances”—that is, notes added to the dominant
and subdominant triads that hailed from the opposite function—and from the practice of constructing a major
triad from its root and a minor triad from its fifth (Riemann 1895, 55–56; Hyer 2011, 97–98). Riemann’s
conceptualization came under criticism in the twentieth century, most notably from Dahlhaus (1990, 56), but
Cohn (2012, 143–144) points out that it is not always outlandish. Harrison (1994, 65), in attributing a mixed
function to V7, also revives the view.

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added note in the first chord is held in common with the next chord. The common tone
softens the effect of the progression; nonetheless, the two triads form the only consonant
subsets.6
Examples 3d and 3e show examples of hexatonic-pole progressions that are
embedded in progressions involving MM7 chords. Since a MM7 contains as subsets two
consonant triads, not one, the method of reduction described earlier does not apply. But
in Example 3d, the second technique of reduction can be invoked: that of conceiving of
chords as stacks of thirds and reducing them to their root, third, and fifth. Here Cƒm leads
to an FMM7. The FMM7, shown as a shaded rhombus in the Tonnetz, can be reduced
to two L-related consonant triads (FM and Am) that share a common point with the
Cƒm triad.7 But because the second chord is a root-position FMM7, a reduction to FM
is heard more easily. In the final illustration, given in Example 3e, an inverted BßMM7
leads to a DMM7. A hexatonic-pole relation occurs between the chords’ embedded BßM
and Fƒm triads, but the two seventh chords also hold two common tones, D and A.
Neither technique of reduction successfully reveals the relation, and the effect of uniform
semitonal voice leading characteristic of the hexatonic pole is considerably obscured.
Some might question whether the embedded relation can be heard at all. But in this
context, other factors support hearing a hexatonic pole: when the second chord appears,
the D is played in a low register and is double by a bass drum, and it is therefore more
easily heard as a percussive effect than a clear pitch; the upper register, meanwhile, plays
a melody that outlines an Fƒm triad, suggesting a BßM–Fƒm progression.
Besides containing triads with added notes, Poulenc’s music sometimes gives
the impression of rapid modulation or tonicization of various keys through frequent
cadential progressions. As shown in Example 3f, a hexatonic-pole relationship can be
Example 3f
Mediated occurence of hexatonic-pole progression.
6 A similar embedded hexatonic-pole relation between set-class [0148] and a minor triad is found in mm.
594–595 of Parsifal, Act I (Cohn 2012, 147), and an embedded hexatonic pole between two [0148]s is found in
Ravel’s “Forlane” from Tombeau de Couperin, m. 1 (Cohn 2004, 302–303; Gollin 2011, 391–392).
7 Gollin (2011, 386–393) suggests that dissonant triads can be treated as the combination of two consonant
triads as an extension of Riemann’s speculative theory of Doppelklänge in his 1880 Skizze einer neuen Methode
der Harmonielehre.

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Year Title Location Description and notes

1926 Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and mm. 16–17 DßMÅAm
Piano, ii
1932 Concerto for Two Pianos and mm. 2–7 Embedded: BßMM7ÅDMM7
Orchestra, i
1937 “Nous avons fait la nuit” from mm. 21–22 AmÅDßM
Tel jour, telle nuit
1938 “Tu vois le feu du soir” from mm. 58–59 Embedded and mediated:
Miroirs brûlantes FMM7ÅCƒm, part of AC
1943 “C” from Deux Poèmes de Louis m. 18 Embedded: CMm7ÅAßm results
Aragon from sequential repetition of iv6ÅV7
1947 Les Mamelles de Tiresias R5–1–R5 Embedded: D DorianÅF# Ionian
1948 Cello Sonata, i R1–2R1 Mediated: EMÅCm
1948 Cello Sonata, i R11+12–R11+13 DßmÅFM, part of AC
1949 Piano Concerto, i mm. 6–7 Embedded: CƒmÅFMM7, part of AC
1959 Elégie for two pianos R4+5–R4+3 BßMÅFƒm
1962 Clarinet Sonata, i R2+5–R2+6 BMÅGm
1962 Clarinet Sonata, i R6–R6+2 Near example BmÅEßm, part of AC
1962 Oboe Sonata, i mm. 1–3 Embedded: EßmM7ÅGM
1962 Oboe Sonata, iii R5+4–R6 Embedded and mediated:
AmÅDßMM7add6
Example 4a
Examples of the hexatonic-pole progression in Poulenc’s music.
perceived between a tonicized chord and the chord immediately preceding an applied
V7. This relation is defined as an example of a mediated occurrence of a hexatonic pole, in
which an additional chord appears between the two chords. Since the outer chords are closely
relationship in time, the hexatonic-pole relationship can still be perceived.8
Hexatonic progressions are relatively common in Poulenc’s mature music, and
prominent hexatonic poles, or embedded/mediated occurrences of them, also occur
with some frequency, as shown by the list of examples in Example 4a. Poulenc’s most
idiosyncratic use of the progression occurs with the items shown in bold, in which the
hexatonic pole is attached to a V–i progression in a minor key. Example 4b shows that
this attachment creates an unusual authentic cadential progression, labeled “HxP-infused
AC,” befitting Poulenc’s self-identification as a composer who puts “the unusual harmony
and the common-or-garden cadence into the same pot” (Poulenc [1935] 2014, 28). In
8 There are, again, precedents for identifying hexatonic-pole relationships between events that are not adjacent,
but nearly adjacent, in Parsifal (Cohn 2012, 145). The identification of an embedded or mediant instance of a
significant chordal relationship is discussed in more detail in Heetderks (2013, 169–174).

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Example 4b
The hexatonic-pole infused authentic cadence (HxP-infused AC).
the example, and henceforth in the article, the label “HxP” indicates a triad that is in a
hexatonic polar relation with a minor tonic.9
With respect to Poulenc’s style, the HxP-infused AC is marked (Hatten 1994, 29–
66)—that is, it is salient when it occurs, and calls attention to the passage to which
it is attached. It acquires this status through a confluence of harmonic and formal
features. As with marked terms within a language, the progression requires longer terms
for its definition. The HxP-infused AC is a relatively rare event, and in an example of
markedness assimilation (Hatten 1994, 118), the progression occurs in conjunction with
strategically marked themes or formally marked sections, creating mutual reinforcement.
In “Tu vois le feu du soir,” Poulenc places the HxP-infused AC at the end of a long
closural digression—that is, a formal area that is marked by virtue of containing unstable
and developmental material where formulaic material is expected (Hatten 1994, 119–
121). In the Cello Sonata, Piano Concerto, and Clarinet Sonata, the HxP-infused ACs
are associated with memorable and salient themes: the Cello Sonata uses the progression
in the first movement to prepare the first statement of a cyclical theme that recurs in
the second and fourth movements; and the Piano Concerto and Clarinet Sonata use the
progression to close their first movements’ main themes, which are memorable tunes that
recur multiple times.
In the HxP-infused AC, the presence of a clear tonic extinguishes the tonal
ambiguity that is often associated with the hexatonic-pole progression. But the tonal
ambiguity is replaced with a functional ambiguity, one that comes from uncertainty not
over where the chord will go—because the tonic is certain—but over how it arrives—
because the HxP-imbued AC combines harmonic and formal functions in ways that are
self-contradictory. The theme from Poulenc’s Piano Concerto, reduced in Example 5,
provides an example of the HxP’s functional ambiguity. A HxP-infused AC occurs in the
9 There are obviously several other possible labels for the chord, such as the double-mixture “ƒIIIƒ,” or the “upper
sharp mediant parallel,” to borrow the language of chromatic mediants from Kopp (2003, 33). This article will
use the term HxP in order to stress the chord’s unique semitonal voice-leading relationship with the tonic triad
and its connection to nineteenth-century examples of the same progression.

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Example 5
Piano Concerto (1949), i, mm. 1–8
theme over mm. 6–8,10 and analyzing the HxP’s function in the progression uncovers
several contradictory unions.
The concept of functional mixture, first explored by Hermann Erpf and later
revived by Harrison (1994, 64–72), provides one lens through which to view the HxP as
it leads to V. The diagram below the score in Example 5 dissects the progression into its
constituent scale degrees. The hexatonic pole contains all three functional agents, causing
it to occupy an unusual zone where all three functions are asserted simultaneously, and
yet no function behaves according to norms. The upper voices contain a stationary ^7.
This pitch gives the hexatonic pole a slight dominant signal, but because this note remains
static and the scale degree does not discharge in the following chord, this function
10 In the case of the Piano Concerto, the HxP is a singular, chromatic event that occurs without rhetorical
preparation within a phrase that otherwise adheres to classical phrase models. Rifkin (2006) demonstrates
that this strategy frequently occurs in early twentieth-century compositions in a neoclassical style. She argues
that unprepared chromaticism serves as a marker for modernity, having parallels to modernist literature’s
upending of convention and disruption of narrative and linear flow. In some analyses in this article, the
HxP-infused AC can thus be viewed as a specific case of the type of phenomena Rifkin identifies, though
one with additional expressive correlations.

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Example 6
a–d. Different ways of grouping intermediary harmonies between I and V (adapted from Schenker, Der freie Satz)
e. Schematic diagram for a Caplinian “full cadential progression”
remains inert and is less noticeable. The upper voices also contain ^6, the subdominant
agent, but this signal is contradicted by the continuous dominant signal in the upper
voice. This note remains in V to become a ninth, continuing a slight subdominant signal
that is overpowered by the dominant signal. The bass line suggests a tonic to dominant
motion, but this functional reading is belied by the pitch content of the hexatonic pole,
because it shares no common notes with the final tonic triad. While the bass line asserts
continuation of the tonic function, the chord’s pitch content indicates its absence.
If we compare the progression to Schenkerian voice-leading paradigms and
Caplinian functional norms, we hear the HxP occupying two simultaneous roles that
are normally kept distinct. As shown in Examples 6a–6d, Schenker states that there are
two primary ways to group bass notes that occur between I and V at the first level in
the middleground. The bass notes take their meaning in relation to the primary axis
between I and V, and this axis accords a different status to each. In Example 6a, ^3
functions as a “third-divider,” occupying the midpoint in diatonic space between I and
V in order to create a background arpeggiation (Schenker 1977, §55). ƒ^3 in the bass can
be created by adding mixture to the middleground, since this note occurs in the parallel
major key (Schenker 1977, §201). Example 6b shows that, by contrast, motion from ^4
is contrapuntal in origin, because it leads by step to the structural V (Schenker 1977,
§64). Later theorists influenced by Schenker often maintain the distinction between III
on the one hand and the group containing ii and IV on the other.11 When both ^3 and ^4
are present in the middleground bass line, one scale degree takes conceptual priority at
the first level. The necessity of privileging one bass note yields two possible groupings,
11 For example, Forte (1962, 111) states that “[In contrast to II and IV,] III does not serve as dominant
preparation . . . it occurs as a suffix to V [or] I.” Salzer (1962, 89) maintains a similar distinction between the
two chords, although he attributes a greater structural weight to III, most likely because his discussion is focused
on the middleground.

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shown in Examples 6c and 6d (Schenker 1977, §56–57).12

Caplin’s form-function theory, which examines surface-level harmonies and their
relationship to beginning, continuational, and closing functions, takes a different view
of the bass line ^3–^4–^5 when it occurs at the close of a theme. As shown in Example
6e, when the bass ^3 is harmonized by I6, and when a root-position V(7) and I close the
progression, the progression forms a full cadential progression. This progression provides
the most complete way of establishing a structural close,13 since it makes a complete cycle
through the primary tonal functions—tonic, predominant, dominant, and tonic—and
the placement of the initial tonic in first inversion creates instability at the opening of the
progression in order to impel motion through the following functions.
Example 7
Voice-leading reduction and functional analysis of Piano Concerto, i, mm. 1–8
The melodic–harmonic design of the main theme from the Piano Concerto lends
itself to analysis according to Caplin’s theory. The labels above the staff in Example 5
show that the theme forms an eight-measure sentence in which mm. 1–4 present the basic
12 Which grouping one selects depends on the relation of the bass notes to the tones of the Urlinie, and,
presumably, the relative weight of each harmony. I am grateful to Joseph Lubben for his input on Schenker’s
view of third-division and passing motion at the middleground.
13 Caplin (1987, 217; and 1998, 27). Caplin uses the label “expanded cadential progression” or “ECP” to
describe when a cadential progression fills a whole phrase, but he applies the term somewhat loosely. Caplin
(1987, 221) states that an ECP occurs when the cadential harmonies last longer than the duration established
as the norm by the preceding phrase. In a later discussion of the theme-type of the sentence (Caplin 1998, 47),
he states that an ECP can occur when an entire continuation phrase is taken up with a cadential progression,
presumably regardless of a change or lack thereof in harmonic rhythm. He allows himself further leeway with
these guidelines, and occasionally applies the label ECP to only half of a continuation phrase (see Caplin 1998,
example 5.16, p. 68; and example 7.5, p. 68). This article will use the term “cadential phrase” for any phrase
that is harmonized by a cadential progression, and the term “full cadential progression” for a progression
I6–PD–V(7)–I at the end of a phrase. The concept of an expanded cadential progression, while central to the
classical style, is not germane to Poulenc’s music.

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idea and a varied response. The continuation, which begins at m. 5 with fragmentation,
leads to i6 at m. 6, which becomes the first chord in a cadential phrase over mm. 6–8.14
But these functional norms come into conflict with Schenker’s voice-leading
paradigms at the HxP. Example 7 shows a voice-leading reduction of the theme, along
with a Roman-numeral and functional analysis underneath the staff. Measures 1–6
expand the tonic through a voice exchange between soprano and bass. The hexatonic
pole appears in m. 7 between the tonic and structural dominant.15
One explanation for the FMM7 in m. 7 of Poulenc’s Piano Concerto, provided
that the bass’s F-natural is interpreted as its enharmonic equivalent of Eƒ, is that it is
part of a “double division.” This term, coined by Proctor (1978, 136–137), describes
situations in which ^3 appears both in its diatonic and modally mixed forms in the bass
line between I and V. This technique represents an intrusion of chromaticism into deep
levels of the Schenkerian middleground, but it does not ultimately overturn its diatonic
underpinnings. Example 8a shows an example of double division discussed briefly by
Proctor: the central section of the Scherzo movement of Schubert’s B-major Piano Sonata
D. 575 (Proctor includes no graph; Example 8a is based on his discussion). The section
begins with a long tonicization of Bß major, or ßIII; a brief tonicization of B minor follows
through enharmonically reinterpreting a fully diminished seventh chord. Since the Bm
triad does not appear in root position, its tonal centricity is only briefly suggested, and
from a broader perspective it forms part of an embellishment of V7 via a 6–7 voice-
leading motion. Example 8b shows an excerpt where both mediants are asserted with
greater strength; it is adapted from DiPaolo’s (2011) graph of the interior section of
Rachmaninov’s Étude-Tableau op. 39, no. 9. Over mm. 42–44, ∂iii and bIII are tonicized
in succession; both harmonies support ^5 in the fundamental line. At the end of m. 44, the
line begins its descent from ^5 to ^2 and is harmonized with a iv8–7 to V progression.
The HxP in the Piano Concerto’s theme might initially seem like another instance of
“double division,” but it is different than the other two examples. Some of the differences
are simple: ^3 is harmonized with i6 rather than iii, and the modally mixed mediant is
enharmonically respelled. More significantly, the theme creates a strong expectation for
a predominant chord before V, and the HxP, at some level, fulfills this expectation. A i6
appears at m. 6 near the end of the phrase, two chords before the cadential V. Given the
14 In this sentential theme, the initial tonic-prolonging progression, which normally ends with the presentation,
is extended halfway into the continuation. This situation is uncommon but not unprecedented—see Caplin 1998,
39–40.
15 The HxP in the opening theme could be interpreted to “foreshadow” the second theme area, which begins in
the key of F major. But since Poulenc’s music is characterized by rapid and frequent modulation (the second theme
later modulates to C minor, for example), it is difficult to ascribe significance to long-range tonal relationships.

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a) Voice-leading graph of Schubert, Piano Sonata in B major D. 575, Scherzo (1817), mm. 29–51
b) Voice-leading graph of Rachmaninov, Étude-Tableau op. 39 no. 9 (1916–1917), mm. 41–45

(adapted from DiPaolo 2011)
Example 8
Voice-leading graphs showing “double division” between I and V
eighteenth-century functional harmony and thematic design evoked by the theme, this
chord suggests the onset of a full cadential progression, an expectation that is fulfilled
with the authentic cadence at m. 8. Functional norms, shown underneath the staves in
Example 7, suggest that a predominant chord should occur at m. 6. Significantly, both
the Schubert and Rachmaninov examples provide predominant chords after a mediant—
iv# in the first case and iv7 in the second—but no such chord other than the HxP is
available in the Piano Concerto.
Support for hearing the hexatonic pole as a substitute for a predominant chord can
be found by comparing the close of the first movement’s theme with a cadential phrase
that occurs two times in the second movement. Example 9 places the two passages side
by side. The left excerpt reproduces the closing passage in the first movement, and the
right excerpt shows a passage that occurs in the second movement at R5 + 5 (a similar
passage occurs in the second movement one measure before R7). Both passages begin

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Example 9
Comparison of cadential phrases in first and second movements of Piano Concerto
with i6 and use V with added seventh, flat ninth, and suspended sixth. In addition, the
pianist plays similar melodies in both movements. Brackets above the part show that it
arpeggiates through two major-third related minor triads, the second of which adds a
sixth. In both passages, a note from the second chord is enharmonically respelled to show
the leading-tone motion to the following tonic note; the respellings are marked with an
asterisk (“*”). But in the excerpt from the second movement, a iv7 precedes the cadential
V, unequivocally asserting a predominant function. Striking similarities between two
cadential passages do not guarantee that their analogous chords will have an identical
function, but they make a functional analogy more likely, and they reinforce the assertion
that in the first movement Poulenc is manipulating a normative model by inserting the
HxP where the predominant is expected.
In summary, the Piano Concerto’s theme simultaneously evokes not one, but two
normative progressions from eighteenth-century harmony—the PD–D–T model and the
third-division model. To be sure, comparing the theme from the standpoint of Schenkerian
voice-leading paradigms and Caplin’s formal functions is an “apples and oranges” affair,
since the two readings are based on different premises: one is generative and proceeds
from deep-level voice-leading norms, the other infers formal functions from surface-level
observations. Nonetheless, to the extent that a musical surface informs deeper voice
leading, the two contradictory interpretations are forced into a point of contact. As in
the surrealist game l’un dans l’autre, one progression is seen to be within the other, and
two models for a phrase generally understood as mutually exclusive are brought into

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volatile analogy.16
The movement is, ironically, notable for its lack of striking harmonic and formal
material otherwise. An apt illustration of the composer’s love of “banality” (Poulenc
[1935] 2014, 28), the movement is in a straightforward sonata form and contains less
harmonically distinctive chromatic sequences and thematic material in its other sections.
The only other formally unusual feature is the long, hieratic theme that occurs at the
end of the development section, which suggests an epiphany in the midst of a quotidian
setting. The HxP-infused cadence, likewise, suggests a potential for deeper revelation that
is at the heart of otherwise modest material.17
Since the hexatonic pole elicits contradictory readings when measured against
common-practice harmonic norms, some listeners might remove these norms from
consideration, focusing instead on the smooth chromatic voice leading with which
the chord connects to its neighbors. Invoking smooth voice leading in the midst of an
otherwise functionally tonal progression suggests what Cohn (2012, 195–203) calls
“code switching,” which occurs when a listener’s focus changes from diatonic tonal
syntax to a different system in which triadic relation is based on voice-leading parsimony.
The convertible Tonnetz, shown in Example 2c, models this switch elegantly, as it can
show a change from attention to chords that occur within a horizontal band, which
represent diatonic relations, to chords that occur on a northeast/southwest hexatonic
band. But even in this new system of chord relationships, the HxP potentially occupies
a self-contradictory role, since it can be represented as either PLP or LPL. As Gollin
(2000, 85–91) has argued, two different strings of operations, even if at one level they
are equivalent and represent the same transformation, can at another level be indicative
of two different musical experiences.
A passage from the first movement of Poulenc’s Cello Sonata, reduced in Example
10a, engages these two experiences of the HxP simultaneously. The passage marks the
beginning of an interior theme in a ternary-form movement, and it is notable for its
multiple chromatic harmonies and delays of tonal closure, as if searching for a stable
foothold before the theme proper can begin. The harmonies in the passage initiate three
cadential progressions in Dß major, bracketed above the staff. The first two cadential
progressions are aborted through an evaded cadence—that is, V resolves to i6 (R11+8
and R11+11), necessitating the beginning of a new cadential progression (Schmalfeldt
1992, 15–21). The first cadential progression (R11+3 to R11+8) is further undermined
16 L’un dans l’autre was a surrealist game in which one object was seen as potentially within the other—for
instance, a lion’s mane within the flame of a match (Caws 1970, 35).
17 Fulcher (2005, 188–191) also discusses Poulenc’s comfort with eighteenth-century stylistic norms, and
speculates about issues related to politics and his sexual identity that may have led to this attitude.

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a) Time-span reduction, R11+4–R12 (cadential progressions are shown in curly brackets

underneath the score)
b) Tonnetz analysis of three cadential progressions
Example 10
Cello Sonata (1948), i
by a melodic phrase in the piano that overlaps the harmonic progression: the phrase
begins at R11+7 and continues through the resolution to i6 one measure later. In the
first two cadential progressions, the cadential V is preceded by two chords that, when
combined, give seven of the eight notes of an octatonic collection, adding further
chromatic destabilization. Two arrows labeled “octatonic progression” show where these
pairs of chords occur: in the second half of R11+6 Dßø7 (iiø#) moves to the enharmonic
equivalent of Am7, and in R11+8–R11+9 Cƒm (i) moves to GMm7.
The third cadential progression, which uses the HxP and reaches both melodic
and harmonic closure at R12, underscores the importance of the HxP, since this chord
“succeeds” in leading to a cadential V where the previous ones failed. In the context
of the passage, the HxP is, paradoxically, salient because of its modesty: other than the
tonic, it is the only unadorned major or minor triad in the passage; the other chords have
sevenths and other notes added.
Example 10b shows Tonnetz analyses of (1) the opening progression, and (2)–
(3) the two progressions involved in the HxP-infused AC. The same progressions are

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numbered and bracketed in Example 10a. The tonic triad, DßM, is drawn in double lines
on the Tonnetz to provide a point of reference. In progression (1), the DßM tonic moves
southwest to Gßm, the parallel minor of the subdominant; the added sixth (displayed as
“+eß”) is shown as a single point to the east of the tonic with a dotted line connecting it
to Gßm, following dualist conception of characteristic dissonances added to non-tonic
harmonies. In progression (2), two dotted arrows show that i–HxP can be interpreted
as either a southwest or northeast motion within a hexatonic corridor, leading to two
differently located FM triads that are equidistant from the minor tonic. Progression (3)
shows the final two chords in the cadential progression, and the two locations of the
FM HxP are shown in diagonal stripes. The first chord, Vß97, is shown as an AßM triad
with two added notes, displayed as “+gß” and “+bßß,” that stem from the opposite side
of the tonic. The two different locations of the HxP are closely related to one of each of
the chords in the progression. The lower FM triad shares the added bßß, which is drawn
from the minor subdominant. In addition, the chord is SLIDE-related to the Gßm chord
that appeared in progression (1). The upper FM triad is more closely related to the final
DßM tonic: it shares its third and is in an LP relation. This moment of paradox—where
a chord suggests two equally valid but opposite paths to the same destination—creates
a marked cadential progression that commands listeners’ attention, and prepares them
to hear the sonata’s cyclical theme that follows, which recurs in the second and fourth
movements.
Expressive Correlations of Poulenc’s Hexatonic Pole
in “Tu vois le feu du soir”
The previous examples demonstrate that the hexatonic pole can be heard as uniting
tonal functions, voice-leading paradigms, and chromatic voice-leading pathways that
are normally diametrically opposed. This unity creates a magical effect that marks the
passage for attention and rhetorically emphasizes the cadential progression. The coda
of Poulenc’s setting of Paul Éluard’s poem “Tu vois le feu du soir” uses hexatonic-pole
relationships even more pervasively, and in this song the progression is tied to a text that
offers further possibilities for expressive interpretation.
Before discussing the expressive correlations of the HxP, an overview of some of
the themes in Éluard’s poem is necessary. “Tu vois le feu du soir” describes the act of
viewing a vast landscape inflamed by the light of the setting sun.18 The repeated phrase
18 The final version of Éluard’s poem appeared in the collection Chanson complète (1939) under the title “Nous
sommes” (“We are”). Poulenc’s setting used an earlier published version of the poem that appeared in number 3
of Mesures (1938). The final version of “Nous sommes” contains an additional four stanzas that do not appear
in Poulenc’s setting. The stanzas significantly alter the focus of the poem, but since this article is concerned with
the intersection between musical and cultural meaning, it will primarily restrict itself to discussing the stanzas
that appear in Poulenc’s setting. The history of the poem can be found in Dumas and Scheler’s comments in

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“tu vois,” or “you see,” provides continuity throughout the myriad images in the first
six stanzas. By contrast, the final stanza, which is the coda of Poulenc’s setting, contains
the poem’s most puzzling lines:
Women descending from their ancient mirror 21

Bring you their youth and their faith in yours 22
One her clarity the sail [or veil] that draws you along 23
Secretly makes you see the world without you.1924
Just as the HxP unites diametrically opposed functions in the tonal system, these
lines link opposed images and concepts. Lines 21–22 link in a single phrase the idea of
age (the ancient mirror) and youth. In line 23, an appositive phrase “sa clarté la voile”
equates a woman’s clarity with a voile. The feminine form of this word, which is used in
the poem, means “sail,” but its masculine form means “veil”; the word thus suggests an
object that obfuscates and equates it with clarity, the opposite of obfuscation.
In the final line, one woman “makes you see the world without you,” linking
presence with absence. In the first half of the line, a “you” is described as seeing the
world. This idea is reinforced throughout the first part of the poem by the repeated
phrase “tu vois” [you see], which appears at the beginning of several lines and associates
“you” and the act of observation. An observer (or observers) must be present in the
world in order to observe it, yet in the last half of line 24, the observed world is “without
you”—that is, the observer is absent. The original poem highlights the presence and
absence of the “you” by placing the two second-person pronouns, which alliterate, at
the beginning and ending of the line: “Te fait … sans toi” [emphasis mine]. A similar
relationship occurs in line 22.
Example 11
Conclusion of “Tu vois le feu du soir” (1938)
Éluard (1968).
19 The original lines read: “Des femmes descendant de leur miroir ancien/ T’apportent leur jeunesse et leur foi
en la tienne/Et l’une sa clarté la voile qui t’entraîne/ Te fait secrètement voir le monde sans toi.” I am grateful to
Dr. Libby Murphy of Oberlin College for her assistance with this translation.

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Poulenc’s musical setting draws attention to this final stanza.20 The harmonic
rhythm accelerates in this section, and the vocal line features its greatest concentration
of leaps. Finally, the last two measures present an incomplete version of an HxP-infused
AC (see Example 11).
The HxP-infused AC also operates over the harmonic background of the entire
coda. This structured background is especially remarkable because of the seeming chaos
of rapid surface-level changes of tonal center. The modulations and chromatic sequences
that appear throughout the song accelerate in the coda, causing listeners to lose their
tonal foothold and providing a musical analogue to the rapid melding of images found
in the final stanza. Daniel aptly describes a listener’s perception of apparent chaos in
this section when he states that in Poulenc’s music, modulations “rarely appear to be
architectonically designed,” and that there is “often no apparent pattern to the tonal
motion” (1982, 85).
Example 12
“Tu vois le feu du soir,” mm. 50–53, with Tonnetz analysis
Example 12 shows a reduction and Tonnetz analysis of mm. 50–53, where tonal
centricity becomes tenuous amidst a series of chromatic progressions. At m. 50, the
piano’s bass line plays Dß–Aß, suggesting a ^1–^5 motion in Dß. But the arrival on V is
delayed twice as the passage dissolves into hexatonic progressions that contain major-
20 Poulenc’s own comments suggest that he intends to draw listeners to the text in the final stanza. In his
comments on the song (Poulenc 1989, 47) he described the final stanza as a “coda” that “adds to the whole song
human significance.”

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Example 13
Reduction of “Tu vois le feus du soir,” mm. 53–59, with Roman-numeral analysis
third leaps in the bass line (mm. 50–51 and mm. 52–53). The two hexatonic cycles are
shown as motion along northeast/southwest corridors in the Tonnetz beneath the score.
A dotted arrow connecting two Em triads utilizes the convertible nature of the Tonnetz,
allowing this chord to “loop around” to its equivalent position at the other side. In both
cycles, a mediated hexatonic-pole relationship occurs between Cm and EM; the two
chords are marked with an asterisk (“*”). A root-position V does not occur until the
downbeat of m. 53, at the end of the second cycle.
In mm. 53-55, which are reduced in Example 13, the upper voices make a descending
arpeggiation through two fully diminished seventh chords while the bass moves up by
semitone. As a result, the passage unfolds two semitone-related dominant ninth chords.
These two chords are ambiguous in function, and two possible tonal interpretations
are shown in the two rows underneath the score. From the standpoint of the previous
DßM triad, the second chord sounds like a neighboring augmented sixth chord. But this
function is contradicted in m. 56, when the AMm7 becomes a MM7, suggesting a tonic
function. At this point in the song, the singer describes a woman whose clarity draws the
reader along. The tonal center is, however, far from clear. It remains obscure over mm.
56-58, where a descending-fifths sequence leads to an FMM7. This chord is interpreted
as an HxP and initiates the incomplete HxP-infused AC that concludes the song.
While these linked chromatic progressions and sequences create the local effect
of tonal ambiguity, closer analysis reveals a deeper-level ordered harmonic pattern.
Example 14b reduces out all but the endpoints of each sequential progression. The
CƒM tonic moves to V7 in m. 53. This chord resolves deceptively to A in m. 54. The
following sequence connects to an FMM7, the HxP. Example 14a shows that the entire
coda follows a sequence of transpositions down by major third that leads from an initial
major tonic to the HxP, so that the HxP-infused AC operates over the background of
the section. The final line of the poem offers a view of the world “sans toi”—that is,
without you. Yet in its setting of these two words, the song re-discovers its tonal center,

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Example 14
“Tu vois le feu du soir,” three-level reduction of mm. 50–59
re-asserting the chord that is associated with “you” in the song’s beginning.
In this setting of Éluard, the HxP-infused AC, already a marked progression in
Poulenc’s style, is thematized through literal and hidden repetition, and through the
evocation of hexatonic progressions and the hexatonic-pole relationship in mm. 50–52.
The HxP-infused AC is especially charged because it effects a moment of tonal resolution
after a long unstable passage, and because this resolution is paired with the poem’s most
paradoxical line. What expressive connotations does this progression have?
The expressive value of the hexatonic pole during the nineteenth century takes us
partway toward answering this question. Cohn notes that in the late romantic era, the
progression’s tonal ambiguity made it a fitting marker of the Unheimlich, usually translated
into English as “uncanny.” Building on the fact that the opposite term, heimlich, means
“hidden away” or “concealed” as well as “home-like,” Freud (1997, 195–206) argues
that the uncanny occurs when hidden emotions or anxieties, made unfamiliar through
repression, reappear.21 The uncanny is often induced when an artwork creates uncertainty
21 These hidden anxieties include the fear of castration, repetition-compulsion, deep-rooted fears about death,

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about reality and illusion, reproducing the psychic state in which these anxieties loom
large (1997, 14). The uncanny is potentially appropriate to Éluard’s poem: art critic Hal
Foster argues that the concept is an unspoken undercurrent in surrealist thought and
expression. Publicly, surrealists distanced themselves from Freud, but, Foster argues, the
uncanny nonetheless provide a lens through which to read their work.22
While the uncanny provides one account of the expressive associations of the
hexatonic pole, a more rounded view can be found by considering surrealists’ avowed
aesthetic aims. Éluard’s imagery, regardless of its psychological origin, is presented to
readers in order to serve a distinct aesthetic and moral end, one that can be encapsulated
in the counter-concept of the marvelous (or merveilleux). As Foster points out, this term is
a recurring thread in surrealists’ writings and, though they never give a direct definition,
its meaning can nonetheless be inferred (Foster 1993, 19).23 The term appears earlier
in medieval tales and, in Foster’s words, refers to a “rupture in the natural order” that
“unlike the miraculous, [is] not necessarily divine in origin” (1993, 19).
For André Breton, the marvelous is characterized by the dream state as it merges with
reality. In his first Manifesto of Surrealism (1924), Breton precedes his discussion of the
marvelous by stating his desire to effect “the future resolution of these two states, dream
and reality, . . . into a kind of absolute reality, a surreality” (2010, 14). He then praises
and labels marvelous literature in which the logic of dreams and the unconscious enter
into reality, freeing the author from the stultifying constraints of realistic storytelling.24
One year after the publication of Breton’s manifesto, Louis Aragon states in the La
révolution surréaliste, “Reality is the apparent absence of contradiction. The marvelous
and the like (Freud 1997, 208–220). Freud (1997, 224–225) discusses two types of beliefs that are uncovered in
the uncanny. The first type includes “primitive” superstitious beliefs (such as wish fulfillment, the double, and so
forth) that modern humankind has surmounted, but which occur in vestigial form during infancy. The second
type, which is most often discussed by later scholars, includes the aforementioned anxieties.
22 Foster (1997, 1–4) gives a detailed discussion of the disagreements between the surrealists and Freud. Rather
than extolling psychoanalysis as an agent for individual health, surrealists espoused the free expression of love
as an agent for social change. In his first surrealist manifesto, Breton (1924, 10–11) praises Freud for discovering
that the human mind contains unconscious “strange forces” that are as powerful as those of conscious thought,
but then asserts that these forces can used for artistic exploration, rather than psychoanalysis. Iversen (2007,
39–71) has built on Foster’s work by showing the connection between surrealists André Breton and Salvador
Dalí and the ideas of Jacques Lacan, a later psychoanalyst.
23 An incomplete listing of references to le merveilleux includes Breton (1969), Breton (1936), Aragon (1925,
30), and Aragon (1926, 251).
24 According to Breton: “only the marvelous is capable of fecundating … anything that involves storytelling.
[The gothic novel] The Monk is admirable proof of this. . . . Long before the author has freed his main characters
from all temporal constraints, one feels them ready to act with an unprecedented pride.” (14–15).

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is the contradiction that appears within the real” (Aragon 1925, 30).25 This statement is
the reverse of Breton’s—while Breton describes a dream state from without that merges
with the world of reality, Aragon is interested in outbursts of the illogical coming from
within everyday reality, as if they were already present.
Statements like the ones noted above have guided critics who attempted to define
to marvelous. According to Burke, for example, the marvelous occurs when the real
and unreal intersect in a way that contradicts logic. She contrasts the marvelous with
both the real and the fantastique, the latter of which presents a separate reality that,
while incredible, still has internal logic and consistency (1974, vii). Caws states that
creating the effect of the marvelous requires that the interior and exterior be unified while
also being recognized as separate states, creating a continual challenge to the logical
categories of many and one (1970, 21): “…the principle of one within the other requires
that neither one nor the other be lost. The realization of the surrealist marvelous depends
on the continually recreated unity of two separate things” (1970, 164).
Line Text Translation
1 . . . feu du soir . . . . . . fire of evening . . .

2 . . . enfouie la fraîcheur . . . . . . buried in coolness . . .
4 La neige haute comme la mer Snow high as the ocean
5 Et la mer haute dans l’azur Ocean high in the azure sky
11 . . . les animaux Animals,
12 Sosies malins . . . malign doubles . . .
13 Frère . . . aux ombres confondues brothers, their shadows mingled
15 un bel enfant . . . a lovely child . . .
16 . . . est bien plus petit . . . is far smaller
17 Que le petit oiseau du bout des branches than the little bird at the tip of the branch
Example 15
Excerpts from text of “Tu vois le feu du soir”
Similar outbursts of illogic are evident in Éluard’s poem. As the poem unfolds,
opposite concepts are juxtaposed and unified, a common device in Éluard’s poetry, in
order to continually challenge normative and rational means of seeing the world (Caws
1970, 160).26 Example 15 excerpts lines from the poem in which these juxtapositions
occur. In lines 1–2, the fire of evening is immediately juxtaposed with the cool forest. In
25 Aragon’s original reads as follows: “La réalité est l’absence apparente de contradiction. Le merveilleux, c’est
la contradiction qui apparaît dans le réel.” The same phrase appears in Aragon (1926, 251).
26 La Charité (1992, 81) also points out that simple repeated phrases and parallel constructions allow these
relationships to be directly perceived and intensify the emotion of the poem.

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lines 4–5, the sky and sea, which represent the extreme opposites of high and low, are
presented as unified. In lines 11–13, separate animals become clones of each other to
the point that their shadows commingle. In lines 15–17, the opposed concepts of larger
and smaller are unified, so that a child is smaller than a little bird. One might offer
mundane explanations for some of the phenomena the poem describes: animals could
merely appear to be clones because they resemble one another, for example, and the boy
may merely appear smaller than the bird because he is more distant. Such explanations
are beside the point. The poem seeks to magnify, rather than correct, contradictions
inherent within the act of seeing.
In the final stanza, the union of opposed concepts intensifies and takes a new
dimension as the poem shifts its focus from the observed to the observer. The poem’s final
phrase, “sans toi,” effects its most transgressive union: the you is invited to see the world
as if the you were not present—that is, as if the barrier between observer and observed, or
between poet and reader, no longer existed. Caws’s (1997, 141) description of surrealist
aesthetics in visual art is apt: “There is no distance between man and the objects of his
vision . . . they are in fact identified with each other.” It is also significant that the image
of a woman appears in the final stanza of the poem, since she reinforces this motif in
Éluard’s poetry. Buckland (1999, 160) suggests that the woman offers redemption and
completeness; she is the conduit for the poet’s relationship with the rest of the world.
After describing multiple women in line 21, the poem describes a single woman in line 23,
retrograding the one-to-many multiplicative image that is a frequent theme in Éluard’s
love poetry (Caws 1970, 163). Furthermore, according to Caws, loving a woman offers
the possibility of living a life of immediacy and presence, experiencing the world without
the filter of self-consciousness (1970, 162–164).
From a surrealist’s standpoint, this final union is not necessarily uncanny; rather, it
is potentially liberating. This union has a moral as well as aesthetic component: Éluard’s
poetry in particular stresses that removing, through imagination, the barrier between
individual and world is necessary for the individual to fully act in the world and take
responsibility for others (Caws 1970, 139–141). This moral ideal is made more explicit
by an additional stanza that Éluard added to the poem, published in a later version,
which directly addresses the collective social action that he espoused.
The preceding observations reveal new grounds upon which to interpret the
expressive correlations of Poulenc’s hexatonic pole. Cohn identifies an uncanny element
in the hexatonic pole through the metaphor of consonance as reality. By contrast, Éluard’s
text suggests interpreting this progression through a metaphor of tonic as observer,
linking the Cƒm triad to the tu addressed in the poem.
Example 16 shows some ways that the final progression might be interpreted through

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Musical Space Poetic Space
The tonic is confirmed, but through an The observer’s status is reaffirmed only
ambiguously-functioning HxP. through seeing unity between opposed
concepts.
No real closure is acheived, since the final The observer is both affirmed and erased
tonic can also be heard as nother iteration at the poem’s conclusion.
in a continuous major-third transpositional
sequence.
Example 16
Interpretation of HxP through metaphor of tonic as tu
this guiding metaphor. The HxP’s bass note continues the tonic’s function, while its pitch
content indicates its absence. In a similar way, the poem both addresses a toi and secretly
removes this toi from the world. The tonic is confirmed via cadential progression at the
song’s conclusion, but it is confirmed through a paradoxically functioning hexatonic
pole. In a similar manner, the conclusion of the poem offers a paradoxical affirmation of
seeing and erasure of the seer, cuing the listener to perceive unity in opposed concepts.
One could also argue that, at some level, no closure is achieved, since the final tonic
can also be heard as another iteration within a continuous major-third transpositional
sequence.27 In Example 16, an additional arrow connecting the hexatonic pole to the
final tonic shows this alternate reading of the progression. The tonic is regained, but it
also is potentially another iteration of a larger sequence, losing its privileged status as
tonic. In a similar manner, the poem both finds and obliterates the seer at its conclusion,
and it potentially obliterates its own status as a poem about seeing, directing readers’
attention toward finding the marvelous in the world outside the poem’s boundaries.
27 The simultaneous suggestion that a work is complete and torn from a larger whole recalls the
mid-nineteenth-century aesthetic of the fragment, defined by Rosen (1995, 41–115). Satyendra (1997) explores
the concept of the fragment in the late music of Franz Liszt, demonstrating that it is created through prolongation
of a dominant sonority, through “weakly bounded structures,” in which the bounding events are less stable than
central ones, and through codas that undermine tonal closure. The implication of a sequential progression as a
bounding event, rather than a cadential one, suggests a similar weak structural boundary. Further discussion of
fragmentary forms in Poulenc can be found in Heetderks (2011, 239–254).

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Conclusion
Buckland (1999, 146) has remarked that, at first glance, it is unusual that Poulenc
and Éluard would become close collaborators, given their vastly different religious and
political views. In “Tu vois la feu du soir,” however, their aesthetic aims are not very
different. Both wished to depict a state of consciousness that stood outside the bourgeois
mindset and sense of morality. Moreover, both wished to do so through means that were
directly communicable and had the potential to reach a broad audience.
This reading of “Tu vois le feu du soir” raises the question of whether the hexatonic-
pole-infused authentic cadence can be heard as having similar marvelous associations in
Poulenc’s other pieces. I believe that it can. Hearing the HxP-infused AC as a marvelous
formal and tonal event in his instrumental music highlights the paradoxes inherent
within his stylistic choices, bringing to the fore the contradiction between older genres
to which Poulenc alludes and his modernist setting. We as listeners are invited to be both
within and without the world of allusion his pieces create. The chord is indicative of the
strange union between banality and moments of profundity and insight that is frequently
a characteristic of the composer’s work. Finally, the chord forces us to hear paradoxes
contained within the tonal language in which Poulenc writes. Like the viewer in Éluard’s
poem, we are invited to hear opposed tonal cues as impossibly unified. Sensitivity to the
potential expressive associations of this progression will enrich our understanding of his
style.
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From Uncanny To Marvelous - Poulenc's Hexatonic Pole

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From Uncanny To Marvelous - Poulenc's Hexatonic Pole

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From uncanny to marvelous: Poulenc’s hexatonic pole

Author(s): DAVID HEETDERKS

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categories simultaneously. This treatment of the triadic relation is similar to surrealists’

a) Example of a hexatonic-pole progression b) Bifocal leading-tonal resolutions in the hexatonic pole

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a–c) Cohn’s convertible Tonnetz

d–e) Two representations of hexatonic pole on the Tonnetz

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Example 3a shows an example of reduction to consonant subset: it reproduces a

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Year Title Location Description and notes

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shown in Examples 6c and 6d (Schenker 1977, §56–57).12

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b) Voice-leading graph of Rachmaninov, Étude-Tableau op. 39 no. 9 (1916–1917), mm. 41–45

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a) Time-span reduction, R11+4–R12 (cadential progressions are shown in curly brackets

b) Tonnetz analysis of three cadential progressions

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Women descending from their ancient mirror 21

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Line Text Translation

1 . . . feu du soir . . . . . . fire of evening . . .

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Musical Space Poetic Space

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Aragon, Louis. “Idées.” 1925. La révolution surréaliste 3 (April 15): 30.

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———. 1998. Classical Form. New York: Oxford University Press.

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———. 2013. “Semitonal Succession-Classes in Prokofiev’s Music and Their Influence on

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Women descending from their ancient mirror 21