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Harmonic Resources in Bartók's Fourths - Richard S. Parks
Harmonic Resources in Bartók's Fourths - Richard S. Parks
Harmonic Resources in Bartók's Fourths - Richard S. Parks
.
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HARMONIC RESOURCES IN
BARTOK'S "FOURTHS"
Richard S. Parks
'K
124
a- A
Si
11<
21
W--
II f"
Ltd.; renewed
246
26
316
41
46
f
31
--ll? !
Example 1 (continued)
247
Al
1 --
A2
4
5 --
B
8
9 --
C1
16
17 --
D1
C2
20
21 --
30
31 --
Al
B
10
C1
19
D1
Example2
250
Al
4-26
/,(10,
1,3,6)
(1, q ,4,5)2
4-8
B
11t
(56,10
4-26
4-8
/(10'1'
316)
31,6
4-9
(2,3,18,9)
4-20
4-23
(7,8,3)
4-26
4-8
4-26
(C1
"o1.
4-26
3 (10,1,
6, 8,1)
J 3,
3,-,
IFF
D2
4-8
4-26
,4,5) ,3, 6)
4-23
(10o,o,,1 4-23
Example3
251
4-8
Al
4-26
S(0, 1,5,6)
10,1 3 4)
4-23
L -
(35,8,10)
10,
4-8
4-23
2(10, 1, 3,6)
3 68)
6)
(9,10,2,3)
4-26
4-8
C1 4-8
(0,
17
(6,7,11,0)
4-8
4-8
Example4
4-20
6-324-20
(10,0,2,3,5,7)
Example5
252
4)
Sets
designated
A = 4-26
B = 4-8
(5-4-5)
(5-6-5)
D = 4-23
E = 4-20
(5-5-5)
(5-3-5)
SECTION:
C = 4-9 (5-1-5)
BAR
NOS.:
PITCHES:
[B
3
[B
10
8-6
segmentation:
11
[A
10
3
[A
A
(Secondary
5
]
]
10
6
]
1
A
(10,11,0,1,3,4,5,6)
SECTION:
BAR
NOS.:?
PITCHES:
10
[A]
1
3
[A ]
10
10
0,1,3,4,5,6)
[B ]
7-20
10
11
[D]
10
11
[B ]
10
8-14
0
[B ]
(10,9,8,6,3,2,1)
(0,11,10,8,7,6,5,3)
[(9's'E'Z'T'O'OT'6
'Z'T) iZ-8
(E'S'9'L'8'ot'tt'0)
1T-8
'9'L'S'0I'TI'0)
(?'S'9'L'8'0I'II'0)
Wl
Sl
TT
[
TT
0
?
3 ](
tT-8 [(9'S'E'Z'T
[ 8]
TT
] [ a]
T
9
S
[
[
01
01 [ 0 ] 88 o] OT
OT
01
OT
]]
[s]
11
TT
(9'S't,'E'T'O'TT'OT)9-8
[ 5]
E
T
]
TT
[5 ]
01
OT
01 [[
OT
] [
oT
ot
E
I
E
[
[]
@
G
99
WS'
[5]
] []1
0Z-L]
(6'8'L'9'E'Z'T'O) 6-9
T
[a]
9
O:*
[(t'Z'E'9'8'6'ot)
oT
\'
Sl
6-8
''T','0)
('6'8'L'9'
1'-8
Sl
T
][
9
[5 ]
E
]
@&:SONOI
(Figure
2,
continued)
ON
SECTION:
(C2)
BAR
NOS.:
@
PITCHES:
6
4
] [ D ]
11
1
[D ]
[B]
11
10
4
[ D ]
3
[B]
11
10
[D0]
4
5
6
3
[ B ] [ D]
[ B
[B]
[D]
0
11
1
10
0
11
8-14
8-6
(9,11,0,1,2,4,5,6)
4
[ D]
11
[B]
10
[D]
(10,11,0,1,3,4,5,6)
SECTION:
BARNOS.:
PITCHES:
11
10
[B ]
6
11
8
3
[A]
10
[B ]
6
11
9
[ B ] [B]
3
4
B
11
[A ] [ A ]
[B i
8
[A]
3
8-6 (3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11)
11
[B i
[A J [ A ]
9
8
B ] [ B ] [A]
4
3
B
11
6 [A] 3
A
10
[B ]
[B I
5
9
[ B ]
[ B]
4
B
SECTION:
BARNOS.:
PITCHES:
6-32
SECTION: (
9,2,7,0,5,10
6-32
8-14
(7,6,5,3,2,1,0,10)
2,7,0,5,10,3
10,3,8
6-32
3-9
8-14
(2,1,0,10,9,8,7,5)
(7,6,5,3,2,1,0,10)
BARNOS.:
PITCHES:
10
2,7,0,5,10,3
8-14
10
10
[ B ] [ B ] [ A ] [A
1
0
1
10
6
[A i f A
4
[B ]
3
[8]
[ B ]
[ B]
]1[
[ B
10
11
10
10
11[B]
8-6
A
10
[A ]
6
[A]
[ Bi [
1
0
Bi [
1
3
[A
10
(10,11,0,1,3,4,5,6)
tO
;1
10[B
A
3
Ai
[A]
10
6
[A ] [A]
5
B]
[
1
3
[ B
4
[B4]
11[B3]
10
10
11[B]
Table 1. List of tetrachordalsets used in "Fourths," their transpositions, and the numberof times each appears.
Set
Label
Transposition
Numberof
Occurrences
A
4-26
10,1,3,6
3,6,8,11
5,8,10,1
60
29
1
B
4-8
11,0,4,5
0,1,5,6
10,11,3,4
9,10,2,3
5,6,10,11
6,7,11,0
1,2,6,7
4,5,9,10
3,4,8,9
15
15
16
4
17
7
2
4
8
C
4-9
2,3,8,9
0,1,6,7
3
1
D
4-23
1,3,6,8
5,7,10,0
3,5,8,10
7,9,0,2
10,0,3,5
11,1,4,6
11
4
8
2
10
5
E
4-20
7,8,0,3
1,2,6,9
5,6,10,1
7
4
2
Total for
Each Set
90
88
4
44
13
Table2. Intervalvectors for tetrachordslisted in orderof appearance.
Set Label
A = 4-26
B = 4-8
C = 4-9
D= 4-23
E = 4-20
IntervalArray
IntervalVector
5-4-5
5-6-5
5-1-5
5-5-5
5-3-5
258
[012120]
[200121]
[200022]
[021030]
[101220]
(4-26)
(4-8)
5 . 6
(4-23)
(4-9)
-5-
(4-20)
not possible
Example6
set A (4-26)
5
inversionon D
- 5
-4-5
Example7
4-6
5 - 5 - 1
4-14
5 -5 -3
4-22
5-5-4
Example8
1
set 4-26
or
Example9
260
4-16
- 5 -6
Vector
IntervalArray
3-9
[010020]
5-5
6-32
[143250]
5-5-5-5-5
7-20
7-22
7-35
[433452]
[424542]
[254361]
5-3-5-5-5-5
5-6-5-5-6-5
5-5-5-5-5-5
8-6
8-9
8-14
8-23
[654463]
[644464]
[555562]
[465472]
5-5-5-6-5-5-5
5-5-5-3-5-5-5
5-5-5-5-5-8-5
5-5-5-5-5-5-5
262
(7-22)
(4-8)
(7-35)
.00
(7-20).,.
(8,-
(4-9)
(8-9)
(4-20)
'li
-14)
(4-23)
..
(4-26)
(8-23)
(6-32)
(3-9)
263
A1,A2
1i 4
5-8
/L..=I.M-I,-
C2
C1
11
13
24
Dl
25
,-17-20
34
26
27
28
D2
E
-
-22
so.
23
31
15 - 16
35-3637-3839-4041-42
43-46
29
..12-
30
F
47 -
50
Example 10
265
Ioldtrexg
is1
?MI
WINI=,
17
14
13
E.18
,
_ .
15
(contin
20
19
M-
h)
Ex. 11 (continued)
16
0)
00
....
I
.r......
.1
23
..
.,
.....
.. ....h
24
25
e,
26
283
I,"~~~
'-
."
."b
--'
,,Ut
__,_,,-__-_____.....
W,
28
MA-
Ca
29
b'
...._____._
b~f
30
Ex. 11 (continued)
32
33
34
;35
Ib
10Ex.
(continued)
04
p;(VI
Ccd slt
#lfC~
iI
1w,
Jo
til
%lr ofW~~c
op
'o,
O
-
II
272
NOTES
1. Bela Bart6k, "Fourths," from Mikrokosmos, Vol. V (London: Boosey and
Hawkes, 1940): No. 131.
2. Claude Debussy, "pour les Quartes," from Douze Etudes, Vol. I (Paris:
Durand et Cie., 1915).
3. The pitch class content of each vertical is displayed in normal order as defined by Allen Forte in The Structure of Atonal Music (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1973), pp. 3-4, and labeled using Forte's list of sets found
in Appendix I (Ibid.), pp. 179-81. In m. 30, the score implies a C0 for the
last eighth in the right hand (the pick-up in example 2-D1). I strongly suspect
this is incorrect: the note should be Cb. C 0 creates a tritone instead of a perfect fourth here-a glaring anomaly in view of the otherwise consistent use of
perfect fourths as vertical intervals in both hands throughout the piece.
4. In Figure 2 each four-note pitch-class set is represented by a letter (the same
letter is used for all transpositions of that set) and pitch classes are represented
by integers. Tetrachords resulting from vertical segmentation are labeled
below each measure; those resulting from segmentation based upon slurs appear
in brackets, within each measure.
5. In Example 6 the pitch classes of each set are disposed in these interval arrays
in ways which conspicuously display their perfect fourths; the letter labels, A
through E, correspond to the order of initial appearances of the sets.
6. The term interval vector refers to the interval-class content of a set displayed
such that, reading from left to right, the first integer indicates the number of
i.c. 1, the second, of i.c. 2, and so forth, through i.c. 6. Thus the interval vector for set 4-26 is [012120], meaning that the content of the set includes
none of i.c. 1 (minor seconds or major sevenths), one of i.c. 2 (major seconds
or minor sevenths), two of i.c. 3 (minor thirds or major sixths), one of i.c. 4
(major thirds or minor sixths), two of i.c. 5 (perfect fourths or fifths) and
none of i.c. 6 (tritones). See also Forte, Atonal Music, pp. 13ff.
7. Set A (4-26) from Example 6 is inverted in Example 7. Note that the pitch
content is the same for both forms, although the ordering is different.
8. The reader may recognize them as members of the group of thirteen symmetrical tetrachords-"symmetrical" because their pitch-class contents may
be ordered to yield interval arrays which display the same i.c. on each end.
For example, set 4-26 (10,1,3,6) may be ordered as 3-2-3, or as 5-4-5
(1,6,10,3); both are symmetrical arrays.
9. The term phrase member is adopted from Douglass Green, Form in Tonal
Music, 2nd ed. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979), p. 30, and
refers to a sub-unit of a phrase.
10. Benjamin Suchoff, Guide to Bart6k's Mikrokosmos, rev. ed. (London: Boosey
and Hawkes, 1971), p. 114. Under the heading "Bart6k's Comments" are
found the statements: "Contrasts of fourths in Gb major and Eb minor. Good
example of duo-tonality." Suchoff also includes the phrase "has pentatonic
feeling"-an interesting observation, for although there are no conspicuous
appearances of five-note pitch-class sets (pentatonic or otherwise), two of the
most pervasive tetrachords (4-26 and 4-23), as well as the trichord of mm. 4142 (3-9), are subsets of the five-note set which yields the pentatonic scale as
273
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
one of its forms (5-35). Furthermore, the six-note set of mm. 35-40 (6-32)
is its most characteristic hexachordal superset.
Leon Dallin, Techniques of Twentieth-Century Composition, 3rd ed. (Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown, 1974), p. 133, is typical in his assertion that
"For polytonality to be consciously perceived, the two keys must be relatively
pure and adequately separated in register or timbre."
One might argue that polytonality in this piece resides in the opposing interval
roots of the perfect fourths disposed in treble and bass registers: Gb for the
right hand and Eb in the left. Without questioning the Hindemithian assertion
of these tones as roots, it is open to question whether Bartok was aware of
the concept, and it should be emphasized that his inclusion of the qualifiers
"major" and "minor" suggests a more conventional view of what constituted
a tonal center.
One is reminded of Stravinsky's use of the terms "pole of sonority," "poles
of attraction," and "polar centers" in his attempt to describe his freer conception of tonality (or "antitonality"-again, his term), by which he seems
to mean that a pitch class or collection of pitch classes could serve as a stabilizing force in a piece-however unconventional this combination might be.
Igor Stravinsky, "The Phenomenon of Music," in Poetics of Music, trans.
Arthur Knodel and Ingolf Dahl (New York: Vintage Books, 1947), pp. 2346, and especially pp. 37-40, 44.
Bart6k's preoccupation with the number four in this piece is demonstrated
not only by his emphasis on fourths, but also in his persistent use of fournote sonorities, in his choice of a duple meter featuring subdivision into four
eighth-notes per bar, and in a formal scheme which divides the piece into
four-measure phrases. (The two exceptions, Section C2 [mm. 21-30] and
Section E [mm. 35-42], still incorporate the number four into their structures-in the first instance as four-plus-two-plus-four measures, and in the
last as four-plus-four measures.)
Suchoff, Bart6k's Mikrokosmos, p. 114.
The three notes of mm. 41-42 represent just such an inconsistency of course,
but this does not diminish the consistency of the four-note sonorities so carefully maintained in the above-mentioned bars. Indeed, the anomaly of
mm. 41-42 is even more striking precisely because it constitutes a singular
departure from the established texture.
274