Serial music - ordered music

ordered motives -> series

Serial transformations: retrograde, rotation (beginning on different ordered notes of series)

ex: Obrecht Kyrie: uses modal inv, retrograde inversion for Agnus dei

Modal inversion: staying within scale degrees of the mode

Schoenberg op 23 no 3

5-note serial motive - imitated in bass starting on F

First unambiguous statement of the serial motive - called Prime (ex: Pt starting on Bb)

Labelling system: P or I, number after = note the series/transformed series starts on

Ex: Bb-D-E-B-C#

Prime : P10 (Pt) starts on Bb

Inversion: I2 (starts on D)

Retrograde: R(P1)

Retrograde: label by the backwards form (last note)

Prime to R prime: backwards notes, and but switch polarities of intervals (+ 2 to -2)

Stravinsky In memoriam of Dylan thomas:

Serial theme: P4 (starts on E)

P0 = C-Cb-Ab-A-Bb

R(P0) = Bb-A-Ab-Cb-C

He labeled it ‘retrograde’, so what you see is already retrograded

to get the prime form, read from the last note.

at the tritone - symmetrical dominant

Terms

- invariance - common tones between series

- boundary notes: first and last notes of series

- series overlap: on an ending/starting note

If P4 ends on D and starts on E, and I2 starts on D, you know that it will end on E (flipped from
-2 to +2)

P4: E-Eb-C-C#-D

I2: D——-E

Number of common tones: more related

- Maximum transpositional invariance (how many same common tones): look at interval vector

- ex: <432100> -> at T1, max invariance ex: P4 -> P5 (share 4 common tones)

- minimum invariance: at T5 or T6, ex: P4 -> Pt (share no common tones)

CONTENT

P4/T0

P4: E-Eb-C-C#-D (P: -1, -3, +1, +1)

T refers to content - in normal order.

Normal order: C-C#-D-Eb-E [01234] -> T0

I2/T2

I2: D-Eb-Gb-F-E (+1, +3, -1, -1 starting on D =2 )

Normal order: D-Eb-E-F-Gb -> T2

Intervals:

P: -1, -3, +1, +1

I: +1, +3, -1, -1

R(P): -1, -1, +3, +1 (backwards of P, but also switched polarities of intervals)

R(I): +1, +1, -3, -1

P4 and I0 have the same content (both T0 - normal order is the same)

P4: E-Eb-C-C#-D

I0: C-C#-E-Eb-D

T0 - C-C#-D-D#-E

Common tones - content

boundary notes - serial order

P0: C-Cb-Ab-A-Bb

R(P0): Bb-A-Ab-Cb-C

Normal order: Ab-A-Bb-Cb-C (starts on Ab = T8)

1) label P, I or R

2) find boundary notes

3) find content (T)

Content relationship between T8 and T2: tritone relationship

At transposition T6 - no common tones for <01234>

Dylan thomas song:

R(P4):

It:

3 common tones - C, C#, D

~~~

Schoenberg, op 31

Variation form for 12-tone music

Theme

m.34-37 - 12 notes - the prime row

Pt: Bb-E-Gb-Eb-F-A / -D-C#-G-G#-B-C

1–-2-3—-4—5-6-7-8—9—10-11-12

chromatic group: set: Eb-E-F-Gb [0123]

at m.39 - starts up a semitone: retrograde row

Retrograde of I7 R(I7)

I7 - inversion of P that starts on G (7)

G-C#-B-D-C-Ab / Eb-E-Bb-A-F#-F

at m.46 - retrograde of prime - R(P10)

at m.51: starts with tritone

inversion of P starting on G - I7

Four rows used to make the theme:

P10

R(I7)

R(P10)

I7

Hexachordal combinatoriality for accompaniment:

I7 and P(10): each hexachord part of Pt is the reverse hexachord (complement) of I7

R(I7) would go with R(P10)

I7 with Pt

Rows:

Theme: Pt R(I7) R(Pt) I7

Accomp: I7 R(Pt) R(I7) Pt

How do you find an I transformation of P row that creates HC?

look for odd sums

even sums - number map onto themselves

ex: at sum 6: you would get 3+3 (Eb and Eb) or (9+9) (A and A)

I7: sum 5 (Bb + G = 10 + 7 = 5)

I6: sum 4 (Bb + F# = 10 + 6 = 4)

at sum 4, you would get numbers that map onto themselves: 2+2, or 8+8, which means
you can’t create HC (the complement would have same pcs as prime hexachord = don’t get all
12 pitches)

Pt: Bb-E-Gb-Eb-F-A / -D-C#-G-G#-B-C

I7: G-C#-B-D-C-Ab / Eb-E-Bb-A-F#-F ——> complement to 1st hex. of Pt

1st six notes of Pt and 1st six notes of I7 form the chromatic aggregate

Boundaries:

starts with a descending tritone

ends with a ascending semitone

Retrograde: would start C-B - descending semitone

Retro Inversion: ascending semitone -> F-F#

Partition scheme: motivic way of dividing up the row - smaller units, that he repeats

(row as motives)

ops (order positions) 05,13,24,6789te

et9876, 50, 42, 31 - same partition scheme, on a different row

1) hexachordal com.

2) partition scheme

Hexachordal areas - > ‘keys’

- 12 places to go -> Pt, Pe, P0 etc.

Area I: Pt, I7, R(Pt) and R(I7)

next area: Pe, I8, R(Pe) and R(I8)

etc.

Webern symphony

P9 and I9 - 18-12 =6

I5 and P1 = 6

both sum 6 - cannot be combinatorial

Webern using even sums, to get invariance/ common tones

Results in notes that map onto themselves

- vs Schoenberg using odd sums

Row changes tone color -> Klangfarbenmelodie