Perspectives of New Music

Modalism-A "Third World"

Author(s): Anatol Vieru
Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Autumn - Winter, 1985), pp. 62-71
Published by: Perspectives of New Music
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/832757
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 MODALISM-A I"THIRDWORLD"*

N THE CONFRONTATION betweentonalism andantitonalism,

modesappear
as a "thirdworld";thecomparison withthecontemporary politicalworld
may be somewhat facile,
yet certain
similarities
areamazing. Whiletonalism is
in
crystallized clear and
rules, atonalismtoo has inthe
crystallized permutational
theory ofserialism,themodalseemsa diffuse, backward, unevolvedworld.For
manypeople, modes are colorratherthan essence,emotion ratherthancon-
structive musicalthinking.Certainly,it is a wide-spreadworld,both syn-
chronically(ingeography) anddiachronically ofmodesareburiedin
(theorigins
thefogoftime),butfewpeoplehavebeenconcerned withthequestion,what
do all thesemodeshavein common?A. Danieloumaintains thatamongthe

*Thispaper
waspresented
aspartofthe"Kongress: atthe1984Internationale
Tonalitit"
Ferienkurse NeueMusik,
fiir Darmstadt.

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 Modalism-A'ThirdWorld" 63

Pythagorean, tempered, IndianandChinesesystems, theintersection is void.'

In fact,theideastillunderlying theEuropeaneducatedmusician's thinking is
thatmusichasdevelopedfromsimpletocomplex, thereforefromdiatonicism to
chromaticism, fromtonalism to atonalismandevento hyperchromaticism. No
wonderthenthatto himmodesrepresent an unevolvedpast,thatpentatonies
or oligochordies areconsidered"defective"and atonality itselfis considered
"defective"in relationto totalchromaticism. Modes would therefore be a
developing world at most.
The modallineinEuropeanmusichasbeenfrail;ithasexistedrather subja-
cently;ithasneither hadtheimperious, absolutist
characterofthetonalpractice,
noraffirmed thevoluntarism oftheserialtechnique.
The problemarising nowis to finda modelforthisthinking, discern itsspe-
cificaspects.Thedomainisvastandevenifweimpoverish it,itsimplications still
remainextremely diverse.We shallconfineourselves to thetempered system
and shallnot dwellon thedefinition of themode; evena simpledefinition
provesto be complicated enoughin reality. We shallsetout frommodesin
Messiaen'snarrow sense:a mode isanyscalemadeup fromthe"chromatic total,"
thetwelvetonesofthetempered system.
In orderto getdirectly to thepointandavoidbeingdryandabstract, weshall
givea concrete example of a mode, its
revealing latencies.
We shall illustrate
the
propertiesofthe"Bacovia" modeand theoperations to whichitcan be sub-
jected(Bacoviawasa greatRomanianpoet):
[5, 8, 11,0, 4] withtheintervallic
structure
(3,3,1,4,1)

(Theexampleis takenfroman old workofmine,dated1959:Luptacuinerpial

The Struggle musicforBacoviaandLabi?).
againstInertia,
Wehavetakenthereforea "defective," poormode,a somewhat bizarre
pen-
tatony,altogetherdifferentfrom the preferences of Messiaenwho usually
choosesgarlandmodeswithmanytonesandlimited transpositions.
The operationof union{U } is possible;we shalltherefore
unitetwotrans-
of
positions thismode:

[1,4,7,8,0} U [5,8,1l,0,41
[Bacl] U [Bac5s = [MT)
Bac5 Bac1 MT

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64 ofNewMusic
Perspectives

The modeMT ismadeup ofsoundswhichbelongto [Bac,]or[Bacs5.Wecan

saythatitincludes
Bac,andBacs:
:D and ID
[MT} [Bacl} [MT] [Bacs5
[MT} is,initsturn,a well-known seven-tonemode:thegypsy mode(anhar-
monicminorscalewitha rising inflectionofthefourth step).It isimportant to
knowthatitincludes twoforms ofthe"Bacovia"mode.
Unionis notan addition butan operation ofsetsin themathematical sense.
Thistypeofoperation is neithertonalnorserial;itismodal, totonescales.
specific
Tonescales
behave likesets.However,thereisno questionhereofsymbolic musicas
definedbyXenakis;thisisnotinvented music;whatwe havehereisthemodel-
lingofabehaviour ofthecommonear.Indeed,whensuperposing twomusics in
and
[Bacl} [Bacs], the common ear itself
unites
them in [MT]. Actually, thereare
notsoundsas suchbutclassesofsoundswhoserepresentatives we hear.([C 0 is
therepresentative ofallC 0 pitches, inalloctaves;theyaretheclassesofmodulo
12remainders isomorphic to Z/12,theseriesofmodulo12congruent integers.)
The commontonesbetween[Bacl]and [Bacs5constitute theirintersection:

0 [Bacs5 = [Augmented Chord]

[Bacln
I
'I
w%
L i

It is,asyoumaysee,a well-knownthree-tone
mode(theaugmented chord);
theintersection
modeisformed oftoneswhichbelongto and
[Bacl] [Bacs5.
The TotalMode in thetempered systemis the"chromatictotal"[T.C}. It
includesallmodes,therefore
[MT]too.
D
{T.C] [MT]
Theirdifference
isthecomplement
of
[MT}:
- = [Bac3}
{T.C} {MT}

uri

andwe saythat{MT1iscomplementary
to
[Bac31:
{MT}= [Bac3}
or [Bacl] U=
[Bacs5 --[Bac3}
Inclusion,
union,intersection,
complementarity,anddifference
arethemain
modaloperations
typicaloftonescales.Theyoffer
the a variedreper-
composer
toryofmeans.The factthat

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 Modalism-A"ThirdWorld" 65

U [Bacn+41 =
[BacnJ --[Bacn+21,
thatis,thefactthattheunionoftwotranspositionssituated
a majorthirdapartis
complementary to another
mode at
situated a majorsecondbetweenthem,sug-
geststo us thefollowing
situation:

,'

inwhicheachunionoftwomodesata distance offoursemitones

iscomplemen-
tarywiththemodesituated betweenthem.
Wearedealingherewitha composition
ofmodes.To compose([) twomodesis
to giveto one ofthemtheother'sstructure:

V r'

[0
4 7] 0 [2 5 9]= [0, 1, 2,4,5, 6, 9]
(4 3 5) (3 4 5) (1 1 211 3 3)
Thisoperation
isnotcommutative:

~i8LLA 1' r
[2 5 9][0 4 7]= [0 2 3 4 7 10 11]

sothat[0 4 73] [2 5 9] ? [2 5 9] 0 [0 4 7],

butthecompositionoftwoModalStructuresiscommutative:

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66 ofNewMusic
Perspectives

(4 3 5) 0 (3 4 5) = (3 4 5) m(4 3 5) = 0,1,2,1,1,3,3)
Dan Vuza hasgivena strongalgebraical
demonstrationofall thesetheorems.2
The composition anotheroperationproperto the
of modes (0) is therefore
modalworld.
Whiletheoperations we havedescribedso farare"external"to themode,
we cannowseewhatthemode"contains"initsinterior:

~--~FILL'~I~

You see,thisfive-tone
modeis richenough:itis the"smallest"mode (the
mode withthefewestelements)thatshouldincludea majorchord,a minor
chord,a diminishedone and an augmented
one at thesametime.It also has
anotherproperty:
itissymmetrical
aroundAb:

61
Symmetry is an important propertyof theworldof modesderiving fromthe
algebraicgroup structure
of Z/12.
Thethings I havepointedoutabovesomehowsetusapartfromMessiaen,to
bring us closer to Webern,withhisobsessiveGoetheanquestof a musical
Urpjlanz from whichonemayevolveinanydirection, reachanypointandbuild
anything. We are to
referring Webern'slast when
period hewasminutely build-
his
ing series, likethosein hisConcerto
for NineInstruments
op. 24 or hisString
Quartet op. 28.

op.24 opr-.----- 28
op. 24op. 28

Theseareremarkable of theChromatic
partitions Total(withsmallmodes
beingused). As a matter
of in
fact,Schoenbergtoo, his lastperiod,in Ein
moderne
Psalm, embracedsuch concerns:

TI

WebemandMessiaenarediametrically
opposedfroma modalpointofview;
Webernaddressed to
himself small
modes,and triedto makepartitions
of the
Chromatic
Totalthrough
theirtransposition.

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 Modalism-A"ThirdWorld" 67

Here is an instance
of partition
of theChromatic
Total,whichis not at all
atonal:
axis

(frommyGames forPianoandOrchestra, 1963-a partition previously conceived

by Nicolas Slonimsky).
Eachmodehastherefore a capacity
forincluding smaller modesandforbeing
included inricher
modes.Letus calltheformer itsrichness,whichisexpressed by
thewholenumber ofmodesincludedinit;thelatter isto be calledambiguity(or
powerofgenerality) andisexpressed bythewholenumberofmodesinwhichit
canbe included.It caneasilybe establishedthattherichness andambiguity ofa
modeareinversely proportional. Indeed, the largemodal aggregates(comprised
of10-12tones)includea multitude ofsmaller modesbuthavelittleambiguity,
beingincluded infewothermodes;anydodecaphonic series,takenas a mode,is
onlyincludedin itself.The intersectionsof thevarioustranspositions ofsmall
modesarevariable inpointofnumberofelements, whilethoseofthecomplete
seriesoftwelvetonesremaininvariably thesame;thatis whythetwelve-tone
seriesisuninteresting
froma modalpointofview.Smallmodes,so poor,"defec-
tive,""unevolved,"havean immense ambiguity, theycanbe includedinhun-
dredsandeventhousands ofmodes;hencethesuggestive forceofpentatonies,
offolkandchildren's oligochordies,ofthedirges, whichStravinsky masterfully
exploitedin Petrouchka,Le Sacreduprintemps andLesNoces.Today,we can no
longerholdthefalsely evolutionist,
hyperchromaticizing viewofa fewdecades
ago; smallmodesarerehabilitated by theirambiguity, by theirconstructive
omnipresence.

A simplebutdelicate
questionarisesnow:whatdoesthemodeproperconsist
ofPDoes itconsistoftonesoronlyoftheintervals betweenthem?We arefaced
witha specificdoublearticulationof themusicallanguage;anytonesequence
presupposesatthesametimea seriesofintervals.Thisprompts an investigation
meantto establishcertain
elementary thingswhichpassunnoticed.
The modeismaterialized in tones,butitscharacter,
itsethosresidesininter-
vals;tonesandintervalsappealto twosidesofmusicalperception: "absolute"
hearing tonesas such,"relative"hearing
grasps(recognizes) struc-
distinguishes
tures,intervals.
Anymode is therefore an associationof tonesand intervals;
intervals,mathematically speaking,are nothingbut differences (distances)

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68 ofNewMusic
Perspectives

between tones, relationsbetween tones which are givena quantitative

expression (atthispointwemustrefer toAlainDanidlou,whoattributes musical
ethosevento tonesas such).
Whatconnectstonesto intervals is thegroupstructure ofthetempered sys-
tem,a system whichisisomorphic to Z/12.Thisstructure isnotinvented bythe
researcher, itiscongenital toEuropeanmusic.Anymusician, fromthefirst steps
he takesin thisart,hearsand thinksin modulo12; theunisonand theoctave
(reducible to theunison)areto himtheneutral element ofthegroup.Whenhe
says:"the inversion ofa fifth
perfect (7) is a perfect fourth (5)" he admitsthat
7 + 5 = 0 in themodulo12algebraic to it
group; put differently, he admitsthat
every interval has itsown symmetrical interval. This property ofintervals in the
tempered system is extended byabus de langage to tones as well. That is whywe
shallnotetonesquantitatively fromC to B withthenumbers 0-11,not 1-12 asis
usually done inserial music; the differencebetween tones obtained by their sub-
traction willdetermine theinterval whichwillalwaysbe one ofthetwelveele-
mentsofthealgebraic group.
On theotherhand,thesetproperties whichwe havefoundin modes oftones
do notpertain to intervallic
structures as well.Theycanbe extended,byabusde
langage,to intervals too,butthiswillrequire a delicatelogicalandmathematical
operation.
The relation betweentonesandintervals inthefieldofmodesenhancesand
throws newlighton anoldandcommonoperation: usuallyconsid-
transposition,
ereda matterof elementary theory.Any modal structure establishes itselfin
tones,in a certainposition;transposition is precisely theinstrument thatcon-
nectstonesandintervals.
Sinceitis notpossiblein theshorttimewe haveat our disposalto go into
details,we shallsum up themajorcharacteristics of themodalas: behavior
properto setsas concerns thescalesoftones,symmetry as concerns thescalesof
intervalsandtransposition as a linkinginstrument betweentonesandintervals.

The followingpicturebecomesapparent now: Whenexplored withlogical-

mathemetical means,theworldofmodesoffers usa mathematicalmodelofinter-
musical
vallic thinking.Thisshouldnotsurpriseus,sincewealsoknowintuitively
thatmodesareconnected withthebirthofmusic,withitsincipient state.(Pen-
tatony,forinstance,hasbeenknowninChina,butalsoin Irelandandinmany
otherplaces;children'sfolklore
hascommonmodaltraits in manypartsofthe
world.)The modalisconnected withthemagmaofmusicina nascent state:that
iswhyitslogicalstudyhasledus to a modelofintervallic
thinking.
Thisinducesus to attribute
to themodalcertain operationsexistingin ton-
alismand serialism.
An instanceof tonalities
behavingas setsis thenotionof
"related"tonalities
and thetonaloperationsignificantly
called"modulation";

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 Modalism-A"ThirdWorld" 69

tonalities
witha richer
intersection
areclosertoeachother(C majorandG major
havea larger
intersection
thanC and E major);in theusualprocessofmodu-
lationfromone tonalityto anotherone firstomitsthe differencebetween
tonalities
inorderto emphasizetheirintersection,
theircommonpoints.
Anotheroperation,structurallyrelatedboth to tonalismand to serially
is thisoperation,commonto antagonistic
organizedatonality, transposition;
systems,derives
from themodal.

Letus consider fromtheoutsidethismusicalmodelwhichhasemerged from

theanalysis ofmusical scales, ofthe connection between them. The system hasa
nonhistorical character, although italso"discloses"and"retells"certain factsin
thehistory ofmusic.It isrigorous butnontotalitarian; itdoesnotaimatthetotal
organization ofthemusicaldiscourse;itmodelsone ofthemajorparadigms of
theartofsounds:themodal.We believethatthisnonhistoricality hasbeenpos-
sibleprecisely at a latestageofmusichistory, whenthepolemicsbetweenton-
alismandatonalism havebecomeoutdatedandhavebeensurmounted.
At present,livemusicalthinking is detachedand independent fromboth
tonalism andatonalism. Amendsarealsobeingmadeforthepolemicexcesses of
atonalism; a number of of
aspects tonalism had been annulled "by edict"so to
say,in a voluntaristic manner;whiletheconsonant triad(majoror minor)was
stilllingering inthecommonear(inthatofserialist polemicists too),theformer
wasconsidered inacceptable from a stylistic
point ofview. As a rule,consonance
was notapprovedof; whilediatonywasstillalivein one's ears,itwasdiscon-
sidered, as beingoutdatedanddefective. Allthishadto be reconsidered witha
dispassionate eye, afterall had
passion died; reconciliationis takingplacebythe
tombsofthefallenheroesas in a Shakespearean play.
But thisalso requiresdetachment and, historically speaking,the timeof
detachment hascome.Letwhatever hasremained aliveoftonalism andserialism
live!Butitwilllivewithinotherframes ofmusicalthinking thanin thepast.
Whatis dead in tonalismarenot themajorchords,modulationor other
aggregates, butitsgreatconstructive role;neveragainwilltherebe a birthofa
sonataform,whichwouldneverhavebeenbornoutsidetheevolution ofton-
alism.Itsgreatconstructive musicalrolehasended;it hasceasedto be thesole
validsystem butithasremained a system nevertheless. Whatisdefinitively over
inserialism isitsabsolutist, voluntaristic character;itiscertain thatserialismcan-
notencompass theentire musicalart,andVarbse wasright to speakofthemani-
acalcharacter of certainserialworks.The exclusionof melody,of themes,of
of
motifs, rhythmic pulsations, in favourofa "totallyorganized"musicalflux
hascertainly beenanexcess.As a matter offact,serialismhascircumscribed itself
a
by manner,very much as Seurat's once
pointillism abortedin one, leaving
behinda greatpainter namedSeuratanda traceinthehistory ofpainting.

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70 ofNewMusic
Perspectives

In fact,tonalism-atonalism polemicsareover;thepolemicrulesof musical

composition in
consisting the avoidance of,oropposition to,tonalpracticesare
today obsolete. One needs now to buildmore comprehensiveruleson theruins
oftheold rulesanddisputes.
The theoryexpounded hereis not polemic(antitonalor antiserial,for
instance),itisjust"anti-anti," It isnoteclectic
thatis,antipolemic. either;byits
unitarycharacter itcan accommodate heterogeneous musicalmaterial,
impart-
ingtoita satisfactory
unity;itistopicalnow,wethink, tocomposewiththehelp
of abstract,supermusical, superstylistic structures.Now, the antagonism
betweentonalandatonalisbeingreduced, issofteningundertheimpactofmore
generallaws.

I wassaying abovethatthismodelis a discovery ratherthanan invention;I

wasformanyyearspuzzledthatsuchelementary ideashadnotbeenasserted by
othersas well.Theyhad croppedup in mycomposing practiceand in thatof
otherRomanian composers after
1956;theyweresimply meansandhada purely
ludiccharacterinthebeginning, untiltheysolidified
ina system ofideas.Well,a
fewyearsago I cameupon someAmericanresearches on thisline-collective
researchesI couldcallthem-inPerspectives ofNewMusicandtheJournal ofMusic
Theory. They involved Allen Forte, Milton Babbitt,RobertMorris,David
Lewin,JohnRahnandseveral others.WhatinRomaniawe calledmodes,they
called"pitchclasssets"ataboutthesametime;insteadof"''modalstructures,"
theAmericans hadlongspokenofthemode"vector,"whichis a listofallthe
itcontains.
intervals It wasa greatjoyto comeacrosstheAmerican as
researches,
thisstrengthened mybeliefthatour ideasareofpresentrelevance, thatthey
anobjectivetruthofmusicandan actualstateoftheartofsounds.There
reflect
arecertainlydifferencesbetweentheseapproaches too,evenifthelogical-mathe-
maticalapparatus is highlysimilar. WiththeAmericans, thenotionof "pitch
classset" emergedwitha viewto a musicological approachto theanalysis of
atonalmusic;in Romania,theapproachwasfirst madefromtheangleofcom-
positionandevenbefore theorizingweplayedwiththesemeansofcomposition.
The Americansanalysedin greatdetailthe technical,logical-mathematical
aspectsofthetheory; in Romania,inpreparation forCarteamodurilor (TheBook
ofModes),3 we attempted a phenomenology oftheartofmusicthrough thethe-
oryofmodes,andwe havesetforth someofthoseideashere:therehabilitation
of "defective modes" hasbeenone ofthem.We madean attentive of
analysis
certainstructuresthathavebeenprivileged bythehistory ofmusic,suchas the
major-minor triadsandmajor-minor categoriesingeneral.Weworkedouta def-
initionof "diatony-chromaticism" categories as partof thistheory,and also
foundcriteriaofmeasuring andcomparing modesfroma diatonic andchromatic

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 Modalism-A"ThirdWorld" 71

pointof view;forus, anymode has at thesametimea certain(measurable)

degreeofdiatonyandchromaticism.
Theseapproaches seemto us to be topicalin present-daymusicalthinking.
Besides,themathematicalinvestigationof the theory has been givena strong
impetusby Dan Vuza's works.4
Considered froma modalperspective, tonalism and atonalismparadoxically
comecloseto eachother.Serialism is perceivedas antitonalism
(andwe know
thatenemiesloveeachotherdialectically)
orevenas hypertonalism. Timeshave
changed:today we are from
equidistant eitherof them in orderto regardthem
withequalsympathy andreceivethepresents they canstill
make us.

NOTES

1. AlainDanidlou,Semantique musiale(Paris:Hermann,1967).
2. Dan Vuza, "Aspectsmathematiques dansla theoriemodaled'Anatol
Vieru,"Parts1-4,Revue Roumaine deMathimatiques 27
PuresetAppliquies
(1982) nos. 2 and 10; 28 (1983) nos. 7 and8.
3. AnatolVieru,CarteaModurilor EdituraMuzicali,1980).
(Bucharest:
4. Vuza, "Aspectsmath6matiques."

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