Sounds of Silence: Stravinsky's 'Double Canon' Author(s) : André Douw Source: Music Analysis, Oct., 1998, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Oct., 1998), Pp. 313-335 Published By: Wiley

Sounds of Silence: Stravinsky's 'Double Canon'
Author(s): André Douw

Source: Music Analysis , Oct., 1998, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Oct., 1998), pp. 313-335
Published by: Wiley
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/854419
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
Wiley is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Music Analysis
This content downloaded from

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
ANDRE DOUW
SOUNDS OF SILENCE: STRAVINSKY'S DOUBLE CANON
Igor Stravinsky's Double Canon for string quartet was written in 1959, in
memory of Raoul Dufy. According to Robert Craft, the music was not in-
tended as a personal tribute to Dufy (the two men had never met), but was
originally composed as a duet for flute and clarinet in response to a private
request for an autograph (White 1979, p. 510). In spite of its brevity (it lasts
about one minute and sixteen seconds), scholars have described it as remark-
ably strong. Andre Boucourechliev, for example, mentions its 'completely time-
less character, which it shares with the Shakespeare Songs. This is due as much
to the actual material as to its handling .... Dateless, but timeless too in the
sense that it can be endlessly repeated.' (1987, p. 281)l StephenWalsh writes
that the piece 'sounds supremely natural; and yet the canons are rigorously
strict, and the retrograde forms also reverse the rhythms of the original, a de-
vice which, for once, can be heard and is important for the work's expressive
effect' (1988, pp.254-5).
By the time he wrote this canonic epigram, Stravinsky was working on Move-
ments for piano and orchestra. Having employed dodecaphonic techniques in
the great religious works of the 1950s, the composer was already familiar
enough with the new method to change and manipulate it in order to find 'new
... serial combinations' (Stravinsky and Craft 1960, p. 106). Indeed, his
method of deriving tables of material from the original set by rotating the inter-
vals of its two hexachords separately - a method developed in Movements and
beyond - is well known. The years between 1952 and 1966, during which the
composer applied serial techniques, may be subdivided into three shorter peri-
ods of four or five years each. The mid- 1950s saw an exclusive use of complete
twelve-note sets and their transpositions. Next, between 1958-9 (Movements)
and 1962 (A Sermon, a Narrative, and a Prayer), Stravinsky employed both
transpositions and hexachordal rotations to compose his chords and melodies.
Lastly, after 1962-3 (from Abraham and Isaac to the Requiem Canticles), the
composer made exclusive use of hexachordal rotations: no transpositions of
complete twelve-note sets are found. This division of the late period into three
is necessarily sketchy and therefore slightly inaccurate because the different
techniques overlap. In fact, each newly introduced technique appears to have
been introduced into the old technique on a modest scale.2
However, in Double Canon - as in Epitaphium, written in the same year- no
hexachordal rotations are yet used. In Epitaphium, we only find the original set
MusicAnalysis, 17/iii (1998) 313

¢ Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
314 ANDRt DOUW
003 and its three derivations Ro) Io and RIo, while in Double Canon, contrast-
ingly, just five transpositions are used and not one original set is played. There-
fore, in neither of these two short pieces are any innovations found with regard
to the serial forms as such. However, the manner in which the sets are used is
very different indeed from what Stravinsky had done in his work before 1959.
To put it in the briefest possible manner: in Canticum Sacrum, horizontal
movement and progress in time were investigated with the help of a twelve-
note set made up of leading notes. In contrast, in Threni, the main subject of
investigation was harmony and vertical movement, and there the set was com-
posed of traditional triads with a major and a minor third. After Threni,
Stravinsky seems to have developed an interest in diagonal motion, in contrast
to the horizontal and vertical motion of the preceding years. In this context, it
may be illuminating to mention the well known diagram he drew in the same
year 1959 (Stravinsky and Craft 1959, p. 108), which is still printed on the
cover of Perspectives of New Music. Starting in the upper left corner, he drew six
vertical, five horizontal and two diagonal lines.We may speculate that the lines
stand for vertical, horizontal and diagonal motion as explored at this time.
In the course of the following account, I shall take the opportunity to ex-
plain, albeit superficially, techniques discovered in the compositions written
between 1954 and 1959. I hope to indicate that the concept of direction is
crucial in Stravinsky's technique and how the idea of diagonal motion is indeed
translated musically. It may already be clear that, since no literal musical trans-
lation of diagonal motion exists (in the sense that there are 'horizontal' melo-
dies and 'vertical' chords), the approach becomes increasingly abstract after
Threni. It is my contention that Stravinsky makes use of a purely theoretical
circle of fifths or minor seconds to encode direction.
As the analysis presented here hopes to establish, the organisation of rhythm
and time is also a central issue in Double Canon, as it is in Epitaphium - perhaps
even more central than the organisation of pitch, which may be regarded as a
mere mirror image of it. This was certainly not yet the case with the works
composed before 1959, in which pitch organisation took centre stage and only
a rudimentary independence of rhythm and time is detectable.
Pitch
Material tables - general
When at some point in the early 1950s Stravinsky decided to write serial mu-
sic, he developed material tables in which he expressed in two different ways a
numbered circle of descending fifths (see Douw 1995). A keynote was num-
bered 0 and the other notes were numbered 1-11. With the help of a number
code and a key, he translated the circle into a melodic line that was to be his set.
Three components were taken from traditional harmony, which makes a com-
c Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998 Music Analysis, 1 7/iii (1998)

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
SOUNDS OF SILENCE: STRAVINSKY S DOUBLE CANON 315
parison between Stravinsky's serial music and functional harmony fruitful.

Firstly, the keynote numbered O (usually A) may be seen as an abstraction of
the tonic in functional harmony. It is the last note of the sets he used at this
time, and in some cases it is also the final bass note of the compositions them-
selves (though not in Double Canon). Secondly, resolving leading notes
(BS+G#<A) may be considered the shortest formula of melodic force. In
Canticum Sacrum, this idea is worked out both in the set and in the composi-
tion as a whole. Lastly, the major/minor triad (e.g. Ch, C#, E, A) symbolises
harmony in its most condensed application. This idea governs the organisation
of Threni.4
These are the elements from which the sets are built. The numbers these
notes are given in the numbered circle (leading notes [5, 7, O] and major/minor
chords [3, 4, 7, O] respectively) play a dominating role throughout the compo-
sitions. A set thus obtained was conjoined with either its inverted retrograde
(in Canticum Sacrum) or its inversion (in Threnz), after which the double set
was transposed downwards by fifths. The original double set was numbered O
and its transpositions numbered 1-11. Now, both the set and the transposi-
tions were assembled in accordance with the logic of the same numbered cir-
cle. The transpositions of the sets are related by fifths as are keys in functional
harmony. The most remote key, that of the tritone (numbered 6), lies at the
other side of the circle.
By the time Stravinsky wrote his Double Canon (1959), the relation between
set and circle was mostly an abstract one. The note A was still note number 12
of the set as it is on the numbered circle but, other than that, after Canticum
Sacrum (1955), in Threni (1957) and beyond, the sets merely reflected a quality
of the circle rather than being an almost literal translation of it. Nevertheless,
only if we accept that a similarity with the circle is implied do we understand
the technical background of Stravinsky's late work. Very briefly: if the original
set represents a cycle of descending fifths with A as keynote (numbered 0/12),
then its retrograde symbolises the same circle in the reverse direction. Further-
more, if the inversion of the original set is obtained by inverting all intervals
(beginning with the first pitch of the set), then this inversion is a metaphor for
the same circle after it has been twisted around an axis drawn from that same
pitch on the circle towards its opposite at a tritone's distance. The set of Double
Canon will shortly serve as an example. Lastly, the inverted retrograde repre-
sents the circle of the original set after it has first been reversed (twisted
around, for example, the axis A-D#) and then inverted (again twisted around
A-D#). While 00 and RIo are two quite different forms, the circles they repre-
sent are identical.
A distinct novelty in Epitaphium is that the piece may be built on a circle of
both fifths and minor seconds. Since the earlier works derive unmistakably
from the circle of fifths, and since Double Canon derives unambivalently from a
Music Analysis, 1 7/iii (1998) ¢ Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
316 ANDRt DOUW
chromatic circle, we may speculate that Epitaphium is a transitional work that

antedates Double Canon.5 Between the two pieces, a considerable step in the
development of the technique may be noted (more evidence for this hypothesis
will be offered below). This development concerns not just the musical lan-
guage or the mere sound of the pieces, but also their ability to express abstract
concepts. It seems clear that Stravinsky was experimenting with diagonal mo-
tion and minor seconds, after the horizontal and vertical motion and fifths of
the earlier period.
Having accepted a certain relation between Stravinsky's twelve-note sets and
the circles of fifths or seconds, we may now describe his constructions in two
different ways. We may simply identify the serial forms as they are played in the
piece, without reference to a logical plan or a possible technical framework. If,
on the other hand, we describe the works in terms of the circles as symbolised
by the sets, then a much richer picture emerges. In Canticum Sacrum and
Threni, different circles represent different circles of fifths, but in Epitaphium
and Double Canon the formal layouts are nothing but a reflection of successive
manipulations of one and the same circle. The original circle is represented by
the original set, and new entrances represent new twistings of it. Exactly how
and what happens in the course of the pieces is quite different each time.
Material tables - Double Canon
This analysis proposes that the five different sets played in the piece are, in fact,
derived from an original series that is not played. However, in order to under-
stand the construction of the piece, the original set must be known. My pro-
posal is that for the composition of the Double Canon, Stravinsky has employed
a material table not unlike the one given in Ex. 1.
To start with the four forms numbered 0, depicted in the centre of the exam-
ple, the proposal is that the set named 00 is the original row of the piece. Its
inverted retrograde (RIo)6 is written next to it, while the inversions of these two
forms (Io and Ro)7 are depicted on the next stave. It must be imagined that this
group of four rows, designated the O-forms, is transposed by ascending semi-
tones, and that the transpositions are numbered 1-11. In the example, for
practical reasons, only the transpositions numbered 7 and 5 are written above
and below the original double set. These two groups of four transpositions are
chosen because the five sets played in the piece are among them (the seven sets
that are not played are in parentheses). The results of this study should provide
enough data for us to assert that there is no better way to understand the logic
of the construction than via this rather complicated route and with the help of
the depicted table. Meanwhile, the basic hypothesis - that five sets are played
and another seven are omitted but nonetheless implied by the occurence of the
five 'explicit' rows - will indirectly be substantiated by the fact that the pitches
are organised with the help of these two numbers, five and seven.
¢ Blachvell Publishers Ltd. 1998 ASusicAnalysis, 17/iii (1998)

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
| e RI .,
317
SOUNDS OF SILENC
Ex. 1 Double Canon, material tables

Rt
- ^ o
1 -_.#,,;1^; , _ # ,';0#''.
7
| I 4; 1. R-
o
| F I R z
1 * * ,1.;; - .S- *- .# S .;.;
| > I W R ; ;
Construction
As asserted in the preceding paragraphs, one may describe Stravin

works on two levels. On one level, the pieces can be described as t
with their different serial forms identified but without much addit
ence. On another level, the works can be described in terms of circle
or minor seconds, as represented by the sets. In Double Canon, as
ium, we find that on this implied level the formal arrangements are n
a reflection of a series of manoeuvrings of the circle. The two le
discussed separately below, in this order.
Level I
Since the Double Canon is so very short, an explanation of its form is utterly
simple. The following description makes use of the designation of the sets
given in Ex. 1.
The composition may best be described as what it is: a double canon with
four chains of three sets imitating each other.8 Two of these sequences -
(IR+I+0)5, twice - are given by the first violin and the viola and the other two -
(IR+I+0)5 and (RI+I+0)7 - by the second violin and cello. The various chains
MusicAnalysis, 17/iii (1998) ¢ Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
ANDRE DOUW
318
of sets are interwoven in such a way as not to be immediately appreciab

sequences. The sets follow each other in the following manner:
1. Of the first sequence (IR+I+0)5 played by first violin and viola, IR5 (vln 1
and I5 (vla) overlap in bar 5 by two crotchet beats of their common
Thereafter, 05 follows in bar 10 (vln 1) after an interval of six crotc
rests. This chain of three sets constituting the first 'voice' of the canon
played twice more.
2. At a major second's remove from the first cycle of three sets, the sec
sequence (RI+I+0)7 is played by the second violin and cello. Rhythm
cally, it is an almost literal imitation of the first cycle, the only differen
being that here there is no overlap between the first and second of t
three sets. Another difference is that this canonic voice enters with IR (
2) rather than with RI (vln 1). The distance in time between the seco
and third sets is still six crotchets.
3. The third voice answering the first two is again interwoven with them. T
same sets are played by the same instruments that played the first chain
there is a similar overlap between the f1rst two sets (IR5 and I5), and the
exact same six crotchets' time lag between the two remaining rows (I5 an
05). Clearly, this third voice literally imitates the first.
4. Lastly, this cycle is followed and intersected by the fourth with the same
rhythmic patterns as the progressions just described and with the same 5
forms as the f1rst and third sequences, now played by the second vio
and cello.
Turning our attention to the relation between the material tables (Ex. 1) and
the piece, it is evident that the route through the chart taken by the instru-
ments for the duration of one 'voice' of three sets is uncomplicated. Three of
the four chains are identical. They start at the mid-bottom of the material table
with the fifth inversion, which is played firstly from the end to the beginning
(IR5) and then the other way around (I5). After this, as a conclusion, the origi-
nal set is played in normal order (05). In contrast, the chain initiated by the
second violin in bar 2 is composed of 7-forms and opens with an RI-form
rather than IR as do the other three chains. As did the f1rst, the second route
starts in the middle of the chart but now at the top, where it turns right rather
than left. After this, the second and third sets are simply an imitation of those
of the first chain at a major seconds' distance, namely, the double set (I+0)7
running in normal order from left to right through the tables.
So far, the piece appears to be quite transparent and of lucid structure.
Other than the exceptional chain of 7-forms and the difference between the RI
and IR sets in the opening bars, no irregularities disturb the symmetry of its
somewhat naive logic. However, the composer did write these puzzling trans-
c Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998
MusicAnalysis, 17/iii (1998)

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
positions and retrogrades, and their strict notation suggests that there is more
implied than meets the eye. Indeed, the following comparison between the sets
and the chromatic circle reveals a perfectly logical layout.
Level 2
As explained above, on a first level of organisation the composition is a four-

part canon in which each part is composed of three consecutive twelve-note
sets. In contrast, the logic of the second level may be best understood if the
rows are considered to be metaphors for, or representations of, chromatic cir-
cles. On this level, the composition may be heard as a conversation among the
four players, in which all twelve entrances are serial statements that have the
purpose of changing the position of the circle.
If the original sets represent a circle on which A is numbered 0 and the
remaining notes 1-11, then their inversions, obtained after a vertical twisting
around their f1rst notes, represent the same circle after an inversion around an
axis drawn between that first note and its opposite on the circle at a tritone's
distance. What follows explains how the various serial forms in the piece (I5,
IR5, I7 and RI7) are derived from the original sets by mirroring 05 and 07
around their first and last notes. Ex. 2 gives an illustration of how these twist-
ings, when performed on a chromatic circle, change the direction of the circle
and how in the process they change the keynote numbered 12 (or 0).The result
is a total of four different circles with A, B, C,: and Dfl respectively in top (or
keynote) position.
(a) If we move from 05 to I5, we twist the circle around the axis A,$E (Exs. 2a
and 2b). The result is that the B is now in top position and that the minor
seconds are not rising but falling. Next, whenever I5 is played backwards,
the set is twisted horizontally around its last pitch F". This means that IR5
represents the circle obtained after an inversion around its axis F,tSC; the
Cfl is in top position and the minor seconds are ascending (Ex. 2c).
(b) Similarly, I7, obtained after a vertical twisting around the first note (C) of
07, represents the circle after an inversion around the axis C-F," (Exs. 2d
and 2e).
(c) Lastly, the inverted retrograde of any set (Rl) is obtained by first inverting
the set horizontally around its last pitch and then vertically around the
same pitch which is now its first note. If 07 is f1rst inverted horizontally
around its last pitch E (Ex. 20 and then vertically around the same E
which is now its first note, (Ex. 2g), we arrive at RI7 which is the first set
played by the second violin. Applying this logic to the circle, we observe
that it is twisted twice around the same axis E-A": this means that it is
back in its former position. Rl7 thus represents the same circle as 07.
Music Analysis, 1 7/iii (1998) c Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
320 ANDRE DOUW
Ex. 2 Sets and circles
(a) 05 c A . @) I5 (c) IR5 C# D

c
Two preliminary observations are apposite. Firstly, whenever a circle with as-
cending seconds is twisted, the new circle will be composed of descending
seconds, and vice versa. All R and I forms represent falling seconds, while RI
forms - obtained after two twistings - represent rising seconds, as do the O
sets. Secondly, in the course of this piece, just two axes will be seen to be used,
namely, one between notes 5 and 11 and another one between notes 7 and 1.
In the following explanation, these will be called the 5- and 7-axes. My pro-
posal is that Stravinsky chose his transpositions with an eye on these two axes.
We may now give a description of the piece that differs significantly from the
first-level description given above. When the first violin opens with IR5, the
implication is that even before the piece begins, the circle has already been
twisted twice (Exs. 2a, 2b and 2c). Therefore the circle that opens the canon
has C," in top position and is composed of ascending minor seconds.When the
second violin enters with RI7 in bar 2, the circle is again twisted around both its
c Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998 MusicAnalysis, 17/iii (1998)

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
5- and 7-axes (Exs. 2c, 2b and 2a).9 The circle is back in the original position
with A as keynote, and with ascending seconds. From now on, each new en-
trance causes the circle to twist once, around either its 5- or its 7-axis.
Ex. 3 gives the chromatic circles represented by the twelve sets in the order
in which they are played. In each circle, the axis is shown around which the
circle will be twisted by the next set's entrance. The twistings of the circle im-
plicitly taking place before the first entrance are shown in parentheses, as is the
extra circle needed in order to move from IR5 to RI7.
An interesting first outcome of the proposed comparison between sets and
circles is that the very first circle (IR5) has a C,", and the last ones (05 and 07)
an A, as top- or keynote. In this sense, the piece 'modulates' from C," to A. In
my analysis below of the original set 00, I shall argue that the same 'modula-
tion' is encoded in the set itself, in that first the C," (note 7) and then the A
(note 12) are confirmed and emphasised by means of leading notes. The piece
Ex. 3 Double Canon, level 2
Gn 4 \ t vD#
F t_C#
t t \ -G#1 A#- \ tD#$G j Av F
B vln 2: RI7 A vla: I5 B

Cs ,A# G# A# C _ ,A#
C#t />A 1 G /> B C#f \ VA
D t ' tG} F# ,, C t '\ t

D#<_G .| F t_tC D#,_G
MusicAnalysis, 17/iii (1998) <) Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
ANDRE DOUW
322
Ex. 3 (cont.)
vla: I5 B vln 1: 05 cello: I5

/ I A# G,5, A A# C B A#
C#t // 8 A Gg / 8 B C#/ / 8 A
D- / -G# F#- // -C t , -G#
D#9 \2G FX /C# D#\\<G
F # D# E F F#
vln2: °7 A vln 1: °5 A vln2: °5 A
G>_ kA# G>_z_+A# G,lf I A#
G>g %<B G>g %<B G>g XB
F#4 -C F#- -C F#4 -C
F a XC# F >s_ XC# F <,/C#
E l# D E l# D E D# D
may thus be considered an echo of the

one of the reasons why the strange an
first set may be that the circle it repr
formal idea that a composition is noth
the original series governs all of Strav
date.
The observation that the sequence o
firmed by a second remarkable resu
position of the circle as represented by
cello. By this point, the circle has be
two diagonal axes in the order (7-5-) 5-
in top position and that the circle h
comparison between this circle and
that no greater difference could have
mony, between the first and fifth circ
D,tt, which is the most remote point fr
lation' back to A is symmetrically ac
around the same axes in reversed ord
carefully indeed. It takes five sets to g
exceptional set I7 divides the sequen
hand, counting twistings (implicit a
sequence of twelve twistings into 7+5.
Music Analysis, 1 7/iii ( 1998)


82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
323
SOUNDS OF SILENCE: STRAVINSKY S DOUBL
D 4 .xE
1 7 12
(a)
b # U
)b(
U 6 X#@#ocoW°
U' ' + #'#48-,; .

)c(
Canticum Sacrum, set of fourth mvt.
(d)
e ;' ' ' I ;
(e)
i_ , ;!\, b. . | # #, ;,,
Construction of the set 00
Having analysed the construction of the piece as a whole, we now have enough
information for an analysis of the original set. Ex. 4 illustrates how Stravinsky
may have worked. To avoid confusion, it should be emphasised that the follow-
ing is not an attempt to give a chronological account of the composer's creative
process.
Firstly, F, C,tt and A are placed in positions 1, 7 and 12 (Ex. 4a). The idea of
making C,tt note 7 is prompted by the decision to emphasise that number on
various levels of organisation. 10 Secondly, the remaining nine notes are
straightforwardly included as upper and lower leading notes to Ct and A re-
spectively (Ex. 4b). This is what one might call the 'proto-set'. Thirdly, two
changes are made (Ex. 4c): the ES is moved from third to sixth position, per-
haps in order to disturb the dull symmetry of the first seven notes; next, FX and
G,tt are interchanged. The result of this last exchange is that a (fifthless) major/
minor chord on F,tt (F>A>A) is formed by the last three notes of the set.ll
Now we have a set that may conveniently be compared with the set that
Stravinsky put together for the fourth movement of Canticum Sacrum. Concep-
tually prior to an exchange of notes 3 and 4, and notes 5 and 6 (Ex. 4d), its
leading notes focus towards C, ES, F,tt and A, while in the final version (Ex. 4e)
notes 2, 3 and 4, together with the keynote A (note 12), combine to form a
major/minor chord on A.
Music Analysis, 1 7/iii ( 1998)

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
324 ANDRE DOUW
Preliminary hypothesis
One challenge of the piece must have been to construct two levels of organisa-
tion. An initial level was to be the double canon between two pairs of instru-
ments imitating each other's sets; a second level was to be one larger chain of
twelve sets. This implicit level was to be organised as rigorously as the explicit
layer. In order to encode this second level, Stravinsky built his set the way he
did, with F, Ct and A in key positions confirmed by leading notes.
Next, his choice of transpositions was based on two considerations. Firstly,
he wanted not to play, but merely to imply, seven sets among which was the
original O0. In order to do this, he first wrote the tables in the manner pro-
posed (Ex. 1) and then selected his five derivations. Secondly, the transposi-
tions on which the composer decided were to represent chromatic circles with
A, B, Ct and D,: as top- or keynotes. What the composer had to do now was to
fit them into a scheme where the twelve sets were heard as four groups of three
. . . . .
sets, wrltten as near-llteral lmltatlons.

We may never know why the composer worked with explicit and implicit
materials, because he never referred to this in interviews or otherwise. All we
can do is describe as accurately as possible the nature of this technique as we
find it in his scores. We know Stravinsky as a man with a speculative mind who
considered music a 'phenomenon of speculation' (Stravinsky 1947, p. 27). In
the case of Double Canon, one may doubt if it would have been possible to
understand its logic without prior knowledge of the techniques he developed
in the great religious works of the 1950s. However, if we do accept the num-
bered circles of fifths and minor seconds and the musico-numerical codes con-
nected with them, we can understand to a degree how in these late years the
composer developed his method when moving from one piece to the next.
Time
The organisation of time in Stravinsky's late scores is quite complicated. It

would appear that in his serial compositions of the mid-l 950s a distinct differ-
ence exists between 'small' and 'large' rhythm. If we may describe his struc-
tures in terms of sections separated by double barlines, certain numbers of
bars, and other larger time-units such as movements, or sentences in the text,
and if we regard the ratios between such segments as an essential part of the
organisation of his pitch material on different time-scales, then a clear pattern
emerges. To a degree, 'large rhythm' - like pitch, instrumentation and notation
- was thought through and arranged according to the same numbers as were
chosen for a particular piece on the circle of fifths. The organisation of such
forms was indeed quite strict. On the other hand, the composer allowed
himself a considerable degree of freedom concerning 'small' rhythm, which
o Blachrell Publishers Ltd. 1998 MusicAnalysis, 17/iii (1998)

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
Ex. 5 Double Canon, rhythmic motive
, 3xJ , , 4x
2 2 ; }[J]J J DJ J J J
4 (+1) + 7 notes
may be defined as the manner in which each set is placed in time from bar to
bar.
In Double Canon, Stravinsky organises both small and large rhythm with the
help of the numbers three, four and seven. In this short piece, in contrast to the
longer works of the period, 'large' rhythm comes down to metre.
Rhythm
In the abstract, the organisation of rhythm is comparable to that of pitch. Ex. 5

gives the one and only rhythmic motive used in the piece in normal and retro-
grade motion. Regular sets (O and I forms) play this rhythm in normal order,
whereas retrograde sets (IR and Rl forms) play it in retrograde. The first four
notes last a total of three minims and the last seven notes a total of four min-
ims, making a total of seven minims. In between these groups of four and seven
durations we find a 'valeur ajoutee' of one crotchet, establishing a division of
the twelve notes into 4+1+7.
The analysis is self-explanatory: the direction of the motives echoes that of
the sets and the numbers that are used for its construction. This is the very
same number combination as the plan of the construction as a whole. The
exceptional set I7 (the first set in the cello) divides the twelve sets into 5+7 or,
perhaps, 4+1+7. All of this would appear to confirm my earlier observation that
the composition was meant to reflect the logic of the original set.
Metre
The way metre is notated in this score strikes us as being different from any-
thing Stravinsky had written before. Even though an exclusive use is made of
3/4 and 4/4 bars, the four instruments frequently do not have their barlines at
the same moments, but rather each instrument follows its own pattern of
threes and fours. The musical result is that, very often, the four instruments
have their accents (traditionally falling on downbeats) at different moments.
For example, the first entrance of the first violin is written in a sequence of bars
414-414-314-414-414, while simultaneously the second violin has 414-414-414-
314-414. This means that in their first four bars they have three accents in com-
mon, but the other one comes at different moments. In fact, of the total of
twenty barlines they both have, including the one which precedes their first
bars, the violins coincide on only fifteen.l2 This combination of common and
MusicAnalysis, 17/iii (1998) ¢ Blaclrwell Publishers Ltd. 1998

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
326 ANDRE DOUW
separate barlines is found between both pairs of adjacent upper strings (vln 1
and vln 2; vln 2 and vla).The exception is the cello, which remarkably enough
does not share any of its nine barlines with another part.
If we wish to understand the reasoning behind this, we may count the com-
mon downbeats between adjacent instruments and compare the results. (The
first five bars of the violins have been discussed above as a first example.) An-
other example is to be found at bars 16-18 in the two siolin parts, where they
have a total of eleven beats (as 3+4+4 and 4+4+3) before the next common beat
of bar 19. Examining the whole composition, we see that all downbeats lie
three, four and seven beats and their combinations apart, but only if we com-
pare adjacent parts.
As observed above, the two violins each have twenty downbeats, but of these
they have only fifteen in common. The same numbers (twenty and fifteen) are
found between the second violin and the viola: we notice that they share the
first six (bars 1-6) and the last seven downbeats (bars 14-20) and, in between,
another two (bars 10-1 1). Since 6+2+7=1 5, again they each have twenty down-
beats but share only fifteen. For the most part, these fifteen are located at dif-
ferent moments from the fifteen common downbeats of the first and second
violins. As was also mentioned above, the cello has no barlines in common with
any of the other instruments and therefore, its nine downbeats do not play a
role in the organisation of metre just described. However, if we compare the
nine barlines of the cello with the twelve barlinesl3 shared by all three upper
strings we arrive at the ratio and equation 9:12:21=3:4:7.This is the same ratio
as that of the downbeats of the other instruments (15:20:35).
The conclusion is that with the exclusive use of 3/4 and 4/4 bars, the com-
poser has managed to give the adjacent upper instruments three-quarters of
their downbeats at the same moments. Moreover, against every four common
downbeats in the upper strings, there are three in the cello. Another challenge
for the composer, then, must have been to combine rhythm and metre in the
rigorous manner that he did.To fit the same rhythmic pattern of 412(+114)+312
twelve times into bars that follow this fascinating design of downbeat accents
must be seen as a successful attempt to organise both small and large rhythm
serially. If he did not strive to achieve this in Canticum Sacrum and Threni, this
was probably because he worked with texts that demanded more freedom on a
small timescale. In Double Canon, as in the purely instrumental Epitaphium,l4
the composer could experiment with two levels of organisation in both time
and pitch. The challenge was to fit the two levels into an acceptable form where
both are understandable for what they are.
Notation
A particular aspect of the notation of this piece is the omission of the parts for
instruments that are silent. In fact, this new element of Stravinsky's late scores
o Blaclrwell Publishers Ltd. 1998 Music Analysis, 1 7/iii ( 1998)

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
was to be maintained in all of his works after 1959, right up to the Requiem
Canticles. In an analysis of Epitaphium, I have proposed that the appearance of
the score was modelled on that of many pieces of the 1950s, by various com-
posers, in which an 'open form' was aimed at (Douw 1995-6).l5
In the case of the Double Canon we may discern a consistent organisation.
The parts of the two violins, with their four twelve-note sets each, are written
from the beginning to the end, but those of the two lower strings are notated
only when they play, namely in the middle. Again, counting may help us to
understand why the composer used this irregular method. In the case of the
changes of metre, we counted common downbeats; in the case of the missing
parts, we count missing beats. The viola part omits the first fifteen and the last
twenty-seven beats, and the cello part omits the first and last twenty-one beats.
A total of 84 (15+27+21+21) crotchet beats is thus left out. Reformulating this,
we may say that while these 84 beats are not written, they may be implied by
the notation of the actually notated ones.
In order to find out if there is a method behind the missing beats we must
take one more step and investigate more closely the relation between sound
and silence:
numbers of beats
notated played
written left out sound silence
76 violin 1 70 + 6
76 violin 2 64 + 12
34 + 42 viola 30 + 46
34 + 42 cello 30 + 46
220 84 194 110
NB194-110=84
The columns on the left of the above table give the numbers of the written and
omitted beats as just described.The columns on the right give the total number
of beats of sound in comparison with the total number of beats of silence,
regardless of whether these beats are actually notated as rests or not.l6 The
conclusion is that there are 84 more beats of sound than there are of silence.We
observe, then, that the number 84 is used to organise both the notation of time
and the actual sound, and that 84 is the product of the numbers three, four and
seven, which are also used for the organisation of metre and rhythm. If we
simply listen to the piece, we may 'hear' or 'be aware' that there are 84 more
beats of sound than of silence. If we study the score, we notice that 84 beats are
left out, only to be implied by the written ones. If for no other reason, the
recurrence of the number 84 enhances the impression that a reflexive relation
is implied between this music and its notation. The game is to control the at-
tention of the players while they are not playing. The silence is defined by the
number of beats of listening to the playing colleagues.
Music A nalysis, 1 7/iii ( 1 99 8) 0 Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
328 ANDRE DOUW
CONCLUSIONS
Implications
If we accept the results of the proposed analysis, we must conclude that the
music as it sounds implies many notes that we do not get to hear. The 84 beats
of silence correspond to the seven twelve-note sets given in the material tables
(7x12 = 84; see Ex. 1) that are not played but that are nevertheless implied by
the sets which are played.l7 When Boucourechliev referred to the 'timeless
character' of the piece, which he attributed to the 'actual material, as well as to
its handling' (1987, p. 281), he was probably not referring to the absent beats of
music, but he did demonstrate a remarkably clear insight into Stravinsky's in-
tentions. Meanwhile, the technique portrays a world of difference from the
procedure followed in the other short piece of the same year, Epitaphium. That
piece, too, is a dialogue between the various serial forms in which the circle is
twisted at every new entrance of one of the participants. In Epitaphium, how-
ever, the composer uses only the set's four basic forms without reference to a
material table like the one designed for Double Canon. Whatever the similari-
ties, in one respect the two epigrams are each other's opposites.While the first
piece gives the basic set and its R, I and RI forms, the second piece uses only
transpositions that, together, imply their origin.
As a matter of fact, the idea of the missing original row was not new in
Stravinsky's late work. The huge charts he designed for Threni consist of four
lists of twelve double sets each. Of these, he employs only three, while a fourth,
derived from the original row O0, is not applied in the organisation but merely
intimated by the explicitly employed ones.l8This idea was worked out on an
obviously much more modest scale in Double Canon. The difference is that in
this short piece, the organisation and notation of time also suggest more than
we hear: the 84 beats of silence correspond with the 84 unplayed notes.
The technical challenge to imply unplayed music may have been the reason
why Stravinsky composed this piece on the basis of the twelve-note set that was
first used for a duet for flute and clarinet (White 1979, p. 510). Recognising
the set's structural potential in connection with the diagonal axes on the circle,
he decided to write a sequence of twelve derivations without making use of his
original form. Next, the manner in which he implied the seven unplayed sets
was by encoding enough circumstantial evidence, so to speak, to make the idea
acceptable. His serial technique makes use of numbers and they provide that
evidence. Ultimately, the only substantial argument for my hypothesis is the
number 84 as the product of three, four and seven. The seven was already
encoded in the set (as the sum of 7+5 notes) and in the piece as a whole (as the
sum of 5+7 sets) . The three and four were added when working out rhythm and
metre.
A substantial component of the argument is provided by an assortment of
¢ Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998 Music Analysis, 1 7/iii (1998)

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
cultural as well as personal conventions. An initial one is that structurally im-

portant notes are confirmed by their leading notes. A second code is that of the
major/minor chords that represent a vertical force or stasis. These ideas are
used to build the sets of the time. The encoding of these abstractions was done
with the help of another abstraction of a more idiosyncratic nature, namely a
circle with A as keynote numbered 0 and the remaining eleven notes as falling
fifths or resolving leading notes in clockwise direction numbered 1-11. This
method was applied throughout the l950s, as was the composer's habit of
compiling the material charts by transposing and numbering his double sets
according to the same circle. All of these ideas are used to convey certain infor-
mation, differently for each piece.
Order and direction
The order in which the twelve sets in Double Canon are played indicates the
direction in which the imaginary axes are drawn through the circle of fifths.
Whenever one of the players enters with a new set, the circle is twisted around
its S- or 7-axis, or around both. These axes run diagonally from the lower right
to the upper left and from the lower left to upper right.l9Therefore, the order
in which the sets are played is very strict indeed. In fact, the circle twists three
times around the axis drawn through note 5 (whatever the note may be at a
particular moment) and seven times around the axis drawn through note 7.20
This is a significant difference from the axes of Canticum Sacrum and Threni,
which are vertical (A-D,t$) and horizontal (F>C) respectively.
Ex. 6 gives a visualisation of the development of this idea in some of the
works of the 1950s. In Canticum Sacrum, the prime axis (A-D") is vertical.
Since the set ends on A, whenever a set is followed by its retrograde, the circle
twists around this vertical axis and the fifths are rising rather than falling. Un-
der this transformation, G,tt and BS (the two leading notes for the keynote A)
change places, with all the ramifications this has for the construction, in that
Canticum Sacrum is, literally, a palindrome. The implication is that two equiva-
lent contrary movements block each other: the idea of stasis is redefined as an
equivalence between two contrary movements. In Threni, the same idea is
worked out differently. There, since the basic set starts with F,t, a set and its
inversion imply a turning of the circle around a horizontal axis F>C. The basic
idea is that when a set is followed by its inversion, just as with the leading notes
in the Canticum Sacrum, the verticals in this piece are turned upside down with
exactly the same result, namely that whatever the direction in which we read
the circle, after twisting it has changed. Here, as in the earlier piece, the equiva-
lence between the two contrary movements redefines stasis.
In Epitaphium, between the various untransposed O, R, I and RI forms, the
circle twists three times around the axis 8-2. In this piece, as in Double Canon,
the axis is a diagonal, but only one diagonal axis is used. Diagonal motion is
Music Analysis, 1 7/iii (1998) c Blaclnwell Publishers Ltd. 1998

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
ANDRE DOUW
033
Ex. 6
Canticum Sacrum
B
- #F
H ^'''#,4,#.;;0
Threni
s # ' '#a#'#-#a4' ,
Epitaphium
B
F# -
4? # #.#' ' '#.h. , "'
Double Canon
e R , ;,; W. , , 1. o o5 G
F#-
+ , # , b . ' #' °7 F
Music Analysis, 1 7/iii (1998)
c Blaclnwell Publishers Lt

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
implied but in a much less sophisticated manner than in Double Canon- which
might seem to confirm that Epitaphium was composed first.2l In both works,
however, diagonal movement is implemented via their circles, which is a nov-
elty in Stravinsky's serial work.22
What does diagonal motion mean in a musical sense? Stravinsky's transla-
tion can only be understood via the circle. He draws imaginary lines between
three notes at equal distances. In Epitaphium, these are A, C," and F, and these
are also the lowest notes of the harp part. In Double Canon, Stravinsky draws
lines between Bb, D and F$t (the 5-forms), and between E, G," and C (the 7-
forms) and implies twistings of the circle around axes drawn between these six
notes. All first and last notes of the 5-forms are BS, D or F,", and the three 7-
forms all begin or end with E, G$t and C. What we hear throughout Double
Canon are leading notes resolving to the whole-tone series B>C-D-E-F,tFG".
F,: is the first note of the piece, D the last. The augmented triad must be
considered Stravinsky's musical translation of diagonal motion. When, in this
piece, it is combined with a second augmented triad, the whole-tone scale is
the result.
Conclusion
Seven is the central number of Double Canon as it was in Canticum Sacrum,

Threni and Epitaphium. For the organisation of pitch, it is combined with five.
Firstly, the twelve notes of the set are divided into seven notes confirming C",
plus another five emphasising A (Ex. 4). Secondly, five of the twelve sets that
make up the material charts are used for the piece, while another seven are not
played but merely implied by the five that are (Ex. l).Thirdly, the twelve series
played in the composition together symbolise four different chromatic circles.
The first five sets represent a 'modulation' from A to the most remote 'key' D",
the next seven 'modulate' back to A. Lastly, in order to travel from one set/
circle to the next, the basic circle of fifths is twisted twelve times around axes
projected at notes 5 and 7 (Exs. 2 and 6). It takes seven twistings to arrive
at the most remote 'key' D$t, and another five to modulate back to A. Last-
ly, betraying the meticulous nature of this composer's craftsmanship, twelve
dynamic signs are written: seven of these are crescendos and five diminuen-
dos.23
Combined with the numbers four and three, the seven is also used for the
organisation of time.The rhythmic model reflects the sum of 3/2 (+1/4) plus 4/
2. The pattern of 3/4 and 4/4 bars is organised such as to cause the downbeats
of the four instruments to lie three or four beats, or their combinations, apart.
In this pattern of shifting downbeats, the relations between those of the three
upper strings is set out against those of the cello, resulting in a 3:1:4 ratio
between the four players. This method is a remarkable and successful attempt
at organising metre as well as rhythm serially.
Music Analysis, 1 7/iii (1998) C) Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
332 ANDRE DOUW
On a 'deep' level, a step towards abstraction is made from the conventions

that Stravinsky had established by the late 1950s. Having explored horizontal
and vertical movement in Canticum Sacrum and Threni, the composer moved
on to investigate the possibility of diagonal movement. But because no con-
crete translation of diagonal motion exists in music (in the way that there are
horizontal melodies and vertical harmonies), Stravinsky's dependence on ab-
stractions and encoded conventions necessarily increases. When we listen to
Canticum Sacrum, we can hear resolving leading notes; when we listen to
Threni, we can hear harmonies.24 Musically speaking, diagonal motion is an
abstraction: we can hear the music, but we can only cerebrally understand the
implied motion. In Double Canon, we again hear leading notes and, after fur-
ther hearings, major seconds and augmented triads. However, the diagonal
motion is merely rendered on a deep level without leaving a trace of influence
on the actual sound of the piece. While the language and conventions are still
the same, the technique of Double Canon represents a break with the technical
goals of the earlier pieces. A similar observation holds for the 84 beats of
unplayed music. Next to the numbered circle, prior knowledge of the material
tables is indispensable for an appreciation of the seven unplayed sets. We also
need to have interpreted the notation of the bars before we can recognise the
unplayed crotchets.
In Themes and Episodes, the composer says: 'the slow climb through the 1 950s
eventually brought me to Movements, which I now see as the cornerstone of my
later work' (Stravinsky and Craft 1966,pp. 23-4). He may have hinted at this
tendency towards abstraction and implication when, in Memories and Commen-
taries, he says: 'I have discovered new (to me) serial combinations in the Move-
ments for piano and orchestra, however (and I have discovered in the process,
too, that I am becoming not less but more of a serial composer; those younger
collegues who already regard "serial" as an indecent word, in their claim to
have exhausted all that is meant by it and to have gone far beyond, are, I think,
in great error)' (Stravinsky and Craft 1960,p.106). These statements could
equally have been made about Double Canon, composed in the same year as
Movements.The 'slow climb through the 1950s' was needed in order to develop
a fresh musical language rich with new conventions and codes. From now on,
with the help of these, he was to continue discovering 'new ... serial combina-
tions'. A thorough analysis and understanding of these puzzling scores may tell
us whether these new combinations would lead him towards even further ab-
straction.
REFE RE N C ES
Boucourechliev, Andre, 1987: Stravinsky, trans. Mariin Cooper (London: Gollancz).

Douw, Andre, 1995: 'The Construciion of Order and Direciion in Igor Stravin-
c Blaclnwell Publishers Ltd. 1998 MusicAnalysis, 17/iii (1998)

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
sky's In Memoriam Dylan Thomas, Canticum Sacrum and ThrenS (PhD diss.,
University of Utrecht).
1995-6: 'Closing the Circle: Stravinsky's Epitaphium', Muziek en Wetenschap, 5/
ii,pp. l00-128.
Hogan, Clare,1982: ' Threni: Stravinsky's "Debt" to Krenek', Tempo, 141, pp.22-9.
Spies, Claudio, 1968: 'Notes on Stravinsky'sVariations', in Perspectives on Schoen-
berg and Stravinsky, ed. Benjamin Boretz and Edward T. Cone (Princeton:
Princeton University Press), pp.210-22.
Stravinsky, Igor, 1947: Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons, trans. Arthur
Knodel and Ingolf Dahl (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
Stravinsky, Igor and Craft, Robert, 1959: Conversations with Igor Stravinsky (Lon-
don: Faber).
1960: Memories and Commentaries (London: Faber).
1966: Themes and Episodes (NewYork: Knopf).
Walsh, Stephen,1988: The Music of Stravinsky (London: Routledge).
White, Eric Walter, 1979: Stravinsky: The Composer and his Works, 2nd edn (Lon-
don: Faber).
NOTES
1. Boucourechliev claims that the canon must be played twice without interruption,
but this is not indicated in the score published by Boosey and Hawkes.
2. For example, Hogan (1982) explains how the method of rotating intervals was
already introduced in Threni.
3. The designations Oo, °l, etc. will be used here (rather than P0, Pl, etc.) in line
with Stravinsky's own practice.
4. In Threni, a major/minor chord is formed by notes 3, 4, 7 and 8 of all sets and

derivations. The same numbers are underscored on all levels of organisation.
5. Walsh (1988, p.305) states that Epitaphium was composed in May 1959 and Dou-
ble Canon in September of the same year.
6. In most of his late compositions, Stravinsky makes extensive use of the inverted
reversion. In interviews and in his sketches, he names this form 'RI' rather than
'IR'. In the present article I will follow the composer's term. Hence, the retrograde
of the inversion will be named IR.
7. Note that Ro is depicted as the inversion of the inverted retrograde. In Stravinsky's

work, these seemingly tiny details are extremely important, not so much for a sur-
face analysis but for an understanding of the central issues of order and direction.
8. Organising the twelve-note sets as chains is a method developed by Stravinsky in the

course of the 1950s and is especially clear in a work like Canticum Sacrum. While
in In Memoriam Dylan Thomas, Canticum Sacrum and Threni the idea of several
layers and different sequences of sets is worked out into impressive systems, in
Double Canon we find a relatively uncomplicated version of the same principle.
MusicAnalysis, 17/iii (1998) c Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
334 ANDRE DOUW
9. RI7 represents the original circle with the A in top position and ascend
seconds; IR5 represents a circle with C# in top position and also with a
minor seconds. The transition from IR5 to I7 implies two twistings: once a
F>C (as in Ex.2b) and once around A# E (as in Ex.2a).
10. Because C# is the seventh note of the original set, the notes numbere
when reversed) are F# and D in the 5-forms, and G#, E (and BS) in the 7-
F>C, G>D and B>E are, of course, the notes through which axes are d
the circle. This is just another way of emphasising a note by numerical me
choice of F and A as first and last notes is explained in the analysis above.
11. The reason why Stravinsky composed a major/minor chord on F# or GS i
set is to be found in the construction of the compositions immediately pr
Double Canon. Briefly: a leading note as used in Canticum Sacrum suggests
tal movement in time, while a major/minor chord as employed in Threni
vertical movement in space (or, for all practical purposes, stasis).This leads
believe that two major/minor chords built on the leading notes of a p
keynote are supposed simultaneously to lead towards and to frustrate the
tal movement of those leading notes - thereby freezing, as it were, the pi
which the leading notes resolve, confirming its steady position among the
pitches. Obviously this is a very abstract idea, and is only credible wit
vinsky's technique as we understand it after a thorough analysis of the pi
cerned. The major/minor chord in the set of Double Canon is built on F# o
on GS, which is the upper leading note for F. The chord 'freezes' the first
the set which may now turn around the axis drawn through it. For examp
I5 is followed by O5, the circle twists around A>E. The major/minor c
(B-D-D#) which concludes O5 may be understood to 'freeze' the A# on the
Similarly, when in its turn I5 is followed by 07, the circle twists around C-
C is 'frozen' by the major/minor chord on DS which concludes 07.
12. i.e., between bars 3 and 4, 8 and 9, 12 and 13, 16 and 17,18 and 19.
13. i.e., in barsl,2,3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 14,15,16, 19 and 20.
14. The seven note durations and five rest signs used in Epita
according to the same numbers as used for the organisation of
tion of rhythm in that short piece may be considered a comm
for example, Messiaen's Mode de valeurs et d 'intensites and Boul
15. For example, Stockhausen's Klavierstuck XI. The construction o

notes a hermetically closed circle or, musically speaking, a perp
16. The beats of silence are as follows.Vln 1 (6): three minims

Vln 2 (12): two semibreves in bars 1 and 11 and two minims
(46): 42 crotchet beats left out plus two minims in bars 9
crotchet beats left out plus two minims in bars 10 and 14. The
as follows. Vln 1: 17+15+15+23=70. Vln 2: 17+15+15+17=
Cello: 15+15=30.
17. In their turn, the three double sets depicted in the example may be seen to
another nine transpositions that have not been written out here. Note that
3:9=1 :3, this even more abstract level of explicit and implicit materials ref
c Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998 MusicAnalysis, 17/iii (1998)

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC
numbers three and four, as does the organisation of time.This larger implication is
merely based on our knowledge of the material tables of Canticum Sacrum and
Threni on the one hand and the explicit use of the 5- and 7-forms on the other.The
reasoning is that if he uses two, he could just as well have used all eleven transposi-
tions.
18. The charts he designed for Threni consist of four sections, each of which derives
from one of the four underlying forms of the basic series. However, the composi-
tion as it sounds is entirely based upon the retrograde, the inversion, and the
inverted retrograde of the original set. Connected with their inversions and trans-
posed by falling and rising fifths, these three derivations together yield three tables
with a total of 36 double sets that imply the material table derived from the origi-
nal set. The larger the piece, the larger the tables.
19. This could have been done very differently, even with the same sets. For example,
when the viola enters with I5 in bar 5, the circle is turned around its 5-axis (Exs. 2b
and 2c). If at that point the viola had played I7 instead of I5, the axis would have
been drawn from the C (at that point, note number 3), and the axis would have
been drawn horizontally between 3 and 9.
20. That is, if we count the twistings implied within the piece. If account is taken of
the twistings that have implicitly taken place before the piece begins, different
numbers are found. In that case, there are not three but four twistings around the
5-axis, and not seven but eight twistings around the 7-axis. This is reminiscent of
the numerical patterns found behind the organisation of Threni and Epitaphium,
where on all levels of organisation ambivalent relations are created between three
and four, as well as between seven and eight. Note that the three/four relation is
worked out in the Double Canon's organisation of time.
21. Another argument for this hypothesis is that in both compositions - and for the
first time in his serial output - a game is played with empty space.
22. This reminds us of the material tables of Movements and beyond, in which Stra-
vinslgr derives his charts from the original set by rotating the intervals of their
hexachords five times. In his sketches (as published by several scholars, e.g. Spies
1968, p. 2 14), he drew lines between the notes of the various forms that run diago-
nally from upper right to lower left: the diagonal movement observable in
Epitaphium and Double Canon was worked out in the material tables of the larger
. .
composltlons.
23. Crescendo signs are found in bars 5 (vla), 6 (cello), 9-10 (vla), 11 (cello), 12 (vln
2), 15 (vln 1) and 16 (vln 2). Diminuendo signs are found in bars 4 (vln 1), 5 (vln
2), 9 (vln 1), 10 (vln 2) and 19-20 (vln 1). Four signs each are written in the parts
of violin 1 (bars 4, 9, 15, 19-20) and violin 2 (bars 5, 10, 12, 16), while two signs
each are written in the parts of the viola (bars 5 and 9-10) and cello (bars 6 and
11). The numbers of signs correspond with the numbers of sets per instruments
(four and two).
24. Stravinsky referred to Threni's chords in an interview with Robert Craft when he
said 'in Threni simple triadic references occur in every bar' (Stravinsky and Craft
1 960, p. 107).
Music Analysis, 1 7/iii ( 1998) c Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998

82.49.44.75 on Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:08:15 UTC

Sounds of Silence: Stravinsky's 'Double Canon' Author(s) : André Douw Source: Music Analysis, Oct., 1998, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Oct., 1998), Pp. 313-335 Published By: Wiley

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sounds of Silence: Stravinsky's 'Double Canon' Author(s) : André Douw Source: Music Analysis, Oct., 1998, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Oct., 1998), Pp. 313-335 Published By: Wiley

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sounds of Silence: Stravinsky's 'Double Canon'

Author(s): André Douw

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/854419

This content downloaded from