A Serial Passage of Diatonic Ancestry in Stravinsky's "The Flood"

Author(s): Lynne Rogers

Source: Journal of the Royal Musical Association , 2004, Vol. 129, No. 2 (2004), pp. 220-
239
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Royal Musical Association

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3557505

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Journal of the Royal MusicalAssociation, 129 no. 2 220o-239 ? Royal Musical Association (200oo4); all rights reserved

A Serial Passage of Diatonic Ancestry in

Stravinsky's The Flood

LYNNE ROGERS

IT comes as no surprise that Stravinsky's working materials for Th

primarily of sketches revealing intricately manipulated row forms
of transposed and rotated hexachords. Utterly unexpected among
tional documents for this late serial work, however, are two dia
for a passage from its Prelude. The transpositionally equivalent sket
are diatonic but not tonal, are presumably the earliest versions of t
question. The music of the sketches contrasts markedly with t
serial organization of the passage as it appears in all later sketch
Nonetheless, the final form of the passage retains numerous impor
introduced by the diatonic sketches. The compositional history
suggests that the music of the diatonic sketches served as a model o
the-scenes first pass that Stravinsky translated into serialism for a w
from the outset to be serial.
Understanding the role of the diatonic sketches in the creation of
can sensitize listeners to a highly significant feature of the final, s
the numerous allusions to diatonicism and tonality that are so effec
grated into the texture that they - and the meanings and complexi
- could be overlooked. Viewed more broadly, the existence of
sketches and of their legacy in the published score of the passage s
in Stravinsky's serial music, even in those pieces for which no diato
exist, allusions to music of the past may be present and thus sh
into account analytically.

Earlier versions of this article were presented at colloquia of the Paul Sacher F
April I999) and the University of Colorado-Boulder (December 2000), at the An
the Society for Music Theory (Philadelphia, November 200ooI) and at the Univ
Columbia Stravinsky Symposium (Vancouver, April 2002). Generous financial
research that resulted in this article was provided by the National Endowment
ties, Oberlin College and the Paul Sacher Foundation. I wish to thank Profs. Po
David H. Smyth and Joseph N. Straus, and the anonymous reviewers for this j
excellent advice regarding revisions. I am grateful to the Sacher Foundation,
Stravinsky Collection is preserved, for access to that collection in January-April 19
ance of its exceptionally helpful and knowledgeable staff, and for permission
article transcriptions and a reproduction of sketches for The Flood.

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A SERIAL PASSAGE OF DIATONIC ANCESTRY 221I

Introduction to The Flood and

In response to a commission fro
between February 1961 and March
who compiled the libretto, and Ge
raphy for the New York City Ballet.
production, flanked by softly lit com
was broadcast on 14 June 1962, just b
The bulk of The Flood sets the st
main drama is a brief account of th
registrally spread sonorities, each
begins to emerge in bar 6 with linear
the second Chaos chord.4
The passage for which Stravinsky composed the diatonic sketches consists of
bars 8-Is, shown as Example i. In this passage, the chorus begins the hymn
Te deum laudamus, which continues to bar 59. The hymn praises God in prep-
aration for the creation of the world, accomplished efficiently during bars 62-80.
In bars 8-iy, a chorus of tenors, altos and sopranos presents a contrapuntal
three-voice setting of the opening of the hymn.5 Tenors sing Io. Altos and
sopranos are assigned a row that would be labelled conventionally as Ro10, but
that, as is revealed in his sketches, Stravinsky derived as the inversion of the
retrograde of the inversion, using what might be termed the 'my mother's
cousin's mother' method of row transformation.6 While altos sing the entire row,
sopranos progress only as far as the row's seventh pitch class, D#. The first French

1 The earliest date found on any working materials for The Flood is I or 7 February 1961 (notation
of the day is ambiguous), which appears on a sketch leaf for the opening bars (Paul Sacher Foun-
dation microfilm 218, frame 0007). The autograph clean copy of the full score is dated 14 March
1962 (218-0176).
2 For the fascinating story behind Stravinsky's composition of a work for television, see Charles
Joseph, Stravinsky Inside Out (New Haven, 2001), 132-61.
3 For Stravinsky's explanation of his representation of Chaos, see Igor Stravinsky and Robert
Craft, Expositions and Developments (Berkeley and Los Angeles, I98I), 124.
4 Except for substituting the more conventional 'P' for Stravinsky's 'O' to denote the prime form,
I have labelled row forms in The Flood in accordance with Stravinsky's row charts. His Po does
not appear until bars 68-9. On his sketch of bar 6 (2i8-ooo8), Stravinsky writes the labels 'O'
and 'R' along with the statement 'Transposition in a 5th'. Stravinsky's labels for row forms are
discussed in David Smyth, 'Stravinsky as Serialist: The Sketches for Threni', Music Theory
Spectrum, 22zz (2000zooo), 20zo5-24 (p. 211); and Susannah Tucker, 'Stravinsky and his Sketches: The
Composing of Agon and Other Serial Works of the 195Os' (Ph.D. dissertation, Oxford
University, 1992), i, 120-2.
5 Basses do not participate in the chorus; rather, two solo basses are reserved for the voice of God.
6 Although compositional materials for The Flood include charts of transposed hexachordal
rotations, they do not include charts or matrices containing a systematic arrangement of all
possible transformations (transpositions, inversions, retrogrades and retrograde inversions) of
the entire z2-note row. Instead, sketches show that Stravinsky derived each such transformation
individually as needed. Stravinsky's derivation of Ro10 appears on a sketch leaf in the Igor Stravin-
sky Collection of the Paul Sacher Foundation (218-ooo3).

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 222 LYNNE ROGERS

Example I. Str
are order num
and fifths.

C ORO Do m
Soprani -.----.-(-)--
Te Do

CORO
Alti s
nfl 2 3 4/ 51
5fl2
Te Do m

121 21 34? 56 7 8

Te De- um, Te De - um lau - da-mus. Te Do

5 3
I 8 8 etc. sim. marc.

Cor -,:, r . I I' mf

4 345 676 7

CORO 2 -mi- nu-(u)m con - f

C 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

- fnu- (u)m con-fi - te - mur.

CORO
8 9 10 11 12

T. _____________

- mi-num con - fi - te - mur.

Cor. 1

horn provides counterpoint to the choral texture with an ordering of the 12 notes
that differs from the work's row. The horn's series will be discussed in more detail
below.

The diatonic sketches

The diatonic sketches for bars 8-i1, along with all known musical source materi-
als for The Flood, are found in the Igor Stravinsky Collection of the Paul Sacher

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A SERIAL PASSAGE OF DIATONIC ANCESTRY 223

Foundation in Basle, Switzerland. Materials f

vidual sketch leaves of various sizes, a sho
for the work.

The compositional history of bars 8-I5 may

on five leaves (218-oo0008, ooio0010 and ooiz),
the autograph full score and the published
are any compositional stages forged by Stra
on paper.7 Few of Stravinsky's sketches f
bars 8-I5 - are dated.8 Determination of a co
relies primarily upon their relative states of
setting.
As posited here, Stravinsky's earliest notations for bars 8-I5 were two trans-
positionally equivalent diatonic sketches, each on its own scrap of paper (218-
0012). One of the sketch leaves, which is the focus of this essay, is reproduced
as Figure I and transcribed as Example 2a. This diatonic sketch covers the middle
and bottom staves.
The other diatonic sketch is identical with that in Example za (including
notational details like stemmed and unstemmed noteheads), except that it is
written a major second lower and, because it is assigned to tenors, sounds a
major ninth lower. In addition, it lacks text. For reasons to be explained shortly,
it is likely that Stravinsky created this sketch before that shown in Example 2a.
Since the two diatonic sketches are transpositionally equivalent, and for
purposes of clarity and convenience during the remainder of this article, the
sketch on the two lower staves of Example 2a will henceforth be referred to as
'the diatonic sketch', except when the two diatonic sketches are being compared.
The leaf transcribed as Example 2a is approximately 23 inches high by 8A
inches wide. The paper is plain, apparently cut from a larger sheet torn from a
spiral-bound notebook. As was his habit, Stravinsky drew the staves in ink with

7 Stravinsky's habit of composing at the piano is documented by, among others, Samuel Dushkin,
'Working with Stravinsky', Igor Stravinsky, ed. Edward Corle (New York, 1949), I79-92 (p. 184);
Nicolas Nabokoff, 'Christmas with Stravinsky', ibid., 123-68 (p. I46); and Robert Craft in Igor
Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Dialogues (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1982), 14. Numerous state-
ments attributed to the composer support these accounts (see, for example, Igor Stravinsky, An
Autobiography, New York, 1962, 5, 82; and Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Conversations with
Igor Stravinsky, Berkeley and Los Angeles, I980, I5); however, it should be noted that some
scholars have recently questioned the veracity of assertions in the conversation books and in
writings bearing the composer's byline. For further discussion of Stravinsky's use of the keyboard
to compose, see Joseph, Stravinsky Inside Out, 80, 280-In.; Lynne Rogers, 'Rethinking Form:
Stravinsky's Eleventh-Hour Revision of the Third Movement of his Violin Concerto', Journal
ofMusicology, 17 (1999), 272-303 (P. 275); Joseph Straus, Stravinsky's Late Music (Cambridge,
20zoo01), 42-3, 48-9; Tucker, 'Stravinsky and his Sketches', i, 23-7; Pieter van den Toorn, The
Music ofl Igor Stravinsky (New Haven, 1983), 211; idem, Stravinsky and 'The Rite of Spring" The
Beginnings ofa Musical Language (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1987), 34, 37; and Stephen Walsh,
Stravinsky: A Creative Spring (New York, I999), 27, 414.
8 See Tucker, 'Stravinsky and his Sketches', i, for discussion of dating and compositional order in
Stravinsky's sketch materials for the serial music (pp. 30-1, 34) and for his habit of composing
on individual scraps of paper (pp. 27-8).

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 224 LYNNE ROGERS

lIo @Ooooo. ?.oo. oo~ @0* ? ooo *e*4 4 o40 4 4006.6 &lie ioi1

t4 '1 1: p /'AIs
Figure I. Reproduction of a sketch leaf for Stravinsky's The Flood. Th
sketch for bars 8-I5 appears on the middle and lowest staves.

Example za. Transcription of Stravinsky's notations on a sketch le

Flood (Sacher 218-0012). Row form P5 occupies the highest staff. T
sketch for bars 8-I5 appears on the middle and lowest staves.

Sopr. . | -
LAU - DA- MUS

Alti

Example zb. Sim

sketch for bars

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
+ + + + & + * * - -& +& &

+ = (0,2,7); * = (0,2,5); & = oth

a stylus. All other marks ar

should be assumed, Stravins
aligned with the music on t
As stated above, the diato
assigned to sopranos and alt
the middle staff implies th
alignment of pitches, sh

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A SERIAL PASSAGE OF DIATONIC ANCESTRY 225

simultaneously. To read the diatonic sketch, assum

introduced, remain in force until cancelled by a
rhythmic notation toward the end of the sketch sug
noteheads be understood as crotchets.
Though brief, the diatonic sketch is a strikingly solemn and poignant piece
of music: a steady succession of simultaneously hollow and dissonant sonorities
whose highest line evokes an ancient past. An initial glance reveals that the
sketch contains three lines, two in sopranos and one in altos. The word
'laudamus' - shorthand for 'Te deum laudamus' - appears at the end of the
sketch, set syllabically in the top voice. The sketch is primarily homophonic.
Only when setting 'laudamus' does Stravinsky distinguish the voices
rhythmically.
Closer attention to pitch organization reveals that, except for the EN in the
tenth simultaneity, the music is completely diatonic, using the F# major scale.9
At the same time, the sketch lacks functional harmonic progressions and thus
is not tonal. The narrow range of the top line and its motion primarily by step
recall chant - either Western or Russian. Stravinsky would have known the latter
from attending church as a child and from his later return to the church as an
adult. More specifically, Margarita Mazo observes a resemblance in melodic
construction between the opening of the top line of the sketch and the kondak
from the panakhida (Russian Orthodox Office for the Dead), as presented in
the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, a work Stravinsky
would have known.10 Tchaikovsky's version, as heard from bar 20I, begins
D-C-D-F-E-D-A. Although located differently within their respective scales,
the second to fifth pitches of the Russian chant and the melody of the sketch
are transpositionally equivalent, ascending M2-m3 to the high point, then
descending m2-M2 from it. If the Orthodox Office for the Dead influenced
composition here, it would not have been for the first time. Richard Taruskin
demonstrates that, in its form and in a number of details, Symphonies of Wind
Instruments (I920), dedicated to the memory of Debussy, represents a 'stylized
instrumental panakhida service'."11 The kondak may have been in Stravinsky's
mind as he composed the diatonic sketch for The Flood; however, it is difficult
to discern the significance of a reference to death for the work's opening portion,
which emphasizes creation.12

9 The role of the EN will be discussed shortly.

o10 Margarita Mazo, interview with the author, Columbus, Ohio, 21 June I999.
11 Richard Taruskin, Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography ofthe Works through 'Mavra'
(Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1996), ii, 1486-93.
12 For giving so generously of their expertise in the area of Russian chant, I am grateful to Prof.
Mazo, Ohio State University; Prof. Rosemary Dubowchik, Southern Connecticut State
University; Michael Malloy, Ohio State University; Prof. Kurt Sander, Indiana University
Southeast; and Dr Nicolas Schidlovsky, Westminster Choir College.

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 226 LYNNE ROGERS

Regarding the p
much evidence fo
correspondence
library, now ho
usualis and even
Ockeghem, Duf
and books about
Atonality in Sixt
Stravinsky's tw
Gesualdo further
In this light, it
sketch shares ch
chant Te deum l
usualis, suggestin
the compositio
Stravinsky's melo
last pitch. It open
opening m3-M2.
points.
As seen in Example 2a, the linear construction of the alto and lower soprano
lines is not as conservative as that of the top voice. Their ranges are greater than
that of the highest voice, and both lines contain more and larger leaps. Voice-
crossing is frequent. Melodic (0,2,5) and (0,2,7) 'diatonic' trichords abound,15
provided mainly by the two lower lines, and recall Stravinsky's own Russian-
period music.16
In the diatonic sketch, all three voices support the centricity of F# and its
fifth, C#. These pitch classes serve as four out of six registral extremes and, with
one exception, begin or end each line. They also receive emphasis through repe-
tition and frequency of appearance, and are alone in forming the closing
sonority, which also lasts the longest.

13 Stravinsky's interest in early Western music has been noted by Robert Craft, Present Perspectives:
Critical Writings (New York, 1984), 311; Joseph, Stravinsky Inside Out, 251-2; Taruskin, Stravin-
sky and the Russian Traditions, ii, 1623; Tucker, 'Stravinsky and his Sketches', i, I37; van den
Toorn, The Music of Igor Stravinsky, 382-3; and Glenn Watkins, 'The Canon and Stravinsky's
Late Style', Confronting Stravinsky: Man Musician, and Modernist, ed. Jann Pasler (Berkeley and
Los Angeles, 1986), 217-46 (pp. 227, 229, 234-5).
14 See, for example, letters written in 1947 to Ralph Hawkes and in 1954 and 19955 to Edgar Biele-
feldt in Robert Craft, Stravinsky: Selected Correspondence (New York, 1985), iii, 319, 382, 393.

15 Using numerals indicating semitones from a starting point (o), the terms (o,2,5) and (0,2,7)
represent the most compact arrangements of two types of trichord, a pitch-class set containing
three different pitch classes. In (o,2,5), then, the second and third pitch classes are two and five
semitones from o respectively, while in (o,2,7) the second and third pitch classes are two and
seven semitones from o respectively. Since both (o,2,5) and (0,2,7) are subsets of the major scale
and its rotations, they are sometimes referred to as 'diatonic' trichords.
16 I wish to thank Prof. Pieter van den Toorn for his helpful observations regarding (o,2,5)
trichords and Stravinsky's Russian music.

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A SERIAL PASSAGE OF DIATONIC ANCESTRY 227

The role of F# and C# in the diatonic sketch

row form notated on the highest staff of the s
ends with C#. In the published score, as shown
initially in bar 6, which precedes the Te deum.
in 'piece order', the F#I/C# frame of P5 may w
of the diatonic sketch. According to this scenar
the Te deum was the one written a major s
Example 2a. Stravinsky would have decided t
sketch to bring his preliminary idea for the Te
boundaries established by P5 and R5 in bar 6.
At this point, a few words should be said r
sopranos' tenth pitch in Example 2a: the EN tha
in the sketch. First, however, ambiguities raise
be addressed.
Stravinsky may have notated the natural s
preceding e#' in the same voice. If this is the ca
pitch is an e#', making it the middle note ofa t
the same figure just stated an octave higher by
hand, Stravinsky may have notated the nat
sopranos' e' solely to clarify the cross-relation w
ately in the upper sopranos. If this is the cas
tenth notes should both be read as e's. Strav
sketch does not clarify this ambiguous situa
transcription of Example 2a, assumes the first
following analysis. Substituting the second read
substantial, changes to the analysis.
Assuming that only one EN was intended (that
might Stravinsky have included it? Ultimate
sounded; but what might have been the reas
Perhaps it was that the EN fills in the span of
to the sketch. The sketch contains four scalar f
between D# and F#. Three of these, in the
descents that involve E#. The fourth is the
note the E that is the focus of this discussio

17 Since there is only one dated leaf among those on whi

ology for these bars cannot be established firmly. Thus
actually predate the creation of bar 6, or even of The
influence flowed from - and not to - the sketch. With r
sketches may predate the work's row, David Smyth ('St
for Canticum sacrum', Mitteilungen der Paul Sacher Stif
Serialist', 206-I1) and Joseph Straus (Stravinsky's Late M
sky's other serial works that composition began with a m
formations, emerged as a work's row. Working mater
genesis of its row; nonetheless, pitches and intervallic pa
F, E, D, A#, A, G, G#) and the top line of the diatonic
the sketch is compositionally prior must at least be con

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 228 LYNNE ROGERS

Example 3. Strav
8--------------------1

S= 192 circa ()

FH. picc. mp

F1. gr. 1
mp
12

Ob. 1

C. i.

Arpa
mf stacc.

S= 192 circa
12

VI. I
Vl. II

div.

V LI I
Vle.
Vi dv. I
div. _ f
Vie

div.

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A SERIAL PASSAGE OF DIATONIC ANCESTRY 229

an inversional relationship to the descents f

E# never moves directly to F#, moderates
Significant features emerge when the vo
taken together. These features are most e
which I supply key and time signatures,
lower sopranos and altos on the same ste
Stravinsky's original. Simultaneities are n
of their intervallic structures noted. As seen
constant dissonance, as conventionally def
which, in its arrangement, recalls mediev
cadences. In fact, during simultaneities II-
- albeit one that uses a collection of pitches
Although all six interval classes are repre

interval classes 2 and 5 are found by far mo

taneities in the diatonic sketch contain ic
minor sevenths, while 12 contain ic 5, realiz
comes as no surprise, then, that six of th
(0,2,7). And, if one recognizes the new midd
through registral position in Example 2b, no
inate in all voices, but parallel fifths betwee
first six sonorities, evoking parallel organum
In summary, the diatonic sketch conveys
classes I, 2 and 5 and two related trichor
melodically and, except for ic I, harmonic
including linear construction, an opening se
cadence, evoke early Western music, Rus
Russian-period compositions.

The next stage: the serial sketches

After he completed the diatonic sketch tr

notated four more sketches for bars 8-I5.
serial and includes work on the horn line
final version. During the remainder of this

18 I wish to thank Prof. John Roeder, University of

versional relationship.
19 For references to 'Landini figures' in Cantata, see
relating Counterpoint and Serialism in the Music of
Diatonic Works of his Transitional Period' (Ph.D. d
and in Canticum sacrum, see Charles Paul Wolter
in the Early Serial Works of Igor Stravinsky, 1952-
1978), 191.
20 An interval class (abbreviated 'ic') is a class or category of intervals that are related by inversion
and differ by one or more octaves. An ic is represented by the number of semitones, ranging
from one to six, encompassed by the smallest interval in the class.

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230 LYNNE ROGERS

Example 4. Transcr
Flood (218-oo0o). T
brackets at the far
3; and the small bo

Te De - - - um lau - da - mus

Te Do - mi - nu - um con - fi - te - ur
. . .. . . -- - i -,-

4A 2" ? H
B 4

earlie
sketc
The f
that
inche
whic
3-5 c
toget
the t
B, no
the l
the l
The m
of th
lauda
the m
ment
with

21 The

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 A SERIAL PASSAGE OF DIATONIC ANCESTRY 23I

Example 5. Transcription of portion of sk

(218-ooo8).

C# and D# - as does the top line of the dia

'Te dominum confitemur' are set with the fi
begins with F# and F, the third and fourth
diatonic sketch. Although the serial melo
leaps than did the top line of the diatoni
tones and tones, some of which are highligh
bouring notes. The pairs C#-D#, G-G#
treatment. Such emphasis on motion by s
to reproduce the chant-like quality of th
of oscillation also recalls Stravinsky's earl
hallmark of his Russian repertory and reap
as well.23

Genesis of the horn line

On staves 3-5 of Example 4 are three versions of what is to become the horn's
series in the published version. The ordering of the I2 pitches on staff 3 is most
likely derived from The Flood's opening chord or, more specifically, Stravinsky's
conception of it as suggested in his sketches and in analytical notations in the
short score. One of the sketches for the initial sonority is transcribed as
Example 5.

22 Wolterink, 'Harmonic Structure and Organization', 91, comments on the preponderance of ics
I and 2 between adjacent pcs in Stravinsky's rows.
23 Stravinsky describes the habit of oscillation as 'a recurring stutter in my musical speech' in Igor
Stravinsky, Themes and Conclusions (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1982), 61. For discussion of oscil-
lation in relation to Stravinsky's serial music, see Straus, Stravinsky's Late Music, 90, 228-31;
Taruskin, Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions, ii, 1650o; and van den Toorn, The Music of Igor
Stravinsky, 439-40.

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 232 LYNNE ROGERS

Stravinsky states
Flood's opening wer
Example 5 is such a

every other note

arrangement the of
disguises the perfe
origins, however, b
the upper note of e
as seen in the sketch
score.25

Reading the pitches of Example 5 from bottom to top, then compressing

them registrally so that ascending minor sevenths become descending major
seconds, yields the pitches on staff 3 of Example 4, for which a treble clef should
be assumed. The resulting pattern alternates descending major seconds with
perfect fifths and fourths. Each group of three successive pitch classes within
this series forms a (0,2,5) or (0,2,7) trichord. These structures - in both melodic
and harmonic guises - populate the diatonic sketch, revealing an intersection
between the sketch and the work's opening.26
The two remaining staves in Example 4, for which treble clefs should also be
assumed, supply transformations of the series shown on staff 3. The series is
transposed up one semitone on staff 4. On staff 5, Stravinsky inverted this trans-
position around C#, the first note on both of the two lowest staves.
Two features of Example 4 suggest that Stravinsky knew at this point that the
future horn line would act as counterpoint to the choral melody on staves I and
2. On the upper right-hand corner of staff I, Stravinsky seems to have been
concerned with choosing the horn pitches that would sound with the last three
pitches of the choral melody, shown as the upper line. The thin lines drawn by

Stravinsky that lead from the final D and D# of staff 2 to the E,, B, and AL of
staff 4 suggest that he considered another contrapuntal combination of horn
and chorus as well.27 All later versions of bars 8-i1 show that Stravinsky chose
the transposed series on staff 4 of Example 4 for the horn. The series on staff 4
provides an initial C# - matching the first pitch of the tenors' row - and the

24 Stravinsky and Craft, Expositions and Developments, 124.

25 For further discussion of The Flood's opening sonority, see David Smyth, 'Stravinsky's Second
Crisis: Reading the Early Serial Sketches', Perspectives of New Music, 37/2 (I999), n7-46
(pp. I40-I); Straus, Stravinsky's Late Music, 228; and Wolterink, 'Harmonic Structure and
Organization', 56-61. In addition, above the score on p. I of the short score for the work,
Stravinsky notated other representations of the derivation of the opening chords. A reproduc-
tion of a portion of this page is shown in Straus, Stravinsky's Late Music, 229. A facsimile of the
entire page is reproduced in Strawinsky: Sein Nachlass, sein Bild, ed. Hans J6rg Jans and
Christian Geelhaar (Basle, 1984), I72.
26 Also of note with regard to this relationship is the F#/C# fifth that is literally the centre of the
opening chord - and Example 5 - and centric in the diatonic sketch.
27 Since empty space at the bottom of piece A covers staff 3 on piece B, Stravinsky's vertical lines
connect the two notes at the end of staff 2 directly to the three notes on staff 4.

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 A SERIAL PASSAGE OF DIATONIC ANCESTRY 233

potential for closure on a perfect fifth: the te

4 respectively. Indeed, the horn's C# doubles t
version, while D# and Ab sound an enharmoni
outer voices of the closing sonority in bar I5 (
forms of the series on staves 3-5, that on st
pitch-class dyads with row form P5, heard in
staff of Example za. F#-E, A-G and D-C -
and the series on staff 4. The horn's BL-Ab, als
in P5.
The three later serial sketches for bars 8-Is introduce altos and sopranos, work
out the three-part vocal counterpoint that incorporates completion of Io and
R10o, and develop the horn line. On several other leaves (218-ooio, ooII, 0013),
Stravinsky composed the remainder of the Te deum. The still later short score
displays a version of bars 8-Is identical, except for notational differences, with
the published score.28

The diatonic sketch and the published version compared

The diatonic sketch was not solely Stravinsky's starting point for the composi-
tion of the first passage of the Te deum; upon comparison with the finished
composition, the sketch emerges as a model that established significant features
retained through all compositional stages. It is true that the first and last stages
of the passage do not sound similar, which is to be expected, considering the
extreme differences in pitch language. Indeed, the magnitude of these differ-
ences makes the number and importance of common attributes all the more
remarkable.
The most obvious shared characteristics are the text and the three-voice choral
writing. The final version is, however, more contrapuntal and features separate
entrances of the different voices. Its mood is less solemn than that of the sketch,
thanks largely to the syncopation introduced at the outset and to the overall
ascents of the vocal parts. Less immediately evident - although unsurprising in
light of Stravinsky's demonstrated awareness of temporal proportion - is the
closeness in duration of the sketch and final version. The former lasts for 32
quavers, the latter for 31.
Most significant are the numerous correspondences in pitch organization.
Pitch classes and intervals conspicuous in the diatonic sketch achieve promi-
nence in the published passage as well. Notable voice-leading gestures and
remnants of diatonicism also return in the final version.

28 Stravinsky's short scores contain all parts at pitch, with instrumentation marked. On each page,
staves are drawn only as needed. Two or more instruments may share a staff. Stravinsky
occasionally included analytical markings. Evidence indicates that Stravinsky's notation of a
section or movement in short-score format signified that he considered composition of that
portion to be complete. For discussion of the significance of the short score as a stage in Stravin-
sky's compositional process, see Rogers, 'Rethinking Form', 280n., and Taruskin, Stravinsky and
the Russian Traditions, i, I73.

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234 LYNNE ROGERS

The vocal portion

and C# introduced
created through pl
extremes, as well a
three choral entran
on C#, end on F# i
doubled by horn in
worthy that this os
order within the ro
I - moves directly
Both the diatonic
similar methods o
mainly by step, th
spanning only ten
one or two semiton
chant-like effect. In
Gregorian but Igor
Like the first seria
ing and highlighting
sketch. The first of
final version. F# an
of the diatonic sket
entrances in publish
not subject to osci
accompanied by A#
of these particular
that Stravinsky's c
sciously- by the op
The diatonic sketc
treatment of EN. In
from the end. In t
and tenors on the d
passage. Both closin
class in both Io and
different voices but
spondences sugges
Stravinsky's choice
The completed pas

29 Stravinsky and Craft

30 Smyth, 'Stravinsky's
'Triple Pas-de-Quatre
hexachord that preserv
31 EN does not appear u
complete their row fo
quaver in both parts sim

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A SERIAL PASSAGE OF DIATONIC ANCESTRY 235

Example 6. Stravinsky, The Flood, bars 8-12, horn

are diatonic regions. Brackets below the score mark th
ping (o,2,5) and (0,2,7) trichords.

mf

Tenori , ,' , , [ r + + , ,
Te de- um, Te de - um lau - da-mus. Te do -
5'
8 3
8 etc. sim. marc.

Cor. 1 -"f

I r
I 1

diaton
nent v
terpoi
marke
fourth
(altos
the di
be hea
Voice-
voices
in sim
their
the La
In sum
charac
textur
C#-D#
harmo
If we
the leg
choru
Examp
that p

{A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#} respectively. Another region, {B,, D, E,, F, G, A}, forms
briefly between the horn and entire chorus during the last Il beats of bar 14.

32 Neidh6fer, 'An Approach to Interrelating Counterpoint and Serialism', passim, discusses

Stravinsky's use of parallel voice-leading in neoclassical and early serial compositions.

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236 LYNNE ROGERS

The horn also doubles

instances of ic 5 with

monically spelled perfe

taken alone creates o
classes. Its constructi
recalls both melodic seg
(see Example 6). Indeed,
ization of the first har
The importance of F#
tained by the publish
Te deum continues wi
phrases, sung by sopran
line in bars 8-Io. Con
from two to eight tim
46, the chorus, suppo
Sanctus. In both phrase
taneously: Io and RIo in
begins on the simultan
sketch, and closes with
F# and C# are in oute
F# and C# are prom
where they open and c
and doubling. At the
returns, asserting the i
is a varied echo of bar
by harp and piccolo, lin
Although emphasis o
passage, the sketch's
dodecaphony. As if to
contains numerous bo
arrangement of the
specifically triads and
are heard in the choru

in bar I5, as mentione

are created by the addi

and in bar I5 respectiv

More complex are tw
bar 9 to bar Io, tenor
seem to tonicize A ma
recalling the essential f
9 (C#), arpeggiate a
leading note, G#, em
approached and left
Stravinskian nod to ton
treatment of these voi

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A SERIAL PASSAGE OF DIATONIC ANCESTRY 237

Beginning with its second pitch, the sopra

be heard as evoking a tonic: this time, an en
segments (respelled here for EL major) - F
as a sequence. D, the leading note, is even ha
bar 14 with an enharmonically spelled domin
The disposition of the counterpoint also cr
dissonance and its resolution. For example,
tenors create and resolve a suspension. The hor
C#; the tenors resolve this major second by as
bar 9. Other references to dissonance and it
passage - may be heard in bar 11 between
sopranos and altos, bar 13 between altos and te
and tenors. In view of the varied, numerou
allusions to tonal materials and devices in ba
that this passage is serial and not tonal. Its s
particularly Stravinskian manner with referen

Conclusions

Why did Stravinsky compose diatonic sketches as a first step in the genesis of a
serial passage? After all, by 1961 he was an experienced composer of serial music.
He began experimenting with serial procedures as early as the Cantata (I951-2);
composed his first completely serial but not dodecaphonic score, In memoriam
Dylan Thomas, by 1954; completed his first fully dodecaphonic work, Threni, in
1958; and introduced transposed and rotated hexachords, one of the trademark
techniques of his mature style, in the famously complex Movements of 1958-9.
Moreover, the presence of two diatonic sketches, in addition to the four serial
ones, implies a great deal of work for only eight bars. One might propose that,
since the passage in question contains numerous harmonic and melodic
instances of ic 5, as well as other references to diatonicism, the diatonic sketches
were necessary to the success of the compositional process. By the time he began
The Flood, however, Stravinsky had been writing serial music flavoured by ic 5
and diatonicism for a decade; it seems unlikely that composition of the Te deum
required a preliminary, fully diatonic stage.33 Given his substantial composi-
tional experience, then, why might Stravinsky have begun composing the Te
deum with a diatonic model?
The diatonic sketches may have resulted from an instinctive reaction to the
liturgical text, a response made more likely by Stravinsky's investigations into
early Western music. It is also easy to imagine the diatonic sketches as having
been inspired by The Flood's opening chord, which, although a complete
aggregate, is built on ic 5. Furthermore, the creation of the diatonic sketches as
a starting point is consistent with one of Stravinsky's compositional habits,

33 For discussion of examples of Stravinsky's serial music incorporating ic 5, see Smyth, 'Stravin-
sky as Serialist', 2iff., and Straus, Stravinsky's Late Music, 195-20oi.

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238 LYNNE ROGERS

established many yea

model, then alter it un
The majority of the
Evidence derived so far
suggest that it was not
works, to cast his ini
diatonic sketches for
Stravinsky's composit
immersed himself in
tendency toward dia
affirmed in the neocla
marks - revisit the sam
Most appropriately,
borrowing of modal an
important technique
mature serial music,
hexachords that prom
class doublings. Strav
compositions from Mo
of his rows incorporat
As discussed above fo
rows and the counter
diatonic regions, leadin
relations, tertian str
and similar devices ar
simple textures of som
presentation of the bas
Elegy for J. E K. (196
allusions to tonality an
works as well. The com
(1960-1), The Flood, A
Canticles (I965-6) - are
and more abstract Mov
influence of this Stra
diatonic sketches, w
completely surprising
While the music of t
study in its own righ

34 Lynne Rogers, 'Varied R

Paul Sacher Stifrung, 7 (19
Sketch Study', Journal ofM
Motive in Stravinsky's The
35 A notable exception is de
early serial 'Full Fadom Fiv
sky began with an El mino

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 A SERIAL PASSAGE OF DIATONIC ANCESTRY 239

hearing and interpreting Stravinsky's last works

life is viewed as a composer who retained diaton
taking into account the audible results of these
tially to an understanding of his serial music
late works, analyses should recognize the exp
musical past and their potential to infuse a s
layers of musical meaning.

ABSTRACT

When Stravinsky composed The Flood in 1961-2, he was already an experienced

titioner of serialism. It is undeniably noteworthy, then, that compositional docum
for the work include two diatonic sketches, presumably the earliest versions of a p
from the Prelude. Later serial versions of the passage, which differ significantly from
diatonic sketches, nonetheless retain numerous important features introduced
initial stage. The existence of the diatonic sketches suggests that even late in his c
Stravinsky harboured diatonic and tonal impulses. Taking into account the a
results of these impulses will contribute substantially to an understanding of h
works.

36 A number of scholars have begun to address the issue of diatonicism and references to tonality
and modality in Stravinsky's serial music. With regard to the early serial music, see Roberto
Gerhard, 'Twelve-Tone Technique in Stravinsky', The Score andl. M. A. Magazine (1957), 38-43
(p. 40); Smyth, 'Stravinsky's Second Crisis', 126, and 'Stravinsky as Serialist', 211, 215, 221; Straus,
Stravinsky's Late Music, I3-15, I8, 119, 121, 122, 143; Tucker, 'Stravinsky and his Sketches', i, 194,
20o-6, 234, 253-4; and Wolterink, 'Harmonic Structure and Organization', passim. With regard
to the later serial music, see Milton Babbitt, 'Remarks on the Recent Stravinsky', Perspectives
on Schoenberg and Stravinsky, ed. Benjamin Boretz and Edward T. Cone (rev. edn, New York,
1972), 165-85 (pp. 173, 184-5); Martin Boykan, '"Neoclassicism" and Late Stravinsky', Perspec-
tives ofNew Music, I (1963), I35-69 (passim); Claudio Spies, 'Notes on Stravinsky's Abraham and
Isaac', Perspectives on Schoenberg and Stravinsky, ed. Boretz and Cone, I86-209 (p. 20zo7); and
Charles Wuorinen and Jeffrey Kresky, 'On the Significance of Stravinsky's Late Works',
Confronting Stravinsky, ed. Pasler, 262-70 (pp. 264-7, 270). Last, such references to the past
constitute the subject of Edward Berlin, 'Tonality and Tonal References in the Serial Music of
Igor Stravinsky' (unpublished master's thesis, Hunter College, City University of New York,
1965). A copy of this thesis, which belonged to Stravinsky's library, now resides at the Sacher
Foundation. Found inside the front cover of the thesis is a letter from Mr Berlin, indicating
that he sent the thesis to Stravinsky, and what appears to be a draft of a response in Stravinsky's
hand, dated 23 July I965, in which the composer thanks Berlin for his analyses which
'"succeeded in illuminating" the approach to my music'.

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