‘Three Voices’ – Morton Feldman

Felipe Pinto d’Aguiar

 
‘Three  voices  Analysis’  by  Felipe  Pinto  d'Aguiar  is  licensed  under  a  Creative  Commons  Attribution-­‐NonCommercial-­‐NoDerivs  3.0  Unported  License.  2015  
Intro

‘Three voices’ is written for two pre-recorded voices and one ‘live’ voice (bottom staff).

It is dedicated to the American singer and composer Joan La Barbara. The piece makes a

predominant use of the high register and the only dynamic indication is ppp, although other

dynamics emerge as the results of variations in the density (texture), registers, and

articulation. For the following analysis, having a copy of the score at hand will be essential.

I have chosen whole bars as the basic unit for segmentation because they seem to

work like self-contained harmonic fields, however there are a few exceptions, which I explain

later in the analysis. In addition, the harmony is most of the time extremely static, which

makes to, in my opinion, long-tern harmonic relationships perceptually irrelevant.

The piece is structured into ten large sections and some portions of these sections

return later, although there is no intention of elaboration or development, but rather of

perpetual sense of stasis.

Sections

The first section ‘Opening’ starts with a dyad D, Eb (01). New pitches are introduced

gradually and simultaneously there is a progression from three notes up to five notes.

The second section contains richer harmonies, which fluctuate between sets of three

to seven notes. The harmonic rhythm is also faster. At some points each repeated bar has a

particular harmony and when the harmony remains the same, rhythmic variations are
introduced. Three bars after rehearsal letter A, the full aggregate has been introduced, which

illustrates how the piece navigates different harmonic regions even when the extensive use of

repetition prevails.

Section two ‘Legato’ introduces what will become the ‘Waltz’ pattern, but it presents

it concealing its rhythmic identity by shortening the third beat and later by messing around

with the internal durations. This section alternates regions of faster harmonic rhythm with

more static passages. The harmonies are more varied than in the previous section and

oscillate between groups of one to ten notes. When sets are repeated, two main procedures

take place. First, the voices are re-arranged (switching from one another and/or changing

octave, similarly to what Schoenberg does in the 5 Orchestral pieces Op. 16) and

additionally, by introducing rhythmic variations. I will detail the rhythmic procedures in the

section dedicated to rhythm.

Section three ‘Slow Waltz’ establishes a three-note ostinato pattern, which remains

stable until it is disrupted towards the end of the section, then re-taken and finally

abandoned to give place to the fourth section. Harmonically, this section introduces new

material, but also revisits previous sets, which are presented within the new rhythmic

patterns. The overall harmonic rhythm is more stable than in previous sections.

Section four ‘First Words’ use text for the first time (see text section). This section

also installs the use of multiple repetitions per bar (×n). The section can be subdivided in

three parts. At the beginning we find a progressive reduction of the pitch material to the

point of reaching passages of three pitches (arranged as hockets) or even one single pitch

(total reduction of the texture). A second moment introduces the descending pattern Bb, A,
Ab, G. This pattern will be developed in the following sections. In a third moment of this

part (rehearsal letter J) we find a succession of homophonic blocks. I decided to change the

criterion of segmentation here; analyzing block to block instead of full measures because each

block creates a distinctive identity and Feldman seems to emphasize those dissimilarities. The

same principle applies for section 6 ‘Chords’ and rehearsal letter S in the final sections (all

homorhythmic passages).

Section five ‘Whisper’ includes a particular singing technique (whisper, a quasi

aeolian flute-sound), which creates a unique effect of semi-clarity in the pitch content. The

descending chromatic gesture (derived from the previous section) creates an incredible effect

of wind current and the stereophonic treatment comes back (first heard in the fourth system

of rehearsal letter A).

Section six ‘Chords’ presents homorhythmic blocks with different harmonic

configurations. There is a certain predominance of (013), however there is no consistent

pattern. This set is also expressed melodically at times.

Section seven ‘A Non Accented Legato’ strikes for its obsessive character. Here

different set classes (chromatic groups of different number of components, but very similar

character) are repeated several times without re-arranging the voices or varying the rhythmic

patterns, which contradicts the frequent behavior associated to the repetition of pitch

material we saw before and supports the reputation of Feldman’s music to be difficult to

analyze!

Section eight ‘Snow Falls’ balances the previous section by introducing a degree of

predictability. A few set classes are regularly spaced and consistently repeated while at the
same time rhythmic variations take place. This section also contains text. It is interesting to

notice that once that text appears it is not solidly set. It will appear and recede at different

points.

Section nine ‘Legato’ is a return to previous materials from section two, but not in an

exact fashion. It is actually a compressed version, which quickly moves to the final section.

Section ten (and final) ‘Slow Waltz and Ending’ combines materials from section

three (Waltz) and the homorhythmic blocks presented in different previous passages.

Towards the end, an inflection (pause) takes place. Finally, portions of the text are re-taken

an after an expressive G.P. the piece ends.

Harmony

The harmony does not follow tonal, modal or serial principles, however we find a

number of procedures, which we can examine under the lens of set theory. The overall

sonority of the piece is of chromatic clusters. Set class (012) or larger sets which contain it

(supersets), are almost ubiquitous. It is difficult to see substantial relationships between these

sets, as the piece seems to follow a very simple principle: addition and subtraction of notes

(gradually or discretely). The very beginning presents (01), the smallest interval used in the

piece, and then, it expands to larger collections. At points, sets of eleven notes are used.

The piece often reposes over the same harmony for long periods of time, however

when this is no the case (and the harmonic rhythm flows faster), there is a predilection for

feeling in the total chromatic. Examples appear at the beginning of rehearsal letter A and the

third system of page 10. In both cases, the ostinato Eb, Fb, Db (enharmonically spelled) is
colored by the other voices, which together and quickly (for the piece standards) complete

the aggregate. In occasions, Feldman changes one or more notes of the pitch pattern,

however the prime form of the set class is preserved, which creates a change of color, but

keeps certain harmonic identity (observe that on page 8 and others).

There are three regions where three-note sets are predominant. I changed the

segmentation criterion here and the indication ‘Chord Blocks’ appears in the annotated

score. The more prevalent sets classes are: (013), (015), (025), and (027), however the most

significant factor in these passages is the variety and rate of change (significantly faster than

in the rest of the piece). Moreover, the already mentioned predilection for feeling in the

chromatic space applies here as well.

On section five ‘Whisper’, there is use of transposition and inversion. The motive

from rehearsal letter I (Bb, A, Ab, G = T10) appears at eight different transpositional levels:

T2, T0, T6, T8, T7, T11, T1, and T4 (with an extra note). In addition, we find: T11I, T1I, T2I

and T0I (just spatially inverted).

Another principle that appears rather consistently is the association between faster

rhythm and chromatic pitches. In this way, rhythm and pitch seem to be interconnected

temporarily meaning that a higher time compression results in denser harmony.

Rhythm

There are two types of multi-rhythm configurations in this piece: polyrhythms and

rhythmic patterns of different durations. Only the opening and rehearsal letter O (and the
beginning of P) show a consistent use of actual polyrhythms. The following beat patterns are

found: 8:12:9 (staring from the top voice), 4:12:9, 8:3:3, 4:2:1, 8:6:9 (first section), and 2:4:3

(rehearsal letter O). Some of these patterns are not presented straightforwardly, but include

some internal rhythmic flexibility, that is to say they contain successions of non-equal values

at some of the three voices, but maintaining the overall pattern. Other examples are found

on measure seven of rehearsal letter C: 7:8 (a curiosity in the context of the piece!) and

simpler proportions such as 4:3 on the third system of rehearsal letter I. Some other

rhythmic devices include the superposition of additive rhythmic patterns, which are self-

contained within one bar. For example, at the beginning of letter A there are two layers:

2+2+3 (two upper voices) and 3+3+2 (live voice). Other sections make use homorhythmic

material, which is found among long values (ex: beginning of rehearsal letter K) or short

values such as the fourth system of rehearsal letter K, and letter N with 16th notes. Another

interesting rhythmic feature is the addition of beats as a way of variation. For example on the

third system of rehearsal letter A, we find the following sequence of quarter notes:

4+5+6+5+4+7+(4+e)+5+4. Similar rhythmic variations are found throughout the piece. Yet

another rhythmic feature is found in the second system of rehearsal letter E, and first and

second system of rehearsal letter G. Here, within repeated bars, there is a macro-repetition,

which alternates between the set classes (0167) and (0) three times in the first case, and

between (01368) and (02458) two times in the latter. Finally, it is worth mentioning the

waltz-like rhythm of sections three and nine, which gives the piece a temporary dance-

character in the context of quite abstract music.

Text

The text is taken from the poem ‘Wind’, which was dedicated to Feldman by the

American poet Frank O’Hara. Rather than utilizing the full poem, Feldman chooses a few

words from it repeating and re-arranging them throughout in a quite unconventional setting.

‘Who'd have thought that snow falls’, ‘whirling’, ‘nothing’ are sometimes fragmented to the point

where the semantic meaning is totally destroyed (not to mention that the poem itself

contains some syntactic ambiguities) focusing more on the sound of words. Vowels ‘a’ and ‘o’

are stressed and articulated between consonants, which contributes to fuse the text with the

neutral sounds ‘oh’ and ‘aw’ used for the vocalise parts.

Conclusion

This piece certainly escapes the conventions of its time. It is not minimalist or process

music; neither admits the opposition between post-serialism and post-modernism. This piece

is singular and the only consistent analytical characteristic of it is that there are no consistent

components. There is a delivered avoidance of establishing straight patterns and

predictability (a way of consistency on its own). Feldman manipulates our perception with

astonishing mastery and every time a configuration is about to establish, a new material or

variation irrupts frustrating our expectations. Even repetitions of previous material are never

exactly the same. All in all, the piece is a mosaic of unfulfilled promises dominated by

beautiful singularities.