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UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Journey to the Flat Side: dualism, subdominants, stacked fourths, pentatonics, and the ‘musical left’ Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3s41640v Author Steingold, Marissa Leigh Publication Date 2016 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California University of California Los Angeles Journey to the Flat Side dualism, subdominants, stacked fourths, pentatonics, and the ‘musical left’ A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology by Marissa Leigh Steingold 2016 © Copyright by Marissa Leigh Steingold 2016 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Journey to the Flat Side: dualism, subdominants, stacked fourths, pentatonics, and the ‘musical left’ by Marissa Leigh Steingold Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology University of California, 2016 Professor Robert W. Fink, Chair My dissertation examines several interconnected binaries in music theory: flat/sharp, subdominant/dominant, and minor/major. Traditional theory positions the marked member of each pair (flat, subdominant, and minor, respectively) conceptually LEFT, DOWN and OUTSIDE of the privileged term (sharp, dominant, and major), leading to further marginalization. In my theoretical, historical, analytical and aesthetic inquiry into the ‘musical left,’ I take on Riemannian dualism, mirroring, flat side transformations, stacked fourths, and the pentatonic scale. My deconstruction of 19th century major-minor dualism reveals the surprising “Othering” of the minor mode. Mirroring—from fugues to Riemannian dualism—cannot fully integrate ii with a ground-up, hierarchical practice like tonality; twentieth-century atonal musics constitute better vehicles for sustained, pure inversions. Unlike ‘structural’ authentic cadences, the subdominant is analyzed by Schenkerians as ‘surface-level’ embellishment, but I assert that composers use autonomous applied plagals to go the ‘wrong way’ around the circle of fifths. In contrast to applied dominants, secondary subdominants—the flatted seventh double plagal, the triple plagal “backdoor” cadence, and the flatted sixth quadruple subdominant—have rarely been studied. For composers of these structures, going flat serves revolutionary ends. Stacked fourths—commonly misinterpreted as purposeless for their tendency to “plane” non-functionally—are used by McCoy Tyner in “Blues on the Corner” to target the subdominant in what I term a “trapdoor cadence.” My taxonomy of stacked fourth chords leads to an analysis of Paul Hindemith’s ic-5 crossing over in Mathis der Maler. Motion in the flat direction is usually right to left—that is, it represents tracking back to the tonic-in-the-past, but by traveling 23 steps into the flatside, Hindemith transforms the past into the future. Quartals are the ideal vehicle for this kind of time travel, for they represent both the past (rustic antiquity) and the future (technological progress). Some theorists and composers have treated the ic-5/7 pentatonic scale as ‘incomplete’ or primitive, but I present compositions, such as John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, that use segmented pentatonics as building blocks for ic-5 cyclic completion. Since pentatonic melodies are commonly accompanied by non-pentatonic harmonies (the so-called “melodic-harmonic divorce”), I propose a system of melodic-harmonic differentiation, as practiced by African- iii American musicians. I believe that this refusal to succumb to organic unity mimics heterophony, in which the individual stands out from the group. iv The dissertation of Marissa Steingold is approved. Dariusz Terefenko Tamara Levitz Mitchell B. Morris Robert W. Fink, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2016 v Table of Contents Author’s Note 1 Introduction The Sinister Left 8 Chapter 1 Deconstructing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: 25 Mirroring and Harmonic Dualism Chapter 2 The Subdominant and its Plagal Axis 79 Chapter 3 A Taxonomy for Stacked Fourths 151 Chapter 4 Pentatonics and Melodic-Harmonic Differentiation 216 Postlude Flat Side Privilege? 282 Selected Bibliography 294 vi List of Examples and Figures Examples 1 Is Bb major lower or higher than F? 9 2 “Double Plagal cadence” in “Hey Jude” 22 1-1 “Silent Night.” Inversion, Retrograde, and Retrograde Inversion 34 1-2a Bach, Contrapunctus XII from Art of Fugue, rectus 36 1-2b Bach, Contrapunctus XII from Art of Fugue, inversus 36 1-3 Bach, Fugue 2 in C minor from WTC Book II: Tonal Answer 37 1-4 “Silent Night” with Chordal Root Inversion 38 1-5 “Silent Night” Chord Retrograde 38 1-6a Major and Minor intervallic retrograde 40 1-6b Major and Minor intervallic inversion 40 1-7 Riemann’s ascending major and descending minor 42 1-8 Riemannian Major/Minor Duality 43 1-9 Riemann’s Undertones on C 43 1-10 Riemann’s Dualistic Klang 46 1-11a Riemann’s “Over-C” complex 47 1-11b Riemann’s complementary “Under-E” complex 47 1-12a John Williams, “Leia’s Theme” 48 1-12b John Barry’s “Moonraker” 49 1-13 “Silent Night”: Relative Minor 52 1-14 “Silent Night”: Leading Tone Exchange 52 1-15 “Silent Night”: Parallel minor leads to minor “inversion” 53 1-16 Lydian as sharp side ic-5/7 heptatonic scale, Locrian as flat side inversion 69 1-17 Bartók, Mikrokosmos No. 121: “Two Part Study,” mm. 1-3 72 vii 1-18 Bartók, Mikrokosmos No. 121: “Two Part Study,” mm. 8-11 73 1-19 Eimert (1950): “Steps” of the Chromatic, Fourth, and Fifth Cycles 75 2-1 “Route 66,” by Bobby Troup (1946): Nat King Cole’s Changes 79 2-2 “Route 66,” Bing Crosby’s changes (transposed from D to G) 79 2-3 Rehding’s reading of Rameau’s ‘Characteristic dissonances’ 91 2-4 Debussy, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, conclusion 98 2-5 Liszt, Gnomenreigen 101 2-6a Rising fourths 104 2-6b August Halm’s rising fourths with elliptical dominants 104 2-6c Plagal rising fourths 104 2-7 Lydian Modal tonicizations vs. traditional Ionian tonicization 107 2-8 Plagal Leading Tone Cadence 108 2-9 Dresden Amen, Johann Gottlieb Naumann 109 2-10 Jewish Shabbat Kiddush Blessing (traditional) 110 2-11 Mahalia Jackson, “In the Upper Room”: final minor Amen cadence 110 2-12 Dvořák, “New World Symphony” II, Largo (1893) 111 2-13 Bonnie Raitt, “Nick of Time” 112 2-14 Martha & the Vandellas, “Dancing in the Street” (introduction) 114 2-15 Beethoven, String Quartet in A minor, molto adagio 115 2-16 Frank Loesser, “Never Will I Marry” (1960) 116 2-17 Debussy, “La Flûte de Pan,” mm. 1-12 119 2-18 Lydian Supertonic “Little Mermaid” in B 121 2-19 B Lydian as a generating “Key” 122 2-20 Debussy, “La Flûte de Pan,” m. 13 123 2-21 Hoyt Curtin, The Jetsons Theme 125 2-22 Danny Elfman, Theme to The Simpsons (1987) 127 2-23 Circular blues “pointing” 130 viii 2-24 Big Mama Thornton, “Ball and Chain” 131 2-25a John Frederich Coots & Haven Gillespie, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” (original changes) 132 2-25b “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” Ray Charles’ reharmonizations (1985) 132 2-26a ic-5 alignment with ic-2 133 2-26b ic-5 alignment with ic-3 133 2-26c ic-5 alignment with ic-4 133 2-27 Tadd Dameron’s “Lady Bird,” backdoor cadence 134 2-28 Elton John, “Burn Down the Mission” (1970) 137 2-29a “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” piano introduction 143 2-29b “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” First Verse and Chorus 143 3-1 Alexander Courage, Theme to Star Trek, introduction (1966) 151 3-2 Herbie Hancock’s piano quartal from “Canteloupe Island,” m. 13 152 3-3 Claude Debussy, “La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin,” mm. 35-6 153 3-4 Bill Evans’ “So What” chord 154 3-5a Rotations of C-Eb-Gb-A 155 3-5b Rotations of C-F-Bb-Eb 155 3-6 Schoenberg’s voice-leading between six-part whole-tone chord and six-stack quartal 161 3-7 ic-5 “neighbors” 163 3-8 Messiaen’s fifth scale of “Limited Transposition” 165 3-9 Messiaen’s “Chord in Fourths” 165 3-10 Alexander Skryabin’s “Mystic Chord” 167 3-11 Slonimsky’s “Diatessaron: Division of Five Octaves into Equal Parts: Ultrapolation of one note” No. 842 169 ix 3-12 Slonimsky’s “Tritone Progression: Equal Division of One Octave into Two Parts, Interpolation of Two Notes” No. 5 170 3-13a Ascending quartals and quintals 177 3-13b Descending quartals and quintals 177 3-13c Palindromic quartals and quintals 178 3-13d C4!4, F4!3", Bb4!"3, or Eb4"4 178 3-14 Bill Evans’ “So What” chord as a quartal B4!5r1 or B4!5/E 179 3-15 Chick Corea, quartal and near quartal comping 180 3-16a Chromatic Quartal Planing 181 3-16b Diatonic Quartal Planing 181 3-17 Erik Satie, Prélude: la Vocation: le Fils des Étoiles (1892) 182 3-18 McCoy Tyner “Blues on the Corner,” The Real McCoy (1967), mm. 1-5 186 3-19 Tyner’s left-hand chord, “Passion Dance” 187 3-20 McCoy Tyner, “Passion Dance,” mm. 5-12 188 3-21 Wayne Shorter, “Pinocchio” 191 3-22 Miles Davis, solo, “So What,” mm. 31-43 193 3-23 Herbie Hancock, “Maiden Voyage” 195 3-24 Wibberley’s conjoined tetrachords in Quid non Ebrietas 197 3-25 Omitted Quartals 199 3-26 Bartók, String Quartet #2: Lento assai, mm. 1-10 200 3-27 Medieval Resolution of stacked fourths 203 3-28 Paul Hindemith, “Grablegung,” mm. 1-8 204 3-29 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony 31, molto allegro, mm. 1-4 204 3-30 “Grablegung,” mm. 16-33 206 3-31 Alexander Courage, Star Trek Theme 211 4-1 Isley Brothers, “Shout” lead vocal (2:50) 225 4-2 “New Britain” from William Walker, The Southern Harmony (1847) 227 x 4-3 “Amazing Grace” (harmonization found in modern hymnals) 228 4-4 Stephen Foster, “Oh Susanna,” mm.
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