Copyright by Jennifer Putt Beavers 2010 The Dissertation Committee for Jennifer Putt Beavers certifies that this is the approved dissertation of the following dissertation: Ravel in a New Key: Harmony in the Chamber Works, 1914-1927 Committee: __________________________ Marianne Wheeldon, supervisor _________________________ Eric Drott __________________________ David Neumeyer __________________________ Edward Pearsall __________________________ Holly Watkins Ravel in a New Key: Harmony in the Chamber Works, 1914-1927 by Jennifer Putt Beavers, B.Music, M.Music Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2010 To Ryan, for taking this journey with me Acknowledgements I would like to thank my dissertation committee for all of their encouragement and insights into my work. It was in David Neumeyer’s linear analysis class that I first crafted analyses of Ravel’s compositions and I very much appreciate his guidance while I found my research angle. Ed Pearsall encouraged me to share my work at conferences and was a great resource to me. I would like to thank Eric Drott for crafting a much more poetic dissertation title than I was able to create. A big thank you goes to Byron Almén and Jim Buhler; although not technically on my committee, they always had their door open when I needed advice. I am grateful to Holly Watkins who has found the time during her busy fellowship to serve on my committee. And to Marianne Wheeldon, my advisor and mentor throughout my entire graduate education, I express my sincere gratitude. More than her expertise, her artistic insight, or her impeccable eye for detail, I appreciate her willingness to invest so much time and energy in me and my work. I am very thankful to the Graduate School at the University of Texas at Austin for awarding me the Cullen Endowed Continuing Fellowship and to the generosity the Butler School of Music for the amazing teaching assistantships. My experience with so many faculty members and colleagues, particularly, Elliott Antokoletz for providing me with a copy of his article and Peter Kaminsky for creating an article that resonated so well with my work, were invaluable to my research. I am grateful to my colleagues and students at UT Austin, UT San Antonio, and Austin Chamber Music Center whose excitement for when they can call me “Dr. Beavers” provided me with my own fan club. My dear friend and colleague, Jennifer Iverson, supplied me with endless cheerleading, compassion, and support. I cherish my friendship with Beth Hiser and appreciate her optimism. I want to thank Sarah Reichardt and Gene Willet for their confidence in me. I would also like to thank my coffeehouse community at Fair Bean for providing me with the perfect environment and coffee throughout the years. To Jason and Camilla, namaste. Words cannot express the overwhelming gratitude I have to my parents, Glenn and Lori Putt, who supported me with love and endless babysitting hours. I honestly could not have finished this dissertation without them. My sister, Shelly, never once doubted my ability to accomplish my goals, and my brother, David, well, he showed support in his own special way. I must thank my grandma for always stocking the bar and keeping the swing ready for our utterly rejuvenating time together. To my children, Jacob and Chloe, thank you for infusing my life with play, laughter, and love. And, most of all, I thank my partner, Ryan, for inscribing all of my musical examples, for his encouragement to follow my dreams through all of the ups and downs, for sharing my excitement, and for giving me courage. v Ravel in a New Key: Harmony in the Chamber Works, 1914-1927 Jennifer Putt Beavers, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2010 Supervisor: Marianne Wheeldon This dissertation analyzes the first movements of three chamber works — the Piano Trio (1914), the Duo for Violin and Cello (1920-22), and the Sonata for Violin and Piano (1923-27) — and situates their harmonic procedures in relation to important developments within Parisian musical culture. Chapter 1 explores Ravel’s early harmonic style, in particular, how he blends nontonal harmonic procedures and tonality within the framework of the sonata as seen in the first movements of his String Quartet and Sonatine. Chapter 2 analyzes the Piano Trio, which culminates the early phase of Ravel’s career with a sophisticated amalgamation of pre-war musical trends, such as extended harmonies and formal inventiveness, with an early wartime emphasis on reduced textures and melodic primacy. In the post-war years, Ravel was forced to adjust to a new role, in which he was no longer at the forefront of musical developments, but rather the follower of a group of vi young, avant-garde composers. His two post-war compositions, the Duo for Violin and Cello and the Violin Sonata, articulate the struggles he faced with composition in the 1920s. Criticized for having an out-moded aesthetic, he modified his compositional style by incorporating and adapting new harmonic techniques. Drawing on Peter Kaminsky’s theory of monotonality and dual pitch organization, chapter 3 examines Ravel’s harmonic language in the Duo through linear analysis. Ravel’s attempt to incorporate contemporary harmonic procedures however was not sufficient to compete with the more progressive works of Les Six or Stravinsky’s burgeoning neoclassicism. As a result, Ravel re-evaluated his craft by rethinking his engagements with the musical avant-garde. The analysis of the Violin Sonata in chapter 4 reveals that harmonically, deeper levels of dissonance require pitch prioritization intimately bound to formal function. Unlike the Duo, Ravel presents a more innovative formal design in the Violin Sonata, where boundaries are blurred and formal functions are juxtaposed. Chapter 5 concludes with a comparative analysis of the first movements of Ravel’s Piano Trio, Duo and Violin Sonata and their evolving harmonic practices. vii Table of Contents List of Figures .................................................................................................................... x List of Tables ................................................................................................................... xii List of Musical Examples ............................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1 Ravel’s Early Harmonic Language in the String Quartet and Sonatine Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 Ravel’s Early Years: Under Debussy’s Shadow .................................................... 3 Harmony in Ravel’s Early Chamber Works .......................................................... 5 String Quartet in F Major ....................................................................................... 7 Sonatine................................................................................................................ 14 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 20 Chapter 2 Tonality and Whole-Tonality in the Piano Trio .............................................. 21 Whole-Step Motion in the Exposition ................................................................. 22 Whole-Step Ambiguity in the Recapitulation ...................................................... 31 Formal Ambiguity in the Piano Trio .................................................................... 36 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 3 A New Direction: Harmony in Ravel’s Duo The War Years and Le Tombeau de Couperin (1917) ......................................... 44 Post-War Paris and the “Anti-Ravel Movement” ................................................ 48 Ravel’s New Approach in the Duo ..................................................................... 55 Monotonality in the Exposition .......................................................................... 58 Monotonality in the Development ...................................................................... 63 Dual Pitch Organization in the Recapitulation of the Second Theme ................. 69 Formal Manipulation in the Second Theme Areas ............................................. 76 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 81 Chapter 4 “Incompatibility” in the Violin Sonata L’espirit nouveau and the 1920s .......................................................................... 82 “Incompatibility” in the Violin Sonata ................................................................ 85 Harmonic “Incompatibility” in the Principal Theme ........................................... 89 Harmonic “Incompatibility” in the Development ................................................ 97 Enhanced Monotonality in the Development ...................................................... 98 Enhanced Monotonality in the Recapitulation ................................................... 101 “Incompatibility” in the Formal Design ............................................................ 109 viii Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 116 Chapter