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Diatonicism and Chromaticism in Richard Strauss' Tone

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Diatonicism and Chromaticism in Richard Strauss' Tone DIATONICISM AND CHROMATICISM IN RICHARD STRAUSS' TONE-POEM TILL EULENSPIEGELS LUSTIGE STREICHE by PATRICK^MAC NEIL B.A. (Honours in Music), Dalhousie University, 1976 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN MUSIC THEORY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Department of Music We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA November 1981 @ Patrick Mac Neil, 1981 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of t/rVUuat* The University of British Columbia 2075 Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5 Date Q<tZ&M {j} /(}j>/. DE-6 (2/79) ABSTRACT In the first chapter of this thesis I introduce the diatonic-chromatic continuum. It is an analytical device useful in explaining music which exhibits much diversity. In the case of this tone-poem, it is useful to assimilate the many sections within it, those that are straightforwardly diatonic in a traditional sense, those that are so highly chromatic it is sometimes difficult to determine their main and subsidiary keys, as well as those that lie somewhere between these two extremes. As these three section-types are equally characteristic of the work, the diatonic-chromatic continuum serves as a valuable referential concept. In the second chapter I analyze the above sections noting their main keys, subsidiary keys, and the means by which these keys are established. In the third chapter I return to the concept of the diatonic-chromatic continuum and discuss several sections analyzed in the second chapter. I have collected my musical examples together in the Appendix for easier reference. These examples comprise reductions from the tone-poem, simplifications of these reductions I call sketches, and a major example which is a condensation of the entire work. Finally, my study of Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche concentrates on the purely musical and not on the programmatic. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgement iv Chapter I. Introduction 1 II. Till 11 III. General Remarks and Conclusion 40 Appendix of Musical Examples 52 Bibliography 101 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I thank Dr. William Benjamin for his advice in the preparation of this thesis, and I thank Richard Strauss for leaving the world so much beautiful music, some of which I have studied to my great delight and musical edification. iv CHAPTER I Introduction The term continuum has been defined as a "continuous thing, quantity, or substance; a continuous series of elements passing into each other." The passage of day into night may be represented as a continuum. Beginning in the late afternoon of a cloudless day, I could measure the intensity of light at regular intervals of time until well into the night. I would obtain a series of readings continuously decreasing in intensity. The more frequently I took the readings the closer they would be to each other, so that eventually the difference between two readings would be either too fine to measure or too slight for the human eye to perceive. I would find no point at 2 which day ends and night begins, but, only and always, points at which intensity-readings are preceded or followed by the next highest or lowest readings. This day-night continuum is a "continuous series" of intensity-readings "passing into each other." The passage from the diatonic to the chromatic may be represented as a continuum. By diatonic I mean a work or portion of a' work which uses as its basis the major and minor scales and the chords which may be formed from the pitches of these scales. By chromatic I mean a work or portion of a work which uses as its basis the major and minor scales one or more - 1 - of the pitches of which have been raised or lowered by a 3 half-step. Chromatic then also refers to the chords formed from the pitches of these altered major and minor scales. As decreasing degrees of light-intensity lead one along the continuum from day into night, so increasing degrees of half- step alteration lead one along the continuum from the diatonic to the chromatic. This .latter: continuum I shall simply call the diatonic-chromatic continuum. This continuum can be seen from the perspective of two musical concepts. One of these concepts is tonality. I define tonality rather broadly as the accentuation of a pitch or group of pitches through musical means.^ But for the sake of my analysis of the tone-poem Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, which henceforth I shall refer to as Till, I define tonality more narrowly. Tonality results from the accentuation of a pitch or of a group of pitches forming a major or minor triad; this accentuation involves approaching this single pitch or at least one pitch of this group of pitches by half- step. In a major scale the passage of the leading-tone to the tonic is an instance of tonality. In a perfect cadence the progression of one major triad to another a perfect fourth above or perfect fifth below is an instance of tonality.^ If a musical composition or a section from it exhibits tonality produced by the pitches of the diatonic scales and the chordal progeny formed from these pitches, this "kind" of tonality can be represented on the diatonic-chromatic continuum at the same point at which a diatonic musical composition or section from it would be represented. Similarly, if a composition - 2 - or section from it exhibits tonality produced by the pitches and chordal progeny of the diatonic scales as well as by the pitches and the chordal progeny which are the result of chromatic alteration of this diatonic material, this "kind" of tonality can be represented further along the continuum at a point where a composition or section from it based on these pitches would be represented. The diatonic-chromatic continuum can also be seen from the perspective of modulation. I define modulation as a transposition of the pitch or group of pitches to be accentuated by musical means. A major scale may be transposed up a perfect fifth. This new scale may be considered a reordering of the pitches of the old scale, the ordering from dominant to dominant replacing that from tonic to tonic. There is also a chromatic alteration as the old subdominant is raised a half-step to become the new leading-tone. This new scale may also be transposed up a perfect fifth. In terms of the original scale with which this modulatory process began, two of its pitches have now been raised a half-step, the subd'ominant and the tonic. If this process continues until the tonic of the new scale is a half-step from the tonic of the original, only two pitches of the original scale will remain unaltered. If the process continues from there, there will always be two pitches of the original scale unaltered although not always the same two pitches.^ The original scale can be represented on the continuum at the "diatonic" end and the transpositions of the original scale progressively making alterations to it can be represented at points along the continuum which are - 3 - progressively closer to the chromatic "end". In a composition containing several sections based on these scales, the passage from one section to another may be described as motion to the left or to the right along the continuum. Also, a scale and its transpositions or two successive sections of a composition may be represented on the continuum by points which are not adjacent. This would be done, for example, when a scale is transposed up or down a half-step or when a section based on such a scale is followed by another section based on the transposition. Instead of there being a progressive alteration of pitch material, many alterations are made at once. This may be described as jumping along the continuum from one point to another more remote from it, or as compressing the continuum so that these two distant points are made adjacent.^ I have taken the time to define the diatonic-chromatic continuum because it is useful for describing Till. In Till there are no sections which are purely diatonic, that is, sections which contain musical material formed strictly from the pitches of the diatonic scales. Instead, each section makes use of one or more of the following: chromatic passing tones, chromatic embellishing chords which decorate diatonic ones, and chromatic chords which serve as dominants for the main key of a section and for subsidiary keys within a section. In some cases these subsidiary keys are chromatically related to the main key of a section. There are also sections within Till which are in a key related chromatically to the keys of sections before and after them, and these sections related chromatically to their neighbours may be diatonic of highly - 4 - chromatic themselves. Thus, in Till there is a mixture of sections which are more or less diatonic or more or less chromatic. I blend the two together on a continuum, various points on which represent various sections of the tone-poem. I feel what I have been saying so far will become clearer when I discuss specific sections from Till during the course of this study.
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