Chapter 23 Answer Key.Indd

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Chapter 23 Answer Key

Applications

Exercises

1. What referential collection is found in Example 23-14? What is the pitch center, and how is this center defined?

Example 23-14 Debussy, “La Cathédrale engloutie,” No. 10 from Preludes, Book 1, mm. 47–53.

Answer: The collection is DIA5#, and the rotation is G# Aeolian. The pitch center, G#, is established at a registral extreme, as a two-octave pedal tone in the bass. In addition, G# is repeated throughout the melody and is ap- proached by leap each time it occurs, which helps it stand out.

2. Determine the pitch center in Example 23-15. List the way(s) in which this center is delineated. Identify the referential collection(s) in this passage, and describe the type of harmonic motion present.

Example 23-15 Debussy, “Canope,” No. 10 from Preludes, Book 2, mm. 1–5.

Answer: The pitch center, D, is established in the following ways: D is repeated as a melodic note a total of five times (more than any other pitch); it is the melodic starting and ending note of the phrase; it serves as the melodic high point (zenith) on beat 2 of m. 3; it reasserts itself at the end of the passage following an apparent shift of pitch center in m. 4 (suggested by the appearance of multiple flats, including D ). b The first three measures are for the most part in D Aeolian, with the B in m. 2 suggesting D Dorian but undone by the subsequent B . Beats n b 2–4 of m. 4 drift briefly to DIA5 (the rotation, or mode, is unclear), but D b Aeolian returns assertively on the downbeat of m. 5. The harmonic motion involves the diatonic planning of major and minor triads from the collections described above (in m. 2, the Bn Dorian inflection makes the triad built on E a minor quality rather than a diminished one). 3. Identify the chord types below, and label each chord as described in this chapter. Label split-third chords by their root and “split” (e.g., “C split”); label quartal and quintal chords as “quartal” or “quintal.”

Brain Teasers

1. How else might one analyze and label the added-note chord in Example 23–5c? Answer: Cadd6 looks and sounds like Amm7 in first inversion. 2. How might the chords in Example 22–8 (bottom staff) be explained in terms of quartal/quintal harmony? Answer: In the repeating three-chord pattern, the first two chords are four- note quintal chords arpeggiated and voiced in a close spacing (the upper P5 of each quintal chord is shifted down an octave). For example, the first chord (pickup to m. 9) could be rearranged in stacked perfect fifths (C#–G#– D#–A#), as could the second chord (F#–C#–G#–D#). The third chord in the pattern is an incomplete version of the first chord: C#–(G#)–D#–A#. Thinking Critically

1. Example 23-16 shows the “Petrushka chord” that figures prominently throughout Stravinsky’s Petrushka. Determine a label for the chord. Does it belong to a particular referential collection?

Example 23-16 The Petrushka chord.

Discussion: C/F#. This polychord contains two major triads with roots a tritone apart. The lower triad (F#) is in first inversion, and the two triads overlap in register in this voicing. This polychord forms 6/8 of OCT0,1. 2. Example 23-17 features an instance of Alexander Scriabin’s “mystic chord.” How do you account for this chord? How is it voiced (particularly in the lower staff)? From what larger referential collection does it derive? (All notes except Fn/E# belong to the chord/collection).

Example 23-17 Scriabin, Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 53, mm. 263–65.

Discussion: This is a quartal chord with mixed-quality fourths. It is 6/7 of the acoustic collection: an A-major scale with 4ˆ and 7ˆ (missing 5ˆ). (The # b acoustic collection is introduced in the Thinking Critically application from Chapter 22.)