Formal and thematic relationships in the first String quartet of Elliot Carter Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Kuchenmeister, Mary Jeanne, 1933- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 24/09/2021 12:11:31 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/551964 FORMAL AND THEMATIC RELATIONSHIPS IN THE FIRST STRING QUARTET OF ELLIOTT CARTER by Mary Jeanne Kuchenmeister A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF MUSIC In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1967 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be m a d e available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or re­ production of this manuscript in whole or in part m a y be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College wh e n in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained fr o m the author. SIGNED: ^ APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to express her sincere gratitude to Dr. James Anthony for his valuable assistance in planning and organi­ zing this thesis. His advice, encouragement, and the generous offering of his time have contributed immeasurably to its successful completion. She would also like to thank Dr. Wendal Jones for his valuable c o m m e n t s on the score, and the m e m b e r s of the committee for their helpful sug­ gestions and emendations. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Pa g e LIST OF TABLES ...................... vi Chapter I INTRODUCTION ................. 1 Purpose of the Study .............. 1 Background Information .. ...... z. 2 General Sources . ....... 2 The First String Quartet ........... 2 Limitations of the Study ......... 4 Biographical Summary . ........... 6 Stylistic S u m m a r y „ 10 II GENERAL ASPECTS OF FORM AND THEMATIC STRUCTURE 13 Fo rm............ .... ... 13 Thematic Material ............... 24 III FIRST MOVEMENT ............... 27 If O rm o o o e o o o 0 . 0 o < o o 6 o » o o o o o 27 Thematic Material „ ... „.o „ 27 Treatment of Themes ............. 31 First Theme . ............ 31 Second Theme ............... 35 Third Theme ................ 37 Fourth Theme „ 43 Fifth T h e m e ................ 50 Sixth T h e m e . .... 56 IV SECOND AND THIRD MOVEMENTS A . , . 6l Transition fr o m the First to the Second Movements: . ... „ . „ ... 61 Second Movement ............... .63 !F o r m ... o ...... .. ........ 63 iv V TABLE OF CONTENTS--Continued Chapter Page Thematic Material . ......................... 65 Third Mo v e m e n t 72 Thematic Material ................. ... ' . 72 F o r m .................... 74 V FOURTH MOVEMENT ... 80 ; , •/ F o r m ............................................ 80 Thematic Material . 81 Passacaglia ....................... 82 Prominent Motives ............................ 90 Second Theme ............... 197 VI SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS . ... 104 Summary of Formal Elements ........... ....... 104 Summary of Thematic Elements ........ 105 LIST OF REFERENCES ....................................... 109 LIST OF TABLES Table P age 1 Published Chamber Music .................... .. 12 2 Tempo and Respective Note Lengths of Each of the Complete Statements of the Fourth T h e m e ( First Mo v e m e n t ) . 45 3 Third Movement Textural Types and their Related Speeds . * . o . 79 4 Relative Speeds of Second Theme Statements (Fourth Movement) ......... ........... .. 100 vi ABSTRACT Elliott Carter is a twentieth century Ame r i c a n composer who has written mo s t of his works for choral groups, solo voice, or small instrumental ensemble0 His first String Quartet is considered one of the mo s t significant mo d e r n works in this genre. The texture is p r e ­ dominantly contrapuntal, and emphasizes the independence of line and the coordination of unrelated tempos. The work is neoclassic in its emphasis on formal structure and its use of classic models. It is divided into four movements, which are connected without pause, but are clearly defined by contrasting textures. The melodic materials of the first three mo v e m e n t s are treated independently, but show a like­ ness of intervallic and rhythmic structure. There, is a relation between fourth and first mo v e m e n t materials. The technique consists primarily of the melodic expansion and variation of motivic-like themes. The treatment varies in each movement, providing the basis for textural contrast. Non-dodecaphonic serialism is employed as a variation technique, but serves only a minor function to the development of the whole. vii C H A P T E R I INTRODUCTION Purpose of the Study Since the advent of ch amber music, no other group of like instruments has attained the popularity of the string quartet. Its wide rah.ge of sonority and expressive power, coupled with its potentiality for a nearly perfect blend, has undoubtedly contributed to its appeal as a me d i u m of composition. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze in depth a significant string quartet of a contemporary American composer. Although many prominent Am e r i c a n composers have written string quartets, the two by Elliott Carter are believed by s o m e to be the mo s t important works in this m e d i u m since the six quartets of Bela Bartok. A decision in favor of the first quartet was m a d e purely on the basis of the initial appeal of the quartet, and the immediate availability of the score and recording. *See e. g. Joseph Machlis, Introduction to Contemporary Music (New York: W. W. Norton Inc. , 1961), p. ,592. Richard Franko Goldman, H The Music of Elliott Carter, M The Musical QuarterlyXLIII, (April 1957 ), 162. William Flanagan, H Elliott Carter, M International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, 9th ed. , edited by Robert Sabin Dodd ( N e w York: M e a d and Co., 1964%, p. 345. 1 2 Background Information General Sources Little information regarding the music of Elliott Carter is available in secondary sources. The most comprehensive sources dealing with his style and compositions are found in two periodical 2 references. Brief analyses of some of his works also appear in peri- 3 odicals; however, no analysis of the first quartet’ is available. Brief but informative articles can be found in textbooks, encyclopedias, and dictionaries, ^ and there are numerous reviews of performances and recordings. The First String Quartet The first quartet was written in 1951 while Carter was in Tucson, Arizona on a Guggenheim fellowship. It was first performed by the ^ A b r a h a m Skulsky, "Elliott Carter, " A m e r i c a n Co m p o s e r s Alliance, Bulletin III, ( Su m m e r 1953 ), 2-11. Goldman, The Musical Quarterly XLIII, 151-170. __ ?£>ee e, g.., .Richard Franko Goldman, "Current Chronicle, " The Musical Quarterly XLVI, ( July I960 ),..Michael Steinberg, "Elliott Carter's Second String Quartet, " Score XXII, (July I960 ), 22-26. .. ....4See e...g.,, Nicholas S l o n rmsky. "C h amber Music in America, " Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of C h a m b e r M u s i c , 2d ed. , edited by Walter Willson Cobbett and Colin Mason (.New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1963), III, pp. 178-180. Baker's Biographical Dictionary, 2d ed., edited by Nicholas Slonimsky (New York: G. Schirmer, Inc., 1958), p. 257. 3 Walden Quartet of the University of Illinois at Columbia University on February 26, 1953. Its first European performance was in the 1953 International Competition at Liege where it was presented anonymously and awarded first prize. The impressions of ma n y wh o heard it are reflected in the following statement by Richard Franko Goldman. ^ The 1951 String Quartet carries all of Carter1 s technical preoccupations to a logical culmination. This work is almost without doubt the most important and imposing accomplishment of American Music in the last decade; „ * . Written in a chromatic dissonant style, the wo r k is an imposing forty minutes in length. Although a thoroughly mo d e r n and experi­ mental work, it draws strictly upon the classical repertory of bowed and plucked notes. N o use is m a d e of special effects. Highly complex rhythmic structures are achieved by the combining of unrelated melodies moving on different rhythmic planes. In spite of its complexity, the quartet is notated in a wa y which is easily comprehensible to the pe r ­ former. Although each voice frequently mo v e s independently, the result , never fortuitous, is meticulously controlled by a device which Carter has called ^metric modulation. 11 The tempo of each part is carefully indicated. Frequent meter changes, minute subdivisions of the beat, and various aids in reading, m a k e it possible for the Goldman, The Musical Quarterly XLIII, 162. 4 performers to execute the built-in ritards, accelerandos, and rubatos, which vary in each part, with precisiom Limitations of the Study This study is concerned basically with the thematic and formal relationships found in the quartet.