Twelve-Tone Technique and Modality in Nikos Skalkottas's Music

IMS-RASMB, Series Musicologica Balcanica 1.1, 2020. e-ISSN: 2654-248X Twelve-tone Technique and Modality in Nikos Skalkottas’s Music by George Zervos DOI: https://doi.org/10.26262/smb.v1i1.7754 ©2020 The Author. This is an open access article under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCom- mercial NoDerivatives International 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the articles is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. Zervos, Twelve-Tone Technique and Modality… Twelve-Tone Technique and Modality in Nikos Skalkottas’s Music George Zervos Abstract In Nikos Skalkottas’s compositional output, the use of modality through the folk tradition, is not limited to some of the tonal works, such as the 36 Greek Dances, but it also extends to the strictly or freely twelve-tone works; indeed, this is the case throughout the composer’s creative life. Given the changing character of the ways in which this folk tradition is incorporated into a twelve-tone and, in general, an atonal environ- ment, we chose two works from different periods, in order to show the modes in which the composer manages to connect the various aspects of the twelve-tone with modality: these are the first movement of Sonatina No.2 for violin and piano (1929), and the first movement of Petite Suite No.1 for solo violin and piano (1946). More specifically, in the first case, we will show the ways in which the prime row is transformed into a diatonic- chromatic-like modality, and in the second case we will discuss the function of the combination of two complementary hexachords through which two sets are produced. The first set is characterized by a kind of ‘tonal direction’ and is based on melodic models of a chromatic kind, and the second is based on mainly harmonic complexes and melodic figures of atonal character. Keywords: twelve-tone technique, modality, “tonalization”, “tonal” direction. Written in 1929, Sonatina No.2 for violin and piano must have been, if not the first, given that several of the works from this period have been lost, then surely one of the first works in which Skalkottas combines so clearly the twelve-tone technique with ele- ments, mainly of melodic character, that allude to folk music. This combination, which in this particular case is also one of the first steps towards the ‘tonalization’ of the rows, a practice that becomes more obvious in his twelve-tone works written after 1945, is not achieved through the use of two different themes; rather, following his usual practice, Skalkottas uses themes which only seem different, while in fact the second theme derives from the first through the right transformations. 133 Zervos, Twelve-Tone Technique and Modality… The prime form of the twelve-tone row that represents the first theme (bars 1-17) consists of two similar hexachords, the second of which is a transposition of the first by an augmented fourth: (T0) E, F sharp, A, A flat, G, F natural; (T6) B flat, C, E flat, D, C sharp, B natural (example 1). Example 1 It is worth noting that this tritone relation is also extended to the harmonic background of the theme, creating a melodic-harmonic pattern, as it becomes evident in the com- parison between bars 1-8 and 9-17,1 while a second internal pattern is achieved through the minor third and the perfect fourth intervals, which result from the movement of the ground notes of the harmonies on the piano between bars 1-4 and 5-8 (E flat → G flat, B → E) and between 9-12 and 13-17 (A → C, F → B flat) (example 2). Example 2 1 Eva Matzourani, The Life and Twelve-Note Music of Nikos Skalkottas (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), 156. 134 Zervos, Twelve-Tone Technique and Modality… The thematic core of the second theme consists of 2 plus 2 bars (bars 28-31), in which the pitch material of the first two bars coincides with that of the first hexachord of the first theme at Τ5 (Α, Β, D, C#, C, Bb), but in different order (D, C#, Bb, A, B, C), and E flat, which belongs to the second hexachord (Τ5 = Εb, F, G#, G, F#, E), completes the melody of bars 28-29, so that a folk-like melody is formed (example 3). Example 3 The next two bars consist of the notes D, C#, Bb, A, which were already present in bar 28, plus G, F# and E, which belong to the reordering of the second hexachord: Eb, G, F#, E, F, Ab. E marks the end of the melody of the theme, but it is not the “key” of the theme. The real “tonal centre” of the theme is the note G, and this becomes apparent gradually: although the beginning of the theme, D in b.28, is the result of the descend- ing succession of the notes G b, F, E, D#, E, D of the violin (b.22-27), which allude to the key of G (and this is confirmed by the note G of the left hand in bar 28), the harmonic accompaniment at this point, and especially the chord Eb-Gb-A-B (ascending) in bar 27, alludes to the dominant of E, which is, as we already mentioned, the final note of the theme. The “key” of G is further emphasized in bar 30 by the melodic figure of the left hand: C, Bb, A, D in bar 29 which “resolves” in the G of the left hand in the following bar, in a clearly tonal way. 135 Zervos, Twelve-Tone Technique and Modality… The theme essentially ends in bar 31, and the pitches F and Ab, with the addition of which all 12 notes are present, could be also omitted, since they do not contribute di- rectly to the construction of the theme, unless we supposed that after the diatonic ending of bar 31 (A, G, F#, E), a chromatic ending followed (Ab, F, E), which is not, how- ever, the case. At this point, we must refer to the construction of the first and second themes, as well as to their differences. While the first theme consists of 6+6 different pitches, the second theme is a sentence (a-b-a-b΄) using common pitches, in which chromatic and diatonic geni alternate, allude to Greek folk music: D, C#, Bb, A=chromatic (bars 28 and 30), A, B , C, D, Eb=diatonic (bar 29), D, C#, Bb, A=chromatic, and A, G, F#, E=diatonic. If we add the remaining two pitches F and Ab, it can be observed that, together with the pitches E, F and G of bars 32-33, they create a chromatic genus, thus completing the cycle of chromatic and diatonic successions and eventually connecting the twelve-tone technique to modality. As we noted above, Skalkottas does not use these pitches as the theme ending, but as a transition-transposition (in bars 32-33) of the theme by an ascending fifth (bars 34-37), that is, in T7, and an ending in B (bar 37), which brings the whole second thematic group to a conclusion, followed by a second repetition of bars 28-31 in T0 (bars 42-45). In this way, a thematic and tonal ternary structure of the type of tonic–dominant relationship is created (I →V→I): a=Τ0 (bars 28-31) – transition (bars 32-33) – b= Τ7 (bars 34-37) – transition (bars 38-41) – a΄=Τ0 (bars 42-45). (example 4) Dur- ing the recapitulation, this relation turns into Τ7(Α)→ Τ2(Ε)→ Τ0(D), which could also be symbolised as: V→(V)V→I. Example 4 136 Zervos, Twelve-Tone Technique and Modality… As we have already noted, the “tonalizations” of this type are not so strong, since they are dependent on the function and the emphasis the composer wishes to give at a cer- tain point. For example, in order to stress the transition of the second theme to the dominant in bars 34-37, that is, in order to make the initial A of the violin more pro- nounced, a stronger “tonalization” process is present in the lower voice of the transition (bars 32-33), where a strong tonal cadence on the left hand of the piano in these bars leads to the note D, root of the chord D-A (bar 34). From the above, we can conclude that in this movement of the Sonatina, and as regards the articulation of the two themes, there are two different kinds of ‘logic’ that inter- weave: the twelve-tone logic of the first theme, in which the two similar hexachords are in a tritone relationship: Τ0 (Ε), Τ6 (Βb), and the ‘tonal–modal’ logic of the second theme, which is characterized by the ‘tonal’ progression D(T0)→A(T7)→D(T0) and A(T7)→E(T2)→D(T0) of the sections of the exposition and the recapitulation respec- tively. At this point, it is impossible to avoid a reasonable question which concerns the relationship between the two themes, and therefore the mode of construction of the prime row, since the second theme is produced from the first: did the ‘tonalized’ second theme arise in an ‘accidental’ manner, through the reordering of the pitches of the prime row, that is, after the prime row of the first theme had been chosen, or were the pitches that comprise the prime row of the first theme chosen in such a way so that their reordering creates the second theme? The answer does not come easy; if, how- ever, we take into consideration Skalkottas’s compositional skills, we lean towards the second interpretation, given that the Greek composer must have designed everything from the beginning, leaving nothing to chance, which explains the speed at which he completed his works.

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