The 12-tone Music of
Luigi Dallapiccola
[Derived from Brian Elegant's NEH grant
project proposal, see sources below.]
Music theorists agree that the advent of
12-tone composition is one of the most important musical developments in
the 20th century. According to Schott Musik International, "Dallapiccola
was the leading Italian twentieth-century composer between Puccini and
Berio, and one of the most original receivers and refiners of the
twelve-note method."
"Most
musicologists who examine 12-tone music view the rows of notes as
one-dimensional entities", says Brian Alegant. "But this methodology has
been "only partially successful in determining the procedures and
structural relationships in Dallapiccola's music."
Twelve-tone music
Music constructed according to
the principle, enunciated by Hauer and Schönberg independently in
the early 1920s, of 12-note composition. According to the
Schönbergian principle, the 12 notes of the equal-tempered scale are
arranged in a particular order, forming a series or row that serves
as the basis of the composition. In Schönberg's 'Method of Composing
with Twelve Notes Which are Related Only to One Another', the
note-row may be used in its original form, or inverted, or
retrograde, or retrograde inverted; in each of these forms it may be
transposed to any pitch (each note-row may thus have 48 possible
forms). All the music of the composition is constructed from this
basic material; any note may be repeated, but the order must be
maintained. Octave transpositions are permitted. Notes may occur in
any voice and may be used chordally as well as melodically.
Later developments of 12-note theory introduced
the idea of using six-, four- or three-note segments of a row as compositional
elements. As originally designed by Schönberg, the method was intended to
preclude tonality, though later composers, notably Berg, found ways of using the
technique in a tonal context - as indeed did Schönberg himself.
Alegant proposes "... an alternative
approach that features a new theory of two-dimensional configurations.
The theory provides a framework with which to model the melodic and
harmonic dimensions of his music, and offers important insights into a
previously impenetrable repertoire."
Theorists also agree that Luigi
Dallapiccola (1904-75) is one of the most accomplished 12-tone
composers. His output comprises a variety of frequently performed and
highly respected works, including ballets, choral music, concerti, film
scores, piano music, song cycles, operas, and chamber pieces. In
addition, he enjoyed international fame as a lecturer, teacher, author,
and member of the national academies of arts in the U.S., France, and
England.
And yet, little
has been written about Dallapiccola's music in general, and virtually
nothing has been said about his use of harmony. The literature consists
of a handful of studies that focus primarily on his rhythmic or melodic
organization and one close reading of one movement from an early work.
Perhaps the best explanation for this neglect is Dallapiccola's
idiosyncratic handling of the 12-tone system: he uses tone rows in ways
that, until now, have proven analytically resistant.
Like traditional 12-tone composers,
Dallapiccola often uses rows in a linear fashion, presenting them as
one-dimensional strings.
Tone Rows
In general terms, a 12-tone row is a string
of notes that can be shaped, molded, and arranged into motives or
themes. Rows can be can be presented singly or in combination; they can
be transformed, concatenated, inverted (turned upside down), or
reversed; they can be juxtaposed, superimposed, and intertwined. The
12-tone system is remarkably fertile: it can be used to create an
infinite variety of textures, densities, and patterns. Theorists have
developed quite sophisticated tools and techniques to describe the
associations among and between rows.
Existing analyses of Dallapiccola's
music concentrate exclusively on the derivation of rows used in a given work and
the correspondences and relationships between their melodic components. In
effect, these analyses show how row "threads" form the fabric of a composition.
But Dallapiccola is equally fond of projecting rows as two-dimensional
configurations; I call these "cross-partitions." The use of cross-partitions in
his music has not been addressed, largely because theorists have not yet
developed adequate tools for the analysis of such structures. [Sample from
Il Prigioniero]
Cross Partitions
Elegant says, "In two recent conference
presentations, I have advanced a theory of cross-partitions and used
this theory to analyze the underlying organization in movements from two
of Dallapiccola's works. An example of a cross-partition is displayed
below. To the right, the notes of the chromatic scale are represented by
integers 0 to 11, where C = 0, C# = 1, D = 2, ...
C |
Eb |
F# |
A |
|
0 |
3 |
6
|
9
|
C# |
E |
G |
Bb |
1 |
4
|
7
|
10
|
D |
F |
Ab |
B |
2
|
5
|
8
|
11
|
This rectangular design projects three-note
collections vertically and four-note collections horizontally. No note
is duplicated, and all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are accounted
for. My analyses reveal that Dallapiccola treats this cross-partition as
if it were a slot machine: he reorders the vertical notes while keeping
them in their columns. Slot-machine transformations fix the vertical
dimension (the harmony), but change the horizontal lines (the melodies).
The analyses also show how cross-partitions afford a high degree of
harmonic consistency as well as a fertile ground for melodic invention."
Alegant says that Dallapiccola often
links cross-partitions to structure entire sections or movements. In
several works, the cross-partitions are gradually "horizontalized": the
two-dimensional configurations are seemingly flattened into linear rows.
In others works, however, no row ever appears as a string: all of the
material derives exclusively from the progression of cross-partitions."
His theory of cross-partitions "builds upon and extends in two ways the
current research on Dallapiccola: it offers a framework for the
investigation of the motives and harmonies that arise in these
configurations, and it provides tools and instruments to model the ways
in which these dimensions intersect. I believe that it will prove
invaluable to the study of Dallapiccola's music."
Sources:
-
Description of 12-tone music - The Grove Concise
Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie. © Macmillan
Press Ltd., London.
-
Oberlin College - Brian Alegant's NEH Grant to
Research the 12-tone Music of Luigi Dallapiccola -
http://www.oberlin.edu/news-info/99jan/alegant_neh.html
|