Perspectives of New Music

Aaron Copland's Nonet: Two Views
Author(s): Eric Salzman and Paul Des Marais

Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Autumn, 1962), pp. 172-179
Published by: Perspectives of New Music
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AARON COPLAND'S NONET: TWO VIEWS
I. ERIC SALZMAN
UN DOUBTEDL
Y,
there are
composers
of distinction somewhere who
are still
writing
in a
good,
sound neo-tonal idiom. One of the most
striking developments
in recent musical
history,
however,
has been
the fact that those who had
formerly
been the
leading practitioners
of
this
type
of
composition
have taken their business elsewhere.
Questions
of
style
and fashion
apart,
there seems to be at least one
good
reason for the
widespread
abandonment of a
vocabulary
that
had,
after
all,
a
good
deal in its favor:
Harmony,
within the neo-tonal
system,
was
becoming
less and less functional. Now it is difficult to
make
convincing large-scale pieces using
a nonfunctional tonal
idiom;
but the neo-tonal
composers,
often
following
the
example
of the
Classical
composers,
were
particularly
interested in
symphonic
scope. Historically,
the
predilection
for
large
formal structures was
precisely
coincidental with the
growth
of functional
tonality
and its
potential
for
incorporating significant small-range
motion and detail
into a
system
of vital
long-range relationships,
and for
making
struc-
tural tensions and resolutions result from harmonic
delay. Similarly,
the tonal
system provided
extensive
possibilities
for tonal contrast and
reinforcement,
rhythmic
and
contrapuntal
extension,
and intercon-
nection of linear and vertical events. In the Classical
symphony large
areas of tension
may
be articulated
through
the elaboration of a
suspended
or
secondary harmony
that
delays
resolution while ulti-
mately reinforcing
it. In the
nonfunctional,
neoclassical
idiom,
how-
ever,
such an elaboration is
likely
to
suggest merely
the establishment
of the
"secondary" harmony
as a new tonic
area,
so that the Classical
formal tensions are lost.
Sch~inberg,
of
course,
found a new
way
to articulate
long-range
formal
structures,
and it is this
aspect
of the twelve-tone
idea, though
often
misunderstood,
that has
proved
to have the most
extraordinary
and
far-reaching consequences. Certainly,
successful non-dodeca-
phonic
solutions have been found in this
century.
Even
so,
some of
these--Stravinsky's
Symphony of
Psalms comes to mind-often are
surprisingly
close to serialism.
Techniques
centering
around
repeti-
tion,
extended
through juxtaposition
and
rhythmic
variation,
are far
less
adaptable
than
dodecaphonism
to the
generation
of forms of
substantial size.
Such
considerations,
it seems to
me,
may
at least
partly explain
the interest that a
composer
like Aaron
Copland
has had in twelve-
*
172
?
COLLOQUY
AND REVIEW
tone
technique during
recent
years.
In the Nonet for
strings, however,
Copland
returns to his earlier
preoccupation
with the
problem
of
constructing
a
"big" piece
out of diatonic
materials,
and he makes a
clear and
courageous attempt
to deal with this
problem.
The familiar
principle
of extension
through rhythmic displacement,
employed
so
successfully by Copland
in his
Sextet,
plays
a
relatively
minor role in the Nonet. As in the earlier
work, repetition
is still
very
important
here,
but now it becomes the means for
establishing
an
underlying
harmonic direction.
Through
the insistent use of certain
fundamental harmonic
progressions,
not
only specific
simultaneities
are
generated,
but also
textures, lines,
phrases,
and,
ultimately,
the
entire
shape
and motion of the work. The
dominating pattern
is
circular both in detail and in the
large;
in the small it
appears
as
follows:
Slow and solemn
(
= c.
56)
1
2
Y' 3
2
3 4
1
5
Z
Y 6 W 7 W Vla I
Vc 2
p, legato
molto
poco
vibrato
(somewhat deadened)
Ex. 1
Notice,
in this
opening
statement
(played by
the three
cellos),
that the triad is a
point
of
departure,
a
"dissonance,"
as it
were,
that
moves to the characteristic sounds of Y and Y'.
(Y
and Y'
are,
of
course,
inversionally
related-the octave
displacement
of the F
pro-
ducing
a ninth in
place
of a
second,
and a fourth in
place
of its
comple-
ment,
the
fifth.)
Y" is
simply
Y
transposed up
a half
step.
W is
obviously
a new
arrangement
of the intervals of the familiar chord.
(The
major
second is inside rather than outside of the
fifth.)
It is a
secondary
harmonic
goal
that also
undergoes half-step transposition,
corresponding,
like the
transpositions
of
Y,
to the
significant
melodic
motion
F?-G (also
Ab-G, Bb-A, etc.).
These elements are
undoubtedly
informed
by
the
principles
of
serialism, although they
are,
of
course,
at the same
time,
the result
of fundamental methods of association that
might
occur in
any
thoughtful
musical
style.
In the
light
of
Copland's past
use of twelve-
tone ideas
(see
especially
the Piano
Fantasy),
it is
interesting
to note
the effect at m. 6 of three
pitches
not heard
earlier, and,
at the
"cadence" at mm. 7 and
8,
the
appearance
of the final
remaining
pitch
D.
After this
point,
the violas enter with material of a
linear,
imitative
nature that is
basically
a melodic elaboration of the earlier chords.
a
173
-
PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC
Tonally,
this section is
virtually
an
expansion
of m.
6,
but F now
plays
a
prominent
role within the
pitch
content of
Ab major,
modified
by
the tones
D?
and
Gb.
(
= c.
56). gradualmente pia espr.
(Mp) (Poco vibrato) p
mp espr.
gradualmente piA espr.
legato
motto
16
1 18
1 920
Vn 2
f
ifintenso
mfy ZC
ineo
intenso.
mf
Via 2I
intenso
Ve 2
Ex. 2
The first tutti
begins
after No. 2 where violins enter with a
passage
derived from the
opening
measure
(the
characteristic whole
step,
half
step,
and minor
third).
The cellos
adopt
the
opening
chords as
a kind of
ostinato,
while a second harmonic
layer
fills out the texture
with chordal elements from mm. 7-15. At No. 4 there is a new
section in which the
sequential half-step transposition corresponds
on a
large
scale to the
single-chord transpositions
noted above. A
new tonal area is
suggested-a "modulatory"
motion,
fully
clarified
at the next
large
articulation
(No. 10).
The sonorities at No.
2,
an
amalgam
of the first and last chords of Ex.
1,
have been transformed
to
produce
now a distinctive "A
major-minor":
In moderate
tempo (J
=
100)
mp
smooth
andflowing
Va I hold back slightly
m
Psmooth and flowing
P
.
Ex. 3
*
174
?
COLLOQUY
AND REVIEW
The increased motion
through
the infiltration of
sixteenth-notes,
which take over at No.
19,
dominates the entire central section of
the
piece. Despite
a return to A
major,
this section of maximum
speed
and the clearest and most diatonic
counterpoint,
is
clearly
in
Eb.
From
the
high point
at No.
26, "fff,
con tutta
forza ruvido,"
the main struc-
tural lines
by
means of which we reached this summit
change
their
direction,
leading, inevitably,
back down
again along
the
ground
already
covered. As the
tempo
slackens,
chordal elements and
longer
note values become more
evident,
and familiar material returns in
reverse order.
(The
recapitulation
at No. 45 refers back to mm.
17-25,
that at No.
46,
to Nos.
7-9.)
Instead of
returning
to the
expected
"A
major-minor,"
the
original
elements of m. 17 are
reached,
pro-
viding
an
ending
with chords that are thus
closely
related to those at
the
opening, except that, through compression
and
assimilation,
a
quiet
cadential movement is established.
The
simplicity
of this
scheme,
and of its over-all
effect,
masks a
quite
elaborate
compositional machinery
which combines some re-
markable
procedures:
diatonic ideas
juxtaposed
in
layers
(in
a manner
reminiscent of so-called
"polytonality"),
associative
techniques
derived
from
serialism,
a tonal scheme of various
degrees
of motion towards
and
away
from
unambiguous
diatonic
statement,
and a rather
complex
and
systematic way
of
deriving
lines from the
harmony.
It takes
extraordinary
effort of will to achieve motion and extension with
material that is as static as the
opening sequence
of chords. Yet
Copland manages
to extract linear movement from his harmonies with
a scheme of
doublings
and
exchange
of
parts.
Octave and unison
doubling,
at first restricted to isolated
notes,
gradually
extends itself
to two or three successive
notes,
giving momentary
linear
emphasis
within a thick texture. As the work
progresses,
the
doubling
becomes
somewhat more
evident, until,
for brief moments at the
center,
each
section of three
strings
comes
together
on a
single
line in unison
or octaves.
The
difficulty
here is the
heavy
texture that results-so different
from the
transparency
that is
usually
associated with
Copland.
In
place
of the familiar fine
Copland
sonorities there is a kind of "total
diatonicism,"
with chordal units of six different
pitch
elements as
almost a norm. Chord successions from one section to the next are
apt
to be
quite
similar in
content,
which tends to minimize the sense of
motion
implied by rhythm
and
phrase. Closely
related to this
aspect
of the work is the
problem
of
clarity
and differentiation of voices in
an instrumental ensemble
weighted
with middle and low sounds.
S175
For all the
problems,
however,
the elements do combine to make
a
piece
of considerable
ingenuity
and
expressiveness.
The
motion,
in
its broadest
outlines,
is clear and effective. The firm structure of the
work is
capable
of
encompassing
its
striking diversity
of ideas. In
this
sense,
all the fundamental elements seem
beautifully
under con-
trol. In
Copland's
Nonet,
an
extremely
difficult
task,
while
perhaps
not
quite
fulfilled in
every
conceivable
dimension,
has been carried
out with
extraordinary
care and
artistry.
II. PAUL DES MARAIS
Aaron
Copland's
Nonet for solo
strings,
for three
violins,
three
violas,
and three
cellos,
moves
freely
in the serial
world;
its involve-
ments in this
respect
are both subtle and
intriguing.
But
any attempt
to describe the work
purely
from the
standpoint
of serial
technique
would result in a distorted
picture,
for it is serial
only periodically
and
strongly
traditional
throughout;
has a
clearly
articulated
tonality
with well-defined
key
areas,
and its textures cannot be described
without reference to traditional
concepts
of
melody
and
harmony.
Of
greater importance
than
serialism,
in the
Nonet,
is the somber
march of chords that dominates the first and last sections. For the
fundamental
figures
of the Nonet's
speech
are chords rather than
single
intervals or notes. And the
recurrence,
transposition,
variation,
and combination of these chords
generate
the Nonet's total
design.
The
opening
measures are a statement of the
particular
chords
Slow and solemn
(
J = circa
56)
poco
vibrato
(somewhat
deadened)
p legato
molto
p legato
molto
p legato
molto
?
-a -* * 0
0 0-0 * V*
A B C A B' C
Ex. 1
.
176
*
COLLOQUY
AND REVIEW
that attain
increasing importance
in the course of the work. Their
scoring
is a
special
feature of their
presentation,
a kind of "invertible
pointillism,"
or
Stimmtausch,
that
pervades
the fabric here as well
as in the
closing
section.
If these
opening
measures as a whole are
important,
the first two
are
particularly
so;
no
hearing
of the work could fail to reveal their
domination. The sonorities
presented
are not in the least
new,
and
the melodic motive formed
by
the
highest
notes has served often as a
genesis
for musical
composition
(see
the "Alleluia" from
Stravinsky's
Symphony of Psalms,
for
example).
This musical
figure,
for all its
familiarity,
achieves a
special meaning
in the Nonet.
In its broad
architecture,
the Nonet is
quite
clear: the slow chordal
area moves into a rather
spirited
middle
section,
followed
by
the
conclusion,
a restatement of the initial sonorities and
tempo.
The
middle section is neoclassical in
gesture
and
reference,
of a
lucidity
diametrically
different from the
surrounding
sections;
although
the
latter
are,
for this reviewer at
least,
far more
interesting.
In
continuity,
the work is an almost unbroken ribbon of sound.
The few silences function as caesurae that do not
actually interrupt
the basic motion or take
precedence
over sounds in the manner of
the latest chic. The
opening
succession of chords in the cellos con-
tinues in the manner of an ostinato under the
new,
related ideas
presented by
the
upper strings,
where it takes
only
an
apparently
subordinate
role,
actually dominating
and
determining
the structure
it
supports.
The
stripping
of the
scaffolding
at the
end,
the return
of the chords to the
foreground,
is
accompanied by
a new tonal
ambiguity
arrived at
through
the addition of new notes not
present
in the
beginning.
Ex.
I
Ex. 2
Thus even that which is most
memorable about the Nonet is not
literally
"new." The
principal
sonorities are those of
major sixths,
used
horizontally
and
vertically,
combined in
pairs
so that a dissonant
tension occurs at the outer
edges
of
simultaneities,
and woven in still
more
complex arrangements.
The sounds will all be
recognizable
from
Copland's
earlier
music,
especially
in the
frequent
involvement
in
major-minor
conflict and
invariably strong
tonal
implication.
0
177
?
a)
b)
Lento
(
=
66)
molto
espressivo
e liberamente
PP
c)
Molto meno mosso
(
=
104)
Exx.
3a, b, c:
Piano Variations
d)
f
marc
e)
poco accel poco 7it. -
-
a tempo
x.
d,
e: Piano Sonata
Exx.
3d,
e:
Piano Sonata
*
178
?
COLLOQUY
AND REVIEW
D
Meno mosso
(=104)
Sf
Meno mosso
(
=
104)
0
rit.
- -
--
(morendo)
pp
, morendo
ppI
rit.
- - -
meno gf
-
----
P
Q
ppE
Exx. 3f, g: Piano Quartet
The Nonet's
exploration
of serial
possibilities
is flexible and indi-
vidual. But the serial
play
and the
strongly
local bitonal
implications
are
subsidiary
to an over-all diatonicism. The work is rich and
crowded,
sonorously
resonant,
and
extremely moving.
That
is,
after
all,
what
really
counts.
179
-

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Aaron Copland's Nonet: Two Views

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