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Aspects of pitch and pitch-class organization in Nikolai Roslavets's Trois compositions pour piano

University of British Columbia

Nikolai Andreevich Roslavets (1881-1944) is a unique figure in Russian avant-garde musical developments of this century. His system of tonal organization, .similar to Scriabin's reliance on a central chordal complex . . . was based on chords of six to eight or more tones, used . . . as substitutes for the functional relationships of classical tonality, which he did not reject but rather tried to expand. These "synthetic chords" of specific and invariable interval lie structure could be transposed not only to the seven pitches of the classical diatonic scale, but also to all twelve degrees of the chromatic scale. Through systematic application of such transpositions, Roslavets's compositions revealed elements similar to dodecaphonic serial thinking as early as 1914-15. . . . (Detlef Gojowy, "Half Time for Nikolai Roslavets," in Russian and Soviet Musics Essays for Boris Sctowarz , 212. ) Trois Compositions pour piano (1914) exhibit such characteristics. Gojowy ‘s Neue sov/jetische Musi A der 20er Jahret and George Perle's Serial Composition and Atonality both include limited references to Trois Compositions as well as general commentary about Roslavets's compositional techniques. However, detailed studies of pitch and pitch-class (PC) organization in music by this little-known composer are lacking. Proceeding from the analyses of Gojowy and Perle, the present thesis examines certain aspects of Roslavets's "synthetic chord" system (designated in the thesis as the interval-class complex or ICC system) in Trois Compositions, including: (1) PC contents of harmonies in the pieces--contents based on transposition-levels (T-levels) of ICCs associated with the pieces—and variances thereof, some of which are related to the forms of the pieces; (2) harmonic successions and associated T-levelss (3) rhythmic aspects of these T-levels and their successions, which indicate a basis of hierarchy of T-levelss (4) characteristics of T-level successions as to PC content, and PC invariance and pitch continuity involving adjacent T-levels, particularly T-levels related by interval-class (IC) 3s and (5) patterns of linear and vertical ordering of PCs as to their inclusion in particular T-levels. These are discussed in Chapter Two, following an introduction to Roslavets and his music in Chapter One. In consideration of Roslavets's position as a post-Romantic composer, other compositional techniques and tendencies evident in Trois Compositions are investigated in the thesis. Chapter Three involves an examination of tonality in the three pieces, while Chapter Four involves a study of octatonicism and serial-ism, some characteristics of which are to be found in Trois Compositions.

Text

2010-07-16

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/26563

Music - Theory

University of British Columbia

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