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2/37

24 INDIANA

TH ORY

R VI W

for

formal

beauty

and t echn ica l po l i sh and

every other

mani fes ta t ion

o f

' a r t fo r a r t ' s sa k e . ' Abraham fu r the r re

fe r s to s t ru c t u ra l

weaknesses and a l ack

of organic

cohes ion

in

Mussorgsky 's ins t rumenta l works. At

the end of

the

a r t i c l e , the au thor c i t e s

the

f requen t ly used c r i t i c i s m

of

Mussorgsky 's

musical

l anguage-h is

tendency towards

natura l i sm

or rea l i sm-as the bas is of

the l a rge ly unsup

por ted asse r t ion t h a t (Mussorgsky 's) harmony would

of ten

be nonsens ica l as abso lu te

music. , ,3

Debussy, on the other hand, thought di f fe ren t lY4 (He

was,

it must be added, not a lone in hi s th ink ing . )

Por

him, it was not a ques t ion

of l ack

of techn ique ,

but

ra the r a non-dependence on t r a d i t i o n a l composi t iona l

procedures . Th is , in Debussy 's view, i s the source of p ro

gress iveness in Mussorgsky 's music . He descr ibed Mussorg

sky as unique because hi s a r t i s spontaneous and f ree

from

a r id

formulas . S

Such

are the extremes o f

c r i t i c a l

response

assoc ia ted

with the

work

of

Mussorgsky.

They

range

from a mere dismis

s a l

of him as an uneducated composer to a

profound worship

of hi s or ig ina l i t y which, in the

case

of Debussy, and

l i k e

most pronouncements by

composers

about other composers,

should be understood as represen t ing an a r t i s t i c or

aes th e t i c and consequent ly

t echnica l

synonymity.

But the re

i s

a t h i r d

mediat ing approach, one

which

seeks

to provide

a more

objec t ive ba s i s

fo r c r i t i c i s m

through

a

ca re fu l

ana lys i s

o f

organiza t iona l

procedures found

in

Mussorgsky 's

music . This

i s , in pa r t ,

the

purpose of t h i s

paper .

Because of the growth o f

i n t e r e s t of

an a ly t i c a l

theory

in

t h i s cen tu ry , it has

been poss ib le to propose ,

wi th

a decent

degree

of o b jec t i v i t y ,

an ana lys i s

of the

elements

of Mus-

3This paper re fu t e s t h i s viewpoint by descr ib ing ways in

which Mussorgsky 's

harmony

makes p e r f e c t sense . That some of

these ways

are

unorthodox by

nine teen th

cen tury s tandards

the re

i s

no

ques t ion .

But

unorthodoxy does

not

mean

non

sense . The

syntax of each piece d i scussed below i s

shown

to

be

l og ica l according

to

the terms of

the

piece .

4pranz Lisz t a l so

expressed adm irat ion for the Nursery

songs. In

a l e t t e r

to hi s f r i end Vladimir Stasov in

August

1873, Mussorgsky wrote :

L i sz t

l iked

The Nursery so

much

t ha t he

wants

to

do

une

b leu t t e

on

littl themes

from i t .

(See

Jay

Leyda

and Sergei

Bertensson, eds .

and t r a n s . , The

Mussorgsky

Reader

(New York: W.W. Norton, 1947) , p . 236) .

5Claude

Debussy,

Monsieur Croche the D i le t t an t e Hater ,

in Three

Class ics

in the

Aes the t i cs of

Music (New

York:

Dover

Publ ica t ions ,

1962) ,

pp. 19-20.


3/37

MUSSORGSKY S NURSERY

25

sorgsky ' s

musical language .

6

I t i s not

enough

to

see

the

composer so le ly in the l i gh t of the Russ ian l i be r a l na

t i ona l i sm of the

1860 ' s ,

for t ha t would l imi t

our

perspec

t ive

and

reduce

the scope of our inqui ry to a mere

i de n t i f i c a t i on of fo lk or nat ional elements in h is

music .

An

a h i s t o r i c a l

approach

on

the

o the r

hand,

in

s p i t e

of i t s l i m i t a t i o n s - i t obscures

fo r

i n s t ance , the magnitude

of the impact of the contemporary

a r t i s t i c

environment on

Mussorgsky and v ice versa - se rves to

i l luminate

sp e c i f i c

t echnica l

i s sues .

It does t h i s by

r e j ec t ing

the

c o n s t r a i n t s

of

s t y l e - o f t e n

s t a t i s t i c a l , hence genera l r a the r than

pa r t i cu l a r ,

and of

l imi ted app l i cab i l i t y - i n favor

of

one

t ha t

takes

the i n d i v i d u a l i t y of the

composi t ion as premise ,

and proceeds

to

demonst ra te the log ic of i t s

syn tax .

This

essay

adopts the l a t t e r approach.

Debussy 's i n t e r e s t in Mussorgsky went beyond the genera l

corpus

of

the

l a t t e r ' s

songs

to

a

pa r t i c u l a r

p iece ,

the

song

cyc le Detska ia , o r The

Nursery .

In Apri l of 1901,

Debussy

publ ished a sho r t

a r t i c l e

in the Par i s

p e r i o d i c a l ,

La Revue

Blanche on Mussorgsky 's work, emphasizing

those organiza

t iona l

aspec ts t ha t make it a

masterp iece . 7 These

genera l l y tend ,

unders tandab ly ,

towards

the symbolic

aspec t s

of Mussorgsky's l anguage-aspec t s

of assoc i a t i ve

and

embodied meaning.

8

But the

ac tua l t echn ica l

observa t ions

found in t h i s essay , though few and

far

between, are

per t inen t and of pa r t i c u l a r re levence to t h i s s tudy. Debus

sy seems

to have been

pa r t i cu l a r l y impressed by

Mussorgsky's

economy in choice of p i t ch ma te r i a l . He notes the extreme

s impl i c i t y

with

which

the events in

t h i s

p iece

unfold:

I for

Mussorgsky,

one chord i s

of t en

s u f f i c i en t Or e l se

he uses a modula t ion so i nd iv idua l t ha t it wouldn ' t ever

have been

found in the books of

M

So-and-so .

I

The Nursery , a cyc le of

seven

songs

fo r

voice and p iano ,

was

composed

between 1868 and

1872.

The

fo l lowing

i s the

chronology of the

songs:

9

6

For

example, the

Schenkerian

and

neo-Schenkerian

schools

o f

t h i s

cen tu ry

with

r espec t

to

so -ca l l ed l Iatonal

music

presents

a t tempts to provide

musical s t ruc t u r e .

to

tona l

music,

or

the

approach

t ha t

stems

from Allen

Forte re

an ob jec t i ve

desc r ip t i on of

7

This

essay i s

r ep r in t ed

in Debussy

on

Music, Francois

Lesure

and Richard

L. Smith,

eds.

(New

York:

Alfred A.

K n o ~ f 1977) ,

pp. 20-25.

This desc r ip t ive terminology i s borrowed from Leonard

Meyer 's Emotion and

Meaning in Music (Chicago:

Univers i ty

o f

Chicago

Press , - r956) .

9

From

Oskar von

Riesmann, Mussorgsky, t r a ns .

Paul Eng

land

(New

York:

Dover

pub l i ca t ions ,

1971) .


4/37

26

INDIANA

TH ORY

REVIEW

Song 1 Child

and Nurse (Niania and

I )

1868

Song

2

In

the Corner

1870

Song

3

The Beet le

1870

Song 4

ItWith

the Doll

1870

Song

5 Going to Sleep 1870

Song

I

IIMurr,

the

Cat (Naughty Puss)

1872

Song 7

A

Ride on the Hobby-horse

ll

1872

This paper of fe r s an an a l y s i s which w i l l

descr ibe

the major

aspec t s

of

pi t ch organ iza t ion in

the composi t ion,

p a r t i c u l a r l y

t hose

t h a t have

impl ica t ions

fo r l a t e r develop

ments in the

organ iza t ion

of musical s t r u c tu r e (no tab ly , in

the

ea r ly twen t ie th century)

To discuss pi t ch organ iza t ion

in song, or for t h a t mat

t e r , any

vocal

work, i s

to

expose onese l f to poss ib le

c r i t i c i s m fo r e i t h e r ignor ing or

s imply underplaying

the

im

por tance o f

ce r t a in desc r ip t ive assoc ia t ions t h a t

occur

of ten and only on the

sur face

of the comp osi t ion. In the

presen t con tex t fo r

example,

it i s

t rue

t h a t a

knowledge

of

the

sound

of the Russ ian language and Mussorgsky's e f f o r t s

towards

n a t u r a l i s t i c r e p re s e n t a t i o n - s y l l a b i c

s e t t i n g

of

words, d i s ju n c t metr ica l and rhythmic s u cces s i o n - i l l u mi n a t e s

one ' s

understanding

of

the ch a rac t e r of the

music. But

there i s

no

su b s t i t u t e

for

a

sys temat ic at tempt to under

stand the

log ic

t h a t governs the choice of p a r t i cu l a r

pi t ch

conf igura t ions ,

and the kind of i n t e r r e l a t i o n s h ip s t h a t

ex

i s t

between them. Thus,

while an e f f o r t

i s

made not to

over look obvious desc r ip t ive ge s tu re s , I

do

not

as c r i b e to

pic to r i a l i sm

or

IIsymbolism, musical

procedures

whose

func t ion

wi th in

the t o t a l f ab r i c I am unable

to

exp la in .

The

fo l lowing discuss ion wi l l

be concerned only wi th t he

f i r s t

f ive

songs of the

cycle

as

they

appear

in

the o r ig in a l

vers ion . Songs 6 and 7 became p a r t of

the

cycle only wi th

the p u b l i ca t i o n of the second e d i t i o n in 1908.

I

w i l l d i s

cuss

each

song fo l lowing

the chronology of the cy c l e .

Be

cause

of

the need to l o ca t e spec i f i c poin t s

in

the music , it

would be

28lpfu l

fo r the reader to have access to

a

copy of

the

cyc le .

lOS . f f .

h '

1 h f 1

ecl

lC re e rences

ln

t

lS

paper app y to

t o

lowing

ed i t ion :

The Nursery:

A Cycle of Seven Songs fo r

Voice

and

piano.- - -Engl ish tr by Edward Agate , rev . by

Serg ius

Kagen,

New

York

City :

In t e rn a t i o n a l

Music

Co. ,

1951.


5/37

MUSSORGSKY S

NURSERY

27

Song 1

n examinat ion

of

the poem

and

t he de r ived musical

outer

form of

t h i s

opening

song

shows t h a t it i s ch a rac t e r i zed

by

c l ea r ly

organized poin t s

of a r t i c u l a t i o n .

These

can

be ob

served in

Example

1,

which

se t s

out

the

main

p i t ch

r e f e re n t i a l elements of the

song. In

t h i s and the examples

t h a t fol low,

I

have used an

adap ta t ion of

the

hie ra rch ic

nota t ion se t

fo r th

by Fe l ix

Sa lze r .

For a summary

of

these

nota t iona l

p r in c ip l e s ,

see Fel ix S a l z e r ' s A Glossary o f

the

Elements of Graphic

Analys i s ,

in the

Music

Forum

1 (1967;

p . 364).

I

should perhaps mention t h a t

there

are many

depar tu res

(sometimes

fundamental) from au then t i c

Schenker i

an nota t ion as wel l as t h a t

of

the neo-Schenker ian school

in

g en e ra l . C r i t e r i a

fo r

segmenta t ion include completeness o f

poet i c thought ,

caden t i a l

ac t ion

(accomplished j o i n t l y

by

the

normal

i n c rease

in

the

ra t e

of harmonic

change, rhythmic

dece le ra t ion ,

and

a con t ro l l i ng top-vo ice s t ru c t u ra l

d es cen t ) , and r e p e t i t i o n .

In c o n t r a s t to

the musical

outer form

however ,

the ac tua l

syntax i s anything but s t ra igh t fo rward . In

f ac t ,

p a r t

of

the

c l a r i t y

in the a r t i c u l a t i o n o f

the outer

form

de r ives ,

i r o n i c a l l y , from

the

mixed

tona l

syn tax , a mixture

of

func

t i ona l

and

non-funct iona l

tona l

procedures

t h a t i s

u l t i ma t e l y subsumed by the former .

Throughout t h i s

paper , an

important

d i s t i n c t i o n

i s

made

between func t iona l and non-funct iona l tona l p rocedures .

Func t iona l

r e fe r s

to those

re l a t ionsh ips pos tu la ted by

the

hie ra rch ic

tona l

sys tem,

des ignated conven t iona l ly

by

Roman

numerals

represen t ing

degrees of

the s ca l e .

Non-funct ional

r e fe r s to

those

procedures

t h a t

do

not

demonst ra te any

such

r e la t ionsh ips . t i s p o s s i b l e however ,

to

speak of tona l

cen t e r s def ined

by

e i t h e r procedure . The problems

a s s o c i

a ted with t h i s d i s t i n c t i o n

are

discussed by Arthur Berger in

h i s a r t i c l e Problems

of

Pi tch

Organiza t ion in

S t r a v i n s k y . l l

The

remarkable s i m i l a r i t y between

t he

a n a l y t i c a l i s sues ra i sed

by

the

music

of Strav insky and

Mus

sorgsky i s no mere co inc idence , as wi l l become ev iden t in

the

course of

t h i s s tudy .

I t

would

seem,

then , t h a t

a

s tudy

o f

pi t ch -o rgan iza t iona l

procedures

in

t h i s

song

should con

s i d e r ,

fundamenta l ly ,

the

na tu re

and

func t ion of the above

mentioned

poin t s

of a r t i c u l a t i o n , as wel l as the means of

achieving foreground

con t inu i ty

between these poin t s . The

f i r s t cons idera t ion

i nev i t ab ly

t akes other paramet r ic a c t i v

i t y ,

notab ly rhythmic , in to

account

(mostly

middleground

l lpe r spec t ives on

Schoenberg

Benjamin Boretz and

Edward

T. Cone

1972) ,

pp.

123

-15 4

and St rav insky , eds .

(New York; W.W. Norton,


6/37

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8 10

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7/37

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36

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Mm. 42-53.

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8/37

30

INDIANA THEORY REVIEW

processes) , while

fo r the second

cons ide ra t ion ,

an examina

t i on of

the

motivic process i s sugges ted .

Let

us exp lore

the impl ica t ions of these

cons ide ra t ions ,

beginning

with

Ex

ample lao

The opening dyad

of uni t 1 ,

Gb_Bb, i s

presen ted , f i r s t in

i so la t ion

(no t i ce

the

e f f e c t

o f

temporal expans ion

crea ted

by the fe rmata) , and is then p a r t l y absorbed by the psuedo

func t iona l i ty of the next

two

ba rs . Bb i s then i so l a t ed for

emphasis by means

o f two,

unisonic (mul t i -oc tave) , met r i ca l

ly prominent s ta tements

in mm.

6 and 8. Bb fu r the r

gene ra t e s , by s tepwise ascen t , the f i r s t

high

poin t

in

the

p:Cece

F

5

in m. 13, the a t ta Inment o f which

serves

to con

c lude the f i r s t

s t ru c t u ra l

un i t of the song. Example la

t hus

shows t ha t mm. 1-13 a re a r t i c u l a t e d by

a

se r i e s

o f

re

f e r e n t i a l

elements ,

each of which con ta ins or cons i s t s o f

the i nva r i an t p i t ch

c l a s s

(pc) Bb,

presen ted with

increas ing

func t iona l

s t a tus .

12

A

complete

break

of

syntax

occurs

between

uni t s

1

and

2,

re su l t ing s i g n i f i c a n t l y in the displacement of Bb.

The two

s t ru c t u ra l

uni t s are t he re fo re

jux taposed .

Example

lb

d i f

f e r s from the

preceding uni t

by the way t

i s

in t roduced : a

fu l l

t r i a d D major) , which a l so serves to

c lose of f the

uni t

a t m. 24. Of p a r t i c u l a r

i n t e r e s t

here i s the

dual

t rea tment

of the

D-major

sonor i ty . In

m. 14, t

marks

a

di s junc t ion with the previous un i t , but does not

genera te

any

kind

of

harmonic

progress ion . I t s use

i s

in f ac t t ona l

ly non- func t iona l . (See

a lso

the lack of rhythmic pro

gress ion between mm. 14 and 18.) In the second h a l f o f m.

18

however ,

an unequivocal

harmonic

progress ion begins ,

culminat ing in the decep t ive D major t r i a d in mm. 23-24.

The progress ion can

be

descr ibed as decep t ive because of the

behavior of the s t rong func t iona l s ix - four chord in m.

22,

which

i n p l i e s an

au then t i c cadence in

Bb. The

fo l lowing D

major

chord

i s then heard as an app l ied

dominant

of the sub

mediant which i t s e l f

does not occur .

This

t rea tment o f

the

t r i a d

is tona l ly func t iona l . In the second s t ru c t u ra l un i t

of the

song,

coherence or l a rge- sca le a r t i c u l a t i o n i s

achieved by

a

respec t ive

non-funct iona l and then

func t iona l

t rea tment o f a

t r i a d i c sonor i ty .

The t h i r d

phase

of the

s t ru c t u ra l

process

(Example

lc)

div ides in to th ree p a r t s ,

mm.

25-30

3

,

30

3

-36

2

and 36

3

-42 .

12 In

hi s ana lys i s of the tonal

s t r u c tu r e

of

Schumann's

Dich te r l i ebe ,

Arthur Komar d es c r i b es

the

funct ion

of pc

B

with in the

f i r s t

f ive songs in s imi l a r te rms. His , however,

i s a macro con tex t , i . e . from one song to the nex t ,

whereas Mussorgsky 's i s a micro one , i . e . with in the same

song. (See hi s an a ly t i c a l essay in Robert Schumann,

Dichte r l iebe

New

York:

W.W.

Norton,

1971) ,

pp.

63-94.)


9/37

MUSSORGSKY S

NURSERY

31

In

the

f i r s t

of

these

subsegments ,

the

ch i ld

asks

to

hear

the s to ry of

a ce r t a in

king

and queen.

In the

second, he

speaks

separa te ly of the k ing ,

while

the queen

engages

h is

a t t e n t i on in the

t h i r d .

But

for the r e t en t ion of

pc

A between uni ts 2

and

3,

the

e f f ec t

would have

been

one

of

apparen t

jux tapos i t ion ,

thus

pa ra l l e l i ng the procedure between the f i r s t

two

un i t s . The

f i r s t

phase

of

the process

represented in Example

l c

con

t a ins

the

most

t r ad i t i ona l

harmonic -syntac t ica l

procedure

in

the

song

so

fa r -harmonic

motion

by

descending

5ths , Bb-Eb

Ab-Db. The

poin t

of a r r i v a l , Db, i s then prolonged by means

o a

p e ~ ~ b ~ ~ w e e n

mm. 28

3

and

j b ~

The s e c o n ~ pfiase i s

in

t roduced by

an in t e r rup t ion

of

the func t iona l process

by

segments of

the whole tone

sca le

on

Db

(C). This

whole

tone

s imul t ane i ty f i r s t

occurred in m. 17 as par t of the non

funct ional

opening of the second

s t r uc tu r a l

un i t of the

song.

The

cross

re fe rence

thus

provides

an added

element

of

assoc ia t ion

between

those

two

sec t i ons of the song.

This

pc

then

con t ro l s

the

r e s t of

the

phase. The or ig in

of

C in m.

36

may thus be explained

with

re fe rence to i t s t o n a l

funct ional

environment in m. 30,

i t s

absorbt ion in to a sym

metr ica l formation

a t m.

30

3

,

and i t s neut ra l

( i . e .

unison) occurrence in m. 36. The t h i rd phase of un i t 3 i s

a l so charac t e r i zed

by a tona l - func t iona l

progress ion

in a

br i e f

C

major,

which

leads via

F to Bb in the next

s t r uc tu r a l uni t -another c i r c l e

of

f i f t h s progress ion . The

dif ference

here ,

however, l i e s in the foreground, which i s

obscured by

non-chord tones ,

modal

interchanges and

a

punctuat ing bass cons i s t i ng of adjacent

ha l f

s t eps . The

source of

t h i s

ha l f s t ep motion

may be

t r aced to m. 13 where

a

descending chromatic

sca le

marked

the conclus ion of the

f i r s t s t r uc tu r a l uni t . The t h i rd

s t r uc tu r a l

un i t thus un

fo lds in

th ree

s tages .

I t proceeds from

the tona l

func t iona l

environment of

Db,

redef ined

as a

non- func t iona l

but r e f e r en t i a l Db, to C

as

dominant of the dominant of

the

home key Bb,

thus

crea t i ng

a

harmonic

overlap

with

the

next

se l ec t ion .

The

l a s t

s t r uc tu r a l

un i t

u t i l i z e s

a convent ional harmonic

scheme,

leading to

a f i na l ,

de f i n i t i ve ges ture by means

of

which

Bb,

the

key

of the

p iece ,

i s

given the

necessary

rhe tor i ca l emphasis . Example

ld

shows t h i s harmonic

framework.

Of i n t e r e s t i s

the way

in which Bb i s

t r e a t e d . At

mm. 44

3

, t provides a

unison r eso lu t i on to

the

l a rge

dominant of

mm.

43

3

-44

2

Then,

in

m. 46, t

suppor ts

the

wrong chord

( in

s p i t e

of

the

implied

dominant- tonic

suc

cess ion ,

Bb ac tua l ly

suppor ts the submediant

chord

which

func t ions here as a s ubs t i t u t e t on i c ) . Next, in m. 49,

though

presented as

the root of a f u l l chord , Bb i s

con

s t rued

as pa r t

of

an upper-voice ascen t .

I t

i s therefore

s t r uc tu r a l l y i n f e r i o r to the f ina l occurrence in m.

51

(echoed

in

m.

53) .

Bb thus

rece ives

progress ively grea te r


10/37

32 INDIANA THEORY REVIEW

s t ru c t u ra l and rhe to r ica l weight in the l a s t eleven measures

of the

piece .

This procedure

t he re fo re

balances t ha t of the

f i r s t s t ru c t u ra l uni t of the song

where

Bb

was

presen ted

with increas ing

func t iona l

s t a tus . n

add i t iona l f ac to r

t ha t

emphasizes

the congruence of the s t ru c t u ra l processes

in the

f i r s t

and

l a s t

uni t s

of the

song

i s

the

p a ra l l e l

motiv ic process . This i s discussed below with re fe rence to

Examples 2 and 3.

To summarize

our

observa t ions on Song

so

f a r : the

an a ly t i c a l

procedure took

two

forms- the i d e n t i f i c a t i o n o f

p c ' s

o f

p r i o r i t y by var ious

processes

of s i g n i f i c a t i o n in

cluding phrase posl t i on ing , d u ra t i o n a l or accen tua l

prominence,

e t c . ( i . e . non-funct iona l

but tona l proces

ses) ,13 and the i d e n t i f i c a t i o n of t ona l ly func t iona l ton ics .

The f a c t , however ,

t h a t s imi l a r ges tu res a re

used

to

a r t i c u l a t e the

two

kinds o f procedures serves a unifying

purpose

in the

song.

n a l t e rn a t i v e process t h a t cu t s

across

the func t iona l /

non-funct iona l dichotomy

and

lends

uni ty

to the

whole

song,

i s the motiv ic s t ru c t u re ,

an

example of which i s given in

Example

2. Because of the l im i t a t i o n s of space, t has not

been

p o s s i b l e

to d i scuss

the motiv ic s t r u c tu r e o f

the

e n t i r e

song (except by genera l i za t ions , based

on

what

i s ana lyzed) ,

nor to presen t i n t e r r e l a t i o n s h ip s between motiv ic c e l l s in

the

idea l

visua l

se t t i n g .

14

In i t s

s imples t

form, the

technique of

melodic

organ iza t ion cons i s t s

o f

a process

o f

v a r i a t i o n

invo lv ing , among other t h ings , expans ion or con

t r a c t i o n of con tour , rea l or con tex tua l t r anspos i t ion ,

and modal r e i n t e rp re t a t i o n . Example 2 shows how contour i s

manipulated

by i n t e rva l l i c

modi f ica t ion

between success ive

segments . Thus

between a - I

and a-2 , in te rva l c las s ( ic) 4

i s

expanded to ic 5;

s imi l a r l y ,

with regard to b- l and b-2 ,

excluding the i nva r i an t elements , the respec t ive spans of

t h e i r

t o t a l pi t ch con ten t a re i c ' s 4 and 6 ,

t hus

re

presen t ing an expansion.

Subuni t s

a-3 , a -4 , a-5

and a-6 are

a l so

based

on a - I ;

they

are in fac t , subse t s of a - I ,

i s o l a t ed ,

and

used

as the bas i s

of

an ex tens ion . In

gene ra l , t h i s process of

l i n ea r

ex tens ion takes the fo l

lowing

form:

13Arthur Berg e r ' s te rminology. See

Pi tch Organiza t ion .

14See

the an a ly t i c a l pre sen ta t ions

as Nicholas Ruwet and Jean- Nat t i ez ,

t e r ' s ana lys i s

o f

Debussy 's Syr inx in

I n t e r n a t i o n a l Congress

on

Semio t i c s

1973.

Berger , Problems of

o f semio log i s t s such

for example, the l a t

Proceedings of

the 1 s t

of

Music,

Belgrade ,


11/37

MUSSORGSKY'S

NURSERY

33

STAGE: I

2 3

4

PROCESS:

Statement

Var ia t ion

I so la t ion of

one

Var ia t ion

of

or two elements

s tage

3

of

s tage

2

I t i s thus a process of progress ive

l o s s

of i den t i ty for the

genera to r

of paren t segment.

IS

Example 2 prov ides an -

l u s t r a t i o n

of the process . Thus,

a - I co n s t i t u t e s

s t a t e

ment, while

A-2

i s

v a r i a t i o n .

a-3

r epre sen t s the

i so l a

t ion

o f

the d e s c e n d i ~ ges tu re of a -2 , while a-4 var ies t h i s

descen t

by i n t e rva l l i c expansion. a-S and a-6

are

fu r the r

var ian t s

o f

a-3 . With a-6 , the process

comes

to an end.

Once comple te , a

new

pa ren t segment i s in t roduced and sub

j ec ted

to e i t h e r

the

same

process or an adap ta t ion t he reof .

Another example of

t h i s

process

can

be

seen in Example 2,

beginning

with

b- l .

n

impor tant

macro-organ iza t iona l

pr inc ip le thus emerges

from

these

observa t ions : a

r e f e re n t i

a l process a r t i c u l a t e s

the e n t i r e

melodic

span

of the

song,

and thereby provides an impor tant counterpoint to the

p i t ch

a r t i c u l a t i ve procedures descr ibed above (Example 1) .

Another example should c l a r i f y the process

even f u r t h e r .

The vocal

l i n e

of the l a s t ten measures of the song i s given

in Example 3 ,

as

wel l

as

a summary o f i t s p i t ch

content .

In

l i ne 1 , x-I co n s t i t u t e s the

genera tor ,

x-2 a modal v a r i a

t i on o f x - I ,

x-3

the i so l a t ion of the descen t in x -2 , and

x-4 a t r anspos i t i on of x -3 .

Clear ly ,

we are

no

longer

deal ing

with

the kind of themat ic manipulat ion assoc ia ted

with

Haydn

or

Beethoven, nor

with the popular themat ic

t rans fo rmat ion

assoc ia ted with the

music

of Berl ioz , Lisz t

or Wagner where the background func t iona l he i ra rchy i s never

in doubt . Mussorgsky however, exp lo i t s the

elements

of

a

given mot iv ic

un i t r a the r

sys tema t ica l ly -an almost

c e l lu l a r

approach to p i t ch

organ iza t ion .

This

i s

prec i se ly where he

d i f f e r s

from

other nin teen th cen tu ry

composers-in

the almost

mechanica l

prec i s ion

with which the themat ic process un

fo lds .

Example 3 a lso shows t h a t underneath the apparen t sur face

d iscon t inu i ty , the re e x i s t s

a

s imple pro to - s t ruc tu re con

s i s t i ng

of a s tepwise

ascen t

from

Bb

to

F

followed

by

a

skip

15

A

s imi l a r

t echn ique ,

opera t ing

over

the

span o f an

en

t i r e composi t ion is

descr ibed

by Leonard Meyer in h i s

Emotion and

Meaning

in

Music. The

piece used i s the second

o f

Chopin 's

p r e l u e s ~ o r

piano , op

28. There

i s a lso

some

s i mi l a r i t y between t h i s technique and Schoenberg 's

developing va r i a t ion

which

he

discusses

in

connec t ion

with

h i s

own ear ly music and t ha t o f Johannes Brahms. (See My

Evolu t ion ,

in

Musical

Quar te r ly

38, no.

4

(1952)

:364.)


12/37

Example

2.

Song 1, Motivic

Structure.

a . Mm 1-13

mm 1

-

r Q. ..

3

r

2 i

4 ~ 3 T 1

- - a< : i - : l

6

b-1

\ 2

9

i

I

13

b- 1

:\

b. Mm 9-13, Underlying Structure.

5

i

I

I

b- 3

)


13/37

MUSSORGSKY S NURSERY 35

Example

3)

.....

'

,)

l

r

-

'

-

l

'

.......

1.f )

r

I

:r

M

,

-::t

)(

L

( )

r

( 1\

L

.......

-

N:

'

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Aga Wu Pitch Organizational v 5