POLYSTYLISM AND NARRATIVE POTENTIAL IN THE MUSIC OF ALFRED SCHNITTKE by JEAN ...

245 Pages·2009·14.85 MB·English

POLYSTYLISM AND NARRATIVE POTENTIAL
IN THE MUSIC OF ALFRED SCHNITTKE
by
JEAN-BENOIT TREMBLAY
B.Arts (education musicale), Universite Laval, 1999
B.Mus (mention en histoire), Universite Laval, 1999
M.Mus (musicologie), Universite Laval, 2001
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in
THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
(Music, emphasis in musicology)
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
April 2007
© Jean-Benoit Tremblay, 2007
ABSTRACT
This dissertation examines the narrative potential created by polystylism in selected
works of Alfred Schnittke. "Polystylism," the combination of many styles in a single work,
is Schnittke's answer to a compositional crisis that he experienced as a young Soviet
composer. Polystylistic works often present blunt juxtapositions of styles that cannot be
explained by purely musical considerations. I argue that listeners, confronted with those
stylistic gaps, instinctively attempt to resolve them by the construction of a narrative. Three
works, each showing different approaches to polystylism, are examined. The Symphony
No. 1, which constitutes a kind a polystylistic manifesto, presents a number of exact
quotations of Beethoven, Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Chopin among others. It also makes
uses of the Dies Irae and of various stylistic allusions. The result is a work in which
Schnittke, asking how to write a Symphony, eventually kills the genre before resurrecting it.
Elaborated from a fragment of a pantomime by Mozart, Mo^-Art is a reflection on the
opposition between the old and the new, between the past and the present. The work
builds upon the plurality of styles already present in Mozart's music. For the Concerto
'.'V
Grosso No. 1, Schnittke devised a program, albeit a secret one. The piece is at the center
of a complex network of references, some unveiled in the work's sketches, others
originating from the film music of the composer. A story involving the Jungian concepts of
animus, anima and collective unconscious is developed around musical elements as diverse
as the BACH musical motive, a folktune, a dodecaphonic waltz and a tango. The tango,
which periodically reoccurs in Schnittke's work, is the topic of the last chapter. Over the
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course of several works, the tango accumulates diverse meanings in Schnittke's music. In
the Symphony No. 1, it is an easy solution to a composer's problem; in Agony, it is a lure
appealing to Rasputin's inner demons; in the Concerto Grosso No. 1, the tango takes part
in a stylistic Utopia; in Die Historia von D. Johann Fausten, it is the feminine; in Life with an
Idiot, it is the violence present in everyone.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract u
Table of Contents iv
Table of Figures ... viii
s
Note on Transliteration x
Note on Transliteration x
Acknowledgments M
Dedication xii
Introduction 1
Literature 8
Methodology 12
Outline - 22
Chapter 1: (Anti-)Symphony No. 1 and the Genesis of Polystylism 24
Polystylism 30
Symphony or... Anti-Symphony? 34
Program or Anti-Program? 35
Interpretations of the Symphony 37
Borrowings and References 39
(1) Beginning - Consonances and Dissonances 43
(2) The Popular and the Banal 45
(3) Beethoven 48
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(4) Concerto Grosso a la Handel 49
(5) Batde of the Cadenza 51
(6) Triumph of the Banal 52
(7) Series, Series, Series, and Primes 54
Interlude: Prime Numbers 64
(8) Death 66
(9) Resurrection 72
Conclusion 74
Chapter 2: Mozart a la Haydn : the open space of Fragmentation 77
The Fragment and the Fragmentary 81
Formal Design 87
The Old in the Present 88
Commedia dell'arte , 90
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 91
KV446 (416d) 93
Combinatory Techniques 96
(1) Shift ".' 97
(2) Stratification 97
(3) Stretto • 98
(4) Morphing 99
Combination Possibilities 100
The New in the Past 102
Meaning and Narrative 112
Conclusion 116
Chapter 3: Concerto Grosso No. 1 or the "Utopia of a Unified Style' 118
Concerto Grosso No. 1 128
Synopsis 129
First Movement: Preludio 129
Second Movement: Toccata 130
Third Movement: Recitativo 131
Fourth Movement: Cadenza 133
Fifth Movement: Rondo 134
Sixth Movement: Posdudio 136
References 137
Sketches 138
Sketches: Program 139
Sketches: Movements 147
Sketches: Quasi- 148
Sketches: Tango 149
Self-Borrowings 150
BACH 151
Tango 158
Films: Cadential Figure 160
A Tentative Narrative 161
Conclusion 164
Chapter 4: Tango 167
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"Faust Cantata" and Historia von D. Johann Fausten 169
The Feminine, the Exotic and the Devil 182
The Tango in other Works by Schnittke 184
Symphony No. 1 (1968-72) 185
Agony (1974/81) 186
Concerto Grosso No. 1 (1977) 186
Polyphonic Tango (1979) 187
Life with an Idiot (1991) 188
The Master and Margarita (1993-4) 190
Conclusion: The Tango as a Sign 190
Conclusion 194
Evolution of Polystylism 199
Polystylism and Narrative Potential 206
Bibliography 209
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TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1-1. Principal features and characteristics creating stylistic gaps 42
Figure 1-2. Principal series of Schnittke's Symphony No. 1 55
Figure 1-3. Serial organization 57
Figure 1-4. Details of the fifth group, 96/2/2 to 96/2/8 59
Figure 1-5. Dynamic Triangle of the Third Movement 62
Figure 1-6. Rhythmic organization of Symphony No. 1, 1st movement, section 4 65
Figure 1-7. Emergence of chords from series, from 129/1/2 68
Figure 1-8. Emergence of the Dies Irae from series, from 134/1/1, example 69
Figure 1-9. Emergence of series from the Dies Irae, from 153/1/2, piccolo 1 70
Figure 2-1. Formal design of Mo^Art. 88
Figure 2-2. Partition in thematic fragments of Mozart's 416d 94
Figure 2-3. Stylistic shift at measure 36 [7] 97
Figure 2-4. Stratification from m. 220 to 261 98
Figure 2-5. Stretto from measure 1 99
Figure 2-6. Morphing in the double bass part in the Introduction 100
Figure 2-7. Most important thematic fragments used in Mo^-Art 102
Figure 2-8. Principal thematic combinations in Mot^Art 102
Figure 2-9. Similarity of fragments 2.1 and 12.1, combined from measure 36 108
Figure 2-10. Cadenza-like episode of measure 154 108
Figure 2-11. Contrasts around fragment 3.3, measures 66, 76 and 185 109
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Figure 2-12. Chromatic transition at measure 51 114
Figure 3-1. Main stylistic elements 122
Figure 3-2. Categories of stylistic elements 126
Figure 3-3. Stylistic elements in the first movement 130
Figure 3-4. Stylistic elements in the second movement 131
Figure 3-5. Quotation of Tchaikovsky and Berg's Violin Concertos 132
Figure 3-6. Stylistic elements in the third movement 133
Figure 3-7. Stylistic elements in the fourth movement 134
Figure 3-8. Stylistic elements in the fifth movement 136
Figure 3-9. Stylistic elements in the sixth movement 136
Figure 3-10a. London Sketches, sheet 10 140
Figure 3-10b. Translation of London Sketches, sheet 10 141
Figure 3-11. Excerpt of London Sketches, sheet 1 143
Figure 3-12. Various kind of dualities in London Sketches 145
Figure 3-13. Quasi-Periodic as notated in LS 8 and the Chorale theme 149
Figure 3-14. Borrowings in Glass Harmonica 153
Figure 3-15. Exchange of the waltz theme and BACH aggregate spelling 156
Figure 3-16. BACH in the Cadenza, mvt. IV, from 62/1/1. 157
Figure 4-1. Beginning of the third act 174
Figure 4-2. The tango melody, as of 345/1/5 [65] 177
Figure 4-3. Libretto adaptation of the 1587 Volksbuch 181
Figure 4-4. The tango melody, as of 345/1/5 [65] 191
Figure 5-1. Evolution of polystylism in Schnittke's works 200
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NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION
Whenever possible, the transliteration of Russian names and titles in this thesis complies
with the ISO 9:1995 standard. The only exception to that rule pertains to familiar names
like Stravinsky, Prokofiev or Shostakovich, for which the traditional English spelling has
been preserved. In the bibliography and footnotes, in the case of publications using the
Roman alphabet, the spelling of Russian names has been kept as published. The table
below summarizes the most commonly used transliteration systems.
ISO GOST ALA BS ISO GOST ALA BS
A, a a P.P r
B, 6 b C, c s
B,B V T,T t
r, r 9 u
A. A d O, dp f
E, e e e, ye X, x h kh kh
E, e e yo LU c ts ts
>K,)K z zh zh 4, H c ch ch
3,3 z UJ, uj s sh sh
H, M i W,w. s sc shch shch
M, M J T "b,"b "
K, K k bl, bi y
Jl.n 1 b, b '
M, M m 3, KD e e e[e]
H, H n K), io u ju iu yu
O, o 0 a ja la ya
n, n P
ISO: International Standards Organization 9:1995, used in this thesis.
GOST: Gosstandart Rossii 1983, used in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 2"d ed.
ALA: American Language Association, used by the Library of Congress.
BS: British Standards 2929, used in the New Groa Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed.
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