The title of this chapter is not meant to imply a firm division between tonal and nontonal music. Between these extremes there are an infinite number of gradations, and opinions will differ as to whether a certain piece should be placed in one category or the other. Works which begin or end with reference to a more or less definite “key” have been excluded from this discussion, despite the fact that this alone hardly constitutes a tonal structure. Such works lie on the border. An example is Mosolov’s Sonata No. 1: it begins and ends with a reference to C, but the composer articulates the structure by using a scale of chromatically moving major 3rds at the ends of the first and second subjects and at the approach to the conclusion. The sound is heard nowhere else and appears to have been retained as a structural marker.

Some of the works included in this chapter make use of forms of pitch organization, such as “sets,” which are not in themselves based on pitch preference. One piece is structured by means of rhythmic patterns and durational values. Others employ a system of related motifs. Most of the compositions considered rely to some extent on reference chords and pitches. This technique does not exclude these works from being atonal: reference pitches do not necessarily have the gravitational effect associated with tonality and may even be antithetical to other elements in the texture. Reference chords are often recognized more because of some special harmonic resonance than for any tonal characteristics. The sheer density of some of Ornstein’s harmonic ostinatos makes it difficult for the listener to be aware of anything more than the rhythm (see examples of his works in chapter 5).

Ornstein was one of the first Russian composers to seek alternatives to traditional tonality as a means of structuring his music. Around 1913 he had the reputation in the West of being the foremost “Futurist” composer-pianist of the day.¹ Many of the Modernist works he played in his own piano recitals were improvised and never written down.² One of the earliest to be committed to paper was Dwarfs’ Suite, composed in 1913 and published two years later. Like much of Omstein’s music of this period, most of these pieces depend heavily on ostinatos, constantly repeated rhythms, and static melodies and harmony to achieve cohesion. The first piece in the set is more carefully structured and makes use of a number of techniques: directional melodic patterns, reference pitches, recurring rhythms, and scale patterns (Example 13-1).

“Dwarfs at Dawn” is in three parts; the first ends at bar 17, and there is a return to the opening at bar 30. There are obvious pitch similarities between bars 30-31 and the opening two bars of the piece, with the 5th E-flat/B-flat transferred to the left hand on the last beat of bar 30. From bar 34 on the frequent references to D-sharp, F-sharp, and B-flat in the bass correspond to similar references in bars 6-13. The rhythmic figure of the left hand in bars 1 and 3 returns, slightly modified, in bar 30 and is expanded in bars 38 and 40. The melodic outline of bar 32 is similar to that of bar 6, and the melody of bar 2 is expanded in both range and time values toward the end, in bar 41. Another melodic cross-reference is found in bars 21-24, where the progression from B to D is reminiscent of bars 10-12, both in having the same initial and final pitches and in containing steps of a whole tone (B/A) and a minor 3rd (F/D in bars 23-24 and G/E in bar 11).

The first section is characterized by a simple rising and falling melodic motion, usually within a single bar. The two basic forms of this motion are stated at the opening. The simple up-and-down leap of bar 1 recurs expanded in bars 3 and 16, whereas bar 2 breaks the upward movement into two parts followed by a more-extended descent. The association between these two melodic groups is made clear in bar 7, where the notes B-flat and F occur at the peak of the melody on the second beat, as in bar 1, while the upward movement is more like that in bar 2. The following descent in both cases uses the intervals of the minor 3rd and semitone in alternation. The same intervals are evident at bar 6, which also has an outline much like that of bar 2. The descending melodic and scalar formations of bars 2, 6, and 7 are important: the same pattern is to be found in the descending passages of bars 33-37. The melodic line in bar 34 consists of major and minor 3rds, but the underlying scales are again of minor 3rds and semitones.

The pitches B-flat and F are used together several times as a reference. Apart from their occurrence in bars 1 and 7, already noted, they also appear in the bass of bar 8, near the end of the first part of the opening section. They are heard once more at the start of the next phrase, in the right hand of bar 10, and in the bass at the end of bar 17, where the first section ends. The same pitches occur in bar 23 at the peak of the melody in the first four-bar phrase of the middle section (B, A, F/B-flat, D, bars 21-24) and at the climax (bar 28), just before the change of time signature. The piece ends with the bass progression A-sharp-F. The association of these pitches with E-natural in the right hand in bars 7 and 10; in the bass at the end of bar 8; in bars 7, 10, and 17 in the right hand; at the beginning of bar 28 (which has the E minor triad); and in the left hand of bar 43 all reflect the relationship of these pitches found in bar 1. Also associated with the B-flat/F reference is the double 5th E-flat/B-flat/F, which occurs at strategic places, notably in the right hand of bars 1 and 30, in the treble of bar 10 (second beat), and at the final climax of the middle section, in bar 28.

The combination of the perfect 4th or 5th with the tritone, mentioned above, also contributes to the unity of this piece by its consistent use as part of the harmonic coloring. It occurs in three ways, involving either a semitone, as at the final quarter note of bar 17; or within an overall span of a major 7th, as in the last two beats of the left hand of bar 8; or a minor 9th, as in the second beat of the right hand of bar 7. Instances are to be found throughout.

The composer here has employed scales, melodic outlines, directional movement, reference pitches, and harmonic coloring to unify his work. He has also, in the first section, used one-bar cells of continuously changing metrical pattern so that there is a constant tempo but no regularly recurring accent. Lourié used all of these factors in Forms in the Air (discussed in chapter 11), but his work is distinguished by a subtle play on neighboring-tone gravitations, from which certain clear centers of pitch eventually emerge and exercise an attraction akin to tonality. Ornstein’s pitch references are quite lacking in gravitational tendency.

Ornstein’s methods create a good internal cohesion in a piece of this length. The comparatively featureless arpeggio texture of the middle section provides a satisfactory foil for the more-detailed outer ones and makes a convincing three-part structure. In these respects the unfolding of the piece in time is made clear. However, there is a problem with the ending: it is difficult for the listener to realize that the work is about to end until the last note has stopped sounding.

In his Prelude Op. 20 No. 1, published in 1914 (Example 13-2), Ornstein tried to deal with the problem of signaling the end of a work. He attempts it by means of the left-hand accents in bar 22, the change of tempo, fading dynamics, and the return of the b motif, which has not been heard since the first bar. Most important is the concentrated use of a minor 9th (or augmented octave). It occurs five times in the bass of bar 22 and nine times in the last four bars. It is heard first in the left hand at the beginnings of bars 1 and 2 and is prominent throughout the Prelude. Its use in bar 22 along with a common directional pattern (X2) suggests a summing up of the content of the piece. The minor 9th from the bass sometimes contains a minor 3rd and a minor 7th, as at the beginning of bar 4. It is of interest for three reasons: it is the basis of the d motif (bar 10); it is carried forward as a reference into the second Prelude; and the interval of a minor 3rd occurs either melodically or harmonically between the bass and the note immediately above eighteen times—far more frequently than its nearest rivals, the major 7th (nine times) and the major 3rd (six times).

In this Prelude B-flat and E-flat, and sometimes the complete E-flat triad, are used as structural pitches. E-flat occurs in the treble in bars 3, 6, 8, and 15, and notes of the E-flat triad in the right hand of bars 1-2, 7, 14-15, 16-17, 18, 19, and 20. At the end it is prominent in the treble of bars 23-25. Another audible reference is E-flat as the 5th of a diminished triad in bars 2, 6, and 15. Bar 15 is especially suggestive of the treble of bars 1-2 because of its association with the other notes of the E-flat triad (F-sharp/B-flat) in the preceding bar. Apart from these references the Prelude is very closely integrated by a system of motifs marked a to g on the score and by directional lines marked X, X1, and X2. Ornstein’s motifs, like his harmony, are basically tertiary and often triadic, with the result that there is a high degree of motivic and harmonic integration. This Prelude is unusual for Ornstein in its use of linear strands and its lack of dense harmony: it is closely knit, highly detailed, and rather intellectual in technique.

The motifs in Prelude No. 2 are related by outline and directional pattern to those in No. 1 (Example 13-3). As was the case with figure X of the first Prelude, the b motif of the second is not employed as a strict melodic figure. It is important here for its total content of harmonic intervals comprising a major 2nd (F-sharp/G-sharp); a minor 9th, which can be divided into a perfect 5th and a tritone (b2); and a major 7th, which can be divided into a perfect 4th and a tritone (b1). These intervals occur melodically in various places, but most important is the harmonic coloring they supply throughout the work. Motif c, consisting of the notes of a triad, occurs in bars 21, 24, 30, and 31 and in bar 13 at its original pitch in the tenor together with a veiled reference to motif a. Those cases where the figure c is based on a minor triad reveal its relationship to motif a.

The reference chord X, which was heard in the first Prelude, appears with an additional note (D) in bar 8, which shows it to be related to b2 (perfect 5th and tritone). The most important recurrences of X are in bars 8, where it is accompanied by motif a at its original pitch, and 23, where the B-flat and D-flat of motif a are again heard together with the E-major triad of figure c, now transposed a 5th. The only other appearance of X at its original pitch is in bar 3, which serves to establish its prominence right at the beginning. The most important transposition of X is to C-sharp at bars 11 and 28, both of which occur after a brief silence near the beginning of a new section. Other references to X are in bars 20 (modified), 21, and 22. It occurs twice, on F-sharp and C-sharp, in bar 17, where it marks the central climax, and in bar 30, where it has a quasi-cadential effect near the end of the Prelude.

The treble figure Y at the beginning of bar 11 is of particular interest; it is given prominence by the sudden change of dynamic and speed, the preceding eighth rest, the wide spacing and thin texture, and the presence of X in the bass. The C, B-flat, F figure here bears a resemblance to motif a, combined with the directional pattern of motif c, now inverted. The intervals of motif a are altered to give two perfect 5ths. This double 5th does not occur again until bar 30 (D, A, E) and, more conspicuously, in the treble at the very end. It is a kind of resolution of the 5th plus tritone (b2 and X, as in bar 8), which occurs seventeen times in this short piece. Its relation to motif a is also made clear in bar 8 (F, B-flat, E-flat).

The resolution of the tensions of the piece to a double perfect 5th gives an overall major 9th, an interval which occurs only rarely in this Prelude. It is midway between the minor 10th of motif a and the minor 9th of motif b. This major 9th is presented rather strikingly at the end of bar 20, where its relation to X is made clear by the diminished triad in the bass (compare bar 8), and its structural importance is further emphasized by the pitch reference G-sharp, unclouded here by any other movement. The major 9th occurs again very pointedly at bar 29, where the figure is marked with accents and is clearly a reference to the second beat (right hand) of bar 2. Here the pitches F, G, and C-sharp from the second beat of bar 2 are heard—together with the wide distribution of pitches associated with motifs b and a and the interval of a major 9th from bar 11. All the main elements of the piece are brought together to herald the end of the Prelude.

Ornstein appears to have arrived at an atonal style spontaneously and at an early stage of his career, though he continued to write traditional tonal works along with his Modernist ones. Another route to atonality, and one which took a number of years to develop, was Roslavets’s practice of deriving chords by means of a kind of set technique. In Three Compositions of 1914 Roslavets began to explore the possibility of extracting nondominant-type chords from a given pitch collection, but he continued to structure the pieces in a way which owes much to tradition: using cadences, local harmonic functions, and sometimes returning to a pitch heard earlier.

It is possible that the idea for this technique was suggested by Roslavets’s earlier works and the late works of Skriabin in which the transposition of an altered dominant-structured chord at the tritone or minor 3rd sometimes results in a harmony with a new root but identical pitch content. This is the basis of Dernova’s model of Skriabin’s compositional method.³ Roslavets’s Three Compositions of 1914 mark the critical step from unity of harmonic (usually dominanttype) coloring to the exploitation of regular sets. With these pieces his method of notation also changed: instead of generally showing the relationship of each note to the root (which in his complex chords is usually heard in the bass), his notation began to indicate the relationship of notes within the set. Hence his apparently quirky use of double sharps and flats. Concurrently with his turning to the use of sets, his prevailing harmonic coloring ceased to be dominant-sounding. It is interesting to note that Roslavets formed his sets in such a way that it was usually possible to extract at least one dominant-structured chord from each and that these chords continued for a time to be used at structurally important places.

In Three Compositions No. 1 Roslavets selected four chord types, using all the notes of the harmonic minor scale, and employed them to construct most of the piece (Example 13-4), abandoning the set only in the more-chromatic middle section (Example 3-15a). The effect at this stage is by no means atonal. The fourth chordal type (Example 13-4) is a dominant 13th, which Roslavets uses in a cadential position at the end of bar 3, in the half close in bar 5, and to focus attention on the pitch A in bars 10 and 11 (Example 3-15a). In the second piece one of the chords that Roslavets extracts from his set and uses in four places (Example 135) is a dominant-structured minor 9th with added 6th over its associated tonic. This type of chord, which is suggestive of procedures in Skriabin’s music around 1910, is used at the end.

Quasi Prelude, published in 1915, shows a further change in style. To a large extent the structure is based on the manipulation of the set itself instead of on the handling of the surface features of the music, as in Three Compositions of 1914.

The set in Quasi Prelude (Example 13-6) consists of seven notes and is followed exactly. No modification is allowed, and there is no change of set for the middle section, which is marked principally by a different dynamic and a change of melodic line, meter, and texture. The last two columns of Example 13-7 show the number of pitches that move in and out at every new statement of the set. It is always two or three. At the beginning of each section two and three pitches are changed in strict alternation, but there are a greater number of three-note changes toward the end. This is indicative of a further development of technique, as compared with Three Compositions of 1914. Roslavets is evidently combining his series with a regular cyclical exchange of pitches. This together with the constant semitone movement of parts makes for smooth progression. Free use is made of all twelve tones, but the fact that the series contains only seven allows for a considerable variation in the incidence of each. Example 13-8 shows the transpositions of the set and their interrelationships.⁴

The dominant-sounding chords, which in Three Compositions occurred in strategic places and served to focus attention on important pitches, are reduced to a minimum in Quasi Prelude. They are the minor 7th in the left hand in bars 1 and 22 (the latter modified by the G below), the group forming the penultimate eighth note of bar 9, and the minor 7th and major 3rd of the chords in bars 27 and 28. These last chords are saved from a too-obvious dominant sound by the vertical arrangement of 4ths in the sixteenth notes.

Pitch relationships play a part in shaping the first and last sections, as Example 13-9 shows. The insistence on B-flat, D, and D-flat in the bass of the first four bars is reflected in bar 22. These pitches, along with G, are also prominent in the top voice at the beginning, and G becomes important in the bass at the end. D recurs constantly in the bass of the middle section. These pitches are among the main audible factors for cohesion. The D in the treble at the beginning of both the first and last sections is important, not so much because of its recurrence in the bass but for the fact that it reappears in the final cadences. The D in the bass in bar 7 makes a 4th below G and forms part of a short descending line, which proceeds to C-sharp, a tritone below G in the treble. In bars 27-28 the original outside voices (D and G) are inverted to produce a perfect 5th. The D, now appearing in the treble, links up audibly with the D in the treble in bar 22, and the 5th between the outside parts is a resolution when compared with the 4th and tritone in bar 7, at the end of the opening section. The introduction of a G below the B-flat at the beginning of bar 22 anticipates, and helps to focus attention on, the final bass G and emphasizes the minor 3rd relationship with the opening B-flat of bar 1. It demonstrates that the minor 3rd connection, common in Russian music, persisted in this new style of composition.

Example 13-7 shows that the first and last sections begin with TO, 5, 8, 3, 6, 11, and 2, and of these, T3, 8, 0, and 5 occur again at the end of the first part, and T3, 6, 11, and 2 near the beginning of the middle section. TO, which is the first and penultimate chord to be heard in the first part, also opens the last and occurs three times at the end, but it is omitted altogether from the middle portion. The fourth column of Example 13-7 reveals that the inversion of the set having the sixth note in the bass (as numbered at the beginning of Example 13-6) occurs many times in the last section. This position, together with the one having the first note in the bass, has the potential of being arranged as a dominant-sounding chord with added notes.

Example 13-8 shows various transpositions of the series set out in music notation. TO (B-flat) evidently serves as a central reference in the first and last parts. The most important transposition is T7 (F), which occurs in a perfect 5th cadential relationship to TO in bars 21-22 and 24-28. T5 (E-flat) also bears a 5th connection with TO, and they occur in conjunction at prominent positions in bars 1, 22, 56, and 7. Keyed brackets indicate other associations.

Roslavets has arranged his transpositions to create a large number of perfect 5th relationships with minor and major 3rds interspersed. This is followed with a high degree of consistency and is clearly intentional. It has already been noted that perfect 5ths are normally a feature of the bass line in Roslavets’s compositions and often form the main basis of logic and continuity in complex passages. In Quasi Prelude the composer seems to have transferred this technique from the surface texture to the deeper structure of the underlying series. It may be questioned whether the result is altogether satisfactory. Apart from the last section, the bass of this piece lacks the interest and the significant line that were evident in Three Compositions of 1914; and the bass of the middle section is especially monotonous, with its constant meandering around the pitch D. The composer may well have been aware of the problems of relying on deeper structure at the expense of surface features, as seems to be the case with this experimental piece, and in the associated Quasi Poem he allows himself a good deal more freedom.

Quasi Poem consists of two contrasted sections, bars 6-19 and 24-32, with an introduction, interlude, and conclusion. Nearly all the thematic material is derived from the four motifs marked a, b, c, d in the first two bars of Example 13-10.

It is clear from Example 13-11 that the vertical tritone G-sharp/D, which occurs in the bass at the beginning and end of the introduction, at the beginning of the interlude, and in the conclusion, is the main central reference. Within the first section two contrasted ideas can be detected: bars 8-10 and 13-19, which are built over a stable 4th or 5th; and bars 6-7 and 11-12, which are characterized by different texture and a more freely moving bass. The second section is homogeneous. A stabilizing element here is the triadic bass outline F-A-C in bars 24-26, repeated a minor third higher in bars 30-32. Another is the overall progression F-G-G-sharp, which occurs in both the bass and treble in bars 24-31 and leads back to the pitch of the bass at bar 1.

Unlike Quasi Prelude, Quasi Poem is built from a series of contrasted scale patterns which are too varied and too much subject to alteration for the work to be classified as an example of set technique. There are, however, similarities between the two pieces in that the scales in Quasi Poem are treated as harmonies and have little effect on the melodic formations, and the transpositions of the principal scales are in some cases very strictly notated, giving rise again to apparently eccentric notation. The two most important scales are presented in the introduction (Examples 13-12 and 13-13). A is stated three times, and B, which is the octatonic scale, occurs once. Apart from these scales the remainder of the introduction is highly chromatic (bars 2 and 3). The interlude, which in texture is close to the introduction, also states the A scale at the outset but then employs free scale formations until the end of bar 23. The conclusion employs an expanded version of the A scale throughout.

Scale A is related to the diminished 7th chord. Scale B, the octatonic scale, is formed from two interlocking diminished 7th chords. Scale C is a simpler ornamentation of the diminished 7th chord, and scales D and E also contain diminished 7th formations. All the main scales of Quasi Poem have this basis in common. The diminished 7th formation is announced in the chord A-sharp, C-sharp, E, G, which appears at the opening of the introduction and in the interlude and conclusion.

In certain respects Roslavets uses the scales of Quasi Poem in a similar way to the sets of Quasi Prelude. Once again the ordering of notes in the scales in Example 13-13 is arbitrary, but scale A occurs at the same pitch at bars 1 and 4b in the introduction, bar 20 at the start of the interlude, and at the end in bars 3337. In bars 30-32, scales A and B occur in alternation, always at the same pitch as a way of approaching the cadence. Scale B also appears twice near the end at its original pitch.

By using a variety of techniques in these two pieces, Roslavets seems to be exploring the common ground between the strict compositional use of a set and the coloristic employment of varied but related scales. By presenting his background linear formations at different transpositions, he is treating them as sets, but by varying his patterns and adding and subtracting notes, as in Quasi Poem, he is using them coloristically as scales. The introduction of a variety of formations enhances their potential for both structural and coloristic application.⁵

The final Russian composer whose work must be considered in dealing with the use of nontonal techniques is Efim Golyshchev (1887-1970). He was possibly the only one of his nationality to take an interest in twelve-tone sets along with the concept of nonrepetition of durational values. Golyshchev, who was a painter as well as a musician, belonged to the Dada movement and took part in some of its more outrageous activities. He moved to Germany in 1909 as a refugee from the anti-Jewish pogroms in Russia. In Berlin he became friendly with Busoni and took an interest in the Expressionist works of Schoenberg and his experiments in atonality and serialism. He was overtaken by the Nazi regime in Germany and fled to France and then to Brazil, leaving behind his paintings and compositions, which were destroyed by the Nazis.

Golyshchev went further in the direction of atonal writing than did any other Russian composer at that time, and no discussion of nontonal techniques would be complete without reference to his work. None of his piano pieces survive, but we can gain some idea of his methods from a string trio published in Germany in 1925, which appears to be his only extant composition (Example 13-14). It is sometimes cited as being composed in 1914, but there is some doubt about this, and it may have been composed in 1925.⁶ As an early example of twelve-tone music it is especially interesting because the composer is as much concerned with time values as with a cyclical use of the twelve pitches. The work is in five movements arranged in an arch form. The central movement is an Andante flanked by two faster ones, and the first and last movements are slow. The outer movements are similar in style and based on the same rhythmic figures, which will be examined later. The second and fourth movements also have rhythmic patterns in common and are distinguished from the outer ones by the static repetition of one-bar rhythmic/motivic groups and by a relatively free treatment. The middle movement has a combination of stylistic elements found in the others. The titles of the first four (“Mezzo-Forte,” “Fortissimo,” “Piano,” and “Pianissimo”) suggest that each is to be played at a fixed level of dynamics. Apparently the main interest of the work lies not in expressive or emotional performance but in the precise definition of the rhythmic/motivic ideas, which at times present considerable difficulties for both performer and listener.

Golyshchev has divided the score into numbered sections. They do not represent phrases, but each contains one or more complete statements of the twelve pitches, though not in any fixed order. In the outer movements the numbering is strictly according to the pitch content, so that each section contains one complete cycle of the twelve tones. Occasionally the rhythmic pattern links two numbered sections, such as 9 and 10 of the first movement, into a longer phrase. In the second and fourth movements the numbering is governed much more by the rhythmic/motivic idea. In section 1 of the second movement, for example, there are six complete statements of the twelve-tone series—one for each bar—while a single motif is repeated by the viola, and the progression in the first violin, itself twelve-tone, fills out the whole section. The cello also has a twelve-tone theme, which states each two-bar segment of the violin part concurrently and in retrograde. These six bars are numbered as forming one section because of the twelve-tone nature of the violin and cello parts. In the fourth movement the treatment is again relatively free; for example, in section 12 there is considerable duplication of pitches. Both the violin part and the accompaniment in the viola and cello are nearly complete cycles, except that the violin lacks a D and the accompaniment an A.

The rules governing the cyclical use of pitches in this trio allow a note to be passed from one instrument to another (as in bars 12-13 of the first movement) and permit notes to be doubled at the octave or unison (as in bars 5 and 7, also in the first movement). Subject to these provisos every note of the set has to appear once in each numbered section; after that the series may commence again in a different order. These rules are enforced strictly in the first and last movements but are treated more freely in the faster second and fourth. The third movement is again strict but with static repetition of twelve-tone complexes in sections 13, 18, and 25.

A further feature of the first and last movements is that, although durational values vary a great deal throughout and do not follow any cyclical pattern, no time value is allowed more than once in a section; except that it may occur concurrently in more than one part. Repeated notes like those in section 21 of the first movement are counted by their aggregate duration. The second and fourth movements are again treated more freely.

The first movement is a binary form, structured according to the rhythmic/motivic patterns. Section 16, after a marked thinning of the texture in sections 14 and 15, begins the second half of the movement with a restatement of the rhythmic patterns of the first bar. These comprise a dotted eighth rhythm, a double-dotted eighth rhythm, and an eighth proceeding to a longer note. These rhythms dominate the first movement and, together with a few derived patterns, form the basis of the whole trio. In section 1 the dotted and double-dotted eighth-note patterns are immediately repeated with all four notes prolonged outside the beat, making new rhythms. In section 2 the three patterns from the first bar recur, this time with only one of the notes in each prolonged. In section 11 the three rhythms are presented in succession in the violin part, and at the end of section 21 the doubledotted rhythm is even completed by a rest. The result of these rhythmic subtleties is that the aural experience does not readily reflect the actual compositional technique. In section 12 a modification of the sixteenth-note figure produces a new pattern on the first beat, which is used extensively in the second and fourth movements, and in section 8 the association of 32d notes with a dotted sixteenth produces a new pattern, which is employed throughout the whole trio.

In addition to the basic structural function of the rhythmic patterns, the first movement is also unified by a stepwise progression of four or five notes. This occurs in the bass of sections 1-2, 4-5, 6-7, and 16-19; the viola in sections 13 and 16-18; and the violin part in sections 11 and 12. Bringing a movement of this kind to a conclusion is a problem, and the composer has achieved this by a sequence in sections 22 and 25 containing the three rhythmic figures of bar 1 and the rising chromatic passage of section 24, in which the four-note stepwise figure occurs in all parts and twice in the treble.

The second movement is a symmetrical structure built around sections 9-13 and making the pattern ABABCBABA. The C portion is itself a quasi-symmetrical arrangement centered on section 11. The parallel 5ths of section 10 are transferred to the lower texture in section 12, and the cello and viola rhythm of section 10 figures in the violin in section 13. Section 14 corresponds to section 8, sections 15-23 correspond to sections 6 and 7, section 24 corresponds to section 5, and section 25 is the same as section 1. The converging pattern of the dotted rhythms of the violin part in section 9 is taken from the cello of bars 1 and 2, and the figure of section 11 occurs again at the end of the movement. Sections 15-21 are a variation of section 1.

The third movement is another binary form though not clearly defined. Sections 16 and 17 balance sections 1 and 2. Section 18 is a prolongation of section 7, and sections 13-15 and 25, which conclude the two parts, are similar. The rather obscure device of completing rhythmic patterns by means of rests is again present at the beginning of section 17. The fourth and fifth movements are full of rhythmic cross-references, and the last movement approaches the end, in sections 15 and 17, with an apparent reference to the melodic figure of sections 22 and 25 of the first movement.

There is a stylistic problem with this trio in that the harmonic combinations, which are always easy to hear and sometimes quite striking, do not appear to be of any great structural importance. The rhythms, on the other hand, which are what the piece is all about, are sometimes extremely difficult to follow in the first, third, and fifth movements.

Of the works that have been studied in this chapter those of Ornstein are the most detailed and most successful in their structure. His system of harmonic and pitch references and his sometimes quite elaborate arrangement of related motifs and directional melodic patterns, with their often bold leaping figures and lively rhythms, create an interesting texture. The basically tertiary nature of his harmony, when it is not too overlaid with clusters, is related to his motifs and produces a close harmonic and melodic integration. Most interestingly, in the Preludes he found a way of summing up the contents of a short atonal piece and thus of achieving a sense of culmination. His use of bichords between the two hands gives rise to a seemingly endless variety of combinations. However, Ornstein never formulated a theory of harmony and seems to have had no clear system of graded harmonic tension, such as that proposed by Hindemith. In Ornstein’s improvisational compositions, the harmony is sometimes merely a vehicle for conveying a pattern of rhythm. Even in his more-considered works, like those dealt with in this chapter, his love of improvisation is reflected in the fact that his choice of chords is often governed by hand shape and keyboard convenience. Apart from the actual reference chords, the harmony is a fairly neutral, if discordant, background for the motivic and rhythmic events.

In contrast, Roslavets’s experiments with sets does little to enhance the listener’s experience of musical structure. Quasi Prelude and Quasi Poem continue to rely on a few pitch references and dominant-related intervals like the minor 7th to mark the beginning and end of sections. The latter are distinguished by change of texture and rhythmic patterns, and the coda is marked by a literal return of the material of the opening. What is lacking is a sense of culmination, of progression in time. The surface features, which always receive abundant attention in Omstein’s music, are neglected in favor of ingenious but largely inaudible manipulations of the sets.

Golyshchev’s Trio is a bold experiment in set technique governing both pitch and rhythm, and the general arch shape of the five movements comes over fairly well as a result of the rhythmic patterns. The serial element in itself does little if anything to enhance the listener’s sense of structure and must be regarded as a compositional discipline or routine. The individual rhythmic units are frequently too obscure for the listener to follow the principle of nonrepetition. One has the impression that the composer has denied himself too many resources. Pitch reference plays only a minimal role, for example, at the beginning and end of the fourth movement. Melodic motifs are generally lacking, though occasionally there is a tendency for individual lines to follow a converging pattern, as in the violin part in section 15 of the second movement and the cello in bars 1 and 2, the violin at the beginning of the third movement, and the viola in the last two bars of section 25. The work depends very much on the rhythmic units, and these tend to be short, isolated, and sometimes statically repetitive; only occasionally do they develop to form longer significant lines. In none of these works is there any attempt to develop the polyphonic resources employed by Schoenberg in his atonal works or the more-developed use of symmetry sometimes associated with Webern. Russian polyphony followed quite a different course.

Russian composers in general showed little interest in atonal techniques. Fears expressed by Proletarian groups that concerts of Western music organized by the Association for Contemporary Music would result in the Westernization of Russian music and the pursuit of serial techniques and atonal styles were ill-founded. Rather than abandon tonality composers preferred to weaken it in favor of modal resources, so that instead of dominating structure, tonality tended to function more on a par with other elements. Russian music developed in its own way from its own resources.