In Russian music of this period pitch centers were created by a variety of means, including voice leading, the repetition of a single triad, ostinatos, and reference chords, any of which may occur in conjunction with dominant and tonic functions.¹ In view of this variety of methods it is convenient to describe all works structured by some arrangement of pitch centers as “tonal.” For example, in the Rondo Op. 52 by Prokofiev the central tonality is vested in the B triad without support from functional harmony; where V-I progressions are heard, as in bars 13-16 (Example 4-36), they are of purely local influence. Traditional functions have not been eliminated but are part of a wider system. In this context “classical tonality” becomes a special case in a range of tonal techniques.²

Tonal Schemes

With few exceptions, which are discussed in chapter 13, Russian music of this period is seldom without tonal references. The tonal schemes most frequently employed include (1) a delay in defining the tonality, (2) an element of subdominant structure, (3) modal variability, and (4) tonal centers which are related as the notes of a triad.

A type of delayed tonal definition sometimes encountered is one where the main tonality is approached from the 2nd above or below. A case in point is Prokofiev’s Sarcasms No. 2. The first phrase (Example 7-1) ends in E-flat and (slightly modified) is transposed up a semitone to reach E at bar 11, which then becomes the pitch center for the remainder of the piece. The first movement of Lopatnikov’s Sonatina Op. 7 is also in E. It begins with a symmetrical pattern around F-sharp (Example 7-2a) and some emphasis on F-sharp in bar 3, before closing in on E at the beginning of bar 4 and making its first brief reference to the E minor triad in bar 11. The last movement of this Sonatina, which ultimately turns out to be in C, commences with a phrase beginning and ending modally on D (Example 7-3a). Another instance is the Berceuse by Obukhov, which opens with a phrase ending in E-flat and continues through the rest of the piece centered loosely on C-sharp and F-sharp (Examples 10-4 and 5-26).

The Sonatina by Lopatnikov also demonstrates the principle of progressive tonal definition. There is a reference to the E minor triad at bar 11 (Example 7-2b), but the earliest indication that the first movement may turn out to be centered on E occurs in bar 20, when the opening section ends on B (Example 7-2c). After this there is a climactic reference to the E minor triad in bar 34 (Example 7-2d) and finally a coda in which the tonality is confirmed in bar 57 (Example 7-2e).³ In the last movement the first indication of C comes in bars 46-59 (Example 7-3b), followed by a cadence on G in bars 81-83 (Example 7-3c) and a confirmation of C in bars 93-101 (Example 7–3d). Following this there is the first and only appearance of the opening theme beginning on C, a further cadence on G in bar 194, and a coda ending in C major (Example 7-3e).

A particular type of delayed tonal definition is the subdominant opening, examples of which occur before 1910. Skriabin’s Sonata No. 4 Op. 30, of 1903, which marked a distinct advance in his harmonic style, begins with a B 7th chord and arrives at its central tonality of F-sharp only in bar 35. An extreme example of delayed tonal definition and the subdominant opening is the Albumleaf “Fragility” Op. 51 No. 1, of 1906, by Skriabin. It arrives at E-flat in the final chord, after three pages of subdominant tendency and only hints of the ultimate goal.

This technique is demonstrated on a larger scale in a work within our period. Shebalin’s Sonata No. 2, in F-sharp, leans toward the subdominant until the very end of the first movement. The handling of the pitch relationships at the commencement is distinctly modal, and the control of the harmony is linear. F-sharp is emphasized at the beginning, but the flattened 2nd of the scale (G), the minor 7th, and the diminished 5th favor B; and the augmented 5th of the scale at the end of bar 9 has a strong leading toward the 3rd of the B chord (Example 7-4a). When that chord moves from the end of the bar, as in bar 5, to an accented position at the beginning, in bars 9 and 10, the leaning toward B is especially marked. The first complete statement of the exposition comes to its end in bar 27, where it is B and G-sharp which are emphasized. No statement of the complete F-sharp triad occurs anywhere until the recapitulation, which begins at bar 171. Even then the chord (bar 178) appears only as a passing movement within the augmented 6th on D, the effect of which is to oppose F-sharp by its tritone C when it appears in the bass in the following bar. The first V-I bass progression in F-sharp in the whole movement occurs in bars 198-99 (Example 7-4b) and is countered by the same bass progression in B five bars later. The D chord in the intervening bars is a common denominator between the two tonalities and is a cross-reference to its first appearance at the very beginning (Example 7-4a). The movement ends with a subdominant cadence in F-sharp having a suggestion of dominant on the third beat (Example 7-4b). The second movement is in B-flat minor, and it is not until the last movement that any lengthy passage is heard in F-sharp.

Related to the subdominant opening is the plagal element sometimes present in Russian music. This is illustrated in a traditional setting in Yuri Shaporin’s Scherzo Op. 5a (Example 7-5): after a definite cadence in C-sharp, near the beginning of the example, the final 5th is distinctly modal—one feels that F-sharp could just as well be the final as C-sharp.⁴ Deshevov’s Meditations Op. 3 No. 3 is nicely poised between D-flat and G-flat (Example 7-6b). Although the rhythmic movement of the closing bars suggests a cadence on G-flat, the final low D-flat sounds equally satisfying, assisted by the A-flat trill. This ambiguity characterizes many of the final cadences encountered in Russian music. The low F at the end of Prokofiev’s Sarcasms No. 1 (Example 7-7) is neither quite tonic nor quite dominant: B-flat could equally well be the last note.⁵

Another feature of Russian music which extends back into the nineteenth century is its modal variability. Modal variability involving the minor 3rd especially interested the Nationalist composers because of its similarity to the relative major/minor of Western music. There was a tendency to end a work in a mode different from that with which it began. An example of a minor 3rd tonal scheme from the Modernist period is Skriabin’s Sonata No. 10. The first subject, bars 9-35, is built on the root A-flat, and this is transposed down a minor 3rd from bar 360 (the “moderato” coda) to end on F. The two pitches run as a unifying thread throughout the work (see the analysis in chapter 12).

A distinguishing feature of the Russian Nationalist school was the tendency to move rapidly between the two modes by use of the sharpened 5th and flattened 6th of the scale, without resort to functional harmony.⁶ To Western ears modal variability involving the sudden substitution of the note or triad a minor 3rd above the one expected is more remarkable. An instance is the approach to the second subject of Mosolov’s Sonata No. 1 (Example 7-8). The harmonies lead the listener to anticipate that the G-sharp in bar 45 will go to C-sharp, and the intervention of E has a striking effect. Almost as surprising is the delayed appearance of the originally expected progression in bar 56. The two pitches are treated as interchangeable.⁷

Major 3rd variability is also important in Russian music, though it is used less frequently than the minor 3rd. An effective example is No. 3 of Three Fantastic Dances Op. 5 by Shostakovich (Example 7-9). In the first twelve bars C is only suggested in the background, and the six appearances of the dominant 7th on G alternate with references to A-flat major and E minor. The effect of these chords is sufficiently strong to create a modal shift. As with minor 3rd variability, the upward shift to E is more of a surprise than the shift to A-flat because it is further removed from traditional Western tonal practice.⁸ Perhaps the most unexpected progression of all is at the end. Here A-flat is strongly indicated by the harmony, and the move to C is correspondingly more surprising. Miaskovsky, in Sonata No. 3, makes a modal shift of a major 3rd in bar 27, compared with bar 7, to give new coloring to his theme (Example 7-10), but the effect is less remarkable than some of the shifts employed by Shostakovich because it involves no modification of the scale.⁹

Shillinger’s Five Pieces Op. 12 illustrates delayed tonal definition together with an overall major 3rd tonal structure. The first piece begins with an E-flat chord followed by a V-I progression leading to G in bar 2. This is repeated in bars 3738, but it is only in the coda, from bar 47 to the end, that the opening E-flat is emphasized as a definite center of pitch, accompanied here by a distinctly octatonic texture above. The G chord is heard in the right hand at the beginning of the second and fourth pieces, and the chords of G and E-flat are combined at the beginning and end of the fifth (Examples 3-5a, 7-19, 6-37, and 5-34).

The major- and minor-3rd pitch relationships mentioned here are frequently combined to produce a structure in which the principal pitch centers are related to each other in the form of a triad. A very simple example of a short piece from the Modernist period based on the notes of a triad is Deshevov’s Meditations Op. 3 No. 6 (Example 7-11). The notes of the D-flat triad are distinguished in different ways: The F is made a pedal at the beginning and end; the D-flat is associated with its major 7th from bar 17 for eight bars and with the minor 7th thereafter; and the A-flat is emphasized by its constant appearance at the apex of the two-bar figure.¹⁰

Aleksandr Tcherepnin’s Bagatelle Op. 5 No. 5 illustrates both triadically related tonal structure and plagal variability (Example 7-12). The main pitches are F-sharp, A, and C-sharp, and the work begins on F-sharp and ends with a modal cadence on C-sharp. The whole composition has a linear structure, and harmonic clashes—such as that between G-sharp and A at the beginning—emphasize the independence of the lines. The following summary draws attention to some of the more important features:

Bars 1-4: Triad on A emphasized by linear decoration. Independence of F-sharp pedal accentuated by clashes of G-sharp with A.

Bar 5: Treble strand descends chromatically in direction of F-sharp, a pattern which is developed in the tenor in bars 7-8. Pedals on A and C-sharp differentiated rhythmically.

Bar 6: This is a transposition, but the bass breaks the pattern while still holding on to a note of the triadic structure.

Bars 7-8: Parallel 5ths in the treble return to F-sharp and C-sharp on the first beat of each bar, while the top line fills in the 4th C-sharp/F-sharp. Alto eighth-note line and upper tenor lines based respectively on neighboring tones of C-sharp and F-sharp. F-sharp pedal in the bass.

Bar 9: New figure introduced in the treble descending to C-sharp. This is taken up by the tenor in bars 11-14.

Bars 11-14: Similar to opening but with a marked shift of emphasis to C-sharp and its 5th, G-sharp, in the tenor and bass. D-sharp now part of the basic scale.

Bars 15-16: Further emphasis on C-sharp, leading to a linear modal cadence.

Such a triadic relationship of pitch centers may also be a matter of emphasis, without modal implications. It is interesting to note that even in Omstein’s Dwarfs’ Suite Op. 11, which at first seems to be devoid of any overall plan, special importance attaches to the notes of the D-sharp minor triad. The average number of occurrences of these pitches in the low bass is more than two-and-a-half times the average of all the remaining pitches. The D-sharp occurs in the bass more than two-and-a-half times as often as any other note except C-sharp (which is prominent in Nos. 2 and 5), and the F-sharp and A-sharp occur more than twice as often as any other note, again with the exception of C-sharp, which is well behind any of these three. The actual duration of these three pitches is even greater in relation to the others because of their prominence in ostinato passages, where their effect exceeds their written value.

This pattern of triadically related centers of emphasis and overall plagal variability is demonstrated on a larger scale in Feinberg’s Sonata No. 5 Op. 10. The first subject (see Example 5-3) is built around the B triad, with considerable emphasis in the left hand on G, until it too settles on B in bars 14-21. There is some emphasis in the bass on E in bars 7 and 9 and in the following transition at bars 22, 23, and 38-39. A similar pattern of 3rd relationships exists in the second subject: the basic harmony of bars 44-50 is a complex chord on G-sharp (Example 7-13a), while from bar 51 to 60 the left-hand part is based on the D-sharp triad and the right-hand part on an augmented 6th on B. At the end of the rhapsodic middle section there is a six-bar cadenzalike passage over a G pedal, which leads immediately to an abbreviated recapitulation of the first subject on C, in bar 148, and then on E, in bar 156 (Example 7-13b). The second subject is transposed up a semitone, and the work ends with 21 bars of decoration over an E pedal. The summary (Example 7-13c) shows that B is a common link in the first half, as E is in the recapitulation. The pitch centers within each half are triadically related, and there is an overall relationship of the ascending 4th B/E.

The tonal structure of Anatoly Aleksandrov’s Sonata No. 3 Op. 18 summarizes many of the features dealt with so far. It begins with a lyrical idea based on a series of triads arranged in ascending 3rds—C-sharp minor, E minor, G major— and ending with a modal cadence on B minor (Example 7-14a). At bar 33 the opening is repeated on the triad of F-sharp, but this time the music does not depart from that chord. F-sharp is confirmed as the tonality of the work, and the second subject follows at once in that key. Two long pedals on D and B (bars 53-70 and 75-98) complete the triadic structure of B, D, and F-sharp. The lyrical middle section is based on the pitches B-flat, D-flat, and F (Example 7-14b), and this is followed by some development over a B-flat pedal. The recapitulation illustrates features of style discussed in chapters 5 and 6. It begins with the opening material transposed up a whole tone, so as to lead to a modal cadence on C-sharp instead of B. This is then treated as the minor dominant of F-sharp, and the second subject follows in the home key. A C-sharp pedal leads to a lengthy coda in which there are some colorful harmonic shifts within the general area of F-sharp.

Methods of Tonal Definition

Having looked at the main pitch schemes employed, we must now examine the detailed methods by which tonal definition is brought about. It is done principally by (1) functional harmony in a new context; (2) the use of 5th relationships without support from functional harmony; and (3) linear means.

An example of the first category is the opening of the Berceuse by Obukhov (Example 10-4a). The first five bars consist entirely of twelve-tone harmonic complexes, yet the separation of texture and register is so great that there is no danger of missing the tonal progression in the bass.

The second category is illustrated in Prokofiev’s Visions fugitives Nos. 8 and 18 (Examples 6-10 and 7-15), where a tonal center is subtly suggested by reference to a traditional pattern of 5ths. A play on 5ths is heard in the passage leading up to the return of the first subject in the opening movement of Mosolov’s Sonata No. 2 (Example 12-3c, bars 151-61). There is a noticeable relationship between the bass F-sharps and the right hand minor 3rds on B at the end of bars 153 and 154; between the same low F-sharps and the bass B in bar 162; and in the transposition (in the right hand) of bars 153-54 in bars 155-58, leading respectively to B and E, with a return to B in bar 159. The importance of F-sharp is maintained through the neighboring tones E-sharp and G in the bass in bars 155-61, with the assistance of the left-hand progressions in bars 155-57. All these patterns combine to suggest the tonality of B.

The third category is demonstrated in Aleksandr Krein’s Sonata Op. 34 (Example 7-16), which shows a linear way of establishing tonality, though still by the use of tertiary harmony. Krein has given the second subject of this Sonata a modal sound in agreement with the style of the traditional melody of the first subject (Example 3-8). This is achieved by using the minor 6th and 7th of the scale and employing harmonies in a stepwise progression around the central B-flat, including the augmented 6th on the flattened supertonic, the minor dominant, and both the triad and dominant-structured 7th on the minor 7th of the scale. Prokofiev, in Visions fugitives No. 1, makes similar use of the minor 6th and 7th of the scale and stepwise movement of chords, though over a greater range and sometimes with more pungent sounds in the harmony (Example 4-3). No. 19 of the set begins with fifteen bars in which linear approaches are made to E, though this time in a chromatic rather than modal context. Example 7-17 takes note of these references and also those in bars 29-34 in the lead-in to the conclusion.

Methods of Weakening Tonality

Russian Modernist music includes passages which are strongly tonal, others in which pitch centers are extremely rarefied, and some that are atonal, but, with the exception of the music of Golyshchev and some later pieces by Roslavets (which will be discussed in chapter 13), the harmony employed is usually triadic. Composers used traditional relationships but balanced tonalities against one another in such a way that they cancel out. They also used “control” pitches— notes which conflict with the key center—to achieve a similar result.¹¹ As a consequence it was possible to have a range of effects from strongly tonal to virtually atonal within a single work.

The following methods were employed to control tonality: (1) the use of added notes to obscure the tonal function of a chord; (2) omitting the 3rd or 7th from a dominant chord or placing its 7th or 9th in the bass to weaken its tonal function; (3) the use of intervals which divide the octave symmetrically to offset the asymmetrical tonal scale; and (4) special chords and progressions.

Example 11-16, Dance Op. 1 by Boris Aleksandrov, illustrates the first and third points. It shows a transition to F at bar 13. There is the familiar neighboring-tone and tritone progression between bars 10 and 13 (F-sharp, C, and F), and since there is no note in the low bass after bar 10, the chord at the beginning of bar 12 has the effect of reinterpreting the bass E (in bar 10) as a leading tone. However the insertion of the G-sharp chord in bar 11, with its tritone relationship to the right-hand formation in bar 12, and the added notes at the end of the latter, considerably weakens this basically traditional tonal progression. Bars 19-34 show the return to the opening tonality, G, at the end of the middle section and illustrate the first and second points. The first long-range indication of this is the dominant 9th chord in bar 19, but this is modified by the momentary presence of the minor 3rd and various added notes. When the cadence comes fourteen bars later, the tonality is suggested by the traditional V-I bass, but the absence of the characteristic intervals of the dominant chord on D ensure that the tonal effect is weak.

It has already been noted, in discussing Skriabin’s Op. 59 No. 1 in chapter 2, that balancing two dominant chords at the tritone and then weighting the tonal effect of one made it possible to obtain a graded supremacy of one tonality over the other. The first “cell” of Lourié’s Forms in the Air (Example 7-18) demonstrates the tritone used to create a tonally neutral effect in a setting of tertiary harmony. This cell features a number of pitches (A, E-flat, B-flat, A-flat) which are important in the three pieces which make up the work. Some are associated with their triads, and each is accompanied by its tritone.

The major 2nd is another interval which can be used to divide the octave symmetrically, and its use has already been noted in connection with Skriabin’s Op. 58. Other Russian composers of the period did not take up the whole-tone scale to any great extent. The octatonic scale they certainly did use, and the cadence by Kriukov (Example 6-35) shows an octatonic chord used to modify the effect of a tonal cadence. A further instance is the transition from the first to the second idea in “Heroic Poem” Op. 12 by Shillinger (Examples 10-2 and 7-19). Here the octatonic collection is used to decorate the traditional dominant at bar 6, but from bar 47 to the end the same collection serves to ornament the tonic. This similarity of coloring does much to obscure the functional differences.

The remaining examples illustrate the fourth point listed above. A chord already encountered in the music of Prokofiev is the triad on the flattened dominant. At the end of the Sonata No. 3 by Anatoly Aleksandrov there is an example of the dominant-structured 7th in this position. Whereas in the case of Prokofiev such a chord is often a temporary displacement of the true dominant, in the Aleksandrov work its function is more as a control on the tonic. It is first used to give unusual color in the key of F-sharp (Example 7-20, bars 332-36). Later its effect is to oppose the development of a traditional cadence by functional harmony, such as occurred at bars 331-32, and to allow the formation of a cadence by linear means and neighboring-tone gravitations (Example 6-29).

A tone especially favored as a means of tonal control is, according to the context, either a sharpened dominant or a flattened 6th of the scale. As already mentioned, its use as a sharpened 5th of the scale leads to a change of mode, and its similar employment in a bitonal context is dealt with in chapter 10. Emphasized in the low bass it tends to lose the “leaning” effect of the flattened 6th and is strongly disruptive of the prevailing tonality. It occurs in the second subject of Mosolov’s Sonata No. 2 (as part of a rising bass line) between two statements of the dominant-structured minor 9th on G-sharp in bars 48 and 49 (Example 6-44a). Here it leads to a B-flat in the bass with a chord which in turn suggests a move to A-flat, so that on the 4th eighth note of bar 49 the center of pitch seems to hover between A-flat and D-flat.

Mosolov’s Sonata provides several examples of a tonally neutral background against which a new section of the work may be introduced. In the passage quoted in Example 7-21, the 5th on G-sharp (bars 25, 27, and 29) is itself the tritone to the D chord with which the repeat of the exposition begins, at bar 34. Attempts to establish G-sharp by its dominant 7th at the end of bars 25, 27, and 29 are frustrated by the striking effect of the major 7th on the submediant (E-sharp). As a result, in the lead into the first subject (bars 31-33), the central pitches of the work (B and D) are heard clearly in the bass without any prior tonal commitment. In approaching the final coda (Example 12-3c, bars 151-52) Mosolov has used the same figures as in bars 47-48 (Example 6-44a). Here the suggested harmonies of V-I in A major in the right hand are presented concurrently in reverse order in the tenor, while the bass hovers around the tritone E-flat/A. The result again is a tonally neutral background from which B minor gradually emerges in the coda. This provision of tonally neutral areas is an essential part of the style of much Modernist music, with its often tenuous hold on tonality in the stable sections. Such a sliding scale of tonal definition is achieved by mainly tertiary harmony.

The study of the methods used by Russian composers in handling tonality will be taken up again in chapter 10 when dealing with bitonality. Before that attention must be given, in chapters 8 and 9, to an alternative structural principle and its application in the underlying scales.