3 Alban Berg and Creeping Chromaticism Mark DeVoto Torrer the term ‘ereeping” in this paper in order to designate a principle of generalized contrapuntal behaviour, a habit of stepwise linear motion of textural voices, by whole step or semitone, either simultaneously or not simultaneously with each other, without specificity of direction. To put it another way, a texture of creeping voices is defined to be a texture in which ‘one or more parts move by stepwise motion, with the possibilty that one or more additional parts may remain stationary as the others move. Tn an attempt at useful refinement of this very general definition, we may further characterize creeping as a phenomenon which extends fairly regularly ‘over a musical space, and which in general subverts harmonic progression Creeping then becomes a principle which generates harmony, but at the same time the harmony that can be generated includes more possibilities than might bbe implied by normal root contiguities. Let us try to illustrate with a harmony lesson. Example 1 is a paradigm of, the perfect cadence, V-I in root position with the leading tone in the upper voice progressing stepwise to the tonic root. One inner part also moves stepwise, and the doubled root of the V stays constant in the same voice. The bass voice, which is the root progression, moves stceply by skip. This is what ‘every harmony student learns no later than Chapter 3, the archetypal ‘strong, progression’. In V"-I, with an additional tendency tone, the stepwise motion is just as clear. Example | Example 2, Vi-I, markedly weakens the effec of the above progression by eliminating the strong root motion in the bass. There is no longer any motion58 Mark DeVore Example 2 owl vid by skip; the dominant root function is moved to an inner part where it takes the place of the doubled root, and remans constant in the same voice Considered purely in linear terms, the relationship of these parts is an archerypal illustration of creeping, The principles that connect the voices from chord to chord are constancy on the one hand, and conjunction on the other; voice ether stays fixed, or it moves by step, up or down. There is no longer 2 specific motion of roots in a single voice. Thus we have stood harmonic progression on its head in order to define creeping, here, as a principle of harmonic motion Jn talking about Berg’s harmony I used to refer to ‘sliding chromaticise’ But ‘sliding’ fails to take into account any voices that ata given moment might be stationary, and it also suggests parallelism while simultaneously excluding contrary motion. ‘Creeping’ seems much more suitable.’ It also suggests a ‘mult-legged invertebrate, one that can hold one or more feet motionless at the same time that one or more other feet move forwards or backwards Consider a familiar piece, the C major Prelude from Book I of Bach’s Pell tempered Clavier. The kind of motion in this piece, from measure to measure, from harmony to harmony, is predominanty diatonic creeping. ‘That is, the individual chordal components, the separat> voices, move for the most part from chord t0 chord by conjunet motion or by retention of common tones, which isto say, by step or not at all. There are some well-defined exceptions to this observation, of course, the most important being the motion af a fourth ‘or fifth, defining 2 ‘tonicizing’ or ‘dominantizing’ motion by root progression fof the bass, as in measures 9-10 or 10-1]. Other important exceptions are harmonic inversions and exchange of voices, reformatting operations of musical space, such asthe appearance ofthe A in the upper voice of measure 5 by octave twansfer from the right thumb. But considered on a chord-to-chord basis, these motions, articulating the stronger tonal gestures, are much less frequent than the continuities and contiguities which frame the creeping progressions ‘These are elementary, even trivial examples of what the harmony books call "smooth connection of chords’, and we hardly need a special term like creeping" to emblazon it, So let us consider another equally familiar example in which creeping is more restrictively demonstrated. In Chopin’s E minor Prelude we have an example of chromatic creeping, that is, smooth harmonic motion, but "1am geal to Profesor Joan Smith fa proposing thie aiable tc, Alban Berg and Creeping Chromaticiom 9 not smooth harmonic progression, precisely comparable to the kind of motion we defined in the Bach Prelude but with the added complication of chromatic tones. It is at once apparent that with a chromatic component, the possibilities fof harmonic variety are greatly enlarged, by means of passing tones, suspensions, and neighbour-notes which may or may not be interpretable as chord factors, The most important observation to be made is thatthe functional relationships from chord to chard in this piece are complex and unpredictable ‘They involve a variety of relationships that may variously be described as irregular resolutions, modal mixtures, and remote enharmonic connections. ‘The Chopin example is a mid-ninetcenth-century harbinger, athough we can certainly find much earlier harbingers from Gesualdo onwards, of the phenomenon which we generally refer to as post-Wagnerian chromaticism, in ‘which harmonic progression is dominated by remote tonal relationships, and in which chromatic non-harmonic cones tend to be absorbed into the harmony itself The connection between chords thus becomes primarily a contrapuntal fone rather than a functional one, and the root progression a secondary consideration, (This might ironically be compared to the counterpoint of the sixteenth century, in which the harmonic bass, marked by strong root- progression, was 2 relatively rare phenomenon.) {A familiar ilusteation of these remote tonal relationships, embodied in a specific chordal type, is afforded by the augmented sixth chords (Example 3) Example 3 Two augmented sixth chords cerman ssw Ce vit) st eNO ‘fee Exerybody knows the German sixth as an uncomplicated secondary dominant resolving to V. (Compare, for example, the voice leading of German-to-V with the Vi-I of our Example 2, with its diverging outer voices; of if you like, re~ solve the German sixth to the minor toni &, which retains two common tones.) "Now, the German sixth is also enharmonically equivalent to two otker chords, ‘one of them another very familiar augmented sixth chord, the so-called doubly augmented fourth, which is sometimes whimsically dubbed the ‘Swiss sixth’, or even the ‘Alsatian sixth’, because of its German and French eannections. ‘The other enharmonic equivalent is the dominant of the Nespolitan, a distant but equally familiar relationship which was used to devastating effect, in Pianists’ from Carnival of the Animals. There is nothing at all complicated about this well-defined classical resource, which we can find in HaydnCi) Mark DeVore and Mozart and everybody since; my point in mentioning it here is that the relationships implied by these enharmonic ambiguities are still ell within the familiar contexts of diatonic tonality. An augmented sixth chord in Haydn or Wioaart behaves as 2 chromatic detail of secondary-dominant function, or less frequently as pivot chord in a modulation between two keys which themselves are well-defined diatonically Let us move on to a chromatically altered chord of a type which is more specifically characteristic of nineteenth-cennury chromaticism, a harmonic type that is relatively unfamiliar even to harmony teachers. I cite it here because at is first of all an extension of the augmented sixth chord idea, because it demonstrates tendencies to resolve by chromatic contrary motion of altered factors, and because itis of sufficiently rare occurrence that in 2 half-dozen examples one might wel find as many different resolutions for it refer tothe so-called triad with simultaneously raised snd lowered fifth. The diagrams in Example 4 and the examples which follow show various archetypes of the chord, which is tradivinally formulated as an altered tonic triad, more often ‘with minor third arising by passing motion? ‘The fifth is saived and lowered Example 4 Tonic triad with raised and lowered fifth Inajor (ater) minor (eae) © Ww IP very wari 48 Poor Butverfly { —_ as a consequence of passing motion upward to the major sixth degree and downward to the fourth degree; the root remains where it was, Iris rare that the spelling of the chord ever includes the lowered fifth actually nocated 3 such; enharmonic spellings are the rule, generally so as to allow the cherd to be spelled like a dominant seventh af some kind. The major form maps with the whole-tone scale (note enharmonic equivalence with the French sixth); ‘he minor is an enharinonic equivalent of the ‘Swiss’ and German sixths, and ‘may function as a reverse of the ‘Swiss’ {see Example 48). The most familiar 2 See Waler Piston, Harmony (Sth ev. edn. ed. and enlarged by Mark DeVoto, New York, 1967) ch 28 Alban Berg and Creeping Chromaticiom 6 Example § Wi. Loraine (‘Composer of satome'): Carol of the Bobolink “Tempo di Gavotte, bw wy aia archetype, that of an enharmonic reverse ‘Swiss sixth’ chord, I give here as Example 5, in an excerpt from an item that I found in a friend’s piano bench, and that is thoroughly typical, even a cliché, of the salon styles of the turn of the century, frum Paor Butterfly to The Rosary. I include three additional ‘excerpts, Examples 6-8, all of them from very familiar works. Prom the standpoint of this paper, the most instructive example is certainly Example 8, Example 6 Brahms: Piano Trio in C, Op. 87,1 Gow tye Example 7 Schumann’ Fantasy in C, Op. 19, er a eb. any it minane peda * vecyy from Chopin's Etude in E flat, Op. 10, No, 11, which should make us beware of all Funcaional analyses of chords of this degree of complexity. We can see itspelled very much, though notexactly, as in the Schurnann example, Example 7. We will have trouble, however, identifying it asa chromatically altered tonic triad, In the Chopin example, itarses by passing motion, by stepwise chromatic akeration, from a dominant seventh chord; in fact, it would be perfectly plausible to notate the C flat as 2 B natural, the G flat as an F sharp, and even the E flac as aD shaop-—in effect chromatically raising the entire dominant seventh chord. And why not, since i is an entire chord snoving by passinga Mark DeVato Alban Berg and Creeping Chromatic 6 Example 8 Chopin: Etude, Op. 10, No. 11 (woggles omitted) as far as 1 shall examine it in any detail here; but it is sil an abundant £ characteristic of all the later works, even the telve-tone works. ‘My first example, Example 9, is taken from Berg's Sched, the second of his Scoen Early Songs, and in fact one ofthe three songs in thar group dating from the spring of 1908, the last ofthe group co be composed. The example shows Berg's youthful but mature tonal language in 2 context not much differen, say, from a song by Hugo Wolf, Two aspects are especialy to be noted. One isthe relative weakness, over the whole phase, of the sense of tonal progression, The other isthe strong melodic contrapuntal unity that offets this weakness, a unity that is powerfully enforced by the wedge motion of the outer voice, 25 shown in the reduction, Wedge motion is ¢ special and = symmetrical aspect of creeping, and one that Berg especially loved, one that hoy . veevetviy vey Suggests his later fondness for miorsymimeties in melodic inversions In this example the harmonic vocabulary, though complex is still familar. "The French sixth chord used 35 a dominant in the sscond half of measure 9 isa ‘motion to the chord a diatonic half-step higher than itself (ie. B to C, Fy wo G, DytoE, A ro BA)? Perhaps i is easiest to identify it asa non-harmonie chord, chromatic neighbour chord; the A natural should be B double flat, and the 8s 4 passing chord between V" and V’ of V, this despite its soni identity with the toni fve-pas fvesinus tht ve hore sees she ee cramps Example 9 Schilfied, mm, 9-12 (after ms. by a copyist, probably 1908-11) Chopin's own context makes the contrapuntal meaning of the bond soley clea, he surrounds the chord itself ts predecessor. and ts succes with upper and lower neighbour chords, some af which are as exotic im tel ven =a" intervallic make-up as anything one might find in the twentieth century, — = fi ne ‘What we have with this exotic tonic five-plus five-minus is a harmony that & 4E above ais the result ofa contrapuntal configuration. lt not one that has clearly dentable tot function, a least, not one tha can readily be perceived One certainly doesn't hear this chord asa species of toni wid, one that could substitu in diferene siutions fr the unatre tonic ta. in other won, it san appogiaara chord, n which alert degres substitute as tendency tones, for unaltered ones And we ave seen that despite ts burden fared tones exch af these having a tendency towatd speci solution, the hed itself can resolve to 4 variety of diferent harmonic confguraons, which themselves ae vacousy stable I donot propos a discuss here the extent, hough we may well agree that itis considerable, wo which eeepng is «defining condition of le nncrecnthe century chromatic harmon, encompassing Wagner and Bruckner aad Franck anderen Fauré and Debussy, and despite my definiaon ofthe term ‘regia Tam hardly the frst analyst to draw attention tothe peniples have define Bt the chromatic harmony af the turn ofthe century was the welling Alban Ber’ formative yeas and we havea god idea of what he sted ead performed, and loved most in sic, right up to Schocrber's works. Ad hee Tetate my bei that, more than anyother aspect, creep atts Bes nk ‘with his own Austo-Geaman tonal harmonic erage, We ean see nea | Primary defining condition in bis earliest work, right up to Op. 6 which ieot Mark DeVoro other way around in the bass of messue 10, where the chromatic wedge in the outer parts begins, converging eventually on the octave D in, measure 12, edd not take Berg 2 long time to graduate to more sophisticared wedge patterns, Example 10 shows the opening bars of Sommertage, written around the same time as Schiffied. The meticulous phrasing indications and the subsle, barely visible doulle stem on che G flat in the second measure were added in the final version. In these messures the wedges are constructed out of chromatic scale segments within which a perfece fourth has been interpolated. Example 10 Sommertage, opening measures Saas Alas Berg and Creeping Chrameaticione 6 Example LI Nacht, mm. 8-9 “he =e One wonders why Berg dd no sae the mot =petaar soe ofthe seven, [Nach for lt nsead of puting i fist a he id. Nach lascnting harbinger of symmetrical harmony suchas we wl see more concentrated i his Opp. and'2."The whole-tone premise of the pce is combined with another a-eorld of A major thats constanly flctating with ater keys and with mixed modes. One finds extensive wholestone melodies submerged In Sthole-one harmonies or, ist a¥ often, wholetone melds embed in eronseably tonal progresions Inthe later as, one finds the dominant ia or seventh chord wth eeepingfith upward orGowneard la Seb, a the spectacular cadence of Example 11, The dominant strength of the cadence is plan eng, but the harmony ofthe upperparts is marked by chromate cicepng, with the main whole-tone rudy below above the bus ‘comparable example is found in measures 19-20 [Fxample 12), The whoketone harmony ofthe upper and Inner melodies and colteral maior, third i oft by the B minor iad which nates the progression, pret Gs, or eomplet triads, which do not map with the wholetone seal, dont appei again tse othe phrase, but werenth chords without ty najor ninth chords without fit and various wheletone-smapping appogBatarss dominate the sound, Ye the bas has th big motion ofa peer Bh he toning motion. The stongesttniiations inthis sng are sll els, aml tot positon V-E maton, despite the expansive variety of tempor) Tenis in this elatvely short piece of 38 measres- One cme to suspect ha hen the bass des nat move by this Lind of motion, it wll by and lange move Chromatic, as pare of longer fine than the haven toning "00 ‘motion ri wil move bya combinaon of che two, namely by ito, tha = oP Example 12 Nach mm, 19-20 a chen baum te We eee ee interval being the perfect fh minas the chromatic step. (And this accommo- dates both the chromatic and whole-tone domains, the later by including the French sixth, made up of two tritones a step apart.) Measures 31-4 of Nacht have harmony about as rich as Berg ever wrote in the tonal world (see Example 13}. The reduction shows several of the most prominent elements: the sustained A in the voice with its brief bur very strong Upward creeping to By and down agein, alasge neighbour-note motion after all; and the two chromatic lines in the lower voices, starting from C and E in ‘measure 31, E being the nominal ‘dominant’ of the song, where the bass eventually winds up at the end66 Mark DeVore Example 13 Nackt, mm. 31-4, reduction of accompanimental parts Alban Berg and Creeping Chromaticion oa The climax of the first section of the exposition shows Berg's creeping universe enlarged to include something not met with before in his work: quarcal hharmony (see Example 16). The fourth-chords ae intially part of n emerging Example 16 Piano Sonata, mm. 26-30 (some markings omitted) Sake {In Berg’s next works, the Piano Sonata, Op. 1, and the Four Songs, Op. 2, creeping, especially symmetrical creeping, generates rich but evanescent tonal vocabulary of altered triads, sevenths, and ninths, fourth-chords, and a variety of other harmony. In the opening measures of the sonata (Example |) the harmony js guided by vxo lines of minor sevenths, between bass and alto, The Example 14 Piano Sonata, Op. 1, opening measures, schema a — initiating pitch ofthe upper line is B, the structural one centre; is approached. byareaching-tone C, following a G which remains asthe only constant element in the phrase. The upper-octave G is the high point ofthe phrase, but also the initiating pitch of a descending augmented triad, a whole-tone element which is harmonized, if you like, by the chromatic scale segments beneath it. This opening phrase, slightly more than three measures, defines a substantial Portion of the tonal and harmonic basis from which the entire Sonata evalves Only four bars larer (Example 15) the one-to-one pairing of chromatic and ‘whole-tone elements becomes much more explicit, with both whole-tone and chromatic types ascending in measure 7, whole-tone descending in measure 8. Example 15 Piano Sonata, mm. 7-8 a tn SR ee left-hand harmony with upper elements occasionally added by the right-hand. ‘melody, as the example shows. The left-hand line moves downward chromati- cally, until measure 28, when the fourth-chord creeps inta a major trad, then ‘sack'to an upper fourth-chord arpeggiating toa chord of four perfect fourths, this sonority then creeps differentially in all parts through another whole-tone chord of the dominant-seventh with raised-fith type; only the Gf in the upper voice remains constant, until the cadence in the next phrase (notice the shir between the two staves). The obvious model for Berg's Piano Sonata, harmonically as well as formally, 's Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony, Op. 9, whose very Grundgestalt is a four-measure motto consisting of a fourth-chord creeping to a dominant seventh with raised and lowered filth, creeping to a ‘major triad (see Example 17), Example 17 Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony, Op. 9, beginning6 Mark DeVotw Example 18, showing the bass mation of the entice first song from Berg's Op. 2 illustrates the contrast between tonicizing motions (arrows) and chromatic ereeping, the former marked at various places by chords supported by aperfect filth in the lower voices. Berg's use ofa fourth-chord atthe second Example 18 Op. 2, No. 1, bass motion climax of this song, at measure 18, is more explicie than in the Sonata, as is its creeping origin (See Example 19}. Here the chord is made up of five perfect fourths, and it is only a short distance conceptually to the chord of eleven perfect fourths in measure 66 af Reiger, Op. 6, No. 2, as we will see. Beyond Example 19 Op. 2, No. I, mm. 18-20 hogs Jnmel ne Rat oe Dy SAB yo that, one looks ahead to the Lullaby scene in Wozzeck, in which a harmony based on stacks of perfect fourths is varied with a harmony originating in creeping lines of perfect fourths. Let us look a little mote closely at how the fourth-chord in Op. 2, No. 1 originates conteapuntally. ‘The outer voices canverge chromatically, Db to C and Ag to B; the inner Ds rises to D, the Ey rises to E; the G in the left thumb rises by whole step to A, while the G in the middle ofthe right hand stays where it was atthe beginning ofthe measure six factors, one of them remaining fixed, one moving by whole step, and four ‘moving chromatically. How does the chord resolve, i that isthe right word? The outer voices, as might be expected, are the ones which most prominently Alban Berg and Creeping Chromaticion o continue the creeping motion, maintaining their chromatic convergence; the gin the right thumb moves up to E; the Ein the midale ofthe left hand moves down by whole step to D, converging with the bass; the interior A and G dissolve, that is, they just drop out, and aa incerior Cis added as though out fof nowhere, in the right thumb. This resolution derives in pact from Considerations of tonal harmony, « dominant thirteenth in G major, just barely, Teaving out the tonicizing eleventh, which is G. Tn the second and fourth songs of Op. 2 we can begin to see the emergence of Berg's predilection for certain kinds of special symmetries. Te second song begins with a sequence of French sixths, butin the uncustomary root position, with circle-of-fourths motion in the bass, The French sixth, which ean be “analysed intervalically asa dominant seventh with chtomatically lowered fit, isachord that maps completely withthe whole-tone sale; in sequence, it moves chromatically downward, thereby bridging the chromatic and whole-tone ‘domains by contrapuntal means, Most of the song is dominated by a smoothly ‘connected (je. cteeping) harmony that balances the whole-tone vertical aspect Sgainst the chromatic linear aspect, conclading with the same progression with ‘which the song began. ‘Very similar in shape to this sequence is the sequence of appoggiatura thirteenth chords atthe end of Op. 2, No. 4, in which a chord progression with a cirele-of-fourths bass substitutes for a parallel chromatic succession. Of Course, it represents restoration of the harmonic bass as well, contrary to the creeping upper parts. This became a favourite jaze progression later in the ‘century, with the flexibility of alternative choices of bass notes that serve as fgussi-roots a tritone apart. Example 20 is taken from my discussion in Walter Piston’s Harmony, fifth edition, I offer it here in counterbalance to a well- known suggestion by Stuckenschmid that seems to show that Debussy, in his ‘Six Epigraphes antiques of 1914, was inspired by these early Berg Songs, ‘Stuckenschmidt apparently did not consider a more likely source, if there was one, for Debussy’s progression, namely Ravel's Le Gite of 1909; had he done ‘a, perhaps he could have suggested that the Berg-Ravel friendship, which is documented from 1920 and the Vienna Verein, had begun eleven years earlier. Berg's fondness for creeping upper harmony supported by a circle-of- fourths bass reached a point of grotesqueness inthe textbook progression which appears abruptly at measures 98-0] of the first movement of the Chamber ‘Concerto. We know that the circle of fourths itself is one of the three sets of the first movement of the Lyric Suite, but it does not play any notable role 3s lan organizer of harmony there, One has to look more deeply into the other later ‘works for comparable structures embodied in any kinds of vestigial para-tonal fnetions. ‘The most familiar instance would be the beginning of the Violin > HH, Stuctenschid, ‘Debussy or Berg? The Mystery of « Chord Progression’ acl arent, 50905), 453-8,70 Mark DeVoto Example 20 Ravel: Gaspard de le nuit, U: Le Giber Alban Berg and Creeping Chromatic a Example 21 Op. 2, No. 4, mm. 12-17, motions 63s vary Concerto, especially after the fntraduction, beginning at measure I, where the set is displayed as a harmonic sequence, G minor triad followed by D major, A minor, and E major, with whole-tone harmony after that. An even more striking example isthe V-I bass motion of Lulu’s entrance music, C to F, with creeping upper parts moving in suspensions, first appearing in the Prologue at measures 44-5. In Act II, the entire Melodrama of Seene 2, from measures 983 to the beginning of Lulu’s ‘O Freiheit! at measure 100, is worked out against a subtle background of these VI progressions, some of them sequential with perfect fourth or perfect fifth root motion in the bass, some of them with chromatic motion in the bass and the connecting root motion in the interior of the texture. One of the most poigaant moments of the whole opera isin the final scene, where a fragment of this same music, with its strongly para-tonal projections, underlies the moments where Luka takes Jack into her bedroom. ‘The sequence atthe end of Op, 2, No. 4is rather what we might expect with 4 vestigial tonality, che harmonic bass being introduced in a context where it might be, to say the least, suspicious. More characteristic is the passage at ‘measures 12-15, with its incremental harmony and strong wedge motions in the lower parts (See the reduction in Example 21). The culmination at measure 15 dissolves in chromatcally ascending lines in the lower parts under a fixed sonority in the upper Berg's String Quartet, Op. 3, of 1910, the last work he was to write under ‘Schoenberg's guidance, demonstrates a musical language as remarkably mature and original as one is ever likely o see in anything thae could be called a ‘student work’. If the atonal language of Op. 2, No. 4 is still tentative, that of Op. 3 is superbly confident, George Perle has written extensively about the specifies of the cyelic-intervallic bass of much of Op. 3, and about the important role of the whole-cone pentad plus one odd note, and I need nat dwell on these basic aspects here.* Rather, T wish to point to a few instances in which creeping is validated in this work as the basis of some particular structures. Let us look st at a particular motive, the simple intervallc cell of semitone plus minor third, Looking at Example 22, we see it prominently in the first violin at measures 10-11, harmonized with creeping parts below, second violin moving up by semitone and whole step, viola moving down semitonally; in measures 14-15, a quasi-reflection ofthis harmonization occurs, with the cell melodically inverted, in the viola above, an important new theme. Beyond what I have illustrated here, from measure 10 all the way until measure 32, the entire ‘contrapuntal textuee is saturated with this simple inervallic motive, tts not ‘quite the same thing as an imitative texture, bur chere are numerous entries of | the motive, rectus and inversus, which are joined ta each other by chromatic scale segments in between, or by dosetailing, sometimes in counterpoint with the flourish of measures I-2, whase final three notes are a different permutation of the same basic cell. Yer another ingredient in this motivic fruitcake is the bariolage that appears in measure 1S in the cello, alternating notes of the basic cell with a fixed tone. In what way does this extensive passage demonstrate creeping? By the connectability of the motives! Virtually everything in the passage is either a specific motive, even one as small asa bi-interval cell, or else itis a creeping, semitonal connection between motives * Geunge Pale, ergs Maser Arcay of ouertal Cycles’, Musical Quarry, 53 (197), 1-30n Mark DeVoe Example 22 String Quartet, Op. 3, 1, mm, 9-15 Alban Berg and Creeping Chromaticiom 7 Example 23 Berg: Early piano sonata ‘No. 5° Rosemary Hilmar has recently published a previously unsuspected excerpt which enables the analyst to get a particular peek into Berg's workshop.) Example 23 is from a draft of an early ‘Fifth Sonata’, presumably from 1908 or even earlier; Example 24 shows the same melody and much of the harmony ‘worked into the first movement of the Op. 3 Quartet of 1910. Here we can see Borg raiding an explicitly tonal context for material to be used in the para-tonal language of Op. 3 ‘The harmonic aspect previously referred 19 in measures 10-11 (Example 22) is not a casual one, Its certainly nota reference to a vestigial tonality. More likely it also represents an awareness on Berg's part that a harmonization should not be too symmetrical or too systematic, lest it thereby sound too classically sequential; at the same time, the harmonization demonstrably is meant to be smooth, the supporting parts moving with stepwise contiguity atleast until the * Rosemary Hilmar, ‘Alben Berg's Stade wit Schoenberg, Forno tt AneldSchovnbrg Isic, 8 (8988, 9-2, 059. 26 chord at the end of measure 1. Above all, [ think of this passage as demonsteating what I suspect, without having any way to prove it, is @ profoundly important aspect of Berg's compositions! creeping, namely that if looks lke something one would try out at the sien, the upper fingers ofthe right hand tending to upward motion, the zhumb tending to downward motion, and the middle fingers going cither way. “This same manual construction is even more obvious in the very prominent harmonic motive which first appears at measure 34 of the second movement, the upper part ascending by semitone, the Jower three parts descending by semitone (Example 25). Of course, this motivic progression isa harmonic result fof wedge motion, but ane suspects it was one that Berg tried out manually over land over again at the keyboard Example 25 String Quartet, Op. 3, I, mm. 34-8 ges esa rm creeping within the Gt othe Aedrg Sos, Op: inte Mil seton here te vest enters Example 20). The neding ee the ts and an eran par of ich whok-tne harmony ere Muu tha mark the pin of dparre fr the next cacti sion, src the pte das D ioe becomes a onenote mode. Bue ths pin ot Wine wep is merely the mst pany symmetrical of the ede puters” Mark DeVoto Example 26 Altenberg Songs, Op. 4, No. 1, mm. 17-24 (reduced; voice omitted) conned in the Alienberg Songs, a work in vhich creeping in general, and wedging in particular, become simultancously mare subtle and mare structurally deep. ‘One has Only to consider the symmetrical beta-gamma progression, shown schematically in Example 27, which forms the accompanimental climas of the prelude to the first song, at measures 14-15, and the retrograde of this same progression, in the final measures ofthe fifth song.*In the first song, the entire Iotivie process of six different overlapping figures converges on the high- register beta chord, and then instantly on the downbeat of measure 15 this chord creeps into the gamma chord, the right thumb chromaticaly descending and che other fingers ascending. The transformation of the gamma chord into the beta chord beginning at messure 50 of the fifth song is especialy remarkable; the reduction given in Example 28 does not really doit fll justice, and I urge 2 close look at the orchestral score ‘The most complex textures in allof Berg's works appear in the Taree Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6.’ These huge pieces are Berg's equivalent af an Olympic trial, his own effort to see how far he could carry his own technical sll, They were alsoa fitting farewell to his owr youth, before the rude interruption forced oon his career by the World War. That interruption brought about a period of * fuller amiss of these pasages canbe found in my om disertation, ‘Alban Ber’ Pitre- Postar Songs’ PhD. ds (Princeton Unitersity, 1987), or iaamy ail derived from, Some Notesom the Unknown Atedeg Laer, Pepecin of New Mus, 5/1 (968), 3-76. Thebes td guna’ designations af the preseat ace were oginalywied in those esa, my ony Iustifistion for reining them here "See my attics, “Alban Berps Dros Geckazrtuce op. 6 Sevktur, Thematik und thr Verhatis nu Hoste, Rudolf Klin (e.)dlban Beg Syaperon Win 1980: Tapeh, Albis Brg Sin, (Viena, 181), 97-106, a Alban Berg s Mache Macabre’, Porsertves of New Mus, 2219834), 386-447, se sy Brace Archibald, "Phe Harmony of eras Regen’ Penpetive of New Mase 6/2 (1968), 7-8 Alban Berg and Creeping Chromaticism % Example 27. Altenberg Songs, Op. 4, No. 1, mm, 14-15, schema soul-searching, enabling him to discern very clearly the direction of his fucure efforts in operatic composition. They also representa culmination of a motivie tendency in his work which he did not pursue further, in that, putting it crudely, some parts of the Three Pieces, especially the Marsch, are so densely ‘motivie that there is no room even for any kind of para-tonally regulated harmony. The harmonic values of the Three Pieces are generally displayed in texcures that are relatively spare motivcally, or where particular harmonic structure is itself given motivie prominence, but these occasions are less frequent chan the comparatively abundant episodes of massed motivic textures. ‘The Praludium, in particular, is dominated by harmonic motives in its outer seetions, which are formally delineated by the use of a chord series and its partial retrograde, with a good deal of creeping connectability ‘There are relatively few places in the Three Pieces where any creeping is regulated by anything so absolute as a precise symmetry or mirror reflection, as in the Marsch, measures 130-3. Such precise wedge formations a5 those have already referred ta in the earlier works, and of which some notable ‘examples can also be found in the Clarinet Pieces, Op. 5, are hardly tobe Found atall in Op. 6, although there are some approximations that are particularly intriguing. Bur generalized creeping isstill very mucha part ofthe contrapuntal world of Op. 6. Most often, creeping is used as a connective process, to join ‘up motives, even simply a8 a chromatic transposer, 3s in the several chromatic transpositions of the seven-note canonic subjects of measures 85-90 of the ‘Marsch. The most reductive characteristic of creeping, the chromatic seale16 Mork DeVoto itself, is a regular inhabitant of this total environment. [have not found any particular structural reason, for instance, forthe maintenance of a pedal-point in the bass on F for nearly [4 measures in the Marsch, from m. L1] to the end of m, 124, when it begins to descend chromatically, eventually reaching a low Ay in measure 130 before vanishing into something else. Certainly ths isn’t Something that is easy to hear, but then very litle of anything is easy to hear in the Marech Creeping applied systematically to a chordal texture is illustrated by the six part chord beginning at measures 160-1 of the Marsch, the chord whose chromatic ascent Stravinsky compared to the Drowning Music in Act II of Wozzeck, The chord ascends upward chromatically in six parallel parts, which, at various points in their ascent turn around and descend, or even around again, with everything eventually converging on 2 central unison D. ‘This is an example of dissolution by creeping, comparable tothe gamma chord in the first of the Altenberg Song, On the other hand, in Reifen, a stack of three perfect fourths grows by cumulation of fourths above and below, while each of its parts is omamented by variously oscillating upper and lower chromatic neighbour- rotes-stationary ereeping, or ‘wiggling, if you lke—until in measure 66 there is a stack of eleven perfect fourths, and al the nes of the chromatic scale (see Example 29), The creeping here is not an aspect of harmony but of sound and Example 29 Tiyee Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6, U: Reigen, mm, 63-6 (Gome details omitted) ate eC oe | 5 Alban Berg and Creeping Chromatciom ” texture. So, too, is the passage at measures 105-6 of the Marsch, my last example, Example 30, which I think reaches an ultimate in creeping in Berg's works. In writing out the reduction for this example I have placed the motivic parts above, and the creeping parts below them, so that the creeping can be Seen in all of is exaggerated richness. But again i¢ must be emphasized that in the Marsch ereeping is principally an aspect of texture, and only to a much lesser extent an aspect of control of harmony. ‘The Marsch thus marks a departuce from the other two pieces ia the set, in which there is always a more definite perception of harmonic progression, with a demonstrable connection from chord to chord, a connection in which creeping is often the most prominent defining condition, In Wozzeck itis easy enough to point to important instances of ereeping ‘the wedge structure of the ‘knife’ motive, for instance, or the second “variation” of the chard series in Act II scene 4, a “Vergiss mein nicht! Bruder!, where the chords are connected 1» one another by chromatic passing-tones, or the motive ‘Ach, Marie!, or any of numerous accompanimental ea sransitional passages which one can just imagine Berg savouring as he tested them out patiently on his Bosendorfer, But creeping is, in fact, less important as 2 generative element in Wozzeck than itis inthe earlier works, albeit still avery important one. The reason is not hard to find: the roaturity of Berg’s large~ scale sense of structure in Wozzeck, above all the aspects of structure that are Example 30 Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6: 18), Magsch, men, 105-6precisely motivated by the drama, The para-tonality of Wozeeck is regulated by specific tone centres, by motives, by abstract formal devices, even by specifically tonal structures—and by creeping as well. Ie is one mote tool in the workshop. ret tn eee ene