Encounters with the Chromatic Fourth...
or, More on Figurenlehre, 1
Author(s): Peter Williams
Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 126, No. 1707 (May, 1985), pp. 276-278
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
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Encounterswiththe ChromaticFourth
... or,More on Figurenlehre,
1
PeterWilliams
Variouspublicationshave delvedmoredeeplyintothis ascendingfor'AndIsraelbyPhilistineArmsshallfall'in
interesting areasince1979whenI wrotebriefly onitinfour Saul) to latterday theorists,one ofwhom(Sabatini,1802)
numbers ofMT (June, July, August,October); those essays showed that it could be a positive,firmthemesuitablefor
themselves wereonlya manifestation ofthegrowing interest 'et vitamventurisaeculi'in theCreed.Butthethemewas
in a subjectaroundwhichmuchhas beenwritten in the also one suitableforcounterpoint per se, particularlyof
lastthreeor fourdecades(see listofreferences at theend keyboard counterpoint ofnopossibleprogrammatic intent.
forsomeexamples).However,thesestudiesand disserta- Oneofthoseoratorio themesofHandelaboveis itself based
tions- thatistosay,theproductions ofscholars andwriters on an earlierkeyboard fugue,and nottheleastinteresting
in general- arelargelygearedtotherhetorical theory, or detailinthemakeupofJ.S.Bach'sArtofFugueisthatdespite
whatis fanciedto be such,behindthemusicalpatterns or itskey(D minor,the'original'keyfortheChromatic 4th)
motifs concerned: tostudythemelodicandharmonic cells anditsencyclopedic variety(over20 piecesbasedona theme
ofmusic,especially thatofthe17thcentury andearly18th, goingthroughmanykindsofcontrapuntal treatment)he
is to studytheblocksfromwhichone buildsa hypothesis is so sparingwithit.Whenhe doesuse theChromatic 4th,
abouta composer's knowledge ofandinspiration drawnfrom ittakestheformofcountersubjects to one or otherthema
RulesofRhetoric.J.S.Bach in particular is a beneficiary - forexample,ex.la, b and c. Otherchromatic ideasare
fromorvictimof(depending on one'sviewpoint) wonder- Ex. 1
fulhypotheses ofthiskind:I amthinking ofsuchseductive a)
buttotally unfounded theoriesas thatTheMusicalOffering -
is in some sense based on the writingsof the Roman o.3
rhetorician Quintilianus (Kirkendale) orthatthePassacaglia
b)
is in somesensebased on theChristiannumerologies of
Werckmeister (Kee).
Of course,in thebroadsenseanypiece of good music
is 'rhetorical':rhetoric is thenamefortheartofeffective c) (inversion)
expression.But one can have a quite falseidea of the
significance ofrhetoric bystudying- as manyAmerican ,go,
andGermanstudents areencouraged to do - theworkof
theseold theorists who look in fromthe outsideon the developedin TheArtofFugue,anditis as ifthecomposer
mysteries ofcomposition andcannomorefully comprehend deliberately avoidedthestandard formula. Thatitwasa stan-
thegreatcomposers oftheirdaythanmusicalgrammarians dardformula, oratleast- sincethatphasetodaysuggests
obsessedwiththe wickednessof unprepared9thscould something notquiteto a composer'scredit- a motifof
understand Wagner.In fact,'rhetoric'and 'grammar'are naturalinterest toJ.S.Bach,is clearfroma moment inthe
comparableattributes, equallyimportant, thatis to say, C majorPreludefromBookII ofthe'48', whereaccording
basic.One can no moredemonstrate a linkbetweenBach to theautographcopynow in the BritishLibrary(Add.
and a rhetorician byshowing his music to be rhetorically 35921,f.1; see Daw and Franklin)he madea Chromatic
shaped than one demonstrates a link between Shakespeare 4thin D minoronlyas an afterthought (ex.2).
andsomegrammarian byshowing thatsentences inHamlet
Ex. 2
have a subject,verband object. a),
Rather,therefore, thanfindexamplesofcertainmusical
devices(motifs, cells,rhythms, patterns, figurae)in order
tousethemas demonstrations ofhowmuchattention com-
poserspaidtotheorists, I wouldliketopointoutsomepar-
ticularexamplesofoneofthosefigurae, theChromatic 4th,
witha viewtoshowing howcomposers havetakencommon- b) (revised
as)
property ideasto heart.It is clearthattheChromatic 4th
did frequently haveassociations
ticular'programme', from
of 'mood' or evena par-
thelate16th-century Italian(and
11-
thenEnglish)madrigalists, through Schiitz(textsconcern-
ingsin,in Kleinegeistliche Konzerte) andHandel(descend- irlF ! ido , 1 dO
ingin'Theyloathedtodrinkoftheriver'inIsraelinEgypt,
276
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Of course,Bach and his contemporaries grewup with Ex. 5 Piano 1 8va sopraetc.
S
musicmakinguse of the Chromatic4th,whethervocal
(Schtitz, Tunderetc)orkeyboard
Scheidt, (Scheidt,Krieger,
Buxtehudeetc),andonecan imaginethatorganists always Piano 2
foundthethemeinitsvariousforms usefulforcounterpoint,
eitheras a subjectin itsownrightor as a countersubject,
particularly inso-called
permutation fugues(e.g.thechorus Pianos1,2 Pianos 1,2 (stated twice)
in theearlyCantata131, also knownin an 18th-century
transcription fororgan,BWV131a).So did Englishand point.Mozartused it solelyforthatpurposerightat the
Dutchorganists ofc1600(see MT July1979)andFrench endofa veryexuberant D majorwork,theSonatafortwo
organists ofc1700. G. Jullien(Livred'orgue,1690)speaks pianos or harpsichords K448 (see ex.5). Not onlyis the
of the'chromatic theme marked 'Coda' but thecomposerevenslurredit -
piecesin thefirsttone'(D minor)as if
by no means a common detailinMozart'skeyboard music
theywerea matterof course,a genrein themselves, and
it is clearenoughthatG.-G. Nivers(Livresd'orgue,1665, ofthisperiod.The slurconforms to(perhapsevenalludes
1667, 1675)gavea modelfuguegravewhenhe decorated to?) the legatotreatment giventheoccasionalchromatic
the Chromatic4thas in ex.3. phrase in otherwise bright, extrovert
musicinmucholder
Ex.3 keyboard repertories (e.g. Buxtehude's Gelobetseistdu,
9 BUXWV188).
- i -'. After D minor(mode1),thetwokeysmosttobeassociated
withtheChromatic 4thwereG minorandA minor(modes
Perhapsmoreinteresting, however,are the orchestral 2 and 3), and one can assumethatmanyappearancesofit
worksoftheperiodthatturnto thethemeas a kindofD inC minorandevenF minorweremeanttobe particularly
minorformula.One ofthemoststriking examplesis the 'sad'. Although thatmightnotalwaysbe so in,say,Italian
finaleto Vivaldi's Concertoin D minorfromL'estro violinsonatas(whereB minoror evenmoreremotekeys
armonico,op.3 no.11, where,afterappearingin various mightcarrytheChromatic 4thin worksofAlbinoni,Cor-
guisesearlier,it is used to roundofftheconcerto(ex.4). elli and others),it would be so in Germancantatasor
Ex. 4
keyboardmusic(e.g. the F minorlamentoin the B flat
CapriccioBWV992)and even,so one can assume,in the
anthems ofEnglishcomposers likeBlowandCroft(where
modes1,2 and3 arenormal). In theG majorQuartetK387,
Mozartusedthethemein severalkeysandforseveralpur-
SI poses;as episodematerial(firstand lastmovements), as a
theme(minuet!),as a themeto be harmonized or to be
imitated But'sadness'isfarfrom
contrapuntally. thisquartet
andindeeditmustcomeas something ofa surprise
tothose
whoexaminetheworktosee justhowmuchchromaticism
itdoescontain:one'sabidingimpression ofK387is hardly
(stated twice)
thatofmelancholy. One can seethequartetas - whatever
I havegivenitinex.6intheversion elseit is - a 'vindication'
bya veryalertcomposerofthe
byJ.S.Bach
transcribed
Chromatic4th'slegacy:a passagelikethatin ex.6 seems
(OrganConcertoBWV596.iv)as a reminderthatItalian tocounterthistradition, oneofthe
instrumental musichada currency farmorebasicthan,for consciously reminding
woodwindlinesin Mozart'smatureorchestral works(e.g.
example,French:an Englishor Germancomposermight
imitatetheFrenchstyles,buttheItalianwereintrinsic. Of each movement oftheG minorSymphony).
widerinfluence thananything French,forexample, wasthe Ex. 6
fineuse thatAlbinonimadeofstandardformulae (Suonate Lil ii',,
a treop.1, 1694),formulaeliketheChromatic 4thandthe
littleoff-beat
figurasuspirans (see MT Aug 1979). That
poorerItaliancomposersof the 18thcenturypulledthe
Chromatic 4thoutofthedrawer, as itwere,whenever they
wantedsadmusicisclearfrom conventionalorganinterludes
composedforRequiemmasses(e.g.thePistoianrepertory, AICI
ed.U. Pineschi);anycomposer ofanyperiodcouldguarantee
theeffectproducedbythefigureifhe usedit slowly.But
toa goodcomposer, wouldhavebeen
interesting
particularly
theair of finalitythattheChromatic4thcan bringwith
?
itto vigorous,livelymusic;theVivaldiin ex.4 is a case in cresc, .1 t
277
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One can onlyassumethekeyassociations to havebeen Ex. 8
DONNA ANNA
yam- deg- gian-do il cor
verystrong,howeverfarbeneaththeconsciouslevel.For mi.on
example,Haydnhas it in F majorin his motetInsanaeet
vanae curae,but only as a relativeto D minor:tonusprimus
stillgovernsit. Of course,Haydn'semploying a figura- DON OTTAVIO
falserelation,forexample- forthe purposesof word-
paintingor word-marking is only to be expected,and
(passagestated
twice)
examples arenot hardto find.The tradition
wasquitever- 5 - 11),andwhentheCommendatore hasbeenkilled,itis
satileenoughtoincludebothsecularandsacredwords,ever as ifMozartcouldnothelpbutbringin thekindoffigura
since(forexample)Monteverdi's use ofthemadrigalists' thatcolouredcountlessrequiemsand
Chromatic4thforhis 'Crucifixus'fromtheMass In illo (nowforeshortened)
othersolemnoccasions(ex.8).The D minoritself is allusive
tempore.Haydn'sawareness ofcompositionbyfiguraeisclear andonecanexpectthechromatic lineinoperaticD minors
enoughfromthephraseperfiguramretardationis in theslow
elsewhere(e.g. theQueen ofNight'sariain Act 2 ofDie
movement oftheF minorQuartet op.20no.5,drawing atten-
tionto thefirstviolinist'sdecorations thathavetheeffect forZauberfl'te).Composersin othertraditions- such as Gluck
hisFrench - areas likelytousetheChromatic
of'delaying'theharmony note(in TheArtofFugue,Bach 4thinother Iphiginie moreenpassant,the(usually)descending
wouldhaveusedmerely a slur,thena farlesscommon keys,
sign). linesgivingtherequiredpathos(examplesin G minorand
Such 'retardations' had been spokenof by J.G. Walther A minor inAct1oflphiginie enTauride), ifthere
particularly
(Praecepta,1708),thoughnot by Fux, a copyof whose is a bit of alla brevecounterpoint of an antiquecast
GradusadParnassum Haydnownedandtowhichhis'figural somewhere in theneighbourhood. But Mozart'susageis
awareness' is generallyattributed.Haydnso oftengivesthe notmereantiquarianism; norarethoseto be described in
appearanceofcomposing withthekindoffinedetail- the nextarticle.
allusionsandthesurprises- recognizable tofellowprofes- my
sionalsthatit is noteasyto be sureone has caughtall his (to be concluded)
allusionsandnudgings. ButtheChromatic 4thextonoprimo REFERENCES
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Muziekgeschliedenis
and Prospect:Milnerat 60
Retrospect
StephenDodgson
AnymusicAnthonyMilnermayhave written in adoles- asidetheyouthfulthings(whichI suspecttohavebeenvery
cence,orduringhisyearsas a studentattheRoyalCollege romantic) in knowledgethathisop.1,thecantataSalutatio
ofMusicintheimmediately postwar period,hasneverbeen angelica,
representedanunmistakable It contains
maturity.
allowedto see thelightofday.In conversation he shows no lapsesfroma remarkablelevelofmusicalquality.In the
no inclination
tomentionit.Therearereallyno formative handlingand balanceofitsforcesit soundslikethework
years;oncestudentshipwasbehindhim,Milnerwasfully ofa composeroftwicetheexperience. Aboveall,itsstruc-
maturein thecreativesenseand as authoritativeas he is tureis beautifully
poised,withouthintofeffortor artifice
now.This mayindeedhavemadeit easierforhimto put inachieving aningenious ofmusicalelements,
relationship
278
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