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408 Analysis Project

In the second movement of Babbitt's Three Compositions for Piano, Babbitt derives the musical material by exploiting characteristics of the row from the first movement. He uses the hexachords from the first row, which have the same prime form. Babbitt structures the movement by completing the aggregate vertically and horizontally using combinations of the trichords from the first movement's row. He develops the material through several iterations that focus on different trichords, and uses transposition and inversion of the row between the hands. Babbitt tightly controls dynamics and form based on the relationships within the original row.

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Andrew Binder
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61 views3 pages

408 Analysis Project

In the second movement of Babbitt's Three Compositions for Piano, Babbitt derives the musical material by exploiting characteristics of the row from the first movement. He uses the hexachords from the first row, which have the same prime form. Babbitt structures the movement by completing the aggregate vertically and horizontally using combinations of the trichords from the first movement's row. He develops the material through several iterations that focus on different trichords, and uses transposition and inversion of the row between the hands. Babbitt tightly controls dynamics and form based on the relationships within the original row.

Uploaded by

Andrew Binder
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Andrew Binder

Professor Lund
MUS 408E
4 October 2019

Babbitt’s ​Three Compositions for Piano​ Mvt. II Analysis

In ​Three Compositions for Piano​, Babbitt derives the music material for the second

movement by exploiting the characteristics of the first movement’s row. The hexachords make

the row significant by having the characteristic of being the same prime form. The prime forms

of the original row hexachords are [023457] and are set a tritone apart within the row to

complete the aggregate. Because they have the same prime form, this means they will be

hexachordal combinatorial with other rows. Babbitt uses this to his advantage by completing the

aggregate vertically and horizontally simultaneously, while also highlighting the trichords of the

first movement’s row. Four trichords make up the row, comprising of two [015] sets followed by

[012] and [027].

Babbitt begins the second movement with a statement of the row I7 or RI1, but with a

slight change. He swaps the order of the ninth and tenth pitch, G and E. Doing this creates a row

comprised of all [015] trichords but still keeps the same hexachord relationships in tact.

Babbitt clearly shows this in the first three bars, which is marked at quarter note equals

fifty-four. The first three bars can be viewed in a couple of ways in relation to the row. The

aggregate is completed vertically in the first bar and a half, with another aggregate in the next bar

and a half.

These aggregates are related by the trichords being inverted so that the trichord in the bottom

staff of the first half is moved to the top staff. The same goes for the rest of the trichords in a

criss cross fashion. The section can also be viewed horizontally, with the aggregates being
completed in the top and bottom staves, however only the top staff follows the row from the

beginning cleanly, with the bottom staff in perhaps in imitation of the top.

The quarter note equals fifty-four section returns for a total of four iterations in the piece.

The first and second iterations only comprise of [015], where the third uses [012] and fourth only

has [027]. These sections utilize the same trichords of the original row in the same order they

appear. Each of these sections share the same contour and similar deployment of the trichords,

with anticipations, dynamic swells. All the phrases also end with repeated eighth notes. One of

the main differences however are that the second and fourth iterations are inverted or reversed

depending on the perspective. The first and second section are also related by T3I, which is the

same relationship within the two [015] trichords of the original row. These sections give insight

into how Babbitt structures the rest of the piece.

Moving past the first three measures, Babbitt continues with the same row with

variations. The top voice in measures 4-6 are the retrograde of the top voice in the intro, with the

bottom voice taking the prime form. This creates a criss cross or inverted phrase. The dynamics

invert as well, with the first and last trichord changing from forte in the top voice to piano in the

bottom voice. The same happens for the second and third trichords changing from pianissimo to

mezzo-forte. The dynamics also seem to be tied to the trichords based off of which iteration. For

instance, the outer trichords have the normal forms of (015) and dynamic tantum of forte and

piano, whereas the inner trichords’s normal forms are (045) with dynamics pianissimo and

mezzo-forte. Babbitt swaps these traits in measures 7-9.

In measures 10-13 , he now transposes the row to I4 or RI10 in the top voice and P3 or

R9 in the bottom voice. This transposition is related to the previous rows by T3I, which again is
the same relationship as the two original [015] trichords. Going to measures 14-17, he swaps

dynamics from the previous section and works the row loosely, by completing the aggregates

both between the two voices vertically in measures 14-15 and 16-17, but also horizontally over

the four measure span in the separate staves.

Bars 18-30 mark a new section now utilizing strictly [012] in the top voice and [027] in

the bottom voice but they still complete the aggregate in the same way as previous sections. To

do this, Babbitt again makes an adjustment to the row by swapping the eighth and eleventh

pitches of the prime form. This creates a row of two [027] trichords and two [012] trichords,

while keeping the hexachord pitch material intact like before. From this, Babbitt’s new rows are

P5/I11 and RI2/I8. These rows hold hexachordal combinatoriality between each other. Because

of this, Babbitt uses them in tandem to complete the aggregate horizontally and vertically

throughout m.18-30. A “row” or series of [012] trichords complete the top voice aggregate while

a series of [027]’s complete the bottom voice aggregate with P5/I11 and RI2/I8 combined for

vertical completion. Sections are marked in the score to show when the aggregate resets.

In conclusion, Babbitt uniquely exploits the inner characteristics of his original row from

the first movement, creating a similar process to twelve tone rows in completing the aggregate

with trichords but with a largely different musical result. Moreover, he takes the relationships

within his row and trichords to the fullest, through musical form, phrase structure, and dynamics.

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