#2 The Musical Style of Elliott Carter: the analysis of the Piano Sonata (1945-1946)
UDC: 78.082.2
78.071.1 Картер Е.
COBISS.SR-ID 283393292
_________________
Received: Dec 15, 2019
Reviewed: Jan 04, 2020
Accepted: Jan 09, 2020
#2 The Musical Style of Elliott Carter: the analysis of the Piano Sonata (1945-1946)
Citation: Wang, Yingying. 2020. "The Musical Style of Elliott Carter The analysis of the Piano Sonata (1945-1946)." Accelerando: Belgrade Journal of Music and Dance 5:2
Acknowledgments: This paper was the part of Doctoral Treatise at the Florida State University, College Of Music. The Treatise was defended on April 2, 2019. The author expresses her gratitude to the professors and supervisory committee David Kalhous (professor directing treatise), Alice Ann Darrow (University Representative), Diana Dumlavwalla (Committee Member) and Heidi Williams.
Abstract
The purpose of this paper focuses on American composer Elliott Carter and his Piano Sonata (1945-46). Elliot Carter’s Piano Sonata is a representative example of his distinctive modernist style. After his early works written largely in Neoclassical idiom, Carter embarked on a new musical path in this work. His innovative approach to form, harmony, thematic design, metric elements, sound, and timing according to the common sonata structures differ significantly from the traditional approaches to this form. The compositional aesthetic of this work has become one of the hallmarks of American musical modernism, foreshadowing the compositional direction of piano sonatas in the latter half of the twentieth century. Carter’s music has known for his metrical complexity, in which metric modulation and polyrhythmic application largely emerged after 1948. The trademark is specifically launched in his Cello Sonata (1948). The 1945 Piano Sonata is the piece a few years earlier in which rhythmical complexity began to expose. Author demonstrates the layer of rhythmical pulse through the method of thematic analysis, rather than merely focusing on metric modulation technique. In contrast to most scholarships that have a rigorous study for Carter’s eclectic deed on the fusion of European neoclassicism and American avant-garde, the author discusses the composer’s new compositional approach in the Sonata. Finally, author’s analysis concentrates on specific innovative aspects that make the work unconventional, showing why Carter is one of the most important voices of American modernism.
Elliott Carter, piano sonata, polyrhythm, pandiatonicism, musical analysis, American modernism
Introduction
Carter’s new approach to sonata form
As a composer I am primarily concerned with the contrasts and changes of character in music, in plastic flow, in motion from one point to another, and with the expression of feelings as they change smoothly or abruptly, one commenting, amplifying, or denying the other. The interesting operation of cause and effect, of transformation in time, of the whole sense of flow reveals itself in changes of harmony, of rhythm and texture rather than in static repetition. My music is essentially a kinetic projection of ideas, using perspectives in time. Since I work primarily with this dimension, the actual details of harmony, texture, and tone color are chosen more for their suggestions of motion than for any intrinsic character they may have. On the whole I prefer to use the usual vocabulary of contemporary music and to view it in new temporal sequences. [ The original typed letter with autograph signature (both analysis and artistic credo); The autograph manuscript was kept as Edgard Varèse collection, Paul Sacher Foundation, and reprinted by permission of Marylin Vespier)].
Carter began composing his Piano Sonata during the summer of 1945 with the support of a Guggenheim fellowship and finished it in January of 1946. He dedicated the work to John Kirkpatrick, a prominent music scholar and pianist. The pianist Webster Aitken premiered the work at the Frick Museum in New York City in February of 1948, a performance that Carter complimented highly. That summer, Edgard Varèse requested Carter’s permission to use his Sonata as one demonstration of twentieth-century American composers’ music for his lecture series at Columbia University. Carter quickly accepted Varèse’s invitation and provided his full analysis for this piano sonata per the request of Varèse, along with a brief account of his artistic credo, quoted above.
There are two versions of the published score. The second revised publication by Mercury Music Corporation in 1982 removed all the metrical markings in the first movement, which in the first edition appeared at each measure. Since the irregular groups of beats result in frequent metric changes, time signature markings are difficult to specify. Therefore, the purpose of this later decision to remove all time signatures was meant to simplify the appearance of the score, thus facilitating performance. Rather than thinking about the measure as a unit, the pianist simply groups the beats into units of two or three.
In the Piano Sonata, Carter uses the basic framework of sonata plan but deviates from certain formal, thematic, and tonal expectations. Technically, the score labels two movements, however, Carter declares that the whole sonata is in three movements, the second movement is interrupted by the fugal third movement, that embeds into the second movements without pause. My analysis is based on the score indication, where marked in two movement.
This sonata is the first of many of Carter’s works to exhibit a formal design in which sections are interrupted and resumed. The second movement features two contrasting sections: the first is a slow, lyrical section in ABA’ form; the second is a fast fugue marked Allegro giusto. The first section returns after the fugue, and a meditative epilogue closes the piece. Before the entrance of the fugue subject, there is an introduction based on the fragments of the subject. As Felix Meyer and Anne Shreffler have observed,
this large-scale Beethovenian fugal last movement consolidates Carter’s deep interest in traditional counterpoints. (Meyer and Shreffler 2008, 73).
Carter described the work’s design as follows:
It contains no true development in the classical sense... all the ideas are in a constant state of change, expansion, contraction, intensification. Yet at the same time the Sonata displays a conspicuously sophisticated approach to the classical forms of sonata-allegro and fugue." (Schiff 1998, 208).
David Schiff insightfully comments on the innovative aspects of sonata structure and form the work exhibits:
The merger of an improvisatory style with classical structures does not feel strained or artificial. If Carter’s aim was to achieve the poetic complexity of Ives’ Concord Sonata through abstract means rather than programmatically as Ives had done, he succeeded. (Ibid. 209).
The first movement follows the basic framework of sonata-allegro form, as shown in Table 1.1. The sections are distinguished by thematic ideas, but instead of using traditional key relationships. Carter uses pandiatonicism. A pandiatonic musical language essentially lies between tonality and atonality and has no strong tonic foundation. The seven-note diatonic scale can be stated beginning on any of the twelve pitches without the limitations of functional tonality. The term was coined by Nicolas Slonimsky in his book Music since 1900. According to Slonimsky,
"Pan-diatonicism sanctions the simultaneous use of any or all seven tones of the diatonic scale, with the bass determining the harmony. The chord-building remains tertian, with the seventh, ninth, or thirteenth chords being treated as consonances functionally equivalent to the fundamental triad. (The eleventh chord is shunned in tonic harmony because of its quartal connotations.) Pan-diatonicism, as consolidation of tonality." (Slonimsky 1938, xxii)
| First Movement | ||
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | ||
| Maestoso, mm.1-14 | ||
| Scorrevole, mm. 15-23 | ||
| Maestoso, mm. 24-32 | ||
| Exposition | ||
| First theme realm, mm. 33-82 | ||
| Second theme realm, mm. 83-112 | ||
| Closing theme realm, mm. 113-122 | ||
| Development | mm. 123-223 | |
| Recapitulation | ||
| First theme realm, mm. 224-253 | ||
| Introduction material, mm. 254-264 | ||
| Second theme, mm.258-271 | ||
| Coda | mm. 272-295 | |
| Second Movement | ||
| A section | mm. 1-24 | |
| B section | mm. 25-51 | |
| A’ Section | mm. 52-75 | |
| Fugal Introduction | mm. 76-103 | |
| Subject entrance | mm. 76-103 | |
| A section | mm. 104-329 | |
| B section | mm. 341-361 | |
| A’ Section | mm. 362-392 | |
| Epilogue | mm. 393-414 | |
In pandiatonicism the key signature does not refer directly to a specific key in the traditional system; rather, it suggests the tonal center of that key and other closely-related keys. The diatonic notes combine with other pitches with added accidentals to create dissonances without resolution, and there are no standard chord progressions. The music has temporary tonal centers but they are presented in a state of constant change.
Richard Kostelanetz has explained that pandiatonicism "possesses both tonal and modal aspects, with a distinct preference for major keys." (Kostelanetz 2013, 465). Sometimes pandiatonicism is referred to as "white-note" music. The added accidentals are usually integrated with diatonic triads or extended chords. Composers such as Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, Maurice Ravel and Aaron Copland have applied this technique. A quintessential example of pandiatonic structure is found in the opening of the first movement of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, where the music shifts abruptly between C major and E-flat minor. In addition, accidentals are frequently added within the diatonic material, which interferes with a sense of tonal center (Example. 1.1).
Example 1.1. Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 3, First movement, mm. 15-20.
The overall tonal spectrum of the Piano Sonata explores an intensification of the overtone series, which causes resonance of the half-step relationship of B and B-flat. (Ibid., 205). All twelve pitches are covered by the overtone series, as the sequence of fifths can generate the entire twelve-note spectrum (Fig. 1.1).
Figure 1.1 Overtone series of pandiatonicism used in Carter’s Piano Sonata, as presented by David Schiff. (op. cit., . 206).
The pitches B and A-sharp disturb the seemingly congenial relationship between keys of B and B-flat, on which the overall tonal organization is based. The effect is one of constant, unpredictable modulation and the interaction of different tonal centers simultaneously.
In a letter to Edgard Varèse, Carter noted the grand sonority he intended to deliver in this work, juxtaposing a diversity of characters and employing a wide range of tone colors and expressive qualities. As he pointed out, this sonata shows a stylistic similarity with Copland, Ives, and Stravinsky. (Carter 1989, 37). The piece’s tone colors, in particular, attest to substantial engagement with the music of Charles Ives. Carter’s work highlights the piano’s dual nature as a percussive instrument and a lyrical and harmonic instrument. In order to present mercurial shifts in mood and character, as well as bewildering sonorities and expressions, the piece makes an ample use of harmonics, resonance tones, different kinds of attacks, a variety of pedal techniques, and chords of different densities and spacings. (Meyer and Shreffler op. cit., 73)
Carter provides his own detailed analytical insight for the first movement. His focus, he claims, is on emphasizing small thematic cells, their relationship to each other through diverse interactions, and their infinite capacity for transformation. In his "credo" he declares that
music is essentially a kinetic projection of ideas, using perspectives in time. (Ibid., 76)
He also tells Varèse how the structures of thematic materials are organized. Rather than developing "blocks" of material in sequential order, the form of this piece is fluid. Short motivic ideas are combined, recalled, foreshadowed and transformed. (Ibid., 77). Carter also said:
I’m especially interested in the time plan of music, and in the modeling of phrases and sections and their interconnections, rather than in the discovery of novel momentary effects, and I think that this work exhibits this phrase of my musical thought rather clearly. (Bernard 2003)
Part I, Movement I
1.1. Thematic Organization
Carter sketched the major thematic ideas of the first movement in the form of fragmental cells (Fig. 2.2). Each of these motives is short and is organized by a specific intervallic structure.The score excerpts in Examples 2.1 show the motives from Carter’s original sketch by circled marking. Carter manipulates each of the motives by using compression, expansion, interruption and extension in order to maintain the interconnections of thematic networks. Overall, there are two contrasting thematic ideas: a flowing scorrevole one with quickly moving rhythmic figures and a slow, expressive one with more sustained notes and intervals.
Figure 2.1 Autograph sketch analysis of thematic ideas created by Carter
Motives (a), (b), (d), (e) and (g) are part of the slow figuration group (Example 2.1). Essentially, (a) contains octaves and (b) contains thirds. The ascending whole tone scale marked as (g) grows out of the (a). A descending slow figure falls into resolution with perfect and consonant intervals based on eighth and fifth marked as (d), and the dotted descending motive consist of third and sixth is (e). The (d) and (e) motives form the first part of the secondary thematic group and correspond to (a) and (b).
Comparatively, (c), (f), (h) and (i) are the fast scorrevole motives. The (c) and (f) contain two arpeggio figures which appear throughout significant portions of scorrevole passages. The interaction between (c), (f) and (h) takes up a large portion of the Exposition (Example 2.2). The second stage of the translocation and intensification occurs in the development, where (c) and (f) extend into longer passages between measures 136 and 210 (Example 2.3). The (h) idea occurs at m. 36 played as the primary theme idea after the scorrevole opens up the exposition (Example 2.4), and the chromatic scale (i), which is frequently used as part of closing gestures, appears much later at m. 82. Within the first twenty-three measures we hear all of the thematic materials presented except for (h) and (i):
Example 2.1. Complete motivic cells in alphabetic order from (a) to (i)
Example 2.2. Interplay between (h), (c) and (f), mm. 42-50
Example 2.3. Variation and extension on (c) and (h), mm. 190-202.
The secondary lyrical theme comes from the (b) and (e) and is basically arranged in rows of thirds (Example 2.4). The fragment of the secondary themes return shortly before the Recapitulation starts at m. 235. The descending (e) figure usually appears to conclude the lyrical passage. In the development, it encounters successive variations, it reappears frequently as a sectional division, the most obvious case appears prior to secondary theme returns in the recapitulation (Example 2.5).
Example 2.4 Motive (b) displayed at secondary thematic group, mm. 105-107.
Example 2.5. Modified (e) prior to 2nd T in Recapitulation, mm 254-259.
Another example that reflects Carter’s use of interruption in the sonata form occurs at m. 254. The Maestoso introduction material that begins the movement is inserted shortly after the Recapitulation begins, highlighting the clash between two keys, B and Bb (Example 2.6)
Example 2.6. Semitone of B and Bb play together, mm. 254-256.
The coda continues in the B tonal realm, and the Bb is disguised within the constant interplay in the B area. This pandiatonic relationships continues to the end of the movement, where the ascending chromatic sequence creates a dense and dramatic effect (Example 2.7). Ascending chromatic sequence.
Example 2.7. Tonal clash between B and A#, mm. 283-290.
After an intense succession of figurations emphasizing the B, it arrives momentarily on an F#, suggesting a V-I final cadence in B, which would be the expectation of how piece ends. However, Carter shifts immediately to an F-natural, the dominant of B-flat, and after an arpeggiated figure based on the overtone series, the piece cadences on B-flat (Example 2.8). In this way Carter summarizes the tonal pandiatonic outline for the piece, which juxtaposes B and B-flat.
Example 2.8. The first movement ends on Bb, mm. 293-295.
11.2. Interval Pitch-Class Chords Articulating the Phrase Structure
Interval classification permeates Piano Sonata’s thematic design. Carter collects certain intervals to manifest thematic groups and sets of chords.
Table 2.2 shows the most commonly used chords in this piece. These chords contain the fundamental intervals upon which each of the motivic and thematic ideas is based. For example, the (a), (d) and (g) motives are drawn from the three-note chord and five-note chord sets. Primary thematic ideas (f) and (h) consist of a fourth, fifth, and sixth from the six-note chord set. The closing theme (i) merely features a chromatic scale, using intervals from the four-note chord set. This outlines the essential intervallic schemes for the entire piece. Throughout the procedure, dissonant intervals accompany the consonance.
| Three-note Chord | Four-note Chord | Five-note Chord | Six-note Chord |
|---|---|---|---|
(0 4 8) | (0 1 4 6) | (0 2 4 9 7) | (0 1 3 5 6 9) |
The scorrevole motives mainly consist of fourths, fifths and sixths, while the slow figurations mainly consist of eighths and thirds. The function of these chords is not directly tied to their harmonic purpose but rather to the gestures that indicate sectional divisions. In her analysis, Jane E. Gormley Perkyns explains this as follows:
The articulation of phrases by interval content in Piano Sonata finds parallels in distinctions among the themes of this work, and in Carter’s later music as well. Carter uses unique acoustic qualities and expressive characteristics of various intervals of the chromatic scale to create a contrasting character. This identification of specific intervals with corresponding thematic material is a useful tool when explaining the si1gnificance of the more ambiguous passages of the work. (Perkyns 1990, 39)
Example 2.9. Tonal pitches C – Ab emphasize keys of A# and B, mm. 83-93.
In this section the descending interval of a third, C to Ab, in the pedal tone in the bass line alludes to the key of A-flat suggested by the key signature. It does not entirely sound like the key of A-flat, however, because several other closely related keys within the circle of fifths (Ab, Eb, Bb, F) are suggested by the pandiatonic content (Ex 2.9). Intervallic structure in the Exposition plays an anticipatory role in the outline of the sonata. Particularly in the secondary thematic area, the B tonality shifts into Bb/A#, but the key signatures are still maintained as B major between mm. 60-64. That shift is then concluded by the cadential idea on C at m. 79 (Example 2.10).
As shown by the circled pitches in Example 2.10, the successive six-note chords consist of the interval relationships diatonic within Eb. The row could be transposed into its prime form containing the intervals of a third and fourth, minor second and major second, and sixth. The overtone pairs (the fifths B-F#, C#-G#, D#-A#/Bb, F-C, G-D, and A-E) reflect the interval sets shown in Table 2.2, but they are inverted. The pitches in the chords shown in Example 2.11 are grouped as five-note (0 2 3 6 8; 0 2 4 9 7) and four-note (0 2 6 8) groups within the 5+5+4 pattern. The resonance of the chords generates a predominant dissonance of collective semitone pairs, B-C, D#-C#, Bb-C, and Eb-F (Example 2.12). Carter resolves these interval dissonances by extracting some of them from the enharmonic anticipation (D# into Eb, B# into C, A# into Bb, etc.), which combines with F and G in order to anticipate the next Ab key realm. (Link 1994, 97-99).
Example 2.12. Closing (i) and 2nd theme, mm. 80 – 85.
1.3. Cadential Gestures
Another striking aspect of the formal organization of the sonata is its cadential gestures. The function of the cadential gestures is to delineate sections. Cadential points in this piece play the important roles of recalling and foreshadowing the formal divisions. In Example 2.12, the closing cadence based on the (i) motive in B sonority closes the primary thematic groups in the Exposition. The C octave introduces the secondary theme, and motivic connections and formal schemes are easy to follow due to the gesture of the cadence. Example 2.13 shows the (I) cadence located at the end of the Exposition with a B-major chord. This is the first time that the B major chord reveals its identity completely. It contradicts the A-flat key signature.
Example 2.13. B major chord at the end of the Exposition recalling the (i) motive, mm. 116-125.
In her dissertation, Jane E. Gormley Perkyns’s notes how the C major tonality is incorporated with certain motivic ideas in the piece. The opening octave (a) gesture is reused in a large expense for the entire movement. Example 2.14 is one of many examples to illustrate the function of the interval structure from different motivic ideas corresponded to the opening thematic materials. The second part of the secondary theme transposed (a) motive into C tonality from B major. The function of interval structure placed as a landscape for sonata’s formal outline. As Perkyns overserves:
Since the tonality C of the upcoming second theme was already established prior to this passage (m. 102), it seems to have no harmonic function, but pure cadential gesture. The transitional function of this passage, however, is not inherent in its tonality but in its intervallic content. In contrast to the preceding C major material, which features fourths and fifths, this passage introduces the minor third, an interval associated with the upcoming second theme. Thus exposition section takes on an anticipatory role, signaling the approach of the more lyrical second-theme material. Likewise, the use of the third is another element that links this section with the corresponding passage in the development that also follows from material dominated by fourths and fifths. (Perkyns op. cit., 37)
Example 2.14. C-octave reappears in the second half of the secondary theme, G-C octaves implicating "V-I" "emphatic cadence", mm.100-104.
Example 2.14 illustrates another place where Carter uses certain motives in the cadential gesture to connect sections. In mm. 101- 102, the G to C octaves in the bass provides the illusion of a V-I cadence but without the standard V-I functionality. In the downbeat of m. 102, the C octave announces the second part of the secondary theme (mm. 102-108) and the texture splits into three parts. In addition, the (a) motive inverts the chromatic scale through successive ascending octaves at m. 101 in a way that is similar to the original (i) motive. In Example 2.15, the (i) closes the exposition through successive statements, first in its original form and then in several inversions, creating a closing thematic section (mm. 109 -122).
Example 2.15. (i) and its inversions function as cadence materials close up exposition, mm. 108 – 11
Part 2. Movement II
2.1. Pandiatonicism Over Long-Range Linear Progression
The conflict of the B and A# pandiatonicism shifts to the D and Db major semitone pair at the beginning of the second movement (Example 2.16). A straightforward ABA’ structure distinguishes thematic sections.
The descending line in the left hand presents a distinct lyrical melody and expands over an ostinato derived from the opening motive (Example 2.16). As shown in Example 2.16, the opening chordal motive veers off into an ostinato in the key of Db at m. 33 and features a development of the ostinato and the cantilena melody.
Example 2.16. Opening chordal melody in D Major expands over ostinato in B section in Db Major, mm. 1-6, mm. 33-36.
Unlike the upward motion of the overtone series in the first movement, the line in the second movement is descending. The descending bass begins at m. 33 on Eb2, and its underlying chromatic motion is initiated by the lowest note of the octave (Example 2.17).
Example 2.17. Long-range linear progression in the bass line, mm. 33-56.
2.2. Interruption of the Fugal Introduction
The second part of the movement is interrupted by the Misterioso introduction prior to the entrance of the fugue subject (Example 2.18). The Misterioso presents the contraction and combination of the fugal subject and the (c) figure. The transposition from D to Db through the D-F dyad in the transition to the Misterioso affirms the fugue’s initial key (Db), and the (g) figure in ascending octaves prepares the upcoming Misterioso introduction (Example 2.18).
Example 2.18. Dyad in D Major in transition to Misterioso anticipates Db Major
2.3. Subjects and Episodes
After a surge of intervallic transpositions, the fugue subject finally enters in Db at Allegro guisto at m. 103 (Example 2.19). This four-voice fugue has an exposition, four episodes, two middle entries, a reverse exposition and a coda (Table 2.2). In the middle entries, many irregular placements of the stretto occur. The exposition lacks the voices of alto and tenor, corresponding to the second part marked by the beginning of the reverse exposition where the voices drop to fewer and fewer. The countersubject follows the intervallic structure of the subject and has a real answer (Example 2.20).
Example 2.19. Fugue subject enters at Allegro guisto, mm. 101-110.
Example 2.20. Fugue’s real answer and countersubject, mm. 112 - 121
After the first episode, the middle entry restates the subject in B major, which is the first time the fugue underscores the pandiatonic relationship of the D-flat tonal area juxtaposed with the B tonal area (refer to Table 2.2). It is followed by the inverted answer at m. 142, but this answer is in C Major. The second middle entry comes at m. 149, where the subject is stated in all four voices in stretto (refer to Table 2.2). The "correct" real answer in B major enters at m. 177, as if postponed after the C major answer (Example 2.21). Also, only the head of the answer is stated, and the subject comes after the answer at m. 181. The order is reversed.
Example 2.21. Reverse statement of subject and answer, mm. 177- 184.
The stretto interplay on the subject increases the intensity of the fugue. The texture becomes more dense, and managing the beat in the metric unit for each voice becomes more complicated. Its arcane contrapuntal effect creates accentuation on different beats in a manner similar that recalls medieval isorhythmic technique. (Haberkorn 1979, 93).
The best example of this technique is in the second episode where the isorhythmic character features cross-accented counterpoint (Example 2.22). The tonality flashes back to D, which recalls the beginning of the second movement.
Example 2.22. Cross-accented counterpoint at Episode 2, mm. 169-176.
The third episode is the most distinctive. It features new material, a "melodic row" that is distant from the fugue’s overarching tonal centers of D-flat and B (Figure. 2.2). The row is based on a pentatonic scale and the episode picks up elements of the subject but rearranges it through the five-note melodic row structure (Example 2.23). This episode is a turning point at which the direction of the fugue shifts. The texture returns to two voices, which simplifies the previously dense contrapuntal texture, the key signature is removed for the remainder of the fugue, and the melody becomes a "white-note" melody. This foreshadows the next pandiatonic area where the fourth episode at m. 227 shifts from C major to D-flat, but still without a key signature.
Figure 2.2. The "melodic row" of the third episode. (Schiff 1998, 211).
Example 2.23. Repeated "melodic row" at third episode, mm. 209-224.
The row is based on a pentatonic scale and the episode picks up elements of the subject but rearranges it through the five-note melodic row structure (Example 2.23). This episode is a turning point at which the direction of the fugue shifts. The texture returns to two voices, which simplifies the previously dense contrapuntal texture, the key signature is removed for the remainder of the fugue, and the melody becomes a "white-note" melody. This foreshadows the next pandiatonic area where the fourth episode at m. 227 shifts from C major to D-flat, but still without a key signature.
2.4. Reverse Exposition
The application of the reverse exposition is another unconventional aspect of this fugue. It follows the fourth episode and begins at m. 269. The order of the entrances of the subject and answer are reversed. The restatement of the subject in Db corresponds to the related key of the first exposition. Instead of a highly contrapuntal texture, the voices move in parallel motion. The augmentation of the subject slows down the pulse but creates a textural thickness and rhythmic uniformity. This creates a contrast to the first part of the fugue, in which the linearity of the fast-moving counterpoint of each voice leads to rhythmic complexity. Thus, the second part of the fugue sounds homophonic as all voices are almost moving simultaneously (Example2.24).
Example 2.24. Reverse exposition, voices move simultaneously, mm. 272 – 275.
Carter maneuvers the tonality from D-flat to the final entry of the subject in B major. Example 2.25 shows the preparation for the coda. The coda sustains the B major tonality from the Ab-Db-Eb-Bb pandiatonic chain through the circle of fifths, and finally ends on C#, which highlights the enharmonic relationship with the opening subject in Db (Example 2.26).
Example 2.25. Subject entrance on B major before coda, mm. 290-306.
Example 2.26. The end of the Fugue, mm. 323-329.
2.5. Return of the Beginning of the Second Movement
After the fugue, the opening material from the second movement returns; however, instead of being presented in the original D, it moves into Eb. The ABA’ structure of the first section is stated fully in this final section. The cantilena in this return is intensified, leading to a climax that covers the entire range of the keyboard, from the lowest B-flat to the highest B at m. 360 (Example 2.27). After this climax, D-sharp and F-sharp are held at measure 361 (Example 2.27). This interval is the inner third of seventh chord B-D#-F#-Bb. Paired with their outer neighbors, these two dyads reaffirm the primary key relationship of this sonata: B-F# for the key of B against D# (or E-flat)-Bb for the key of Bb.
Example 2.27. Climax of the cantilena, lowest Bb to the highest B, mm. 358-361.
Charles Rosen (1984) commented on Carter’s ability to explore the full range of the piano’s registers. The grand sonority of the piano is employed by Carter’s complicated arrangement of the arabesque lines through a multi-voice texture. According to Rosen:
The creation of expressive arabesque lines that reach eloquently from bass to treble, covering almost the entire musical space with an irregular and seemingly improvisatory continuity of developing metrical structure in Carter’s music. This is found most often and best in piano music, as it typically needs a unified tone color from the lowest bass to the highest treble to achieve its full effect. (Rosen 1984, 54)
The epilogue (mm. 393-414) fuses the main thematic ideas from both movements and brings an end to the sonata. The motivic material of the epilogue is derived from (a), (d) and (e). Before landing on B, the final resolution brings into focus the juxtaposition of the keys of B and Bb for the last time. The final chord contains three B octaves and the full F# chord in the key of A# (Example 2.28), followed by the strong reiteration of the D#-F# dyad, recalling the third at m. 361 (Example 2.27).
Example 2.28. Last chord ends on B, superimposed with A# key, mm. 404-414.
Conclusion
Elliot Carter’s 1945 Piano Sonata is a representative example of his distinctive modernist style. Carter’s new approach to the sonata form is revealed in this work.
As shown in the discussion above, the most important innovative feature in the first movement is the treatment of thematic development and the use of pandiatonicism. Rather than employing thematic ideas that develop over the course of the sonata form, Carter introduces short, fragmental motivic cells in the opening statement of the Sonata that serve as the essential building blocks, unifying the work. It avoids the use of traditional harmony; the introduction of pandiatonicism allows the work to move seamlessly and effortlessly from one key to another without losing the sense of tonal center. Other innovative aspects include the linear chromatic progression in the second movement and the use of cross-accented counterpoint and the reverse exposition in the fugal movement.
Carter was fascinated by the idea of using various intervallic relationships to separate and unify different thematic groups and sections. Rather than embracing atonality, he collected and combined pitches based on their intervallic relationships. While undoubtedly influenced by the dodecaphonic technique, he found a way in the Piano Sonata a way to retain and enrich the tonal language under the umbrella of sonata form. With this work, Carter left his neoclassical period behind and embarked on new compositional adventures.
References
- Bernard, Jonathan W. 2003. Elliott Carter: Collected Essays and Lectures, 1937-1995. University of Rochester Press.
- Boulez, Pierre. 1991. Translated by Stephen Walsh as Stocktakings from an Apprenticeship. Oxford: Clarendon.
- Carter, Elliott. 1982. Piano Sonata (1945-46). New York: Mercury Music.
- Carter, Elliot and Enzo Restagno. 1991. "Elliott Carter: In Conversation with Enzo Restagno for Settembre Musica 1989." Translated by Katherine Silberblatt Wolfthal. New York: Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.
- Haberkorn, Michael H. 1979. "A Study and Performance of the Piano Sonatas of Samuel Barber, Elliott Carter, and Aaron Copland." PhD. diss. Columbia University Teachers College.
- Kostelanetz, Richard. 2013. A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes. London and New York: Routledge.
- Link, John. 1994. "Long-Range Polyrhythms in Elliott Carter’s Recent Music." PhD. diss. City University of New York.
- Meyer, Felix, and Anne C. Shreffler. 2008. Elliott Carter: A Centennial Portrait in Letters and Documents. Suffolk: The Boydell Press Woodbridge.
- Perkyns, Jane E. Gormley. 1990. "An Analytical Study of Elliott Carter’s Piano Sonata." D.M. diss. The University of British Columbia.
- Rosen, Charles. 1984. The Musical Languages of Elliott Carter. Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress.
- Schiff, David. 1998. The Music of Elliott Carter. New York: Cornell University Press.
- Slonimsky, Nicolas. 1938. Music since 1900. 2nd edition. New York: W. W. Norton.
