Symmetry and Goal-Directed Motion in Music by Bla Bartk and George Crumb

Author(s): Edward Pearsall

Source: Tempo, Vol. 58, No. 228 (Apr., 2004), pp. 32-39
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3878919
Accessed: 28-06-2015 04:36 UTC

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Tempo58 (228)32-40

32

C2004CambridgeUniversityPress

DOI: 10.1017/ S0040298204000129 Printed in the United Kingdom

SYMMETRY AND GOAL-DIRECTED

MOTION IN MUSIC BY BELA BARTOK
AND GEORGE CRUMB
EdwardPearsall
Two of the most important goals for music composition during the
past century were innovation and originality. In reaching for these
goals, many composers abandoned tonal protocol, looking instead for
new ways to generate coherence in their music. In the absence of traditional voice leading based on tonic/dominant harmony, some
composers gravitated toward the use of symmetry. By symmetry I
mean the projection of a series of events above and below, or forward
and backward from a central axis, with a one-to-one correspondence
between events on one side of the axis and those on the other. In this
article, I will focus primarily on vertical symmetry in pitch space.
Because horizontal symmetry often accompanies vertical symmetry,
however, it cannot be set aside altogether. George Crumb's La luna estd
muerta, muerta... from Night of the Four Moons, for example, contains
several symmetrical pitch collections, arranged in the manner of a
balanced arch-form. As Ex. 1 illustrates, four pitch sets, comprising a
single symmetrical interval series, occur over the course of the composition.' The pitch sets in the first half of the composition, moreover,
are presented in reverse order - and, hence, upside down - in the
second half, transferring symmetry into the linear dimension; the
events in the second half of the piece, that is, mirror those in the first
half, just as the intervals above the pitch axis mirror those below it in
each of the pitch collections.
Bars:

12

-3 -2 -4 -2 (-3)

14-15

24-25

-3 -2 -4 -2 -3

32-36

+3 +2 +4 +2 +3

+3 +2 +4 +2 +3

dp
11

Example 1:
PrincipalPitch Collections in
George Crumb's Nightof the
FourMoons,La luna estdmuerta,
muerta...

"

I -

I,

Symmetrical structuring plays a central role in compositions by

20th-century composers representative of a wide variety of compositional schools. These include composers following in the traditions of
two of the century's most influential, but contradictory figures:
Claude Debussy and Arnold Schoenberg. Consider the first movement
of Schoenberg's Third String Quartet. In this piece, Schoenberg
combines various row permutations to create symmetrical pairings in
pitch-class space.2 While abstractly defined, the combinatorial aspects
The missing E?in b. 12 only occurs in the final collection. This completion of the original
set helps to provide closure in the same way chromatic completion provides closure in
aggregate compositions.
2 Joseph N. Straus provides a thorough analysis of the symmetrical construction of this
movement in Remakingthe Past:MusicalModernismand the Influenceof the TonalTradition
(Cambridge, Mass.:Harvard University Press, 1990), pp. 121-32.

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SYMMETRYAND GOAL-DIRECTEDMOTION IN MUSIC BY BELA BARTOKAND GEORGECRUMB 33

of these collections point to Schoenberg's dependence on symmetry as

an important organizing principle in his early serial explorations.3
Composers of a more romantic ilk, including B61aBart6k and George
Crumb, have also employed symmetrical structuring as a basic compositional tool. The pitches in the first seven bars of Bart6k's Bagatelle,op.
6, no. 2, for example, are gradually introduced above and below the
axis of inversion, A?4, forming both an ascending and descending
1/1/1//1/ 1 / 2 interval series.
Symmetry may constitute an important source of compositional
material, but it does not by itself convey process. Important to this
discussion, then, is the way in which symmetrical collections unfold
over time. One of the most familiar means for creating melodic continuation in post-tonal music is motivic transformation, the gradual
reshaping of a basic pitch-interval configuration through operations
such as interval alteration, retrogression, inversion, and rotation.
Combined with symmetry, motivic variation constitutes a powerful
means for generating goal-directed motion in music that is not organized around tonic / dominant relations.
Example 2a brackets two versions of the four-note motive found in
bb. 1-3 of Bart6k's Mikrokosmos,Vol. IV, no. 94, 'From the Island of
Bali'. The first of these motives outlines a descent with the interval
succession 1/ 5/1. This motive - which itself represents a symmetrical
structure in pitch space - forms the basis for a series of motivic transformations that propel the piece forward. In b. 2, the motive turns
upside down, increasing the range of the composition and adding
several new pitches. Taken together, the two pitch collections in bb. 1
and 2 form a one-octave octatonic scale. This symmetrical scale, shown
in Ex. 2b, projects a 1/2 interval series above and below C#, the axis of
inversion.4 As the piece continues, the motive begins to degenerate
through truncation and reordering, as shown in Ex. 2c. The degeneration of the motive also has the effect of dissolving the symmetry of the
pitch collection. Symmetry is restored in b. 12 where the complete
motive and its inversion return. The piece ends with the symmetrical
collection shown in Ex. 2d. This collection is also drawn from the
octatonic scale, but occupies a broader region in pitch space. Here, the
notes of the opening 1/ 5 / 1 gesture are presented as chords, helping to
highlight the intervallic symmetry of the collection.
inversion
1

_3

1/5/1

1-2-1

- 2-

1-2-1

(b)

Example 2:
Motivic Variationsin Bart6k's
Mikrokosmos, Vol IV,no. 94,
FromtheIslandof Bali

A
x

i
s

3The form of the movement also engages the notion of symmetry; the themes in the expo-

sition, that is, are presented in reverse order in the recapitulation, thus producing an arch
form.
4 In this paper, I will use parentheses to denote axis pitches that do not occur in the symmetrical pitch collection.

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34

TEMPO

(reordering
1
I

truncation
I
,-.

10
7- 6 , o--.

II

- --

8IFao

t-

1213

-"---,-,----

14

(d) (d)

.5

(G4)

--

---Ow

Example 2 (continued)

The symmetrical constructions in Bart6k's 'From the Island of Bali'

occur at the beginnings and endings of phrases and sections. Under
these conditions, symmetrical collections can begin to take on the
characteristics of a stable event.5 Motivic transformations, on the other
hand, constitute motion away from, and back to symmetry. Hence, the
music seems to ebb and flow between moments of repose and instability. This ebbing and flowing produces a dynamic effect based on the
degeneration and reconstitution of the symmetrical collection in pitch
space. Understood in this way, the piece engenders goal-directed
motion, motion derived, in this case, through the transmogrification of
the basic symmetrical set.
This idea constitutes a basic compositional premise that can be
observed in works written by 20th-century composers operating under
a number of different artistic assumptions. There is probably no
composer, however, who has relied more heavily on this technique
than George Crumb. To demonstrate the particular ways in which
Crumb integrates symmetry with asymmetry in his music, I will
discuss several pieces representative of his idiosyncratic style.
To begin, let us consider the first movement, 'Frozen Time', of
Crumb's Echoesof Time and the River:Four Processionalsfor Orchestra.
This movement alternates between shimmering bell-like chords and
brief melodic episodes characterized by imitative counterpoint. The
tritone plays an important role in both sets of ideas and thereby forges
a connexion between them. Example 3a shows the two parallel series
of symmetrical pitch collections - articulated by the vibraphone,
glockenspiel, and antique cymbal parts - which occur in bb. 1-18 of
the percussion part. Harmonic intervals, expressed in semitones, are
listed beside each symmetrical chord. As the example shows, the piece
begins with two back-to-back symmetrical collections. These are
combined in b. 9, producing an asymmetrical chord. A new symmetrical
pitch collection arrives in b. 11. This collection begins another progression that leads to the combined asymmetrical chord in b. 18. The
chords in bb. 9 and 18 are orchestrated in exactly the same way. Hence,
orchestration serves as a kind of rhetorical marker in the passage,
This phenomenon has been discussed by others, including John Harbison, who notes that
'symmetrical chords can provide some of the same sense of grounding that the triad
Music
provided in the tonal system' in 'Symmetries and the "New Tonality"',Contemporary
Review6/2, (1992), p. 72.

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MOTION IN MUSIC BY BELA BARTOK AND GEORGE CRUMB

SYMMETRY AND GOAL-DIRECTED

signalling the degeneration of symmetry via the combination of the

two independent symmetrical collections that occur at the beginning
of each nine-measure segment.
Combined
Chords
Bars:

Combined
Chords

_61

12

11
w

> Asymmetry

Symmetry

110
6

1610
6

18

IMr

-6

> Asymmetry

Symmetry

(a)
4

firstentry-

+6-2 +1 -

4
secondentry

:-

+2-6

.-6 +2 +-

-2 +6

(b)
> Symmetry

Asymmetry
1 L-i

firstentry

Example 3:

1t
4

secondentryr

(c)

14

combinedentries

Alternating Asymmetrical and

Symmetrical Collections in
George Crumb's FrozenTime

1-4

4A

Another alternating series of collections, this one expressed as a

melodic canon in the trombone parts, begins as the opening chords
fade away. Example 3b reproduces the pitches of the first two entries in
this canon.6 The second entry in this case is the inversion of the first,
transposed to begin on B62.While both melodies project a series of
melodic intervals forward and backward from a central axis, and thus
introduce symmetry on the horizontal plane, the pitch construction of
each melody is asymmetrical, as indicated by the labeled brackets in
Ex. 3c. The two parts together, however, form the symmetrical pitch
collection shown at the right of the example. The third trombone,
which constitutes the third and final canonic entry, disturbs the
symmetry of the first two entries by playing an altered version of the
original melodic statement beginning on B?1.
The asymmetrical collections in the first and third trombone parts
allow for smooth transitions between textures in the piece by creating
horizons onto the symmetrical chords that occur before and after the
contrapuntal interlude. Understood in this way, the opening bars articulate a large-scale motion from symmetry to asymmetry and back
again. This motion is embedded within an even broader motion culminating with asymmetry, that which occurs in the first nine-measure
segment shown in Ex. 3a.
The second half of the piece begins and ends with another fournote symmetrical collection, articulated by piano harmonics, achieved
by touching the fifth partial of the piano string while striking the
appropriate key. These bell-like sonorities form the interval series
1/4/1 in pitch space and provide a stable anchor at both ends of the
final section of the movement. A series of canonic entries, played by
the strings, fills in the temporal gap between these two anchoring
points. Example 4a reproduces the initial entry of this canon, which
6 To the extent that the average listener is unfamiliarwith quarter-tones in orchestral music,
the quarter-tones in this canon may obscure the symmetrical organization of the passage.
This does not preclude, however, the importance of symmetry as an underlying compositional tenet for the piece.

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35

36 TEMPO

occursin the firstviolin part.Likethe trombonemelody at the beginning of the piece, the principalmelodic idea in this section forms an
asymmetricalcollection in pitch space. As the passage continues,
however,the first violin part graduallyfills in the symmetricalarray
shown in Ex.4b. Similararraysoccurin the other stringparts.
*)gllss.
(a)

Jf
fffintense.

- -- --- --- --5-2-3-1-

1-1-

2 - 1-

1-1

-3-2-5

-----------------------

Example 4:
Symmetrical Pitch Collection in the
First Violin Part of George Crumb's
FrozenTime

A
x
i
s

The pitchesof all the partscombinednearlyfill a five-octavechromatic span. This process of 'fillingin' constitutesanother means for
generatingmotion in the piece. In this case, a uniformpitch collection
- the chromatic scale - representsthe most stable element in the
passage. For the purposesof this discussion,I will define a uniform
arrayas a collectionof pitcheswhose adjacentmembersalwaysspan
the same pitch interval. Examples of uniform collections include
whole-tone scales and cycles of diminishedand augmentedthirdsin
additionto the chromaticscale.
In some instances, uniform collections, while strongly implied,
contain gaps. These gaps, like those in Leonard Meyer's gap-fill
schema,may generate 'implicativerelationships.'7
Hence, the musical
texture remains active, incomplete, until the gap is filled. This
phenomenoncanbe observedin Crumb'sMeheperdidomuchasvecespor
el mar from Ancient Voicesof Children.The piece begins with a three-

note melodic idea expressedby the pitches A5, G#5, and E#5. This
asymmetricalfragment- which, incidentally,belongs to set-class3-3,
(0, 1, 4) - overlapswith itself as the piece continues,forminga symmetrical pitch collection. The final soprano gesture articulates two
symmetricalgroupings,both of which consistof overlapping(0, 1, 4)s,
as shown in Ex. 5a. These two collections fill in each other's gaps,
completingthe chromaticfragmentshown in Ex. 5b.
OverlappingTrichordsin
(0, 1,4)

(a)

.-

(0, 1,4)

- -,

(0.1.4)

A.

. ,

(0. 1.4)

'Filled in* Uniform Collection

Example 5:
OverlappingTrichordsin George
Crumb's Me heperdidomuchasveces
porel mar

1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1
(b)

7 Leonard Meyer,ExplainingMusic:Essaysand Explorations(Berkeley:University of California

Press, 1973), p. 206.

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SYMMETRYAND GOAL-DIRECTEDMOTION IN MUSIC BY BELA BARTOKAND GEORGECRUMB 37

As the analysisof mvt.1 of Echoesof Timeand the Riversuggests,

Crumbnot only sometimescombineschordsand pitchesin orderto
createsymmetry,but alsoto abrogateit. Thiseffectcanalsobe observed
in the thirdmovementof Crumb'sMadrigals,
Book1,mvt. 3, Losmuertos
alas
de
The
with
the
musgo.
piece
begins
symmetricalpitchcollecllevan
tion shownin Ex.6a.' Thiscollectionreturnsin bb.4-5, wherethe alternatingchordpatternin Ex.6b occurs.These alternatingchordstogether
producethe asymmetricalintervalseriesbracketedat the right of the
example.Anothersymmetricalcollection,notatedin Ex.6c, occursnear
the end of the piece. The additionof F 6 here gentlypushesthe piece
pastits endingby overturningthe symmetryof the finalchord.
5 .6

(a)-

accel. - -

(B2/C2)

rit. - --

(b)

Vibraphone

6
P

PPPP01

4-

(B4)

1-

(c)
Cnas
Contrabass
Example 6:

Symmetrical and Asymmetrical

inLosmuertos
lievan
Collections
alas de musgo

Like Crumb, Bart6k too creates movement through the breaking

down and building up of symmetrical, or near-symmetrical collections. For Bart6k, however, this process is achieved primarily through
melodic variation. The third movement of the Sonata for Two Pianos
and Percussion provides a case in point. The movement begins with a
series of alternating C-major triads. These triads accompany two
melodic gestures drawn from a C Lydian/Mixolydian scale in bb. 5-9.
The second of these gestures divides into the two motivic fragments
indicated by brackets above the staff in Ex. 7a. These constituent
motives constitute the basis for melodic expansion in the remainder of
the movement. A new motive derived from the original five-note
motive, for example, arrives in bb. 24-25. This motive, reproduced in
Ex. 7b, forms the basis for two overlapping melodic sequences in the
first and second piano parts. As Ex. 7c illustrates, the combined pitches
of these melodic sequences form a symmetrical structure, the first
encountered in the piece. This collection, while incomplete, checks the
momentum of the opening bars, and thus causes a momentary
deceleration of the movement's overall progress.
8 The axis of inversion in this case falls betweentwo pitches, neither of which occurs in the
symmetrical collection.

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38 TEMPO

Five-Note Motive
I
A

Three-Note
Motive

I 1

TT

25

I-I

(a)

,(b)
3
1- 2- 2-224-27

1-2

- 2 - 2- 1-2-2-

(2- 1)

A
x

G#6
F#6
Example 7:
Motivic Variationand Symmetry in
bb. 1-82 of Bart6k'sSonata for Two
Pianos and Percussion, mvt. 3

(d)

piano I

(e)

(C#4) ----Axis
G# 1

A series of motivic gestures culminating in yet another version of the

original five-note motive occurs in the bars that follow. This new version
of the motive first occurs in b. 56 and appearsin Ex. 7d. After a brief interlude, the motive returns in b. 74, where it begins a series of overlapping
gestures that gradually assemble the pitches of another near-symmetrical
pitch collection. This collection spans nearly six octaves, as illustrated in
Ex. 7e, and, like the symmetrical collection in Ex. 7c, contains only semitones and whole-tones. The added G#6 marks the upper boundary of the
passage, but is not itself part of the symmetrical grouping.
Example 8a shows the step-by-step motivic progression that occurs
in bb. 91-103. This progression begins with a three-note motive
consisting of the ordered pitch-interval succession -5 / +3. A transposed
version of the motive arrivesin b. 99, where it overlaps with the original
motive rotated to begin on its second pitch.9 This rotation changes the
shape of the motive and introduces a minor third into the texture. The
rotated motive, in turn, is presented in retrograde with its interval
construction altered to produce the descending step/leap motive that
arrives in b. 102. The final step in the progression leads to the symmetrical configuration shown at the right of the example. Like the other
symmetrical collections in this movement, the symmetrical motive in b.
103 overlaps with itself in the bars that follow, but this time does not
produce a symmetrical array.The melodic idea first heard in bb. 44-45
- shown in Ex. 7d - returns in b. 279, where it begins a series of transformations that lead to the final near-symmetrical collection of the
movement. This collection, shown in Ex. 8b, is presented as a series of
overlapping arpeggios in the two piano parts and occurs in bb. 336-345.
Crumb once remarked that
...there seems to be a growing feeling that we must somehow evolve a new kind
of tonality.Probablythe best solution, anticipated,it seems to me, by Bart6k,is
to combine the possibilities of our chromatic language-which is so rich and
expressive in its own right-with a sense of strong tonal focus.1o
9 Rotation is an order operation performed on what Robert D. Morris, Compositionwith PitchClasses(New Haven: Yale University Press, 19987), p. 37, refers to as 'pcycs', ordered pitch
sets 'that have their last pitch "connected"to their first.' In rotations, the order of adjacent
pitches in a pcyc remain the same, but each rotation begins on a different pitch.
'o George Crumb, 'Music: Does It Have a Future?'in Don Gillespie (ed.), GeorgeCrumb,Profile
(New York:C. E Peters Corporation, 1986), p. 18.
of a Composer

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SYMMETRYAND GOAL-DIRECTEDMOTION IN MUSIC BY BELA BARTOKAND GEORGECRUMB 39

91

Retrograde
<-1 -4>
1
I
#
1

<-5 +3>

<-5 +3>
99

102 -

1
13
103

1
1
1

(a)

<+3 +2>
Rotation

A
x

S
1- 1-1-

2- 1- 1- 1- 1 - 1 -

336-345

1-1-1-

2- 1 - 1-(1)

(b)

A
x
sS

Example8:
andFinal
MotivicProgression
Collectionin
Near-Symmetrical
Bart6k'sSonataforTwo Pianos
mvt.3
andPercussion,

The compositional processes outlined in this article go a long way

toward achieving the aims set forth in this statement. These processes
center primarily around the alternation of symmetrical and asymmetrical collections in pitch space. This has significant ramifications for the
development of goal-directed motion. Indeed, momentum and direction - rather than being grounded in tonic/dominant relations - arise
through motivic transformations that gradually 'fill in' a symmetrical
or uniform array in pitch space. Thus, while symmetrical collections
represent stable events, much like that of the triad in tonal music, they
do not suspend motion altogether. Rather, symmetrical collections
constitute points of arrival and departure within a dynamic and
changing texture.
Of the composers who employ such techniques, Bart6k and Crumb
are two of the most prominent. Both, moreover, cite Claude Debussy
as a strong influence on their artistic development." This is not
surprising given that Debussy was one of the first composers to incorporate symmetrical collections - quintal chords, whole-tone scales,
and the like - into his music. In addition, Debussy often relied almost
exclusively on motivic variation to generate compositional material.
The music by Bart6k and Crumb analyzed in this paper appears to be
founded on similar principles. Both composers combine motives with
symmetrical pitch collections, thus providing formal coherence based
on a shared compositional premise. This premise, far from limiting the
sonic landscape, allows for great compositional freedom because it is
based on transformational processes, rather than a narrow range of
isolated pitch collections.
Publishers
Belwin-Mills
Music,Inc.).
MusicExamples1,3 and5 ? copyright
(Warner
Ltd.
MusicExamples
2, 7 and8 ? copyright
Boosey&Hawkes(MusicPublishers)
Allrightsreserved.
5 and6 ? 1971C.F.PetersCorporation.
MusicExamples
Reprinted
bypermission.
" George Crumb, for instance, states that 'the most profound influence on my own thinking
was Debussy' See 'Interview: George Crumb/Robert Shuffett' in Don Gillespie (ed.),
GeorgeCrumb,Profileof a Composer(New York:C. E Peters Corporation, 1986), p. 34. Bart6k
too pays tribute to Debussy in 'The Influence of Debussy and Ravel in Hungary' in
Benjamin Suchoff (ed.), BdlaBartdkEssays(New York:St. Martin'sPress, 1976 [1938]),p. 518,
noting that 'Debussy appearedand, from that time on, the hegemony of Francewas substituted for that of Germany'

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