Elhott Orato HUASREM ON YB O:@ Edited by Nicholas Hopkins and John F. Link CARL FISCHERSome Words about MY HARMONY BOOK BY ELLIOTT CARTER 1 collection of chords, meant for my own use, began to ake shape around 1960 after I had employed two allinterval 4-note chords, which T came upon by chance at that time and which formed a basis for the Double Concerto and String Quartet No. 2. While planning the Piano Concerto (1965), I tried out more or less at random various combinations and spacings ofall the S-note chords, and this led me to uy and deal with them in an orderly way. The results are the charts on pp. 58-67 of Volume II of the manuscript [pp. 329-50 of this edition]. I remembered Alois Haba’s Neue Harmonielchre, which rather unsystematically listed all sorts of chords, and tried to find a more helpful plan. I started, therefore, bit by bit. ay needed for my compositions (often not as orderly as T would later have wished) to elabo- rate this plan in desultory moments, memorizing the numberings of the chords as they were to be used. Around 1967, I had got around to the Snote chords and their 7-note comple ments, listing their 2-note, S-note and 4-note components, which [then used for my Concerto for Orchestra (1969). ‘Then, ina similar way, explored the Gnote chords, used here and there in my Swing, Quartet No, 3 (1971). Afier that, this book furnished harmonic ideas, which in works of different instrumentations expanded to the use of alhinterval, vertical symmetrical chords, ‘extracted from the list of BauerMengelberg and Ferentz printed in Perspectives of New Music, asin Night Fantasies (1980). Then, John Link produced by computer a list of alhinterval 12- note chords that contained as adjacent intervals G-note chord no. 35, composed of all the 3. note chords. These chords proved to be very useful in large-scale works. From about 1990, | have reduced my vocabutlary of chords more and more to the 6-note chord no. 35 and the 4 note chords nos. 18 and 23, which encompassall the intervals. Alb June 27, 2001 * Suefan RauerMengelbeng and Mebin Fereatz, “On Heveninterl Twelve-Tone Rew” Pinpertie of New Mic 3, 0 2 (1965): 98-108, 5206Editor’s Preface BY NICHOLAS HOPKINS When signing on as Managing Editor of Carl Fischer, one of my first responsibil ties—much to my delight (and trepidation) —was the preparation of Elliott Carter's Her- mony Book for publication. The publisher handed me a huge pile of oversized music pa- per, virtually every page of which was covered with musical notes, graphic symbols and what appeared to be scribbling of various kinds, with the simple directive to *...make sense of this.” But, as I came to realize, the sense, logic and order were already there. My task in the following two and one-half years of work on this book was merely to bring them. to the surface. ‘The autograph manuscript of Carter's Harmony Bookis written on 107 unbound sheets, of ledgersize velum music paper, each of which comprises eighteen staves, This edition was prepared from a photocopy of this manuscript. The original copy of this autograph is now permanently housed in the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, the Swiss institute that provides storage facilities for all of Carter’s music-related materials. A blueprint copy, containing vari- ous autograph revisions and corrections, remains in Carter's possession, and this copy was also consulted for the present edition. ‘The Harmony Book is essentially a massive encyclopedia devoted (0 exploring har- monic relationships. In this sense, it is not wruly a “harmony” book, at least in the way other similarly named books are. Carter has acknowledged that the Harmony Bookwas planned and developed to serve only as a tool for his compositional work, rather than as a resource for public usage.' Given the make-up and organization of the manuscript, it is evident that he never wished or intended that the results of his findings would be used in a pedagogical manner (which is not tosay that they cannot be). For this reason, Carter provided no written notes or instructions of any kind concerning the use of this book: it was self-referential, and he clearly knew how to put it to proper use. Yet these factors contributed to certain problems in the editorial process, one prob- Jem in particular being the overall layout and organization of the manuscript. Carter divided. the Harmony Book into two volumes. the first of which he titled “Synthesis”, and the second “Analysis”. Each of these volumes was clearly distinguished by a title page that also listed the contents. Yet with these two divisions alone, the book was unwieldy to the uninitiated reader: the location of its materials and the logic of its development were both obscured. For this reason, lintroduced another level of organization by subdividing each volume intoa number of chapters, eight for Volume I and five for Volume II.” Chapters 1 and 2 are entitled *Cata- logue”—the title that Carter gave to Chapter I—because they comprise enumerations of specific items with systematic arrangements. The first presents all the 220 intervals and chords. * See “The Combinatorial Art of Ellie Carter's Harmony Book” pp. 7-22, and “Eilat Caner Taiks about His Horney Book” pp. 27-3. + Canter approved of these chapter divisions (Letter to the exitor)2+ Etre available from two to ten notes, which are used as raw materials in all succeeding chapters of the book. Chapter 2 contains the allintervall2-note chords, which have become staple features in virtually all of Carter's works since the early 1970s, Merely one adjustment was made in what would become the remaining six chapters of Volume I (Synthesis I-VI): the entties for 14+2=3, 1+3=4, 144=5 and 145=6 were moved from the conduding position of Volume I to the opening (Chapter 3). The contents of Volume II (Analysis I-V) are arranged as they are in the manuscript. The absence of guidelines and instructions posed an additional problem, which ‘was remedied by compiling a number of written essays to explain the mechanisms of the book. John Link produced an introduction that charts the development of the Harmony Book and cites some examples of how Carter has applied this research to his compositions, also illustrating how the Harnony Book lras evolved in conjunction with Carter's music. Dr, Link additionally conducted an interview with the composer, which contains invaluable, firsthand information on Carter's use of these materials. I assembled an essay for each of the thirteen chapters to acquaint the reader with the procedures of the chapter. These essays are intentionally brief, serving as points of departure from which much additional information can be derived. Also included were a glossary of terms for specific theoretical topics in the book and three appendices, one to supplement the information in Chapter 1, the other (© supplement the information in Chapter 2, The third appendix repro- duces Carter’s diagram of the number of subsets for each chord from three to twelve notes, what was originally the opening page of the Harmony Book Lastly, | added an expla- nation of the siga forms that Carter developed to identify the intenals and chords in the catalogue, and the “Consensus of Forte and Carter’, a listing that compares the systems of Forte and Carter. An additional editorial task concerned sections of the book that were left incomplete. Given that Carter produced this book for his own reference, with no intent of publication, it would be expected that he felt no special urgency to “fillin the notes” in all instances through- out the book. The absences in the music become especially apparent with invertible chords, in which two levels of information were required: one for prime forms, the other for in- verted forms. Often, the latter was not completed, and itis probable that Carter could readily calculate the one on the basis of the other, for which reason its physical commitment to Paper was not always necessary. However, omissions of any kind should not constitute a published edition. For this reason, I completed these parts by following the course that Carter had already provided, and J take responsibility for any mistakes that may be found in such ‘The final stage of editorial work on this manuscript—in many ways the most daunt- ing one—involved the notation of chords, or of pitch in general. Carter assembled the con- tents of this book overa period of more than twenty years, and, inevitably, certain discrepan- cies arose in the way in which chords were notated. A means of standardization was thus necessary in the interests of consistency, without resulting in changes to the content of the book. The following conventions were part of this standardization: saea ions Pfr ®3 the notation of all chords in prime form, the written form that represents a specific arrangement of its components based on the most compact ordering, or the “normal order”? The criteria for determining prime form are those estab- lished by Allen Forte in The Structure of Atonal Music, the notation of chords as simultaneous (i.e., stacked) or successive, In this edition, all chords of three and four notes are notated as simultaneities; all 5- note chords are notated as simultaneities whenever possible, and; all chords of six or more notes are always notated successively. The one important ex- ception to this is Chapter 1, in which all chords are notated successively for ease of legibility; the notation of enharmonics according to traditional practice, The choice of ‘enharmonics for simultaneous chords is generally that which allows the most legible rendition, oftentimes founded on a mixture of sharps and flats. The notation for successive chords follows the traditional approach by using sharps for ascending forms and flats for descending. This greatly reduces the need for natural signs, and allows for more legible renditions. One general exception to this axiom is made in the interest of avoiding augmented and diminished inter- vals. Thus: == a However, augmented and diminished intervals are permissible if they predude the need fora natural sign. Thus: SSS 0 SS Carter did not hesitate to use double sharps and double flats if they allowed for a stacked notation of a chord that could otherwise not be. These have been introduced in certain instances for 3-note and 4-note chords, which are almost invariably stacked. Thus: Natural signs are not used at any point in this edition, They occur in the manu- script, albeit infrequently, generally to cancel a sharp or flat that appears earlier in the “measure”, Consequently, all accidentals in the Harmony Book affect only the notes they immediately precede, despite the fact that Carter never adopted this convention in his own music; » See Allen Forte, The Structure of Aotal Muse, 3-8. 0530645 Bier Pfice 6 ‘This Carter notated all examplesin the Harmony Book in treble clef, although a clef is never given in the manuscript. This convention has been retained in this edition, with the exception of the alFinterval 12-note chords in Chapter 2, whose vertical notation required both a treble and a bass clef: With the exception of Chapter 2, all pitches are notated within a twooctave range, from C4 to BS: limited range positioned the majority of the pitches within the staff. Any other editorial modifications are mentioned in the essays that introduce the chapters,Sigla ‘The term ition refers to the symbols that Carter developed to identify the 220 intervals and chords throughout all of the Harmony Book. Carter introduces each of these symbols in the diagram on the title page of the Harmony Book (see Appendix 3). How- ever, at no point in the book does he provide an explanation of their significance, although soon be inferred from analyzing this diagram or virtwally any page of the manu- iditionally, itis evident that Carter became quite comfortable with the designations of these symbols, 10 the extent of employing them in sketches for his music." ‘The sigla that indicate chords of three to six notes are designed as polygons, in the center of which is placed their numerical position in the catalogue. The number of sides of the polygon corresponds to the number of notes in the chord: thus, a triangle represents 3- note chord, a squire a 4note chord, a pentagon a note chord, and a hexagon a G-note chord. For chords of seven or more notes, the sigla are circles with superscripted numbers that signify the number of notes in the chord, again with their numerical position in the center of the circle. Carter most likely adopted this approach because polygons composed of more than six sides might be difficult to distinguish and draw in the manuscript.‘ In two instances, Carter devised letters, rather than shapes, as sigla: an uppercase “N’ to indicate a single note (which is only used in the table of contents to each volume and section head- ings), and a lowerease “i” to ind i - interval ° : A + Snotechord = Of = Snote chore OL ~ tnote chord yo © Oo note chord Q = Saoiectord — Oe sonore ont O = 6 note chord In this edition, sigla are distinguished on three levels as primary, secondary tary, although these levels are treated somewhat differently in the synthesis and analy processes. In synthesis, the primary sigla indicate the note, interval or chord that is added to another note, interval or chord, represented by the secondary sigla, to produce additive chords, represented by the tertiary sigla. Thus: * Sce,for example aceproducion of Carer 'shandwritien charor Sting Quartet No Si Das Schill, The Muse Eli Carter 180-81 Imcrewing, Carter notrat the batons of the vero page hat "Numberingot Chords asconting wa penonal onder” that being the ordce in the Harmony Book Alo sce Carter's prefice “Some Werds sbout My Hlarnony Bish”. ix of this tition, m which he acknowledges bs effort a commiting these nbs to menor. two inancesin the manuscript Carer wed ste iste of circles inghe sua fr chords utseven or more notes Forexample 804 (Chapter 18), he notated an x" inthe ection heading (ie +) arash ant in the diagram reprechced im Apperstin ("Total Number of Chords Contained ins Each Total Agr), eae! A Chen EHEC tk he tedion, te cicle hasbeen used in allinsances inc it she ym that gerry far the marty the time6+ Sigte ve AS A A A ESO O-a-@ ® 8 “ L In this example, note chord no. 1 iscombined with various tanspositions of the secondary Snote chords nos. 1, 2, 3,and 4 to produce the tertiary 6-note chords nos. 1. 2, 21, 3and 23. In analysis, the primary sigla indicate the chord that is broken down into notes, intervals or chords, represented by the secondary sigla. Tertiary sigla are not used in analysis. Thus: mer ATA AA 2 t ‘sont In this example, 4-note chord no, 2 is broken down into the secondary $note chords no. 7 (four times) and the interval classes il, i5 and i6, All sigla in the Harmony Book are reproduced in the “Consensus of Forte and Carter” (pp. 23-26), Chapter | (Catalogue of Intervalsand Chords, pp. 44-53), and Appendix 1 (List of Intervals, Chores and Sigla, pp. 352-57). 08306The Combinatorial Art OF ELLIOTT CARTER’S HARMONY BOOK BY JOHN F. LINK ‘The publication of Elliott Carter's Harmony Book makes widely available for the first time the composer's own handbook of harmonic materialsand relationships, compiled overa period of more than twenty years, and used in the composition of nearly all of his works from the early 1960s to the mid-1990s and beyond. For years, in articles and interviews, tantalizing, glimpses of the Harmony Book held out the possibility of a skeleton key to Carter's complex, harmonic language.' Enthusiasts imagined a collection of almost mystical documents—like Prospero'’s books—with the power to unravel Carter's harmonic magic. The reality is, of course, less sensational. In fact, the Harmony Book has served Carter primarily as.a time-saving, reference—an encyclopedia of possibilities designed to provide quick and clear answers to questions about harmonic relationships that arise during the process of composing. ‘The Harmony Book begins with a list of chords, enumerating all the collections of two to ten notes possible given the twelve chromatic pitch classes of the Western tradition, and. counting as equivalent those that are transpositions and/or inversions of one another. Music theorists call these collections “set classes,” but Carter prefers the more familiar term “chord.”* The chords at the beginning of the Harmony Book are the basic building blocks of Carter's harmonic language. They are arranged, for easier reference, according to their structural properties. The first five S-note chords, sixteen 4-note chords (except no. 7), and ten 5-note chords are non-invertible; the rest are not” All ofthe Snote chords except no. 2, and any of 4mote chords 1-7 may be combined with transpositions and/or inversions of themselves to exhaust the twelhe notes. Among the 6-note chords, nos. 1-20 have transpositions and/or " Overthe yearsa number of witershave made use of Cart'sautograph materials including the Harmen Book See, For example, Jonathan W. Bersard,"Elict Carter: Concert fr Orch (1055-61), inthe catalog ofthe exbition Sting Nav Sows Asie ‘Manascript from the Pl Sacer Foundation, a the Perpont Morgan Library, 18 May-30 August 1998 ed. Felix Meyer (Mainz Scho, 1998), 115-18 Jobin Lith, “The Compoxtion of Eliot Gate's Nigh Fanta” Somus 14 ne. 2 (Spring 194): 67-89, David Schl, Thr Music of Eliot Carter (New York: Da Capo Press, 1983), revised second edition (London: Faber; Ithaca, NY: {Cornet Unversity Fress, 1998); Dorte Schmidt, “Emannipaton des musikalschen Disks: Die Sklzzen 24 Hot Carters -ectem Steichquartett und seine theoretichen Arbeten in den spiten 50er Jahren" (Emancipation of muscal discourse: ‘The etchssforEllion Carers Sing Quai Na. 2nd his theoretical works in De late 1950s), in Jib des Statice Pastis {fir Musitfoscherg Prafische Kulbabes ed. Gintber Wegner (Setar |B. Metal, 195), 208-18: nd Anne Sheffer, “Ge {the Music Room "Eliott Carters View ofthe Capitol rom the Library of Congres ais A Miron Wich Du” (hn German), in Quilestudin ed. Relis Meyer (Winterthur: Amadeus Verlag, 1998), 235-88, * Carter has used the word “chor in diferent ways in diferent contexts. The notes ofthe “dlarnet chord” in his Carnet Concerta, fr example, arefixedin register whilethe “hreenote chords” in the Harmom Bookare cuenta se clas. (Sce Stephen Heinemann, “Melodie Practie in Eliot Carter's Clarinet Concerts” Mitalungen der Poul Sacer Sung 1 (Ape 2001): 19.) Although “chord” ually refer to a collection of notes sounding simultaneous; Carter uses {to mean Say temporal arrangement of such a collection. See Jonathaa Bernard, An Interview wih Et Cater” Pape of New Musi? ‘no. 2 (Summer 1900): 203 » A chor i nomnvertibieifome transposition of inversion the chord itself For amore detaled dscusson ofthisand many cotheraypectsof muicaset tory ce Allen Forte, The Suc of Amal Mae (New Haven Yale Universit Pres 1973); George Perle. Smal Composition and tonality (Berkeley: University of California Pres, 1952) John Rahn Bas tonal Thay (Neve York: 980); andjoseptN. Straus, An Intron » Post Tonal Thor (Englewood Cis}: Premice Hall, 1990)