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FORM AND TRANSFORMATION IN THE ‘NOCTURNE’ FROM BRITTEN'S ‘SERENADE FOR TENOR, HORN AND STRINGS’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 April 2013
Abstract
The ‘Nocturne’ from Benjamin Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (1943) presents a number of interesting melodic and motivic features effectively modelled by aspects of diatonic transformational theories. Following a brief review of important transformational operations in diatonic set theory (transposition within Mod-7 diatonic space, diatonic interval cycles, and ‘signature transformation’), this article presents an analysis of the ‘Nocturne’ drawing upon both traditional and recent developments in diatonic transformational theory. Doing so illustrates an intricate compositional technique, one that traces motivic associations in the vocal line, the horn part and the accompanying strings. A close reading reveals that these motivic techniques stem from the generic concept of echoing and reverberation at the heart of Tennyson's poem.
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References
1 Detailed discussion of the operas figures prominently in studies of the composer's style, including Evans, Peter, The Music of Benjamin Britten (London: JM Dent, 1989)Google Scholar, Whittall, Arnold, The Music of Britten and Tippett: Studies in Themes and Techniques (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990)Google Scholar, Cooke, Mervyn, The Cambridge Companion to Britten (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Rupprecht, Philip, Britten's Musical Language (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001)Google Scholar.
2 A notable exception can be found in Whittall, Arnold, ‘Tonality in Britten's Song Cycles with Piano’, Tempo No. 96 (1971), pp. 2–11CrossRefGoogle Scholar, which includes highly detailed analyses of key relationships between songs of several cycles; however, due to its instrumentation, the Serenade is absent from this discussion.
3 For basic reading on transposition operations in chromatic and diatonic spaces see Lewin, David, Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1987), pp. 16–25Google Scholar and Morris, Robert, Composition with Pitch-Classes (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1987), pp. 23–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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5 For application of signature transformation to the analysis of works by other minimalist composers, see Sanchez-Behar, ‘Counterpoint and Polyphony’, 65–7.
6 Furthermore, each of these three transformational operations can be viewed as a combination of the other two: the chromatic T2 of Example 1a results from a combination of signature transformation (S2) followed by diatonic transposition (t1). Similarly, the diatonic t2 of Example 1b can be viewed as a combination of chromatic transposition (T4) followed by signature transformation (F4). Finally, the signature transformation of Example 1c can be seen as emanating from the combination of chromatic transposition (T8) followed by diatonic transposition (t2). Thanks to Professor Julian Hook for pointing this out to me.
7 For basic reading on diatonic interval cycles see Clough, John, ‘Diatonic Interval Cycles and Hierarchical Structure’, Perspectives of New Music, 32 (1994), pp. 228–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Clough, John, Engebretsen, Nora and Kochavi, John, ‘Scales, Sets, and Interval Cycles: A Taxonomy’, Music Theory Spectrum, 21 (1999), pp. 74–104CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
8 An excellent example of a complete t5 cycle occurs at the opening of Brahms's Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, op. 98, where a cascading melody proceeds by descending diatonic thirds in bars 1–4, only to be answered by a series of ascending thirds (or diatonic t2 cycle) in bars 5–8. For an analysis that intimates this characteristic, if not in the specific language of diatonic set theory, see Schoenberg, Arnold, Fundamentals of Musical Composition, translated and edited by Strang, Gerald and Stein, Leonard (London: Faber and Faber, 1967), pp. 8–11Google Scholar.
9 While it is beyond the scope of this essay to discuss cyclic techniques and inter-movement relationships, the Serenade contains many devices that link the individual movements into a larger whole, a topic I intend to examine in the future. One such device is the so-called Lombardic or ‘Scotch snap’ rhythm of a short-long pattern with accent on the shorter note, which occurs in the Prologue, Pastoral, Nocturne and Epilogue.
10 For a concise primer on the poems of the Serenade see Graham, Arthur, ‘A Short and Pragmatic Approach to Poetry for Singers’, Journal of Singing, 54 (1998), pp. 15–24Google Scholar.
11 Curiously, early reviews of recordings of the Serenade were quick to criticize Brain's performance of the ‘Prologue’ and ‘Epilogue’, assuming that he had simply played this music horrendously out of tune! See Tempo No. 33 (1954), pp. 38–40Google Scholar.
12 This technique is akin to the notion of aggregate completion in atonal music, where the last chromatic pitch to enter completes a chromatic field, usually as a marker of formal boundaries. A good demonstration of this is provided in Lewin, David, Musical Form and Transformation: Four Analytical Essays (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993), pp. 104–21Google Scholar, where the arrival of the pitch E, the last chromatic pitch to enter, marks a formal boundary in Debussy's ‘Fireworks’ prelude.
13 This is true for all transformations with even-numbered intervallic designations, and is closely related to the so-called ‘M transformation’. Thanks to Professor Julian Hook for pointing this out to me.
14 Britten set another work for tenor and obbligato horn to poetry by Tennyson in ‘Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal’, a work that was considered for inclusion in the Serenade. See Mitchell, Donald, ‘Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal: Britten's Other “Serenade”’, Tempo No. 169 (1989), pp. 22–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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16 See Stein, Deborah and Spillman, Robert, Poetry into Song: Performance and Analysis of Lieder (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 36–8Google Scholar, 324, and 328 for definitions and distinctions between assonance, alliteration, and interior rhyme.
17 Oxford English Dictionary Online, referenced 30 January 2011. Several sources, including the Oxford English Dictionary, cite Tennyson's line ‘My own heart's heart, and ownest own, farewell’, from Maud (1855), as a classic example of polyptoton. See also Plett, Heinrich, Literary Rhetoric: Concepts, Structures, Analyses (Leiden: Brill, 2009)Google Scholar.
18 A similar instance of signature transformation occurs in Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia, Op. 27 (1942), composed a year prior to the Serenade.
19 Lundergan, Edward, ‘Musical Metaphor: Cyclic-Interval Structures in Britten's War Requiem’, Choral Journal, 38 (1998), pp. 9–20Google Scholar, Forrest, David, ‘Prolongation in the Choral Music of Benjamin Britten’, Music Theory Spectrum, 32 (2010), pp. 1–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar.