Stravinsky and the Rite of Spring "d0e7873"

The Diatonic Component

As can readily be seen in Example 65, the transposition to (D C B A) in the final climactic block of the "Augurs" movement is foreshadowed by the C-

[21] The first of these sketches on page 5 of the sketchbook, Example 67a, is crossed out.

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A-D-A phrase of the opening bassoon melody and by the (D C B A) fragment at no. 6+4. Of concern at no. 37 in the "Ritual of Abduction," however, is the abrupt return to Collection III's (E

G) dominant seventh and its superimposition over (D C B A), which is now articulated as part of a new (A G F

E) (D C B A) D-scale fragment. In addition, the (E G

B) bottom half of the motto chord is dropped altogether in favor of the (C E G) triad, the compound octatonic configuration now (E

G) (C E G). Transposed to Collection II in terms of (B A F

) (A

C E

) at nos. 38 and 40+6, this configuration persists with remarkable consistency throughout the "Abduction," rendering this movement one of the most thoroughly octatonic in The Rite . A punctuating F

in the percussion solidifies Collection III's initial presence at no. 37, while, in the climactic block at no. 42, (E

G) is complemented by dominant sevenths on F

and A. At no. 44 the configuration is transposed to Collection II, where (F E

C A) is superimposed over D-A. Here, the D-A horn call or (D C B A) tetrachord, foreign to Collection III at nos. 37 and 40, is fully octatonic, accountable to Collection II. Note that in all these block transpositions entailing Collections III and II, the dominant seventh stubbornly preserves its closed, first-inversion articulation.

Still, patches of unimpaired diatonicism occasionally arise. The D-scale (or Dorian) fragment introduced at no. 37 returns in transposed form at no. 46. And in moving from the octatonic block at no. 44 to the unimpaired D-scale on F at no. 46, the connecting link or pivot, that which is in turn shared by these two blocks of distinct referential character, is the (0 2 3 5) tetrachord.

Thus the presiding (F E

C A) dominant seventh at no. 44 preserves, in tight formation, the incomplete (F E

(D) C) tetrachord. And as indicated by the brackets in Example 65, (F E

(D) C) is retained by the succeeding diatonic block at no. 46, where the (F E

D C) (B

G F) tetrachordal articulation implicates the D-scale on F. A condensed layout of the scheme appears in Chart 6.

Indeed, similar equations pertain to those blocks and passages of Part I where the octatonic and diatonic collections may be said to interpenetrate . At no. 10 in the Introduction two diatonic fragments in the clarinet piccolo and oboe are superimposed over Collection I's B

-F, B framework. In this octatonic-diatonic interaction, (B

G F) is shared by Collection I and the D-scales on F and B

. Similarly, at no. 37 in the "Abduction," Collection III's (E

G) (C E G) configuration is introduced along with the (A G F

E) (D C B A) D-scale fragment. Shared by these two interpenetrating references is the (A G F

E) unit, the lower of Collection III's (E

C B

) (A G F

E) tritone-related tetrachords.^[22]

[22] The dotted lines in the analytical portions of Example 65 signify octatonic-diatonic interpenetration, with the octatonic component on the left side, the diatonic on the right. At the collectional level, brackets mark off the (0 2 3 5) units held in common.

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Chart 6:
"Ritual of Abduction," nos. 44–47

In sum, the two adjoining (0 2 3 5) tetrachords of the octatonic scale are (0, 6) tritone-related while those of the diatonic D-scale are (0, 7) fifth-related. (The octatonic scale contains four overlapping (0 2 3 5) tetrachords, which, in passages of octatonic-diatonic interaction, could imply eight possible D-scales. Here we consider only the two adjoining ones.) And as shown in Chart 6, the critical point of distinction is likely to arise at the pitch-number 6/7 juncture of the two tetrachords. In moving from an octatonic to a diatonic or octatonic-diatonic framework, pitch number 7, replacing number 6, does in fact often intrude to signal this shift. At no. 25 in the "Augurs of Spring," only F of the (C B

A G F) diatonic fragment is foreign to Collection III. Here, G

) in place of F, as indeed originally contemplated by the composer, would have tipped the balance more favorable toward Collection III and a possible (0 2 3 5) (6 8 9 11) formation in terms of (C B

A G) (G

) E

), reading down. (Actually, the original conception, shown in Examples 67a and 67b, includes both the F and the G

. Collection III at this point might well have seemed a bit cluttered and over-committed to the composer, in view of the upcoming D-scale on E

at nos. 28–30, for which the blocks at nos. 25 and 27 serve as a preparation. The score defines a very gradual shift toward the unimpaired D-scale on E

reference at nos. 28–30.)

Hence, as a subset of both the octatonic and diatonic collections, the (0 2 3 5) tetrachord serves as the principal connecting link between blocks of octatonic, diatonic, and octatonic-diatonic content. And when (0 2 (3) 5) is incomplete, it may in addition connect an (0 2 3 5) partitioning of the octatonic collection with a dominant-seventh partitioning, closed-position, first inversion. Hence, too, as a surface-articulative unit, it embodies matters of deep structural concern to the harmonic, contrapuntal, and referential character of The Rite .

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