A vast simplicity: Pitch organization in the works of Carl Ruggles.
Item
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Title
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A vast simplicity: Pitch organization in the works of Carl Ruggles.
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Identifier
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AAI3008874
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identifier
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3008874
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Creator
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Slottow, Stephen Paul.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Joseph N. Straus
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Date
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2001
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Music
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Abstract
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Carl Ruggles's oeuvre, although small, is powerful, finely crafted, and intensely individual: his compositions are not easily mistaken for those of any other composer. An individuality so audibly recognizable points to distinctive musical characteristics and procedures. This study focuses on procedures of pitch organization, examines them in detail, and, to some extent, puts them in the context of Ruggles's spiritual aesthetic---the striving towards the transcendent and the sublime. The study draws on recent theories of contour and atonal voice leading, as well as on Fortean set theory and Charles Seeger's dissonant counterpoint. It consists of a series of linked sections, each exploring a different parameter, grouped together in three analytical chapters framed by an introduction and conclusion.;The introduction describes Ruggles's role in the ultra-modern movement, and includes a survey of the analytical literature. The conclusion discusses the relation between Ruggles's compositional procedures and his aesthetic/spiritual ideas, taking the form of a commentary on Charles Seeger's 1938 critique of the composer.;The analytical material is grouped under chapters on melody, motive, and polyphony. Chapter 2 (melody) explores linear pitch-class nonrepetition, interval distribution, chromatic completion, and contour. Chapter 3 (motive) begins with a short discussion of motivic parameters, and goes on to describe a series of motivic processes, many derived from the theories of Charles Seeger: immediate repetition, regular and split transposition and inversion, extension, intension, fragmentation, and liquidation. After a description of motives in sequential contexts, the chapter ends with a consideration of Ruggles's use of combinations of IC5 and 1. Chapter 4 (counterpoint and harmony) begins with a clarification of Seeger's term dissonant counterpoint, describes Seeger's classification of intervals, examines Ruggles's two-part counterpoint (including voice exchange), discusses chord construction and voice leading, and ends with a description of Ruggles's canons.;Throughout, a steadily developing theme is the tension between consistent compositional procedures in Ruggles's music and the composer's determination not to use them systematically. This "consistent inconstancy" is integral both to Ruggles's compositional method and to his aesthetic.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
