By: Alice (Bai) Xue , CUNY Graduate Center
Abstract of Video:
Igor Stravinsky’s In Memoriam Dylan Thomas (1954) is a serial composition built not on a twelve-tone row, but a remarkably compact five-tone row: E, E♭, C, D♭, D. In this video, I explore how this short and chromatic row form supports several compositional strategies at the local level.
Stravinsky’s melodic use of row forms enables 40% of the 190 total rows to overlap with their neighbors. These overlaps follow two main principles: symmetrical boundaries, where a combination of two rows begin and end on the same pitch; and, set class 024 formed by the beginning, overlapping, and end tones of adjacent rows. The row’s unique contour makes such overlaps extremely audible.
Even more striking is how the piece regularly evokes tonal sonorities despite being serial. Of the 280 simultaneities in the score, 72 of them – or 25.7% - form full triads or seventh chords, such as an Fb major triad in the Prelude and a group of tertian harmonies in the refrain “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” These tonal allusions soften the dissonant quality of serialism, giving the work a lyrical, almost nostalgic quality.
Bibliography:
Alpern, Wayne. “Aggregation, Assassination, and an ‘Act of God’: The Impact of the Murder of
Archduke Ferdinand Upon Webern’s Op. 7, No. 3.” Theory and Practice 21 (1996), 1-28.
Gauldin, Robert., and Warren Benson. “Structure and Numerology in Stravinsky’s In Memoriam Dylan
Thomas.” Perspectives of New Music 23, 2 (1985). 166-185.
Rogers, Lynne. “A Serial Passage of Diatonic Ancestry in Stravinsky’s ‘The Flood’”. Journal of the
Royal Musical Association 129, no. 2 (2004): 220-239.
Straus, Joseph N. Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory, 3rd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2005.
Stravinsky, Igor. In Memoriam Dylan Thomas. London: B & H, 1954.
About the Author:
Alice (Bai) Xue is a music theorist currently teaching at New York University and Mannes College of Music while completing her Ph.D. at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her research focuses on form and structure in African music, with broader interests in world music, pop, hip hop, musical theatre, and twentieth-century serial music. Outside of academia, Alice is an active trumpet player and a semi-professional artist.