Contemporary Music Review

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Melodic totality and textural form in Edgard

Varse's intgrales: Aspects of modified tradition
in early new music
Tomi Mkel
To cite this article: Tomi Mkel (1998) Melodic totality and textural form in Edgard Varse's
intgrales: Aspects of modified tradition in early new music, Contemporary Music Review, 17:1,
57-71, DOI: 10.1080/07494469800640031
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07494469800640031

Published online: 20 Aug 2009.

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ContemporaryMusic Review
1998, Vol.17, Part 1, pp. 57-71
Reprints available directly from the publisher
Photocopying permitted by license only

9 1998 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association)

Amsterdam B.V.Published under licel~se
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"Melodic totality" and textural form in

Edgard Var se's Intdgrales:
Aspects of m o d i f i e d tradition in early n e w music
Tomi M/ikel/i
University of Helsinki

Edgard Var~se's Intggrales exemplify a complex and characteristic strategy of the composer,
who uses textural constellations with a motivic function and creates his "melodic totality"
out of a new kind of dynamic interplay of voices. Instead of following the idea of organized
vertical sound complexes, the author argues for a polylinear reading of Var~se's score - or at least for a method which intermediates between the vertical and horizontal reading.
The traditional nature of motivic and polyphonic thinking, and above all the functional
organization of textural elements and constellative sections, makes the author consider
the composer of Int~grales as a kind of traditionalist, who combines tendencies of sonata
form and variation form. The generative "motivic" principle of melodic, constellative,
and formal structures constitutes the dialectics of "activity" and "stagnation".
KEY WORDS Polylinearity, constellations, voice leading; formal functions, musical
tradition.

Edgard Var~se is commonly seen as an inventor of new techniques of

composition and aesthetics which deal withsound as the basic structural material
of music. Because of this standard Var~se-interpretation it is uncommon in
any sense to question the absolute modernity of his musical language, even
in the case of his early works.
Var~se himself seems to have agreed with this approach:
Each of my works discovers its own form. I could never have fitted them into any of the
historical containers.... My music cannot be made to fit into any of the traditional music
boxes.

(Var~se, 1966, p. 16)

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TomiMi~E4

But, at least according to Helga de la Motte-Haber, Var~se did not in fact

regard himself as an avantgardist either:

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Var~se hat sich niemals als Avantgardist vemtanden (diesen Ausdruck eher abgelehnt).
Jedoch verwandelte er die Tradition, so dat~ etwas Neuartiges entstand.
(De la Motte-Haber, 1992, p. 43)
In the case of Var~se the problem of tradition and innovation is not at all
trivial and the idea of a complete absence of traditional codes is most probably
a fallacy. We are confronted with a fundamental aesthetic ambivalence, which
is very typical for the 1920s: beside the basic dichotomy of (1) tradition v e r s u s
innovation we find (2) formal construction versus free formal fluctuation,
(3) linear counterpoint versus sound effects, (4) extramusical programme versus
programme as form. In all these pairs we have both a rather traditional and
a very m o d e r n component, and it is a special quality in Var~se's music, that
the dichotomies b e c o m e compatible t h r o u g h multilevel compositional
techniques.
As in some other (even earlier) works b y Var~se, it seems to be possible
to find a non-musical pseudo-programme behind the construction of Intdgrales.
This program, if existing at all (the composer's own notes are interesting - see Varese, 1983, pp. 40 ft.), is - - unlike any romantic or postromantic
programme - - formalistic, but not in the same sense as an arabesque, for
instance; an arabesque tends to be static whereas a mathematical integration
is obviously processual. The difference of this kind of abstract, formalistic
programme from a romantic programme, describing for instance the stages
of ascending a mountain or the dimensions of a landscape, is small. In the
case of an abstract programme there is no way to avoid formal analysis: the
analysis of the form is simultaneously an analysis of the semantics and that
of the signification. Because of the processual character of the "programme",
the analysis should try to be particularly careful with the processual aspects
of the composition.
As far as the formal organisation is concerned it is true, of course, that a
piece like Int~grales could not fit into the "box" of a standard sonata form,
or anything equivalent, but this does not mean that we cannot find some
tendencies of sonata form or of some other formal concepts which were
commonly used in the previous decades (on sonata form in Var~se see Parks,
1974, pp. 356 ff., and Slonimsky, 1967, p. 6). Since it is probable that even
one of the most radical composers of the 20s still was at least subconsciously
influenced by the traditional formal language which is based on specific kinds
of symmetrical arrangements, an analysis of this aspect, too, should be a
necessary condition for a true understanding of the composer's writing. This
does not mean that traditional codes are considered as primarily important

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Melodictotality 59
but that they must at least be considered. Obviously, categories like sonata
form may only fit in a very abstract sense; as a name for a setting of elements,
for a specific archetype. Talking about tendencies of sonata form is thus based
on the idea of a composer's assimilating common codes and principles of
organisation from earlier music and Using them in a way which may seemingly
be quite free of all tradition. This process of assimilation does not even have
to be conscious. To use the word sonata for this kind of creative situation
is misleading only ff one has decided to use the term exclusively for the preBeethovenian style. Once we have used it for Beethoven we may use it for
Liszt as well as for Stravinsky or Schoenberg: all four cases are incorrect in
a strictly historical sense. The latest major contribution to this dilemma is
that of Joseph N. Straus (Straus, 1990), though this writer does not discuss
Var~se at all.
Int~grales is one of the key works for ensemble by Varbse; first of all because
of its unusually monumental and complicated structure - - Hyperprism, for
instance, is much more symmetrical. Another reason is that particularly
important stylistic changes take place in it (see De la Motte-Haber, 1990, p.
39). Even though one may find some similarities with Hyperprism, Octandre
and Offrandes ~ in the textural constellations at the beginning, for example
- - the similar elements always have a completely different formal fuction
in Int~grales. This may be the main difficultyin understanding Var~se's music:
formal organization - - whatever its general profile is like - - is based on
types of musical elements, like texture and sound, which have a subordinated
position in the more traditional manner of composition. The function of these
elements, however, may be quite similar to the traditional equivalents, which
means that we at least need the traditional codes of musical functions. This
unusual combination of substance and function is part of the ambivalence.

I. On "melodic t o t a l i t y "
As Helga de la Motte-Haber ~cently put it, "die Instrumentation eines Werkes
wird wesentlich zu dessen Struktur. Die Farben und ihre Kombinationen,
die Qualithten eines Klanges sind nicht akzidentiell, sondern
formkonstituierend" (De la Motte-Haber, 1992, p. 42). Var~se did not only
follow the nineteenth-century tradition of constructive instrumentation but
he gave sound a similar function in his compositions to that of motives and
harmonies in traditional styles. In one of his latest speeches (Var~se, 1966,
p. 16) Var~se introduced the idea of "crystallization" according to which the
musical forms are a result of an interaction of tensions. As early as 1936 Var~se
discussed the "zones of intensities" which give musical colour a new meaning

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TomiMi~keltl

as an "agent of delineation like the different colours on a map separating

different areas, and an integral part of form" (Var~se, 1966, p. 11). The zones
of Intggrales have a high degree of coherence and an analysis has to deal with
almost no difficulties of periodization. It is not quite so easy to group the
periods, however, if we tend to see a tripartite construction of the overall
form with equivalent length for each group. 1 Even though such a tripartite
interpretation m a y be correct we still need concepts which explain the
progression of the individual zones, on which the units are based. We have
to study the logic of the syntax. Melodic or rhythmic subjects, or motives
in any traditional sense, are obviously not very important for the construction,
and the path towards a true understanding of the work does not seem to
lead through the harmonic dimension either. Instead of these, the textural
and interactive characters, the constellations, are recognizable and flexible,
like well-designed classical fugal subjects.
A major problem in analysing Var~e's music as a progression of constellations
which consists of individual voices, is the standard dichotomy of polyphony
and sound effects w and Var~se seems to have proclaimed a fluctuation of
s o u n d s and a counterpoint of fields. As a matter of fact there is no real
contradiction since it is perfectly possible to regard individual voices as minimal
fields. This is an important idea in analyzing polyphonic writing in all new
music; a voice is not defined by a thematic subject or by motives, but primarily
b y its dynamic individuality as a sound.The counterpoint of thes e primary
sounds makes the constellations or zones, which make the overall form of
a composition. An analysis of the primal sounds enables us to analyze the
syntax of the zones, and it is strongly motivated by the final goal of the analysis,
even though we should accept the aesthetic primacy of the zones.
Whereas most authors consider texture in Var~se - - and in other composers"
music, too - - from the point of view of sound, m y key phrase in analyzing
texture as a formal force is linear processuality. Instead of calling one vertical
slice of the score "texture" I regard it as a minimal textural event which actually
only becomes textural in the processual context of a composition. The alternative
approach is, I think, atomistic and hardly effective if we wish to understand
the formal function of texture in the compositional process. In analyzing the
score as a web or network of musical filaments, the first goal must be to
show whether these filaments should be understood primarily in a vertical
or horizontal function. In the particular case of Var~se it is important to
notice h o w he uses the phrase "melodic totality": he clearly emphasises the
linear processes, which have certain similar characteristics to traditional melody:
There will no longer be the old conception of melody or interplay of melodies. The entire
work will be a melodic totality. The entire work will flow as a river flows.
(Var~se, 1966, p. 1).

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Melodictotality 61
In any traditional sense the melody does not seem to have been particularly
important for Var~se but the function of melody and its general linear or
'qaorizontal" qualities make him describe his texture as melodic totality. Melody,
like texture, is not just a syntax of sound effects; melody is continuous and
it has its own linear logic in the context of other linear elements. In Var~se's
music this linear logic has a broader, more "total" meaning than in more
traditional styles, in which the context of melody is harmony.
Here again we have to ask whether Var~se's concept of "melodic totality"
necessarily means a complete flow without any internal "interplay of melodies".
It would, obviously, not be correct to define the "melodic totality" as a highly
developed form of polyphony, even though it should be noticed, too, how
important the continuity of individual instrumental lines in Var~se's texture
is. The proper way of approaching Var~se's texture, I think, is through the
concept of polyphony with an emphasis on the totality of sound instead of
on counterpoint; we should not underestimate the possibilities of going into
the details of the melodic totality from the polyphonic point of view which
permits a better understanding of the formal syntactic progression of the
unities. A broader discussion of melody (though not so much of melodic
totality) in Varese's music is offered by Albrecht Riethm~ller (in de la MotteHaber, 1992, pp. 64 ff.).

The fundamental problems of analyzing textural syntax

When analyzing tonality or the motivic dimension of a composition it is taken
for granted that a description of single chords or melodic patterns is only
the very first task and not yet an analytic act. In textural analysis, too, the
difficulties start when we try to find the overall function of textural sections
and to make clear the hidden principles of textural syntax. Syntax is the main
problem for a post-tonal and particularly a "post-melodic" composer even
today, as those composers report who use the most advanced technology of
sound analysis - - like spectral analysis - - as a tool in orchestration (as Magnus
Lindberg admits in M/ikel~, 1992, p. 45). The computer may show which
instruments are needed if certain sounds are to be produced, but there is no
automatic method of deciding which sounds should be connected in the linear
dimension in order to create musical forms. If a composition is supposed to
have a monumental form - - and not only a kind of variation of one sound
complex - - the problem has to be solved.
Existing approaches of textural analysis may be summarised as follows:
1. The most traditional approach, which discusses texture in terms of its
polyphonic, homophonic, monophonic (etc.) appearance

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TomiM~kel/i

2. The methodologically most advanced approach, which uses computer

or sonographic analysis (an example, applied to Var~se, may be found in
Cogan, 1984, pp. 73 ff.)
3. The approach of the so-called "quantitative analysis of instrumentation",
which is based on the capabilities of the computer to analyze huge amounts
of single vertical segments in a score, e.g. in terms of their probability (see
Sch~ifer, 1982)
4. The general analytic approach emphasising textural elements like
instrumentationand orchestration in a hermeneutic context with various grades
of emphasis and terminological sensitivity.
Whereas most writers on texture use the vertical sound complex as their basic
category I prefer the idea of horizontal individualities. Because of this emphasis,
I have found some of Edward T. Cone's ideas extraordinarily sympathetic,
even though I cannot accept his consistently semantic interpretation of music
and his lack of understanding of more formalistic approaches (Cone, 1974).
More formal in its approach is, of course, Cone's famous analysis of
"stratification" in Igor Stravinsky's music, which particularly in the case of
Mouvements becomes a primarily textural dimension (Cone, 1962, pp. 1826). Rudolf Stephan has claimed that Var~se was a composer who developed
further some important innovations of Stravinsky (Stephan, 1972), and Cone's
method - - and textural analysis in general D should make it possible to
prove this interesting hypothesis.
Besides the linear emphasis, I try in this paper to look for moments of
textural thinking with the closest possible connection with other matters of
composition. It will be shown, for instance, how textural processes and
particularly constellations are used with thefunction of traditional motives; with
the important consequence that they create an overall form which is related
to the tradition of sonata form on the one hand and variation form on the
other D this being a combination which was quite influential in the mid20s (consider the Chamber Concerto by Alban Berg). The idea of polyphonic
sound which is used to describe Var~se's style should mean that we do not
primarily look at sound in Var~se as an orchestral complex of overtones. In
any case, we should rather take notice of the still primarily linear texture of
Var~se, which makes it possible to study the formal overall sequence and
syntax of Var~se's works as based on linear elements in polyphonic
constellations; according to this approach, sound complexes are explained
as moments in the linear progression rather than as effects. This emphasis
is based on the commonidea that Var~se first of all was apolyphonic composer,
though at the same time extremely interested in the result of polyphony
the sound ~ and in new ways of defining polyphony. In a certain sense
Var~se solves the same problem as Anton Webern: both found a very personal
way of redefining musical dimensions. Gyorgy Ligeti has demanded that

Melodictotality 63

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Webem should be heard "quer" ("obliquely" or "crosswise"; see Ligeti, 1966,

p. 117) and a similar third dimension of musical perception has to be found
if we wish to understand Var~se, too. In the particular case of Int~grales this
"crosswise" perception means that we not only reject the traditional dimension
of textural perception but that we also question the functional order of
traditional music: a sound is here a motive and a motive is a sound b with
all the consequences.

The identity of voices

I do not see any necessary reason to reject the idea of the identity of linear
roles even in pieces like Int~grales, though other compositions for truly soloistic
ensembles, of course, may be more suited to the method of consteUative analysis.
Inmy reading, a score is basically like a map of a forest with a certain number
of continuous and interrupted pathways with certaindirections, certainfunctions
and certain overall organization. Even though I consider vertical analysis of
Var~se important, I also think that a polyphonic point of view has a high
degree of relevance. We should not forget that Varbse studied with three
truly great b and very different! - - masters of late nineteenth-century
polyphony: Vincent d'Ind3~ Charles-Marie Widor and Ferruccio Busoni. At
least in the 20s, the traditional polyphonic approach seems to have been an
integral part of Var~se's compositional techniques.
In Int~grales the idea of linear individualities is particularly important on
the most foreground level of the composition and from the very beginning:
the degree of soloistic identity is used as a formal element of composition.
It is also important that the characteristically fluent changing of the instrument
playing a linear role in Hyperprism and Offrandes is only seldom a feature
of Int~grales" Instead of trying out the possibilities of agogic shadows in
instrumental phrasing, Var~se uses the identity of an instrument as a significant
formal element. This means that the same principles of organization which
control the formal syntax might influence the identity of instruments in the
voice leading, too. In case of the framing "A" parts (see below) we should
find variations of the idea of stagnation. If we follow the voice of the high
clarinet in the first section, we easily see how its identity is carefully and
gradually put into question by the orchestral sound; after measure 10 also
by using instruments with related sonorities, like muted trumpet and oboe
in the same function as the clarinet just before. The detail.q of the orchestral
complexes enable various different versions of the stagnation process by
including differentpercussive accents and different degrees of gestural identity.
In the first section, we find a process of stagnation-activation-stagnation; the
identity of the clarinet seems to get reconstructed (or activated) only in measures

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64 TomiM~keli~
14-17 and finally in measure 22, but the last section with a coherent tutti (in
measures 27ff.) completes the stagnation of its identity. First of all there is
a typical, rather integrated soloistic sound played by three different kinds
of instruments against the tutti in the first section (A1), but there is also a
formal logic behind the choice of a particular instrument in a particular section.
This logic is a general logic with plenty of applications within the composition.
In the second section (A2) the question of soloistic identity is simpler, as
the main soloist remains the same all the time. The constellative variation
of identity centres on variation in the linear identity of the rest of the ensemble,
which is even more the case in the third section (A3). This is one of the aspects
of the stagnation of the soloist and the activation of the orchestra. Just as Var~se
employs the repetition of a tone as a means of melodic stagnation, he also
employs the frequent, monotonic use of an instrument in order to decrease
its relative individuality - - its informative power. An originally individual
element becomes an integral part of the complex whole. As we see, the concept
of individual parts is necessary for understanding the formal processes.

II. The tradition o f sonata f o r m and the constellative sequence

It has commonly been realised that normal analytic concepts as such do not
fit Var~se's music, and the solution has been so far to abandon all kinds of
traditional thinking. Grete Wehmeyer, for instance, is critical of Ann Parks's
Cornell dissertation: when discussing Hyperprism, which in P a r k s ' s
interpretation has a lot to do with sonata form, Wehmeyer argues that the
sonata concept does not tell us anything about the counterpoint of instrumental
groups (Wehmeyer, 1977, p. 99). I of course agree with Wehmeyer in her
emphasis on the counterpoint of instrumental groups, but her critique is odd
since 1) she (Wehmeyer) does not deal with instrumental counterpoint in
Hyperprism either and 2) I do not think Parks considers that sonata form
gives a sufficient and comprehensive answer to all questions in Hyperprism;
on the contrary, she just considers the possibility of some influence of sonata
form in that particular piece (Parks, 1974, p. 366). A constructive critique
should include a precise counter-argumentation; a demonstration of the
importance of novel principles does not disqualify the discussion of traditional
formal tendencies. Another verdict of Wehmeyer - - this time on Int~grales
- - may exemplify how selfconsciouslythe "no-tradition" paradigm is applied:
"Zweifellos gibt es keine traditionelle Formbestimmung mit der man diesem
Sachverhalt beik~ime" [Without any doubt, there is no traditional formal
principle with which one may deal with this matter] (Wehmeyer, 1977,
p. 113). The opposite extreme is, admittedly, the general norm; the major
part of analytic literature deals with thematic and harmonic processes of a

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Melodic totality

65

more traditional kind, and we have to show why this is not enough. In order
to make my own position absolutely clear I must emphasize that I do not
believe in the analytic power of traditional methods alone in the analysis of
Var~se, but I cannot see why they have to be rejected en masse when they
have beensuccesfullyused in studies of composers like Mahler, Strauss, Busoni
or Stravinsky. Var~se's music makes us re-think our aesthetics, but nevertheless
Var~se was no Cage.
One of the most recent and most interesting analyses of Int~grales,which
asks and answers questions of periodic syntax, is by Hermann Danuser
(Danuser, !992). Danuser regards measures 1-31 as the first formal section2,
measures 32-52 as the second section and measures 53-92 as the third section,
where his analysis ends. The very first measures have in my opinion an
introductory character, and for this reason I would prefer to consider measures
29-31, too, rather as an introduction to the following section, whereas measures
53-59 seem to me an extension of the previous section, but these details are
no reason for any argument with Danuser's sections in general. It is, on the
other hand, a pity that he does not continue the description of the periods
until the end, since the periodizationbecomes increasinglycomplicated towards
the end. The overall form, which in my opinion has many important and
interesting similarities with the formal progression of sonata form (in par~cular
that which is often used in concertos), may be described as follows:
{A1 (mm. 1-29) - - A2 (29-59)}
transition 1 (60-92)
B (93-100)
A3 (101-117)
transition 2 (117-154)
C (development of A and B) (155-198)
A4 (198-224)
The first repetition of A resembles the repetition of the expositionin sonata
form, developed, altered but recognizable without any difficulty.The transition
uses elements of the expositionbut does not repeat them; the transition above
all leads to the new subject, which is characteristically new even though it
may be regarded as a motivic variation of the first subject. The following
repetition of A has its equivalent in the concerto tradition, particularly in
Mozart. The second transition concludes the exposition and prepares the
development, which combines different elements of A with some of B in
many ways and brings the composition to the highest synthetic culmination,
especially as far as energetic mobility is concerned. The recapitulation is
radically altered, as so often in the classic-romantic tradition, but it is stiff
clearly recognizable after the culmination of the development section. There
is even a concluding pedal tone at the end of the development: e fiat and
e 1of the trombones inmm. 195ff. - - a common clich~ in the classic tradition.

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TomiM~celii

A basic feature in In t~grales is the close correlation between the constellative

organization of the different versions of a particular section of music. The
foreground example for this is the repetition of the constellatively almost
identical sections within the A-sections (A1, A2, A3 and A4). Each of these
consists of several constellations, and a dialogue between soli and tutti is the
surface principl e of the constellative progression. The essence of this surface,
which has also been visualized as a projection of a line against a background,
is obviously not the traditional confrontationof main voice and accompaniment.
Inhis essay Danuser looks at the first 92 measures as a process of increasing
sound qualities - - a process in which the instrumentation becomes at least
partly responsible for the form (Danuser, 1992, pp. 91 ff.). According to Danuser
the first 27 measures lead towards a goal, an eleven-tone complex. The
preparatory events are units consisting of a central tone (b2) and a chord of
six tones (a2, efla~, b a / c, e, c sharp 1) with rhythmic variation, which is not
"linear" in its teleology, like the more traditional forms of cluster genesis.
The second formal section is a variation with a central tone g and there are
no phases of mutation. The complementary harmony is extended through
rhythm and instrumental constellation, thanks to the high trombone, which
gives birth to a twelve-tone chord in measure 36. In the third section there
is a greater difference of "construction", since the central tone is replaced
by homophonic modulations o f the chord ("Klangk6rper'). My problems
with this interpretation are:
1. In what ways does the process of growth continue till measure 92? It
seems to me that the definitive culmination takes place in measure 52 and
that the same level is not reached after that.
2. The extension of the chromatic universe from one-tone over six- and
eleven-tone chords to the twelve tone complex in measure 36 is an interesting
fact, but if Var~se used it as his main principle of construction, why did he
not follow it any futher (or delay the twelve-tone complex until measure 92)
and realise it in a more obvious way?
3. What exactly is the role of the percussion in the process of sound extension?
If the "rhythms and colours of the percussion are in no way foreign to the
sound complex, but one of its genuine constituents" (Danuser, 1992, p. 92),
how could we analyze them?

Constellative variation

if we try to find another way of treating the traditional dichotomy of an

individual main voice against a collective accompaniment, which Danuser
legitimately dislikes but which I would not wish to reject completely, we
end up describing the progression of the individual constellations in terms

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Melodictotality

67

of their constant and marked variation. In the first part (A1) none of the
constellations is identical even though the basic constellative principle - the confrontation of solo and t u t t i - - remains always the same. In this section
constellative variation mainly concerns the percussion, which changes its
profile completely in each constellation, whereas the wind - - clearly divided
into woodwind and brass (or more specifically trombone) - - hardly changes
at all; only the instrument with a soloistic role changes a few times. This
contrast of stagnation and dynamism correlates in an abstract but still important
way with the idea of variation; in both of them there is an inborn, essential
tension between constancy and change. In classical variations this tension
manifests itself horizontally, always referring to the starting point, whereas
here the two tendencies are present simultaneously. The second part (A2)
includes in the end three repetitions of exactly the same constellation~ even
as far as the percussion is concerned - - and the variation within the third
part (A3 after B) is still less important. In the latter the change of soli and
tutti is much more rigid ~ or formal in the pejorative sense ~ than usual;
the constellations are almost alike. Even the very melodic beginning of the
second part is already less varied than the equivalent passage in the first
section. The decreasing power of the principle of variation is easy to exemplify.
In all cases the essence of the variations is primarily constellative, whereas
the melodic dimension of both constellative elements has always just a relatively
plain signal character with unimportant motivic differences. Between the A
sections, however, we may find some variation which is based on the melodic
aspect, too; in A1 most of the soli are based on three melodic pitches only
and all the tuttis on the chord (c-e-c sharpl-e flat3-b fiat2 [solo voice]-al-b3)
which, of course, is performed in a few different rhythmic versions. In the
section A2 the melodic flexibility of the first solo - - but only the first! ~ is
somewhat greater than the corresponding solo in A1, whereas the difference
between the tuttis is very important: the short melodic figures of the tuttis
in A2, for instance, cannot be found in A1, where the rhythmic profile of the
tuttis is still rather rigid. The soli of A3, consequently, are much less free
than in A2 and A 1. In A4 most of the tutti instruments have a melodic profile,
whereas the soli only play one single tone (a~). As we see, two contradictory
tendencies may be found in the melody of the A sections, too: (1) the consequent
stagnation of the soli during the formal process and (2) the activation of the
tutti from the beginning till the end. Even the individual constellations of
the first two A sections are influenced by a process of activation-stagnationc,
activation of the melody.
The idea of double variation helps us in explaining the strategy behind these
formal tactics based on seemingly contradictorytendencies of gradually shifting
importance from soli to tutti and thus creating a tight syntax of periods;
there is a variation going on from one single constellative subsection to another,

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TomiM~,ellt

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but at the same time also a variation between A1- A2- A3- (etc.) takes place,
regardless of the interruption by the B-section and the transitions:
Sections:
Subsections:
A1
=
al-a2-a3-a4-a5-a6-a7
A2

A3

a'l-a'2-a'3-a'4-a'5-a'6-a'7-a'8-a'9-a'lO
a'l-a'2-a"3-a'4-a'5

(etc.)
As the chronological and formal distance from the first, hierarchically
f u n d a m e n t a l initial al- subsection increases and n e w forms for these
constellations have to be found, the process of variation within the sections
(A1, A2 and A3) becomes less important; this feature strongly emphazises
the coherence of the form. The process has altogether a stagnating profile
since the variation between the A sections is much more difficult to hear
than the dynamics of the internal variation within them. The rest of the A
fragments (altogether five) continue within the frames of the same logic, since
all of the fragments are singular characteristic cases with extremely compressed
variation character. And the final manifestation of the A-section is like one
of the constellations in A2 without percussion; this last moment of variation
m. 4 - 6

9,

"

I ....I

tJ

::~

-11

a~ 36

~mb.

Figure 1

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Melodictotality 69
is a reminiscence giving the variation as a whole a classicaUy symmetrical
appearance. The tuttis of section A2 are constellativelyparticularly interesting
since they always start a new process of stagnation just after the soloist has
stagnated. In the first A section the tuttis ~vere primarily sonorous accents
of the last tone of the solo.
This change in the degree of activity of the tutti is part of the overall activation
of the tuttis, which continues gradually till the end, or at least till measures
195ff., the end of the formal section with a developing character. In the third
A section we find the percussion dearly emphasizing the process of stagnation.
Altogether the percussional complexes are to a certain degree influenced by
the process of activation and stagnation but less so than other constellative
motives. It is altogether a speciality of Int~grales that the same idea, the same
principle connects various aspects of the composition so closely by influencing
them all - - even aspects which are only seldom closely connected with each
other in a traditional composition, like motives and textural constellations.
In a sense, this idea integrates the formal sections as well as all other different
elements of the composition.
The idea of stagnation may be applied elsewhere than to the A sections,
too, and not only to the greater formal sections, but also to melodic phrases;
and some less extended constellative processes are influenced by it as the
main principle of organization. The very first motive of the clarinet has clearly
a stagnating melodic profile (measures 1-3). Since each stagnation is followed
by a new Start we are dealing with the dialectics of the two forces: stagnation
and activity. The melodic composition in particular is dominated by the
mannerism of starting a gesture and letting it stagnate at once, so that the
organizing idea of the whole work may be seen crystallized within the very
first mofivic gestures.

Figure 2

Conclusion
1 have tried to show how Int~grales by Var~se exemplifies a complex and
characteristic strategy of the composer, who uses textural constellations in

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70

TomiMitkeli~

a motivic function and creates his linear "melodic totality" out of a new kind
of dynamic interplay of voices. Because of the traditional nature of motivic
functions and the fundamental concept of polyphony, it does not seem to be
the whole truth that m as Var~se himself said - - his music does not "fit into
any of the traditional music boxes". In the case of Var~se it is, of course, more
the question of the traditional nature of thefunctions than that of the material.
But to be exact, even the so-called traditional formal "music boxes" are made
out of functions rather than out of material. In this respect the Var~se of the
mid-20s must be considered a traditionalist-- an artist using traditional codes
even if he does so in a manner which is anything but traditional; he restores
the functions and fills them up with completely u n c o m m o n material. If we
do not u n d e r s t a n d both m the material as well as the functions - - w e
misunderstand the complexity of the artist's expression and are led astray
b y his pamphlets.

Notes
1.
2.

This idea of tripartite form was exposed by Helga de la Motte-Haber in a discussion.

I do not want to pursue it any further here.
"T. 1-21" must be a misprint.

References
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Cone, Edward T. (1962) Stravinsky: the progress of a method. Perspectives of
New Music, 1, pp. 18-26
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DanuseT, Hermann (1992) Musik jenseits der Narrativitiit? Ober Edgard Var~ses
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De la Motte-Haber, Helga (ed.) (1992) Edgard Var~se:Die Befreiung des Klanges.

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Ligeti, Gyorgy (1966) Weberns Melodik. Melos, 33, pp. 117-118
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