Stravinsky and Gesualdo

Author(s): Colin Mason

Source: Tempo, New Series, No. 55/56 (Autumn - Winter, 1960), pp. 39-48
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/944345 .
Accessed: 22/06/2014 06:09

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Tempo.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.174 on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 06:09:12 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 STRAVINSKY AND GESUALDO 39

1914-I926' (The Years of Development in the Art of B.B.: His Appearance in

the Musical Life of Europe). The three parts run to more than 750 pages, leaving
the narrative at 1926, i.e., scarcely at the mid-point in Bartok's life. It is hoped that,
when finished, the instalments will be published under one cover.
I feel I ought not to conclude this survey of Bart6k literature without
mentioning the appearance of the first volume of Bart6k's Slovak Folksong
Collection, even if this is not the place for a detailed assessment. The volume
was published by the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. From the date
given by Bart6k at the end of his Foreword it would seem that 36 years have
elapsed before a major achievement of Bart6k's managed to reach the printing
press. One cannot speak of publication, since 'Slovenske Ludove Piesne' is not
available to the public outside Czechoslovakia, i.e., to readers in the West,
presumably for copyright reasons.

STRAVINSKY
AND GESUALDO
by ColinMason
At the Venice Festival this year the first performance was given of Stravinsky's
Monumentumpro Gesualdo Venosaad CD Annum. This consists of three of Gesualdo's
five-part madrigals, 're-composed for instruments' by Stravinsky. The madrigals
he has chosen are 'Asciugate i begli occhi' (Book V, No. i ), 'Ma tu, cagion di
quella' (Book V, No. i8), and 'Belta poi che t'assenti' (Book VI, No. 2).
Stravinsky's full orchestra for the work consists of two oboes, two bassoons,
four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, and strings without double basses,
but he uses no trumpets or trombones in the first madrigal, and no horns or strings
in the second.
In the second and third madrigals the 're-composition' is less drastic than in
the first. The only relatively major change in these two is the insertion of an
echo of a two-bar cadence in No. 2. Otherwise there are octave transpositions,
exchanges of parts, harmonic doublings, occasional completions of the implied har-
mony, and one or two inserted passing-notes, but the substance of the two pieces
remains essentially as it was. Exx. i and 2 (the beginning of the second madrigal
Ex. 1

I1 " J2t - " r pi rr J J J ?

Ma tu ca-gion ma to ca - gion di qnelI la a - tro - ce pe

.i J..J - J X L"
X 441 ,J In
Ma tu ca-gion matu ca- gion di quel - l aa tro . ce pe
" r
, Ma
rr r"-
tu ca-gion ma__
rtu
rJJ
ca-gion ma tu
rrr -
ca .
,rr
gion di quel.- l
F
l- j j.. - t r-J rr r r r r -
r-
Ma tu ca-gion ma tu ca-gion. di quel - la a -tro - ce pe na

M"a ' - ? -
\ r fc-?
Ma A__
tu _______
ca-gion ma
r
tu ca - gion

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.174 on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 06:09:12 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
40 T EM P O

Ex.2

I
Oboi
If

Fagotti

II

Trombnein Do

II

tenori
II

o
Trombone _.
basso 9; r | -
'a marc. in p

and Stravinsky's version of it) illustrate his method of re-spacing the harmony
without introducing anything new. In Ex. 4, from Stravinsky's version of the
third ma(lrigal, the G and C in the viola part at bar 2 5, and the final crotchet of the
Ex.3
M23
b f rJ rJ j r rf;f J o
non puo
Non puo sen-tir do-o -l re non pun sen - tir sen-tir

' "
b $r J Non puo sen-tir
,, r J
non puo sen-tir
?^ J -
iJ J
do-lo
- re

sbr j 0J ? JJJ J T
ri J r -
- tir do-lo - te non puo sen- tir do - lo - re, do - lo - re non puo
Non puo sen

rrJr r rOr r j r-
^* Non puo sen-tir
r^^r,r
do - lo
ir- re non pus sen-tir do- lo - re non puo

?b - r | r :r r 6.r
nX
T_ - 1^ - re
- Do - lo re
E 4Do .U . v v

Ex 4 , , -.I..

Cor. in Fa

II

VI.

II

Vie.

Vc;

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.174 on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 06:09:12 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 STRAVINSKY AND GESUALDO 41

first horn's held B flat (sounding E flat) in the same bar, are not in Gesualdo's
text (Ex. 3), but these added notes are exceptional. In the rest of the piece there
are only two others.
Stravinsky's alterations of the first madrigal are much more extensive. Where
some striking harmony or contrapuntal device in the original has caught his fancy,
he has let his imagination work almost as freely as in Pulcinellaand The Fairy's Kiss.
The first twenty-one bars of Gesualdo appear fairly straightforwardly transcribed,

Ex.5
.Ao1
be(J r r p b r U r r : J I
Se Ion - ta - no da voi gir mi ve - de - te se Ion - ta

4-or Xj J } r J2- h r r !- -
Se Ion - ta - no da vo gir mi ve - de - te se Ion o

^f Se
.1J J >dh J
1 !ie on - ta - no da voi gir
f !-!
mi e - de
:- e,
te, gir mi ve- de

rfb(: '? 2
Se Ion -
r-^-
ta - no da voi
2 rf
gir mi
.JDz
jve - de - te

r it: -_j Sco- o Se Ion

J - ta * ao
rh
da voi
r r gir m[l
r
ve-

S j frPr
-no da voi
p r
mi ve-do - -
Sr o t
te gir ml ve-
-
de
vr - -
r
te
gir.

r 2>r" ..KI i t r F
- ta - no da voi gir mi ve- de - te gir mi ve - de te

0$b J J <1--J
J J ! ^ ^ 4 rj
J>f
- te se Ion ta - no da voi gir mi ve - de - te

se
s JI tJ - d
Ion ta - no da voi gir
v-
r r m2 mi ve- de - - - te

F F P
9 r r
- de - te
r r r
se ton - ta - no da
J
voi gir
p 1
mi ve - de
r

Vt.

II

Vie.

Vc.

(Ex. 6 is continued on the next page. )

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.174 on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 06:09:12 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
42 TEMPO

Ob.I -
r f
i

NV

Cn Nt,i J 24
L4161612
m C?.i??.
-.
I`
r rIr
F
rr IJ~~61JL-
F I
r r r
T-rF ^ F , 4:LT F
r

J' J'J
- -yj

Vl.
(Ex. 67fIr r ? tr V '

vl -rr~ - ?r

(Ex.6). -

From bars 8 to the end Stravinsky entirely re-composes what Gesualdo

wrote, to the extent sometimes of discarding it altogether and substituting
something of his own. These alterations are well motivated and most of them are
conspicuously for the better. Gesualdo's startling Neapolitan cadence in bars
19-20 of Ex. 7 is attractive the first time, but the sequential repetition of it a

Ex.7
.
1E8
A ? tlJ
'to#t.-* - -?
Ho^ - lo
Ahi, che pian - ger deb- b'io mi se-roe 'o

?J ? ro Io
,dl? #''J ,t- I 'o
W~s- -
Ahi, che pian - ger deb - b'io ahi che pian - ger deb-boio mi - se-roe so-lo

-
1J *fl 7 o
41jJ-..h.J mi - se-roe so
J41
Ahi, che pian - ger deb - b'io ii che pian - ger deb- boio - - lo

- ? J ?
- ?
Ahi, -
~J
.,"
o.
che pian-ger deb-b'io
.. ahi che pian - ger deb- boio mi - se-roe so - lo

i *
IJ F* o o J rlt J
' Ahi, - jo Jpr e o
cne pian-ger aeo - boio mi - se - rou so , -

fifth lower in bars 2 1-22 is lame. Stravinsky therefore avoids a strict sequence by
condensing the cadence the second time, and deliberately robs the second
Neapolitan chord of its already stale 'surprise' by preparing for it in the harmony
(Ex. 8 bars 26-27). The effect is markedly stronger and smoother than in the
original.

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.174 on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 06:09:12 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 STRAVINSKY AND GESUALDO 43

II

Cor. in Fa

III

4
I
tK o r r ,* rl 2do i
VI.
o
Tttj
It
I,'
4?- llef. ,i~J
Tu d
JT 'Ttte
J I,
J :

Vie.

Tntti
Vc.
o 0 r r J o 4i r
Stravinsky's leap from the cadential B major chord to a D minor chord
(Ex. 8, bar 28), instead of to Gesualdo's G minor (Ex. 7, bar 22), and his
thorough re-harmonization of this bar and the next, are similarly motivated by the
repetitiveness of Gesualdo's harmonic progression. The expressive force of
Gesualdo's descending melodic lines is weakened by the persistence of the chord
of G minor and the absence of all accented dissonances
except against the sus-
pended D in bar 23. Stravinsky therefore drives out the chord of G minor except
on the last half-beat of his own bar 29 (where he takes care to have an A
suspended
through it), and introduces a series of accented dissonances, preserving only the
general descending motion of Gesualdo's progression and the harmonic basis of
the cadence. Even here he defers the movement of the bass to D until the last
beat, and excludes the B flat of Gesualdo's weak six-four chord above it, sounding
the B flat instead over the preceding bass C, as another accented dissonance, or
rather as an understood suspension from his two seventh-chords at the
beginning
of the bar, in which the B flat is implied but not actually sounded. In
dispelling
the harmonic monotony of the original Stravinsky has done more here than was
necessary, and given us a ravishing passage of almost pure Stravinsky.
From this point his alterations become less aggressive again, and not so
easily accounted for, except as creative 'conceits'. Gesualdo's last two quaver
chords in bar 24 of Ex. 9 sound well, and Stravinsky's beautiful added B flat in the
first bassoon part (Ex. lo, bar 32) is thrown in out of sheer exuberance of
invention and fantasy. In his treatment of the remaining ten bars of Ex. 9, which
like bars 22-23 in Ex. 7 suffer from a lack of harmonic movement (and also from

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.174 on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 06:09:12 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
44 TEMPO

Ex. 9
}-24 .
' ^ rb
K rr"F - r 6.. J
Che par-ten - do da voi m'uc - ci . de il duo- lo

| "r-- r,rJ r ?oJ I J j - J

Che par-ten- do da voi m'nc-ci - de il duo - lo m'uc - ci - de m'uc -

e- .J Jl, ,' j,J6 J 6j j, o J J - - j

Che par-ten - do da voi 'uc - ci - de il duo- lo muc- ci - de m'c -

0
_ Che
r rr-D'?
_
par-ten - do da voi
r0
m'uc -
f Tr
ci - de il duo
f -
r
lo

^--^rr ? - o * - ? r J
Che par-ten - do da voi m'uc ci - de il do -

. - o- c? r ?rr
r "F ,,'
m'ac ci- de il duo - lo.

iSJ j- ij ^
f r 6r1-
ra j F d J J o
6 6 6 61
- ci - de ii duo - - lo muc - i-de m'auc-ci -de muo - i - do ii duo - lo.

"Q j 6 8 F-J J j _ J
- ci - de il duo lo m'uc - ci de il duo- lo.- m'uc- ci - de il duo - lo.

,
J,J J J J- r' tr f ? r f
T | --
muc-ci - de il duo - lo mac - ci - de muc - ci- de il duo - lo.

c m e
.- d'om
- i-
i- dfe idorF 1o.-
- 10 m'uc - ci - de il duo - lo.

Ex. 1(0
FR (J: 72)

I tIIL6 P'-i- 6r p T
Ob.
"o rel I I'

!~ ~'fo
I
I

II
Fag. | I1dolce
oc
--
J.
^
neuz nerd.
J3
3
senza sord. 2
Cor. I
in Fa
fi_
'u r
dolce
i l^rf'
a slightly monotonous similarity of melodic movement in all the parts) Stravinsky
(Ex. I I) has been content to introduce some variation in the part-writing, and some
dissonant elisions of the harmony, which do not change the basic progressions
and do not cause any harsher clashes than Gesualdo allows himself. Apparently
Stravinsky felt that the weakness of harmonic movement here was slight enough
to be offset by his variations of instrumental colour. In fact the most conspicuous
harmonic change that he has made, the introduction of the E flat in the viola part
of his bar 37, still further reduces the force of movement of Gesualdo's harmony
by softening the false relation with the previous bar.
Simultaneously with the Monumentumanother Gesualdo-Stravinskv work
has been published-Tres Sacrae Cantiones,completed by Stravinsky for the 4ooth
anniversary of Gesualdo's birth. These are taken from a volume of twenty sacred

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.174 on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 06:09:12 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 STRAVINSKY AND GESUALDO

Ex. 11
F., ~- - Zi.JrJ rj.f

3a
,~~jr, ,4o r Tr Tr '*

.
Cor. in Fa Cenza sord.

$ir^r
fr J - j J J
Isenza sord.
IV r" J J. J J
poco fp

- J
02oco~~ qf -

-
^^^,

Vi. 3T [lTutte7 7 2

f |catbouch

.I
J " " J J J
-
Cor. in Pa l bouche l

III ? o0 J iJJ
~ ~~~~~~~~~~~f
M~Z-~~~~.1

Iv T- J L J bd .
Pocomeno
> j^
mosso z=66 3224 2
?
*b&
-~\
Q
r r
S
^r r -
vl. -t. in a ie '
"-- ?
tl,

Tuttec o l
m en ,
tf cant.

vc.
ms i f
f ' ! o
r r- r -
t ,
-e u
a
mnf cant.

songs by Gesualdo which were published in parts in I603 but until recently have
never been published in score as the sextus and bassus parts have never been
discovered. According to a note in Stravinsky's score an edition by Professor
Glenn E. Watkins has now been published by Ugrino Verlag, Ha burg,, and
taking this edition as a basis, Stravinsk hasy composed his own version of the
missing parts for three of the songs. Nineteen of the songs are for six voices, and
the remaining one is for seven. Stravinsky completed the seven-voice song
'Illumina Nos,' in 1957, and this was then published separately. In the preface
to that edition Robert Craft wrote that Stravinsky had originally hoped to have
the piece performed with his CanticumSacrumat the Venice Festival in I 956, but
the Venetians would not permit this. Stravinsky has now added two of the six-
part songs, 'Da pacem Domine' and 'Assumpta est Maria', and published the
three in one volume. In the additional two songs he has had to compose only

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.174 on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 06:09:12 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
46 TEMPO

the bass part, since the parts that have survived show that the missing sextus
part was intened to be in canon with one of the other parts.
As with the Monumentum,one of the three pieces is markedly more
Stravinskian than the other two. This naturally is 'Illumina Nos', for which
Stravinsky has had to compose two missing parts instead of one. According to
Craft's preface to the separate edition of this, Stravinsky said that in completing
it he had tried 'to make Gesualdo's voice-leading less arrogant', and 'to soften
certain malheurs'. As the edition by Professor Watkins is apparently not yet
available in this country there is no chance in this article to compare Stravinsky's
solution with a less idiosyncratic one, but his sensitiveness to the originality (and to
the shortcomings) of Gesualdo's writing is well demonstrated in the Monumentum,
and is equally evident here. Curiously, although the harmony in his completion

Ex.12

Caltus - j -j j
_ 4JJ--J - I
J
De - us no - ster, De - - - no - - -

Altus
^TjU4nV Jtrr rr-mr 1ji -
r t7
-
us no - - - - ster, ni - si tu De-us no ster, ni

Quintus :=. !-J J 1 -

-
I -
1r1
nt i
4
tu
ster,

J - !
Sextus
I _Q iI
- 1
r Ini - - -
- -
If rtu -I
Tenor
fYni? - i if iI-f - I r I
- - si tu D - us

Bassus .r . ,.----w-- .-

Piano
(rehearsal
only)
cr r^ r rr, r

~i J r rtfJr
-
Jir Jf,l J i1-
II
ster, De- us
1
no - ster, ni - si tu De - us no
i ster.
1
r ffr r F If r-f'rr-i- r o-rt r - I ster.
II
i tu De - us no - ster, ..ni - si tu De- u no

i=r r0r
r i- De - -
IJ 1no
us -
J._LJ.-JU
j
no -
ster, De - us - ster.
11II
De- us no-ster,
-
[4 ' - I_De us no - - -
J
ster.
- I iI -
.
c" i --
IJ i -' Jrrrtt rr r o ii1
no * - ster, si tu
ni - De-us no - ster.

,r no -
ii
IFt --_-l- ni - si_
rf-F
1t_ De- us
I { Jlo?
no - ster.
ster,

rr

7- iP
.~ rJ
\~
j^
9ir J/
J7 rtr
-r?f ^ -r
r '4r
*r I:
;

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.174 on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 06:09:12 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 STRAVINSKY AND GESUALDO 47

of 'Illumina Nos' is more Stravinskian than in the other two pieces, his two
added parts in it are melodically closer in style to Gesualdo's than the added bass
parts in 'Da pacem Domine' and 'Assumpta est Maria', where he is slightly more
liberal with florid figurations than Gesualdo would probably be, some of them
also in unlikely rhythms. He also allows himself what seems to be an excess of
melodic sixths and even sevenths, which are scarcely to be found at all in
Gesualdo's own parts. Ex. 12 (the final bars of 'Da pacem Domine') shows this
clearly, and with it the melodic tritone which he smuggles into the sextus part on
the very last note, where the harmony requires a divergence from the strict canon
with the tenor.
In 'Illumina Nos' he makes less use of these intervals, and conforms generally
to the character of Gesualdo's own parts, except again for the occasional use of
unlikely syncopations. The harmonic style is rather like that of bars 25-29 of
the first madrigal (Ex. 9), as treated by Stravinsky in the Monumentum(Ex. r ,
bars 33-36), thick with diatonic dissonances. The following quotation from Craft's
preface to the Tres Sacrae Cantioneswell defines the relationship of Stravinsky's
solution to what Gesualdo might have written:
As a whole, andnot forgettingthe chromaticnatureof manyof the Responsoriae,Gesualdo's
sacredmusicis morediatonicthanhis secular,butnot lessdissonant.Dissonance in the religious
musicis harsherandless voluptuousthanin the madrigals and,becauseof the greaternumberof
voicesandthe lowertessitura-thetreblepartsof his madrigals were sungby women,the sacred
musicwassungby men andboys-the resultwasa morecomplexharmonictexture. Stravinsky
is thereforephilologically
justifiedin addingso manysecondsandsevenths,accentedor suspended,
eventhoughno examplescanbe foundof so manytogetherin Gesualdo's othermusic.
The magnitude of the compositional problem, the general harmonic style
of Stravinsky's solution, and its probability and improbability, are well illustrated
in Ex. 13, the opening of 'Illumina Nos'. It will be fascinating and instructive
to compare this with Professor Watkins's solution when copies of his edition are
available here.
Ex. 13

Cantus -' I-- ,~ I41

JIJ
II - lu -
I r
mi-na nos, mi - e - ri -
Irr r 1I
cor- di - a

Sextus

II - lu- mi - na nos, il- - mi - na nos, mi

Altus
• - I - - - I1-
-
Septima
~ ~~-_-.-.~
^~~, ~I ~I~ - 1-i -r~ I
~ rc-r
pars

Tenor
-- - I I I- r II lu - *
f mi-na nos, -
i
Quintus y I I Ir : -
H
II - l - mi-na nos,

Bassus i r rf irL r Imi- ser - irvI I - 1

11 - lu - - mi-na nos, ri - cor-di - a - rum,

-KJ
J Jr r
Piano
(rehearsal
only)
y , rr rr J r
rr rrr r~
(Ex. 13 is continued on the next page.)

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.174 on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 06:09:12 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 48 TEMPO

i't - -
if
ruam
r' i I r
De - - - us,
I t i
I - I -
fps se - - ri - cor-
_u di -
I a - rum,
:I

[ ,J. - -
,! J J LJ - -
J J ,J 1, 1
- lu mi-na nos, ml - se ri cor di a -

I1 - lu - mi-na

yt" Mr ' r 1 mi- se- ri - cor d- i - -

if t
- - rum
-, - I
:T - l- r j} r 7r
i.r _TFr-rr
rt" lIt"L f
il - lu- mi-na nos, mi - se - ri - cor- di- a - rum_

1lr ?
mi - se
r Trir F
- ri cor - di - a
-iJ
- rum,
t ' ir
mi -
r
se - ri - cor- di -

^-1 J
r r_r E r i / J""J
]tff rr r
Jr r

BOOK GUIDE
A SHORT INTRODUCTION quite so austere as this, the present publication
TO THE TECHNIQUE OF is still a model of compression. The author,
TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION Leopold Spinner, has managed to confine his
remarks to a twelve-page pamphlet. This
by Leopold Spinner document, which looks as though it might have
(Boosey & Hawkes, 8/6) emanated from Her Majesty's Stationery Office
The teaching of serial technique has not yet and reads just as anonymously as any White
begun. By which I mean to say that our present Paper, accompanies a more substantial book of
concern with its rationale has made us in- music examples. It is here that the real interest
different to the purely intuitive beginnings of this publication lies. Mr. Spinner is himself
from which it sprang and which alone con- a composer and a pupil of Webern. He has
tinue to give it meaning. To teach the letter gathered together a miscellany of examples,
without at the same time conveying something some original, some from the serial repertory,
of the spirit is to disseminate artistic death. and graded them in order of approximate
Arnold Schoenberg, the one man who might complexity. Mr. Spinner has my unstinted
have given us a lead, preferred to wean his admiration for his ability to construct just the
students on classical models. Perhaps this was right example to illustrate just the right point.
a lead and we failed to notice it. Moreover, his creative powers appear to be such
As it is, the most illuminating piece of that his examples have the unusual merit of not
literature on serial technique is also the least sounding like examples. I would be happy to
academic. Schoenberg's own account olf his leave my own pupils free to work their way
method in Style and Idea is really a personal through them.
document, an autobiographical record of this But I am not sure that I would let my pupils
great man's efforts to rationalize his creative read the White Paper which provides brief
intuitive processes. When we talk about yet detailed analyses. Brevity does not
serial technique we ought not to forget that its necessarily result in clarity. Mr. Spinner's
discoverer worked from the inside out; pamphlet indicates a tendency that is becoming
whereas when we attempt to teach it we are fairly general in serial literature: a leaning
working from the outside in. towards the worst type of academicism
The rationale of serial technique is danger- reminiscent of Rockstro on counterpoint or
ously simple. It can be comfortably squeezed Kitson on harmony. There is a hard crust of
on to a post-card and understood by any dogma forming around the subject which
intelligent student within an hour. While not occasionally places it on the dry-as-dust level of

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.174 on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 06:09:12 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions